On the Eastern edges of Berlin, nestled to the riverbank of the Spree, a Socialist monument slowly crumbles under the grind of time: The Funkhaus. The former centre of radio broadcasting in East Germany is a gigantic complex that now houses start-ups, bars, event locations, and studios for creatives. It was my home for the Ascension weekend.
The Funkhaus is also where Lea Porcelain have their base, and on May 28th, they played themselves and around 1000 visitors into a cathartic rush. It was an insane closure to their first tour since the pandemic started.
However, as I've featured Lea Porcelain before and written about them since 2017, they won't be part of today's edition of reLISTEN. Instead, their concert was the backdrop, an occasion that provided an opportunity to discover new music.
There are two sides to these Berlin discoveries: The supporting acts that played. And the Friday night before the show, I spent with Markus Nikolaus, singer of the band, and Felix, a photographer, in Lea Porcelain's studio listening to music.
