CRANKY BOOKING + SPÄTI PALACE PRESENTS CRANKY FEST 5 in der Kantine am Berghain

LIVE:

KID WAVE (UK, Heavenly Recordings)
ANY PRETTY (Berlin)
MOTHER OF THE UNICORN (Berlin, Späti Palace)
HUSH MOSS (Tel Aviv)

+ What Difference Does It Make DJ TEAM

STAGE TIMES:

HUSH MOSS : 7:45PM
MOTHER OF THE UNICORN : 8:45
ANY PRETTY : 9:45
KID WAVE : 10:45

VVK : 11,50€ (incl.fee)
AK : 13€

Cranky Booking brings Cranky Fest to Kantine am Berghain for the fifth edition in three years and provides the usual mix of excellent Berlin-based indie bands who are joined this year by some guests from London and Tel-Aviv.

It promises to be a wonderful summer evening of great music and afterwards of course the night goes on with the now legendary What Difference Does It Make DJ Team catering for all your dancing needs.

Since 2013 Cranky Booking has held this evening-long festival showcasing Berlin’s finest underground indie, post-punk, alternative-pop, psych-pop, you name it type of band and this year it’s moving to the Berghain Kantine. Headlining this year are London-based, KID WAVE, whose recently released debut LP, Wonderlust, has been soundtracking our summer, full as it is with sunkissed, blissed out pop tunes.

The rest of the line-up is Berlin-based of course. ANY PRETTY burst onto the scene with a support for GIRL BAND last auutumn for which they received a special mention from that very band in the NME, not bad considering it was only their second show. Our very own boys, MOTHER OF THE UNICORN, who have had a busy year so far having been on a mini-tour with THE DODOS aswell as playing with the likes of TORO Y MOI at Lido, make another appearance at this fest along the added bonus of their upcoming EP, Sweeper, being available to buy at the fest as a special treat two weeks before the official release date. More about that later.

Completing the line-up are HUSH MOSS, a four-piece psych-pop sensation who hail from Tel-Aviv but also spend a lot of time living in Berlin. the new pop-child of Eden Hush Moss Leshem, creator of Peach Peach who existed briefly and brilliantly playing at a Cranky Booking show last November before relocating to Tel-Aviv. They certainly made an impression that night and we’re very excited to see this new act perform. Two recently released songs on soundcloud are all we have from this band so far but it’s enough to have dancng in seconds, literally.

BIOGRAPHIES:

Kid Wave from London release their debut album on May 29th and play their first German shows this summer before a headlining tour later in the autumn which is bound to bring sunshiny, sparkly, good time summer tunes to an even wider audience.

Kid Wave craft slacker indie rock and transcendental dream-laden pop of a distinctly early 90s bent – music to lose yourself in and give your life to. We hear shades of Lush and Dinosaur Jr. in their sonic sunshine, though other ears might recall PJ Harvey, The Lemonheads, The Breeders, Pavement, Teenage Fanclub. But these are all bands largely operational before the members of Kid Wave were even born – artists who singer Lea readily admits she doesn’t always necessarily know much about – so let’s not get too entrenched in nostalgia for days gone by. The one thing that perhaps unites this music of the past with the Kid Wave’s effervescent present is an infatuation with melody; this quartet never sacrifice the song for volume or let the feedback do the work. Because at the centre, beneath the shoe-gazing dynamics and the dark lyrical undercurrents that speak of existential quandaries and the confusions of young life in the 21st century, is a big beating gorgeous pop heart.

The international two girl/two boy quartet’s debut album Wonderlust is a crafted set of pop songs that bathe in the golden, restorative rays more commonly associated with life on the Californian coast rather than London, where Kid Wave reside. This is music that’s delivered with an uplifting sense of youthful wild abandon and imbued throughout with blissful surges of musical serotonin but with clear undercurrents of a wistful sense of melancholy too. Occasionally dark clouds obscure their sonic sunshine and there’s a nagging sense that no summer lasts forever.

Any Pretty uses an agitated, stripped down, synth-rock-pop framework to foreground the distinct percussive vocal stylings of its double-barrelled male/female lead. Playing shows rarely but spectacularly, these adopted Berliners impressed at Cranky Booking Valentine’s night show so it’ll be great having them back for this one. Having burst onto the scene only last autumn and received a special mention by none other than Girl Band in the NME these folks are not to be missed out on in a live setting.

Mother of the Unicorn is an alternative indie band based in Berlin. Having started out in London as an outlet for singer Joe Kelly’s production work the group developed into a band in Berlin out of the desire to perform live. Having released several EP’s online the group is due to release their debut album soon. Their live show is a mixture of melancholic vocal melodies, echoey guitars, choppy beats, and fuzzy keyboards.

Hush Moss is the new pop-child of Eden Hush Moss Leshem, creator of Peach Peach who existed briefly and brilliantly playing at a Cranky Night last November before relocating to Tel-Aviv. Hush Moss will release their debut single at the end of June, stay tuned for upcoming tracks, they’ll have you dancing in seconds, literally.+