Girls, Cats and Wine – Pop Kultur Live Reviewed

by | indieBerlin

Girls, cats and wine – an event curating bands with such words in their band names can only foretell a fantastic night to come…And indeed it was.

Falling over himself while maintaining perfect vocals

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Heimathafen, firstly, was a great venue – fitting perfectly to the evenings’ endeavours. Having set foot in it for the first time to watch this Pop Kultur event, I was quite blown away by the beautiful lighting, theatrical ceilings, wooden floors and perfectly-sized stage.

Typically, we came a touch too late and missed most of White Wine’s set, managing only to see them perform their last three songs. What a shame! As the music was incredibly good and the front man Joe Haege has quite a dramatic stage presence; running and stumbling on- and off stage in an almost drunk manner; falling over himself while maintaining perfect vocals to the synth and drum heavy rhythms and sounds that White Wine make. If this is what Pop Kultur defines as pop culture, then I think we are in good hands…

Right up my alley of post-punk indie sounds and dreamy vocals

[aesop_image imgwidth=”50%” img=”https://indierepublik.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Girls_Names_01-Small.jpg” alt=”Girls Names live at heimathafen pop kultur by ines soutschka for indieberlin” align=”right” lightbox=”off” caption=”Girls Names live at heimathafen pop kultur by ines soutschka for indieberlin” captionposition=”left”]

 

 

Next up was Girls Names. I was really excited about this band. I had not heard much of their music previously and did a fair amount of research before going to this show. And I really loved their music, it was right up my alley of post-punk indie sounds and dreamy vocals and creative use of instruments and a beautiful repetitive drum beat.

They deserve a second chance

But somewhere someone messed up their show. And I don’t know if they know this. But it didn’t sound good. Was it the sound engineer? The vocals were too loud, the kick drum much too prominent and overbearing, the lead guitar hardly noticeable and everything just drowned into each other. I felt terrible for them. But they seemed to have a good time, which made me think that it was possibly sounding perfectly good for them on stage… Nevertheless, I would definitely watch them again. They deserve a second chance.

But now we were nervous. The glorious Cat’s Eyes! With the oh-so-glorious Faris Badwan, frontman of the Horros, and the oh-so-mesmerising Rachel Zeffira. Please oh please don’t let their sound be messed up too. No, it wouldn’t be, right?

Oh man it was beautiful and awe-inspiring

[aesop_image imgwidth=”50%” img=”https://indierepublik.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Cats_Eyes_06-Small.jpg” credit=”Ines Soutschka” alt=”cats eyes live at heimathafen pop kultur by ines soutschka for indieberlin” align=”left” lightbox=”off” caption=”cats eyes live at heimathafen pop kultur by ines soutschka for indieberlin” captionposition=”left”]

 

It wasn’t. Oh man it was beautiful and awe-inspiring. What a cool band. Faris with his scruffy hair, lanky body and tasseled leather jacket, walking up and down the stage making ridiculous jokes and Rachel with her quirky and smiling nature, both with such incredible voices. The choir with ridiculous harmonising skills and the drummer, bassist and guitarist… It was really wonderful.

They played a good lengthly set with a variety of songs from their earlier to their most recent albums, changing from faster punchier fifties inspired girl songs, to slow, deep and profound songs that make you want to hold someone’s hand and tell them you love them. At some point they even had the choir cover a Beatles song all alone, to showcase their bad-ass skills at harmonising. I definitely recommend seeing this band once in your life. It will change you forever. Or maybe just for five minutes…

Thanks Pop Kultur! We had a blast.

 

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