For the first day of their annual summer fest, Berlin based booking agency Puschen (german for slippers) invited three extraordinary North-American bands.
California’s Moon Duo share the stage with Suuns from Canada and the Generationals from the deep south of New Orleans.
Formed in San Francisco in 2009 by Wooden Shijps guitarist Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada, Moon Duo’s first two EPs fused the futuristic pylon hum and transistor reverb of Suicide or Silver Apples with the heat-haze fuzz of American rock ‘n’ roll to create tracks of blistering, 12-cylinder space rock.
Moon Duo | Sleepwalker
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=MnQkE9C1z1Y
Their debut album Mazes, recorded in San Francisco and mixed in Berlin during 2010 as the band prepared to move to the mountains of Colorado, explores a far broader, lighter, sound.
That’s most clear on the dreamy organ and skipping riff of the title track, which recalls the Velvet Underground, or the handclaps and swinging organ bloops over the potent shredding and guttural riff delivered by Johnson in When You Cut. Throughout, Mazes is the sound of Moon Duo carving out their own identity, looking to the horizon, and moving forward.
Moon Duo | I Been Gone
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=CbqpzUZHjr8
Now Moon Duo are set to release Circles, their second full-length LP with Souterrain Transmissions. Circles is the product of a long winter’s isolation in the Rocky Mountains, though the road to its fruition stretched over six months and several locations.
Inspiration for many of the songs themes, as well as the title Circles, came from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1841 essay by the same name, on the symbol and nature of “the flying Perfect.” From the opening lines: “The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end.” And so it goes. Rust never sleeps.
Suuns | Up Past The Nursery
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=b9Cgh8-Np6c
It didn’t take long for Montreal’s Suuns to resurface with a second full length, Images Du Futur, and, as one would anticipate, this latest exploration takes on even greater visceral depths.
Suuns are a different beast now. They’re tighter, slicker, and even more calculating in their approach. It’s no surprise after more than a year of touring North America and three trips overseas.
Suuns | Pie IX
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=0-w_ex0eF1s
Images Du Futur still boasts the typical Suuns-wrought iron, expanding even further on the deep-house-Detroit textures, electronic plunges and layered guitar squalls.
The upbeat drums and chants of “Sunspot” are initially reminiscent of earlier call-to-arms anthems, but then venture into spare repetition and temporary collisions of pedals and fuzz.
Generationals | Trust
httpv://https://youtube.com/watch?v=2FUD8oHSjiE
In many respects, Generationals is the epitome of an indie-rock group. A duo unencumbered by extraneous personnel, New Orleans natives Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer craft their pop with equal parts melodic effervescence, twee charm, organic instrumentation, and synthesized drive.
With the last album Heza, Generationals have perfected their a-little-bit-of-everything pop. Where Joyner and Widmer go from here is anyone’s guess, but they’ve reached their high water mark with this album.
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Puschenfest: 1st Night
w/ Moon Duo, Suuns & Generationals LIVE
Thursday, 01 August 2013 | 19:30 CET
Lido | Cuvrystr. 7 | 10997 Berlin/Kreuzberg
puschenfest.tumblr.com | lido-berlin.de
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