BANGER!
Lazer Sword’s deep roller “Sounds Sane” is back, on the San Francisco/Berlin duo’s debut album, Memory, out now on Modeselektor’s Monkeytown Records. Listen to snippets of the warm, club-hazy album below, and click here to buy.
Not content with having two lovely cats here in Berlin, we decided to keep things interesting and throw a new puppy into the mix! Maybe we’re mental, but after moving to another country, where we didn’t know anyone or even speak the language, we thought that looking after a puppy would be <ahem> a walk in the park. We didn’t count on the sleepless nights and constant playing, walking and training that make this pretty much a full time job. But when we look into those big bug eyes our hearts melt, and it’s all worth it.
This wasn’t an easy decision (especially with two cats!) and we only found Olive after six months of searching for a breeder who cared as much about their animals as we did. We first found Chien Royal, whose photos alone are worth checking out even if you don’t feel you can commit to the real thing. Unfortunately they didn’t have any pups left so they recommended Martina at Kleine Franzosen, whose dam had just had a litter. We waited ten weeks until Olive was ready to leave her mum, but thankfully Martina kept me up to speed daily with how she was getting on and posted lots of photos on her Facebook page so I didn’t miss out on her growing up. I really can’t thank her enough for all her help and advice – she’s clearly committed to breeding happy, healthy bullies, and making sure they go to the right homes.
Olive is now settling in really well (she can “sit” already!) and the cats even are adjusting to their new sister . If you fancy keeping up to date with Olive’s adventures, then you can check out her very own Tumblr here.
We’re relative newbies to the supper club experience, having only been to RollinRestaurant, and only once before, but even we could tell that this one was going to be special. Arriving at Schöneberg’s old timey saloon (and Mixology Awards Bar of the Year) Stagger Lee, we were greeted by our hosts Björn and the Pauls, looking dapper in black tie. They introduced us to a grand first course of gold-flecked oysters and champagne cocktails, and our eight fellow guests.
For this exclusive edition of RollinRestaurant, the guestlist was scaled down from the usual 40+ to just ten, and the menu expanded to seven courses, each matched to a cocktail created by Stagger Lee’s resident mixologist Jakob Etzold. The latter’s genius was in taking a key ingredient out of each dish and applying it to the drink, for example, taking the dill that topped our tartare of mussels and adding it to his mustard martini, The Log Lady.
I’ve included the menu below for your perusal/envy, but here are our highlights of a pretty highlight-packed meal. This dude’s personal favourite was spiced pork belly, accompanied by the awesomely-named peak black ale Dark as the Dungeon. As I sipped my single malt whisky, blended with homemade sugar, bitters and a smokey, dark ale from Bavaria, I remember thinking, this is how kings used to dine in, well, Game of Thrones times. “For sheer nom nom”, Zoë’s chosen the dessert, salted chocolate creme, and to drink, the Fräulein – a rum schrub topped with wild berries.
As ever, RollinRestaurant combined fine dining with warm company, and we feel privileged to have been guests at their most special supper club to date. You need to get in on this, so join the mailing list and cross your fingers for a place at their next event. I’m salivating at the mere thought of it…
It’s amazing that I discovered T-INA Darling, given my aversion to a) political music and b) bullshit nostalgia for olden, “better” times. And yet I recently caught myself eyeing a vinyl copy of The Fine Art of Living by the “Empress of Berlin Swing”, entranced by its psychedelic illustration of the TV Tower. When I later found the album on Spotify, I was surprised by its blending of (ew) sixties pop and swing with (yay) hip hop and dubstep – plus oddly palatable politicking. The lyrics tell a tale of gentrification and rising rents in Mitte, which is either the singer/producer’s own story or a super-tight album concept. Check out this video for the landlord-bashing track “The Law”, and if you like what you höre, you can catch T-INA DJing every Wednesday at Clärchens Ballhaus.
I know we post about Loxx a lot, but this is special: English newspaper The Guardian has published our photos of the miniature railway version of Berlin, and the article is currently on their front page! Click here to see if you can find the suitably teeny homepage photo, or here to see the full article – now with specially-penned captions. Big things are happening for our favourite Little Big Berlin!
What a great week for Depeche Mode fans! Firstly, Martin Gore has added vocals to the title track of MOTOR‘s brand new album, Man Made Machine. Check out his contribution below, and visit Amazon to pick up a silver foil-packed copy of the album (which also features our other favourite Martin, Billie Ray – Berlin’s queen of electronic soul).
Then on Friday, I’ll be DJing at Feeling Modey, Feeling Gloomy Berlin’s Depeche Mode party. Click here for full details, but all you *really* need to know is that I’ll be playing back-to-back classics from Mode and their offshoots, and that it will be five times as awesome as my already-pretty-awesome playlist below. It’s going to be MORE THAN A PARTY! (yeah?)
