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WHAT’S ON — Music<br />
DON’T MISS<br />
The Monochrome Set<br />
The decade sincethe<br />
art-punk pioneers<br />
regrouped in<br />
2008 marks one of<br />
their most prolific<br />
periods yet. They<br />
take the stage at<br />
Monarch with<br />
their 14th album<br />
Maisieworld in tow.<br />
<strong>May</strong> 5, 20:00<br />
Oh Yeah! Berlin<br />
Pop Women<br />
Witness the mesmerising<br />
sound experiments<br />
of Gudrun<br />
Gut and Joachim<br />
Irmler at Museum für<br />
Kommunikation. Also<br />
performing: Barbara<br />
Morgenstern.<br />
<strong>May</strong> 8, 21:00<br />
Exploded View<br />
Frontwoman Anika<br />
once contributed<br />
vocals to Geoff<br />
Barrow of Portis<br />
head’s band<br />
BEAK>. After a few<br />
synthy solo releases,<br />
you can see her<br />
latest collaborative<br />
project, Exploded<br />
View, live at Roter<br />
Salon. <strong>May</strong> 24,<br />
20:00<br />
Freak Heat Waves<br />
With their latest<br />
album Beyond XXXL,<br />
Freak Heat Waves’<br />
synth-laden postpunk<br />
sound just<br />
turned a little noisier.<br />
Catch them live at<br />
Internet Explorer.<br />
<strong>May</strong> 27, 20:00<br />
Interview<br />
“Something has to change”<br />
Rachael Wright<br />
While preparing for imminent fatherhood,<br />
Kele Okereke discovered his love for folk on<br />
his third solo album Fatherland. By Michael Hoh<br />
In 2010, many were caught by<br />
surprise when Bloc Party frontman<br />
Kele Okereke shared his<br />
debut solo album The Boxer, swapping<br />
distorted indie rock for electronic<br />
dance music. After making a name<br />
for himself as a DJ and releasing the<br />
house-y follow-up Trick in 2014, Kele<br />
changed gear again. He said goodbye<br />
to clubbing and settled down in<br />
South London with his partner and<br />
newborn daughter Savannah. In the<br />
process, he found a new outlet in<br />
folk music. We talked to Kele about<br />
writing his third solo record Fatherland<br />
before his show at Silent Green<br />
Kulturquartier on <strong>May</strong> 4.<br />
You wrote Fatherland in 2016.<br />
Why didn’t you release it then?<br />
I went to Justin [Harris], Bloc Party’s<br />
bass player’s studio in Portland. We<br />
recorded it all in 10 days. Then, in<br />
the process of mixing the record, the<br />
world changed: I was heartbroken<br />
when Britain decided to leave the<br />
EU; when Trump was elected. There<br />
was a sense of optimism fading. It<br />
was weird for me then to promote<br />
this album knowing that it’s speaking<br />
about this tranquil phase whilst the<br />
rest of the world is not tranquil at all.<br />
I’ve never felt more frightened about<br />
how things are than I do right now. It<br />
feels slightly incongruous, this album.<br />
But the beauty of music is that it’s forever.<br />
It might be fun to rediscover this<br />
album in 10, 20 years time. It might<br />
make more sense.<br />
So, your next album will be<br />
straight-up political? Mixing music<br />
and politics is a very difficult thing. I<br />
don’t think many people do it well. It<br />
takes a lot of skill to be able to write<br />
about what is happening in the world.<br />
I cringe a little when complex ideas<br />
get reduced to soundbites. Over the<br />
years, I have tried to write how I see<br />
the world, and that’s the most important<br />
thing. As long as you’re writing<br />
from an authentic place, telling your<br />
struggles, I think it’s worthwhile.<br />
Is “Grounds for Resentment”–<br />
a gay love song – still a taboo in<br />
many places? We don’t exist in<br />
an apolitical vacuum. Just because<br />
I’m writing a song about same-sex<br />
desire doesn’t make that any more<br />
political than heterosexual pop stars<br />
and how they see the world. There<br />
might be a spotlight shone on me<br />
because my view isn’t the dominant<br />
mainstream view.<br />
How did you make the transition<br />
from house to folk? Making Trick, I<br />
really immersed myself in club culture<br />
and nightlife, staying out until five in<br />
the morning. I knew when I finished<br />
touring that record, I wanted to go<br />
inwards to make something away<br />
from the dance floor. Having spent<br />
the lesser part of my teenage years<br />
deriding folk music, I suddenly had a<br />
real yearning to listen to singer-songwriter<br />
music like Joni Mitchell, Elliott<br />
Smith, Nick Drake; this incredibly<br />
powerful music framed by a voice and<br />
a story. Fatherland was a way for me to<br />
confront some of the prejudices I had.<br />
I couldn’t stand the music my parents<br />
listened to, like Afrobeat, highlife, the<br />
motown and soul they’d play in the<br />
car, it was something I really tried to<br />
move away from. Now it’s the music<br />
I’m most excited to listen to.<br />
Many of your lyrics deal with<br />
turning points. Even though<br />
Savannah hadn’t been born, I knew<br />
that it was coming. When I think<br />
of this album, it feels like saying<br />
goodbye to a period in my life and<br />
trying to prepare for what would<br />
come next. That’s why there are<br />
so many songs about relationships<br />
ending, having to cut people out<br />
of my life. As a lyricist, I’ve always<br />
been fascinated by the point where<br />
what is happening on the inside<br />
overcomes what is happening on the<br />
outside; when the body realises that<br />
enough is enough, and something<br />
has to change. n<br />
Kele <strong>May</strong> 4, 20:00 Silent Green<br />
Kulturquartier, Wedding<br />
32 EXBERLINER <strong>171</strong>
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