This month: British sensation Lily Allen stops by to drop some sass; wild child Juliette Lewis rocks and rolls with her new band; American jazz legend John Scofield swings through Haus der Berliner Festspiele; Canadian indie twins Tegan and Sara make the whole city so jealous; verb-loving post-rockers Do Make Say Think strum, sing and pound; and the Gossip churn out music so good you won’t want to talk.

Check out our top picks this month:

Tegan and Sara
Thursday 26 November (8 pm) @ Astra
(Indie, pop, alt)
www.myspace.com/teganandsara

In many ways, Canadian sister act Tegan and Sara’s body of work can be described as a decade-long rumination on romantic obsession. From their 1999 debut album Under Feet Like Ours to their 2004 breakout record So Jealous to this month’s Sainthood, the Quins have spent the past 10 years writing sing-along indie pop hits that tackle the tempestuous constellation of love and love lost.

Gossip
Thursday 26 November (8 pm) @ Columbiahalle
(Punk, soul, experimental)
www.myspace.com/gossipband

If part of the ecstasy of listening to early hip hop records was revelling at how acts like Public Enemy and Eric B. & Rakim sampled and transformed soul and funk music, then at least one reason to love the Gossip is for the way that the band dexterously fuses influences from punk, dance, disco, soul and beyond into eminently gripping and surprising hits. Fronted by queer and body-positive icon Beth Ditto, the Portland-based band broke into the mainstream in 2006 with their gay rights anthem “Standing in the Way of Control,” which Ditto wrote in response to a Bush-era amendment that would have constitutionally outlawed same-sex marriage in the United States. Now, Ditto, guitarist Brace Paine and drummer Hannah Billie are back with their first major studio album, Music for Men, produced by the bearded heavyweight Rick Rubin.

Reviews of the album have been split – with some deploring the band’s departure from their lo-fi, DIY punk roots and others content to go along for the ride. Genre-allegiances aside, the record does suffer from a glossing over of Ditto’s fierce, take-no-prisoners vocals that were left deliciously raw on previous releases.

But there is still much to savour on Music. Such as when Ditto, singing about the difficulties of long distance relationships on “Love Long Distance,” knowingly quotes Marvin Gaye, whispering, “I heard it through the bassline / Not much longer would you be my baby.” Or when listening to the literal bassline pulsating seductively on “Dimestore Diamond.” Despite its flaws, Music is still an album of well-executed, idiosyncratic dance floor hits.

Other dates in Germany:

Wednesday November 18 @ Palladium, Cologne
Thursday November 19 @ Stadhalle, Offenbach
Wednesday November 25 @ Tonhalle, Munich

 1 2 Next >