Charlie Bertsch / 24 Dec 2020
We Must Do Better
Tenia’s Altrove
These days, even avant-garde musicians are angling for the patronage of television and videogame franchises, not to mention TikTok stars.(...)
Punk
Charlie Bertsch / 05 Aug 2020
Leftist Reputation
The Gang of Four Legacy
Has there ever been a more impressive debut album than Gang of Four’s Entertainment?(...)
Joel Schalit / 17 Jun 2020
George Floyd in Germany
The America Problem
All of the signs were in English. For most Berliners, the language is so common, they take it for granted. Especially for a city in which a quarter of the population is international.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 12 Jun 2020
Working-Class Cosplay
Sleaford Mods’ All That Glue
As I stared up at the mountains I love, glowing a beautiful and terrifying orange, trying to suppress a cough that just kept coming, listening to the new Sleaford Mods collection All That Glue was surreal. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 01 Apr 2020
Rock Against Corona
Die Ärzte Hearts Merkel
After days of reading one depressing news story after another about the pandemic that has turned our world upside down, I was desperate for anything that would brighten my spirits. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 18 Mar 2020
Burying The Fall
Jan St. Werner’s Molecular Meditation
Molecular Meditation, the new collaboration between Jan St. Werner – half of the influential Berlin duo Mouse on Mars – and Mark E. Smith – the deceased frontman of post-punk stalwarts The Fall – is a proudly self-indulgent record. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 19 Feb 2020
Rock Against Neoliberalism
Wire’s Mind Hive
When a band has been around as long as Wire, starting off a new record with the line “It’s nothing new” feels like a dare. (...)
John Foster / 17 Jan 2020
Playing for the Troops
Adrestia on Rojava
As far as band names go, Adrestia couldn't be better. The goddess of revolt in Greek mythology, it's astonishing no one used it until now. Leave it to a political punk group from Sweden, with a fondness for vintage death metal, to seize the day.(...)
Charlie Bertsch / 20 Nov 2019
Council Estate of Mind
The Case for Slowthai
Whenever a record receives as much attention as British rapper Slowthai’s debut LP Nothing Great About Britain has, it can be hard to hear. (...)
Charlie Bertsch / 30 Oct 2019
Nothing is New Anymore
The Paradox of the IDLES
Listening to IDLES’ forthcoming live LP, A Beautiful Thing – not to mention the albums that preceded it, Joy as an Act of Resistance (2018) and Brutalism (2017) – is by turns exhilarating and exhausting. (...)