Photo: Angel Ceballos
Puschen presents what should be a ripper of a show tonight at Festsaal Kreuzberg with The Men landing from Brooklyn armed with their latest album New Moon and supported by Berlin’s very own Delta Love:
The Men yes, “The,” are a four-piece post punk outfit from Brooklyn, NY. Their catalog, which began in 2008 with a hand-dubbed self-released demo cassette, has grown to include two LP’s — We Are the Men and Immaculada — two more tapes, and a 7-inch. They have toured three times, played over 75 shows and have grown a following of die hard fans crowding into living rooms and basements throughout the five boroughs, desperately trying to see them. The buzz in their hometown has grown so fervent that the Village Voice debuted this album’s first single, “Bataille,” a full six months before the record was scheduled to street. Named for the famed French pornographic writer, the track review expounds, “rides a pug-ugly joy-punk riff into almost krautrock oblivion — complete with gorgeous voice cracks and face-mooshing distortion.”
This is a live version of Open Your Heart followed by a new one off New Moon, I’ve forgotten which one, oh yes, Half Angel Half Light:
After a couple of months break Delta Love returned to the live circuit with a bang last Friday night in Berlin and are sure to impress again this Friday night; they’ve played here a couple of times and never disappointed, indeed they’re about the only band in Berlin who actually get better every time you see them:
Imagine a mix of The Sonics, Sic Alps, Dirty Beaches and Beat Happening and you’re somewhere close to their sound but nothing quite prepares you for the Delta Love live experience a howling-reverb assault of guitar punctuated by stop-start drums that never outstay their welcome, washed over by a double-vocal assault and a bass-pedal which both add depth to the overall effect. Recent shows have been packed with new songs and there’s a more fluid side bursting through to match their tunefulness, they’ve started playing some classic skewed, pop music.
Here’s what they finished last Friday, Crystal Moon an absolute belter of a live track on which they were joined by Infants, aka William Sorensen on second guitar:
