Hi, this is Daniel from England. I will be contributing here every now and then. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: wait a minute, that's not Sunny. Boo! Be calm. I will only post when she isn't, likely on weekends. The only downside to that is that I can't be too spontaneous with new stuff, but maybe I'll post that anyway, the way I used to ;) Sunny only had one requirement when she ordered me to do this. That when she says something, I have to respond "Yes, Master", and lower my eyes.
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No she really didn't. I just made that up.
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When I was 19, two friends and I took an old Ford Scorpio Deluxe and drove down to Berlin. We had no money, so we took turns sleeping, one at a time, at the now defunct Clubhouse Berlin Youth Hostel. The other two slept in the car, but this way we could all use the showers. The Clubhouse was situated in the Kalkscheune building, between Unter den Linden and Oranienburgerstrasse, a stones throw from the Tacheles.
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What is there not to love about Berlin? Everything from architecture to art to clubs and big, deserted buildings in the middle of Stadtmitte seems exciting. In its quest to become the shining new Capital of Europe, struggling with the burden of all those formerly Jewish-owned, now-deserted buildings that now no one knows quite who once-owned, the current building debt is up to almost $40 billion, or roughly the GDP of Morocco. But while new houses go up, and old ones are restored, there are still an abundance of those 'collateral' buildings, perfect for squatting. So its no coincidence that many small art collectives and independent record companies have settled here. Rent is cheap, sometimes free. Kitty-Yo used to be king of the hill, with artists like Peaches and Jeans Team. For some time however, the crown has been stolen one piece at a time by Bungalow Recordings. Stereo Total and Saint Etienne are there, as are Sirius Mo -- the focal point of this rather long-winded introduction.
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Sirius Mo is Berlin born-and-bred Moritz Friedrich. His girlfriend, whom I think is called Nadine, often adds the vocals to his rather happy, electronic house excursions. He first caught my attention with the 12" "Meine Welt" and later with two songs on the promo compilation "Berlin Disco Hooligans"; the name in itself ensured I bought it. "Meine Welt", limited to 500 copies with hand painted sleeves, is still available from Rough Trade, so grab it while you can.
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Sirius Mo - "Mailbox" from the Berlin Disco Hooligans
Sirius Mo - "Meine Welt" from the Sirius Mo is Wunderbar 12"
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I can hardly write about Berlin without at least mentioning Ellen Allien's twisted, broken-down electronica. Especially not since she just made this absolutely fabulous new album with Apparat called Orchestra of Bubbles. This song has been posted on countless blogs, first on my (other) fave Bigstereo. But it deserves another mention as it is released today, on April 17. I feel I'm running out of space here, but buy the latest issue of i-D Magazine. They had a great piece on Ellen. Or check out her autobiography at her label bpitchcontrol.
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Ellen Allien & Apparat - "Do not break" from Orchestra of Bubbles
Bungalow Popshop (go there!)
bpitch control
Rough Trade
Tacheles
