Berlin
Charlie Bertsch / 19 Apr 2023
Defying Stereotypes
Paul St. Hilaire’s Tikiman Vol. 1
Tikiman Vol.1 is a remarkable achievement. It demands to be played over and over and sounds better each time.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 21 Dec 2022
Sonic Reporting
Everywhere But There, by Joel Schalit
Battleground editor Joel Schalit’s new album Everywhere But There forcefully demonstrates the need for a new kind of political reporting, one which presents the world as it actually is instead of distorting it in the pursuit of profit.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 30 Nov 2022
The Abstract City
Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis, by Walter Ruttmann
Walter Ruttmann’s 1927 film Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis is strangely suited for these times, when traditional moviegoing is in perilous decline, providing a way to disentangle the art of cinema from that mode of consumption.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 05 Oct 2022
Eternal Berlin
Deutsch Funk Revolte, by ÖPNV
ÖPNV’s debut album Deutsch Funk Revolte is the sort of record that can make you sense the sun even when it is blocked by the relentless grey of winter, which happens most days in their Berlin home. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 28 Sep 2022
The Work of Remembrance
Germany, Year Zero, Today
It’s hard to watch Roberto Rossellini’s 1948 film Germany, Year Zero to its conclusion. The mood is relentlessly bleak and the landscape bleaker still.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 10 Aug 2022
Post-War Youth
400 Blows After Netflix
François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows is one of cinema’s all-time classics, the 1959 film that demonstrated how deftly a new generation of French critics could transform themselves into the filmmakers of la nouvelle vague.(...)
Joel Schalit / 17 May 2022
Sharing the Tragedy
Nakba Day in Torino
No European city knows the Nakba like Berlin. At least in my part of town, Neukölln.(...)