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Mona Mur: Documentary about the German post-punk queen

There was Marlene Dietrich, Hildegard Knef, and Nico, the ice queen. And then there is Mona Mur, 'Germany's Queen of Postpunk'. Her dazzling career, which brought her together with En Esch (KMFDM), FM Einheit, Mark Chung, and Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten), Nikko Weidemann (Babylon Berlin), Dieter Meier (Yello), and J.J. Burnel (The Stranglers), is now the subject of a documentary film by Grimme Award winner Dietmar Post and Lucía Palacios, who were also responsible for the sensational film 'Monks: The Transatlantic Feedback' about the proto-punk band The Monks.

The reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. Fan and Tocotronic bassist Jan Müller recommends the film with the words: "‘Mona Mur in Conversation’ recently won the audience award at the Unerhört! Music Film Festival. That's no surprise, because when you see it, this film has a fascinating pull when Mona Mur explains why things went the way they did for her, and why they often went wrong.“ Filmmaker Monika Treut adds: ”The film is so exciting because it is multi-layered: it's about Mona Mur as a fearless woman in the male-dominated music business, it's also a gallop through the recent history of pop music, and it shows Mona Mur's many faces as she continually develops her own style in an unconventional and creative way." Mur was also the driving force behind the successful return of Xmal Deutschland singer Anja Huwe to the music business.

“Mona Mur in Conversation” will soon be going on a cinema tour and can be seen in the following cities, with director Dietmar Post in attendance:

22.09. Hamburg, Kino 3001, 21 Uhr
24.09. Osnabrück, Lagerhalle, 19:30 Uhr
25.09. Offenbach, Waggon am Kulturgleis, 20:30 Uhr
26.09. Saarbrücken, Kino Achteinhalb, 20 Uhr
28.09. Frankfurt, Gusti Kulturkino
04.10. Hannover, Kino im Sprengel, 20:30 Uhr
05.10. Karlsruhe, Kinemathek, 20 Uhr
09.-20.10. Berlin, Lichtblick Kino (daily without friday)
10.10. Wiesbaden, Murnau-Stiftung, 20:15 Uhr
14.10. Bamberg, Lichtspiel Kino
15.10. Nürnberg, Casablanca Filmkunst, 20 Uhr
16.10. München, Werkstattkino (various dates)
18.10. Mannheim, Klangbild Festival, 20 Uhr

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OUT: album 'New York Sunset' by Kid Tarô feat. Anthony Drawn

Kid Tarô is a 22-year-old sample-based beatmaker from Inglewood, CA. His music is a twist of some modern synth-influenced trap, soul, and hip hop paired with that classic MPC 90´s vibe and bounce. Besides making his lofi decorated beats while always on tour he is also working as a producer for some cats like Mike Jenkins, Vic Mensa, and Saba.

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Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek nominated for VIA Award 2025

Derya Yıldırım sings a song that she knows from her grandmother - an Anatolian folk classic: “Hop Bico”, which means “Hop around, Bico”. Derya's grandmother interpreted the song in her own way, Derya's version is similar - and yet completely different. This is no coincidence, but a concept, because Derya is convinced that if you play an old folk song, you have to add something of your own to it “otherwise you might as well put on the old record”.

As a musical archive of collective experiences, the new album 'Yarin Yoksa' comprises original compositions and features three traditional Anatolian folk songs. Derya Yildirim lends her voice to the cultural heritage of her family, a folk song heritage that was already there yesterday and will be there for a long time to come. She carefully and respectfully transfers the songs into the present, colors them psychedelically and underlays them with hypnotic vocals. In this way, something new is added to the existing, which contains the experiences of generations, including those of today's society.

Born and raised in Hamburg, Derya began her musical journey at a young age at home, where she played traditional Anatolian folk songs with her family. Her father encouraged her to learn various instruments - starting with the baglama, a seven-stringed Turkish lute. Derya also played the piano, ud, guitar and saxophone from an early age and became a versatile multi-instrumentalist. However, she has remained particularly attached to the baglama - “there's just something very magical about it, it's my companion, it tells my story and carries my voice”.

Derya condenses all these influences into her own musical language, which draws on the Anatolian sound world and is both contemporary and universal. During a theater project in 2014, she met the French musicians Graham Mushnik (keyboards) and Antonin Voyant (guitar, flute) from Catapulte Records and founded the band Derya Yildirim & Grup Simsek with them. In 2021, she was joined by drummer Helen Wells, who comes from the DIY and psychedelic scene in Cape Town, South Africa.

Despite their diverse influences, the band avoids the term “world music” and prefers to describe their sound as “outernational” - a self-confident expression for a more inclusive sound that transcends borders. “You need a groove and a melody, and everything around it is free.” - This guiding principle informs the band's songwriting and interpretation of traditional folk standards. "I believe that the melodies shouldn't be changed, because we are responsible for preserving the music in the right way. Our versions respect the roots. They are the same lyrics and the same melodies, but they may have a completely different soul."

The new album 'Yarin Yoksa' by Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek captures this soul and gives space to its poetry and its resistance - both central themes in the Anatolian musical tradition: "Some of these poems were written hundreds of years ago, but they are still relevant. This music is important because it is still the voice of the people, the minority and the oppressed". After self-producing several albums, they signed to New York label Big Crown Records in 2024 and collaborated with Grammy award-winning producer Leon Michels (El Michels Affair) for 'Yarin Yoksa'. The recordings are a balance between preservation and innovation and they give an idea of what would be if there was no tomorrow - 'Yarin Yoksa'. If we knew better what really matters.

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Dr Walker wins Best AI Film award

Congratulations to Dr Walker of the Liquid Sky Artistcollective for winning this years Best AI Film award at Experimental Film Fest in the USA with his short movie 'Fragmentet Reality'!

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OUT: album 'DAILY PAPER' by Escape x Bafe

'DAILY PAPER' is not something you would expect from Escape at first. As fate would have it, he met Bafe (rapper/producer/engineer) and the two realized right away that two geniuses simply had to work together. This album is the first uptempo thing you've heard from Escape. Ghetto tech and Phonk go hand in hand anyway, so why the blinkers. Let's go! Anyway, these are the elements that went into this project. Bafe is featured on every song and produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the whole album himself. Escape of course had a hand in everything, as he did on 'Die or die tryin'. New year, new album, new genre, but the same artist. Check out the little funny game and chase some paper too: DAILY PAPER RUN

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Alfred Hilsberg died August 19th

Born in Wolfsburg in 1947, Hilsberg moved to Hamburg where he initially taught history of documentary films at art colleges before becoming a music journalist for at the time influential “Sounds” magazine from the mid-70s. He played a crucial role ushering in Germany’s idiosyncratic take on Punk, releasing more than 100 singles on his ZickZack label, organizing festivals and tours - many by radical underground artists, including the first releases of Freibank related bands such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Abwärts, Xmal Deutschland, Die Erde and many others. He reprised the label in the 90s again releasing artists that would become the influential “Hamburger Schule”. The “Pope of Punk” helped intrepid, visionary ideas gain visibility in close collaboration with Freibank Partner Klaus Maeck, who ran the legendary “Rip Off” record store next door and set up Germany’s first independent distribution network for ZickZack and other labels. Alfred remained connected to music into old age, even though he increasingly withdrew into private life. With his death, German pop culture has lost one of its most important and influential pioneers.

'How to Be Normal and the Oddness of the Other World' out now!

Rosa's latest work is the movie score for 'How To Be Normal and The Oddness of the Other World', directed by Florian Pochlatko, which premieres at the 75th Berlin Film Festival in 2025. Anschütz is signed to the Los Angeles-based label Heartworm Press and currently lives and works in Berlin.

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Attention email fraud!

Unfortunately, emails are currently circulating from a law firm that is trying to assert copyright infringements in our name. The sender email address is a cryptic Gmail address. Of course we have nothing to do with this and are currently discussing how to deal with it.