konkrittles #1 – Liz Pelly/Playlists, Discogs, Berghain clickbait, field recordings, etc.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of my irregular mail-outs, mirrored here for sustainability reasons. If you’d like to receive these updates directly into your inbox, please send an e-mail to kricorn@konkrit.de with the subject line »mailing list« and I will add you to it posthaste.

January 2025 has been a busy month for me, so let’s dive right in: Please find a list of my recent articles and radio features as well as the odd music/film/food recommendation below. (For all you non-German speakers, I specifically point it out if a piece is available in an official or my own English translation), .

+++++ Stuff That I Wrote (or Said on the Radio)

— Wrote a lil’ 2024 recap about electronic music and pop in Germany for Goethe-Institut, available in my original German and Sue Pickett’s excellent English translation. Here’s my personal 2024 recap, in English, btw. 

— I interviewed Liz Pelly about her stunning Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist for ZEIT Online and also recommended the book over at DLF Kultur to moderator Maria König and everyone who was listening.

— I took the publication of Pelly’s book as an opportunity to independently publish the first draft of a paper on the cultural history of the playlist I wrote years ago, which ended up being heavily edited for a book publication. I like Melting Plastic. A Cultural History of the Playlist (Up Until 2020) (my own translation of the German original version) more than the official version.

— Speaking of tech that has changed the music industry, I went on air on the godforsaken 20th of January to discuss the ramifications of the TikTok ban for the US-American and German music industry with Martin Böttcher for DLF Kultur’s Tonart. Bottom line: we’ll be fine, and maybe we can actually learn from this to do better.

Discogs wanted to dona… no, Discogs wanted its users to donate money to those affected by the Los Angeles fires. In a comment for DJ LAB I argue that this is perfectly in line with the monopolist’s usual business practices. For the same mag, I wrote about Würzburg’s Waldschänke Dornheim for my on-going series of club portraits.

— Speaking of which, for Berliner Zeitung I wrote about the current status quo of Berlin’s club scene in a time of polycrisis and possible avenues towards a brighter future and profiled DJ/producer/label owner Dana Ruh.

— Speaking of clubs, the ARD mini-series The Next Level partially takes place at Berghain, er, Reaktor, because Alexander Osang decided to turn a 2018 clickbait piece on the death of a tourist into something bigger that functions a sort of roman à clef. I reviewed this hot mess for ZEIT Online

— And now for something completely different: I’ve returned with a new instalment of my Found Sounds column in field notes, musing on the use of field recordings in some new releases—available in English and my own German translation.

— I’ve written about some key metal bands and metal festivals in East Germany after 1990 for MDR Kultur to drum up excitement about the recently released second season of »Iron East,« a wonderful podcast whose second season focuses on metal after, well, 1990. To be read with a slight Thuringian accent.

Astrobal has returned with another cosmic album on Karaoke Kalk, »L’uomo e la natura.« Composer Mario Verandi has a wonderful new album on play loud! recordings coming out on the 31st of January, while cellist (or well, halldorophonist) Martina Bertoni will release her new (and so far best, imho) album Electroacoustic Works for Halldorophone (first sample here) through Karlrecords on the 21st of February. I wrote the blurbs for those, all in English. Altin Village & Mine has also announced the first volume of its »Free/Future/Music« mixtape series for which I have written the press release and an essay that will hopefully be published soon—depending on when I find the time to properly finish it.

— I’ve also done a tonne of translation work for some forthcoming/tba Haus der Kulturen der Welt events/exhibitions and a very special project, while also doing the same for the upcoming edition of MaerzMusik and the festival’s programme book. If you’re in Berlin at that time, I recommend you check out the programme—more names tba, you’re in for some treats.

So, yeah—like I said, it was a busy month. Sorry.

+++++ Some Unsorted Recommendations

Korm Plastics D has reissued The Haters’ Puinhoop, a fantastic release that contrasts half an hour of sound fuckery with another half an hour of spoken word fuckery. Raed Yassin’s improv collage Phantom Orchestra is both massive and doesn’t feel like it, the same is true for Kevin Drumm’s Neither Here Nor There, the only ambient album you’ll need this year. Speaking of quiet stuff, I’ve recently paid a visit to Robert Zank and picked up the first two Jakob Ullmann releases on his Edition RZ. I’m especially taken by voice, books and FIRE 3. [Fret not, we’re getting to the token pop song now!] I’m very obsessed with OHYUNG’s »no good,« the first single from her forthcoming album. Think Dean Blunt, but Mica Levi/Tirzah. I thought 3 Faces was a beautiful movie that paid homage to Kiarostami in an idiosyncratic way while dealing with gender politics. I’ll never grow tired of making this pumpkin lasagna (and would only recommend that you throw in a handful of spinach or chard) and thanks to a massive care package from the wonderful Fox & His Friends label, my recent post-lasagna workout sessions have been soundtracked by Yu Aerobic (Original Workout Music from Yugoslavia 1981​-​1984). Speaking of physical exhaustion, CTM Festival will be almost over by the time I send this out, but if I still have some strength in me I’ll try to make it to Galiläakirche for the second night of a Berlin collaboration of my two favourite Beijing-based (for lack of a better term) no-fucks-given DIY sound art labels, Aloe and Zoomin’ Night.