two yahs! and two blahs: Danish Invasion at Rosi's Berlin

Danish Invasion

Fresh from the Danish showcase at Rosi's, to kick off the five days of no sleep and ringing eardrums that is Berlin Music Week.  Rosi's is a sweet club a short walk from Warschauer Strasse, down a bit on Revaler Str.  The setting is sort of Berlinesque standard crap-washed-up-from-a-shipwreck mixed with what a crackhouse puts out for a yard sale, meaning an outdoor area with strand lights, couches, ping pong and sand.  The mish mash of outdoor furniture includes a thoroughly soaked swinging chair. Note: There was a guy wearing a shirt that said "No one reads your fucking blog" which maybe was a sign.
The lineup was Boho Dancer, Schultz and Forever, Waldo and Marsha and Tako Lako. I will cover the blahs in another post, but first let's drink to the amazing stuff coming out of Denmark. So be warned if you visit a Danish showcase, be prepared to stand behind some tall people and some high cheekbones.  How is such a small, homogenous country putting out so many quality bands?  Maybe there is some hidden socialist subsidies encouraging young music.  Spoke a bit with Morten, one of the (many) guitarists of Waldo and Marsha, and the consensus is that it's the English language stuff coming out of Denmark that is attracting attention (the panting over Iceage last year probably chummed the waters, leading all to assume the next and best is there.)

 Schultz and Forever

Five guys who look barely old enough to buy cigarettes, who proceeded to invite the whole club to join them for beers at their hostel.  Their EP is available for free download.  The lead vocals voice (Jonathan Schultz) is one of the more unique voices to be heard on the scene in days, sort of a mix of early T. Rex and Devendra Banhart in his amped up mode, with raspy addition all his own. Once again when he would address the crowd there is that weird discrepancy between a person's singing voice sounding completely different than his/her spoken voice.  The songwriting is solid, impressive when a musician manages well-wrought songs in his/her second language, and the rest of the band backs him up.  This just proves once and forever that yours truly will be a sucker for lush and sweeping all-male harmonies.

Waldo and Marsha

Okay so if Schultz and Forever looked young these guys looks embryonic.  An eight member band with four guitars (my notes: "4 guitars?!?")  they came on and laid down some solid pop with good rocking distorted edge (one guitarist's Beatles Help! album guitar strap belies their obvious influences). Favorite part of the set was a prolonged feedback and effects pedal rout that would do any noise fan proud.  Long live sets that exceed expectations.

two guitars good, four guitars better