Janosch Troehler

With his debut album, Norway's indie soul hope Beharie presents twelve songs with a kaleidoscopic range of tones, sounds, and colours—tied together with his raw singer-songwriter lyrics, swinging between self-confidence and vulnerability.

In 2021, Beharie won the Spellemann prize for his second EP, Beharie // Beharie, and was nominated again a year later for the subsequent EP, Beharie, the Third. Both moments demonstrate the artist's rising profile in his home country and beyond.

In Are You There, Boy?, Beharie delves into the aspects of his identity as a queer person. Artistically abstracted into different characters, each song is a fragment of Beharie's self, meeting in their common urge for belonging. Or, as Beharie puts it:

Dennis Kiss has published his debut album since he became a solo artist. Norddeich Mole was released on October 6, and it's an opus for the thoughtful, the dreamers, and the sad. Raised in Switzerland, now living in Hamburg, Dennis Kiss sings in his native language for the first time.

Melodic Heartache

With «Norddeich Mole», Dennis Kiss presents his debut album. It’s a deep introspection of a young, longing, and seeking man.

Negative WhiteJanosch Troehler

Songs like Bordeaux, previously featured in Weekly5, or his latest release, Gewitterwolken, are bittersweet indie-pop songs that perfectly complement Germany's rise in something called «Neue Neue Deutsche Welle», a resurgence in post-punk-esque, melancholic sound spearheaded by artists like Edwin Rosen, Betterov, or Temmis.

At least in Kiss' case, the musical inspiration for his sound, labelled by himself as «Neue Deutsche Einsamkeit» [New German Loneliness], is, in fact, driven by the more saddened works of other artists.

We asked Dennis Kiss to share five songs and artists that heavily influenced his own musical creativity. For Negative White, he opens his treasure chest of influence and tells, in his words, how these songs and artists inspire him.

Editors – Open Your Arms

I love the first Editors album, The Back Room, for its simplicity and bluntness. There are very few other albums that encapsulate tristesse and melancholia like this one does. It always appealed to me how Tom Smith somehow manages to gather so much bitterness and sorrow in so few words.

It’s a fine art to write a song in this typically post-punk-esque manner of monotonously repeating the same line and theme over and over again and then, at some point, just slightly changing it in the most painful way. That’s what always fascinated me about this album: the that lives in monotony.

The Cure – Pictures of You

It was my mother who first showed me The Cure. Generally, if it wasn’t for my parents, I don’t know where I would have gotten my musical education. From early on, they confronted me with bands like U2, the Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and so on.

I remember trying to dislike The Cure as an act of rebellion as a teenager. Obviously, this act didn’t last long, and I soon had to give in and admit that this band probably inspired me more than I would even imagine today. Pictures of You is the second song on Disintegration, my mother‘s favourite album by The Cure, and it’s a downright masterpiece.

My 20-something self would have devoured Norddeich Mole, the debut album of Dennis Kiss. It's a brilliant collection of sad indie songs, a descendant of Hamburger Schule tuned to churn out maximal melancholy.

But can you really enjoy this tribute to longing for love and coming of age beyond a certain threshold?

Born and raised in Switzerland, Dennis Kiss first made an impression together with his band The Sleepers. In 2021, they released the album Poco Bono. The beginning and the end were wrapped up in one as they split up right after. However, in parallel, Kiss already started to work—maybe unknowingly—at his next step.

Flaschenpfand marked a new phase for the musician: He wrote a song with German lyrics for the first time. During a pandemic, shaking up everybody's life, Kiss shook up his songwriting.

Now, around three years later, Dennis Kiss lives in Hamburg and releases Norddeich Mole. It's not only an hommage to his home, Northern Germany, but a deep introspection into the heart of a young, sensitive man—and beyond, a generation that feels lost yet yearns for connection and love.

Negative White presents Dennis Kiss on Album Tour

Dennis Kiss will release his debut album on the 6th of October. Negative White presents the subsequent tour of the Swiss-German artist. Here are the dates.

Negative WhiteStaff

The power of metal to captivate and enthral its listeners is truly unique. The intense sound created by heavy riffs, thundering drums, and hellish vocals evokes deep feelings in those who appreciate the genre.

Especially when experienced live on stage, the music's raw energy and emotional expression bring people together, creating a sense of unity that is hard to find in other forms of music—something I witnessed once again when I attended this year's Summer Breeze Festival in Dinkelsbühl, Germany.

Although only a small portion of my personal heavy rotation accounts for metal, the sound these bands produce is undeniably fascinating. Today, I share five metal acts I recently discovered—some of them rather late, others on their way up.

Blackbraid

Sgah’gahsowáh, the artist behind the one-man band Blackbraid, combines Black Metal's heavy sounds with a focus on nature. Stumbling over a New York Times feature anticipating the second album, Blackbraid II, the combination of themes rooted in his Native American heritage and the raw sound of Norwegian's Black Metal origins instantly intrigued me.

Initially, I expected a more progressive approach to the Black Metal sound, as seen with Zeal & Ardor. However, Blackbraid's sound remains traditionalist, offering pure, aggressive, but excellent compositions.