the 1st day of supposed departure
today is donnerstag, 13 juli...the day i'm supposed to be back on a plane en route back to kanada. instead, i be chillin' up in the kreuzberg spot, at the local 'mac point' a breezy mac wireless spot that has me out of the hotstink of the rest of the internet cafes (ahem. see my previous post). i'm now even on my own powerbook, but just remembered that i transferred all the berlin photos to my external harddrive so you're going to have to wait til next time for some new uploads.
i didn't really give you the whole rundown on the fusion fest and everything that's happened, as there have been so many highlights but i'll try and recap...at least a little bit...
FUSION
arrived and set-up base camp in the artist area. the festival takes place outdoors at an old secret german airfield about an hour outside of berlin. all of the stages are converted hangars, enclosed and completely covered with grass, so as to be invisible from above! crazy. anyway, there must have been about 20 stages all around the festival site, some hidden away amidst trees and forested areas, and others set up right out in the open. one of the most relaxed was the dub station stage, near the artist area, which had lots of mellow music, a big bonfire (a recurring theme on this trip!), and some good imported sand and driftwood to relax on. there was plenty of raveyrave music for the flying high contingent, but also so good non-ravey electronic stuff, crazy bands, cabaret & theatre performances, political workshops, a cinema, and only veggie food stands. nice. there were lots of good moments throughout the fest, but the highlights were definitely: CocoRosie's amazing freakout set with two beatboxers, the sisters' mad vocals, and some live players...Senor Coconut (aka Atom Heart) and his big band orchestra doing electronic salsa/mambo covers of YMO, Kraftwerk, Michael Jackson, & 'smoke on the water'...Looptroop's party rockin set of hip-hop bangers - they're a swedish group with a sweatshop union kind of vibe, but some solid english lyrics and really catchy songs (wait, that's a lot like sweatshop)...there was a really amazing gypsy band that had at least 4 or 5 tuba players (!) and was an all brass band except for a snare drum player and a singer, and they absolutely tore the place apart...german rapper Jan Delay's set, just for it's ridiculous excessiveness: a stage filled with almost a dozen backing musicians, and the rapper himself pimped out in a baggy deutschland football jersey + the requisite tilted ballcap with the sticker still on the underside of the brim + big black shades + much strut & swagger & not so much actual rapping...he even had a conga set! haha. the music sounded pretty cheezy to me, until i learned that most of his lyrics had a deceptively dark perspective, ie. a really catchy chorus of: "everything is poisoned"....the no-1 set dropped at 4:30am on friday morning, to a random assortment of kids who didn't know what the hell we were doing, but that was fine by me, we still won 'em over as the sun came up...oh yeah, and i rocked a bunch of guestspots over the weekend with RicoLoop and then with the Ohrbooten band when the showed up on Saturday...freestyling has been a huge part of my musical experience this summer and each time i do it, things open up more, it's an exhilarating feeling. by Sunday my eardrums had been pounded enough and it was definitely the day to get home. we finished out the weekend with the CanCon kids' final theatre/fire/music performance as Nucleus, which was a truly bizarre, but perfectly messed up show for the fusion atmosphere...and then we bounced back to town with marley on the soundsystem.
Zentrale Randlage
the week went by in a blitz and a blur and already it was last friday night. got that? such is the way of the recap. right, well none of my kreuzberg friends knew about the ZR club in prenzlauer berg that i was playing at, but other folks seemed to know. i went into the Dense record shop up on danziger and mentioned the show to one of the guys working there and he already knew about it, but then again, he was also playing at it. haha. ok, so the space is a funny old rec room type spot on schönhauser allee, that attracts mad locals from the neighbourhood. things didn't get rolling til late late, as expected, and marius kicked it off with some great hip-hop selections (does anyone else remember The Goats??), i got up apres and did my thang which was sweaty heavy and fun, and then this really funny duo on laptop, electric guitar, scream/rap/sung vocals and fannypack rocked a wild set of noisy messy stuff similar to a fucked up deutsch version of Canned Hamm. yessss! jason forrest played a hyperhyperhyper bouncy trancey banging bunch of beats and mixed in old disco vocals and all types of insanity and oscar, tania, peter & johnny v. hung outside while the sun came up (also a recurring theme on this trip). i met some cool kids from copenhagen who said they might be into having me come through for a show. that'd be just fine, vielen danke.
103 Club
officially the 'last' show i have booked up til now. the morning post-ZR show was the one from my previous post...hung le over and trying to type...i spent the day roaming around somewhat aimlessly trying to recoup my energies and didn't even get to soundcheck at the club until midnight. it was bound to be a late night affair and, with the deutschland victory for WM bronze, and DJ Vadim in the house, the club was absolutely packed. i've played a lot of weird art spaces and small clubs and all that biz, but this was the first saturday club night show of the summer...and it can be really fun to play for amped up party kids...the DJ in the 2nd room where i was going to play set me up nicely with some great tunes, leading into my set with a heavy Jamie Lidell track that worked as a great transition. i was sweating at this gig before i even started. amewu was with me to drop a verse later in the set & we could barely stay standing because of how hot and packed it was. i kicked an accapella to start things off and then dropped in with the booming system....double yesss. the set was crazy fun and the vibe in the club was wicked. OneSelf had to start their set in the mainroom while i was doing mine, which was the only downside, but i managed to catch their last few songs and they rocked the crowd proper. big ups to good folks James & Yarah...catch y'all somewhere in virtual(my)space! haha. big ups also to daniel & maximilian from the 103, for having me down to the show...if any of you are coming to berlin, make sure you hit up this club...it's madness.
POST-
sunday night
downtime
much needed
mellowness
observed the WM final
from various cafes & restos
italian celebrations
mixed with france's defeat
and of course some
tasty mediterranean eats
and then sleep
& NOW...
this weekend: off to Austria to kick it w/ Ohrbooten at a festival & to check out the much heralded live hip-hop trio Lychee Lassi...
next week: into the studio with Ben & Amewu & producers Flo&Tilman to record rap vox for a new, as yet untitled, project...
the week after: scheduled departure date of july 31st...but futurus prospectus music/travel options to hit switzerland, sweden, & spain first. i'll let you know.
love from kreuzberg (36, not 61),
johnny
i didn't really give you the whole rundown on the fusion fest and everything that's happened, as there have been so many highlights but i'll try and recap...at least a little bit...
FUSION
arrived and set-up base camp in the artist area. the festival takes place outdoors at an old secret german airfield about an hour outside of berlin. all of the stages are converted hangars, enclosed and completely covered with grass, so as to be invisible from above! crazy. anyway, there must have been about 20 stages all around the festival site, some hidden away amidst trees and forested areas, and others set up right out in the open. one of the most relaxed was the dub station stage, near the artist area, which had lots of mellow music, a big bonfire (a recurring theme on this trip!), and some good imported sand and driftwood to relax on. there was plenty of raveyrave music for the flying high contingent, but also so good non-ravey electronic stuff, crazy bands, cabaret & theatre performances, political workshops, a cinema, and only veggie food stands. nice. there were lots of good moments throughout the fest, but the highlights were definitely: CocoRosie's amazing freakout set with two beatboxers, the sisters' mad vocals, and some live players...Senor Coconut (aka Atom Heart) and his big band orchestra doing electronic salsa/mambo covers of YMO, Kraftwerk, Michael Jackson, & 'smoke on the water'...Looptroop's party rockin set of hip-hop bangers - they're a swedish group with a sweatshop union kind of vibe, but some solid english lyrics and really catchy songs (wait, that's a lot like sweatshop)...there was a really amazing gypsy band that had at least 4 or 5 tuba players (!) and was an all brass band except for a snare drum player and a singer, and they absolutely tore the place apart...german rapper Jan Delay's set, just for it's ridiculous excessiveness: a stage filled with almost a dozen backing musicians, and the rapper himself pimped out in a baggy deutschland football jersey + the requisite tilted ballcap with the sticker still on the underside of the brim + big black shades + much strut & swagger & not so much actual rapping...he even had a conga set! haha. the music sounded pretty cheezy to me, until i learned that most of his lyrics had a deceptively dark perspective, ie. a really catchy chorus of: "everything is poisoned"....the no-1 set dropped at 4:30am on friday morning, to a random assortment of kids who didn't know what the hell we were doing, but that was fine by me, we still won 'em over as the sun came up...oh yeah, and i rocked a bunch of guestspots over the weekend with RicoLoop and then with the Ohrbooten band when the showed up on Saturday...freestyling has been a huge part of my musical experience this summer and each time i do it, things open up more, it's an exhilarating feeling. by Sunday my eardrums had been pounded enough and it was definitely the day to get home. we finished out the weekend with the CanCon kids' final theatre/fire/music performance as Nucleus, which was a truly bizarre, but perfectly messed up show for the fusion atmosphere...and then we bounced back to town with marley on the soundsystem.
Zentrale Randlage
the week went by in a blitz and a blur and already it was last friday night. got that? such is the way of the recap. right, well none of my kreuzberg friends knew about the ZR club in prenzlauer berg that i was playing at, but other folks seemed to know. i went into the Dense record shop up on danziger and mentioned the show to one of the guys working there and he already knew about it, but then again, he was also playing at it. haha. ok, so the space is a funny old rec room type spot on schönhauser allee, that attracts mad locals from the neighbourhood. things didn't get rolling til late late, as expected, and marius kicked it off with some great hip-hop selections (does anyone else remember The Goats??), i got up apres and did my thang which was sweaty heavy and fun, and then this really funny duo on laptop, electric guitar, scream/rap/sung vocals and fannypack rocked a wild set of noisy messy stuff similar to a fucked up deutsch version of Canned Hamm. yessss! jason forrest played a hyperhyperhyper bouncy trancey banging bunch of beats and mixed in old disco vocals and all types of insanity and oscar, tania, peter & johnny v. hung outside while the sun came up (also a recurring theme on this trip). i met some cool kids from copenhagen who said they might be into having me come through for a show. that'd be just fine, vielen danke.
103 Club
officially the 'last' show i have booked up til now. the morning post-ZR show was the one from my previous post...hung le over and trying to type...i spent the day roaming around somewhat aimlessly trying to recoup my energies and didn't even get to soundcheck at the club until midnight. it was bound to be a late night affair and, with the deutschland victory for WM bronze, and DJ Vadim in the house, the club was absolutely packed. i've played a lot of weird art spaces and small clubs and all that biz, but this was the first saturday club night show of the summer...and it can be really fun to play for amped up party kids...the DJ in the 2nd room where i was going to play set me up nicely with some great tunes, leading into my set with a heavy Jamie Lidell track that worked as a great transition. i was sweating at this gig before i even started. amewu was with me to drop a verse later in the set & we could barely stay standing because of how hot and packed it was. i kicked an accapella to start things off and then dropped in with the booming system....double yesss. the set was crazy fun and the vibe in the club was wicked. OneSelf had to start their set in the mainroom while i was doing mine, which was the only downside, but i managed to catch their last few songs and they rocked the crowd proper. big ups to good folks James & Yarah...catch y'all somewhere in virtual(my)space! haha. big ups also to daniel & maximilian from the 103, for having me down to the show...if any of you are coming to berlin, make sure you hit up this club...it's madness.
POST-
sunday night
downtime
much needed
mellowness
observed the WM final
from various cafes & restos
italian celebrations
mixed with france's defeat
and of course some
tasty mediterranean eats
and then sleep
& NOW...
this weekend: off to Austria to kick it w/ Ohrbooten at a festival & to check out the much heralded live hip-hop trio Lychee Lassi...
next week: into the studio with Ben & Amewu & producers Flo&Tilman to record rap vox for a new, as yet untitled, project...
the week after: scheduled departure date of july 31st...but futurus prospectus music/travel options to hit switzerland, sweden, & spain first. i'll let you know.
love from kreuzberg (36, not 61),
johnny
posted by Johnny Valentine at 3:45 AM
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