AXOLOTLS DON’T CRY mix by eve massacre on mixcloud

Tracklist:

Mochipet – I really don’t think we are okay ACE
Adam John – Puzzled
Devo – Whip it
Corduroi – All ways
Silky Johnson – Very rare
Star Slinger – Dutchie Courage
LOL Boys – Aisle Seat
Nguzunguzu & Total Freedom & Kingdom – The Call Tour CDR Track 5
Lone – Approaching rainbow
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc
Iron Curtis – Goma
Ruede Hagelstein – Emergency
ZZT – Zzafrika (Julio Bashmore remix)
Blawan – Getting me down
Cosmin TRG – De Dans
Basic Soul Unit – Soulspeak (Shed remix)
Fatima Al Qadiri – Corpcore
Peverelist – Dance til the police come
Nightwave – Night bird (Unknown To The Unknown remix)
Creep – Days (Deadboy remix)
Guy Furious – Serendipity
Clueless – Cancel
Krampfhaft – Grind
GoldRush – TruPlaya
Cherry Sunkist – Projection (eve massacre remix)
Kuedo – Truth Flood
Boom Bip – Last Walk Around Mirror Lake (Boards Of Canada remix)
Thelma Houston – Don’t leave me this way

If you know me a bit better you know that if I fall in love I tend to fall in love with music instead of falling in love with people. Last night I did so with KUEDO’s set at sub:city (at K4).

If you’ve not yet gotten hold of KUEDO’s ‘Severant’ album – do so. It was described more than once as Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack meeting future bass music and that might indeed be the easiest way of describing it. Cold beautiful synths combined with warm deep subs and the whirling funky beats of footwork – trust me, this works even better in the club cause there you can really feel the bass. This is only one facet of what he played last night though. There was (post)dubstep, hiphop, synthpop, rave step, even discoid  moments – lots of different styles and moods but all melt into one big purring ball of music. Pardon my enthusiasm but this was totally my thing.

He did neither bank on only playing what you could expect from his VEX’D or KUEDO releases. Nor did he rely on the weighty safety of outworn simple structured heavy dubstep that still tends to please the ‘my-balls-are-as-big-as-the-bass-in-dis’-part of the crowd. There of course were some heavy parts, too, but none of the simpleboringwobblestep ones. Instead he built a complex set with emphasis and a good feel for aesthetics. Complex, yes – but at no moment it felt overconstructed. He wasn’t fixated on moving along on a beatmatch line but instead played with thrilling combinations and with letting the right bits drop at the right moment.
There are sets that are all about a journey from point A to point B on a rather straight line, creating tension and peaks like on a cruise from one sight to another. And there are sets in which this kind of linearity doesn’t matter at all but that appear more multidimensional and tickle the dancefloor’s g-points as if anything could happen at any time. This might end up in overstimulation and can get a bit much after a while. KUEDO’s set leant more towards the latter of both but managed to keep things in a smooth hovering flow.

There were some real facemelter moments. For me those were some of the footworky percussive bits over beautiful deep sub lines, and also one ace heavy rave breakdown and build-up. There were also some pop and fun moments I loved. Maybe it was just my kind of humour but I had to laugh when he mixed from the ever so (nu-)romantic ‘Moments in Love’ (Art Of Noise, Caspa remix(?)) into some rude rap spitting something about ‘pussy juice, nigga’.

I have given it some thought but still stand to my words of last night: It was the best bass music set I’ve heard so far. It somehow stood for all that still keeps bass music the most exciting and alive corner of electronic music of these days. Thank you, Mr. Teasdale!

P.S.:
I also would like to thank SUB:CITY once more: I love you for having brought us yet another night that was almost like a statement against the brostepification of the dubstep scene and showed that it’s a place for more people than just straight male tough guys. Love your choice of bookings, love what you guys play, love the handmade posters and decoration (especially the grumpy moon!) – I think all this combined brings across that it’s about something like social clubbing.
There again were pleasantly many women on the dancefloor last night where at other dubstep nights there are about as many as in the pit of most oldschool hardcore/punk shows.
Still there were some idiots in the crowd which really sucks cause it only takes a few dickheaded hoolz to spoil the mood for many others. I thought we had the era of fights at the door behind us. It’s tiring. Still I think that it was a great night for almost everyone!

Download via soundcloud link above.

Tracklist:
iBenji – Broken Box
Röyksopp – Tricky Tricky (pella)
Dorian Concept – Color Sexist
Gay Against You – SooHeat
Pixelord – Vulvatron
Jai Paul – BTSTU
Air – Sing Sang Sung (Black Moth Super Rainbow remix)
Lykke Li – Get Some
Venetian Snares – Who Wants Cake?
Big Freedia – It’s A Shame
Benga – Night (Sabo Moombahton edit)
Body Language – Huffy Ten Speed
Prince Buster – Enjoy Yourself
Krystal Klear – Tried For Your Love (Hudson Mohawke remix)
Say Hi – Devils
Flying Lotus – Do The Astral Plane
Coma – Raindrops
The Source feat. Candi Station – You’ve Got The Love
LCD Soundsystem – I Can Change (Tiga remix)
Massive Attack – Paradise Circus (Gui Boratto remix)

In other news my facebook account has been disabled cause facebook doesn’t believe ‘eve massacre’ is my real name and wants passport proof. Which I of course have instantly sent there along with my bank account details and a DNA sample. NOT.

I had never given the use of ‘eve massacre’ being a pseudonym a lot of thought because I have used it for so long that I identify with this nick. It’s not ‘just’ an artist name for me, it also has been my internet persona since early messageboard and friendster days. It seemed natural to join facebook as ‘eve massacre’ to reunite there with friends that migrated from myspace or messageboards. Half of the people wouldn’t find me under my birth name. Obviously I do not use facebook to stalk old childhood mates or distant relatives but to socially network with friends who share the same interests. Thing is, I’m not interested in getting in touch with people who are only connected to me via the same school or university or a job we once shared, which might be the people who would find me via my ‘real name’.  I rather have fb-friends from the same ‘scene’, people with whom I share the same kind of humour, ideals, taste in music, books, films, people who I go to the same shows with or discuss the same politics. A lot of these people know me as ‘eve massacre’ and wouldn’t even find me if I used my birth name. While you might think this kind of use is exactly the dataprofileconnexiunsstuff  facebook wants for their shiny pretty user data collection it suddenly doesn’t seem appropriate anymore. Meow.

Well, I guess, as long as it’s locked I will spend more time blogging and twittering again.

The first is for BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD who had kindly sent me the stems for his song ‘Hawaii’ and it’s a sweet housey remix:
http://soundcloud.com/eve-massacre/blackbird-blackbird-hawaii-eve-massacre-remix
He’s been one of my favourite chillwave acts of 2010 and you can hear the original track here:
http://blackbirdblackbird.bandcamp.com/track/hawaii

The second remix is for YOU’RE ONLY MASSIVE from Berlin whom I played with at the last Ladyfest Munich. It’s for their song ‘Under The Neon’ and a song with ‘neon’ in its title deserved a proper electroclashfidget treatment:
http://soundcloud.com/eve-massacre/youre-only-massive-under-the-neon-eve-massacre-remix
You can hear the original here:
http://www.youreonlymassive.com/UnderTheNeon/page8.html

I have almost frozen to death because I couldn’t get out of the bath tub before I finally had finished Paul Auster’s ‘Brooklyn Follies’. What a wonderful novel. So full of stories each of which is rich enough to grow into a novel of its own, with more subsubsubnovels. I love books that make you feel as if literature is but catching mere bits from an endless flow of possible stories in endless possibilities of style and structure. I like how Auster doesn’t get lost in details, he sticks to the core and gives you just as much decoration as to breathe life into his language and plot.

The cream on top of my shitty week-end: My flu has stolen my sense of smell. This sucks because to me one of the few enjoyable things about having a cold is all the menthol oils that are supposed to help you get through. I love the smell of Tiger Balm – aaah, menthol mixed with something spicy, maybe cinnamon? -  but today I just feel the burn of it on my skin but there’s zero scent. Two days spent dozing and watching the ‘Misfits’ series and drinking camomille tea and dozing and reading and taking painkillers at 3am to get some sleep in spite of the pain in the limbs and getting up to switch from bed to sofa at 8am cause not feeling tiredenough to sleep anymore and drinking peppermint tea and coughing and sneezing till the lungs ache (more than after club nights before the smoking ban) and rewatching ‘Skins’ and dozing and getting all dizzy because of the fever whenever getting up to cook more tea or when sneezing. Thrilling weekend activities, I tell ya. Sorry, interweb people, but there’s no one else around to moan at. And I still don’t really feel better so I recommend skipping the read if I post again in the next couple of days cause it might only be more actionfilled stories about my flu sufferings being so much crueler than everyone else’s.

Oh, and the Kristof Schreuf show was really good. The songs – (please let’s not compare his new album with mash ups) – and his stories. He reminded me a bit of Columbo (one of the coolest tv detectives of the 70s in case you kids don’t know him): Whenever you thought he would start the next song he paused and came up with another ‘there’s just this one more thing I have to tell you..’. I loved his voice, too, especially in the more quiet songs. He’s got this velvety voice with a bit of raspiness here and there – very nice and intense. And he came across as one of those wonderful and rare idealists whose charisma can fill a room and is so soothing and encouraging.  Idealism not in a ‘I-got-the-solution’ way. It was more the kind of idealism that shimmers through little stories, told with a mix of wittiness and naivity, and is neverever afraid of ridicule. Ach, that’s my favourite kind of (anti)-’heroes’. Very Dr. Who if I think of it. Basically also very WorldInferno FS. In my feverish little brain. Which the poor me better is off to soothe with more steaming hot tea now before I start blabbering nonsense.

P.S.: Lokale Leidenschaften has put a clip of a bit of the show online: Schreuf ‘s cover of Einstürzende Neubauten’s ‘Prolog’:

P.S.P.S.: Hier gibt’s auch eine ordentliche Konzertbesprechung vom Motorhorst. Und hier noch eine von einem Konzert anderswo, die das ‘Phänomen’ Kristof Schreuf teilweise wirklich gut auf den Punkt bringt.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m disappointed about their show here not happening and it sucks for the work/time I put in organising the show, and I feel sorry for the band and booker cause it means a huge loss of money of which both sides don’t have plenty. No worries bout the drummer though – it doesn’t seem something bad happened to him but he just packed all his stuff and left Monday morning after their last UK show – without not even as much as a note where he went and why left for his bandmates. So they have to cancel the rest of the tour.

Still I had to smile at first cause it brought back the memories of a time when touring was so much more chaotic. Today everything is so tidily planned, even with small bands. You got mobile phones and GPS and wi-fi and bands are so much more reasonable…. we wonder how things even worked out before. Memories of driving through cities like Barcelona with just a sloppy ‘drive to city centre, ask people/punx for venue, everyone knows it’ as route description to a venue – aaah, it still seems a miracle that things like this worked out. Of course it’s good that these days tours give bookers/promoters/bands less of a headache but there’s also a bit of the excitement and suspense and adventure gone missing. The funniest and most chaotic tour anecdotes all seem to be from a long time ago. Of course it’s nice if things run smoothly all the time but…but…

So, I hope both band & missing drummer are fine and will have an extra coffee on them right now.

P.S.: I enjoyed last Saturday night quite a lot, the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH and LOVE ACADEMY show (and meeting the guys from the bands!) and Quirin + Philipp’s chaos djing afterwards! Lots of nice people, lots of good chatting, and a bit of tipsiness going on, too. Oh, although – cue obligatory moan for more guests – of course there could have been more people showing up. I’ll stay greedy about this, Nürnberg.

The Birthmark and Lisa Freieck show was great. If you haven’t yet listened to it, I really recommend their album ‘Shaking Hands’, it’s online here.
It was good to have such a thouroughly friendly band (according to certain others ‘the nicest band ever! really: ever!’) as first overnight guests at massacre mansion in 2011 cause somehow it sets the tone for the year.

For the first time in my life I have some vague resolutions for the new year. Okay, not really because of the new year and some of them I’ve already started realising in 2010. One of them is setting up more shows for unknown but awesome bands again, even if no one else or only one more person in my concert group is backing me in this. Somehow the interest in those smaller bands has shrunk in my companions and last year I often was too lazy and it seemed too much work/time/responsibility for me as one person. Will change. There are too many great ones out there and it’s so good to do those shows based on mutual trust.

Tonight is the first example: Two bands I came across last year browsing through german DIY music spheres and whom I instantly liked. THE BLUESCREEN OF DEATH are a boy/girl electropunk band, noisy and screamy and wild, to capture the sound think of early Crystal Castles or think of Kap Bambino, but less commercial of course and of course doing their own thing – no copycats. The other band, LOVE ACADEMY, are one of the few bands to pass my personal “german lyrics suck in 90% of all bands” test which is a tough one and puts them in a league with Dackelblut, up-to-’Flamingo’ Turbostaat and Trend. The latter also being musically close to them: fast punk with a touch of wave, or even NDW, played very tight and with cool hooklines.

I find it sad that there’s not really much of a scene for this kind of shows in Nürnberg at the moment as there’s far more excitement and fun going on than in having either the same local bands play every two months (which Nürnbergians seem to enjoy but bores the shit out of me), or sticking to one’s own scene – yes, I’m talking to you ‘political’ DIY scene! You have gotten – at least partly – as conservative and lame as back in the 80s/90s. And the kids seem to listen to strictly the same kind of music again. Except if it comes to parties – then dubstep is okay, too.  Oh my. No fun, my babe, no fun. Those hc/punk kids should be the ones to put up this show tonight, not me. I should be the one who goes there and gets drunk and stands in the corner smiling wisely and feeling a bit old. :)
I won’t even start criticising the hipster (indie) club kids cause I’m well aware that they still need to have a band mentioned in intro/spex/ipod-advertisement/melt festival line up before they go their show. Where’s your curiosity gone?! Is it all about safe investments instead of letting yourselves be surprised?

Resolution #2 is going a bit slower which might sound contradictory to #1 but I hope with a little more focussing I can make it happen. I want to – no, I need to take more time off again for making music and writing. It’s soothing. It’s existential. I feel incomplete without it. So this has to happen or I’ll implode mentally.

Resolution #3 is being more honest again. I miss my rants. I miss getting steam off and focussing on reasons why I find something bad/boring/sexist/whatever at the same time. I’ve never been the ‘everybody’s darling’ type but last year I’ve calmed down a bit. Makes me feel uncomfortable. Actually everyone is so — friendly and tolerant. Especially in the promoter/dj/etc scene. As if distinction and criticism were so dangerous and necessarily about hate. Ranting also is not backchatting. That’s what had gotten me a bit tired and less outspoken in the first place: Whenever I criticised a detail people were so quickly judging that I hated the whole thing and as if I hadn’t mentioned any reasons and arguments but they spread the word that eve hated or dissed xy. That’s never my point. Criticism can spark discussions. Rants can be so much more productive than keeping your mouth shut and make a polite compliment for stuff that makes you go all fizzy and sick inside for a reason. If we all do the same things and like everything everyone else does and no questioning is allowed for friendlinesses sake – it’s so boring and assimilating and definitely no good ground for a lively (sub)(socio)cultural scene. So don’t be surprised to see me more vexatious/honest/controversial again in 2011. If I haven’t unlearned it.
I love all y’all anyways. Except for you. And you’s a bit dubious, too.

Now I’m off to get the bands some catering and hope a few of you will turn up at the show. Or at the party after. Or both. Have a wonderful week-end.

PS.: Listen to more James Blake and Retox. It’s good for you. The latter is a new band with Justin Pearson playing with his The Locust/Holy Molar/Head Wound City band mate Gabe Serbian again, adding Michael Crain (The Festival Of Dead Deer). Sharp. Tight. “Anger is an energy” music. So good. They have a free EP to download on their website: www.retoxrules.com

Time to wish all y’all a happy new year! No matter if you party hard or party not at all – hope you are happy and safe and we will meet again.

Hugz & kixxous to all of you!