with music by:
Ebow | Garip WerkstättenUche Yara | goldendays FM
Nichtseattle | Staatsakt
Peter Gall | Compost Records
Marġot Erkner | Major Label
Author: Angie Portmann
Speaker (English): David Creedon
Speaker Female Voice-Overs (English): Louise Hollamby Kühr
Translation (English): Eric Rosencrantz Hope, dreams, pain, friends, family, and queerness—this is how one might define the universe of Ebru Düzgün, aka Ebow. *Typology of a Life*, her sixth album since the release of her debut in 2017, explores themes of migration and exclusion within these boundaries; exploitation, and love, but also specific narratives such as her father’s gambling addiction, her Alevi faith, and the history of Kurdistan. Thus, the album is an attempt to portray herself exhaustively as a complex figure and to allow for apparent areas of tension, such as those between politics and sex. Musically, she sticks to her signature old-school hip-hop beats and loops, which she occasionally expands with classical instrumentation. Arranged in a way that’s pleasant but never harmless, she presents this personal portrait in 15 acts on the diverse album, supported by illustrious collaborators such as the veteran Joy Denalane and the autotune gangsta rapper Kitana.
When a previously unknown 20-year-old performs as the opening act for the Rolling Stones, she’s sure to attract attention. That’s exactly what happened in 2022, when Uche Yara—a Berlin resident of Nigerian descent—achieved just that. She was musically active even as a child, learning drums and marimba, and later guitar. With equal parts skill and versatility, she employs her voice—whether in singing, spoken word, or instrumental passages—as she explores themes of physicality, autonomy, and belonging against the understated club sounds on her debut album, *Bodyscanner*. She showcases her immense talent unpretentiously yet confidently, experimenting with different approaches and delivering a stylistically assured work that reflects the versatility of her musical journey.
The project’s name is borrowed from a song by the influential German lo-fi grunge band Tocotronic, in which the lyrics remind the singer not to imagine he’s on the same level as the grunge greats from Seattle who rose to fame in the early 1990s. Nichtseattle, the project by East Berlin-based songwriter, singer, and guitarist Katharina Kollmann, is now entering its fourth installment this month. Following the contemplative double album *Haus*, she continues to work on her signature blend of the East German singer-songwriter tradition—whose hallmark is literary miniatures about work, home, or social issues—with raw indie rock guitars and introspective folk. She addresses personal themes discreetly and with a certain distance, as she does on this new album, *Große Liebe*, which explores not only the romantic side of love but also the deep friendship and solidarity that ideally accompany it. Produced in collaboration with her regular five-piece (live) band, they deliver a multi-layered analog band sound across the ten tracks—some of which are quite long—that provides the perfect backdrop for Kollmann’s direct, unvarnished storytelling.
With his last album, *Love Avatar*, he won the German Jazz Prize for Album of the Year in 2025. That won’t happen to Munich-based drummer, composer, producer, and music professor Peter Gall with his follow-up album *Drum Seeds*, released in early September 2026—but not just because this time, in addition to the percussion instruments, he recorded all other sound sources entirely on his own. The album, initially planned as a pure percussion album, was disrupted by his love of film music, synthesizers, and all manner of influences—from Aphex Twin to Boards of Canada—got in the way, resulting in a collection of eclectic pieces that, while always grounded in drums (or rather, drums), then meander musically through various styles with free-flowing associations, aided by the use of diverse synthesizers and even a Mellotron. But anyone expecting strange rock operas will be disappointed—the arrangements remain straightforward, almost conservative. Peter Gall focuses on the idea that forms the basis of the composition, develops it with concentration and creativity, and never loses the thread or his eye for the essential.
I am your server and my name is Erkner
(“Still Ms. Erkner to you,” Margot Erkner)
The trio consisting of Berlin garage rocker Timo Tolkmitt and his two bandmates—Gunnar Refardt, known to a few perhaps for his video work with Caspar Brötzmann, and electro-punk artist T. Raumschmiere, aka Marco Haas—calls itself Marġot Erkner and masters the fine art of rock, straddling the line between garage and punk, with a level of perfection that teenagers could never have achieved. Inspired by the imaginary woman Erkner—“the slightly irritable saleswoman who tells you to your face, without being asked, what she thinks of you”—the three whip their way through the little curiosities, oddities, and annoyances of their post-artist lives, with irony, sharpness, and precision. It’s no surprise that this collaboration took shape at the bar of a neighborhood spot in Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg, the epicenter of old-school Berlin hipster culture). It’s also worth taking a look at the band’s label—that wonderful major label, which has unfortunately fallen somewhat into obscurity in recent years but was a major force in the country’s punk scene, especially in the 2010s.