EB Picks: A roundup of our September favourites

It’s official, summer is over. While we wave goodbye to what almost felt like a normal summer that wasn’t one, September was jam-packed with events, releases, and content squeezed in to enjoy those very last warm evenings. This month’s picks include a new season of Juba’s stellar Assurance podcast, new releases by Planetary Assault Systems, Galya Bisengalieva, KETA CAVIAR, and so much more. Dive in below.

Juba’s Assurance podcast launched its second season this month. Last year, the Berlin-based DJ, Boko! Boko! affiliate and Cashmere radio host released a documentary of the same name that explored the experiences of female DJs in Lagos, Nigeria. Since then, the project has expanded to a podcast series, and broadened its scope to women and non binary DJs across the Global South, shedding light on pressing socio-political issues in their regions and the impact of this on their careers and lives. Check out the second season featuring conversations with Julianna, Gina Jeanz, Coco Em, Lyla, and more to come.

Aralkum Aralas by Galya Bisengalieva 

Kazakh artist Galya Bisengalieva’s debut album Aralkum, named after the shrinking of the Aral Sea, receives a new twist by collaborators across the globe from the US to Seoul to her native Kazakhstan, with Moor Mother, Jlin, CHAINES, Coby Sey, Jing and Nazira contributing remixes. In her approach to choosing collaborators for the remix album, she was interested in getting responses from artists from such diverse backgrounds as Taiwanese, British, American and Kazakh for their insight into her voice.

Sky Scraping by Planetary Assault Systems

Following up his Say it Loud EP from earlier this year, iconic British producer Luke Slater will release his seventh album under his Planetary Assault Systems alias on Oct 15th.  

Marking his first LP since Ostgut Ton’s 2016 release, Sky Scraping debuts a wealth of new material. The record is a loud and unabashed celebration of the formative and familiar environments so loved by the electronic music community, as well as the dark club and festivals made special by their unique ability to bring like-minded people together.  Pre-order the record here.

Æ by Domingæ

Æ is the debut solo A/V album from Chilean musician and filmmaker Domingæ. 

With foundations etched at an artist residency in Japan, the record was later completed in Mexico City, where the artist currently resides. Living in one of the most dangerous cities in the world to be transgender, the record could be considered a call for help to escape the hardships of her motherland Chile and adoptive Mexico City, to “truly thrive and continue her transition safely in New York City.”  

Experimenting with sonic formats and shifting elements, alongside the unlearning of previously established creatives processes, the result is a sound minimal, yet rich in dark electronic textures and hypnotic grooves. Æ is out now on Sacred Bones Records.  

Æ can be also Domingæ’s call for help to escape the hardships of motherland Chile and adoptive Mexico City, to “truly thrive and continue her transition safely in New York City.”

Support Domingæ through contributing to her transition and survival fund on GoFundMe.

Becoming Plant 

Becoming Plant is an art film initiated by artist Grace Ndiritu. It follows dancers who participate in a therapeutic psychedelic experiment and subsequently perform a choreography, aligning their bodies with each other and the derelict military architecture of the ASIAT site.  

In the voice-over, a psychiatrist reflects on the therapeutic and sociologic qualities of psychedelics. With a soundtrack commissioned by techno legend Jeff Mills. 

Timeless Class-X Vol.1 by KETA CAVIAR

Resonance Moscow present the debut EP of KETA CAVIAR. The four-track selection exhibits a high octane, playful and energetic offering with all tracks recorded straight out of CAVIAR’s modular synthesizer, ‘reaching brevity through simplicity. 50% joke and 100% true, Timeless Class-X Vol.1 is meant for dancing and crying.’ 

USB Magazine

Launched in Augsut 2021, USB (Under Society’s Bum) is a free community-contributed print magazine, and event series focused on supporting Berlin’s local music scene.

Run by Tennis bar’s Ryan Rosell, writer Maya-Róisín Slater, and with art direction by Molly Dyson, the expertly curated event series showcases artists at varying stages of their careers from different micro-scenes in Berlin’s pop music landscape. At a USB party, you wouldn’t be surprised to hear dance music, synth-pop, rap, and ambient sounds jumbled together in perfect harmony. Previous bookings have included Mor Elian, Marshall Vincent, Nas Tea, and Eddington Again, to name only a few. The zine is dedicated to documenting the scene through interviews, illustrations, quizzes and lots of good humour.  You can grab a copy of Issue 1, The Care Issue, at Tennis bar in Neukölln.

Published October 01, 2021. Words by EB Team.