Live sound adventures from Frank Bretschneider, Stanislav Glazov, Trnsm::n Berlin

Watch live sets from Frank, Stas, and myself as we prepare for a new season of Transm::on Berlin – this is streaming of the strange, experimental, glitchy, industrial, and electronically weird sounds from a crew who lives and breathes them.

Berlin is cautiously reopening events after months of tough restrictions. Looking back, one of the things that made many of us feel musically connected in isolated times really was streaming events, challenging as they could be.

Kyoka is always pure energy. I mean, forget scenes, it’s important we dance with each other as musicians; it completely transforms how we relate.

Stanislav Glazov, who continues to connect the Berlin and Russian scenes, as well as modular synths and generative visuals with tools like TouchDesigner.

Thanks to distance, contact tracing, and gentler rules at the time, it meant that last fall we weren’t only playing for cameras and empty rooms. We had a select group of fellow artists and a feeling of communication.

And that’s hopefully what Trnsm::n Berlin is about. The streaming series is hosted by Suicide Club, one of the city’s longest-running club stories. (The name references the punk duo and its history there and in Berlin.) Pat Flanders at the helm, from the club’s booking, comes from leftfield label Mindwaves.

After the first season, patched together spontaneously out of necessity, now the club and the series are back. That will start with a big opening on Saturday the 26th of June, all on a new floor built during lockdown.

So with that upcoming, let’s hit rewind. We got to do a full night lineup end of August last year. It was a chance to invite artists I know primarily through the Raster Media (formerly Raster-Noton) platform/label, including Chemnitz-native and endlessly inventive musician Frank Bretschneider and the hyperactive creative force of Kyoka. Plus Russian-born voltage and pixel maven Stanislav Glazov contributed a live set, as did I. Mary Yuzovskaya, recently relocated back to Berlin from New York and in charge of the top-quality Monday Off joined Lars Hemmerling (Dock Records, Fullpanda) for an expertly-curated DJ set.

Full set premieres here on CDM:

Frank Bretschneider

Frank Bretschneider is the kind of creative force that drew a lot of us to Berlin in the first place. His work is precise but free, deeply rooted in a tangible connection to the sounds he shapes, floating easily between different moods and forms. He’s someone who’s invigorating to be around because he is always changing and growing.

So don’t miss his semi-hybrid set (well, YouTube’s algorithms spotted the tracks, even as he plays over top of them), all on a tasteful set of instruments.

And he can meld the experimentalism of club sound with its counter-parts in avant-garde sound objects. Check his latest album, which is adapted from self-generating pieces made for an installation organized by Raster mates Olaf Bender and David Letellier.

Stanislav Glazov

Stanislav is simply a maestro of patching, whether it’s a Eurorack modular or a generative visual system. His sound goes deep into hard industrial and noise constructions with terrifying power. And while that might sound abstract or academic, he can command the attention of the warehouses and concrete corners he plays in both Russia and Europe (including the likes of Moscow’s mighty Mutabor).

As evidence of the futurist worlds he inhabits, see his recent mega-session from Russia’s CGEVENT. (Russian only, but if you don’t speak it you can skip around for some wild stuff happening and users of these tools will probably follow what’s going on.)

Your editor

Well yes, I also play, and pink hair was necessary both to complete the hair-color spectrum of the lineup and to make sure I’m not easily recognized by any wandering titans of electronic music synth companies trying to capture my identity.

So this set is improvised in VCV Rack and Roland TR-8S, plus Reason Friktion, with the spare CDJ acting basically as an additional sample playback instrument, and a ROLI Seaboard RISE.

And yes, I can’t live without my Faderfox (that’s me and Frank, both), or my Logitech mouse.

More sounds

Kyoka’s set was pure fire, but we weren’t entirely satisfied with the recording so – I urge you to see her live when you can, and check out her productions. She’s had some terrific remixes lately: