Without doubt, one of the most awaited concerts in the ever-vibrant musical scene in Berlin will be the one of the British indie rock band The Vaccines at the Fritz der Club im Postbahnhof on the 18th of December  (http://www.fritzclub.com/index/cmd/catalogue_details/modul/portal/kernwert/programm/block/catalogue_2/field/689/show/20/search//. And it won’t be because of the great stir which the band has created in the last two years, a period during which, since their surprise apperance on Youtube with the demo ‘If you Wanna’ in August 2010, they’ve become one of the most acclaimed bands in the UK, so say the achievements such as being the first band to appear in the prestigious TV programme of Jules Holland without having released a single on the market, having been chosen as a support act for Arcade Fire or their friends the Arctic Monkeys, being the front cover of the famous English music magazine, the NME, or having had more success in the British charts during 2011 than any other new band.

With the previous statements being indicative that the garage rock of The Vaccines, where it’s inevitable to listen to sensible similarities to bands such as Jesus and Mary Chain, The Ramones and, especially, The Strokes (one of whose members, Albert Hammond Jr produced ‘Tiger Blood’, their latest single to date), is one of the most acclaimed sounds on the indie music scene, which makes the concert in Berlin somewhat double special due to the fact that a large part of the band’s international tour this year (including the American and Japanese tours and most of the European one) had to be cancelled due to the serious singing problems of the singer Justin Young, whose throat has suffered up to three operations in the last nine months.

Having overcome the aforementioned problems and once the mandatory recuperation time prescribed by doctors had passed, The Vaccines came back on the last 26th of October with more will and strength than ever, and they’ve expressed their wish that the quality and the commitment of the remaining concerts is in some way a compensation for all the ones that they’ve cancelled in the last few months.

They’ll have Trailer Trash Tracys as their support band, a London quartet who come from the shoegaze sound and atmosphere, creators of songs with fragile, dreamy and ghostly melodies surrounded in dissonant guitar characteristics which incur occasionally in surf-pop territory, Dick Dale or The Shadows style.

Justin Young, who during a period of time dedicated himself to nu folk with the name Jay Jay Pistolet, has stated on different occasions that his two heroes as a boy, both for music and image reasons, were Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain, which in some way explains his heartfelt way of experiencing his live performances as a high intensity experience.

Paul Oilzum

See it for yourself if you rent apartments in Berlin around those dates. If a concert of The Vaccines is always an attractive plan to combat the ingrained Sunday sadness, this return after the forced break lifts even more the expectations of a unique night.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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On the 16th of December, the German DJ and producer Paul Kalkbrenner will be playing at the Arena Berlin Treptow, where he’ll present his latest album ‘Icke Wieder’, with which he considers he’s arrived to his musical maturity due to the depth and the complexity of his sound mixes. To carry out this album, Kalkbrenner retired for a whole year from the turntables in clubs searching for the tranquillity that creation requires.

Paul Kalkbrenner was born in Leipzig, Germany. His musical studies began in 1985 with the instrumental formation of the trumpet, for which he had a long theoretical preparation in music, construction and sol-fa lectures which he ended successfully in 1990. Since then he dedicated himself to making small musical works, but his aim wasn’t in traditional music.

It was in 1994 when he began his live act career, a variant of DJs who differentiate themselves because not only do they sample but they work live, adding sounds and instruments live, which requires a higher level of knowledge to intervene in the music. At the end of the 90s, more specifically in 1999, he released his first EP, ‘Largesse’. His first pseudonym was Paul db+, and under that name he made his first release.

His creative capacity as well as his incessant work rate to reach his goals took him to record in the same year, 1999, his second EP, Friedrichshain, with the Berlin-based label BPitch Control.

But his interests in music were so broad that in 1996 he’d already began his career as an independent producer with the aim of giving shape to a musical work and to professionalize his activities in music. The capacities that he showed meant that many TV channels noticed him. Through those jobs with ARD, Premiere, ZDF and other companies, he developed an enormous capacity in sound editing, which has finally been a plus in his musical work.

Despite the best about Kalkbrenner is the whole range of creation and production, on stage, he’s a monster of electronic music. In his sets he uses a synthesizer software and a sequencer, together with a MIDI controller, hardware synthesizers and beat machines. A wonderful technical architecture which give his sets stage-musical excellence.

His styles are linked to minimal, techno, minimal techno and the so called IDM, or Intelligent Dance Music, born in Detroit in the 90s and which has styles such as ambient and Detroit techno.

He’s one of the DJs who features permanently in the programmes of the best European and world festivals. Since his beginnings he’s played in festivals such as Fusion Festival, Nature One, Melt, Mayday, SonneMondSterne and other important events.

Film has also been kind to Kalkbrenner. In 2008 he participated as the main character in the film ‘Berlin Calling’, and together with his brother Fritz, they created and produced the background track ‘Sky and Sand’. The whole musical production of this film was edited in the album which has the same name as the film.

For more information: http://www.arenaberlin.de/event.aspx?eventId=349533

Nancy Guzman

Remember that if you feel tempted to attend this show, you must book your tickets in advance. In the same way, I recommend that you rent apartments in Berlin in good time, so that you have the best stay and you can enjoy this city with a Christmassy feel.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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Style and tattoos go hand in hand. Today, everyone goes for a tattoo which represents them, yet another symbol of their individuality and style. There are thousands of tattoo styles and, also, there’s a whole Rock’n'roll aesthetic which comes with tattoos. Many girls who follow the ‘pin-up’ trend tattoo their body with different designs, usually with striking colours: flowers, skulls, cars on fire, animals…

The girls who go for the ‘pin-up’ look, are usually of an uninhibited nature, and don’t hesitate to wear tattoos on parts of the body which are exposed, in an open and sexy way. To have a tattoo, you have to be somewhat daring, choose with good taste and don’t look back. Of course, before choosing the tattoo which goes with you the most, you also have to be aware of the colours or tones which go best with your skin and, if possible, get to know how your skin scars before doing it. This knowledge and preparation will turn the final result into a striking and attractive one. A professional tattoo artist will know how to give you advice on these details.

Following the rock trend, many people choose to have tattoos of logos or names of their favourite rock bands. Down the years, the prejudice against tattoos is nearly extinct, and it’s not surprising that now, fathers and sons share tattoos that they got at the same time, as well as couples in love or groups of friends. The beauty of a nicely and carefully done tattoo, because after being tattooed one has to take care of their skin, can last a whole lifetime.

In the same way, another tattoo trend of today is the classic oriental tattoos, or also tattooing ideograms with phrases, ideas or names. Phrases or poems are also being tattooed, for example the line from Shakespeare that Megan Fox has on her back. The care and effort of these tattoo artists makes them at present some of the biggest experts in the field of professional drawing and design on an international scale.

All of these options and variables on the legendary art of tattooing will be at your disposal at the 21st International Tattoo Convention in Berlin. More than 200 artists from all over the world will be attending. Also, there’ll be presentations of traditional Asian tattoos. There will of course also be live music so that you can also enjoy a good concert as well as getting a tattoo. Among the activities there’ll be the choice of the ‘Tattoo Queen 2012′, as well as seminars, workshops and specialized conferences on the art of tattooing. For more information on this convention, visit its official website here: http://www.tattoo-convention.de/

Alexa Ray

Get apartments in Berlin and be part of this fantastic international tattoo convention.

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Translated by: aleixgwilliam
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