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Franz Scala – Cafe Futuro via Slow Motion / K7
Franz Scala returns with Cafe Futuro on Slow Motion Records—an Italo-disco homage brimming with nostalgia, energy, and timeless cosmic grooves.
Italian visionary Franz Scala returns to Slow Motion Records, with the infectious, ground-moving LP ‘Cafe Futuro’, a follow-up to his highly acclaimed debut ‘Mondo Della Notte’. Cafe Futuro pays homage to the influential Neukolln bar and meeting point for Italo and Cosmic disco heads. It is a testament to this special place. It celebrates the soundtrack and its revered legacy.
‘Cafe Futuro’
Brimming with Scala’s gift for revealing the most finite feelings of nostalgia one searches for on the dance floor, ‘Cafe Futuro’ dives deeper. Peeling back the curtain opens with the tantalising ‘New Look’ a thumping, bass-driven triumph featuring vocals from the iconic ‘Furotica’.
‘New Look’ gracefully weaves into the emotive harmonies and tones of ‘Echoes of Love’ a cinematic proto-ballad between enigmatic vocoder and synthesis. EMU keys sing and chimes ring out over the basslines’ sophisticated syncopation.
‘Telephone Boy’
Capturing the smokier realms, ‘Telephone Boy’ jettisons the listener into Scala’s more energetic notions. ‘Light Year Run’ provides a cleansing midway point for the record, letting pads breathe and signature bass rhythms toy with meandering melodies, punctuated by vocal FX and an ever-giving snare.
Fellow Berlin icons Local Suicide join Franz on the commanding ‘Saxon Rebel’, an acidic cut that charges through with the captivating vocals of Dina Summer at the helm, channelling the Italo and New Beat golden era.
Dripping in a twilight glow, ‘Cafe Futuro’ propels listeners further into Scala’s sonic aesthetic, transporting one to Italorama Bar in full flow. Fellow Wrong Era affiliate and multi-instrumentalist Charlie lends her talents to ‘Crush Test’, a sultry track filled with her enigmatic charm.
‘Bit99’
Scala has an arsenal of carefully collected vintage synthesisers at his fingertips. He provides a homage to the Bit99 in a track of the same name. Letting the native legendary Italian circuitry swell and soar, ‘Bit99’ encapsulates an intrinsic part of Scala’s journey with his futuristic stamp.
‘Fantasy Bazar,’
The track ‘Fantasy Bazar,’ increases the tempo but retains Scala’s cerebral flair. The album culminates in ‘Fase Lunare,’ a beautifully fitting conclusion featuring the L.A.-based duo Acid Gymnastics.
Rich in Scala’s unmistakable tone and charm, ‘Cafe Futuro’ builds upon a bold and innovative sound, showcasing fellow creators and genre-defining artists, solidifying the Italo Affecianondo’s sound, synonymous with the pioneering greats.
Releases:
1st single on June 19th:
Franz Scala - Saxon Rebel (feat. Local Suicide) + Radio Edit + Instrumental
2nd single on July 31st:
Franz Scala - Crush Test (feat. Charlie) + Radio Edit + Instrumental
3rd single on August 28th:
Franz Scala - Fase Lunare (feat. Acid Gymnastics) + Radio Edit + Instrumental
4th single on September 25th:
Franz Scala - New Look (feat. Furotica) + Radio Edit + Instrumental
Full album out on October 15thTaged as/in; Acid, Album, berlin, Charlie, cosmic, Disco, Electronica, furotica, Indie Dance, italo disco, italodisco, localsuicide, Music, neukolln, NewRelease, slowmotion, vinyl#writtenby:
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Out now: Zobol – Killing Culture EP via Melodize
Bristol’s Zobol drops Killing Culture on Brooklyn’s Melodize: raw electro, breaks & electronica built on hardware, charged with emotion & urgency.
Bristol-based producer Zobol lands on Brooklyn imprint Melodize with Killing Culture. A bold, four-track statement that fuses electro, breaks, and electronica into something raw, physical, and emotionally charged. Zobol is known as one half of the label Distorted Sensory Perception. This platform showcases honest, forward-thinking electronic music. He is also the curator of the UK underground event series d3pth_p3rc3pti0n. Zobol brings a fiercely independent, hands-on ethos to his productions.
Built entirely on hardware – including the Korg MS20, Roland JX-3P, Prophet Rev2, Acidlab Drumatix, Behringer TD-3, Elektron Octatrack, Soundcraft Signature MTK12 console, and finished in Ableton Live – the EP captures a live-wire energy that feels both urgent and immersive.
A-Side
The EP opens with “Uprising”, a track that sets a hopeful tone with flickers of brightness woven through its punchy rhythms – like the first sparks of something much bigger. Extrawelt reshapes the track with warm bass and swirling atmospheres, lending a more introspective, drifting character.
The German duo are known for their decade-spanning contribution to electronic music. Their iconic debut on Border Community left a significant impact, defining live performances worldwide. Once again, they deliver with a remix steeped in depth and analog soul.
B-Side
The B-side turns heavier. “Weapon of Mass Distraction” unfolds from a looping synth fragment, slowly ramping into a tense, bass-driven groove that hits like controlled bursts of energy – Relentless, exacting & distractingly armoured with acidity.
Closing track “Oppression” dives deeper into emotional terrain. The weight of distorted low-end channels the presence of authoritarian force. Fragile melodic elements flicker like voices struggling to be heard. These voices eventually weaken, fade, and fall into silence.
“As shattered cultures bleed beneath a technocratic sky, the silenced cries of Palestine, Sudan, Yemen and other forgotten lands echo a world where humanity’s dawn is cruelly denied; a stark testament to faltering global systems, demanding urgent change before the irreversible erosion of our shared future.”
Details:
Listen: https://soundcloud.com/melodizemusic/sets/zobol-killing-culture
Genres: Electro, Breaks, Electronica
Catalog Number: MELODIZE 019
Taged as/in; analog, beats, Breaks, Bristol, Brooklyn, Electro, Electronic, Electronica, EP, Festival, hardware, immersive, Melodize, Music, Producer, Remix, techno, underground, Zobol#writtenby:
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Polimnia — Italian Producer and Musical Visionary
Polimnia revisits her debut EP with Me‑Mo (Canzone), a nostalgic journey blending memory, downtempo rhythms, and evocative Italian soundscapes.
Polimnia is the artistic alias of Italian producer and musician Beatrice Bea Zanin, based in Turin, Italy. She emerged in the independent electronic music scene with a singular approach that blends historical sonic textures with contemporary rhythmic sensibilities. Her work is marked by a deep engagement with memory, identity and sound, particularly through the lens of European cultural heritage and electronic dance forms.
Creative Aesthetic & Musical Mission
Zanin’s artistic vision as Polimnia centres on the contrast between the nostalgic sounds of early‑to‑mid 20th‑century European music and the rhythmic aesthetics of downtempo and organic house. Through this fusion, she aims to create a unique sonic identity. She calls it the “Italian‑touch”. It captures a deeper sense of Italianness beyond cliched references and easily recognisable tropes. Her practice also extends to composing and performing for theatre‑dance and contemporary circus, highlighting her multidisciplinary artistic range.
Debut EP — Me‑Mo (2021)
In November 2021, Polimnia released her first extended play titled Me‑Mo with the independent label Salgari Records, based in Turin. The Me‑Mo EP includes a selection of tracks and remixes that illustrate her signature sound palette — from refined downtempo grooves to remixes by producers such as Marco Tegui, M@kossa and Chalanga — all grounded in melodic elements evocative of bygone eras.
The original release was envisioned as a sonic meditation on nostalgia and recollection. It was described in its press text as floating “suspended in mid‑air between nostalgia and oblivion.” This conjures a dance across layered memories and melancholic reverie.
New Single — Me‑Mo (Canzone) (2025)
On September 10, 2025, Polimnia is set to release a rework of her original track in the form of a new single titled “Me‑Mo (Canzone)” on Salgari Records. The song version revisits the thematic core of the original. It evokes a non‑place of memory and an imaginative island of recollections. These are suspended between nostalgia and imagination. The song unfolds with lyrical and melodic depth suitable for standalone listening.
This release reflects Polimnia’s ongoing artistic evolution, bridging her earlier EP work with a renewed focus on narrative sound and emotional accessibility.
Auteur Visual Collaboration — Irene Von Dorigotti
Accompanying the release of Me‑Mo (Canzone) is an auteur music video directed by Irene Von Dorigotti, a filmmaker and visual anthropologist whose work spans film, ethnography, sensory perception and experimental imagery. Dorigotti holds degrees in cultural anthropology and ethnology. She has developed an interdisciplinary practice. This practice blends cinematic storytelling with anthropological inquiry.
Her documentary Across (2023) was selected and screened in the Giornate degli Autori section — the independent Venice Days sidebar of the 80th Venice International Film Festival — where it was part of the festival’s Venetian Nights programme.
The Me‑Mo (Canzone) video was produced in Vietnam, bringing a visual depth to the track’s evocative atmosphere. Through this collaboration, the imagery and thematic nuance are extended beyond sound. The result is a compelling audiovisual experience. It reflects both Polimnia’s and Dorigotti’s shared interests in memory, place, and sensory narrative.
Legacy, Sound Identity & Cultural Context
Polimnia’s work exemplifies a thoughtful engagement with history, rhythm and space, foregrounding electronic production as a mode of cultural expression. From her 2021 debut Me‑Mo EP to the forthcoming Me‑Mo (Canzone), her music continues to probe what it means to listen, remember and re‑create, with an ear toward heritage and innovation alike.
Taged as/in; canzone, downtempo, Electronic, irene von dorigotti, italy, me-mo, memory, Music, nostalgia, organic house, polimnia, Salgari Records, video#writtenby:
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New EP by Running Hot Drops Sept 15: ‘Bad for the Body’
Berlin DJ/producer Running Hot returns with a new EP, praised by the underground elite. ‘Bad For The Body, Good For The Soul’ drops Sept 15.
Introducing Berlin-based DJ & producer Running Hot, who’s set to drop his new EP ‘Bad For The Body, Good For The Soul’ (under embargo until Sept 15). Known for his infectious ’90s house-inspired sound, Running Hot has been a rising force in the underground dance scene.
He received praise from tastemakers like Alex Kassian, Bashkka, CC:Disco, Moxie, Paramida, and Roza Terenzi. He debuted in 2022 with ‘The Hardest Step Is Always First’. Since then, he has released on Certain Music, Permanent Vacation, and Love On The Rocks. His collab with Alex Kassian, ‘The Love Theme’, featured on the LOTR anniversary compilation Sky Is The Limit.
As a DJ, he’s played top venues including Panorama Bar and Tresor, and continues to tour through South East Asia and South America.
Taged as/in; 90s, asia, berlin, club, Dance, DJ, Electronic, EP, feature, House, Music, NewRelease, nightlife, panorama, Panorama Bar, Producer, Rave, Running Hot, southamerica, Tresor, underground, vinyl#writtenby:
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Dreamstruck – Shattered Dreams (O Future Remix)
Copenhagen art collective O Future remix Dreamstruck’s melancholy “Shattered Dreams” into a louder-than-life mix with a massive backbeat.
Copenhagen art collective O Future have turned Dreamstruck’s melancholy “Shattered Dreams” into a louder-than-life mix. The song’s original dreamy soundscape has now been turned on it’s a head with a massive backbeat. The original song was inspired by a trip to Hollywood, and the broken dreams that are visible at every turn.
O Future have exhibited at the Subjective Art Festival (NYC), The Wrong Biennale (Madrid) as well as exhibitions in Berlin, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles and Seoul, and have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian and Interview Magazine.
Dreamstruck – Shattered Dreams (O Future Remix)
Release Date : August 22nd, 2025
Indie Disco, Hyperpop, Leftfield
Catalog Number BL12008852
Get on spotifyTaged as/in; Additional tags: art, backbeat, copenhagen, Dance, Dreamstruck, Electronic, Hyperpop, Indie, Indie Disco, Leftfield, loud, Melancholy, mix, Music, new, O Future, Remix, song, sound#writtenby:
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Ondrej Drescher: GAZA, again at the Verena Kerfin Gallery
Art must disrupt language and sabotage authority. It cannot remain a trivial aesthetic gesture while Gaza bleeds. Art must make reality impossible.
Gaza – Art as Butterfly Research
In the self-conception of most contemporary artists, art bears no substantive relation to reality—much less to the mission Heiner Müller assigned to it: to render reality ”impossible“. Müller did not mean to ignore reality, nor to beautify it, but to intervene deliberately in its ideological construction. To ”make reality impossible“ means to interrupt, distort, and confront it so profoundly that its presumed naturalness fractures—extracting it from the grip of dominant orders by making its prevailing images and narratives unusable for their original political ends. That is the essence of Müller’s notion of resistance: art must never collude with power; it must disrupt language and sabotage authority.
Today, however, many insiders are content with far lesser ambitions. They pontificate in unmoored clichés about their own economic relevance, call themselves “lifespenders” of Berlin, and define their role, with a straight face, as butterfly researchers of ideas: “It’s more like artists are blind butterfly researchers: they catch ideas that no one has been able to name.” Which ideas those might be, they of course decline to specify; but in their certainty lies this promise: “Only later, when the phenomenon becomes tangible, do journalists, scholars, intellectuals, and political actors pick up the thread.having made it.
Art was already there—as the forerunner into a space others enter later.” This self-satisfied madness can only end in a refusal to face reality, an offensively obvious triviality. This delusion has spread like a virus. Education becomes secondary; interpretation—however vacuously intellectual—matters only insofar as it does not imperil the sole crucial metric: economic success, the visible performance of “having made it.” Thus even the final stanza of Brecht‘s Mack the Knife:
“For some are in darkness
And others in the light.
You see those in the light;
Those in the darkness, you do not.”is no longer read as a radical indictment of violence or a critique of societies that reward those who walk over bodies—literal or moral. Instead, it’s sentimentalized into something diffuse and human: “The poem expresses something human, a figure that becomes visible in the light, or remains invisible.” Here, not only does a misreading come to an end; it inaugurates the smooth transition into an intellect-free grandeur—self-defined by a Berlin artist of supposed “world class” in his own exhibition text.
aesthetic gesture
It is therefore hardly surprising that a Berlin painter, unbothered by any real confrontation, paints himself on an annual French vacation as a suffering Christmas tree with a thousand droplets of blood in a knitted sweater, a folkloric emblem of weltschmerz born solely from the inability to perceive any concrete manifestation of reality—embraced in traditional-German introspection, even while his domestic factories deliver drones and artillery shells abroad to engineer a ceaseless man-made blood rain.
The German artist scene is not merely intellectually impoverished—it ostentatiously cultivates that poverty. They resemble pimps basking in glitz and bling-bling—not to signify substance, but to charm, fully aware that no one truly needs them.
Then there is another measure: Fernando Botero, in 2004, aboard a plane to Paris, read reports of torture and abuse by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib. He did not respond with metaphor or a decorative “aesthetic gesture,” but with real images. For a year, he drew and painted what he had seen and read.
sitting by the water and feeling one with it.
His aim was to sear those images irreversibly into the world’s memory. This was just as Picasso’s Guernica became the iconic symbol of aerial terror. Botero offered the full Abu Ghraib series to US museums free of charge, but only under the condition of permanent exhibition. Initially refused, the series later found a home at the University of California.
Not only does the society we inhabit suppress every renewal and reject any open dialogue—but the art world also submits willingly. Minds are surrendered at the entrance to the consumption paradise, churned out as visual disposable goods that no one needs. Artists paint scenes they claim were inspired by “sitting by the water and feeling one with it.”
Meanwhile, in Gaza, thousands of children are buried under collapsing buildings pounded by air bombardments—deliberate or random. Children are taken out by snipers. Cars filled only with children are riddled for hours, even after the Palestine Red Crescent Society pleads for a ceasefire.
The images flooding in are soaked in blood-red suffusion. Yet people choke on the endless monologue of the trivial. They preen as butterfly catchers and thinkers about light. Preferably, this happens in a knitted sweater. It has more tear-shaped drops of blood than the Jesus in the village church of Kiss-My-Ass-Nowheresville ever had.
Anyone who remains silent in the face of this reality has effectively exited the realm of art. Seeking refuge in harmless metaphors and theatrical gestures leads to a brutal devolution. This devolution enables mass murder instead of making that reality impossible.
GAZA, again
Ondrej Drescher
Opening: Friday, September 12th 2025, 5 – 9 pm
The artist will be present.
Köthener Straße 28
10963 Berlin, GermanyHours: Monday – Friday: 12 – 6 pm
T +49 176 29100664
websiteGet in Touch About the Exhibition
Text: Ondrej Drescher, Aug. 2025
#writtenby:
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AI WEIWEIS TURANDOT – Ein Film von Maxim Derevianko
Der Dokumentarfilm AI WEIWEIS TURANDOT zeigt das Regiedebüt des chinesischen Künstlers am Teatro dell’Opera in Rom. Kinostart: 16.10.25!
Zwei Jahre bekam Regisseur Maxim Derevianko kompletten Zugang hinter die Kulissen von Ai WeiWeis Operninszenierung Turandot am Teatro dell’Opera in Rom. Dabei enstand mit AI WEIWEIS TURANDOT ein einzigartiger Dokumentarfilm über Puccinis Oper, der zugleich das Langfilmdebüt des Regisseurs ist. RISE AND SHINE CINEMA bringt den Film am 16. Oktober 2025 bundesweit in die Kinos.
Mit seiner beeindruckenden Ästhetik kreiert AI WEIWEIS TURANDOT eine multisensorische Erfahrung, die die Zuschauer:innen in die Welt von Turandot und den kreativen Schaffensprozess von Ai Weiwei entführt.
Ai WeiWei ist der wohl bekannteste Künstler Chinas. Sein Opern-Regiedebüt zeigt seine einzigartigen Visionen und wie sein Aktivismus in diese sehr moderne Inszenierung einfloss – ein besonders treffendes Projekt für diesen Ausnahmekünstler. Mit seinen provokativen Werken fordert er regelmäßig Autoritäten heraus; der Einsatz für Menschenrechte steht im Zentrum seines Oeuvres.
Storyline:
Jeder Freier, der um die Hand der chinesischen Prinzessin Turandot anhält, muss drei Rätsel lösen – versagt er, lässt Turandot ihn hinrichten. Ai WeiWei überführt die Oper, die von Tyrannei und Unterdrückung erzählt, in unsere Zeit, inszeniert die Geschichte mit Verweisen u.a. auf den Krieg in der Ukraine und die Flüchtlingskrise. Auch ein Jahrhundert nach seiner Uraufführung entstand so eine Version von Puccinis Turandot, die ihre zeitlose Relevanz und zudem die zentralen Themen von Ai WeiWeis Kunst widerspiegelt.
Der Film schlägt zudem eine Brücke zu Ai WeiWeis Anfängen, hatte er doch mit Anfang 20, als er 1987 in New York lebte, eine Statistenrollen in eben dieser Oper an der Metropolitan Opera inne. Besetzt wurde er damals von der Choreografin Chiang Ching. Sie steht ihm auch in Rom als Choreografin zur Seite.
Als Tenor ist in der Inszenierung Michael Fabiano in der Rolle des Calaf zu sehen. Dirigentin ist die ukrainische Maestra Oksana Lyniv. Sie lebt in Deutschland.
Synopsis:
AI WEIWEIS TURANDOT taucht ein in die künstlerische Reise des renommierten chinesischen Künstlers Ai Weiwei. Er ist auch ein Aktivist. Die Reise fand während seines bahnbrechenden Opernregiedebüts am Opernhaus Rom statt. Inspiriert von Puccinis berühmter Oper Turandot, verbindet Ai Weiwei meisterhaft die zeitlose Erzählung der Oper mit aktuellen globalen Themen. Dazu gehören der Krieg in der Ukraine, die Flüchtlingskrise und weitere gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen.
Der Film bekräftigt nicht nur die anhaltende Relevanz von Puccinis Meisterwerk, sondern dient zugleich als Spiegelbild von Ai Weiweis Leben und seiner künstlerischen Philosophie. Er dokumentiert die sorgfältige Inszenierung, Probenarbeit und kreativen Kollaborationen. Diese erwecken die visionäre Produktion zum Leben. Zudem bietet der Film dem Publikum einen einmaligen Blick hinter die Kulissen von Ai Weiweis Schaffensprozess.
Für die angesehene Choreografin Chiang Ching ist die Oper ein Spiegel von Ai Weiweis eigenem Leben. Sie ist eine langjährige Freundin und Weggefährtin Ai Weiweis. Im Film gibt sie Einblicke in die persönliche Verbindung zwischen Ai Weiwei und Turandot.
Diese Verbindung aus atemberaubender Bildsprache, eindringlicher Musik und kraftvoller Erzählkunst bietet ein transformatives Erlebnis. Es fängt die Essenz von Ai Weiweis künstlerischer Vision und Arbeitsweise ein. Der Film lädt die Zuschauer:innen ein, das Zusammenspiel von Musik, Aktivismus und visueller Kunst zu erleben. Er feiert sowohl das bleibende Vermächtnis von Turandot als auch den visionären Geist von Ai Weiwei.
About:
AI WEIWEIS TURANDOT
Alles ist Kunst. Alles ist Politik. – Ai WeiWei
Ein Film von Maxim Derevianko
Mit: Ai WeiWei, Michael Fabiano, Oksana Lyniv, Chiang Ching u.v.m.Italien, USA 2025; 77 Min., OmdtUT
Kinostart: 16. Oktober 2025Im Verleih von Rise And Shine Cinema
AI WEIWEIS TURANDOT feierte 2025 seine Weltpremiere beim Santa Barbara International Film Festival in den USA und lief als Europapremiere beim CPH:DOX 2025 in Kopenhagen.
Die Deutschlandpremiere fand beim DOK.fest München statt, demnächst ist der Film beim FÜNF SEEN FILMFESTIVAL in Bayern zu sehen und mit Previews bundesweit im Rahmen der Initiative daskinofest.de am 13. und 14. September.
Taged as/in; 16. Oktober 2025, activism, Ai Weiwei, Aktivismus, art, China, Cinema, director, documentary, film festival, Maxim Derevianko, Movie, Music, Opera, RISE AND SHINE CINEMA, TURANDO#writtenby:
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Elninodiablo – The Downey Groove (Out Sep 19th, 2025)
Elninodiablo’s The Downey Groove is a fearless blend of dub, psychedelia & sensual rhythms—born from solitude, made for the dancefloor.
Elninodiablo Channels Intuition Into ‘The Downey Groove’
Conceived during an extended solo stay in the mountains of Cyprus, the album emerged from a period of deep introspection and play. With only a laptop, headphones, and a field recorder, Pantelas shed expectation and allowed intuition to guide the process. What began as informal sketches gradually evolved into a full-fledged album—loose, soulful, and steeped in feeling.
The result is an eight-track voyage through dub-drenched electronics, warm psychedelia, and sensual grooves, rich in texture, full of emotional nuance, and anchored by rhythm. Opening track ‘Purple Hypnotic’ sets the tone with woozy pads, aqueous textures and whispered fragments, before ‘Misteriosa Noche’ flips the vibe with a shimmering, funk-laced swerve. ‘The Soul Monad’ invokes the spiritual influence of Eno, Byrne and Sherwood with a bass-heavy, ceremonial dub, while ‘Subadrift’ offers up a spacey, synth-driven lift-off that draws on echoes of ‘80s/‘90s electronica.
The groove continues on ‘Rodeotheque’, a cheeky disco-boogie detour laced with tongue-in- cheek vocals and playful surprises. Title track ‘The Downey Groove’ follows with live percussion and unfiltered energy, a jam that feels both immediate and expansive. On ‘Rise In Dub’, thick basslines and jungle field recordings build a tripped-out nocturnal atmosphere, before final track ‘Operator Please!’ brings things full circle with sine wave warmth and slow-burning melodic closure, crafted entirely with Ableton’s Operator synth.
A Dubbed-Out Voyage Through Psychedelia and Groove
While no fixed concept shaped the album during its making, its emotional core revealed itself after the fact. Themes of release, rebirth, and feminine embodiment came into focus— vibrational, sensual, and rooted in the body. As Elninodiablo puts it, his creative process never starts in the mind: “It begins with an impulse in the body, a need to express. The meaning only becomes clear once the music is done.”
In this case, the album became a vehicle for personal healing, especially through rhythm, movement, and bass. “It’s sacral, rootsy, and connected to freeing tension stored in my body,” he explains. The bold, unprompted artwork by Tobias Jacobsen intuitively mirrored this energy: otherworldly, vibrant, feminine.
Musically, Elninodiablo defies genre. He describes his sound as spatial, fearless, emotive and sexy, demanding yet deeply intuitive. It’s music that invites surrender, both on and off the dancefloor. “For me, music is spirit in sound, truth expressed through frequency. It moves through you. It transforms.”
Elninodiablo’s journey is as eclectic as the record itself. From Cyprus pirate radio in his youth to spinning at London’s queer underground landmarks like The End, Turnmills, and Fabric, he quickly earned a place behind the booth. His deep understanding of club culture eventually translated into a successful PR career, where he represented artists and labels such as Horse Meat Disco, Salsoul Records, Fat Freddy’s Drop, Tegan & Sara, Strut Records, and !K7.
Queer Spirit, Global Influences, and The Downey Groove
Having laid solid foundations with releases like Shadow Dancer, Dorothea’s Rainbow, and Lunchbox Candy, this new album marks his most liberated expression yet. Studies at Berlin’s Catalyst Music (housed at the legendary Funkhaus studios) helped sharpen his production craft, while extensive travels fed into a style that draws from global influences, moving effortlessly between dubbed-out dream states, hard-hitting club gear, downtempo soul, and eastern- harmonic hybrids. The music evokes vast open spaces, from desert plains to humid jungles, more mood than genre, more energy than structure.
Outside the studio, Elninodiablo also curates Lunchbox Candy, a bi-monthly queer event at Berlin’s Kreuzwerk,, dedicated to radical sound, visual art, and embodied expression. That same fearless spirit pulses through every moment of The Downey Groove.
To mark the release, he’s throwing a party at Lunchbox Candy, the queer-led night he runs at Kreuzwerk that’s quietly redefined Berlin’s underground. With 2K+ crowds, wild performances, a sex worker-run Loveroom, and regulars like Peaches, it’s one of the city’s most in-demand parties, now headlining WHOLE Festival and on the radar for Sydney Mardi Gras 2026.
Artist: Elninodiablo
Release: The Downey Groove
Label: El Niño Diablo Music
Release Date: September 19, 2025
Pre-Save and get it here: bandcampTracks:
1. Purple Hypnotic
2. Misteriosa Noche
3. The Soul Monad
4. Subadrift
5. Rodeotheque
6. Downey Groove
7. Rise In Dub
8. Operator Please!Taged as/in; Album, berlin, club, Dance, downtempo, DUB, Electronic, Elninodiablo, funk, groove, launch, Music, new, psychedelia, release, sensual, spirit, underground#writtenby:
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Reeperbahn Festival 2025: 20 Years of Discovery in Hamburg
Reeperbahn Festival celebrates 20 years this Sept in Hamburg! 400+ artists, 450 shows & a global music summit. Discover what’s next in music. 🎶✨
This September, Hamburg’s St. Pauli district once again becomes Europe’s epicenter of musical discovery. From September 17–20, 2025, the Reeperbahn Festival celebrates its 20th edition, marking two decades as the continent’s largest club festival and one of the most significant gatherings for the international music community.
A Festival of First Encounters
Reeperbahn has always been about finding what comes next. Across roughly 65 venues, from basement clubs to the Elbphilharmonie’s sweeping stage, more than 400 artists from 30 countries will perform around 450 shows. It’s a rare chance to stumble into a tiny room and see a band on the cusp of their breakthrough-before they’ve made their way onto bigger stages.
The Spirit of “Togetherness”
This year’s theme, “Imagine Togetherness!”, underlines the festival’s role as more than just a marathon of gigs. Reeperbahn is leaning into questions of solidarity, responsibility, and collaboration-both within the music industry and in the culture it reflects. Continuing its partnership with Keychange, the festival maintains a 50% gender balance in its lineup, reinforcing its stance as a progressive force in the live circuit.
Beyond the Music
What sets Reeperbahn apart is the breadth of its programming. Alongside the concerts, the schedule includes art installations, readings, film screenings, political talks, and award ceremonies. Around 5,000 industry professionals from across the globe will attend, making it as much a professional summit as it is a celebration for the 45,000 expected visitors.
Reeperbahn doubles as one of Europe’s most important industry summits, hosting a sprawling conference program that draws over 5,000 delegates from across the global music and creative sectors. Panels, keynotes, and workshops dive into everything from streaming economies to AI in music, artist rights, sustainability, and the politics of cultural exchange. It’s part trade fair, part think tank-a place where managers, labels, and policymakers mingle with artists, sparking conversations that often ripple far beyond Hamburg.
An Open Invitation
Accessibility remains central. The Festival Village on the Heiligengeistfeld and several public stages offer free entry, drawing in curious locals and passersby. It’s a reminder that while Reeperbahn has become a key event for labels, managers, and agents, it’s still rooted in the city and open to anyone who wants to experience it.
Two Decades In
Now at its 20-year milestone, Reeperbahn continues to set itself apart in a crowded festival calendar. It’s not about blockbuster headliners-it’s about discovery, diversity, and dialogue. For anyone passionate about uncovering new voices and experiencing the energy of music in its raw, unpolished form, Hamburg in September remains the place to be.
Must-See Acts: Established Voices & Rising Stars
Reeperbahn’s vast lineup includes names generating true buzz:
Here’s the list with the bold artist names transformed into clean, headline-style headings, followed by their descriptions:
Dry Cleaning
With Florence Shaw’s deadpan spoken-word delivery cutting across wiry post-punk guitars, Dry Cleaning turn everyday banality into strangely addictive mantras.
Blondshell
Brutally candid and melodic, Blondshell’s indie rock unpacks messy emotion with a clarity that hits harder than distortion ever could.
MØ
Still straddling pop maximalism and electro-punk grit, MØ brings festival-ready choruses that are as unruly as they are euphoric.
Twin Tribes
The Texas duo channel coldwave melancholy and occult synth textures, crafting the kind of darkwave anthems that feel both ritualistic and cathartic.
Alice Phoebe Lou
Her otherworldly voice drifts between folk intimacy and cosmic indie psychedelia, always hovering just slightly outside gravity’s pull.
Bosshoss
Their outlaw-country-meets-rock swagger might sound improbable in theory, but live it’s pure beer-spilled abandon.
Anna Ternheim
Stark and crystalline, her songs balance Nordic melancholy with singer-songwriter intimacy, hitting with quiet precision.
Francois and The Atlas Mountains
French indie pop at its most fluid: tender melodies wrapped in subtle electronics and an almost painterly sense of texture.
Bikini Beach
With lo-fi fuzz and garage-rock abandon, this German outfit sound like they’d rather play from a basement than a boardroom—and that’s the charm.
Yukimi
Stepping out from Little Dragon, she sculpts minimalist art-pop that trades in restraint, groove, and emotional precision.
Ebbb
A collective weaving experimental electronics with hypnotic vocals, Ebbb make club music that feels ceremonial rather than disposable.
Easy Easy
Jangly riffs and new-wave inflections collide with bilingual vocals, making Easy Easy one of the most refreshingly off-kilter indie prospects in Germany.
BÆNCH
Denmark’s latest post-punk export thrives on intensity, channeling raw riffs and driving bass into catharsis that feels both immediate and unpolished.
NewDad
Brooding yet melodic, Galway’s NewDad marry shoegaze haze with alt-rock sincerity, conjuring emotional storms that linger long after the chorus.
She’s in Parties
Named after a Bauhaus classic, this UK band take dream-pop shimmer and lace it with a post-punk bite sharp enough to draw blood.
Teenage Dads
Melbourne’s indie oddballs funnel playful hooks and restless energy into jittery guitar pop that never stops fidgeting.
Mary In The Junkyard
Their songs unravel like diary entries set to noisy alt-rock crescendos, fragile one moment and feral the next.
Soeckers
Nodding to Britpop swagger while rooted in German indie traditions, Soeckers deliver melodic rock with a disarming sense of familiarity.
lovehead
Vienna’s trio bottle youthful urgency into wiry, lo-fi indie anthems that sound equal parts spontaneous and heartbreakingly deliberate.
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