subbacultcha-december2011/2012

By Sofia Ciechowska Illustration bi Basje Boer

Unruly Music Magazine December 2011/January 2012

Food

What’s Cooking

Who Let the Blogs out?!

Maria Minerva, Iceage, High Places

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THE RIGHT TO waRm up Win a pair of Chuck Taylor All Star Outsider boots. See ‘free stuff’ page in this publication.

Who Let the Blogs out?!

These two people are Rob Barber and Mary Pearson of High Places photographed by Ye Rin Mok in Rob’s garden in Mt. Washington in Los Angeles. Rob and Mary have a lot of sensible things to say about the theme of this issue. Things like ‘You just end up in a house of mirrors of webstuff ’ and ‘This short attention span is a double-edged sword, it means things get overlooked, but it also keeps musicians on their creative toes’. It must be the luscious green surrounding Rob’s house that creates the peaceful head space to contemplate. Read the interview on page 28.

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Content

Who Let the Blogs out?!

Who Let the Blogs out?!

High Places

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Page 28

Maria Minerva

Agenda

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Top 5 New Music We Saw You Who let the blogs out maria minerva high places iceage the men 5 overlooked albums Featured Artist

10 12 16 18 24 28 35 39 42 44

Film Fashion Food Books 99 Problems Agenda subbacultcha shows other shows Free Stuff after midnight

49 50 51 52 54 57 59 64 75 77

One thing that struck us in 2011, is the insane amount of new music that’s flooding our cyberspace on a daily basis. Sure we’re having a ball with all these great new bands, but there’s only so much music you can listen to in a lifetime. So we went on a little search, trying to find out where the hell this is all going. Don’t read too fast now, cause we’re going on a short holiday and the next issue won’t come out till February. In the meantime, enjoy the shows and see you in 2012.

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Colophon

Who we are and what we do

Subbacultcha! Magazine is made at our office in Amsterdam Da Costakade 150, 1053 XC Amsterdam, the Netherlands www.subbacultcha.nl. magazine@subbacultcha.nl We are Editors: Leon Caren and Bas Morsch Editorial Assistant: Sarah Gehrke Design: Bas Morsch Interns: Marina Henao, Ryanne Lannoye, Freek van Heerikhuize Good Girl: Loes Verputten Printing: Drukkerij Slinger, Alkmaar Contributors: Artun Alaska Arasli, Nuno Barroso, Carly Blair, Basje Boer, Brenda Bosma, Leon Caren, Zofia Ciechowska, Sarah Gehrke, Viktor Hachmang, Marc van der Holst, Geoff Kim, Steven McCarron, Ye Rin Mok, Bas Morsch, Martyn F Overweel, Jussi Puikkonen. Christopher Schreck, Eno Swinnen, Pim Top, Johanna Valdés, Gert Verbeek and Karin Wolters Distribution: Amsterdam: Carly Blair, Tessel Dekker, Alice Driesen, Bauke Karel, Sandrine Mary, Ana Milheiro, Fedor Oduber, Ansuya Spreksel, Stefan Stasko, Patrick van der Klugt. Utrecht: Freyja van den Boom, Janna Smeets Groningen: Wout Merbis, Hedwig Plomp Den Haag: Leroy Verbeet Rotterdam: Ruben Rietveld, Ilse van der Spoel Leeuwarden: Jan Pier Brands Leiden: Anne Hillebrand Almere: Remco Brinkhuis Haarlem: Yannick Tinbergen, Bert Zaremba Nijmegen Arno de Vreng Tilburg/Eindhoven: Kevin Jansen Belgium: Kasper-Jan Raeman Pick up Subbacultcha! Magazine here (among 500 other places): Amsterdam: Kriterion, Canvas, American Apparel, Episode, CREA, De Balie, Melkweg, Paradiso, OT301, De Nieuwe Anita, Restored, Zipper, Concerto Utrecht: Ekko, ’t Hoogt, Tivoli, The Village, Revenge, Plato, dB’s Rotterdam: Worm, Rotown, Lantaren Venster, De Witte Aap, Willem de Kooning Academie If you want your bar, venue, store or business to be on the distribution list, please send us an email.

Advertising To advertise in Subbacultcha! Magazine send an email to magazine@subbacultcha.nl.

Memberships Become a member of Subbacultcha!. For only €7 a month you get free access to all Subbacultcha! shows and the monthly magazine sent to your house. Plus, you get a fresh Subbacultcha! bag. Check the website to sign up.

Cover by Artun Alaska Arasli Page 8

Unwinding with...

Dirty Beaches

This is Alex Zhang Hungtai aka Dirty Beaches and his band mate Frank on a bed with pristine white sheets in the Lloyd hotel, unwinding after their Museumnacht show in Amsterdam.

The photo was taken by Jussi Puikkonen.

Top 5

1

Last month at our office

Exhibition: Kathrin Klingner

Last month, the sensitive and detailed drawings of Kathrin Klinger were on display at our office and it sure was one of the finest exhibitions we’ve had so far. The opening was a blast too, with a room full of people enjoying Marina’s immaculate pumpkin soup, free Vedett beer and a live set by none other than Wise Blood.

2

Community: Swill Children

Besides releasing music by acts such as Lucky Dragons and W-H-I-T-E, the folks down at Brooklyn-based art collective Swill Children also host events, run a website and put out wonderful publications. swillchildren.org.

3

TV Series: Twin Peaks

Back in 1990, David Lynch got together with Hill Street Blues director Mark Frost to create one of the best TV series ever made. We bought the complete series online for a bargain price and just can’t stop watching.

4

Song: Glass Candy - Warm in Winter

Every month there is a song that we play so often, we start calling it the office anthem. This month it was Glass Candy, with their uplifting dance pop jam ‘Warm in Winter’. The perfect song to get you through another cold and dark winter’s day. We Love You!

5

Music: Twin Sister Rooftop Session

Twin Sister came down to our office for a Monday morning rooftop session. The sun was out, lots of people came and the sound was amazing. Check the video on our website and see for yourself.

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Subbacultcha! is all about a membership

The Dodos 14/12 Free for members Illustration by Eno Swinnen

Become a member of Subbacultcha! for only â‚Ź7 a month and see the Dodos (and lots of other shows) for free.

Sign up at subbacultcha.nl and see page 59 for the full list of shows Page 11

New Music

This month’s recommendations

By Zofia Ciechowska

Juno Akasawa

junoakasawa.bandcamp.com

Juno Akasawa makes beats that sound like an old modem having wild sex with a fax machine. This Parisian producer’s most recent release, Hyperspace V1, is a sweaty, erratic mess of chopped-up bleeps, blaps and synths. Although completely chaotic, it all somehow falls into place as the music jitters and jolts and then turns into a smooth wave of sound. You might have to sit this one out if you like to boogie, but those who like a bit of a mindfuck should gobble it up in no time.

Jesse Ruins

jesseruins.bandcamp.com No one knows anything about Jesse Ruins, so sorry for kind of regurgitating what everyone else is saying about this dude/dudette from the Tokyo ‘bedroom pop scene’ (whatever that means, yeah). So instead of telling you about the hazy quiet music that crescendos into a chaotic wall of sound and is totally, really, super very good, I’m going to tell you that apparently all the underground Japanese music zines are going on about how Jesse Ruins wore this weird jumper knitted out of udon noodles and wasabi during his/her gig and then ripped it off and tossed it into the crowd, who promptly devoured it and howled for more. A-woooooooooooooooooo!

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New Music

Acid Glasses

www.acidglasses.tumblr.com

Please don’t sigh and turn the page if I mention the words ‘bedroom’ and ‘project’ in the same sentence. Nick Burk is from Memphis, he likes getting stoned with his friends and hanging out with his gf. He’s pretty normal in that way until you hear his music which is totally not normal and therefore good. Each track of his is pretty distinct from the rest, so I can’t really give you a nice pie chart with electronic/new wave/garage percentages, sorry. Just take my word for it. Also, his most recent video ‘Jpeg Hoarder’ is a visual treat of random-ass clips and an unceasing three-note guitar loop.

SFV Acid

www.sfvacid.com For those unacquainted with the term, SFV stands for San Fernando Valley, that part of LA that is stereotypically rife with peroxide blond botox barbies. So yes, So Cal Mr Zane Reynolds aka SFV Acid obviously likes being a bit subversive if you get a load of his body twitching beats. In his own words, ‘it’s acid, deep, hardcore, moody and bizarre!’

Check out his record New West Coast, released earlier this year on PPM, the label of No Age’s Dean Spunt.

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New Music

continued

Peace

www.peaceforeverever.co.uk Don’t know how to talk to that cute skinny-jean-clad boy/girl at that awesome party? Next time ask the DJ to play this band’s track ‘Bblood’, then do some casual shoulder-shrugging and foot-tapping and make your way over and say hi. They’ll say hi back and start shoulder-shrugging too. You’ll be snogging in the loos in no time, all thanks to this English Midlands band’s tropical guitars and wooing vocals. Beware of the video though, it will make you dizzy as hell.

King Krule

www.kingkrule.com

Having previously hid under his Zoo Kid moniker, young Archy Marshall is rapidly emerging from his Peckham hideout in south-east London under his swish new name King Krule. Yes, we’ve already been on about this little-dude-with-the-super-suave-super-mature-voice, but we aren’t going to shut up just yet because boy, is this boy talented!

And if you don’t think he’s talented, he’s pretty handsome, so there, he wins on all fronts! His new self-titled EP is out on True Panther, so cram your ears with Marshall’s smooth croons and guitar shuffles before we have to start gushing about him again. PS And check out his other side project called DJ JD Sports!

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Sonic Acts XIV Travelling Time

Art is whAt remAins After everything else is destroyed or forgotten Jack Burnham (1974) Great Western Salt Works

Explorations in art, science, music & technology

23–26 February 2012 Amsterdam www.sonicacts.com

We Saw You

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Spotted at Subbacultcha

Photo by Pim Top

What’s the last album you downloaded? Ersatz GB by The Fall. Raw, sexy, tough and clever as ever!

Sidhi Achmat, spotted at the Wise Blood concert in WORM, Rotterdam on 12 November

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Features

Who Let the Blogs out?!

When it comes to music, mp3 blogs help us navigate the internet’s unfathomable depths. But where everyone has an opinion, whose do you trust? There’s no denying that the internet is a useful tool for finding new music. But if we have to consume information faster and more efficiently to avoid drowning in a sea of information, do we put ourselves at risk only skimming the surface of things? We ask online music experts for their take on the situation.

Words by Carly Blair. With insights from Mike Sniper (Captured Tracks), Amanda Brown (100% Silk), Derek Evers (Impose Magazine) and Justin Gage (Aquarium Drunkard) Illustrations by Geoff Kim

The internet didn’t always exist. It’s hard to imagine and easy to forget that sometimes. Since its advent in the late ’80s, the internet has gone from a bizarre underworld frequented by only the hardcore-est of geeks to, quite simply, omnipresent, absorbing other technologies and becoming progressively more integrated into every aspect of our lives. With it comes a lot of promise – of access to an essentially infinite store of information; Page 18

of the ability to connect with likeminded people all over the world; of the democratisation of information.

The challenge now is to figure out how to navigate the internet’s unfathomable depths. When it comes to music, mp3 blogs increasingly serve as our guides.

The first mp3 blogs (e.g. Fluxblog) were started with the pragmatic mission of sharing hard-to-find and/

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

‘The end result is a blogosphere that is surprisingly homogeneous, given the infinite possibilities for individual self-expression the internet offers.’ or obscure music. In the decade since, mp3 blogs have not only proliferated, bloggers have come to be viewed as modern day taste-makers. The power of blogosphere hype to influence record sales has been widely touted, and has of course not gone unnoticed by labels in search of a bit of free publicity. Blogs used to be more of a means Page 20

of self-expression. Nowadays, people can make a living from blogging, and more page hits mean more advertising revenue. Why not mix in a bit of mainstream coverage, or try to ride the latest hype wave? The end result is a blogosphere that is surprisingly homogeneous, given the infinite possibilities for individual self-expression

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the internet offers. Not to mention able for sifting through on a daily baone that favours staying current over sis is pretty overwhelming. It’s easy to get lost down what Sniper refers to as covering stuff that’s meritorious.

‘YouTube music k-holes’, only to reWe used to rely on gatekeep- emerge some time later completeers with extensive knowledge and ex- ly baffled by how much time you just pertise, such as labels or radio DJs, spent there. You can focus on a handto select the music we were exposed ful of blogs, or you can use an aggreto. Now that information is free- gator such as The Hype Machine or ly available and everyone can share Elbo.ws to skim the internet’s surtheir opinion, these gatekeepers have face, but even trying to be picky can less and less power. But in the ab- be fruitless in the battle against inforsence of traditionally vetted expertise, mation overload. whose opinion does one trust? By virWhile the proliferation of digitue of caring enough to write about music, perhaps bloggers are discern- tal music and of information in gening enough - ‘if lots of music nerds eral is a natural consequence of more like you, you’re probably pretty good,’ and more people getting online, it’s Derek Evers notes - but Mike Snip- also an indication that the way we er sees it differently. ‘I used to think consume information is changing. [pre-approval by elitist music snobs] Because there is so much to choose was a bad thing, but the more I think from, and we feel pressure or tempabout it, maybe it’s for the best, be- tation to know as much of it as possicause the majority of bloggers aren’t ble, we’re taking in smaller chunks at richly educated in music history and a faster pace. This certainly facilitates where things come from.’ In any case, discovering a larger quantity of muby completely opening the floodgates, sic. But, as Justin Gage observes, ‘here we put ourselves at risk of drowning in the second decade of the 21st century, there is an unparalleled opporin an ocean of opinions. tunity to explore and listen to more Of course, it’s not just opin- music than at any other time in hisions that have flooded the inter- tory. Because of this, we are now also net. If one chooses to acknowledge faced with the challenge of qualiit, the amount of new music avail- ty over quantity—meaning, on what Page 21

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

‘By completely opening the floodgates, we put ourselves at risk of drowning in an ocean of opinions.’ level are you able to engage with the offering it cursory attention, thereby 20,000 albums on your computer? In depriving ourselves of the opportunity a lot of ways, the connections people to truly understand and appreciate it. have with music are not as deep as I think I’m not the only one havthey were, say, a decade ago.’ ing a kind of existential crisis nowaThis touches on precisely what days, feeling like the fuller life gets, troubles me most. Music listening is the emptier it feels. I’m not saying you becoming a cycle of ‘in one ear and should throw your laptop out the winout the other’. As we’ve traded pur- dow and disconnect completely, but I chasing music on cheaply manufac- do think that finding balance is a crutured media that fall apart after a cial part of finding peace. Embrace while for owning an online reposito- the internet, but do so critically. Mayry of files that will ‘last forever’, the be I’m just a whiny old fart, fighting music itself has ironically started to a Sisyphean battle against the boulbe treated like something cheap and der of changing times. You 21st-centemporary; our memories of songs tury kids can go ahead and consume end up like so much land-filled waste, music however you want. But if you’re buried under a pile of other stuff and ever feeling overwhelmed, considslowly decaying. In our obsession with er Amanda Brown’s advice: ‘You can’t being as familiar with as many things avoid the cycle, you just have to make as possible and consuming informa- sure you have better things to do than tion efficiently, we sacrifice revisit- pay too close attention to it.’ After all, ing the familiar and beloved. What’s having more cool shit to choose from even more disturbing to contemplate than you could ever possibly find time is that we may also lose our ability to for is actually awesome. We might as appreciate complex music by only ever well relax and just enjoy it.

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

Maria Minerva

Estonian dreamgaze girl Maria Juur aka Maria Minerva is the perfect product of the modern-day music industry. Maria is riding the musical wave of the progressive retro generation, who crystallise information overload into reverb-drenched, nostalgic and personal documents of time and sentiment. Crucial instrument... a Macbook.

Or is it?

Questions emailed by Bas Morsch. Photos by Nuno Barroso

What kind of computer do you have? A Macbook.

Are you attached to it? Yes, very much so.

How much time do you spend with it?

Too much.

Any flaws or weird characteristics, like a dying battery, a clicking CD drive or no ‘escape’ key? No. Page 24

Do you have stickers on your computer?

Yes, a sticker with the number zero on it to hide the Mac logo.

What is your desktop image? A chain on a white background.

How often do you change your desktop image? Once a year.

Do you feel that a desktop image is a way of expressing yourself ? No.

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Maria Minerva

‘I don’t know where everyone else is going but I might try to go offline.’

Does your desktop get messy at times? It is very messy.

Is your computer well organised/structured? You know, with folders and all… Sort of.

If someone were to find your laptop, would he/she find secrets on there?

Yes, everything. Love letters, porn, shitty unreleased songs etc.

How many (Facebook) friends do you have? Quit Facebook two months ago, only kept my Minerva page.

What was the last song you downloaded? Victor vs Suarez - Set Me Free.

Wanna share your best bookmark? www. neti.ee.

What was your last tweet? Quit Twitter.

What do you think about emoticons?

Which one’s your favourite? :)) and :D and 8) - use em all the time, cuz I’m 12 inside.

Are you swallowed up by the internet?

Kind of, it’s getting better. Once I get an agent, I hope that I have to do less emails.

Are you swallowed up by email? Yes, cuz I do not have an agent.

Would you want it to be different? Yeah, I only wanna write to my best Page 26

friends and not discuss plane tickets etc.

Do you like chaos? Not really, but it happens to me a lot.

Are you a good multi-tasker? Concentration > multi-tasking.

Do you feel you (or everyone) is getting addicted to information? Maybe, but at the end of the day, there is only a limited amount of information that a person can handle.

Where does it all go? I don’t know where everyone else is going but I might try to go offline.

What role does your computer play in your music and your career? MY EVERYTHING. On the cover of my first release, the tape Tallinn at Dawn, there is a webcam pic of me in my old flat in Tallinn. I’m looking out to the world. After this, I started making music on my computer.

Sent an email to my label, Not Not Fun. Now I am touring and actually seeing the world. It is nice.

Maria Minerva plays on 07 December in OT301 in Amsterdam and on 08 December in Roodkapje in Rotterdam. Both shows are free for Subbacultcha! members.

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

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High Places

We had a little chat with the pixelated online faces of Rob Barber and Mary Pearson of High Places.

We talked about rattlesnakes and worldwideweb stuff, and then our webcams froze and we resorted to emoticons. Online dating’s finest moment.

Skype interview by Zofia Ciechowska. Photos by Ye Rin Mok

What does the space where you make music look and feel like? Where does your music come to you?

Rob and Mary: We work in our bedrooms, but funnily enough, we work separately in our respective houses. With the type of music we make it’s actually better to work on our own and then compare notes.

Most of the time we email each other things. And then we create a sort of virtual back-and-forth collage and send each other surprises. Mary lives less than a mile from me, anyway.

Rob: When we moved to LA, we realised we can’t work in sterile spaces.

I need a place where I can look out, in New York I felt like I was in a submarine. Here in LA, the urban surroundings suddenly turn into hot desert or snow-peaked mountains. I have an undeveloped lot that looks like a romanticised Repo Man wasteland. My yard is like the gate to hell with all its lizards, snakes and desert spiders and my house is covered in cobwebs. The sun is so hot and bright it feels like it’s pushing down on you. When we were filming the video for ‘Altos Lugares’ at 6am in the cold desert, I nearly stepped on a rattlesnake that couldn’t move because it was still too cold, but Page 29

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

High Places

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High Places

it gave me a look that said ‘if it were hotter, I would fuck you up.’

In the pre-music blog era, how did you dig up new music?

Rob: Through skateboarding, both of us. I grew up in the ’80s in Philadelphia and NYC, my background was in punk, hardcore and hip hop. I saw it all firsthand, someone’s older brother would take us to a gig, there was no age restriction then. Or I would go to the CBGB matinees and see six band bills. I once saw My Bloody Valentine by accident when I was 15 or 16, they were supporting Dinosaur Jr. I remember being blinded by a bright light and hearing what sounded like a jet taking off, thinking ‘oh my god, what is happening?’ I was probably high at the time.

Mary: Mixtapes made by my friends. My sister knew every song on the radio when we were kids. She would teach herself chords on the guitar and ask me to sing. In high school it was band T-shirts. MTV was huge, my friends and I would tape music videos and re-watch them at home because most of us didn’t have cable.

are doing. But it’s more of an unintentional search, finding things in random online places. And with RSS feeds you just end up in a house of mirrors of web stuff.

Rob: I meet many young kids with huge amounts of knowledge about music now that even the most obscure albums can be found online.

Out of curiosity, I searched for footage from a concert I went to in 1980 and I suddenly found myself watching the 15-year-old version of myself watching a band on YouTube. It was crazy, weird and cool at the same time.

What do you think of the short life span imposed on music nowadays?

Rob: There’s an obsession to be first in the music industry, especially in music journalism. This leads to allocating a shelf-life to potentially good things, and because so much is available, attention spans are short and stuff gets overlooked. I wish people had the ability to listen more closely, I’m guilty of this too, but they often don’t. But this short attention span is a double-edged sword, it means things get overlooked, but it also keeps musicians on their creDo you follow music blogs?

Rob and Mary: We are always ative toes. The more people make mupretty interested to see what people sic, the better. It’s good for society and Page 32

Who Let the Blogs out?!

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‘There’s an obsession to be first in the music industry, especially in music journalism’

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High Places

want to make music in any other time period. The freedom to do what you want is much greater now. People’s Everyone likes free stuff, but should motivation is to make music, no one goes into it to make money. music be free?

Rob: Mary and I have different opinions on this. I’d rather have an If you could create any online experiaudience and be heard through ille- ence, what would it be? Like pulling gal downloads than to not have peo- food out of a screen?

Mary: I’d be scared to eat someple listen to my music at all. I’m happy with giving music away if the listen- thing off the Internet, it would taste er pays to come to a concert. Besides, of plastic. I would develop a way of a lot of people are in a bad place right trying clothes online by projecting a now. I can’t expect people to not listen hologram onto your body. You could to music if they can’t afford it. Some even feel the texture!

Rob: I want to send holographof our fans would have never come to see us if they hadn’t illegally down- ic messages like Princess Leia did loaded our work. It’s a gift to have an through R2D2. audience. Selling a hundred thousand records as an indie band will never If you could email the whole world, happen again - my expectations are what would you send them?

Rob: Something about Viagra different.

Mary: I’m not on the same page or Rolex watches. But ours would be as Rob. People often have a sense of real and everyone would think it was entitlement when it comes to online spam and then the one naive old lady music. They will always find a way to from Kansas would believe it and she download it for free. And while they would win. would never steal from their friends, they treat musicians very differently.

High Places play on 14 December in OT301 Rob: Art and music have turned in Amsterdam. The show is free for Subbainto Mad Max, barbarians with cars cultcha! members. Other live dates: 13/12 with spikes and stuff. It’s a shitty time, State-X New Forms Festival, Den Haag there’s nothing you can do about it, but enjoy what you can. I wouldn’t culture in general, even if getting attention is hard.

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

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Iceage

The Danish youngsters from blog buzz band Iceage are hailed as the saviours of punk.

With their debut album New Brigade being economically short and their live shows notorious for being fiercely energetic (frontman Elias often sings with bloodied gums), you’ll never know what just hit you. We phoned Elias (19) in his hometown Copenhagen and learned that he has a pretty down-to-earth composure.

‘I don’t think you should really believe anything you read about yourself.’

Interview by Brenda Bosma.

Images found on iceagecopenhagen.blogspot.com Page 35

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

Iceage

Hi Elias, what do you do in general?

Not really anything. I hang around. I don’t work or study at the moment, so I just hang around with friends and such.

What are you going to do today?

I haven’t figured it out yet. It’s one o’clock here. Just now, I was just sitting in my room reading.

There has been a lot of buzz around Iceage. Some critics and blogs are hailing you as the saviours of punk. Do you care about such praise?

No, I don’t really care what most of the press are saying, because I know they just try to sensationalise things. I don’t think you should really believe anything you read about yourself.

Had you expected this much exposure, or do you feel the attention suits other bands better?

I don’t know, I guess other bands welcome the exposure more than we do. I don’t know if most of those bands should be exposed anyway. But I didn’t see it coming at all. When we first put out the record in January, we only pressed 500 copies. We didn’t expect to necessarily have to press any more. It just exploded.

And now you have two managers?

We’ve known Nis and Nis for quite some time. They’re not really in the business. Since we are not able to

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do it all ourselves, we took their offer to help us. It’s not like we have contracts or anything. They are just goodhearted guys who want to help out.

I guess your band name has nothing to do with cartoons, nor with a geological era - or does it?

Haha no, it has nothing to do with that. We just came up with it. It was a long time ago that I saw that movie. I don’t really remember it that well.

Do you remember what you were thinking about when you came up with the intriguing lyrics ‘I thought I had it, but they told me it was just a broken bone’?

Well, I don’t want to get too upclose-and-personal, but it’s about wanting something and thinking that you got it, but it’s not what you thought it was gonna be like.

If you would like to tell us a bit about your background, I’ll try not to go on about your young age.

Haha, yes, that’s so boring. I’ve known the guys for some time now.

I met Dan and Johan through school, we started hanging out and found out we had similar tastes. Me and Jakob lived in the same neighbourhood. In 2008, we loosely started playing together. A friend of ours had a drum kit stashed in Jakob’s attic. We started hanging out there a lot. We didn’t rePage 37

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Iceage

ally play with a purpose to start a real band. It was more to pass time really.

Do you reckon you want to be doing this for much longer? Do you see an Iceage box set released someday?

Right now it does all feel good, but I can’t say how it’ll feel in a year.

I have no idea. We have some other stuff, mainly music projects, that we’d like to realise, but it’s just whatever happens, happens. We’ll do it for as long as the inspiration is there.

Do you ever feel distracted onstage and, for instance, think about your mom’s homemade Danishes?

When we were on tour in the US, we definitely felt homesick sometimes.

As I understand very little about aggression, I guess I want to ask you if you nonetheless wouldn’t want to be in a football stadium yelling slogans to the referee?

Oh no, I wouldn’t say that. I think aggression and violence, when involved directly with it, can be a way of... because it is so chaotic and so much is going on, it can be a way to forget yourself and commit yourself to the now. I guess that’s why it makes sense to me.

Have you ever set anything on fire?

Yes. What’s with you referring to the auPage 38

dience as ‘victims’? Do they buy records and t-shirts afterwards or do they stumble home and badmouth you the next day?

The victim thing is just misunderstood. There was a picture of one of our friends who got pushed in the moshpit and got injured. He was a victim of that, but we don’t look at our audience as victims. We see them as like-minded people.

There’s some disturbing imagery on your blog and Myspace. There are some pictures of bloody noses, an animated gif of a man French-kissing a goat.

But what’s up with Liberian warlordturned-priest General Butt Naked? He is stated as an influence. He doesn’t influence your stage presence, does he?

Haha, it’s been on there since we started the Myspace page. It was Dan who put it there. I don’t think we’ve been directly influenced by him. He’s a pretty extreme guy.

Iceage play on 14 January in OT301 in Amsterdam. The show is free for Subbacultcha! members. Other live dates: 13/01 - Eurosonic, Groningen

Who Let the Blogs out?!

Features

The Men Brooklyn’s The Men are as virile and no-frills as their name implies, playing hardcore post-punk that’s melodic, distorted and extremely loud.

One night, after a show in New York, photographer Christopher Schreck went running up and down the streets with them and took some photos while they were climbing on window grating, jumping into garbage piles, lifting each other up and grabbing people on the street. He tried capturing it all using some double-exposure and thinks the shots reflect the band’s overall tone.

We think so too.

Photos by Christopher Schreck Page 39

Features

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Who Let the Blogs out?!

The Men

Features

The Men play on 21 January in OCCII in Amsterdam and on 22 January in Ekko in Utrecht.

Both shows are free for Subbacultcha! members. Other live dates: 12/12 - Exit, Rotterdam, 20/12 - Vera, Groningen Page 41

Features

Who Let the Blogs out?!

5 Albums you missed

As the year draws to a close, we’re scraping the last bits of jam out of this year’s new music jar and getting ready to open next year’s can of worms. So here they are: five of this year’s finest and perhaps most overlooked albums, arranged in no particular order since they are all excellent, or at least they are crazy weird.

Some of the bands here are so obscure that they cannot be seen with the bare human eye (or blog’s eye for that matter). To reveal them in all their alternative glory, take this magazine into a pitch-black room, put on some sunglasses and squint really, really hard.

scare the shit out of me, but in that kind of way that makes me want to put my ear up to the speaker blasting this album and irreparably damage my hearing. Zach Hill, Flatlander and MC Ride have released a beast of a record into the wild which has gone on some sick killing spree, wiping out all musical competition this year.

Flamingods Sun

Sun is pretty much like that big ball of fire shining through your window as you read this column – it seems like no big deal but actually it is an exploding radioactive star that could Death Grips swallow up our whole solar system.

It’s about five London boys drinking Exmilitary too much tropical juice drink, getting a sugar rush and banging on weird Exmilitary is a collection of thirteen tribal instruments and making a lot of maniac tracks that beat you uncon- unclassifiable, happy racket. And fiscious with their clenched fists of rag- nally, it has a lovely homemade sound ing noise and rabid, barking vocals, to it that makes you feel like you’re Charles Manson clips included. To be watching these dudes rehearse in your quite honest, Death Grips just plain living room.

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By Zofia Ciechowska

Features

course and conjuring up spooky, horrorcore-inspired beats interspersed with Mortal Kombat samples. This guy gets a massive high five for his good sense of humour (see album title) and general tomfoolery. To be Chris Kirkley of Sahel Sounds trav- quite honest, I mainly like this album elled around Mali and Mauretania to because SGP compares his penis to a discover that the main mode of lis- flying broomstick from Harry Potter. tening and sharing music there was No but really, it’s damn good and if through mobile phones and blue- you haven’t listened to this then you’re tooth. He recorded a collection of waaaay behind. Get on it. these local tunes and released it in the USA, it gained a lot of hype and subsequently got remixed by a numPink Dollaz ber of unknown dudes. Music for Saharan Cellphones is mindblowingly Mixtape Volume I awesome firstly because it is the most tricked-out collection of distorted African beats to date but also because Californian five-piece girl rap group it has crossed so many different bor- Pink Dollaz released this mixtape in ders on so many different levels that 2010, but I am putting it in here beit makes my head hurt when I think cause a) I just can and b) it deserves about it. And it’s free! another shot at being the hottest shit in the world. An unabashed ghetto teen girl manifesto, Mixtape Volume I is the audio counterpart to slashSpaceghostpurrp ing your ex-boyfriend’s tyres and pissBlvcklvnd Rvdix 66.6 (1991) ing on his air conditioner. Exploding with window-shattering basslines and rap lines that cover cunnilingus and Miami-based 20-year-old Spaceg- hand-me-down Gucci, this record is hostpurrp is a cheeky little bastard the best Xmas present you could give who likes rapping about sexual inter- your little sister.

V/A Music for Saharan Cellphones

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Art

Featured Artist

Artun Alaska Arasli

On the following pages you’ll find the work of Artun Alaska Arasli (1987). The images printed are part of a bigger installation piece with which he won the Gerrit Rietveld Price 2011. In his installation Artun combines and re-interprets existing, often iconic images, objects and words, blending them into a very personal, endearing and unique world where all original meaning is lost. A world that looks like a registration of fading memories and all emotions attached to it.

Artun’s work is on display at the Subbacultcha office from 6-27 January. Da Costakade 150, Amsterdam. Monday to Thursday from 11.00-17.00.

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Art

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Art

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Featured Artist

Artun Alaska Arasli

Art

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99 Problems and the Bitch... knows the anwser

By Brenda Bosma Illustration by Martyn F Overweel

UN CERTAIN REGARD

FESTIVAL DE CANNES

AARON JOHNSON

IMOGEN POOTS

MATTHEW BEARD

HANNAH MURRAY

DANIEL KALUUYA

VANAF 8 DECEMBER VERKRIJGBAAR OP DVD 3at Page 48

By Gert Verbeek and Basje Boer

Film

New Films and DVDs

The Taqwacores

We Need to Talk about Kevin

The Taqwacores introduces a subculture within the American hardcore underground: the Islamic punk scene. Shy new tenant Yusef meets some of these punks in his claustrophobic squat in Buffalo, New York.

While searching for romance in Islam, he witnesses the clashes between straight-edge fanatic Umar and pot-smoking guitarist Jehangir. Everything goes horribly wrong when members of an orthodox band are challenged during a final punk rock party.

The film consists of a succession of incidents, and some of the acting is rather poor, but all the shortcomings of the movie are compensated by vivid characters.

My favourite is foul-mouthed, militant feminist Rabeya, who wears a burqa instead of a mohawk. Oh, and these squatting punks have no dogs. Now that’s a novelty. (GV) Out now on DVD.

Strawberry jam. Red wine.

Ketchup. Paint. In her newest film We Need to Talk about Kevin, Scottish director Lynne Ramsay suggests impending violence by using gory close-ups of fluids that resemble blood.

Skipping back and forth in time, Ramsay tells the story of Eva and her son Kevin. From the day that he’s born up to his years as a moody teen, Kevin seemingly wants nothing more than to agonise his mother. According to his dad, he’s just another rowdy boy, and his little sister adores him no matter what. But Eva knows that something’s terribly wrong with her devil-eyed son. Rather than dissecting Kevin’s psyche, Ramsay zooms in on Eva’s guilt, making We Need to Talk about Kevin a beautifully crafted and surprisingly touching hybrid between horror and arthouse. (BB) In cinemas from 3 November.

Eyad Zahra, 2010

Lynne Ramsay, 2011

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Fashion

Worn Out

By Karin Wolters

These items of clothing were worn by several people on 5 November at the Dirty Beaches show in Foam Pop-in in Amsterdam.

Page 50

By Zofia Ciechowska Photo by Basje Boer

What’s Cooking?

Food

Kink Krule Koek

200g grated carrot 1 knob of freshly chopped ginger 1 handful sultanas 200g dark brown sugar 150ml sunflower oil 2 large eggs

• Preheat your oven to 180° C. Mix the flour, baking powder, cloves and cinnamon in a bowl.

• In a separate, bigger bowl, combine the brown sugar, oil and eggs and stir until smooth.

Add the grated carrot, chopped ginger and sultanas.

• Gradually sift the contents of the other bowl into the bigger bowl and stir with all your might until you get a nice and smooth mixture.

• Line a round baking tin with some greaseproof paper and

175g plain flour 2 tsp baking powder 2 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp ground cloves A generous shake of icing sugar

slowly pour in the cake mix. Lick the spoon, lick the bowl, lick the kitchen top, you know you want to.

• Stick the cake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until a carefully inserted toothpick comes out clean.

• For those with strong willpower, leave to cool and then sprinkle generously with icing sugar. If not, scoff it down immediately with a cold glass of milk in hand to soothe your burnt mouth, fools!

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Books

Illustration by Viktor Hachmang

100 STORIES

DONALD BARTHELME Page 52

By Marc van der Holst

How to read...

Books

Donald Barthelme

Donald Barthelme is The King of Modern Short Stories, and ‘funny as hell’. His stories are crowded with balloons, gerbils, angels, weeping fathers, trombonists and sculptors appearing on existentialist game shows.

Some people will tell you to just get his Sixty Stories, and they are 6/10 right. A lot of the classics are in there (‘Me and Miss Mandible’, ‘The Balloon’, ‘Robert Kennedy Saved from Drowning’, ‘The School’), as well as my personal favourite ‘The King of Jazz’:

songs (‘How I Write My Songs’).

But you’re also gonna need the companion collection Forty Stories, because you don’t wanna miss out on ‘The Genius’, ‘At the Tolstoy Museum’ (with some of Barthelme’s signature 19thcentury cut-and-paste collages) and ‘The Baby’. Or ‘Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby’, which is the funniest story about a public hanging ever. (‘It didn’t rain, the event was well attended, and we didn’t run out of Scotch, or anything.’)

Well I’m the king of jazz now, thought Hokie Mokie to himself as he oiled the slide on his trombone.

Hasn’t been a ’bone man been king of jazz for many years. But now that Spicy MacLammermoor, the old king, is dead, I guess I’m it.

Maybe I better play a few notes out of this window here, to reassure myself.

So, One Hundred Stories then.

After which his novels, among them The Dead Father and Snow White (which took up a whole issue of The New Yorker in 1967) are also very recommended reading. Barthelismo! 2

It also has ‘A Manual for Sons’, and there’s even a story in there that teaches you how to write

jessamyn.com/barth/, which has a lot of the stories mentioned above online.

A term coined by Thomas Pynchon, who thought Barthelme’s work conveyed something of ‘the clarity and sweep, the intensity of emotion, the transcendent weirdness of the primary experience.’

1) 2)

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99 Problems and the Bitch... knows the answer Hoi Bitch, Ik wilde vroeger gevierd radiopresentator worden. Nu ben ik alweer jaren buschauffeur van een streekbus. Waarom heb je als kind toch altijd van die onmogelijke dromen? En waarom moet je dat teruglezen in een met hartjes bestickerd cahier van je basisschool? Derrick Och Derrick, maar nu hoef je niet meer zo spastisch die stempel precies in het juiste vakje te krijgen. Sterker nog, je kunt rustig een beetje lachen om de autoloze mensjes met hun ontoereikende saldi. En het is vast veel leuker dan met een laffe erectie Maria Mena’s nieuwste aan te moeten kondigen. Ik zou in ieder geval veel liever ‘It’s the Final Countdown’ neuriën en weten dat als je bij de ‘bridge’ bent aanbeland, het licht op groen springt. Hou je taai, ouwe! B.

By Brenda Bosma Illustration by Martyn F Overweel

zijn. Anderen horen op de fiets hun schoonmoeder “gastendoekjes” uitspreken met de klemtoon op een rare plek. Wat is gekker, weet je. Laat anders je spatbord eraf frezen door een expert. En dat bedoel ik op een gekke manier in overdrachtelijke zin. Ja, of ‘mute’ de boel.

Succes, B.

Lieve Bitch, Heb je zelf eigenlijk ook problemen? Groet, Tom Wel, de Bitch is nooit aangehouden “for doin fifty-five in a fifty-fo”, maar ik kom er in ieder geval amper aan toe. Ik ben erachter gekomen dat problemen een soort onkruid zijn waar de beste tuintegels niet van gespaard blijven. En ik wil best wel eens wat schonere tegels in mijn leven. Na pak en beet 99 opgeloste probleempjes van anderen ben ik eigenlijk ook wel Beste Bitch, redelijk uit ge-’troubleshoot’, Ik denk de hele tijd het notificatie- moet ik zeggen. Ik weet nog deuntje van m’n Gmail te horen. dat ik het vroeger altijd schitWord ik gek? Dank, Josephine te-rend vond om te lezen dat je Hoi Josephine, tandpasta met wat plukjes peHeb je toevallig ook Beyonce’s terselie op je hoofd moest sme‘Crazy’ als ringtone? Je hebt ren als je last had van puistjes of mensen die “tieten, kont” menen dat je die slungelige Liam Gallate horen als ze aan het fietsen gher-hunk in je klas gewoon een Page 54

99 Problems and the Bitch...

knows the answer

geurend liefdesbriefje moest toeschuiven. Ik ben alle Mona’s en Klaziens eeuwig dankbaar voor hun gerichte advies. Rijst het volgende probleem. Wie gaat al jullie probleempjes behandelen als de Bitch er de brui aan geeft (ja, of omkomt bij een ‘drive-by’

natuurlijk)? Jullie googlen die shit voortaan maar lekker zelf.

Kusjes, B.

Dit was de laatse 99 Problems... Tijd voor wat nieuws. vanaf februari staat op deze pagina’s een horoscoop.

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Agenda Check out the best contemporary concerts, alongside free cutting-edge side programmes and after parties in the ‘Listen To This Cafe’

Shows in December and January

30 January

Elbipolis ft. Brezel Göring / Barock Lounge with Radio 4 VIRUS 16 March Lunapark with 22Tracks.com 17 March Bang On A Can All-Stars with Subbacultcha! and Future Vintage 18 May Kronos Quartet with Viral Radio

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Call het Muziekgebouw or buy tickets at the register 020-788 20 00 | www.muziekgebouw.nl

Agenda On the following pages:

Subbacultcha! concerts, totally free for members Page 59

Other shows Page 65 Free tickets Page 75

These are Indra Dunis and Aaron Coye of Peaking Lights, photographed by Christopher Schreck in Brooklyn. Peaking lights play on 3 December in OCCII in Amsterdam.

See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.nl.

Widowspeak + Crowds

01 December - WORM, Rotterdam 21.00 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members With their charming ’90s pop feel, Brooklyn trio Widowspeak have released a thoroughly enjoyable debut album on Captured Tracks earlier this year.

Their delicate mix of twangy guitars and singer Molly Hamilton’s breathy, sexy vocals make up for a dreamy and seductive sound that calls to mind several fashionable references such as Chris Isaak, David Lynch and various druggy ’90s bands. Support by Rotterdam-based noisy garage trio Crowds.

Peaking Lights + The Sandwitches 03 December - OCCII, Amsterdam 20.30 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Husband-and-wife dub-noise psych pop duo Peaking Lights released their amazing album 936 on Not Not Fun back in March, causing quite a stir in the international blogosphere with their exciting mix of dreamy pop music and bass-heavy dub grooves. Recently, the duo signed to Domino’s sub label Weird World (Washed Out, Smith Westerns), who are re-releasing the record in November. On top of that, they’ve also put together an awesome mixtape featuring some mean oriental sounds as well as groovy pop, dub and reggae, guiding us gently through their sonic landscape. And what a landscape it is! Also on the bill tonight are sweet, soft and gritty all-girl freak folk band The Sandwitches, who offer cooled-down Americana mixed in with haunted harmonies.

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See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.nl.

Maria Minerva + Light Light

07 December - OT301, Amsterdam 20.30 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members Maria Juur aka Maria Minerva has a lot going on. Besides playing psychedelic, avant-pop disco music, she is also currently writing her Masters thesis in Aural and Visual Culture. Her cassette Tallinn at Dawn and the 12” Noble Savage came out on Not Not Fun/100% Silk this summer. Settled in Lisbon by way of Estonia, this lady creates stylised compositions that echo Madonna and Prince Rama. Get ready for a night of distorted, electronic bedroom beats underlined by sultry, whiny vocals. With support from Light Light, the love child of two Amsterdam outfits, zZz and Saelors.

Miracle Fortress

07 December - Ekko, Utrecht 20.00 | €10 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Besides playing in groovy soul-pop quartet Think about Life, Montrealbased songwriter and producer Graham Van Pelt has also been making some remarkable albums with his solo project Miracle Fortress. In combining lo-fi electronics with his catchy Brian Wilson-type vocals, his debut album Five Roses sure managed to impress. On his new album Was I the Wave? the beats are slightly more up-tempo and the production is cleaner, making it a groovy collection of songs that’s bound to work well live.

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As a member you will also receive this magazine every month plus a stylish tote bag

Maria Minerva + Innercity

08 December - Roodkapje, Rotterdam 20.00 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members After a night of dancing to electric dub-disco in A’dam, Maria Minerva is headed to Rotterdam to give the Subbacultcha! members over there an idea of what they missed at OT301. Or who knows, maybe the first show will be so good that you’ll need to see it twice. Here’s your chance. Show up early for a set from Antwerp-based crouch-core electronic maximalist Innercity, who’ve just released a record on Not Not Fun with the epic title Boy in Forest Trying to Hotwire the Earth.

High Places + Cosmo V

14 December - OT301, Amsterdam 20.30 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

We’re excited to see LA-based electronic duo High Places return to Amsterdam for their third Subbacultcha! appearance. Over the past couple of years, they’ve built up quite a following with their sound-collage aesthetics and dreamlike compositions. Last month they released their brand-new album Original Colors, which sounds a bit darker than their previous efforts, and also more dance-oriented. Should make for an exciting live show. Support by Utrecht-based dream popsters Cosmo V.

The Dodos

14 December - Tivoli de Helling - Utrecht 19.30 | €14 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

On their latest album No Color, frantic indie folk two-piece The Dodos have really taken their unusual approach to instrumentation to the next level. Logan Kroeber’s drum beats are volcanic as ever, even without a bass drum.

Meric Long prefers his fingernail to a pick when he’s strumming wildly on his guitar and the recent addition of vibraphone player Keaton Snyder has made their frantic sound just that little bit richer.

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See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.nl.

Duchess Says

18 December - dB’s, Utrecht 20.30 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members This four-piece from Montreal play a groovy type of rather aggressive postpunk. The band lay down a lo-fi basecoat of drums and noise, while the Duchess herself bangs on her keytar and shouts monosyllabic vocals.

Duchess Says play their live shows with almost religious fervour, preaching the gospel of their very own cult—prepare to be converted!

Cinematic Sounds: La Chute de la Maison Usher

21 December - Melkweg Cinema, Amsterdam 19.00 | €10 | Free for Subbacultcha members

In the Cinematic Sounds series, silent movies from the 1920s are provided with a new live soundtrack. Tonight, cellist Bianca Bongers will play a new score to the 1928 film La Chute de la Maison Usher that’s based on a horror story by Edgar Allen Poe.

Last Party of the Year

30 December - De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam 20.00 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Ok guys and dolls, let’s celebrate the year in style at De Nieuwe Anita with cocktails, bands and DJs. You know, the stuff that really matters. It’s all going down on 30 December, since we all know that New Year’s Eve is way overrated. So dress up and come on down, it’s gonna be a blast.

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Shows in September

Agenda

As a member you will also receive this magazine every month plus a stylish tote bag

A Winged Victory for the Sullen 11 January - WORM, Rotterdam 21.00 | €7 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

This collaboration between ex-Sparklehorse and Stars of the Lid musician Adam Wiltzie and composer Dustin O’Halloran beautifully mixes the droning soundscapes and melancholy post-classical piano compositions of their respective solo endeavours. They’ve just released a wonderful album that sounds like a modern-day soundtrack to Twin Peaks.

Iceage

14 January - OT301, Amsterdam 20.30 | €8 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Like the Vikings before them, these boys come from Denmark to shake things up. But Iceage use axes of a different kind: with their minimalist sound they take stabs at both American hardcore and British post-punk. Get ready to pogo frantically in a desperate attempt to stay warm this coming winter!

Veronica Falls

12 January - Rotown, Rotterdam 14 January - Ekko, Utrecht 21.00/20.30 | €9 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

You’ve heard of Beachy Head, right? This high cliff near Brighton? Popular suicide spot? The place where they found Manic Street Preachers’ Richey Page 63

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See all these shows for free. Sign up at www.subbacultcha.nl.

Edwards’ car on the day he went missing? Well, Scottish band Veronica Falls wrote this cheerful pop song about it and they also sing passionately about finding love in the graveyard. Needless to say they don’t sound like a bunch of happy campers. But they do write super catchy pop songs and play them with a noisy lo-fi attitude.

The Men

21 January OCCII, Amsterdam 22 January Ekko, Utrecht 20.30 | €7/€10 | Free for Subbacultcha! members

Brooklyn’s The Men are as virile and no-frills as their name implies, playing hardcore post-punk that’s melodic, distorted and extremely loud. Their new album Leave Home came out earlier this year on Sacred Bones, and the production is so overly distorted, it pretty much feels like you’re listening to a car crash. We take it these boys will certainly bring the house down during live shows, so be sure not to miss this. Bring earplugs and a helmet, just in case.

Art

Foam photography museum, Amsterdam

Until 7 December: What’s Next? An exhibition/magazine/research project that focuses on the future of photography.

Until 15 December: Talent Fresh photo talent from around the globe.

From 16 December: Joel Sternfield - Color Solo exhibition of NY photography icon.

From 16 December: Sara-Lena Maierhofer - Dear Clark Portraying the many faces of elusive Clark.

Subbacultcha! Office

9-23 December: Martyn F Overweel Subba resident on display.

6-27 January: Artun Alaska Arasli Winner of the Gerrit Rietveld Price 2011 is setting up shop (See page 44).

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Focus

Agenda

International Film Festival Rotterdam 25 January-5 February - Various locations, Rotterdam www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com Now in its 41st edition, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is committed to independent and experimental cinema and media art from all over the world, which means you can do anything from watching ‘80s Brazilian porn to making your own film with Michel Gondry. Festival highlights include: Signals. This year, it’s dedicated to São Paulo’s notoriously seedy Boca do Lixo (literally ‘mouth of garbage’) area, focusing on the period between 1960 and 1985, when it became the source of an abundance of films of different styles and genres - from exploitation comedies through action to science fiction and pornography.

In Shorts territory, expect all kinds of short and not-so-short films - fiction, documentary and experimental works of up to 60 minutes long, plus an Upload Cinema event (the ones with the YouTube clips) and the Short Film Marathon.

A pretty special feature is the Home Movie Factory. Michel Gondry lets visitors reenact film history with his interactive installation, which provides the means and the props to shoot your own film.

For Soundtrackcity Rotterdam on Kop van Zuid, you are provided with headphones that will play four different soundtracks to the reality you’ll experience while walking around the specially designed routes.

The IFFR night-time hangout of choice will be WORM, self-proclaimed ‘institute for avant-gardist recreation’ and, lately, location of some lovely Subbacultcha nights. Come down for quality nights of films and free live performances.

The films on offer in the main programme are far too numerous to all get a mention on these pages, but given the immaculate programming reputation of the IFFR, it is safe to say that this years selection will be offering plenty of experimental, edgy, true, tasteful, wild, weird and wonderful stuff to keep you well entertained for a good few days.

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Meanwhile at Meneer Malasch....

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The War on Drags

10 December 2011 - 28 January 2012 With work of Lukas Göbel (Image), ’80s cult popstar Richenel, contemporary cult popstar Martin C. de Waal and others Opening Saturday 10 December 2011 with Voetjes van de Vloer XXX-Mas Party.

16:00 - 04:00 Live performances by Martin C. de Waal and Richenel. Don’t miss.

Meneer Malasch Postjesweg 2, Amsterdam Wed-Sat - 12:00 - 18:00 www.meneermalasch.nl

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Agenda

Shows in December and January

AGENDA 2011/2012 DEC / WOE

SUBBACULTCHA! PRESENTS

07 MIRACLE FORTRESS AMATORSKI 06 TEAM ME 11 EINDBAAS 13 22 THE MEN EMANUEL AND THE 26 FEAR RATS ON RAFTS 11 01 FUTURE ISLANDS JAN / VRIJ

JAN / WOE

JAN / VRIJ

MENEO + KODEK E.A.

JAN / ZON

SUBBACULTCHA! PRESENTS

JAN / DON

FEB / ZAT

MRT / DON

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SUBBACULTCHA! PRESENTS

Shows in December and January

Agenda

Duchess Says plays on 18 December at dB’s in Utrecht

Colin Stetson 30 November - Doornroosje, Nijmegen 01 December - Bimhuis, Amsterdam Michigan-born, Montreal-based Colin Stetson uses unusual techniques and circular breathing to conjure a variety of mournful, otherworldly sounds from his bass saxophone. His work with Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Tom Waits and many other shit-hot musicians and bands have helped him rack up plenty of street cred to boot. This year’s New History Warfare Vol. 2 - Judges is stunning, and unlike anything else out there right now, so witnessing him live should be nothing short of amazing.

Widowspeak 30 November - dB’s, Utrecht 01 December - WORM, Rotterdam This Brooklyn trio put a surfier and more upbeat spin on druggy ’90s rock, which

calls to mind the seductiveness of Mazzy Star and the doomed road-trip feel of David Lynch soundtracks. Read more on page 59.

Incubated 12: R. Stevie Moore + Gary War 01 December - Paradox, Tilburg Incubated is a monthly evening of cuttingedge music curated by the folks behind the Incubate Festival. This month’s edition features lo-fi home recording legend R. Stevie Moore, teaming up with one of his many lofi acolytes, Gary War, whose no-wavey take on the ‘genre’ should appeal to fans of Ariel Pink and John Maus.

The Sandwitches + Peaking Lights 03 December - OCCII, Amsterdam The country-inflected garage rock proffered by this San Francisco trio is sometimes rolPage 69

Agenda

Shows in December and January

licking and sometimes bittersweet, but always a pleasurable trip down memory lane.

Read more on page 59.

Austra 06 December - Paradiso, Amsterdam 07 December - Rotown, Rotterdam On this Toronto dark synth pop group’s debut, Feel It Break, singer Katie Stelmanis & co. wed the theatricality of Kate Bush with the dark atmosphere of The Knife in a way that’s operatic without being melodramatic, irresistibly danceable and totally spellbinding. Their August show sold out OT301 big time, hopefully there’ll be a bit more room to breathe this time around.

Maria Minerva 07 December - OT301, Amsterdam 08 December - Roodkapje, Rotterdam When she’s not busy studying, this leftfield chanteuse is dropping 100% Silk-approved slabs of hypnagogic bedroom funk that reside on the outskirts of Estonian pop music.

Read more on page 60.

Das Racist 08 December - Sugar Factory, Amsterdam 09 December - 013, Tilburg 10 December - Metropool, Hengelo 17 December - State-X, Den Haag They’re not joking, just joking, they are joking, just joking, they’re not joking. Or are they? These alternative hip hoppers/multimedia whizzes toss off deadpan rhymes filled with allusions to race and pop culture over consistently solid beats. Regardless of whether you find their slacker sarcasm clever or maddening, it’s undeniable that they’re a unique voice in hip hop.

State-X New Forms ft Flying Lotus, Black Lips, SBTRKT, High Places, Das Racist, The Dodos, Duchess Says, Omar Souleyman 09-18 Dec.- Paard van Troje, Den Haag A ten-day-long festival celebrating a diverse and sometimes even exciting lineup of avant-garde rock, cutting-edge electronics and nu-art on various stages around Den Haag’s centre.

Miracle Fortress

The Horrors

07 December - Ekko, Utrecht Fans of The Luyas’ electronic-infused indie rock should dig this Montreal band’s bedroom club tracks, if only because head Luya Jessie Stein used to be a touring member.

Read more on page 60.

11 December - Melkweg, Amsterdam 14 December - Doornroosje, Nijmegen When The Horrors jumped on the shoegaze bandwagon back in ’09, they made quite the splash. On their latest album, they’ve let in more ’80s post-punk influences, and even some unabashed pop. And though their paint-flinging days might be in the past, they will still put on one hell of a show.

Real Estate 07 December - Tivoli, Utrecht These Brooklyn-by-way-of-New Jersey chill bros may or may not have bothered to graduate college, but they’ve definitely earned PhDs in good vibrations by playing catchy psych pop that’s so sunshiney and relaxed, it can transport you to summers past all year round.

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Thurston Moore 12 December - De Duif, Amsterdam They say art is pain. Well, if ‘they’ are right, you’re in for a treat tonight. Apparently, Thurston Moore thought the best remedy for his sorrow after breaking up with his

Shows in December and January

wife and bandmate Kim Gordon was extensive touring. Though his folk-ish solo work is a sharp departure from what he did with noise-rock formation Sonic Youth, Moore will still bring it, backed by a full band that even includes a harpist.

The Men 12 December - Exit, Rotterdam 20 January - Vera, Groningen 21 January - OCCII, Amsterdam 22 January - EKKO, Utrecht Brooklyn’s The Men are as virile and nofrills as their name implies, playing hardcore post-punk that’s melodic, distorted and LOUD. Read more on page 64.

High Places 13 December - State-X, Den Haag 14 December - OT301, Amsterdam This LA duo recently dropped their third full-length Original Colors, on which they continue to create dreamy and dub-influenced sound collages that are bizarre and oddly soothing. Read more on page 61.

The Dodos 14 December - Tivoli De Helling, Utrecht 16 December - Patronaat, Haarlem 17 December - State-X, Den Haag This San Fransisco duo married singer/ guitarist Meric Long’s training in West African Ewe music to drummer Logan Kroeber’s metal sensibilities and gave birth to a charmingly frenetic little pop/art-punk/ folk baby. Watch how it’s growing up live, it’s well worth it. Read more on page 61.

Black Lips 15 December - State-X, Den Haag 16 December - Area 51 Skatepark, Eindhoven This Atlanta ‘flower punk’ four-piece have

Agenda

made a name for themselves with their outrageous onstage shenanigans. While they do still appear to enjoy beer and partying, lately they’ve notched up the professionalism enough to put on a live show that’s fun because it’s tight and catchy, and not just because there are naked dudes and chickens onstage.

Hallo Gallo Dance Night ft Modern Witch + Floris Vanhoof 17 December - OCCII, Amsterdam Hallo Gallo is an Amsterdam-based experimental music platform known for hosting shows in alternative venues. They’ve done weirder than the OCCII, certainly, but the musical and visual stylings of local act Modern Witch and Belgian Floris Vanhoof are otherworldly enough to transport you beyond its familiar confines.

Duchess Says 18 December - dB’s, Utrecht Come hear the gospel of this Montreal moog rock band, and you just might find yourself joining the congregation of their possibly real Church of the Budgerigars.

Read more on page 62.

Peter Hook & The Light - Closer Tour 20 December - Effenaar, Eindhoven 21 December - De Oosterpoort, Groningen 22 December - Melkweg, Amsterdam Peter Hook was the original bass player for Joy Division, one of the most influential bands from the post-punk era. His driving and ominous basslines not only helped shape the sound of that gloomy group, but also that of the poppier, more new-waveoriented New Order. For this show, Peter and his band, The Light, will give an integral rendition of Joy Division’s Closer – also known as Ian Curtis’s last goodbyes.

Page 71

Agenda

Shows in December and January

TIKA + I Am Oak + Awkward I

Eurosonic/Noorderslag

22 December - Effenaar, Eindhoven

ft Iceage, Veronica Falls, Light Light, Stay+, Hospital Bombers 11-14 January - Groningen

Warm up a cold winter night with this cosy line-up that features the cream of the Dutch indie pop crop.

The Last Subbacultcha! Party of the Year 30 December - De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam Come on down and celebrate the year in style at De Nieuwe Anita with cocktails, bands and DJs. Read more on page 62

A Winged Victory for the Sullen 10 January - Paradiso, Amsterdam 11 January - WORM, Rotterdam This collaboration between ex-Sparklehorse and Stars of the Lid musician Adam Wiltzie and composer Dustin O’Halloran beautifully mixes the droning soundscapes and melancholy modern piano compositions of their respective solo endeavours.

Cymbals Eat Guitars 11 January - Paradiso, Amsterdam These New Yorkers graduated from playing in a Weezer cover band to being a full-scale buzz-band by way of their debut Why There Are Mountains. With their sophomore effort, they’ve further solidified their take on ’90sinflected indie rock. They’re now touring in support of it.

Team Me 11 January - EKKO, Utrecht 12-13 January - Eurosonic, Groningen This Norwegian band and Eurosonic highlight plays warm and richly orchestrated indie pop that recalls the beauty and bombast of fellow Scandinavians Efterklang and Sufjan Stevens.

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This festival is the premier conference and showcase for European music in general and, during the Noorderslag day, Dutch pop music in particular. While the line-up of the festival itself is pretty scattered, the quiet streets of Groningen never fail to charm.

Veronica Falls 12 January - Rotown, Rotterdam 13 January - Eurosonic, Groningen 14 January - Ekko, Utrecht Veronica Falls write super catchy pop songs and play them with a noisy lo-fi garage attitude. Read more on page 63

Iceage 13 January - Eurosonic, Groningen 14 January - OT301, Amsterdam With their minimalist sound, Iceage take stabs at both American hardcore and British post-punk. Read more on page 63.

Eurosonic Day Party 14 January - Sign, Groningen 12.00 | Free for all For three years now Subbacultcha and Wham Wham have been hosting daytime parties at the Eurosonic festival. Last year, bands such as Austra, Vondelpark and Star Slinger played at a small and wonderful art gallery called Sign. Safe to say this years (soon-to-be-announced) line-up is well worth a trip up north. See you there.

Nicolas Jaar 15 January - Melkweg, Amsterdam Nicolas Jaar’s uniquely intricate and relaxing sonic pastiche incorporates elements

Shows in December and January

of soul, jazz, house, sound collage and beyond. His music is great on record, and given how many of its components are acoustic in origin, should translate very well to a live setting.

Echo & The Bunnymen 21 January - Paradiso, Amsterdam Here’s another ’80s legend for today’s retro-maniacs, but don’t be fooled by their silly band name – Echo & The Bunnymen also have a more serious side. And the psychedelic post-punk they play might just be the perfect fit for these darker days.

The Notwist 22 January - Doornroosje, Nijmegen Electronic noise pop dinosaurs The Notwist have been going strong for over 20 years.

Early 2012 they are returning to the scene with a new album. So expect some new songs mixed with old favourites.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy 23 January - Tivoli, Utrecht Over the course of his two-decades-long career, singer-songwriter and bonnie prince Will Oldham has developed a haunting and tender take on folk music and a stage presence that’s nothing short of fascinating in its intense oddness. And if you lack a mental picture for the phrase ‘lovable weirdo’, watch the Oldham- and Zach Galifianakisstarring video for Kanye West’s ‘Can’t Tell Me Nothing’ and get back to me.

International Film Festival Rotterdam 25 January-05 February At 268 films over 12 days, the IFFR is one of the largest public film festivals in the world, and given the high quality of past editions and the abundance of exciting and

Agenda

innovative films to choose from this year, is a most excellent reason to get yr Rotterdam on. Read more on page 65.

Tracks ft Matthew Barley 26 January - Concertgebouw, Amsterdam Tracks is the Concertgebouw’s hip new initiative to bring classical music to a broader (and younger) audience, packing into one hour a potent mix of traditional and modern classical music and a speech by the musicians explaining what drives them, with cocktails afterwards to further lubricate one’s classical music initiation. This edition features Matthew Barley, perhaps the world’s most adventurous cellist, who mixes state-of-the-art electronics with cello classics.

Henry Rollins (spoken word) 26 January - Paradiso, Amsterdam 27 January - Effenaar - Eindhoven While Rollins made a name for himself in the seminal hardcore band Black Flag, nowadays his outspoken persona has come to the forefront, and his spoken-word performances range from telling personal anecdotes to straight-up comedy.

Listen to This ft Elbipolis & Brezel Göring 30 January - Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, Amsterdam Listen to This is a series of cutting-edge modern music concerts framed by a free side programme that’s curated by Amsterdam’s finest cultural organisations to blend into daring nights of high/low brow entertainment. In the fifth instalment of this eight-night series, the classical sounds of baroque ensemble Elbipolis are accented and re-interpreted live by Berlin DJ Brezel Göring of Stereo Total. The programme is completed by guest curators of VIRUS. Page 73

28 OKT 29 OKT

12 NOV 17 NOV 18 NOV 25 NOV

D.A.F. (EXCLUSIEVE BENELUX SHOW! ) GRAND FOULARD: NOBODY BEATS THE DRUM 333'' + BARE NOIZE + DEATH LETTERS + JACK OBLIVIAN + DEM SLACKERS + VEEL MEER! LITTLE DRAGON KID CONGO POWERS & THE PINK MONKEY BIRDS SHAKING GODSPEED + TRAUMAHELIKOPTER THE DRUMS + CLOUD CONTROL

Free Stuff

Free tickets and goodies

To win, sign up to our mailing list on www.subbacultcha.nl.

2X2 Tickets AUSTRA

3x2 tickets DAS RACIST

3x2 TICKETS STATE-X NEW FORMS ft Black Lips, The Dodos, Flying Lotus, High Places

07 December Rotown, Roterdam

08 December Sugar Factory, Amsterdam

09-18 December Various locations, Den Haag

2x2 tickets Thurston moore

2x2 tickets Tracks ft Matthew Barley

TICKETS TO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM

12 December De Duif, Amsterdam

26 January Concertgebouw, Amsterdam

25 January - 5 February Various cinemas, Rotterdam

We’re also giving away free tickets to A Winged Victory for the Sullen, and Cymbals Eat Guitars. Plus we give away three pairs of Chuck Taylor Outsider boots.

Page 75

ENTRÉE LATE NIGHT CAFE LATE NIGHT CAFÉ IS A FREE AFTER 22.15 | FREE ENTRÉE PARTY THAT FOLLOWS PERFORMANCES BY

LIVE MUSIC, DJS & VISUAL ARTS

THE ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA AS PART OF THE AAA-SERIES.

FRIDAY 16 DECEMBER FT. AHADDAF QUARTET FRIDAY 27 JANUARY // FRIDAY 13 APRIL // FRIDAY 22 JUNE www.entreeweb.n l

|

w w w . c o n c e rtg e b o u w . n l

Selling Ads Yes, we do that too sometimes. But we prefer to look for new music.

So, we are looking for someone to take on that job.

It is important that you are an independent worker with a relevant network and that you have an understanding of what Subbacultcha! is about.

Integrity, good taste and even better ideas are a pre.

Please send a cv and motivation to magazine@subbacultcha.nl

Submitted photos

AFTER MIDNIGHT

Send photos that were taken after midnight to aftermidnight@subbacultcha.nl If your photo gets published, you win a good goodie This month’s photos were submitted by Evelyn Grunau (top) and Aleks Pietrzykowska Page 77

Overview of all Subbacultcha shows in December and January 1 December

30 December

Widowspeak + Crowds

Last Party of the Year ft Wooden Constructions + DJ Dance, Floor

Worm, Rotterdam More info soon | Free for members

De Nieuwe Anita, Amsterdam Starts 20.00 | €7 | Free for members

3 December

The Sandwitches + Peaking Lights

11 January

A Winged Victory for the Sullen

OCCII, Amsterdam Starts 20.30 | €7 | Free for members

Worm, Rotterdam Starts 20.30 | €8 | Free for members

7 December

Miracle Fortress

Ekko, Utrecht Starts 20.00 | €10 | Free for members

12 January

Veronica Falls

Rotown, Rotterdam Starts 21.00 | €9 | Free for members

7 December

Maria Minerva + Light Light

14 January

Veronica Falls

OT301, Amsterdam Starts 20.30 | €8 | Free for members

Ekko, Utrecht Starts 20.00 | €9 | Free for members

8 December

Marina Minerva + Innercity + Body II Body (DJ Set)

14 January

Iceage

OT301, Amsterdam Starts 20.30 | €9 | Free for members

Roodkapje, Rotterdam Starts 22.00 | €7 | Free for members

21 January

14 December

The Men

High Places

OCCII, Amsterdam Starts 20.30 | €7 | Free for members

OT301, Amsterdam Starts 20.30 | €8 | Free for members

22 January

14 December

The Men

The Dodos

Ekko, Utrecht Starts 20:00 | €10 | Free for members

Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht Starts 19.30 | €14 | Free for members

18 December

Duchess Says

dB’s, Utrecht Starts 20.30 | €8 | Free for members

See all these shows for free. Join at www.subbacultcha.nl Page 78

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