When asked to describe the circumstances that influenced her beautifully fraught new work, Berlin-based musician Annika Henderson—better known simply as Anika—quickly articulates a set of feelings and unpredictable circumstances that are familiar to anyone who tried to make art—or simply tried to live through—the recent global pandemic. “It’s a moment caught in time,” she says of Change, her much-anticipated new record. Given that it has been 11 years since the release of her last solo album, 2010 cult-favorite Anika, the artist suddenly found herself with a lot to say. “This album had been planned for a little while and the circumstances of its inception were quite different to what had been expected. This colored the album quite significantly. The lyrics were all written there on the spot. It’s a vomit of emotions, anxieties, empowerment, and of thoughts like—How can this go on? How can we go on?”

Having worked collaboratively in the past with the likes of BEAK> and Mexico City’s Exploded View, Change was ultimately the product of necessity. “After recording the initial ideas alone at Klangbild studios in Berlin, a few months later and by some stroke of luck, Mr. Martin Thulin of Exploded View, managed to make his way over from Mexico, to co-produce the album with me and play some live drums and bass,” recalls Anika. “Between Reality Baitz and Impression Recordings in Berlin, we managed to get the album together.

The intimacy of its creation and a palpable sense of global anxiety are seemingly baked into the DNA of Change. Spread across nine tracks, the central feeling of the record is one of heightened frustration buoyed by guarded optimism. The songs offer skittering, austere electronic backdrops reminiscent of classic Broadcast records or High Scores-era Boards of Canada, playing them against Anika’s remarkable voice—Nico-esque, beautifully plaintive, and—in regards to the record’s subject matter—totally resolute. Incantatory tracks like “Naysayer” and “Never Coming Back” are both, as Anika explains them, both a call to arms and a warning. “Never Coming Back” was written after reading Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring,” she explains. “I was living in the old East countryside outside of Berlin, where there seemed to be no shortage of birds. Apparently their numbers have dropped significantly, but it is one of these changes that we never really stop and notice. We take things for granted, until it’s too late. With all this other noise going on, care for the environment has quickly been moved to the back-burner. So long as we get what we want NOW and on demand, who cares about whether we are taking care of the future?”

Finger Pies

Albert Wolski, membre du vénéré groupe australien Exek, poursuit sa résidence en rassemblant ce mois-ci une heure de lo-fi, post-punk, ou dub-pop langoureux.

Exek w/ Albert Wolski 02.12.22

Easy

After 13 shows on my own, it is time to introduce my first guest on Shape/Shift. Alexandre Wa (@alexandrewa) and I met a decade ago while studying history at college, we instantly shared a common interest about odd music, arts & silly memes. Years later, our paths crossed again as we’re now colleagues in the same research library. 

But enough chatter. Like me and even more, Alexandre is a massive krautrock enthusiast. That’s the reason I invited him to design a one-hour perilous but epic collage of motorik beats. Fasten your seat belt and get ready for a hallucinated ride on the autobahn !

Tracklist : https://lyl.live/episode/shape-shift-14

Shape/Shift #14 w/ Alexandre Wa (05/11/2024)

IMBROGLIO w/Misonica

Recently I attended a tape market hosted by Jeopardize Tapes (@jeopardizetapes) in a venue called Bootleg where I met @p_l_a_u. They run the label Erker and he brought a release that consisted of a j-card with some bootleg instructions; telling people to download a certain clock collection video and dub it to tape. The thing is, the video was just a bit over 20 minutes. As I had only C60 tapes at home and vividly hate empty tape space. Thus, I downloaded three clock collection videos, stretched and edited them a bit to fill one side of a C60 cassette. This is the result, enjoy. 

You can get some more insights on the process in the thread on Mastodon:
https://mastodon.social/@nicolussi/113911632542878174

Nicolussi – Their Clock Collections (Free DL)

Harsh Audio Anarchy invite Kiki for a special live session of raw, experimental sound manipulation. Based in Egypt, Kiki is a sound designer and producer exploring creative coding and experimental sound. In this set, Kiki is using a MicroFreak, a noisebox through VCV Rack, a metal belt on a metal plate with a pickup, and layered cassette tapes processed with Korg NTS-1 effects.


HARSH AUDIO ANARCHY w/ KIKI (21/02/25)

In medieval folklore, the tempestarii were people with the ability to control the weather, creating or preventing storms at will.


TRAMA XIV TEMPESTARII w/ Nuova Materia (21/02/25)

Ana K Miller 15/03/25

https://soundcloud.com/kobermann
more at https://mitaminelab.org

Artwork: Michael Armitage

ML784: Kobermann

Live from Berlin via our audio stream today, with Reach Another System pres. BiGOTT 12’’ release!

First up is Niklas Wille!

Niklas Wille (RAS) [11.10.25]

fluid recordings (solo t.r.a.s.h. etc und co.)- mostly live - not much post edits. analog and digital experiments/entertainment schnippsl and muzik-fetzen.

Vienna International 

Easy

t.r.a.s.h. (fast and volatile recordings+demos)