10 Questions with... Archives

10 Questions with… JOJO ABOT

17/08/2020 by Pop Kultur

With our interview series »10 Questions With…,« we would like to introduce you to a number of bands and artists from this year’s Pop-Kultur programme who definitely deserve a place in your playlists and hearts. After SADO OPERA, MADANII & LLUCID, Mueran Humanos, Eat Lipstick, Super Besse, 24/7 Diva Heaven, Theodora and Eden Derso, JOJO ABOT is the last artist to answer our questions for her.

You have cited Fela Kuti and Ebo Taylor as key influences. Were there any records in particular that had a strong impact on you and your own artistic ambitions?

With these two kings I would say it has more to do with the genius applied in their offering. The complex compositions, the bold messaging, the vision and prayer for Black people globally, that is what made them stand out to me as legends. They are timeless visionaries with a passion for the people and a great respect for our legacy and culture. That is something that is rare on that level and truly serves as a motivation and compass in exploring the potency and direction of my work.

This June, you have released a collage of footage that featured Nina Simone through your YouTube channel. What’s your relationship with her work like?

Nina Simone understood the role of politics in art and in fact I would go as far as saying she saw art as political in and of itself. She understood the power of her voice and presence. She understood the need for global Black existence, community and connection. She travelled to foster that and in her efforts to find herself, her heritage and her sense of home she connected Africa to the Americas and in some ways contributed largely to our shared experience in this great pursuit for global liberation. She was a believer, a beacon, a woman beyond her time.

Your lyrics are written in both Ewe and English. Does your approach as a writer or the poetic outcome differ when using the one or the other?

How one communicates in their conscience and spirit goes beyond language. Language as we often define limits what we aim to express. It dilutes or detracts from the potency of our intentions. It therefore takes great skill and mindfulness to use language without bias. Writing in both Ewe and English is true to my inner infinite language and in the same way writing my instrumentals, harmonies and melodies in their unique ways is part of that language. In the end I focus on the overall message and medicine.

»Fyfya Woto,« your debut record, told a story over the course of four tracks. Which impact did the literary concept have on the music?

This sounds like a chicken and the egg conversation. Which comes first, you ask, or how does one enable the other? There is no linear process to my work. All things work together, feeding one another in a sacred and spontaneous yet intentional alchemy. Telling the story of a young Ewe woman caught in a compromising situation with her Caucasian lover in a time of slavery is almost impossible to embed in four songs. The literary concept is the music, the music is the literary concept. The seed remains the seed just as much as it continues to bear fruit. All things remain eternally intertwined.

You’ve coined the term »Afro-hypno-sonic« for your own music. What exactly does that mean?

Afro: born of the African soil, sacred. Hypno: hypnotic. Sonic: a unique sonic frequency. Not limited to any specific genre. A sonic space without limitation driven by endless listening and self expression as a form of devotion, re-membering and radical healing.

Musically, your single »ALIME« featuring Elo and Vuyo draws on the gqom sound that originated in Durban. How did you first hear about this type of music and what drew you to it?

I was led to live in South Africa on and off for about a year. Gqom changed my life and brought me back to reclaiming house, dance and techno as sounds created by Black people – sounds belonging to us. I quickly realised that gqom is to me the language of the ancient spirits. The meeting point of spirit and technology in sound. Gqom is trance and healing. Gqom is the reflection of potent African medicine. That is what drew me to it. My ancient spirit recognised the frequencies deeply. »Alime« does not claim to be an accurate expression of that sound, but a meeting point of worlds. A celebration of the evolution of African sound.

What is the message you aim to convey in your work, whether it’s music or visual media?

Visual art, photography, film, music, etc. – these are Western ideologies and commodities limited by Western language. I am first a creator. An extension of the divine. To manifest with purity of intention and humility is my calling. My purpose. My wave. My offerings exist to bring light to darkness, to offer healing and accountability. To empower my people and to celebrate the rich legacy of who we are. My work offers a safe space to return to one’s higher self. To hear from one’s ancestors and one’s true and guiding spirit.

Much of your work is interdisciplinary, including the immersive piece »Power to the God Within« which debuted in Summer 2018. What inspires such work and where do you hope to take it?

»Power to the God Within« was born out of desire to witness the Black feminine embodiment of the divine. It was an opportunity to re-present myself and women like me. A chance to truly walk in the dignity and magic of us. As a piece, it incorporates a multimedia exhibition, immersive theatre performances, conversations, workshops and parties/festival-style performances. This project allows me to bring together all of my expressions in film, photography, fashion, sound, installation, fine art, dance/movement and overall design. It allows me to not only bring others into a world of awe and imagination, but also invites participants to become undone in order to be put back together again more whole, present, soft and loved than before. A safe space of reflection and celebration that allows for the full range of one’s human and spirit potential to shine forth without apology or shame.

Your Pop-Kultur project »Dokuidzidudu« aims to explore anxiety and community within Uganda. What drew you to these themes?

I wouldn’t say it aims to explore these themes in Uganda specifically but more so that I was able to explore anxiety with Uganda as a backdrop and space within which I felt held even in the chaos. Anxiety and the sense of overwhelming unease that one feels constantly in this world, where one suffers to find a space for release. This piece aims to acknowledge this truth that we all hold. This displacement that all of us feel. It aims to make room for the moments of absolute worry and loss that cripple and overwhelm us at times. It aims to offer grace and kindness to the process of returning to the self, whether alone or in a crowd. This piece reminds us that we must continue to be patient, kind and loving to ourselves, trusting that we are all human and in this together.

What do you wish for the future of this world?

I’ll start with the obvious, peace. Beyond that, we need empathy, accountability, honesty, kindness, patience, service, perseverance, unity, compassion, grace, forgiveness, respect, love and spiritual wealth. I wish we would all put our money where our mouth is and actually practise what we preach.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

POWER TO THE GOD WITHIN

10 Questions with… Eden Derso

10/08/2020 by Pop Kultur

DJ Mesh & Eden Derso (Foto: Tamir Moosh)

2Pac is one of your key influences, a poster of him can even be seen in your latest music video. How did you get to know his music and what makes him so important for you?

Actually, that’s A$AP Rocky AKA bae! Growing up in my neighbourhood, it was impossible to ignore all the graffiti celebrating Tupac’s name, his music was blasting loudly through the streets long after his passing, and we even gave his name as a nickname to the rawest people on the block. I think he just provided us with an example on how to be brutally honest and stand up for yourself. In Israel there is a prejudice that the Ethiopian elderly are nice and weak and that our youngsters are a threat to everyone, so they are being racially discriminated against. Tupac made me believe that if I speak my truth loudly enough, there would be no room for prejudice and speculations about my character and my goals.

You’ve once said that you were Israel’s youngest rapper. When did you start rhyming?

I used to only sing, but every girl in my city was singing at that time, so I started writing songs when I turned eight years old. I started rhyming when I was about eleven or twelve years old, back when Lil’ Wayne was like a messiah for me – he still is – and my brothers were crazy about him, too; his style of rhyming, his wordplay and even his voice were the main reasons why I had to try to write and find my own inner Weezy.

You rap and sing in Hebrew. What does it mean to you to use that language as opposed to English, in which you have been writing before?

I started thinking about the same thing this year, and it hit me that I always wanted to rap in English because I wanted to get out of here. I felt like in Israel my talent would be overlooked because there was no Ethiopian pop star, no celebration of our culture like I used to see for Black culture in North America. The minute my confidence and talent started to grow, I felt like I could be that one Ethiopian star who would make others want to shine, someone who celebrates our culture. I write in Hebrew so freely today, using my own slang and not apologising for it. I also have a lot of fun writing in Spanish. Languages are fun as long as you’re really sure what you want to say.

The Israeli rapper Ravid Plotnik was instrumental in showing you the potential of using the Hebrew language in rap music. What made his lyrics so special to you?

Ravid was the first rapper I heard who had his own slang that was actually cool, and not overdoing it. He had a genuine energy, and a lot of respect for the city he came from.

In Israel, the city that is most mentioned in hip hop bars is Tel Aviv, so it was refreshing to see that someone decided that his city is the actual capital of rap. I wanna do that for Rehovot, for Kiryat Moshe.

You’ve been vocal about how male-dominated your regional scene is. What are good up and coming female rappers from Israel that should be on our radar?

Honestly it’s the same female rapper names since I started making music: Sima Noon, Echo and I. I hope that this year we’ll see some younger girls with beastly skills. I am really interested in what this generation has to say, I think there are voices no-one really knows yet because this young generation got really good at hiding their real intentions behind social media. I wish that COVID-19 will give us new rappers that are being discovered during quarantine.

Your debut album was called »Keter Shakuf,« which translates to »transparent crown.« What does that title mean?

The title »Keter Shakuf« means so much to me. I’ll choose to go with the main meaning, which is a wake-up call to me and all my ladies. It’s Malcolm X who said the most disrespected, unprotected and neglected person in North America is the Black woman, and that was said many years ago and in a different country, so it’s crazy to me that it’s still relevant to this day. I don’t want anyone to protect us; I want to change their vision of us by glorifying my skin, my sisters. We need to first change the way they made us look at ourselves and then change our lives and opportunities. Queens need to be treated like queens.

What characterises your working process with DJ Mesh?

DJ Mesh and my working process is mostly super fast and intimate, we became very close friends despite the age difference. It was a first for me to spend so much time in a studio on one project, but Mesh’s company and the lessons he taught me throughout our journey were so igniting, I just wanted to stick around and learn from one of Tel Aviv’s hip hop G.O.A.T.s.

The two of you have been busy producing your new album. What can you already tell us about it?

This new album is gonna be a collaboration with many different producers like on the song »Tamid,« which was produced by CohenBeats, or »Hakul Huz Me Halev,« which was produced by Hefner. I feel like my voice is different, it was a lot more angry; I believe that’s because I wanted to prove myself and there’s nothing wrong with that. But I’m now 22 going on 23 and I feel like I want to state my mind in this time and place. I wanted the album to be a collection of the thoughts of a young Black woman from this generation of Ethiopian Jews born in Israel. I feel like we are a much sassier and confident and I’d love to provide the anthems for those in our society and everywhere else who feel the same.

And what can we expect from your Pop-Kultur project this year?

What you can expect from my Pop-Kultur project is power, eternal power. Nothing is more powerful than stating that you’re not leaving and instead fight to stay. The ongoing war between my country’s government and the public during the pandemic makes everyone desperate, everyone is very desperate to find work and a lot of people had to close their businesses because of financial problems. But my musician friends never even think about stopping even if they are struggling while creating and releasing music. Despite having money problems they still scream; they are here to stay and not giving up. Art can’t be stopped or controlled by money or a government that doesn’t see the need for this art to be funded. This is also why I chose the song »Tamid« for this project.

What do you wish for the future of this world?

I wish for this world to acknowledge every being, treat them patiently and stop giving power to people who shouldn’t and can’t handle it wisely. And I really hope our future is healthier.

10 Questions with… Theodora

03/08/2020 by Pop Kultur

With our interview series »10 Questions With…,« we would like to introduce you to a number of bands and artists from this year’s Pop-Kultur programme who definitely deserve a place in your playlists and hearts. After SADO OPERA, MADANII & LLUCID, Mueran Humanos, Eat Lipstick, Super Besse, and 24/7 Diva Heaven, it’s now the turn of Theodora.

Your main instrument is the bass guitar. How and why did you start playing it?

I started playing the bass guitar when I was thirteen. I already listened to a lot of rock music, and my brother had just started to learn the guitar. In a way I tried to be as cool as him but in a slightly different way, that’s how I bought a bass and started to play it!

What role does the bass play in your songwriting process?

It depends. I have two ways to start the composition of a song: either I find a chord progression and the beginning of a melody with a synth; or I start with a sequence of rhythm and bass, and then add the chords. But either way, the bass is a key element as I’m always very focused on what it brings to the song.

Your music has recently been very dancefloor-oriented. Where do you get your inspiration from?

I have always listened to a lot of techno, italo disco, house music, and I pay close attention to how the music gets bouncy, danceable. That’s how I started to make songs such as »Bastante« or »Get Obsessional.« My inspiration comes from various times and styles – I love 70s and 80s stuff such as ESG, Giorgio Moroder, 90s material such as Green Velvet, Raze, and darker things such as Röyksopp, TR/ST.

Your project for Pop-Kultur is situated in a very special environment. What can you tell us about the place where it was shot?

We shot the video in a club called Le Petit Palace. In the 80s, the club Le Palace used to be a very famous place for night owls. It became quite mythical with the years! Then it closed, and Le Petit Palace now is located just beneath the old club. Marco Dos Santos, who directed the video, is a resident DJ at Le Petit Palace, he thought it would be the perfect spot to shoot »I Tried,« as there is a kind of an old-fashioned atmosphere that fits with the song.

What’s »I Tried« about?

»I Tried« is a love song, and also a break-up song. Like an incantation, it speaks about the attempts and failures of a relationship. Full of nostalgia, tainted with regrets, the song has also an energy that moves forward, and expresses changes in action.

»I Tried« will be featured on your forthcoming album. What can you already tell us about the record?

The record, called »Too Much For One Heart,« is my debut LP. It’s like a chronic of my life between the age of twenty and thirty. The lyrics are very introspective, but I wanted it to sound very lively and rhythmic. So I tried to create a feeling of danceable melancholy throughout the album. It will be released in the Spring of 2021!

Your latest single »Bastante« is a Summer song written and sung in Italian. What was the idea behind the track?

With »Bastante,« I wanted to revisit italo disco in my own way, combining house rhythms, arpeggiators and layers created with a Prophet synth. I am fond of Italian music and the Italian language, which I studied, so I asked Melisande Labrande, one of my best friends with whom I went to Italy several times, to write lyrics for me. I imagined a kitschy dance party in Italy in the heart of the summer, an atmosphere that evokes images similar to the movie »Call Me by Your Name« by Luca Guadagnino.

Italian culture, most notably the crime novels and movies known as gialli, have also been a topic in your collaboration with Mila Dietrich on the song »Lien de sang.« What’s the story behind the track?

Last summer, Mila Dietrich sent me an instrumental and asked me if I wanted to sing on it. I told her it had quite a dramatic tension that reminded me of some giallo movie scores, which I enjoy. I imagined a story that could be the narrative of one of these movies, an erotic thriller, mixing love, blood, and shivers! She liked it and that’s how we collaborated.

You generally sing mostly in English though. Why’s that?

I must admit I enjoy writing in English, I don’t know why or how, but it comes naturally for me even though I’m not totally bilingual. I love the power of evocation of the English language, its polysemy.

What do you wish for the future of this world?

That’s a current obsessive question for me. I think it’s a time in which we all wonder what we can do; what we could change in our lives, as a lot of certainties crumbled and keep crumbling. I think it’s an interesting time to imagine new ways of life, to try and get rid of the old world, the old habits, all of the contingent things people thought were necessary. I would wish for a more global consciousness of all this, and I would wish for art to keep growing, taking more and more space, as it’s a way to keep hoping, to keep dreaming.

10 Questions with… 24/7 Diva Heaven

27/07/2020 by Pop Kultur

24/7 Diva Heaven (Photo: Maren Michaelis)

How did you get to know each and how did the band get started?

Kat: We’ve all known each other for a while through concerts here in Berlin, cheered to each other at the bar and have a lot of friends in common. Mary (drums) approached me (Kat, guitar and vocals) one day to ask if I would be up for a jam session. A few months passed before I said yes since I hadn’t made music in a long time and needed to overcome some inhibitions first. But then the day came and we clicked immediately! It quickly became clear to us that we wanted to continue. All we needed was someone on bass. Thanks to a tip from a mutual friend we learnt that Karo’s a bassist. We asked her, and she said yes. The beginning of a musical love story…

And where exactly does your name come from?

Kat: Admittedly, some people think the name’s rather strange. But there’s a story behind it: it’s taken from a very cool event series that regularly took place at Berlin’s Raumerweiterungshalle. It was called DIVA HEAVEN 7/11 and aimed at supporting queer and female artists, giving them a platform. There was always a lot of glamour somehow: glitter, great acts, a lot of creativity and a colourful audience. That left us very inspired. To be a diva for us means letting oneself go, expressing your own self with all its sides, even though that can mean that you rub someone up the wrong way or do meet normative standards. However, we do not let our inner diva out between only 7 and 11, but 24/7! A 24-hour trip in diva heaven, so to speak.

Two years ago, none other than Jennifer Finch of L7 has drawn you a band logo. How did that come about?

Kat: That sounds a lot more spectacular than it actually was. All of us attended L7’s Berlin gig at SO36 and ended up meeting Jennifer Finch outside the venue by accident afterwards. Since we were currently recording and designing our debut EP, we were still looking frantically for cover ideas. We thought it would be cool if it was our band name, handwritten by one of the L7 members. So we asked Jennifer and she started drawing something. We didn’t end up using her artwork for the EP, but her reply to us telling her that we had now »formed a band« is still legendary: »Oh, I’m sorry!« That made us chuckle for months and months on end.

Speaking of L7: your sound is notably influenced by punk and especially grunge or alternative rock from the 90s. Which music inspires you?

Kat: The 90s indeed play a huge role for us. There we find most of the bands that we all love and that have inspired us: Dinosaur Jr., Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Melvins, and several others. However, our tastes are very diverse and so there are many more influences that can be heard in our sound, like elements from metal music or stoner rock. We try to pick up on things we know and love but not to get stuck with nostalgia and instead updating these sounds in a way that combines all of our different preferences. We also aim to surprise instead of just trying to meet certain expectations about this or that genre.

A sound like yours best unfolds itself in a live situation. Your set at Pop-Kultur however will of course be different. How did you approach it?

Kat: Yes, we agree with that! The energy of live concerts is essential because in a gig situation a good vibe can get the best out of the performers. Hence it was a challenge to record a Session without an audience, the main problem being to get in the right mood. We didn’t come up with anything unusual for our Session. When it comes to our performance, we are purists at heart and believe that the music and our movements along with it should speak for themselves. What’s important to us though and what we are always looking forward to before every single gig: putting on our lipstick and choosing a stage outfit, that’s really become a ritual! This is how we prepared for our Pop-Kultur Session as well. And if you feel comfortable in your own skin, your music will sound more confident, too. In our experience, at least. While we’re at it, we need to point out how amazing the entire Pop-Kultur team has been to us throughout that day, the vibe was just right. That made it easier for us of course to really let go while we’re on stage.

You will present new music, too. In fact, you are working on a new LP. What can you tell us about the record?

Kat: Oh yeah, we’re really looking forward to releasing new songs! It’ll be our first full-length and that’s pretty exciting. We’re currently putting the finishing touches to the songs before we’re heading to the studio in September. Just like on our EP, we’re recording everything live with analogue equipment. We can already reveal that we’ve found a great label willing to do this with us. We’re very proud and super stoked! The collaboration and the release date will be announced very soon. It will definitely come out in the beginning of 2021. Stay tuned!

Your debut EP »Superslide« was released digitally and CD, but also on tape. Why this format?

Kat: Friends of ours had founded the beautiful small tape label Mommy’s Mistakes Records. When they asked us if we’d up for releasing a cassette version of »Superslide,« us 90s retromaniacs didn’t need much persuasion and said yes immediately. It’s a format that evokes a lot of positive emotions for many people, it reminds you of your own childhood and youth, your favourite LP and how you took it everywhere in your Walkman. It’s also nice that you can’t skip around between songs, which provides a good opportunity to listen to a piece of music all the way through instead of just cherry picking individual tracks. And apparently a lot of people nowadays still own a tape deck, because the cassette sold out pretty quickly!

Already your designs pick up on the aesthetics and topics of the riot grrrl movement. Is this reflected in your lyrics as well?

Kat: Absolutely. Our lyrics deal with topics that concern us on a daily basis, that we are confronted with and that we grapple with constantly: feminism, inequality, homophobia, racism, xenophobia, ecological problems and many more questions that we as a society and the individuals that we are have to ask ourselves in the year 2020. Music always reflects the zeitgeist and if we manage to contribute to these grievances being addressed and discussed, we’d like to do just that. However, it’s not our thing to preach or to lecture and forget to have fun between all of that. We just try to get into a good flow, be true to our convictions and find a balance between being serious and the irony that often comes with life. This contrast deeply fascinates us.

»It’s okay to like us. Ask your mom first,« it says in your info on your social media. What do your moms say about the music you make?

Kat: Our moms are proud of us! At least two of our mothers even come from the field of rock music; one of them is even a die-hard L7 fan. No more words needed!

What do you wish for the future of this world?

Kat: Isn’t that the kind of question you get asked at the end of a beauty contest? World peace, the answer should be then! This is something that we earnestly hope for, but there’s a lot of problems that need to be tackled collectively… In an ideal future people are people and are being treated equally, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation or race. We have to learn to live more in sync with nature, to preserve this planet also for the coming generations. People should be able to live in peace and at ease, without war, persecution and poverty. Sounds impossible, sure, maybe though we as a society can contribute a little bit more to attaining that goal.

10 Questions with… Super Besse

20/07/2020 by Pop Kultur

With our interview series »10 Questions With…,« we would like to introduce you to a number of bands and artists from this year’s Pop-Kultur programme who definitely deserve a place in your playlists and hearts. After SADO OPERA, MADANII & LLUCID, Mueran Humanos and Eat Lipstick, it’s now the turn of Super Besse.

How did you get to know each other and how was Super Besse started?

Alex and I played in another band together, we got bored so he proposed to practice something new. We asked one our friend to join and play keys. And on first practice we created two songs, it was very fast and smooth so we created a band.

You named your band after a famous winter sports resort in France. Why?

Alex watches Tour de France and other racing tournaments, so he knew this resort because it was a Tour de France stop. Also in Russian it sounds like »Super Demons,« which is funny, so we decided to take it.

After your debut album »63610« took its title from Super Besse’s zip code, the following two records bear French titles. Where does this affinity for the French language come from?

We were inspired by a lot of French electronic and wave music as well as post-punk, so we decided to continue this line. We love France, what can we say!

Despite using French titles, you write your lyrics in Russian. What role does using this language play in your work?

A pretty huge one, actually. We started to use Russian at our first rehearsal because English was too soft for the post-punk music that we wanted to hear. And we didn’t know French enough. So Russian was actually the only choice and it’s much easier for us to create something that is emotionally moving.

»Un Rêve,« your most recent album, is more dancefloor-oriented than its predecessors. What inspired the LP?

We started working on the new album around two years ago. We created several drafts, but we were making something that we had already done, recreating the classic »Super Besse sound« from the two previous albums. But we were actually bored with this. We wanted something fresh. Besides that, we got more deeply into electronic music and techno. So we decided to combine our brand of post-punk with techno beats. It was really fun to work on the songs for »Un Rêve,« we created more songs than ended up on the LP, and picked each song according to the theme of the album – »A Dream.«

Even though you work as a duo, your music brings together traditional rock instruments with electronic equipment. What gear is most important in your work?

We used analogue synths and drum machines, even on stage when playing live. But it was way too difficult to work with them live, so we switched to a backing track. Our last album we recorded with plug-ins and a MIDI keyboard as well as the pre-recorded sounds of the Roland TR-606 drum machine. And guitars, of course.

From the very beginning, your music videos have played with the viewers’ expectations: »Mne Vse Odno« for example showed the band doing absolutely nothing throughout the song. What’s important for you when working on music videos?

Our main goal is to have fun. If weren’t not enjoying the process of making songs or videos or touring, we would just stop and have no regrets about it. We recorded »Mne Vse Odno« (»I Don’t Care«) by ourselves in our practice space. We decided that it would be just funny and we did it without long thinking too much about it.

Also, what’s the deal with you strictly posting upside down pictures on your social media channels?

That was another thing we did for fun. It’s quite boring to post regular pictures, so we are doing it always upside down. This way, the viewers see that it’s our stuff immediately.

You will perform live for your contribution to Pop-Kultur – but from two different countries! How did you prepare for such a gig?

We recorded Alex and his parts in Minsk and afterwards sent the video to our friend, the artist Daria Sazanovich, who created a dreamy glitch effect. Then we projected the video on me in Berlin, so this is a super digital performance. Quite unique for us and a special gig experience!

What do you wish for the future of this world?

Less violence. More love.

10 Questions with… Eat Lipstick

17/07/202013/07/2020 by Pop Kultur

With our interview series »10 Questions With…,« we would like to introduce you to a number of bands and artists from this year’s Pop-Kultur programme who definitely deserve a place in your playlists and hearts. After SADO OPERA, MADANII & LLUCID and Mueran Humanos, Eat Lipstick sat down with us.

Eat Lipstick was founded by Anita Drink and The Shredder, who had both moved to Berlin in the early noughties. What drew the two of you to this city?

Love and dance music! The arts and the feeling of romance in the air… or was it the drugs?

Whatever it may have been, the band originally came together as a DJ duo. What kind of music were you playing and how did it evolve from there?

Well, the band didn’t initially come together as a DJ duo. We came together while Anita Drink was DJing one night when Clea Cutthroat and Anita bumped into The Shredder. Clea Cutthroat was a founding member and the three of us worked on a concept together. Anita was already DJing at a lot of parties playing electronic music, disco, rock, punk, metal and trash when we formed Eat Lipstick. We further developed our band sound after playing it live at parties and events together. The trio developed from an electronic dance perspective as The Shredder mixed electronic beats and played guitar live with two hot vocalists. After that, we decided to form a live band with bass and drums. We even had Kevin Mooney of Adam and the Ants playing bass for us for a hot minute. It was during this phase that Tom Petersen joined on drums formally and then Citizen Pain skated right into our hearts and took over bass and vocal duties. We’ve also had a grand list of legends sing on stage with us during these formative years, I might add. A bit later we started to work as a DJ team mixing techno, rock, punk and disco plus original dance trax into one helluva glamorous party mix!

The original punk movement wasn’t very keen on disco music, yet you refer to your own style as »disco punk.« What are the key elements of the Eat Lipstick sound?

The original punk movement embraced a lot of styles, including disco, darling! And reggae, krautrock, etc. We take elements of your soul, plus disco and glam, serve it up with a punk hot sauce made in Berlin! All aboard a pirate ship headed your way!

Your latest album »New Wig! No Rules!« was produced by none other than Peaches. What’s your relationship with her and how did your working process look like?

She is family, an experienced musician that is always ready to explore with us and knows how to get the best out of us. Adding her own process and touches along the way, each day began around midday and we worked straight through until we all got that »High Heaux! Lipstick Glow!« We would trek over to Tempelhof airport, there in one of the old terminal offices is an amazing studio we worked in. Our fearless sound engineer Marco »Jegi« Jeger, who also worked on our first album with us and Peaches, would work out plans for each song as we went along. It was also exciting because we created or finalised new songs in the process with her and that was very special. She had some great ideas about writing lyrics from a genderfree/non-binary perspective and the importance of those values, as that has also been part of our process and history.

The song »Mann oder Frau« was inspired by Lemmy Kilmister. What exactly happened and what are the lyrics about?

The song is also about a real-life situation that happened while Anita was DJing one night and then later it was written into a script that she had been involved with. Lemmy and Anita first met during the filming and live performances of »Fast Fiction,« a live dinner theatre play that took place at the legendary White Trash Fast Food circa 2009. During one of the live shows, the director and producers thought it would be funny to surprise Anita on set with none other than Lemmy himself, who entered the scene saying »Mann oder Frau?« when first casting eyes on Mizz Drink. The crowd roared with laughter. It was a historic White Trash Berlin moment.

Most of your lyrics are autobiographical to a certain extent, however they also pick up on social topics. Do Eat Lipstick have a political agenda and if so, how would you sum it up?

»EAT LIPSTICK!« says it all, dontcha think?

You have released »New Wig! No Rules!« independently. Are you in favour of a D.I.Y. approach?

We have always had a D.I.Y. approach, as it is an integral part of Berlin and in general a punk ethos that fits nicely into our bag of tricks. Independent women, independent means! Our music should reach as many people as possible and that means we work hard to bring you our best. Every stage, every time! Find our album online or order it directly from www.eatlipstick.com.

Fashion seems to be quite important in the Eat Lipstick cosmos and Anita Drink even has her own store in Berlin, EXIT on Wiener Straße. What’s your philosophy regarding that – do you have a fixed concept of how the band should look like?

Fashion is part of our expression on and off the stage. There is no fixed concept other than looking glamorous, dahhhlink! Each one of us brings their own expression but we all »wear the same lipstick,« so to speak. At EXIT, we design and print our merchandise and we love how much our fans collect and adore our fashion! Come have a look at our boutique or find us online, take your pick! In regard to our fashion concept, expect the unexpected, darling!

You will perform with a slightly different lineup at Pop-Kultur. How come – and what can we expect from your performance?

You can expect us to play our best for our sister, Citizen Pain, who at the moment cannot be with us on bass and vocals due to unexpected chaos. We wish her all the best! We love her and look forward to bringing her back on stage with us! For this »limited edition« performance however we will have a special guest. We are happy to have Mr Sinister Kris on stage with us for the Pop-Kultur festival on bass, and Betty Dynamite helping out on backing vocals.

What do you wish for the future of this world?

For it to continue so that we can continue to rock! We wish for love and lipstick and everyone gets a copy of our latest album! New Wig! No Rules!

10 Questions with… Mueran Humanos

06/07/2020 by Pop Kultur

With our interview series »10 Questions With…,« we would like to introduce you to a number of bands and artists from this year’s Pop-Kultur programme who definitely deserve a place in your playlists and hearts. After SADO OPERA and MADANII & LLUCID, we welcome the Berlin-based duo Mueran Humanos this week.

You have been releasing music together since 2007. How did you originally meet and what sparked your collaboration?

Carmen Burgess: We met in Buenos Aires when Tomas was leaving his old band DIOS behind and I was playing in another band called Mujercitas Terror. A few years later, Tomas was living in Europe and I came to visit. I was kind of disappointed with music and wanted to only make art and experimental films. However, living together we also started to play just for ourselves, and I couldn’t escape it. Tomas proposed to start an art group in which I would be doing my stuff – most of it video experiments – and we would produce music to go along with it, a bit like Coum Transmissions. We gradually evolved from an art group to a kind of rock band. Many of my early film works were dug up again when we made the movie that accompanies our new album »Hospital Lullabies.«

The video that accompanies »Hospital Lullabies« was directed and shot by Carmen. What was your motivation to make a film for not only two or three songs, but the entire album?

Carmen: We were close to finishing the mixing process and were talking with the label about the details of the release. One day I mentioned towards a friend of ours that usually Mueran Humanos songs on YouTube get more views as uploads by anonymous users who just use the cover artwork than the proper music videos do. So my friend said that for this album, we should upload the whole album before anyone else does it. We liked the idea and started to go through all the material that I had gathered. While we were mixing the album we started to notice how the images were in sync with the album, so I started to work hard on putting it together with the music, also filming new material.

The video is quite literally very visceral and blends body horror with eroticism. How do the pictures correspond with the music and the lyrical themes?

Carmen Burgess: I approach both music and video instinctively. You can clearly see eroticism with a hint of madness in the movie and you can also feel it – well, at least the ones that have feelings left inside of them – while hearing our music. The girls that appear in the movie are wild; in the video you’ll see depictions of pristine childhood. The same goes for us and with our music. Everything that I do follows the same approach: it must be playful and real.

Your record covers have a very stark aesthetic and most of them feature human, almost puppet-like faces that have mutated or have even been mutilated in some way or another. Where does this implicit leitmotif stem from?

Tomas Nochteff: Most of the covers – not the last one but all the others – a part of a project Carmen did and for which she worked with the teen magazine Seventeen. Carmen made seventeen cover versions of seventeen Seventeen covers and got very violent with them. I saw it as a reaction to what society demands of young girls, which is to be dumb and superficial. Carmen unleashed her hate for that concept with a lot of humour, cruelty, and gore. That’s just my opinion and I’m not sure if she’ll agree with it, there’s probably more to it. Anyhow, we thought they make perfect album covers. We liked the absurdity of them and also the balance between beauty and repulsion.

Pop music is usually dominated by English lyrics, especially in the field of rock and electronic music. What does singing in Spanish mean to you?

Carmen: Well, it feels like the entire world is dominated by the English language, not only the music world. But it is not like that inside my own world, and there is quite a lot going on inside that world. I am too busy to even think about that! I easily notice how classist and also sometimes racist people are, I especially hate it when I see this in people who are supposedly part of the counterculture. I have met people in music scene that really think they were born as police rather than as artists or musicians. Of course if you are from a rich country it is more difficult to recognise this because simply most of the times you will be treated better just because of where you come from. I am from a poor country and that put us at a disadvantage as a band, I guess. But I am an artist, not a yuppie. We sing in Spanish simply because for us it is natural and real. It doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t sing in French or German or English or Vietnamese if it just came naturally.

Tomas: There was no plan, really. Singing in Spanish felt natural for us, we were surprised at first when people started to listen to it. Then I thought that listening to music without understanding the lyrics is a beautiful experience actually. You make up the lyrics on the fly by using your imagination. I don’t think you have to understand the lyrics to get what we do.

Literature is an important part of the Mueran Humanos universe. What writers have you been enjoying lately and who would you suggest people should pay more attention to?

Tomas: Lately I finished reading the complete works of Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood, my two favourite cosmic horror writers; anything by them is great. I started to get into Graham Greene’s novels. They are entertaining and has some depth at the same time, which is something I appreciate. I also started to get into the works of Mario Levrero and Rodolfo Fogwill as well as Mina Loy’s poetry. There’s a novel I recently found and loved, »Generación Cochebomba« by Martin Roldan. It is set in Lima in the late eighties, during the Sendero Luminoso years. I highly recommend it. The writer is a punk musician, he was there and the novel is like a punch in the face. I hope it gets translated at some point, it deserves to be.

Your music is very multi-faceted, drawing from experimental electronic sounds and more conventional rock structures. What are the ingredients that are essential to a Mueran Humanos song?

Tomas: I don’t think we ever have written a song that follows a conventional rock structure, but I get what you are trying to say. Indeed we have a very high standard of what a Mueran Humanos song should have. You are correctly guessing that it’s a number of elements that can collide with each other. Usually it starts with a raw, abstract sound that we like, but then we want it to have a meaning, so we add lyrics, which can take very long. Then it also needs a good melody, a good rhythm, and of course a distinct atmosphere and a hypnotic quality. We want every song to be a living entity, like a place to which you can go to… It’s a very ambitious goal that probably is impossible to achieve, but what’s the point of not being ambitious? As the song says, »it’s my party, and I cry if I want to.«

Your albums usually have a very »live« feeling to them. What does your working and recording process look like?

Tomas : As with everything for us it’s an experiment and usually it’s a long and very detailed process, but we always put in some improvised bits or something that had been recorded quickly to make it livelier. We don’t want it to sound too clean or precise, we chase a feeling, an atmosphere, and parts of our records are crafted as in if in a laboratory, with attention to detail and some very »un-punk« methods. We can fight for three days straight over the level of a snare drum, get very obsessive and lose our minds. It’s unhealthy, I suppose, but I love it. If you are not willing to become mad about your art, what’s the point of making it? We throw spontaneous things on our records to counterbalance that, also leaving in a few mistakes sometimes, mistakes that could be fixed but for some reason we prefer not to do that. It’s alchemy.

Especially your concerts showcase your knack for excessive improvisations, not unlike those of classic Krautrock or psychedelic bands. What kind of experience do you want to provide for your audience?

Tomas: Our live shows are where the group is at its best. We create our music live anyway, both of us playing at the same time. On stage our songs have open structures so we can stretch or modify them. We don’t know exactly how we are going to play them on a particular night. It’s a living thing. I like the danger of it.

Obviously though, your contribution to Pop-Kultur will differ from the usual Mueran Humanos experience. Can you already tell us a little about what you’re planning to contribute?

Tomas: We are doing a video fanzine as an intervention within in TV show that Pop-Kultur will be. In it, we will show different things that we have made across different media. It will be shot and recorded all in our studio in Berlin especially for the festival by us and a team of frequent collaborators.

10 Questions with… MADANII & LLUCID

29/06/2020 by Pop Kultur

With our interview series »10 Questions With…,« we would like to introduce you to a number of bands and artists from this year’s Pop-Kultur programme who definitely deserve a place in your playlists and hearts. After SADO OPERA last week, it’s now the turn of MADANII & LLUCID.

How did you get to know each other and what was your motivation to make music together?

MADANII: We found each other by accident, more or less. I asked for recommendations for good headphones in our university Facebook group and LLUCID got in touch. The next day, I asked around if there was someone who’d like to join me in working on MADANII and again nobody else but LLUCID reached out. Since we already knew each other and since he had heard my cover of Beyoncé’s »Sandcastles« on Soundcloud and liked it, we just went ahead and did it.

Your music is stylistically varied and versatile, so you certainly have a lot of different influences. What’s the lowest common denominator between the two of you – which artists, albums and songs can you fully agree on?

LLUCID: Glad you’ve asked! We’ve just recently created a playlist with all our favourite tracks. It’s called MiiLLkshake! I think that, over the past three or four years, our tastes have converged a little. Of course we have our personal favourites and genres, but we both dig artists like FKA twigs, Hiatus Kaiyote or Col3trane!

Your tracks are both club-ready and radio-friendly. Where and in what situation do you think your music should ideally be listened to?

MADANII: Ideally wherever and whenever people want to listen to it! That differs from person to person.

MADANII includes traditional Persian elements in her singing, which sometimes is also reflected in the music itself. Why do you combine these traditional sounds with an otherwise very contemporary aesthetic?

MADANII: One question that made me start MADANII was: why can’t classic Persian elements be part of a contemporary sound? From the very start, we wanted to include those elements as a means of expression by itself rather than as »exotic« foreign matter. Pop-music is dynamic and can take on different forms of expression. Integrating the musical elements of my Iranian heritage into our music is not at all a contradiction for me.

In your single »Sober« for example, you work with the »Jāne Maryam« folk song. Which function does the piece, used as the intro to the song, serve?

MADANII: Folk songs are the most formative connection that I have with Iran on a muscial level. »Jāne Maryam« for example belongs to the most popular and well-known of these songs and you’ll hardly find an Iranian who does not know it. When we were working on our »IILLEGAL ALLIIEN« EP, I was singing »Jāne Maryam« one evening. After playing around with the recording for some time, we ended up with »Sober.« It only made sense to include that part of the folk song, since it formed the basis of the song!

Your videos are quite elaborately done. Why does the visual component play such a big role for you?

LLUCID: We just love to be creative and that includes the visual level. And we’re not only talking about the videos, but also the artworks, photos, and our merch. It allows us to highlight the message of each individual song and it can also give a new meaning to the tracks, which helps us to convey our vision to the audience. Planning and shooting videos takes a lot of effort, especially as a cash-deprived indie artist. But that’s how we get to know a lot of other creatives and this kind of exchange is awesome. The different renditions of our songs by others and the results of those have again and again surprised us.

»WVTERWINE« uses Christian iconography and plays with Catholic practices that at first seem to contradict the overall tone of the music. What was the idea behind the video?

MADANII: »WVTERWINE« ist about the power dynamics and how they are being submitted to. That can include general social structures, the dynamics within a relationship or even institutional religion. The Christian iconography is the most recognisable in the Western world in which we are situated, too. That’s why we saw in that the most effective possibility of picking up our message visually, since already the lyrics are playing with Christian symbolism. That’s however just one of several elements meant to express and visualise the power dynamics in our society. Also, related topics like the patriarchy and our dependence on technology are being addressed in the video.

Your debut EP’s title is »IILLEGAL ALLIIEN« and can be understood in different ways. Which topics informed the song?

LLUCID: We were very aware of the fact that the title can be understood in different ways and that’s precisely what wanted. Everybody knows these kinds of situations in which they feel like they do not belong and how those can look quite different from one person to the next. The focus of the songs lay on the social and personal ones. »WVTERWINE« picks up on social problems, while »Sober« is about the feeling of getting lost in everything you’ve burdened yourself with, overworking yourself, and losing control

MADANII: At the same time, my experience growing up as a person of colour in Germany is reflected in both the lyrics and the music. The Iranian elements, like for example my parts in Farsi on three of the seven tracks, may result in the EP being considered an »IILLEGAL ALLIIEN,« so as something foreign and maybe even unwelcome. It thus serves as a reflection of the norms in for example the music industry.

What can we expect from your contribution to Pop-Kultur this year?

LLUCID: Definitely some new music! We are currently working on our new EP which is due to come out in September and we are already looking forward to presenting some of the songs at Pop-Kultur.

What do you wish for the future of this world?

LLUCID: A more conscious interaction with this world and everything that lives on it.

10 Questions with… SADO OPERA

24/06/202019/06/2020 by Pop Kultur

If you would have to sum up the entire philosophy behind SADO OPERA in just one sentence, what would you say?

One music journalist has once put it that way: »for SADO OPERA, serious political action and serious fun can – and should – co-exist.« We can only subscribe to that!

The core members of SADO OPERA are Colonel and Katya, originally hailing from St. Petersburg. When and how was the band started?

We were involved in numerous music and art projects in St. Petersburg long before we finally decided to unite some like-minded individuals and simply put on the part which we thought was lacking in the city and maybe in Russia in general back then. We did our first show ten years ago. Imagine Russia in 2010 and us on stage – a punk band wearing makeup, in stockings, miniskirts and sometimes even naked. It was a combination of a live show and a cabaret performance with plenty of colourful numbers merged together with the songs mocking homophobia, militarism and misogyny. Drag queens with guitars, synths, a female drummer in a bikini playing very fast rhythms and sometimes sometimes using dildos as drum sticks. It had to be our Russian queercore. We had success in the underground scene and started to perform more and more in St. Petersburg, Moscow and some other Russian cities. Where we come from, acceptance is not part of reality. Anyone may be suddenly stopped by the police with no reason, be humiliated and even be robbed by them. And unfortunately even younger individuals at schools are explained that queerness is a disease. So the background atmosphere were tense. Usually, the audience received us well though. Many people were getting absolutely excited at our shows, because they provided a collective escape from our reality.

You have been very active in the Berlin scene for years. What made you move to the German capital?

Berlin was always a dream for us. We loved visiting and always were impatient to come back. And then we had our first gig here in 2011 at the notorious Wilde Renate club. It was definitely a mutual »love at first sight moment« that developed into a proper love affair when we were invited to come to play there regularly. As we started to play more and more in Berlin, it also allowed us to plan some tours throughout Europe around that. That’s how slowly we ended up spending most of the time on the other side of the border. We also started to produce our music in collaboration with other Berlin acts. Having so much to do here, we finally moved to Berlin in 2014. Berlin has always felt like it is our home. »This must be the place,« as the Talking Heads song goes.

SADO OPERA’s the resident house band of the Salon zur Wilden Renate. What exactly does that entail?

Honestly, the encounter with Wilde Renate is one of the best things that ever happened to us. Both personally and professionally. We ourselves, as well as our show, were evolving together with the club’s transformations. We experimented together a lot over the recent years. When the club’s live stage room transitioned to an amazing big techno floor, we focused on curating one of the other club’s floors – the Absinthe Room. Colonel is throwing his Love Radio performances there twice a month and Katya is he floor host for special occasions like the club’s birthday or New Year’s, when the party goes on for days (and nights). We try to involve queer artists from Russia to play there, too. We do believe that it’s important to build bridges between our Russian community and the international scene. Katya is mostly responsible for that, this is her kink! And indeed we want to thank Wilde Renate for supporting us.

Obviously, playing live as you do internationally is the most important pillar of the SADO OPERA cosmos. What is the concept behind your extravagant live shows?

We loooove touring and playing live. This is probably our favourite art practice – being on stage and sharing those moments with the people. And we are very sincere about it. Aside from concert venues and pop music festivals, we play a lot at techno clubs and big electronic music events. Our music is a mixture of disco, house, funk, and electro. And we speak a lot about inclusivity, freedom, visibility, and sexuality. The closest we get to a definition is by saying that it is fluid. It is a techno wonderland and disco fairytale. We are a queer music band performing in makeup and costumes. The visual part is indeed as important for us as the music production is.

You were famously joined by Conan O’Brien on stage once while he was in Berlin filming a feature on the city. Truthfully, how big are his chances in becoming a full-time member of SADO OPERA?

Well, everyone is welcome to potentially become »a full-time« or »a one-night-stand« member of the show. We love to collaborate and are very open to do so. If you got excited reading this and felt a spontaneous itch to join us – let us know! Meeting Conan O’Brien was indeed a delightful and very interesting experience for us. We were excited about the invitation to join his TV show. He is very famous but for us it is way more important that he turned out to also be a very kind person. It was fun to play with him together and talking to him was just as pleasing. We surprised him with our sexuality, and he surprised us by joining us on stage and transforming fully into a SADO OPERA band member. While Conan and the Colonel were singing our song »Kissing The Gay Guy« together, in front of the packed room and those giant American television cameras, they managed to get very, very close. Now his chances are big.

On a more serious note, the on-going COVID-19 pandemic made it necessary also for Pop-Kultur to redesign itself. Your contribution there will also sound and look different than it would have normally done. Can you already tell us what to expect?

Absolutely anything that we could say here about how the pandemic affected us in all possible personal and professional ways will be trivial. We are aware that we are all in this together. This is definitely a challenging experience and the first part of that journey was very emotional and dramatic for some of the band members, who were going through a rough time. The others were sublimating it all at the studio, putting all that energy of a despair and hope into our synths and machines and recorded lots of new material. But it is hard for all the SADO family to be without a possibility to play live for the people. We are in love with touring and always long for being on stage. However, on a positive note: we are trying to reflect on that as a creative challenge for us as artists aAnd to see how and if we can deliver the same (or different?) vibe and energy while forced to being physically distant, having only a screen as a medium. What if the screen has a potential previously unexplored and ignored by us as live performers? And what if the spectator gets an invitation to step with us on stage and have a closer look of what is happening inside SADO OPERA’s universe? What happens when we eventually »Share the Blame«?

Speaking of which, you latest single »Share the Blame« took its name from the infamous Ficken3000 club, where you host a monthly party, but you also mention Dante’s »Divine Comedy« as a reference. What’s the track about?

»Share the Blame« tells the story of Dante’s disco inferno: Virgil’s got a +1 to Ficken3000, and liberated lovers embrace their carnal desires – eternal consequences be damned! Ficken3000 was actually supposed to celebrate 22 years this April and we planned a big release party. Of course, everything was sadly cancelled. In the meanwhile, we were self-isolating, listening to the EP and recalling all those diverse darkroom and dancefloor encounters at the club and all the true stories that inspired the song. The sound is right between electronic disco and house. And we again used our favourite array of early 80s synthesizers, including a Roland Juno-60 and a Korg Poly-61. Accompanying the song are remixes by Jarle Bråthen and Johannes Albert, who is a resident DJ at Wilde Renate.

Generally speaking, you have been more and more active in the studio. What does your working process look like? Are all band members involved equally or does the core duo share songwriting duties?

We are absolutely sincere: what we do on stage and what we sing about in our songs is a reflection of our real life. Often, what shocks people in one culture seems to be the absolute norm in the other. Sexual energy and the freedom of sexuality are very important to us. Usually we have four to five people on stage. There are other people who do not go on stage with us, but we still consider them to be full on members of the group. The more we travel with performances, the more siblings and lovers we meet around the world. This is our SADO family. When it comes to the studio work, that mostly involves drummer Icky, Colonel and Katya. This threesome is responsible for delivering the newborn tracks. Occasionally, someone else will join this studio orgy. We call it collaboration… like the one we had with the french band dOP on »In The Dark«, German producer Noema for »Bathroom Song« and »Imaginarium« or Norwegian producer Jarle Bråthen and Johannes Albert from Lichtenberg, who contributed remixes of our single »Share The Blame«. There are also some other individuals that prefer to stay anonymous.

What do you wish for the future of this world?

What is there to wish for the future of the world but love, justice and equality! In general, one of our main goals is finding ways to be freed from definitions and borders of all sorts. We wish for the present as well as for the future to be able to keep on doing that and to be able to remember that this challenge may also be a fun and exciting one. We also wish that more and more people get the opportunity to unite and collaborate with each other. We ourselves are very open for collaborations and are always excited about meeting new colleagues. Often some of them become members of the family. We believe in the power of a chosen family a lot. For example, we’ve made a collaborative project not so long ago. It is a music video for our track »Patriarchs«. It was a very interesting journey for us to work on it. We started an open call on our Instagram and found lots of really amazing artists thanks to that. It was interesting for us to see how social media – which may as well be an evil – can serve to unite people from different backgrounds and locations. And how it is possible to reach out to one another and work together. Another amazing example of that for us is the First Russian Online Pride founded by the Russian queer media O-zine. This is an interesting, brave and long awaited solution in the face of the limitations that in Russia are caused not only by the pandemic but by the country’s notorious »gay propaganda« laws. Even if the Russian Pride is still forbidden in the streets, the community now unites online.