To hell with tomorrow
You are made of star dust
The woman in the moon will keep an eye on you
After the wonderful LADIES & LADYS LABEL FEST debut in August (live report here) I absolutely wanted to be around again for the second edition. One month later: same place, same time, three bands. Only the weather was worse. Same rules (vaccinated, recovered, tested) and the same attitude (pay what you can but 6 Euro at least). But this time many more people filled the beer garden of the :: Sputnikhalle :: to have an entertaining evening with grrrls music by the :: Ladies&Ladys Label ::.
Once more I'm totally planless when it comes to the musical output. Again, I did not check out the bands before. I wanted to enjoy the girls, the music and the atmosphere unbiased. It excellently worked last month ;)
As said, the setting was pretty much the same but the fans were much more relaxed this time. There was intimacy, people hugged and cuddled each other, moved around and went wild in the pit. The crowd danced and rocked out hard :)
:: pics :: ELL ::
First band to open up the evening was :: ELL ::, a southern Germany based duo consisting of Lisa-Anna Jeck (a lot of bass) and Lennart Scheuren (some drums). A duo made of voice and loudness, noise and Pop. Actually a duo made of gnarly, low-tuned and distorted basses and gentle drumming. But mostly basses. How much bass does a woman need? Four (4!!!)!
Priceless to see jaws dropping (me included) when this petite girl put out her 4 bass guitars, much more, when Lisa-Anna later switched deftly between all of them at every song. Noise Pop! Yes! Though, it does not go far enough as many other genres have its smaller and bigger impacts on ELL's music. Hard to describe. Give it a try, listen yourself and form your own opinion ;)
Anyway, the show was highly entertaining, musically thrilling and I needed to grin every now and then because of the lyrics. It was pretty awesome.
Exactly one week ago, ELL have released their debut EP Wir sind (of course via Ladies & Ladys) its five tracks were all played tonight. Meanwhile there are four connected videos available I recommend to watch in its particular order ;)
Band: Lisa-Anna Jeck, Lennart Scheuren
Setlist: An mir, Langweilig, Nebel, Wie sonst nirgendwo, Manfred, Lambie Pie, Unfall, So jemand wie Du, Nacht
:: pics :: GIGOLO TEARS ::
Next up is :: GIGOLO TEARS ::, the solo project of singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Christin Elmar Schalko. Again, much to see, much to hear, much to think about. Musically she is filed under Pop. Roughly. Real Pop, Hyper Pop, Empowerment Pop, Spray Tan Pop, you name it. No basses but a rhythm machine, a lot of effects and a Pop/HipHop mix. So I would like to describe it.
A one-person-show is always a tricky matter. How to fill the stage? Even a strong presence, such as GIGOLO TEARS, might be not enough to fill the stage properly. The show needed more lights, more plush, more beach, and, perhaps, dancing gigolos ;) Okay, I know, it would have been too much for this festival, but it would have looked awesome and fitted the songs very well, I'm sure ;)
GIGOLO TEARS highlighted how colorful this scene actually is, how open-minded and powerful, how diverse and changeable. In the big picture as well as in small and special events and actions (and how stereotyped the metal scene is).
Apropos… The wall of death changed into a wall of love. Same procedure – different results ;) GIGOLO TEARS has announced its debut album, Kill Your Darlings, set to be released in fall via Ladies & Ladys.
Band: Christin Elmar Schalko
Setlist: Activate My Hotspot, You Got Game, All Good, Your Biggest Problem, High On PMS, Beachwaves, Cry For Love, Toyboy, Tanlines, Mommy Issues
:: pics :: ENN EINER LÜGT DANN WIR ::
When a "band" description reads like: "we are no band, we are barking" or "we are the worst cast boy band in the world" then you face :: WENN EINER LÜGT DANN WIR ::, understatement included.
A band name as balky as ambiguous (roughly translated to: "If someone lies than it would be us"), and a female trio sitting on the fence. WENN EINER LÜGT DANN WIR dwell on Pop fields, with singer/songwriter-, Indie- and Punk attitude. Lyrics are sung in German, with a lot of esprit and irony, about themselves, about smoking and ex friends. And, here you can see both label bosses of Ladies & Ladys - Johanna & Johanna - play music themselves, fabulous completed by drummer Melpi.
An interesting aspect is, if you once have thought about the naming, lyrics, stage acting, and everything that goes with it… more questions raise ;)
What looks so naïve and planless on the first sight, musically so simple like a school band, emerges on the second sight like an extremely well thought out marketing strategy, which is probably not.
WENN EINER LÜGT DANN WIR mix genius and insanity with the daily grind, which is both.
And again, there are reasons to pop the corks: Also WENN EINER LÜGT DANN WIR will release their first full-length album. Ironie oder Schicksal is debut and best-of in one piece and will be unleashed on October 22. The party will be thrown one day later at Rare Guitar in Münster.
Band: Melpi (drums), Alicia Mies (keys), JB (Johanna Bauhus - bass), JKRollin (Johanna Knoblauch - vox, git)
Setlist: Wegen dir, Träume lügen nicht, Gut im alleine sein, Rauche wie ein Schlot, Nehm mich mit, Unangenehm, Unhappy In Love, Bad Love, Shakira, Kippen kaufen in Karlsbad // Badewanne
What’s left to say? Once again a wonderful evening with great bands and music and relaxed fans. Much more, both festival days were a strong statement of the DIY and FLINT* community, of self-confidence, solidarity, team spirit, engagement and woman’s empowerment. It was actually me who has learnt a lot. To experience both shows has enlarged my understanding and offered me new views and perspectives. Thank you Ladies & Ladys for this and two great shows! :)
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