Artist: Jens Balzer

Want a Little More? Pop-Kultur 2017 Announces New Programme Elements

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Dear Friends of Pop-Kultur,

It’s about time to pick up the pace. That’s why now we’re giving you even more reasons to say ‘I like‘ to Pop-Kultur 2017.

1. More Programme

We’d like to welcome the following new acts to the roster:

Alex Cameron / ANDRRA / ANNA VR / AUF / David Laurie & Simon Price / Decadent Fun Club / Gaika / Happy Meals / Hello Psychaleppo / How To Dress Well / IDLES / JACASZEK / Jakuzi / Jens Balzer / Jessica Pratt / Ilkan featuring Law Holt / Lenki Balboa / LeVent / Liars / Little Simz / Lucidvox / Manuela / Michelle Blades / Miss Natasha Enquist / Oligarkh / Oranssi Pazuzu / Piano Wire / Rouge Gorge / Shirley Collins & Ian Keary / SKM 60 (incl Barabara Morgenstern, Gudrun Gut, T.Raumschmiere and more) / Smerz / Soft Grid / Throwing Shade / Tobias Bamborschke

They join a programme of over a dozen already-confirmed concerts, DJ sets, talks, and other events. A complete overview is available here.

New on board: T.Raumschmiere, Smerz, Little Simz, Liars

2. More Tickets

No more confusion à la “when exactly does Arab Strap play?” – starting now, our lineup is sorted by day and there are separate passes available for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And for those who’d like to experience more of the entire programme, we’d recommend the full festival pass. It’s all available for purchase here.

3. Mehr »Commissioned Works«

You’ve already heard quite a lot about our commissioned works, but now there’s even more info regarding these in-house productions. Balbina envelops things in white, rapper Abu Hajar and Jemek Jemowit aka Ausländerbehörde connect Arabic hip hop with European techno, Jens Balzer and Tom Krell of How To Dress Well deliver a lecture-performance, and Circuit des Yeux builds a ‘Big Black Box’ in the courtyard of the Kulturbrauerei. We guarantee an extraordinary  programme. Find out more about the »Pop-Kultur Commissioned Works« here.

4. Mehr Linien

For us, it’s not just about the performances themselves but also about everything else that can happen in connection. Various cross-programme thematic lines play more central of a role this year than ever before. Henryk Gericke addresses the topic of Ost punk in several events unified under the heading “Too Much Future.” Messer frontman and author Hendrik Otremba leads visitors into “Typewriter-Klangwelten” [“Typewriter-Worlds of Sound”] and looks for intersections between text, music, and speech together with distinguished collaborators like Andreas Spechtl of Ja, Panik! and Annika Henderson. What’s more, we are dedicating an entire evening to the “Secret Queen of England,” as Shirley Collins is often called. She will join us for a talk and an exclusive acoustic performance at Pop-Kultur. And those are just a few of the events outside of our concert programme. With the project SKM 60, which takes place over three evenings, the festival celebrates the birthdays of the Berlin labels Shitkatapult, Karaoke Kalk, Monika Enterprise, which each turn 20 and together turn 60. For the entire overview, click here.

Legendary Shirley Collins is just once of many new highlights

5. Mehr für die Talente

Attention all you young people crazy about creativity! You too will be a part of Pop-Kultur 2017. The application phase for our Nachwuchs programme has begun, and we’re already excited to welcome about 250 talents from across the globe. Yes, that’s right! This applies to songwriters, producers, booking agents, event organisers, or journalists – everyone who loves art is welcome and can apply here until June 14th.

And? Have we convinced you? Then quick! Grab a ticket of your choice, and spread the word to family and friends – the more the merrier. After all, Pop-Kultur is for anyone and everyone!

See you there! Yeah? Yeah!!!!

 

How to Pop-Kultur with … Robert Stadlober

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Robert Stadlober
Foto: Christian Pitschl

A person like Robert Stadlober doesn’t needan introduction. In the past almost two decades he became a stable figure in Germany’s cultural landscape as an actor, musician and passionate person when it comes to ambitious art projects. Expect the unexpected. It’s no surprise that Mr. Stadlober enjoys the diversity of Pop-Kultur Berlin as much as we do. This is his personal schedule for the final day of the festival on Friday.

At first Jens Balzer. I usually read him in the paper every morning, which helps me through the day most of the time. I hope that, as a cherry on top, there will be a witty heckling of Tim Renner by some audience member. He did leave a lot of burnt ground. Then Heimathafen. Exploded View and Malcolm Middleton. The first I don’t know but want to urgently change that, the latter lead me through more than one drunken night, why not see him sober for once. Algiers might be to IN for me.

So, I’ll go back to the Prachtwerk to watch Joel Gibb. His Hidden Cameras used to be very IN as well, back when I had an NME subscription. And as an exception, they were right that time. Nowadays the NME is something like the 030 Magazin in Berlin used to be, only for England. But Joel Gibb still makes very good records and more importantly: he plays very good concerts. That’s a fact. Then I’ll run to the Passage Kino. Maybe Hendrik Otremba started late. If not, I’ll just get to watch the end. He’ll tell me the rest, following his enlightening reading. And after he introduced me to Richard Hell, with whom we’re going to do a little tipsy good night dancing to the music of Zebra Katz and check out the rest of the party in the SchwuZ.

Robert Stadlober remains restless. He’ll be reading “The Aesthetics of Resistance” by Peter Weiss together with colleagues within 10 days at Berlin’s HAU in the course of a festival celebrating the 100th birthday of Peter Weiss. He’s currently also working on a new play which will be premiered at Ackerstadtpalast in Berlin in early 2017.

If you want to compile the Pop-Kultur Plan of Robert Stadlober for yourself you can get 10% off via the »Wahl-Abo« .

Pop, Lyrik, Behinderungen, Transhumanismus, Post-Kolonialismus, Depression und wieder POP

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Pop ist Performance, liebe Freunde der Pop-Kultur,

und nie war ein Klick in unseren Ticketshop besser als heute, schließlich haben wir brandneue Bestätigungen! Und diese drücken Pop in all seinen Facetten aus. Oder heißt es »in all ihren«? Der-die-das POP? Vielleicht sollten wir das ja beim Festival nochmals klären … Jedenfalls:

Die wunderbare Discoband Metronomy hat ein neues Album am Start. »Summer 08« heißt es und wird von Mastermind Joseph Mount ganz summer ‘16 like nicht als Konzert dargeboten, sondern in exklusiven DJ-Sets vorgestellt. Der Meister will es so. Und wir auch. Ergo findet die einzige Deutschlandshow während unseres Festivals statt.

Metronomy Mastermind Joseph Mount

Und wo wir schon bei Solisten sind. Der Kulturstaatssekretär und ehemalige Universal Deutschland Präsident sowie Ex-Geschäftsführer des Indies Motor Entertainment, Mr Tim Renner, wird mit Pop-Redakteur Jens Balzer über dessen neues Buch »POP. Ein Panorama der Gegenwart« sprechen.

Und überhaupt wird bei Pop-Kultur viel von und über Pop(-Kultur-und-Musik) geredet. So auch von Isolation Berlin-Sänger und Texter Tobias Bamborschke, der Schriftstellerin Kathrin Weßling und dem Radiomoderator und -Redakteur Andreas Müller (Deutschlandradio Kultur/ radioeins). Zu dritt sprechen sie zum Thema »Pop & Depression«, während ein weiterer Talk Pop, Behinderungen, Avantgarde und Transhumanismus gewidmet ist: In der vom Deutschlandradio Kultur konzipierten Runde treffen der MC Graf Fidi, Dr. Heike Raab und die beiden Redakteure Hartwig Vens und Dirk Schneider aufeinander.

Juliana Huxtable im Talk und mit exklusivem DJ-Set

Richtig konfrontativ wird es bei Ryan Mahan von der auch während Pop-Kultur auftretenden Band Algiers. Er verhandelt mit dem Guardian-Journalisten Josh Hall die Eindringlichkeit von Horrorfilmmusik unter dem Blickwinkel, was sie uns über strukturellen Rassismus und die (westlich) gesellschafftliche Leerstelle namens Post-Kolonialismus verraten kann. Nicht weniger avanciert geht es bei den beiden All-around-Künstlerinnen Fatima Al Qadiri und Juliana Huxtable zu, die, nachdem sie für die Berlin Biennale erstmals gemeinsam zusammengearbeitet haben, nun die Zwischenräume von Lyrik und Musik auf dem Podium ergründen. Huxtable, deren Arbeiten im New Yorker Guggenheim zu erleben waren, die die legendäre Party-Reihe »Shock Value« mitgegründet hat und Teil des House of Ladosha ist, wird zudem ein exklusives DJ-Set bestreiten.

Last but not least, freuen wir uns, verkünden zu dürfen, dass unser Festival Art Director Scott King einige seiner raren Pop-Artefakte im Rahmen des Festivals im Vollgutlager ausstellen wird. Darunter: das Prachtstück seiner Sammlung, das Feuerzeug Kurt Cobains, welches Sie natürlich bereits aus Paul Kellys von Pop-Kultur produzierter Dokumentation »Kurt’s Lighter« kennen.

Das komplette Programm gibt es an dieser Stellle. Und nicht vergessen, wer mindestens drei Module im Ticket Shop mittels »Wahl-Abo« kauft, der kann 10% beim Ticketkauf sparen.

Pop-Kultur. Programm 2016

ABRA · AL ENGLISH · ALEX.DO · ALICE COHEN · ALGIERS · ANDREAS MÜLLER · ANA ANA · A-WA · BEST FRIENDS · BRANDT BRAUER FRICK · CAT’S EYES · COLIN NEWMAN · DEADBEAR · DIÄT · DIRK SCHNEIDER · DR. HEIKE RAAB  · ESKA · EXPLODED VIEW · EZRA FURMAN · FAI BABA · FATIMA AL QADIRI · FISHBACH · FRANKIE COSMOS · GIRLS NAMES · HARTWIG VENS · HEIMER · HENDRIK OTREMBA · IMARHAN · IMMERSION · JENS BALZER · JULIANA HUXTABLE · JOHN ROBERTS · JON SAVAGE · JOSH HALL · KARIES · KATHRIN WESSLING · KEØMA · LEVIN GOES LIGHTLY · LIARS · LUH · MALCOLM MIDDLETON · MARK FARROW · MATTHEW HERBERT · MC GRAF FIDI · MIKO · MISSINCAT · MOGWAI · MULE & MAN · MY BUBBA · NAKED · NANCY PANTS · NO JOY · PINS · PHIL COLLINS · RICHARD HELL · ROOSEVELT · ROYAL COMFORT · RROXYMORE · RYAN VAIL · RYAN MAHAN · SASSYBLACK · SCHWUND · SCOTT KING · SELDA BAĞCAN & BOOM PAM · SHOW ME THE BODY · SKINNY GIRL DIET · SARAH MILES · STARA RZEKA · TELLAVISION · THE HIDDEN CAMERAS · THE KVB · THE NUMERO GROUP · THE WEATHER STATION · THURSTON MOORE BAND · TIM RENNER · TOBIAS BAMBORSCHKE · METRONOMY · MOORE BAND · TRÜMMER · TYGAPAW · U.S. GIRLS · VALERIE TREBELJAHR · YOUR FRIEND · ZEBRA KATZ · ZOLA JESUS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA4etK0E7-A

How to Pop-Kultur with … Birger Schmidt

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Birger Schmidt
What a tournament! The battle calls of the Icelandic vikings, the crazy Irish fans and the almost endless penalty shootout between Germany and Italy. Well, okay, some people might not be thaaaat interested in the current European Championship but Birger Schmidt definitely isn’t part of that group of people. He is the head of the football film festival “11mm” as well as the founder of Lernort Stadion e.V. and a well-known figure and popular expert whenever you are taking about football. So, there’s no need to seperate pop and football and that’s why we asked Birger Schmidt for his Friday plans for Pop-Kultur 2016.

How am I looking forward to September 2nd and a whole lot of Pop-Kultur!

I’ll begin my tour in the Prachtwerk at the reading by Jens Balzer whom I deeply appreciate for his well-meaning tone and for gifting us with golden observations from the lowlands of Pop. Thereafter, the trip goes to Malcolm Middleton at the Heimathafen. I really liked the subtle electronics and the strumming charm of Arab Strap and I will enjoy ballads such as „of fuck all“.

21:20h: Huxleys Neue Welt, Incredible 35 years after the founding of the amazing Sonic Youth, Thurston Moore and his band will enter the stage. It’ll surely get loud when they’ll celebrate finest New York „Noise Rock“. And to be able to level with my music-crazy daughters, the day is ending in the Keller with Pins and Best Friends, yet unbeknownst to me. .

If you want to compile the plan of Birger Schmidt for yourself you can get 10% off with the »Wahl-Abo« for Friday.

Sorry dear May, Pop-Kultur 2016 is going to be better!

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You’ll probably have noticed it already. Maybe because you are allergic to grass pollen (Drinking helps!) or maybe because your calendar is bursting. It’s May. Holidays. Memorial Days. Release Days… It’s getting hard to stay in the loop. And now we are popping up and claim:

Forget May! The change of August into September is the true summer!

 

Ye-hes, we’re completely serious. 100%. Then again, we already know the full program of our festival’s second edition, running from August 30th to September 2nd in Berlin-Neukölln – Pre-Sale is starting at this moment!

What shall we say? Where shall we begin? We booked more than 70 artists. Old heroes, the local scene and the German debuts of some of the most promising newcomers of the year. Once more, we are not “just” showing live music, but concerts, DJ-Sets, readings, film premieres, talks. And again, the special charm of Pop-Kultur is that almost everything you’re going to see is something new – from the premieres of new albums to a lot of newcomer’s first ever shows in Germany. If you do not show up, you’ll be missing out. Sometimes, it’s that simple.

Two weeks ago, we were able to present you with some extracts of our 2016 program. Today, we want to introduce another 50 (fif-ty) names. But that would flood your inbox – and this newsletter. That’s why we allow ourselves to most politely throw all the confirmed acts at you, in alphabetical order, while sweetening the deal with a nice GIF. Moreover, we kindly refer you to our website, where all the acts and their specific endeavors at our festival are presented extensively. The headliner is whoever you think is your personal highlight.

 

cat gift

Pop-Kultur 2016
Abra, Al English, Alex.do, Alex Murray-Leslie, Alice Cohen, Algiers, Ana Ana, A-Wa, Best Friends, Brandt Brauer Frick, Cat’s Eyes, Colin Newman, Deadbear, Diät, Eska, Exploded View, Ezra Furman, Fai Baba, Fatima Al Qadiri, Fishbach, Frankie Cosmos, Girls Names, Heimer, Hendrik Otremba, Imarhan, Immersion, Jens Balzer, John Roberts, Jon Savage, Karies, Keøma, Levin Goes Lightly, Liars, LUH, Malcom Middleton, Mark Farrow, Matthew Herbert, Miko, Missincat, Mogwai, Mule & Man, My Bubba, Naked, Nancy Pants, No Joy, Pins, Phil Collins, Phoebe Killdeer, Richard Hell, Roosevelt, Royal Comfort, rRoxymore, Ryan Vail, SassyBlack, Schwund, Scott King, Selda Bağcan & Boom Pam, Show Me the Body, Skinny Girl Diet, Sarah Miles, Stara Rzeka, Tellavision, The Hidden Cameras (solo), The KVB, The Numero Group, The Weather Station, Thurston Moore Band, Trümmer, Tygapaw, U.S. Girls, Valerie Trebeljahr, Your Friend, Zebra Katz, Zola Jesus

Just as we did in 2015, we divided the festival into different modules. Thusly, each guest only has to pay for the parts of the program he or she really wants to see. The tickets cost between 5 € – e.g. for a talk-module in the Prachtwerk or the Passage-Kino – and 25 € for one of the three large concerts at Huxleys (e.g. Brandt Bauer Frick with Roosevelt or Selda Bağcan & Boom Pam plus Keøma); plus pre-sales fee. But the best part is that you can put together your individualized festival ticket, including the 10% Pop-Kultur Discount if you buy more than two tickets.

Furthermore, there are still tickets available for Mogwai and their live performance of the soundtrack for the film »Atomic« on the eve of the festival. More information on Pop-Kultur Nachwuchs, our workshop program for talents from all areas of the music business will soon be released.

And for all allergy sufferers: Stay strong, in the end of August, you’ll be fine.

Yours truly

Dr. Pop-Kultur