Sinister: There’s More to Berlin Than an Essex Green Song

[Krister Bladh]

Hi all,
I was in Berlin for a week a week ago.  I don’t know if there were any local Sinisters and I didn’t check before I went – I really didn’t have time to plan much at all as we left the day after I came home muddy, with blisters on my feet from the three-day festival at Hultsfred (the biggest in Sweden). But it was a great festival. Got to see Essex Green for the second time (and they did play “Berlin”). And Bright Eyes and Morrissey of course.
Berlin was nice too and didn’t even mind the rain much. I’d already been rained on plenty at Hultsfred. At least here I could enjoy the luxury of having Dry Feet (probably the most underestimated thing of all time). As I was there with the family it was more seeing-as-many-famous-sights-as-possible than wild night life. But I managed to make a few interesting observations anyway.
First of all there were a lot of “alternative” people, as one would expect. Not like Spain (which would be the ideal country for twee pop with all the sunshine, flowering gardens and stuff) where most people seem satisfied with the mainstream native culture. But I couldn’t pin-point people to a specific sub-culture though. In Sweden it’s pretty easy to see if someone listens to indierock, indiepop, punk or whatever (even post-rock people have a certain look to them!). It could be they were hiding in specific areas
 Also in Sweden people have badges like “the jam” or “b & s”. The only badges I saw in Berlin had things like “no war” written in them.
I even managed to drag my family down to Kreuzberg were the Hipsters are supposed to thrive like mosquitoes in a swamp. At least they did in the 80’s when you could find Nick Cave in the darkest corner of some seedy bar and Blixa Bargeld lying on the pavement with a hammer, screaming in German, recording for the next Einstürzende Neubauten record. But anyway I think we missed the liveliest part of the district.
We also went to the scary KaDeWe (what is it with Germans and names?) – like Harrods, but with seven stories. The really scary part was when I found I copy of DCW in the records compartment. Thank god for the much better records-store Cover, which of course had all b&s, looper and gentle waves records. I found Books too (hm
 wasn’t that before it was released?). I got my hands on some yo la tengo, galaxie 500 and red house painters cds.

And at the end of next month its time for the twee festival We & You in my hometown. That’s really going to great! Darren Hayman is coming as well as Lovejoy and Tompaulin. Anyone living in Sweden really must go there. I’m thinking about going to Mitt Sista Liv (“my last life”) in Kalmar too. Free Loan Investments, Milky Wimpshake and Scarlet Swells will be performing!

Hugs,
Chris
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