Skalitzer Straße 85-86, Berlin Kreuzberg
Genre: Post Modern Blues / Alternative Pop
Der Mann heißt wirklich so: Lookman Adekunle Salami, besser bekannt als L.A. Salami, veröffentlicht nun sein Debüt-Album “Dancing With Bad Grammar” auf Sunday Best Records. Wenn jemand das Do-It-Yourself-Prinzip verinnerlicht hat, so er: Seine erste Gitarre bekam er erst mit 21 Jahre, das Spielen hat er sich selbst beigebracht, und dieses Album wurde in nur einer Woche in den Urchin Studios in London aufgenommen. Natürlich ausschließlich Live aufgenommen, denn Musik aus der Konserve interessiert ihn nicht. Seinen Produzenten Matt Ingram lernte er durch die gemeinsame Freundin Lianne Le Havas kennen, mit der L.A. Salami schon viel tourte. Natürlich ist L.A. von der Musik der 60er und 70er Jahre beeinflusst und nicht wenige sehen in ihm einen modernen Bob Dylan, der Folk und Gitarrenspiel innovativ zusammenführt. Aber solche Vergleiche provoziert man wohlmöglich allein dadurch, dass man Mundharmonika spielt. Wenn man sich die Single “The City Nowadays” hört man einen zeitgenössischen urbanen Blues, der mit einem sehr originellen Text zu punkten vermag. In Deutschland tourte L.A. Salami bereits im Vorprogramm von AnnenMayKantereit und überzeugte als eloquenter Songwriter. Im April 2018 holen wir L.A. Salami dann endlich wieder zurück nach Deutschland!
Olmo + Mathilda is a collaboration between two childhood friends. Olmo is a Berlin based musician who’s music ranges from electronic production to acoustic songwriting. Mathilda is a girl who has lots of snail.
Originally dreamed up in London, Robot has been exported to Berlin as part of a study on human emotion and artificial intelligence within music. Scientists have been surprised to observe this hu- manoid fellow displaying tendencies of free will, as Robot rejects the cold grey techno of his new surroundings, instead painting modernist melodic landscapes in full Technicolor sound. Fascinated by physical human instruments – all of which he learned to play himself – Robot has finally delivered his first output, titled 33.(3). The album arrives on vinyl LP and digitally in January 2017 via Impression Recordings.
Robot’s rich compositions also serve as a cushion for his lyrical observations, reflecting a sage naiveté, an outsider perspective from within. Opening track “Bones” lays the foundation for a corpo- real existence, but Robot is grappling more with those peskiest of organs: the heart and the brain. The two following tunes, “Tru Luv” and “Head”, illustrate that even machines have growing pains! It seems that the more time Robot spends around humans, the more he begins to resemble one. Lead single “The Night is Made for Two” (out 18.11.2016) sounds like it could be a reverse-engineered Roy Orbison song but is actually based on Robot’s own clinically proven feelings after spending a night with his muse.
This sweet and sensitive creature has also made a connection between his own precarious existence and that of other sentient non-humans, a theme he explores on “Pig” atop a catchy orchestral soundtrack. It’s not just rights for “Animals” that Robot is concerned with, though: this androgynoid picks apart the silly rules of gender with the bionic boogie of “Girls”.
But as Robot becomes increasingly reprogrammed by his human experience, he finds that simple emotions can create a complicated existence. “Anger” is a gentle ballad that closes the album with a dangling resolution, trying to focus on the sweet despite the bitter. Able to see the world in more than just zeros and ones, this Robot definitely passes the Turing test.
