Capacitor: The New All Electronica Playlist
Our new premium-exclusive playlist, «Capacitor», brings you exciting beats, basses, and synthesizer melodies.
Do you crave the pulsating beats that make your heart race and your feet move? Look no further: With our brand new playlist, «Capacitor», we have gathered an adrenaline-filled collection of electronic music. Fifty handpicked tracks await you, from vastly expanding ambient sounds to bone-shattering techno.
Get lost in the hypnotic rhythms, or let your mind drift away to the dreamy melodies. Whatever your preference, we've got you covered.
Frequent Updates & Exclusivity
«Capacitor» will receive monthly updates, accompanied by a short post showing which tracks left or entered the playlist. So, if you ever wonder which tracks have already been featured or missed to save a specific song, these update posts can help you.
«Capacitator» will also be an exclusive offer for our paying members. Join here with a 30-day free trial and enjoy this all-electronica playlist and much more.
Exclusive Premiere: HARTES PORZELLAN – All In Your Head
Today, you can exclusively listen to HARTES PORZELLAN's new track, «All In Your Head»—a rumbling and psychedelic rock song.
Attention. It is what All In Your Head commands with every inch of its existence. The rumbling bassline, the gnarly trap beat, the shrieking guitar. It's a noisy affair.
The new single, officially released tomorrow by Berlin-based artist Markus Nikolaus and Simon Kaiser under the name HARTES PORZELLAN, boasts a loud and overwhelming composition like an underground construction site—filled with smoke and reverbs, clanking, hammering, and sawing.
Singer Markus Nikolaus, who found international success as the singer of Lea Porcelain, started with new solo endeavours in 2022. After the intimate and acoustic Never Let You Go, he now turns the volume up.
All In Your Head draws from early psychedelic rock; you'll find trace elements from the likes of The Velvet Underground. There's a flavour of krautrock, post-punk, and dark wave, all hiding and peeking quickly behind the towering sound construction.
While instrumentally, HARTES PORZELLAN wraps in many influences, All In Your Head is ultimately made complete by his vocal performance. The delivery almost seems detached, but his soft voice juxtaposes the brutal sound. And when he almost shouts the repetitive chorus, «It's all in your head», Markus Nikolaus conjures the image of Joy Division's Ian Curtis.
Together, sound and voice create a trance-provoking experience that fans of acts like Depeche Mode or the Beastie Boys might enjoy.
All In Your Head will be officially released on December 15 via the Berlin label Porzellan Bar, which is known for its unique parties at Funkhaus and other venues.
Participate In Our 2023 Survey And Win Great Prizes
As 2023 is coming to an end, we appreciate your feedback. You also have the chance to win great prizes by filling out our survey.
The year is almost over, and it's been roughly seven months since Negative White rose from its grave. We would like to hear your opinion: What do you like? What would you like to see less from us?
We appreciate you taking the time to fill out our short survey:
Finish The Survey And Enter Our Contest
Giving feedback is also a potential win for you. If you enter your email address in the survey, you're joining our contest. Here's what you have a chance of winning:
- Buy Music: A $100 gift card for Bandcamp—sponsored by our editor, Janosch Trohler
- Free Premium: 12 months of Premium membership, giving you access to all our reporting, worth $55
- Reduced Premium: An 80% discounted Premium membership for 12 months, worth $44
If you are already a paying member, we will credit your account. The deadline for participation is December 20, 2023, 8 pm UTC+1.
The New Negative White Archive
Between 2010 and 2020, Negative White's staff published hundreds of articles and thousands of photos. We're preserving them on a new site.
From its innocent and naïve beginnings in 2010, Negative White became a significant, independent online magazine covering cultural events at home and abroad.
For a decade, volunteers reported and photographed hundreds of concerts, wrote reviews, interviewed artists, and researched background stories. It generated a vast archive of photos and articles written in German.
Now, we will migrate the archive onto a new platform to keep the content alive and well. You can already find the archive here.
In the coming weeks, or probably months, considering the amount of content, we will carefully select archived material and publish it to the new website. It is a considerable effort as we are looking at a pool of around 2500 articles and roughly 10'000 photos.
However, we think the challenge is worth it as we preserve pearls like our report from Lewis Capaldi's first headline show in Switzerland or the gallery from The Libertines gig in 2018.
Currently, just under 100 articles are produced and published, but more will follow as we migrate more content. We will follow up on the progress at appropriate points in time.
If you also think our effort is worth it, please consider supporting us with a paid membership and help us finance the archive.
Community Essentials #4: The 80s
The 4th Community Essentials brings you five member-recommended songs from the 80s.
The 1980s: Neon lights, synthesizers, blowdry hairstyles. The decade came a long way—from a perception of bad taste to a new-found love in its retrofuturistic vintage aesthetics.
Musically, the decade has much to offer: From the progression of post-punk into new and dark wave, synthesizer-driven sounds, the establishment of gothic rock to the rise of electronic music and early hip-hop.
Our esteemed members have sent in their favourite songs of the era so that we can compile a short list of classics. Here are their recommendations.
Bias And Outside Influence in Music Journalism
Biases heavily impact journalism. While music journalism is not as high stakes as other topics, biases still have an influence.
In the last few decades, today’s world seems as polarised as ever. Information cycles spin ever faster while trust in journalism is continuously declining. The tendency to actively avoid news is rising in Switzerland and many other countries.
In the tension between traditional journalism, blogging, and influencers, we also meander with Negative White.
However, our subject—music—is often less controversial than your daily news. Nevertheless, we need to address specific topics within our realm of work as we believe that transparency is crucial to help assess our reporting and decision-making in general.
Definition of Bias
Bias is the inclination to favour or maintain a particular perspective or opinion, often without considering other viewpoints or evidence. Bias can be conscious or unconscious and can take various forms, such as racial, gender, or political bias. It can also be influenced by personal experiences, cultural background, and societal norms.
Bias can have significant consequences, particularly in decision-making processes, where it can lead to unfair treatment or discrimination. Recognising and addressing bias is crucial to ensure fairness and equity in all aspects of life.
With that said, we also can conclude that music reporting certainly has way lower stakes when it comes to biases than, for example, political or business journalism. However, biases are still affecting our reporting nonetheless.
Edition #100
The 100th edition of Weekly5 brings another year to closure with new songs by Stu Larsen, BLEU REINE, Adna, Isaac Roux, and a Martin Kohlstedt rework by Mollono.Bass.
A warm welcome to the final Weekly5 edition of 2023. It's time to celebrate—not only another year filled with exciting and captivating new music but also the 100th edition since Weekly5 returned in January 2021.
With today's edition, Weekly5 has been published 30 times this year, recommending 150 songs.
I want to thank all of you for your interest, loyalty, and support over the past few months. Curating music is more fun when you know other people appreciate it. And if you think I did a good job providing you with regular inspiration and I deserve it, consider supporting Weekly5 with a Premium subscription.
But now, let's move on to our current selection of new music: After last week's electro-heavy edition, we're hitting tender notes with the soft, emotional tracks by Stu Larsen, Adna, and Isaac Roux.
French multi-instrumentalist BLEU REINE leads us into a sinister yet atmospheric universe, and with a remix of Martin Kohlstedt's AMS, we say goodbye but in anticipation of the future.
Save The Weekly5 Playlists 🎧
You can listen to today's curation on selected streaming services:
Stu Larsen – Running Out of Time
Running Out of Time by Australian indie-folk artist Stu Larsen is again heartfelt proof of his ability to evoke heartache and longing. The single, a third announcement for his upcoming EP, Songs I Wrote, «follows two lovers from beginning to end and asks the question: «Is time the open door or the cage?» The fleeing moments of life are captured with nuance and sensitivity, accompanied by the melancholic slide guitar and Larsen's warm voice.
BLEU REINE – Pâle Lumière (feat. Alcest)
Taken from her latest album, La Saison fantôme, BLEU REINE's collaboration with atmospheric blackgaze band Alcest is called Pâle Lumière. The French multi-instrumentalist opens the portal into a sinister universe that shines in gloomy beauty. Crystalline guitars dance over a foundation of densely layered synth darkness. And there's the conjuring voice, supported by the faint cries of Alcest, that round the mystical atmosphere.
Adna – Beautiful Hell (Acoustic Version)
Born in Northern Sweden, with Bosnian roots, and now living in Berlin, Adna has released a small EP with acoustic interpretations of previous songs. Beautiful Hell, originally from her 2015 album Run, Lucifer, is one of the chosen ones. The acoustic version strips away the stomping beats and lays the song's soft core bare without losing any of its goosebump-provoking ability.
Isaac Roux – Autumn Love
Educated in Paul McCartney's co-founded Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, the Belgian indie-folk newcomer Isaac Roux displays vulnerability and sonic brilliance in his latest single, Autumn Love. In the best Bon Iver style, the song embraces tenderness and self-doubt humans tend to express in the colder seasons. The instruments, mainly a shiny acoustic guitar and a warm piano, perfectly underpin Roux's nostalgic vocal performance.
Martin Kohlstedt – AMS - Mollono.Bass Rework
Inspired by attending a concert by pianist Martin Kohlstedt in 2018, German electro artist Mollono.Bass couldn't get the piece AMS out of his head. Now, five years later, they released a remixed version together. It's not the first collaboration with an electronic artist, but certainly one of the best: AMS's urging and driven yet still playful sound integrates perfectly with Mollon.Bass's almost archaic drumming sounds. The result is simultaneously danceable and transforming.
Crowdfunding for Cultural Venue KiFF Enters Final Stage
The cultural venue KiFF is crowdfunding a new building. With nine days left, they still require around 124'000 Swiss Francs to help succeed with their ambitious project.
Since 1991, people have enjoyed cultural events in «Kultur in der Futterfabrik», or KIFF for short. However, the venue in Aarau, Switzerland, has seen its best years and doesn't meet the rising standards of a modern event space anymore. Or as the association puts it: «The spaces are too small, insulation and ventilation are poor, and the infamous stairs too steep... Renovation is simply not an option, and the lease is expiring.»
An Ambitious New Space
The proposed solution is to tear down the old factory building and create a new space. According to the website, the new venue should become a «versatile home for pop culture» with a large hall for concerts, a club, a restaurant, an exhibition stage, rehearsal rooms, and a new home for the local indie radio station Kanal K.
On November 27, 2022, the people of Aarau voted with 75.7% to support the new project financially. With around 27.6 million Swiss Francs already raised to support the project, KiFF started a crowdfunding campaign to raise additional funds. The goal is 500'000 Swiss Francs.
Under the motto «KiFF me baby one more time», crowdfunding is now entering its final stage with only nine days left. As of publishing, around 376'000 Swiss Francs have been collected.
Not A First in Switzerland
The ambitious plans and crowdfunding are not new for Switzerland's cultural venues. In 2020, the traditional concert and club venue Albani was raising money to buy the building where they were located. They raised over 500'000 Swiss Francs and saved the long-term existence of a cultural institution that had existed since 1988.
Also in 2023, Neubad in Lucerne, located in an old swimming pool building, crowdfunded the installation of solar panels on the roof. They raised 23'865 Swiss Francs, exceeding the goal.
Although crowdfunding always remains risky and time-consuming, it has benefits. Especially in more extensive operations like the projects of KiFF or Albani, the uncertain dependence on private landlords vanishes. But most importantly, successful crowdfunding campaigns further legitimise the existence of cultural spaces.
