überlin

Now this is a real fleamarket. This Aladin’s Cave, tucked in beside the Arena at Treptow, makes Arkonaplatz look like IKEA and Mauerpark look like a catwalk. We happened across the Hallentrödelmarkt (indoor flea market) on our way home from the International Tattoo Convention, and to be honest, this place was weirder. We encountered mountains of junk, an otherwise normal looking girl test-driving an accordian and countless angry stall owners telling us “keine Fotos!” (I guess if we can’t take a picture of that stuffed badger, we’re just going to have to buy it?!) Every time you see a computer monitor up a tree, or a giant plastic chandelier hanging from the ceiling of a neighbourhood bar, we’d bet it has passed through here. Come down and have a poke around – there’s no telling what you might find.

Hallentrödelmarkt Treptow takes place every Saturday and Sunday at Eichenstraße 4. For more details visit Qype.

So Berlin gets cold in Winter, no big deal right? Wrong. Until you’ve suffered its sub-zero temperatures and Siberian icy winds you haven’t experienced cold like it. Last year we were shamefully unprepared. With more important things to think of like where we were going to live and how we were going to earn money, purchasing some wooly winter warmers wasn’t really on our agenda… we were idiots. We rocked up with our skinny jeans and smiles and then stepped out of the airport to a blizzard of snow and ice that lasted three months. Lesson – painfully – learnt, this year we have a wardrobe that would make an Arctic explorer proud. The skinny jeans will always remain (too tight to get off!) but there will at least be a good few pairs of thermals under them this time.

Cape and Hat: Vintage | Cardigan: COS | Shirt: Just Female | Jeans: Just Female | Shoes: Churches

Achtung: this competition is now closed! You can find out who won here, and listen to a playlist of Berlin’s best songs here.

Behind on your Christmas shopping? Well never fear, because our homies at DefShop Streetwear Store have given us a pair of swanky Nixon headphones to give away to one lucky reader. They’d make the perfect gift for a loved one, even if that loved one is yourself – once you’re encased in these genuine leather ear cushions, you won’t need anyone else!

All you have to do to win these sleek “Master Blaster” cans, worth €200, is name Berlin’s best song. It can be as obvious or as obscure as you like, as long as it says something about this great city – it could have been produced here, by a Berliner, or simply reference the place… get creative! I’ll build a playlist from all the entries, put it on random, and the first song I hear will be our winner!

I’ll start you off with an überlin favourite: “Rusty Nails” by Moderat. This collaboration between Berlin producers Modeselektor and Apparat is one of the most emotive works ever to have come out of the city, especially when coupled with this stunning video from local visual collective Pfadfinderei:

Get the idea? Then leave us a comment below with the name of your favourite Berlin track, and the artist that produced it. (If you’re feeling inspired, tell us why it’s so great!) The winner will be chosen at random on Monday 19th December which should give DefShop time to ship the prize in time for Christmas Day.

Excuse us while we shelter from the cold and shop for cosy Winterjackets online! Good luck!

“Jesus Christ, it’s beautiful”

As descriptions go, that’s going to be hard to beat.

That comment pops up halfway along the Soundcloud upload of André Uhl’s remix of WE TRUST’s twee acoustic jam “Time (Better Not Stop)”. The Berlin DJ and producer’s take is the shy nephew of foltronica legends Prefuse 73 and (early) Four Tet, wrapped in its warmest winter woolies. (Told you I couldn’t match that description!)

Uhl has been in Berlin for nearly five years, and is now resident at Salon Wilde Renate, playing IDM, glitch-hop and alternative electronica. His WE TRUST rework is the first in a series of remixes to be released track by track over the next few weeks. To hear more of Uhl’s light-handed production work go to his Soundcloud; for now, here’s “Time (Better Not Stop) (André Uhl Remix)”:

WE TRUST – time (better not stop) (andre uhl remix) by André Uhl

Even when bad weather spoils the views from the Berlin TV Tower, the Fernsehturm makes up for it with its awesome interior. The retro-futuristic finishes, scarcely updated since the tower was built in 1969, make a visit there like a trip back/forward in time to the deck of the original USS Enterprise. Book “VIP tickets” online and you can skip the queues to the lift (which travels at 6 metres a second!) and to the revolving restaurant, a 207m-high leather and chrome homage to the Space Age. Beam us up!

If you want to see the 360° views from the Fernsehturm – on a nice sunny day – check out this “In a Berlin Minute” video from Good Hard Working People.