eXperimontag @ Madame Claude, Berlin
For one week, Madame Claude (Lübbenerstr. 19 in Kreuzberg) was my favourite newly visited bar/concert space in Berlin. This is because every Monday they feature all varieties of experimental music (eXperimontag). Now, when I say to friends, I like noise, they laugh, or get a headache, but really, people, there are some great noise bands out there.
So last Monday a new friend from Canada, Paolo, whom I met in Banff in August, happened to be in Berlin, and so it went that Madame Claude was the perfect spot to spend a relaxed Monday evening.
Upon entrance, you are warmly greeted by a corner hommage to Twin Peaks, which immediatly gives one a good feeling:
Supposedly the place is a former bordello, but that may already have been back in the day. The nice part is that it's decorated upside down (sorry no pix). Which means that the ceiling is decorated with garbage bins housing lights, coffee tables, chairs, upside down bookshelves (with books), magazine racks (filled), umbrella holders (also filled) to give one the impression of walking ont he ceiling. On the ground the coffee tables are turned upside also, so you place your drinks on the underside of your table, with legs sticking into the air.
On the night I visited with Paolo, Acivity Centre, a relatively well-known duo from Berlin, were slatted to play but one of the members fell ill, and so it was a solo performance from Burkhard Beins. We were both really impressed with Beins, not only for the music, a perfect blend of manipulated string music, including a geiger counter, but also his performance. It was so nice to see just how he was creating the sounds, and building up his music. This was followed by Bly Kobber, a young Dane noise musician, who relied heavily on his computer to manipulate his voice, trumpet and harmonica, among other sounds. In terms of the electronic aspect of noise/experimental both were fantastic, we left
The crammped concert room at Madame Claude.
There are two downsides to Madame Claude. The concert room is really very small, so it get's packed quickly, and when people don't make room, you risk the chance of not even getting in. Then there's the people, I'm not quite sure why, but the place is overrun with English-speakers, who can be very annoying indeed (see below). I'm allowed to say that since I am one.
So last night I made a return visit to see two performances by Americans with my friend Brian. It was much less enjoyable than last week, for two reasons, the music was more ambient, which was really not doing it for me, and the audience was exponentially more annoying than last week. TIP: Do not belittle the performers! Even if they ramble on without aim about Big Foot and consist of french women called Celestial Om. If you don't dig it, geh mal raus! Anyroad, the first performer Animal Hospital made a serious effort, but I just wasn't diggin' it, I guess ambient music live is not really doin' it for me. After a pause came Daniel Higgs and a French woman, who I think was indeed called Clesestial Om. She performed with a synth and thunderstorm background sounds. Think RockyHorrorPictureShow meets the 80s. A solid performance, but also not really doing it for me. Higgs played afterwards, but I couldn't make it through the first song. But also the heckling from the crown on the part of Higgs appearance was really inappropriate and made for a bad atmosphere. I think I just need to be more selective on the noise vs ambient aspects of eXperimontag in the future.
So last Monday a new friend from Canada, Paolo, whom I met in Banff in August, happened to be in Berlin, and so it went that Madame Claude was the perfect spot to spend a relaxed Monday evening.
Upon entrance, you are warmly greeted by a corner hommage to Twin Peaks, which immediatly gives one a good feeling:
Supposedly the place is a former bordello, but that may already have been back in the day. The nice part is that it's decorated upside down (sorry no pix). Which means that the ceiling is decorated with garbage bins housing lights, coffee tables, chairs, upside down bookshelves (with books), magazine racks (filled), umbrella holders (also filled) to give one the impression of walking ont he ceiling. On the ground the coffee tables are turned upside also, so you place your drinks on the underside of your table, with legs sticking into the air.
On the night I visited with Paolo, Acivity Centre, a relatively well-known duo from Berlin, were slatted to play but one of the members fell ill, and so it was a solo performance from Burkhard Beins. We were both really impressed with Beins, not only for the music, a perfect blend of manipulated string music, including a geiger counter, but also his performance. It was so nice to see just how he was creating the sounds, and building up his music. This was followed by Bly Kobber, a young Dane noise musician, who relied heavily on his computer to manipulate his voice, trumpet and harmonica, among other sounds. In terms of the electronic aspect of noise/experimental both were fantastic, we left
The crammped concert room at Madame Claude.
There are two downsides to Madame Claude. The concert room is really very small, so it get's packed quickly, and when people don't make room, you risk the chance of not even getting in. Then there's the people, I'm not quite sure why, but the place is overrun with English-speakers, who can be very annoying indeed (see below). I'm allowed to say that since I am one.
So last night I made a return visit to see two performances by Americans with my friend Brian. It was much less enjoyable than last week, for two reasons, the music was more ambient, which was really not doing it for me, and the audience was exponentially more annoying than last week. TIP: Do not belittle the performers! Even if they ramble on without aim about Big Foot and consist of french women called Celestial Om. If you don't dig it, geh mal raus! Anyroad, the first performer Animal Hospital made a serious effort, but I just wasn't diggin' it, I guess ambient music live is not really doin' it for me. After a pause came Daniel Higgs and a French woman, who I think was indeed called Clesestial Om. She performed with a synth and thunderstorm background sounds. Think RockyHorrorPictureShow meets the 80s. A solid performance, but also not really doing it for me. Higgs played afterwards, but I couldn't make it through the first song. But also the heckling from the crown on the part of Higgs appearance was really inappropriate and made for a bad atmosphere. I think I just need to be more selective on the noise vs ambient aspects of eXperimontag in the future.
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