Stories

Rain starts pouring from the sky as soon as I leave the apartment. Not an unexpected event, yet almost a comical setting for my first concert review in over three years.

Shortly after, I find myself climbing the steep slopes to «Bäumli», a little park draped on the hillside. With the forest in the back, a panoramic view of Winterthur, Switzerland, opens up towards the West. But depressingly grey, low-hanging clouds cover all, and the gushing wind drives the rain into my face.

And in some corner of my head, I ask myself: Why am I doing this to myself?

The scenery at «Bäumli» looks all familiar: A small stage, a couple of food and beverage stands alongside the low stone wall. The only thing missing: rows of chairs. They were here when «Ante Konzerte», a small showcase festival, debuted in 2021 with Covid-19 measures still in place. This memory seems far away—almost like a trauma you're desperately trying to forget.

So I sit down on a bench, dried half-heartedly with my tote bag. A guy approaches me. Let's call him Steve. He drinks one bottle of Mate after the other like it's some kind of holy water. Steve usually listens to melodic techno.

But a day ago, his brother sent him a song by Betterov. «I've listened to Olympia three times in a row. It totally flashed me,» he goes on. Then, while looking for live dates, he discovered the «Ante Konzerte» and decided to come the same day.

Although the pandemic might now—also officially—be a thing of the past, it left a deep scar on the music business. While pre-sales have been a struggle before, they still haven't recovered. And with the outlook of walking up to a not very remote but not very central place for a concert in the rain: It's a hard sell… Not everybody is like Steve.

Praised Acts

Let's talk about the acts of the festival's opening night. Manuel Bittdorf, born in 1994 in what is pretty much the heart of Germany, as Betterov. His first single, Dynamit, was released in 2019, followed by an EP in 2020 and finally, last year's debut album Olympia.

Olympia was received relatively well. Benedikt Kendler writes in his review for «Musikexpress» about Betterov's sonic signature: «The furiously melancholic guitar riffs, placed in prominent places, help Betterov's multi-faceted, rough and occasionally pleasantly brittle voice to achieve the greatest emotional intensity.» Kendler concludes the sound as a mix between indie-rock and post-punk.

In October 2022, I featured Bis zum Ende, one of the album's songs, in a Weekly5 edition. I wrote:

Bis zum Ende is a perfect example of Betterov's qualities: A fast-paced track, exhilarating and breathlessly delivered, accompanied by lyrics that capture adolescents' doubts, fears, and self-reflection. Despite its depressive premise, Betterov always manages to transform negativity into sparks of optimism. Bis zum Ende is no different and remains deep down a hymn to hope.

The role of the opening act at the premier night of «Ante Konzerte» in Winterthur falls to Walter Frosch. It's a duo from Schaffhausen, Switzerland's most northern canton, and was named after a legendary German football player who smoked 60 cigarettes a day and called the pub «his biggest enemy».

In 2020, the band by Mike Saxer and Rune Dahl Hansen was hyped by Swiss national broadcaster SRF. And shortly, Tim Wirth wrote in «Züri Tipp» a piece full of praise:

The song Searching Hands, for example, is simply brilliant. A guitar strums, then comes a synthesiser melody, Dahl Hansen's voice far in the background, happy apocalypse, like a good film that portrays life as it is: ambivalent. A comic mix of happiness and tragedy.

Like Betterov, the band were previously featured in Weekly5 with their single Under A Spell. My takeaway from a bit more than a year ago: «Walter Frosch build an impressive wall of sound, drowning the already muffled voice even more, giving Under A Spell actually a feeling of being exactly that: not in possession of complete control, but being under a spell. As a result, the track has a borderline psychedelic, trance-like quality.»

So why am I doing this to myself?

Well, one part of the answer is that I get to see two acts I previously wrote about for the first time on stage. More on the second part in a moment. Now, the performances.

In the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of fuzz around the public beta of ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that can write whole texts. People are constantly experimenting and posting screenshots about the programme's impressive capabilities.

Naturally, I was curious if ChatGPT could also write compelling texts about music. So, I used my existing OpenAI account (I also tried Dall-E 2 intensively before) and used the program to create descriptive paragraphs about previously curated songs.

Here's how I went about it:

The first sentence of the prompt was always "Can you write me a short paragraph with the following parameters:" followed by specific categories and keywords. I used the existing descriptions of the songs to distil the keywords as they accurately reflect my personal opinion.

I also always used the first result that ChatGPT provided and didn't make any alterations to the prompts or texts.

Al Pride – Small Heart

Result: Al Pride, hailing from Switzerland, is an indie-pop band that stands out with their innovative sound. Their song "Small Heart" is a groovy, pumping track that showcases their impressive talents. The brass section adds a unique flavor to the mix, and the spoken-word part questioning consumerism is a clever touch. Overall, the band strikes a perfect balance between catchiness and substance, making them a must-listen for fans of the genre.

Nola Kin – Not What You Think

Result: Nola Kin is a female artist from Switzerland who creates music in the folk and pop genres. Her song "Not What You Think" is described as being comforting, warm, smokey, soulful, and vulnerable. In a quote about the song, Nola Kin says that her songs are like coming home and are like a warm hug after a long and hard walk across her history. It seems that Nola Kin's music is very personal and reflective, and she uses it to connect with herself on a deeper level. Her music is comforting and provides a sense of warmth and soulfulness that is hard to find in today's fast-paced world.

Julien Bracht – Across the Ocean

Result: Julien Bracht is a male artist from Berlin, Germany, who is known for his pumping, vast, and thoughtful techno sound that is inspired by the trance and techno of the late 90s and early 2000s. His song "Across The Ocean" is a perfect example of this, with its slightly nostalgic and melancholic vibe that is both warm and distant. Despite this, the track is also playful, making it a true delight to listen to.

It's been a couple of weeks now since Swiss electronic music producer Sensu released her latest EP, Numéro LDN. Heavily influenced by the urban canyons of UK's capitol, the sound is as sleepless, urging, and ever-changing. Between the crumbling brick buildings and high-rising towers of steel and glass, Sensu's tracks are embodying the very essence of this city of 9 million people.

Sensu spent three months in London to record five new, fast-paced tracks. The influence of UK garage is obvious, however, her characteristic playfulness remains present throughout Numéro LDN.

Sensu's first appearence in Weekly5 dates back to February 2021 when she was featured with Drawn, a conventionalism-defying track that captured attention through its complex structure and intricate rhythm.

This year, Sensu was present with two contributions. First, with the utterly brilliant remix of Noti's hooked, later with the second single release from the EP, Both Sides, a collaboration with rapper Denyher.

Naturally, Sensu's single releases, Pink and Both Sides, caught much more attention than just by Weekly5. Influencial outlets like BBC Radio 1, Triple J, and DJ Mag praised the tracks.

Nostalgia is essential to Western pop culture. Connected to a sentimental longing and yearning for the return of an idealized and "mythical past," as Svetlana Boym describes in The Future of Nostalgia, nostalgia trickles through every cultural media—from movies, tv-series, fashion, and music.

And the 1980s have been the principal source of reference in the past decades—primarily kicked off by the Miami Vice-inspired video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, published in 2002. A wave of 80s-driven media followed with reboots like Tron: Legacy or Blade Runner 2049 and new outputs such as the movie Drive or the popular Netflix series Stranger Things.

Alongside the cinematic resurrection of the era, a whole stylized universe began to form; a world in blue and pink. And naturally, the world needed a soundtrack. Introducing: Synthwave.

Lately, I've been listening to The Friendship Onion, the podcast by Dom Monaghan and Billy Boyd. Yes, Merri and Pippin from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Besides being hilarious, they often talk about music and which records they're listening to while being prepped for the shoot.

I realized once again how dramatically the way we listen to music has changed in the last 20 years. And it made me a bit sad.

The Downfall of the Album

I was born in 1990 when the music business was still flourishing. Everybody threw out their vinyl collections and bought everything on these shiny new compact discs. What a time to be alive.

Albums still made a lot of money and defined the listening experience. I've described in a previous episode how certain records like Eric Clapton's Unplugged or Paul Simon's stunning Graceland somewhat coined my taste and personality.

Here in Switzerland, concerts are finally just a glimpse away.

The music itself is powerful for us as individuals. However, the collective experience of a fantastic concert might never be reproduced. It‘s a unique, shared moment. You had to be there to know. You belong to an exclusive club.

Although live recordings cannot catch the total ecstasy of physically enjoying the overwhelming power, there are exceptional clips out there. I‘ve collected five of them, hoping they would lift your spirits on this beautiful Sunday morning.