With the summer finally getting into full swing, the name of the game in July is festivals and luckily for us, Berlin is chock full of them. You can get your Bob Dylan on at the folk/anti-folk Down by the River Festival at Bar25; catch the latest from the Caribbean diaspora at the Wassermusik Festival 09 at Haus der Kulturen der Welt; flex your feminist muscles at the binary gender-busting LaD.I.Y. Fest Berlin; or drop by Schokoladen-Mitte for the always-interesting Schokoladen-Hoffest.

Other notable events this month: Master wordsmith Regina Spektor stops by with her latest album Far and German swing musician Andrej Hermlin and his band play a tribute concert for “King of Swing” Benny Goodman’s 100th birthday.

Check out our two top picks for this month:     

PnP

(Electro, rap)
http://www.myspace.com/pandptime

Thursday July 2 @ Crackers (Super Super Magazine Party)
and
Sunday July 5 (1:30 pm) @ Wedding Dress Festival Bühne
www.weddingdress4.de

From Peaches to Scream Club, Berlin seems to be a haven for head-thumping, tongue-twisting electrorap queers. Newcomers PnP are the latest act to join this stellar cadre. Musicians Bobby Jules and Scout Wölfli bill themselves as “the dubious love child of all that is good and right on the Berlin queer scene,” and with their songs about getting off at a Peaches concert and why not to have sex with your ex (“Sex with the ex / Don’t get me vexed / Starts off nice / But you pay the price),” this music fan happens to agree.

LaD.I.Y. Fest Berlin    
July 16 to 19
Various locations
Check out http://ladyfest.lautr.com/ for details.

In a cultural moment when it’s still hard to get the supposedly Lefty population to self-identify as feminists, what could be better than a whole festival dedicated to showing that feminism can be “cool, refractory, sexy and nasty at the same time”? Not much, I think. This July, for the 7th year in a row, LaD.I.Y. Fest is invading Berlin’s streets and minds. The volunteer run, “Do It Yourself” festival is organized and orchestrated by feminist activists, artists and musicians of various genders and features everything from concerts and film screenings to discussions and workshops.

The first Ladyfest, initiated by the likes of Sleater-Kinney, Cat Power and Neko Case, was held in Olympia, Washington in 2000. Organizers were inspired, in part, by the early 1990s Riot Girrrl movement that sought to put a feminist face on male-dominated punk rock. The first festival’s program instructed attendees to “Go home and plan one in your own town,” and since then, feminists all over the world have done just that. There are now Ladyfests in England, the Netherlands, Spain, Lithuania and elsewhere.

So whether you’re looking to learn how to use a turntable, want to hear an “anti-lecture” on “Locations of the Mothership: The Black Female Subject as a Site of Resistance” or just looking to dance the night away, LaD.I.Y. Fest is certainly worth checking out.

LaD.I.Y. Fest Concerts:    

Friday July 17 (9 pm) @ queer wagenplatz Schwarzer Kanal:

Ten EyCK - Rock
Munich / Brooklyn
www.myspace.com/teneyckmusic

Ex Best Friends - Big Beat
Berlin
www.myspace.com/weareexbestfriends

Las Kellies - Rock
Buenos Aires / Argentina
www.myspace.com/laskellies

 lindas tante (bouncy castle) - bouncy beats & shaking disco
Hannover / Germany

TRash VAN TRaXXX (Hybrid) - dubcore
Barcelona / Spain
www.myspace.com/trashvantraxxx

Saturday July 18 (9:30 pm) @ SO36:

Skilla - Pop / Rock / Folk Rock
Malmo / Sweden
www.myspace.com/skillaswe

ilsebill - Punk / Indie
Vienna / Austria
www.myspace.com/ilsebillism

AGatha - Punk / Death Metal / Blues
Milano / Italy
www.myspace.com/agathatrio

Kaltès - Electro p(F)unk
Brussels / Belgium
www.myspace.com/kaltesklaress

Missin Red - Roots / Kinder / Shoegaze
Milano / Italy
www.myspace.com/missinred

nije* - Electro / Techno
Kiel / Germany
www.myspace.com/rockendanke

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