überlin

[EDIT: this competition is now closed. Click here to see if we’re running any open competitions]

OUTRAGEOUS LINEUP ALERT! This Friday, Peaches is joined by Ellen Allien, Aerea Negrot and many more awesome artists at SchwuZ. This utter treat of a club night is the 100th edition of London Calling vs. Expatriarch Generations, with a special performance by Ziur AKA Mika Risiko of CRIME fame.

Peaches hand picked Risiko for this showcase as part of the Expatriarch Generations project, which hooks up emerging artists with established acts for personal mentoring, support and career advice. Each month, Berlin Community Radio airs a conversation between the two, like this fascinating discussion between Sasha Perrera (Jahcoozi) and Bella Cuts. We can’t wait to hear the Peaches edition! Or see her live!! Scroll down to win!!!

HOW TO WIN 2 X TICKETS FOR LONDON CALLING VS. EXPATRIARCH GENERATIONS AT SCHWUZ ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 3RD (full event details):

Just leave us a comment below with the answer to this easy question:

(apart from Peaches and Ellen Allien) Who is the fiercest female ever to make music in Berlin?

You have until midnight on Thursday 2nd October to enter. GOOD LUCK!

The Boring Bit (yawn, RULES):

1. You must be 18 years or older to enter.
2. ONE ENTRY PER PERSON!
3. We will keep a record of each comment in a database and then a random number generator picks the winner.
4. Remember to include your full (real) name and email address, so we can contact you if you win.
6. We will notify the winner via email on Friday 3rd October.

Ask überlin is back – and now it’s a PODCAST! Zoë and I are going to start answering your questions again, only this time you’ll be able to listen to the advice coming straight of our sweet expat mouths. In the past, we’ve helped people move to Berlin, find an apartment, find a job, learn German and even, well, blame us for our Kiez’s “gentrification nightmare” :(.

If you have any questions like these (maybe not like that last one), we’d love to hear from you! Maybe you want to get practical advice, our opinions on something happening in the city, our turn-ons and turn-offs, or all the details about our life with Olive. Hit us up and we’ll help you out!

Got a question for us? Drop us an email at ask@uberlin.co and we’ll answer them on the Ask überlin podcast (coming soon!).

PS: If you don’t want us to read your name out, keep it anonymous! We won’t share your email address or anything else that you don’t write in your email.

PPS: We also need theme music for the podcast! Let us know if you want to donate a track, or make us a new one, in exchange for a shout out!

One of überlin’s favourite Berlin-based musicians has just released a new video! “Just to Find” by Jim Hickey continues the artist’s practice of piecing together short films from family home movies (check out “Burning Forest” here). We think the shaky, largely unpeopled scenes reflect the jaded sentimentality of the track’s lyrics, and the lo-fi nature of its production. But we’ll let Jim explain:

“Just to Find” was recorded live at LowSwing Studios straight to a vintage 16 track tape machine that I spent months bringing back to life. It was the first session the machine had been used for in decades! We did two takes of the track and were sure we had it but we put down one more because we knew we wouldn’t be able to edit it at all. The track didn’t even see a computer until after it was mixed. We kept the second take and that was it.

“Just to Find” comes from Jim Hickey’s as-yet-untitled forthcoming EP, which we’re really looking forward to. Rumour has it that he’s been recording with Phia too! For now… enjoy:

It feels like a lifetime ago that we got back from our trip to Rügen. The highlight of our island experience may have been the Nazi ruins of Prora, but every day was like a little adventure. Olive may have been happy rolling around in the grass around our holiday home, but somehow we managed to tear ourselves away and explore Rügen to the fullest.

Jagdschloss Granitz
If there’s one thing we learned on Rügen, it’s that Germans really believe that getting there is half the fun. All of the island’s landmarks are situated a good few kilometres from the nearest car park, just so visitors can fit in a decent hike while they’re sightseeing. Jagdschloss Granitz, a pretty pink confection of a hunting castle, is fine – but the walk up, through unspoiled fields and forests, is sublime.

Sassnitz
We came to the port town of Sassnitz for the Fischbrötchen – the same reason we didn’t stay long! As North Sea natives, we thought we liked fish – until we sunk our teeth into Rügen’s local delicacy. Turns out we need our seafood to have at least been kissed by a grill before it enters our mouths, but don’t let that put you off.  Get yourself to the wind-battered harbour of Sassnitz for taste of something super-fresh.

Sellin
The next stop on our tour of Rügen’s seaside towns took us to Sellin, worth checking out for the longest pier on the island and the old-fashioned Strandkörbe (“beach baskets”), available to rent for pooped-out visitors. When we were there, a couple were taking wedding photos running through the south beach surf. Cute!

Jasmund National Park
This nature reserve on the Jasmund peninsula is Deutschland’s answer to Dover, home of the largest chalk cliffs in Germany. A peaceful hike through a beech forest brings you to Königsstühl (the King’s Chair), and a vertigo-testing climb 160m down rickety wooden stairs finds you on a rugged, undisturbed beach, with epic views out across the open sea. Unmissable.

When we recently vacationed on the German island of Rügen, there was place we made sure to visit first: Prora. Earmarked by the Nazis as a holiday destination for some 20,000 worn-out workers, construction on the eight buildings of the “Colossus of Prora” was halted by World War Two, since which the huge complex has been used as a military base by the Soviets and East Germans, and later a youth hostel and, seemingly, a squat with its own nightclub.

We rocked up on what turned out to be an unseasonably beautiful September day, both wearing head-to-toe black and Dr. Martens, looking to our fellow holidaymakers like wannabe stormtroopers, or maybe just hipster-goths on vacation. Piling our winter coats on the sand, we rushed into the crystal clear sea with Olive, before climbing through the ruined walls and marvelling at the sheer scale and ambition of Hitler’s answer to Butlins. Construction work confirmed what we’d read about the buildings being redeveloped as vacation apartments, so we’d advise you to visit Prora while it remains one of Germany’s great abandoned relics. 

Two of our favourite divas together on one track! “Off The Rails” unites legendary house singer Billie Ray Martin with Aérea Negrot, one of Hercules and Love Affair’s rotating cast of characters, on an old-school, dance-around-the-handbags club track. If you like this, you should buy it on BRM’s Bandcamp, and also check out this great Electronic Beats conversation between the two singers.