EXBERLINER Issue 170, April 2018

WHAT’S ON — Music
“
Preview
Fight like hell
Julien Bracht of ambitious Berlin postpunk
duo Lea Porcelain tells us how
to make it big in the post-digital age.
From the get-go, we were anxious to find the right tastemakers
and radio DJs to feature us. It’s a little outdated to
think within borders rather than considering all the options
provided by online media. Particularly since we make music in
English, we wanted to make it available to the entire planet, not to
start small in Germany and work our way up. I just started watching
the 30 Seconds to Mars documentary, which depicts very well
why you also shouldn’t sign to a major record label. If you have
your own label, you’re your own boss, and what labels do is not
rocket science. So, even if our first album doesn’t put a Maserati
in our driveway, we won’t be dropped because we didn’t reach the
expected sales figures.
Our goal is to become one of the top bands worldwide, and we
said we wouldn’t stop until it’s happening. Plenty of bands give up
too soon not realising that it took other bands six albums to break
through globally. We didn’t give ourselves a deadline because
that’s the wrong way. If you write the music you want and you’re
self-critical about what you release, then it’s only a matter of time
if you have a good product. Right now, we’re going on a Germany
tour, but we’re already working hard on our second album. We
wouldn’t allow ourselves a break. A lot of people want to become
rockstars. It’s possible, of course, but you have to fight like hell
and be original.”
Lea Porcelain w/Anika Apr 14, 20:30, Funkhaus, Schöneweide
Tips
Clubbing
Technosphärenklänge #5
For its fifth iteration, Technosphärenklänge invites Michael Guidetti,
M.E.S.H., Lucrecia Dalt, Regina de Miguel and more to HKW to
take electronic music to new intellectual spheres. Apr 6, 20:00
La Bomba Cumbia Party
Boasting a broad spectrum of Latin music genres, Faela!, Sistema
Sonidero and a variety of DJs will lure you to the dance floor at
Kulturbrauerei. Apr 14, 21:00
Raster. Index – Tanz in den Mai
Not keen on revolting in Kreuzberg? Head over to Funkhaus, where
German electro label Raster will curate a night full of dance floor
delights featuring Robert Lippok, Dasha Rush, Frank Bretschneider
and more. Apr 30, 18:30
Classical and Contemporary
Edward W. Said Days
This three-day festival at Pierre Boulez Saal celebrates the
original postcolonial theorist with concerts and lectures. The
Michelangelo String Quartet and NY author Teju Cole spearhead
the lineup. Apr 6-8
Aggregate
Did you know that the Auenkirche in Wilmersdorf is MIDI-fied?
Experimental duo Gamut Inc. and pianist John Kameel Farah will
give you a little taste. Apr 27, 20:00
f(t) Festival
Radialsystem V hosts this clash of contemporary music and
electronica by Elektro Guzzi, Kuf, Sonar Quartett Aleksi Perälä,
Ensemble Modern and more. Apr 28-29
ON THE
ROYALE ROAD
(AM KÖNIGSWEG)
by Elfriede Jelinek
Inspired by the presidential election in the USA, Nobel Prize
laureate Elfriede Jelinek dedicates herself to the „kings“ of this
world in her current play On the Royal Road: The Burgher King
(Am Königsweg). „Elected is elected,“ but how could it happen?
Why is capitalism and power still always synonymous with
recurrent models of old-fashioned masculinity? Why is right-wing
populism always linked to the blindness of its voters?
Director: Stephan Kimmig
Premiere: April 28, 2018
upcoming shows with English surtitles: May 7, 13, June 3, 2018
For tickets and more information visit deutschestheater.de/en