Jamila Al-Yousef uses music as a tool to empower herself and others in her private and professional life as a singer and anti-racism coach. Her lyrics are a way of celebrating her Palestinian heritage while calling out the injustices she and the community continue to face. On the album Bazaar Bizarre فلسطين وين انا؟, Jamila ..read more

Blue fades to purple, fades to red. The neo-soul singer douniah looks up at a sunset-illuminated sky on the cover of her debut EP A Lot, Not Too Much.  Her hands in front of her chest, the image freezes a body in motion. Both colors and movement play a special role in the Agadir-born and ..read more

A night scene with pouring rain was shown to my inner eye. I stood atop a hill on a street I regularly walk along in my neighborhood in Los Angeles. I could see a specific house standing there, slowly filling with rain and water. All the other houses seemed to be spared, but this house ..read more

The Berlin-based newcomer and member of the local music community, Sedric Perry released two new singles this year. “Papi Champu” and “It Girl” celebrate self-expression and spread good vibes. Influenced by genres like RnB, 80s pop, and disco, the songs pack catchy hooks but also deeply emotional messages. To Sedric, music is a way to ..read more

A gray and wet-looking Denmark is slowly rolling by outside the windows of the Mercedes Sprinter tour bus. “It’s Valentine’s Day today!” – says our TM (tour manager) and driver, Victoria suddenly. I know, because I bought chocolate buns for everyone. Our drummer Casper had the same thought and brought cardamom buns. Nobody thought about bringing napkins, and we were all licking the sugar off our fingers by the end. We’re crossing the Storebælt-bridge on our way to the Danish town Fredericia, through very thick mist, and it feels like we are driving into another dimension. This is a low-budget ..read more

At the end of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy wholeheartedly exclaims: “You have bewitched me, body and soul”. That phrase might do my reaction to The Last Dinner Party justice. The five-piece band blurs the lines between reality and fantasy by embroidering a romantically gothic aesthetic onto theatrical soundscapes. My first encounter with their almost ceremonial live performance awoke something primordial within me. Seeing a band of women and non-binary people follow their deepest instincts against all social conventions and translate that into music, overwhelmed me with a sense ..read more

It was a warm and sunny morning. I was enjoying my coffee on the steps right outside the kitchen door, gazing into the garden and the sky. Sipping on my hazelnut coffee and perusing my songbook that rested on my lap. I had about half an hour before Mark and I were heading out to the studio to record vocals for one of the last songs for the record: “The Good”. The instrumental came to me during a cold and lonely winter night a few years ago, as I sat in front of my chimney with my acoustic guitar, fiddling around. The words and melody themselves flowed out of my mouth naturally, not surprisingl ..read more

I have been cycling all around town on this cloud-covered fall evening when I finally arrive at the premises of The Famous Gold Watch Studios, which is located in a large courtyard in one of industrial spaces of Berlin-Weißensee. Formerly East Berlin, everything here speaks the language of decay and if one did not know better, creative virtue would not be expected in forlorn spaces like that – but that is and always was the special poetry of Berlin, to let art grow in the most neglected areas, let it rise out of the concrete cracks of the grey matter. Once I am greeted by my interview partner ..read more

Few artists coin their very own genre with the release of their debut record. But Priya Ragu is not like most artists. She describes her music as Raguwavy, a mixture of soul, RnB, pop, and influences from traditional and Kollywood and Tamil rhythms. The artist kickstarted her career in music with her 2021 debut damnshestamil and returned this year with SANTHOSAM. I call the singer shortly after its release. Priya connects via Zoom from London, where she performed the songs live for the first time. That was when she realized that “oh shit, the album is really out now”. In our conversation, we g ..read more

A queue divides the grounds of Berliner Kulturbrauerei into two. On the opening night of this year’s Pop-Kultur Festival, people are standing in line for more than half an hour to see one of the most exciting acts in the local scene at the moment: A Song For You. As part of the festival’s exclusively commissioned works, the vocal ensemble led by Noah Slee presented a show worth the wait. Artists take turns singing verses in their native tongue, backed by a gentle hum of the entire ensemble. UNRAVEL a return to self through collective expression is an intimate exploration of individual and coll ..read more