Some records I've listened to

Here are some records that caught my attention this year, in no particular order. By no means a complete list nor a reference, as there are quite a few records I still haven't had time to listen & explore, due to my busy music-making schedule - sometimes you just want to go back to old comfort records in-between creative sessions...

++

The Soft Moon - The Soft Moon (Captured Tracks)
Ringo Deathstarr - Colour Tripp/Sparkler (Sonic Unyon/Club AC30)
A Winged Victory For The Sullen (Erased Tapes/Kranky)
Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972 (Kranky)
Low - C'Mon (Sub Pop)
Epic45 - Weathering (Make Mine Music)
Mogwai - Hardcore Will Never Die, But You  Will (Sub Pop)
Explosions - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care (Temporary Residence)
Earth - Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1 (Southern Lord)
Esmerine - La Lechuza (Constellation Records)
Birds of Passage - Without The World (Denovali)
Labirinto - Anatema (Dissenso)
The Haxan Cloak - The Haxan Cloak (Aurora Borealis)
Aun - Phantom Ghost (Denovali)
Le Révélateur - Fictions (Gneiss Things)
Talvihorros - Descent Into Delta (Hibernate)
Birds of Passage - Without The World (Denovali)
Liturgy - Aesthetica (Thrill Jockey)
Wolves In The Throne Room - Celestial Lineage (Southern Lord)
Timber Timbre - Creep On Creeping On (Arts and Crafts)
Duchess Says - In a Fung Day T! (Alien8)
Grails - Deep Politics (Temporary Residence)
Ensorcelor - Crucifuge (Media Tree)

++

Here are some records which I've heard a promo or early version in 2011, that I look forward to in 2012:

Adrian Aniol - Arrhythmia OST (TQA Records) 

Monarch - Omens (At A Loss Recordings) 

Elika - Always The Light (Saint Marie Records) 

thisquietarmy / TQA Records News 2011#6

For those who don't know, I have a mailing here:
http://groups.google.com/group/thisquietarmy?hl=en

Add yourself to receive it. Here's the latest one.


++

Hey,

First of all, I would like to thank you all for your incredible support in 2011, and also to all the labels, publicists, reviewers & promoters that have been involved - so much has happened, including a successful European tour & of course all the following releases:

Vessels CD (Aurora  Borealis), Orange CD/LP (Lunasylum/Orange Milk), Valley LP (Basses Frequences), Resurgence 2xCD/DLP (Denovali), Unconquered DLP (Denovali), Ghidrah CDR (Brise-Cul), Parallel Lines CDR/DVDR (TQA Records), Electroluminescent/Giant Claw 2xCD (TQA Records), More Hope for Japan 4xCD compilation (Oxide Tones), Sequence2 DL compilation (Sequence), Canadian Drones CDR compilation (0bpm), etc.

Here's to hoping that 2012 will turn out to be even better!


# 30% OFF ALL THISQUIETARMY DOWNLOADS FOR X-MAS

A lot of you are probably getting ready for travels, leisure or family, leaving your CDs & vinyls at home. So here's a 30% discount off for your digital downloads needs on thisquietarmy's Bandcamp. To fill up your iPod, just use the coupon "xmas" at checkout (valid until 12/31): http://thisquietarmy.bandcamp.com


# RESURGENCE + UNCONQUERED DLP NOW AVAILABLE

I received my copies of Resurgence DLP & Unconquered DLP. These wonderful deluxe items are quite heavy, glossy gate fold with 2x 180g slab of PVC, by far my proudest releases. Only the black copies are in the store, as I received a very limited quantities of colored version, which have been reserved for local friends & fans. If you're so inclined, email me privately and maybe I will have a couple of colored copies left to spare. Montreal: you can find copies at Cheap Thrills, Atom Heart, L'Oblique, Soundcentral & Phonopolis. http://thisquietarmy.storenvy.com 

Resurgence has received mostly glowing reviews from reputed zines & papers all over Canada, USA & France, Germany, UK, Austria, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland & more. All of them have been posted as I get them, through my facebook & twitter account.

Here are a few:
CANADA - http://hour.ca/2011/12/22/thisquietarmy-resurgence/ 
CANADA - http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2011/12/08/music-reviews-62/ 
CANADA - http://www.textura.org/reviews/thisquietarmy_resurgence.htm 
FRANCE - http://www.w-fenec.org/indus/thisquietarmy,7121,resurgence.html 
FRANCE - http://www.indierockmag.com/article16308.html 
ITALY - http://www.storiadellamusica.it/Thisquietarmy_-_Resurgence_(Denovali_Records,_2011).p0-r4392
GERMANY - http://www.blueprint-fanzine.de/home/index.php4?page=cat&Rub=2&EID=5969 
GERMANY - http://www.musikreviews.de/reviews/2011/THISQUIETARMY/Resurgence/ 
GERMANY - http://www.musikansich.de/review.php?id=10830 
AUSTRIA - http://www.demonic-nights.at/2011/11/thisquietarmy-resurgence/ 
POLAND - http://www.wiadomosci24.pl/artykul/ciemna_strona_mocy_thisquietarmy_resurgence_220738.html
UK - http://musosguide.com/thisquietarmy-resurgence/19502#more-19502 
UK - http://www.attnmagazine.co.uk/music/5201 


# THISQUIETARMY IN ROCK-A-ROLLA MAGAZINE

thisquietarmy is featured on the latest issue of UK's Rock-A-Rolla Magazine, Issue #35 - "thisquietarmy" appears on the cover (fronted by the mighty Acid Mothers Temple), a full-page article/in-depth interview & a featured review. Pick it up!


# TQA RECORDS; OTHER RELEASES FOR 2012

I'll be spending my holidays working on those 2 label releases I mentioned last month, for January 2012. Lots of designing, burning, printing, cutting, gluing, hand-packaging... Also, TQA Records now has a facebook page, please join to keep up: http://www.facebook.com/tqarecords 

+++ TQA020: Adrian Aniol - Arrhythmia OST. A mysterious Polish composer whose music is incredibly dark & intense, slow & frigid with eerie subsonic textures - listen to his tape, just released on Utech Records: http://adriananiol.bandcamp.com/album/it-all-falls-apart 

+++ TQA021: Aidan Baker / thisquietarmy - Document: Eurotour 2011. This will be an extremely limited 3xCD box-set, featuring a collaborative live set as well as a solo set from each of us. It will also include a tour report, flyers, photographs & more.

+++ thisquietarmy + Yellow6 - Death Valley 2xCD. This will be out on Basses Frequences, early 2012. It will include a bonus track left off from the session, a collaborative live track & a remix by Fear Falls Burning (Dirk Serries, who also did the mastering), as well as a booklet with more beautiful Death Valley landscapes. A special discount will be available for those who bought the vinyls.

+++ Year of No Light/thisquietarmy 12" split. A split/collaboration is in the works, it will probably come out on French label Destructure. More details soon.

+++ thisquietarmy/Parallel Lines. A split from our separate sessions, live at the Christ's Church Cathedral in Hamilton where we performed last fall. The sound of the crashing reverb of that cathedral is huge & incredibly intense. Also, a Parallel Lines semi-studio album will be released next spring.


# AUN/THISQUIETARMY EUROTOUR 2012

I will be joining fellow Montrealers, label mates & friends AUN on tour next spring. It will start the day after their appearance at the mighty Roadburn festival, from April 14th to April 28th. The tour is already being booked - Bochum (DE), Berlin (DE), Hamburg (DE), Copenhagen (DK), Basel (CH), Nancy (FR), so far - more to be updated: http://www.denovali.com/booking - we might extend the tour for another week and try to head to the UK as we're looking into the possibility. If you have ideas, offers or suggestions, please write to me or to Denovali Booking: booking@denovali.com

Thanks for reading as always,
Have a wonderful holidays!
Eric / thisquietarmy & TQA Records

http://www.thisquietarmy.com 
http://www.facebook.com/thisquietarmy 
http://www.facebook.com/tqarecords 
http://www.twitter.com/thisquietarmy

Reviews & Interview updates

Interview in french with thisquietamy by Pelecanus:

http://www.pelecanus.net/entrevue-thisquietarmy-avec-eric-quach.html

Topics: Resurgence, Denovali, European tour, etc.

++

Aidan Baker & thisquietarmy - Orange LP (Orange Milk Records) reviewed by Foxy Digitalis (9/10):

http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/?p=20269

"All I can say is that this was one thought-provoking, experiential, affinity-inducing listen."

++

Parallel Lines - 11:3:11 3" CDR/DVDR (TQA Records) reviewed by SSG Music (8.6/10):

http://www.ssgmusic.com/october-in-review/

"Eric Quach (AKA thisquietarmy) has long reigned as the slow rolling prince of Canadian guitar exploration, but within the trio of Parallel Lines, the cautious momentum of his solo work comes into contact with the sporadic world of post-rock and jazz."

++

thisquietarmy + Yellow6 - Death Valley 2xLP (Basses Fréquences) reviewed in german by Thepostrock.de:

http://www.thepostrock.de/basses-frequences-zusammenkunfte/

++

thisquietarmy - Vessels CD (Aurora Borealis) reviewed in french by W-Fenec:

http://www.w-fenec.org/indus/thisquietarmy,7025,vessels.html

++

Aidan Baker & thisquietarmy - Orange CD (Lunasylum) reviewed by Heathen Harvest (4/5):

http://heathenharvest.org/2011/10/01/aidan-baker-thisquietarmy-orange/

"Flawless execution in both shape and sound makes this my favourite ambient release of this year up to this point."

++

Aidan Baker & thisquietarmy - Orange CD (Lunasylum) reviewed by KZSU Standfor Radio Station:

http://zookeeper.stanford.edu/index.php?action=viewRecentReview&tag=983099

++

thisquietarmy + Yellow6 - Death Valley 2xLP (Basses Fréquences) reviewed in french by New Noise Mag:

++

Aidan Baker & thisquietarmy - Orange LP (Orange Milk) reviewed by Animal Psi:

http://animalpsi.com/2011/08/orange-milk/

++

thisquietarmy - Vessels CD (Aurora Borealis) reviewed by Foxy Digitalis:

http://www.foxydigitalis.com/foxyd/?p=15724

"Listening to Vessels is like being on the deck of an old warship, ducking and dodging whizzing bullets and booming cannonballs. Quach takes pains to temper his music’s beauty with a buzzing roughness; quiet interludes feel decidedly too quiet as we await the next vigorous rush of sound."

TQA Store: one-day 25% Halloween sale!

"Trick or Treat!"

Well, I don't know any tricks... So here's my treat: a 25% Halloween

sale!

Use coupon "Halloween2011" to get your discount - the offer will

expire in 24 hours from now.

https://thisquietarmy.storenvy.com/

Happy halloween!

11.11.11

11.11.11

CABARET PLAYHOUSE

5656 du Parc

8$

+++ ALASKAN [ Post-Metal, Sludge, Heavy ]

http://alaskan.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/alaskanband

+++ SHOW OF BEDLAM [ Saint-Vitus meets Babes in Toyland ]

http://showofbedlam.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Show-of-Bedlam/231634652456

+++ THISQUIETARMY [ Drone, Shoegaze, Cinematic, Doom ] *

http://thisquietarmy.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thisquietarmy

+++ PARAZITIK STATIK [ Noise, Ambient, Harsh, Horror, 50's fiction ]

http://myspace.com/parazitikstatik

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parazitik-statik/104700172939794

* with rumors that Alaskan's drummer will be joining thisquietarmy on stage at some point...

RESURGENCE + UNCONQUERED PRE-ORDERS

Pre-orders for RESURGENCE 2xCD / 2xLP / 2xLP+7'' & UNCONQUERED 2xLP have started!! 3 new tracks from Resurgence can be listened here: http://www.denovali.com/thisquietarmy/

cinema+sound2011 | Montreal

I've been added last-minute to this cinema+sound2011 A/V event, happening tomorrow friday - I'll be performing at 10pm.

Check the details here: http://cinemaplussound.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=233355073379949

Parallel Lines - Cathedral live excerpt

Here's an excerpt of my project Parallel Lines - live drums, synth & guitar improv in a cathedral in Hamilton a few weeks ago... Enjoy.

Cathedral A1 by Parallel Lines

thisquietarmy - Resurgence (teaser)

Sherbrooke show - October 1st

PiedBo Dancing présente :

à ne pas rater: un one man band culte de Montreal, un duo inédit Franco/Quebecois

et un autre duo inédit de Sherbrookois mais de musique électronique composée..

que faire de plus pour susciter ta curiosité maladive?

avec/

---------------------------------------------------

thisquietarmy (Montreal): ambient/drone/shoegazer/experimental

---------------------------------------------------

est un guitariste soliste de montreal branché sur 20 000 pédales pour te faire atteindre le nirvana....

tu crois en l'amour? viens te tester !

lui en tout cas n'a plus rien à prouver.

www.thisquietarmy.com

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcgpAjjILmc

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyKPE4T2nTU&feature=related

www.myspace.com/thisquietarmy

www.facebook.com/thisquietarmy

---------------------------------------------------

.cut featuring Gibet (Montreal/Lyon): experimental/post-rock/progressive/electro/noise

---------------------------------------------------

est un duo instrumental "post-rock/experimental" basé entre Montreal et Lyon (France).

ils produisent une musique sombre et évolutive (veut dire qui ne respecte pas les critères de durée de la chanson populaire classique)

un peu comme si tu contemplais l'effroi tout en réconfortant ton angoisse de la stagnation de ce monde perdu à jamais...

www.dotcut.org

www.myspace.com/dotcut

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU8ci5QwTfg

www.facebook.com/dotcut

---------------------------------------------------

Paf Dignitas (Sherbrooke): fusion/electronique

---------------------------------------------------

est un duo batterie / saxophone / électronique.

Vous êtes tannés d'écouter des bands qui copient l'esprit des années 80 sans rien y comprendre ?

Paf Dignitas est fait pour vous, enfin un band qui réécrit (ou plutôt recompose) la fusion électronique des années 80-90 avec

tous les clichés qui vont avec mais tout en y apportant une vision contemporaine..quoi que...

une bouffée d'air frais!

http://pafdignitas.bandcamp.com/

http://me.voir.ca/piedbodancing/

www.myspace.com/piedborecords

Parallel Lines 2x3" CDR/DVDR - 11:3:11

Grab it now!

http://thisquietarmy.storenvy.com/products/155114-parallel-lines-11-3-11-2x-cdr-dvdr

The second recording from Parallel Lines was captured live on video by Wearepostrock at Divan Orange in Montreal, part of the Under The Snow Festival on March 11th 2011, opening for Esses & Sianspheric.

Completely improvised and totally unrehearsed, tri-city trio /// Pascal Asselin on drums + Ryan Ferguson on synth + Eric Quach on guitar /// gets together once again and put themselves in danger on stage for some thrilling moments. Whatever happens happens: downtempo ambient, psyched-out shoegaze, tension, buildups & explosions.

This will be released as a 2x3" CD/DVD on TQA Records, handmade & limited to 100 copies - just in time for their next performance for the Hamilton Art Crawl at Christ's Church Cathedral on September 9th, 2011.

1. 11:3:11 - Part I

2. 11:3:11 - Part II

3. 11:3:11 - Part III

4. 11:3:11 - Part IV

Hamilton shows - Sept. 9 & 10

Friday Sept. 9th: AKUMU + PARALLEL LINES

Christ's Church Cathedral

252 James Street North

Hamilton, ON

The New Harbours music series returns with deep bass soundscapes and hypnotic visuals from AKUMU (Deane Hughes) and psyched out shoegaze from PARALLEL LINES (Pascal Asselin, Ryan Ferguson and Eric Quach).

http://www.musicbyakumu.com/

http://parallellines.bandcamp.com/

http://www.facebook.com/NewHarbours

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=254421037924474

8pm doors

Pay what you can / Donation

++

Saturday Sept. 10th: New Harbours Supercrawl Edition w/ W.A. DAVISON and THISQUIETARMY

Christ's Church Cathedral

252 James Street North

Hamilton, ON

Crawl in a different direction with polymedia performance artist and founder of recordism, W.A. DAVISON. This will be a SONGS Of The NEW EROTICS performance - expect otherworldy sonics, surrealist theatre, and general weirdness. Also performing wll be THISQUIETARMY (Eric Quach), conjuring cascading drone magic from six strings.

http://www.recordism.com/SOTNE/SotNE.html

http://www.thisquietarmy.com/

http://www.facebook.com/newharbours

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=253930627974874

Pay what you can / Donation

Vessels CD restocked!

If you missed out, they are available again at the store: http://thisquietarmy.storenvy.com/products/140198-thisquietarmy-vessels-cd

Would a 35-mins live drone set, sped up at 500%, sound like Justin Bieber?

This is the ultimate test.

Recorded in Ghent on May 31st 2011, Belgium at Huis Ligy, a crumbling 15th century mansion. The audio/video was time-stretched 500% faster, and the sound was pitched down 2.4 octave to avoid the chipmunk effect for this video.

Meet Skully

New TQA webstore

We now have a brand new store!

There was something comforting about having all the releases on one page. To add a picture, a description and a paypal button whenever there was a new one. However with the constant increase in new outputs, it became more and more difficult to update my website in a non-frustrating manner. The page is also getting more clogged with each one, and with the popular increase of self-managing webstores out there, I needed to make the move to something more convenient.

I give you:

thisquietarmy.storenvy.com

You'll find everything on the first page, but more importantly the categories will help you to browse the items that you might've missed. And you'll know which items were newly added to the store... I would also suggest to register to the site for faster checkouts.

To commemorate the opening of this store, I've made a promotional coupon available for 15% off any items that you will purchase until the end of the week (Aug. 21st). Just enter the code: "TQASTOREOPENING" to claim the rebate when you checkout.

Thanks for your continuing support!

Added this week (very limited quantities! like 5 or so) :

- GHIDRAH - The Guitar Years CDR (Brise-Cul Records) - collab between thisquietarmy, AUN & Maggot Breeder/Reuel from Squalor.
- V.A. - Golden Classics 2xCDR (Chat Blanc Reocrds) - featuring an exclusive track by Mains de Givre.
- V.A. - Kito Sounds #3 (Chez Kito Kat) - featuring an exclusive track by Mains de Givre .
- V.A. - Canadian Drones Vol. 1 (0bpm) - featuring an exclusive track by thisquietarmy.

Aural Diptych #6: Electroluminescent / Giant Claw

Aural Diptych #6: Electroluminescent / Giant Claw

Release date: July 14th, 2011

Preview:

Double-split 3" CDR placed on a heavy stock folded & printed insert, packaged in a felt-textured harvest yellow envelope, with printed artwork by New York City-based artist Elayne Safir. It includes two sets of diptych photography by Montreal-based artist Meryem Yildiz. Inner artwork by Keith Rankin. This releases comes with a digital download code with bonus tracks. LIMITED TO 100 COPIES ONLY.

ADS06 features two psych cosmic synth kraut lovers. Electroluminescent (2nd release on TQA) from Hamilton, ON - presents 'Lost Time', a ambient-driven conceptual storytelling inspired by french new wave cinema, Eric Rohmer's six moral tales in particular. Meanwhile, Giant Claw reciprocates madly with a massive dose of heavy-psychedelic bubbly chiptunes, fittingly titled 'Nuclear Hellearth'.

Disc 1 : Electroluminescent - Lost Time ++ 1. Two Means Yes / 2. Hidden in Books / 3. Faith and Fate / 4. Mystery Collection / 5. A Single Chance / 6. In The Afternoon*

Disc 2 : Giant Claw - Nuclear Hellearth ++ 1. Nuclear Hellearth pt. 1 / 2. Nuclear Hellearth pt. 2* / 3. Open Fields / 4. Nuclear Hellearth pt. 3

* Bonus Digital Tracks (download included)

PURCHASE HERE: http://thisquietarmy.com/records/#tqa018

Catch up on reviews

Vessels #44 on the National Campus Radio Chart for July 5, 2011: http://www.chartattack.com/charts/campus-radio/2011-07-05

Norman Records reviews Valley: http://www.normanrecords.com/vinyl/126548-thisquietarmy--yellow-6-valley

Montreal Mirror reviews Vessels (album of the week): http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2011/06/16/music-reviews-37/

Avant-Garde Metal reviews Vessels: http://avantgarde-metal.com/content/beyond2.php?id=131

Drowned in Sound reviews Vessels: http://drownedinsound.com/releases/16210/reviews/4142604

Emoragei Magazine reviews Vessels: http://www.emorageimagazine.com/old/musique/26/thisquietarmy-2039

The Hour/Ottawa Xpress reviews Vessels: http://hour.ca/2011/08/04/vessels-2/

Indie Rock Mag reviews Vessels: http://www.indierockmag.com/article13388.html

Norman Records reviews Vessels: http://www.normanrecords.com/cd/125183-thisquietarmy-vessels

Rock-a-Rolla reviews Vessels & Orange:

The Silent Ballet reviews Vessels: http://www.thesilentballet.com/dnn/Articles/tabid/55/ctl/Details/mid/411/ItemID/4032/Default.aspx

Textura reviews Vessels & Valley: http://www.textura.org/archives/t/thisquietarmy_vessels_valley.htm

The Pacific Theatre

DEATH VALLEY LPs diptych completed

Hamburg

The last show of the tour at the Markthalle in Hamburg, this time with our friend Erik K. Skodvin aka Svarte Greiner & Nadja. Unfortunately, the big bulk of my pictures of this day is from this rest-stop. Here's Leah (of Nadja) being sad about her fictitious dead mama...

Mini-vibrators, travel pussy, etc. okay nothing special, except that it was in one of those men's room where you usually leave change for maintenance...

Corny big...

Gurken-snack! Get one pickle for the road...

I played in Hamburg two years ago, on my first Eurotour at the same venue, Markthalle and we stayed at the same Superbude hostel - so I don't really have anything new to add. The experience was pretty similar, and I had taken more pictures: here.

However, we requested to have monitors on stage this time, so I could hear myself way better and I felt that I played a much better set than last time... There was a pretty good turnout, and a pleasant atmosphere throughout the whole evening.

I also requested as a joke to eat a hamburger in Hamburg, just for kicks. I believe I ordered the Tom Jones special burger from the Hollywood Canteen, which had pineapple in it, with a side-order of potato wedges & cheese. Greasy!

I'd also like to give a nod up to Faridee, who flew all the way from Mexico City the same day, landed in Hamburg at 9pm and went straight to the venue to catch us play... !

To top it off, I also sold more merch in Hamburg than any other cities on the tour. That was a good feeling, especially considering that I had to pack everything up for my flight the next day, as I was booked for the Suoni Per Il Popolo festival and playing with Locrian, Mamiffer & House of Low Culture the day after. Could not miss that. It was a quick end to the tour...

Dresden

My power supply for my Digitech Space Station pedal (which is also the same one for my Digitech Jamman) blew up the day before, so I had to find a store to get a replacement... It's a peculiar 9VAC with a 5.5 mm female tip. Turns out it's not that common in Germany. Though, I found out that Just Music had them on their website, but I had my german-speaking friend Stefan call both Berlin store to make sure they had it in stock... Turns out, they didn't! So I walked over to Noisy Rooms, an rehearsal/store/rental place near Bis Auf Messer to see if they had anything... nothing but generic Boss power supplies. The last resort was to get some kind of universal power supply at Conrad, an electronic store. Again, it was a complete fail... so, we headed to Dresden, which is our second-to-last show of the tour... I'd figure something out.

Also travelling with us was Jérémie Mortier who was playing drums with Aidan Baker this time.

We arrived at AZ Conni late afternoon, a fully equipped alternative cultural center. We were welcomed by Ralph, who had snacks prepared in the backstage, and also a lovely meal brewing in the basement kitchen for us.

This bill was with Khuda, a heavy instrumental duo from Leeds, UK. It was good to meet and share the stage with them...

Some snacks & ping-pong exchanges later... Aidan & Jérémie soundchecked.

I was setting up behind them, because I had to figure out a way to play my set with one power supply for both the Jamman & the Space Station. It was kind of frustrating. On top of that, the show has to end at 11pm sharp, which meant starting at 8:30pm. So I had 5 minutes for my soundcheck, and I didn't bother setting up the projections for this show... Result: improvised set w/ alternate versions of some structured parts, which turned out alright in the end.

From the merch table;

During Khuda's set...

Found in their merch box:

Dresden was only 90 mins away, so we went straight back to Berlin to enjoy another day off there the next day.

Berlin

Back in Berlin for the week including two shows, one Teufelsberg expedition & one trip to Tempelhof airport. Okay let's try to make a condensed entry for all of that stuff, June 9-15 (Dresden 6/14 + Hamburg 6/16 separate entries).

Oberbaum bridge at sunset, where they found that WWII uxo a couple of weeks back:

The first show was June 11th, at Bei Roy in Neukölln, southeast of the city - between semi-industrial & suburbia, this area is the new haven for students and artists. In fact, Bei Roy is a 5th floor loft located above and overlooking automotive garages.

Surrounding the venue was a Turkish wedding in this sketchy place. Some dressed-up guests were wandering around, seemingly lost, as if they were going to this secret rave and had just been given directions at the map point.

Next to all that, there was a huge hotel complex called Estrel. According to their site, it's Europe's largest convention, entertainment and hotel complex with 1125 rooms & suites, 5 restaurants, 2 bars, a concert hall, and a beer garden in front of the hotel by the canal. In this beer garden, there's this neon sculpture of a swan raping a woman:

Illuminated, at night (stolen from the web) - bright red womb:

A wiki-search later, and this sculpture is also known as Leda and the Swan. So yeah, this is what Neukolln is about... There's so much culture-clash, Berlin is awesome!

Back to the gig. Bei Roy is also known for its all-night parties it seems, it's the new hipster hotspot. Apparently gigs don't usually start before 11pm and best of all, there is no volume restrictions! The PA consisted of two chain-hung vintage speaker cabinets, fueled by a vintage mixer. Needless to say, that made my set sounded really loud and dirty!! The room quickly filled up during the course of my set, but people were pretty attentive the whole thing and their reactions at the end of my set was pretty furious! Berlin wins in the best crowd of the tour category. Here are some witness accounts found online shortly after the gig:

"saw thisquietarmy and Nadja tonight... no volume restrictions so they ripped the venue apart!" / "Heavy and loud as promised. Great performance!" / "Earth shaking Drone madness." / "Saw him in Berlin tonight. Absolutely huge performance." / "thisquietarmy walked between drony soundscapes & punishing industrial beats, a really talented artist that deserves way more attention!" / "sounded like a shoegazing army not like a one-man-show"

Here's a proper review in German: http://kotzboy.com/?p=7357

The monday evening in-store gig at Bis Auf's Messer - best record store located in Friedrichshain was somewhat very different. The PA was pretty shitty and it kept distorting, even for the improvised ambient set that I was doing and I wasn't feeling it at all... Aidan joined me about half an hour into my set, and it was a tiny bit better... However in the middle of it, I got really distracted by one of my pedal's power supply crapping out, out of the blue. It was really strange. It just... died, while I was playing.

(Photo by Meryem Yildiz)

I was also pretty exhausted from climbling Teufelsberg (literally the Devil's Mountain) right before performing the gig. On the top of the mountain lies an abandoned US spy station, a relic from the Cold War, which was built over a Nazi college. To my surprise, the site was pretty easy to access, so it made for a pretty nice expedition.

Inside the top sphere, the natural acoustics and reverberation were phenomenal... there were people singing and playing guitar, or clapping.

Great 360 degrees city view throughout the whole site...

Band looking for credibility, shooting a video...

Expedition crew...

You can read more about it on this spy station here: http://www.abandonedberlin.com/2010/06/teufelsberg-abandoned-spy-station.html

On one of my other day off, I borrowed Leah's bike to check out the defunct Tempelhof airport, an iconic airport during WWII. It is now opened as a city park, with various events happening throughout the year. This space is huge! And biking on a runway is awesome.

http://www.tempelhoferfreiheit.de/