Live music in October

Soft and driving at the same time is the interplay of piano and drums produced by the Hely duo. Here, things develop slowly and interweave ever more densely in the process. The two Zurich musicians Lucca Fries and Jonas Ruther have already made it to the Montreux Jazz Festival and halfway around the globe with Hely. At the Kulturlokal Am Rank, there is the opportunity to immerse yourself in their universe for three days in a row.

Reggaeton-induced witch-freak pop is perhaps what you could call the music of Baby Volcano. The Gualtemaltecian-Western Swiss artist sings in Spanish and French and turns her innermost self inside out with full energy, exploring her body and soul. The concert will take place at the Roten Fabrik after the play "En mi imperio perreo sola", which takes a performative look at sexism and violence in Latin American reggaeton culture.

The South Londoner Kamaal Williams is actually called Henry Wu and actually once made house music. His fascination with graffiti led him to calligraphy, and he converted to Islam in search of a spiritual home. in 2016, the keyboardist had his breakthrough with Yussef Kamaal's "Black Focus", a joint album with drummer Yussef Dayes. Since then, he has single-handedly continued the project of an all-round renewal of jazz, with borrowings from funk, house and hip-hop as well as a deep connection to the classics of the genre such as Herbie Hancock.

To be honest, what cought me most about Sirens Of Lesbos was their cover of the 90s classic "Sweet Harmony". But far beyond that, the group from Bern is a talent pile with its own label and art direction. Their sound flickers intangibly between disco, house and funk, and somehow they've even managed to get funk legend Bootsy Collins on board for a feature. A colourful evening is guaranteed with them at the Gessnerallee.

14.10.23 | Gessneralle

It feels wrong to speak of PJ Harvey as a "grande dame", as she is far too unruly and uncomfortable for what is usually associated with this term. But in the unruly and uncomfortable world of indie rock, she is undoubtedly a grande dame: one who has shaped the genre, and built and torn down bridges from pop to punk. Her tenth album "I Inside The Old Year Dying", which she will present at the Volkshaus on two evenings, is her first in six years.

15 & 16.10.23 | Volkshaus

Another Central Laundry, another South London guest: Mansur Brown is a classically trained guitarist and played on the aforementioned album "Black Focus" by Yussef Kamaal. In the meantime, however, he has made a name for himself across genre boundaries, collaborating with Little Simz, Alfa Mist and Joy Orbison. His own pieces hover between introspection and beat music, and on this evening in the Central Laundry there is pretty much bound to be one or another new facet of this instrument to explore.

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