glitterbug

What if artists composed music for a better world?

Audible Approaches For A Better Place

Haus der Kulturen der Welt,
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10 10557 Berlin
Doors open 19:30 / Concert begins 20:00 (sharp!)

One evening with 10 live performances by:
Casper Clausen and Mads Brauer (of EFTERKLANG) feat. Karim Ghahwagi
Christian Löffler
Eliad Wagner
Gold Panda
Glitterbug and Ronni Shendar feat. Enas Massalha
Jasmina Maschina
John Kameel Farah
Khan
and very special surprise guests (to be revealed in May!)

c.sides asked ten diverse artists (and bands) to create new works, all sharing one goal:
to make a humble contribution toward making this world a better, more just and beautiful place!

Artists had full freedom in their creative process. We provided only general guidelines to participating artists regarding the project’s concept and an intended timeframe of ten to fifteen minutes for each piece, in order to allow the artists to develop an idea beyond the limitations of a ‘regular track.’ We also encouraged artists to work with different musical means than they usually would!

This is an artistic experiment we have wanted to do for a very long time. It is a personal reaction to the overwhelming global and local injustices, catastrophes and troubles, and stems from a slightly naïve, yet sincere belief that art, in its essence, can be a political act and path to changing the world. The idea is self-critical and self-deprecating, yet genuine and heartfelt: to create something beautiful and thoughtful, to dedicate a bit of our creative time to pondering the world and our role in it.

And the results? Probably our most beautiful production yet!

And, it will take place on one of Berlin’s best sounding stages: the large auditorium at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt.

It has been an amazing experience for us to see the pieces come together, miraculously corresponding with one another and with our own individual works. And we don’t think anyone should miss out on this event.

One first step to making this world a better place is that entry costs only 8 Euros at the door, and 5 Euros for those eligible for discount!!!

A Second step is that a (double CD) release under the same title (Audible Approaches for a Better Place) will be released on the c.sides Label in September featuring all the works of all participating artists. The release will already be available for purchase on May 12th for those who attend the event. Yep, that’s 4 months before the official release date!

This evening is part of the HKW Lokal program, as part of the ÜBER LEBENSKUNST initiative, more info here.

I will be leaving to Austria tomorrow (April 23rd, 2011), playing at the Fluc Wanne with the very nice Klub Kariert people. That’s old news. But look at those cute posters and flyers!!

Just a quick reminder for the next two live shows, coming up this week:

First up is Electron Festival in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday, the 21st of April 2011. My show will take place at KAB – PTR (USINE), Places des Volontaires 4, Geneva.

From there, I directly continue to play a show with the lovely Klub Kariert people in Vienna at the Fluc Wanne on Saturday, the 23rd of April 2011.

Swing by, say hi!

I usually don’t steal from other blogs, but in this specific case, I would like to point to a very exciting project that Ronni Shendar and I have been working on for the past few months, and that is slowly wrapping up. And why writing it all over again if somebody else already said it all, and even so beautifully?

The video bellow was created by Ronni Shendar, the soundtrack was made by me.

You can find the original post on Ronni’s blog here.

***

“I created the video above for the HKW Lokal concert series at the Haus der Kulturn der Welt as part of the ÜBER LEBENSKUNST (Art of Living) initiative, in Berlin.

The 4-part concert series brings Berlin’s international music scene to set the climate change to music: From “Apocalypse Culture” to “Audible Approaches for a Better Place”, from Trucker Songs in the age of electric engines to “climate change” between human voice and computer-generated sounds.

Till Rohmann aka Glitterbug not only created the soundtrack for the video, but he and myself also curated the last event “Audible Approaches for a Better Place” – an evening of 10 performances of diverse artists who each created a new dedicated piece for this evening, all sharing one common goal of making a humble contribution to making this world better and more just through audible means.

You can read more about the project and its upcoming release on the c.sides Label in my previous post. Participants include: Mads Brauer and Casper Clausen (of Efterklang), Gold Panda, Khan (Oral), Jasmina Maschina, Christian Löffler, John Farah, Eliad Wagner, Enas Massalha and the joint project of Glitterbug & Enas Massalha, as well as some very special guests.

HKW Lokal Concert Series

7 April, 8pm
ELECTRIC TRUCKS & HYBRID HOT RODS
DM Bob & Speedy Jake 

Jimmy Trash & the Gunpowder Temple of Heaven 


28 April, 8pm
NATURE VS. MAN
9

September Collective feat. Chor der Kulturen der Welt


5 May 2011, 8pm
ANIMAL POLITICAL SONGS
Animal Cops

Lord Mouse and the Kalypso Katz

12 May 8 pm
AUDIBLE APPROACHES FOR A BETTER PLACE
Mini festival with 10 acts including:
Casper Clausen and Mads Brauer (of EFTERKLANG) feat. Karim Ghahwagi (visuals)
Christian Löffler
Eliad Wagner
Enas Massalha
Gold Panda
Glitterbug & Ronni Shendar feat. Enas Massalha
Jasmina Maschina
John Farah
Khan
and very special surprise guests (to be revealed in May)

In the past few weeks and months, I (and pretty much my entire personal and artistic surrounding) have been occupied by the disasters, catastrophes and the political turmoil happening around the world.

Much of my music that I have been working on in the last few months is deeply influenced by the current state of the world and the concurrence of greatly impactful events, providing a new and uncanny undertone.

Our next c.sides Label release is a double CD compilation with all-new commissioned works under the title “Audible Approaches For A Better Place” a project that will also be performed by all participants on the 12th of May at the HKW in Berlin (more info here)

I have an upcoming abstract ambient EP under the title “Egress EP” that will be released on the Israeli label False Ind., an EP that investigates the search and hope of finding new places and new prospects in the wreckage, when everything familiar has turned to rubble, and even more so,  my next album which will be titled “Cancerboy”,  a darker Glitterbug than previously known. An album that deals, as the title says, with cancer on a very personal and autobiographical level.

I have barely felt so hope- and helpless watching the news, and not that I actually would believe that giving tracks to benefit compilations and playing in benefit concerts makes that much of a difference, I do not see any other way of getting involved at the moment, so I think it’s still better than doing nothing.

Dear collegue and appreciated artist and musician Terre Thaemlitz wrote a nice text about the cons of participating in such things (you can read it here), and while I certainly agree with much of his criticism, I still do believe that it doesn’t hurt to give a little bit of something if you don’t have the means or framework to give more or other things.

So, below are two projects that I / we participate in.

Firstly, a compilation that our friends at Kompakt are putting out:

“Even if the headlines are now dominated by other topics – many of our Japanese friends are still in a dire situation. Kompakt’s family of distributed labels feels the urge to help, so here it comes: 34 tracks handpicked by the owners of some of the world’s leading labels in electronic music: Ostgut Ton, Freude Am Tanzen, Bpitch Control, Dial, Kompakt, Comeme, Raster Noton, Monika, Rrygular, Vidab, Optimo, Anticipate and many more. Ranging from etherical ambient sounds to pumping club sounds of Berlin, New York’s new disco underground and leftfield experimentations there’s something for everyone. All money generated from this unique compilation goes directly to help organizations in Japan.”

Tracklisting:
1. Marsen Jules – Trio Les Fleurs (Oktaf)
2. Ezekiel Honig – Past Tense Kitchen Movement (Anticipate)
3. Jahcoozi – Lost In The Bass (Bpitch Ctrl)
4. Space System – Petik (Optimo Music)
5. Greie Gut Fraktion – Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt Wolfgang Voigt Remix (Monika)
6. Manaboo – Unhuh (Steadfast)
7. Efdemin – Time (Dial)
8. Antonelli – Waiting For You (Italic)
9. André Lodemann – Searchin’ (Best Works)
10. Lawrence – Dwelling On The Dunes (Laid)
11. Michael Mayer – Picanha Frenesi (Kompakt)
12. Nhar – Megumi (200 Records)
13. Xaver von Treyer – Lunar Rover (Supersoul)
14. Cosmic Kids – Reginald’s Groove (Throne Of Blood)
15. My Favorite Robot – The Future Will Judge (My Favorite Robot)
16. Kaito – Open My Window (Kompakt)
17. Audision – Red Sky (And)
18. Monkey Maffia – Yo Baby Yo (Freude Am Tanzen)
19. Nick Höppner – Makeover (Ostgut Ton)
20. Gowentgone – Love & Respect (Vidab)
21. Glitterbug – Parted (C.Sides)
22. SCSI-9 – Electric Flowers (Pro-Tez)
23. Dusty Kid – America (Boxer)
24. Tassilo – Petite Patate (Rrygular)
25. Davenport & Deutschmann – Trump (Falkplatz)
26. Mr. Statik – Smoothest Cat On The Block (Memo)
27. Someone Else – Funny Day Elsewhere (Foundsound)
28. Ana Helder – El Groove De Tu Corazon (Comeme)
29. Anne-James Chaton – Vendredi 26 Juin 2009 – Événement N°23 (Raster)
30. Borngräber & Strüver – People Crying (M=Minimal)
31. Metaboman – Stony (Musik Krause)
32. Maya Jane Coles – You (Hypercolour)
33. DJ Olive – Kokanee’s Drop (Agriculture)
34. Out Of Plato’s Cave – Rainbow For Dawn Shane Berrys Rainbow for Japan Mix (Greta Cottage Workshop)

Secondly, Ronni Shendar and I will be performing in a benefit concert on the 8th of May in Berlin at Maria Club.

KI.ZUNA
Kizuna is the japanese word for bond.
www.kizuna-berlin.de

“After the catastrophic happening in Japan, which has not directly affected us, who live here in Berlin, it became a frustrating and helpless situation. Obliqued by the international media, we are concerned about the people and our friends and family in Japan.

After many years of intense exchange of art and culture between Berlin and Tokyo, our friends stand by us and share the situation. This strong bond encouraged our team, of Berlin DJ ́s and promoters, to become active supporters and demonstrate a KI.ZUNA to Japan.

With the KI.ZUNA event, we want to show our sympathy and friendship with a benefit party. Together with an Berlin located international artist collective of DJ ́s, musicians, promoters and media, we want to support the reconstruction in the effected areas.

The location Maria am Ostbahnhof, is a strong partner who instantly commited to the KI.ZUNA benefiz. All crew, location, technical support, promotion, artist fees will be sponsored.The entrance fee will be 100% donated.

Not only the natural cathastrophy, as well the nuclear desaster has and furtherly will cause a lot of victims. We will make sure that the money will be recieved in the areas of (for example) Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate – the three most affected places.

As our official donation partner, we chose betterplace.org as the biggest donation platform in Germany, to keep the lowest production costs and show the most transparency to all supporters.

On the following link, you will get all needed information about the supported projects and follow your donation:
www.kizuna-berlin.betterplace.org”

Lineup:
Aerea Negrot bpitch control | live
Akiko Kiyama | live – japan
Glitterbug & Ronni Shendar c.sides | audiovisual live performance
Kai Taro | live – japan
Shingo Suwa merkur | live – japan
Roman Flügel (tbc)
Kiki bpitch control
Soundstream soundstream
Stewart Walker persona
Gebrüder Teichmann
Ryo Fujimoto
humanelectro | japan
Mieko Suzuki koo koo | japan
Mijk Van Dijk
Mary Jane | ritterbutzke
Frank Mueller | müller rec
Didier de la Boutique | tonkind
Akira Hwaks | japan
Ara | groove magazin
Aroma | aromamusic
Charles Tone | pentagonik
Elbee
Bad Jakob Richter | maria
Hito | japan

After the utter traffic chaos in Germany and barely making it to our flight from Frankfurt airport, we made it to Mumbai on the 22nd of December in the wee hours of the night.

This city is still immense in all its extremes, its noisiness, its poverty and extreme differences. After our performance tour in India in 2009, I left the country with a feeling of despair- this time I am a little bit calmer, and feel that I was better prepared than last time. But it still is quite an overwhelming experience to be here. But more about that in a later post.

We arrived at our hotel on Tuesday 22nd at 5 in the morning, and already had to leave to soundcheck for the first show at 11am- enough to take a nap and to have a quick breakfast.

First up was a DJ gig at the Mood Indigo Festival at the IIT Mumbai, all the way in the north of the city. The venue looked like this:

The promoters got me a massive array of 16 speakers, but sadly no turntables first (I actully had to pull out a 12” to demonstrate that they don’t fit into a CD player!)… the technicians were trying really hard to help by surrounding the mixer:

I had to improvise a little until those arrived, and play a DJ set with one of those programs I usually use with vinyl control. But most importantly, the crowd seemed to not notice that parts of my equipment were simply not there, and a few minutes after the doors were opened, the place looked like this:

DJ culture here looks very different from where we come from. There is much more of a culture of requesting songs (it’s customary to even have a pile of sheets and a pen to write down wishes and to write who requested it, and to whom it should be dedicated):

(Sorry to the unknown person that gave this to me, I did not have any Hindi music to play!)

Sadly, we had to run off after playing for a bit longer than an hour and a half, since we had to go to soundcheck at the evening venue for our live show, the Blue Frog, where “The Tilt Festival” took place, where we were supposed to be the final show of the evening.

The night went really well! Strangely, the entire city has xmas decor all over, and the Blue Frog was no exception.

(This image was stolen from missmalini’s blog)

We were told that it became somewhat fashionable to celebrate Christmas… this is what they put up in front of our hotel:

The last thing I want to share in this post is a quite hilarious article that was published in the Hindustan Times. Funnily, the “quotes” from us are made up, nobody ever talked to us, and my music was now filed under a new category: “Glitter Music”. lol… but read for yourself! The original article can be found here.

Sounds of Cologne
by Sharin Bhatti

Visuals form an essential part of any live set that cuts across genres. Music producer and DJ Till Rohmann understands that. The German producer has found an apt accomplice in Israeli photographer and visual artist Ronni Shendar. They have created a unique outfit that plays music to visuals, and pairs the visuals with live music.

Rohmann adopted the name Glitterbug and created a new media art form that one could club to – ‘glitter music’. Mumbai will play host to Glitterbug and Shendar at the two-day music festival Tilt at Blue Frog, tonight.

“I developed my own sound in the ’80s when I would spin at underground parties. Cologne was open to new music and new sounds by the early ’90s, and that is when I discovered an audience that was receptive to a new art form – visual music. I didn’t want the same regular club music. I wanted to do something different,” says Rohmann, who met Shendar and found in her visual talent -something that he could spin live to.

“She had an eye for everything historical. That really interested me and we started working together,” says Rohmann, who spins to Shendar’s evocative visuals that include urban landscapes, nature, wildlife and abstract road travels.

During their time in India, Rohmann is certain that Shendar will document her travels through Mumbai. “We capture frames of every place we visit. Mumbai, I believe, is pictorially very rich. It would be interesting to make music to the cityscapes,” says Rohmann.

We have the pleasure to perform two shows in Mumbai, India, next Wednesday on the 22nd of December 2010. First I perform a DJ set at the Mood Indigo Festival in the afternoon, later on we play our live A/V show (together with video artist Ronni Shendar) at the Blue Frog. On the 27th of December, starting at 7pm, we’ll give a presentation (with a screening of excerpts of Ronni Shendar’s video works) at Cafe Goa (Agnelo Building, Khadeshwari Mandir Marg, Off St John Baptist Road, Bandra West, Mumbai -400051).

Thanks to the wonderful people of the Goethe Institute in Mumbai (and especially to fantastic Anja Dunkel) for making this happen!

A recording from the last Pacotek party in Tel Aviv, 10th of December 2010. I miss my friends and I miss Pacotek!

Glitterbug @ Pacotek Tel Aviv 10th December 2010 by Glitterbug

Tonight, 10th of December. Pacotek. 4 hour Glitterbug DJ set from 11-3. With Anna & Sousanna afterwards.
Sniff Club
Daniel Frish 1
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

Glitterbug-DJ Set @ Solyanka, Moscow, 4th of Sept. 2010 by Glitterbug

This is a DJ set that I recorded on the 4th of September between 2am and 5am at the fantastic Solyanka Club ( http://s-11.ru ) in Moscow. Sorry, no playlist this time. Endless love to an unbelievable audience. This definitely was one of those unforgettable nights! Thank you!!!

(I was a little exhausted in the beginning of the set because we had a live performance at the MIGZ festival just 3 hours before i played the Solyanka gig. But having roses thrown at me after the first 30 minutes after taking control of the turntables definitely woke me up! The only thing that disturbed the fun was a horrible mixer, the Pioneer DJM 1000, that I HATE!!!)