Right after the show of Zarkoff's project Sumerian Fleet at the wonderful DECADENCE party on Saturday in Berlin Arena Club (where I met such wonderful folks & friends like Thea & Jasa from Degenerotika Fashion, Evilyn Frantic, Louis Fleischauer (from AMF Corsets), Miranda Trash, Hannah, Anne, Marta, DJs Steve Morell, Ben Bloodygrave & Necrophil, Model Sinteque and many more, not to talk about lovely new people I met that night) tomorrow Zarkoff will play a solo show at the Loophole Club in Berlin-Neukölln which will definitely be the place to be that night!
If you don't know this amazing Croatian musician, producer & singer, here's his fantastic music video for his great new song "Jet Boy":
Official video: ZARKOFF - Jet Boy (2015)
from the critically acclaimed "Sweet Obsolete" album,
shot by B.A.K.A. productions, the notorious experimental film
collective from Croatia. A lo-fi journey into a bizarre summer
adventure. Directed by: G. Grey & Makotoichi
Zarkoff (whose real name is Sasha Rajkovich) is a Croatian musician known for his solo
work and several collabs, such as Florence Foster Fan Club (with Le Chocolat
Noir), Sumerian Fleet (with Alden Tyrell and Mr Pauli) and various duos with female singer and musician Popsimonova (who has been introduced in this blog several times and took part in two of our STYLE! IT! TAKES! events already). Zarkoff's solo output varies from techno to synth driven post punk and his
latest album Sweet Obsolete even features prominent guitars. The album itself
reached #1 on European Alternative Charts, staying there for 2 weeks.
Cover of ZARKOFF's CD "Sweet Obsolete" (2015)
Apart from his own productions, he works as a mastering
engineer for established underground labels such as Creme Organization and R
Zone, and runs the Sensorium studio. Zarkoff opened the very first STYLE! IT! TAKES! event in summer 2012 in an unforgettable performance with stunning dancer & performer Clea Cutthroat (here's the beautiful live video of it, always worth to be seen again).
Also live on stage will be VV & The Void (Berlin/LA/Melbourne), a music project by lovely Valentina Veil, a musician, producer artist and curator living between Berlin, LA and Melbourne.Her music, often
described as shoegaze, drone, noir, atmospheric, goth, neo-psychedelic,
experimental is a celebration of opposite energies: grace and disproportion,
feminine and masculine, moon and sun, birth and death, angel and devil, light and
dark, conscious and unconscious.
It surely will be a lovely evening with great concerts and - as far as I can see already from the Facebook-Event (opens in new tab) and other people who will be there - very beautiful, nice & lovely people in the audience. So, tomorrow night, the Loophole is the place to be in Berlin!
Kastanienallee 85 (U Eberswalder Straße), 10435 Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg > Facebook-Event
Fr 13. Nov. 2015 21 h Frannz Club @ Kulturbrauerei
HOUSE OF LIGHT (Psychedelic Wave / Melbourne) feat. Valentina Veil (VV & The Void) supports THE DRONES (Garage Rock / Australia)
Schönhauser Allee 36 (U Eberswalder Straße), Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg > First Announcement
One of the nice and special things about our STYLE! IT! TAKES! project is that we try to keep an eye on our well selected fashion designers, artists, dancers, gymnasts, photographers... One of our most amazing musicians, singers, models and designers (all in one!) is POPSIMONOVA - the grande Croatian Electro-Diva who has been part of the first two Style! It! Takes! - Berlin Fashion Week Nights # 1 (2012) and # 2 (2013). So I'm very happy to hear that Lana has kind of a break-through finally... both concerning record releases and lots of live performances... And - needless to say - there's new photo material arriving, ecstatic ecstasy inclusive as always... ♥
Popsimonova in Ljubljana (Aug. 2013) - Photography & editing by Shąvi Ląvi
After more and more releases on different labels and compilations (both as
Popsimonova and with various other collaborations, for example ZARKOFF, who played live in Berlin at our first event in 2012), late last year she
has having been released her first 12" vinyl on Netherlands Electro-Label Gooiland Elektro Records, a sub-label from Enfant Terrible.
Surprisingly the label decided on starting to release 4 very early tracks of her, sung in her original Serbo-Croatian language - which is the first time in music that a foreign label releases vinyl with tracks in this language!!! Hvala lijepa! ♥
POPSIMONOVA - Staviti Crveni Ruz
12 Inch EP 2013, Gooiland Elektro - Enfant Terrible; Gooiland 09 - ET027
The title of this amazing EP, "Staviti Crveni Ruz",translates like "Put on red lipstick" and it contains four quite different, all very danceable, thrilling and catchy tracks.
The technoid title track "Staviti crveni ruz" is about her state of mind after
coming home from her factory job:
Put on red lipstick / turn off the lamp in the corner,
let the turntable scrape /
turn on the fan,
open a window,
let dragons of stormy sky enter between the walls,
lie down on the floor
/ fall asleep
without any intention
to wake up
...a very beautiful description of life in alienated (post-)industrial societies and also for the music my favourite song, since the dragons seem to fly directly into an intensive & great club night - (not) forgetting the status we come from...
So I'm happy that Lana - who already commanded great lines like“Turn off
your television – We go out!!!” (in her song No Contact) - kept her red lipstick close - it's a symbol of our loves to life and our resistance to oppression, both...
Closely related with the first topic, the hectical „Brzo“ (Fast) with its ticking military-style drums and distorted stressy guitar sounds is exactly about that, about "fast instant life today" (Popsimonova):
be smiling, be nice, be healthy, grow up fast, fast in
school, work fast, fast home, quickly in the evening, quickly find
someone, quickly make fun, fast revealed love, quick rest, quickly get
out of the way, and you will die quickly and rich, time is money
Did we hear such both sensible and clear words referring to most of our everyday lives in electronic music in the last years very often? I missed them and sort of lost interest in that kind of music for that reason... thanx for bringing us back to what matters Popsimonova!!!
(in that context the just released new Laibach album positively comes to my mind immediately - since, yes, it's definitely time for clear words about our lives and the world we are living in again! Regarding this Enfant Terrible record being a very retro release, Popsimonova was ahead of times (please check my first Popsimonova record review which also shows the political awareness of parts of the Post-Yugoslavian Underground scenes)... and we should love her for that! She's a pioneer!!! ♥)
The other side opens strongly with the beautiful wavy, dark and spectral Electro-Minimal-Track „Ektoplazma“ which is definitely a spooky & spacy dance hit!!! (I put the lyrics below).
Track B2 „Danas Si Slab“ (Today you are weak), an Industrial style song about personal life feelings
and relationships, ends this great EP and it's oppressive darkness is touching me so much, that I would say, uuugh, maybe second best of this consistently great record, which could be running endless hours without getting boring and last forever - I just want more and more and more... so I always just switch and switch the sides and listen again... let the turntable scrape...
POPSIMONOVA European Tour
If you forget the world it will disappear forget yourself and time will stop POPSIMONOVA - Danas Si Slab
Since then, Popsimonova is performing live gigs all around Europe (& abroad), from her
bases in Sisak (the Croatian Sheffield!) and Zagreb over Ukraine, France and Czech Republic (to name just a few) and now together with Jessica 93 & Dorcelsius in a touring package all around
Europe up to the North in Scandinavia...
left: "April gonna be great!" (pic comment on Facebook)
right: POPSIMONOVA checking it all inLjubljana (^.^) (Photography & editing by Shąvi Ląvi)
POPSIMONOVA in her self-made Throbbing Gristle-dress (archive pic, ca. 2007)
ATTACK!!! European Tour Plan, Spring 2014: POPSIMONOVA surrounding Germany :-)
Ready for 22 shows in
Paris > Beograd > Brussels > Rotterdam > Aachen > Enschede > Paris > Strasbourg > Zurich > Lausanne > Fribourg > Nice >Brescia > Milano > Treviso > Budapest >Wien > Boskovice > Hradec
Králové > Berlin > Copenhagen > Goteborg ...and then for a summer festival in > Alvesta / Växjö (Sweden)...
Their nice & lovely tour plan (see the map) caused an ironic discussion between two chummy musicians about the POPSIMONOVA Europe Tour 2014 on Facebook:
A:The good thing is, you're constantly bordering
Germany so if anything fails, just hop into Germany and they will sort you out ;-)
GERMAN EFFICIENCY
B:all my biggest troubles on tour happened in
Germany :-)
A:That's because you're French.
B: and look like an immigrant haha
(^.^)
... girl power with style all the way... POPSIMONOVA live in Nantes (France) (Flyer, Oct. 2013)
POPSIMONOVA live 2013 wearing a DEGENEROTIKA harness and lovely Polka Dot tights ♥
@ Musica Obscura party - Klub Močvara (Zagreb) - photos by Zvonimir Ferina
ektoplazma - ectoplasm
Long hours you stood there
Silent witness removing the day
I walked up close to see your face
ectoplasm
Night, black and quiet
the echo of your voice in the room
but you're actually not there
ectoplasm
Yet since childhood
always standing near me
I have no fear
I love the shadows
In the dream you often tie
white thread around my hand
black thread around my heart
silver chain around my waist
And then the long hours I'm standing
At several places at once
threads are knit into the trap
ectoplasm
Night, black and quiet
hunger and darkness in us
we hunt at dawn
And we feed
until the sun comes out
And then you fade
And the long hours of standing in place
And I never get to see your face
POPSIMONOVA is a fashionista
"The new upcoming queen of cold electro (wave)" (Enfant Terrible label about POPSIMONOVA) is not only a great musician, but also a fashion designer herself. Especially significant is her series of blue dresses, which all suit perfectly with her blonde wild hairstyle, sometimes combined with golden or red elements and applications.
In the context of our STYLE! IT! TAKES! project she has also been modeling both live and in studio for DEGENEROTIKA avantgarde fashion, photographed by Slovenian artist and fashion photographer Shąvi Ląvi, but also by Berlin based photographers Majlo Milevskij, Ruby Venezia KainuandLux Artifex (Atelier 'ex Lux'). Some months ago our photographer Jarka Snajberk shot her for the STYLE! IT! TAKES! book which is in a making. So, new gorgeous photos are to come...
♥
POPSIMONOVA 2014 dressed in her own fashion design
(Photo by Zvonimir Ferina, MUA Kasandra Make Up)
POPSIMONOVA wears DEGENEROTIKA fashion (Photo by Shąvi Ląvi)
POPSIMONOVA make-up by Thea B. Adora / DEGENEROTIKA fashion
Scenes and impressions from a phantastic night at AKC Medika in Zagreb yesterday. We were enchanted by this huge squatted place and the nice and lovely audience that filled the concert room for live performances of ZARKOFF, LE CHOCOLAT NOIR, NORA BELOW and POPSIMONOVA.
Rear Window
Getting Closer
Soundcheck
Amazing visuals by VJ FLOYD
At the soundcheck of ZARKOFF
Nikola (Zarkoff), Nora and Saša (Zarkoff)
NORA BELOW (above) and POPSIMONOVA (below) during soundcheck
Le Chocolat Noir, Popsimonova & Nikola (from Zarkoff) checking the sound
Live
ZARKOFF live
LE CHOCOLAT NOIR live
Pic by Nora Below
Pic by Darko Vaupotic
Thanx so much for this striking music and visuals in the Grey Room of AKC Medika.
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