Summer-flavoured, genre-varied two weeks ahead: three very different, equally interesting festivals, plus countless gigs and parties blasting great music for chilling and/or dancing.

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TUESDAY 09.06

20.00 Dinner @ Monarch Berlin

WHY: Sometimes Dinner sounds like a long-lost mixtape from the local Dusseldorf pop scene in the early 1980s. Other times he sounds something like the soundtrack to David Lynch directing Miami Vice, or Genesis P-Orridge embracing Italian pop-infused Danish darkwave, or like a male descendant of Nico singing Eno-esque pop songs on discarded Julian Cope tracks. Does Dinner see himself as a pop star from a parallel universe, as one blog recently suggested he might be? "I'm more like the village idiot singing stadium rock hymns", he says.

Monarch Berlin / Skalitzer Str. 134 - 1st floor, 10999 Berlin, U Kottbusser Tor / more info

THURSDAY 11.06

20.00 Polymorphism: Holly Herndon @ Berghain

WHY: To present her exciting new album ‘Platform’, CTM Festival and transmediale have asked Holly Herndon to invite a range of artists who either contributed to the album or, in a likemined way, explore themes of surveillance states, neo-feudalism and big data, actively critiquing and searching for ways to circumvent systemic inequality and to anticipate new ways to live in a post-post-capitalist world. Blending the worlds of contemporary and electronic club music, Holly Herndon appears in support of her upcoming second full length album.

Berghain / Am Wriezener Bahnhof 11, 10243 Berlin, S+U Warschauer Str. / more info

FRIDAY 12.06

13.00 Das Grosse O Tannenbaum Waldfest 2015 @ Fort Gorgast

WHY: Tannenbaum does it again: 48 hours of camping in the wild with lots of music, frogs, birds, freaks, tannen- and other trees and a lot more, all in and/ or around an amazing fortress near the Polish border. Enjoy vegan and non vegan foods, beers and drinks, a geile line up of live music on two outdoor stages, continuous DJ sets, dancing all night and music all day.

Fort Gorgast / Fort Gorgast Haus 3, 15328 Gorgast, Brandenburg / ongoing until 14.06 / more info

SATURDAY 13.06

14.00 Torstraßen Festival

WHY: This year, Torstraßen Festival occupies Mitte for the 5th time. In cooperation with venues, cafés, shops, and bars in the neighborhood, it presents a musical showcase with a current leftfield and cross-genre soundtrack. The festival strives to be a forum for contemporary development within Berlin’s music scene. This year’s edition features Buke and Gase, Golden Diskó Ship, Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids, Pollyester, Warm Graves, Young Fathers, and many more. As a warm-up for the weekend, Kino Babylon hosts premiere of  "A City Is An Island" - a documentary about music in Montreal, on Thursday 11.06 (more info).  

Torstraßen Festival / various locations / more info

18.30 Denovali Festival @ Radialsystem V

WHY: Denovali returns to the city for the 3rd time; this year for two days in June. Sticking to the concept of the festivals in London and Essen, Denovali have invited artists from their label: Hidden Orchestra, Ricardo Donoso, Poppy Ackroyd, Floex, Ah! Kosmos and Witxes. Non-label artists will round-off each festival day with a set by Moritz von Oswald & Nils Petter Molvaer on Saturday and Forest Swords on Sunday. The festival offers a diverse range of music styles from darker experimental sounds, ambient, electronica to indie, jazz or piano and string driven modern compositions.

Radialsystem V / Holzmarktstraße 33, 10243 Berlin, S Ostbahnhof / more info

WEDNESDAY 17.06

20.00 Mdou Moctar & Band @ Monarch Berlin

WHY: In the somewhat crowded scene of Tuareg guitarists, Mdou stands apart from his peers. One of the few original singer/songwriters willing to experiment and push the boundaries of the genre, his unconventional styles have won him accolades both in Niger and abroad. In Berlin, his shows tend to be sold out; take it as a guarantee for a great night and get your ticket on time.

Monarch Berlin / Skalitzer Str. 134 - 1st floor, 10999 Berlin, U Kottbusser Tor / more info

THURSDAY 18.06

20.00 Mansions and Millions presents: Night Musik, Bataille Solaire, Pascale Project & DJ Angebot @ Loophole

WHY: As a composer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Shub Roy aka Night Musik has made contributions to the live line-ups and critically acclaimed albums by Dirty Beaches and Toronto psychedelic collective Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, among others. The cinematic atmospheres of his album "Transit" distill shades of techno, industrial, ambient, while never falling back on the conventions of just one. Bataille Solaire is the solo project of Montreal based multi-instrumentalist and composer Asaël Robitaille, and Pascale Project the latest outcome of the Montréal solo artist Pascale Mercier aka Mathematique.

Loophole Berlin / Boddinstrasse 60, 12053 Berlin, U Rathaus Neukölln / more info

FRIDAY 19.06

21.00 Lydia Lunch + Carsick Cars @ Kantine am Berghain

WHY: No Wave iconoclast and Noise-queen Lydia Lunch, in conspiracy with Weasel Walter (Flying Luttenbachers), Tim Dahl (Child Abuse) and Bob Bert (Sonic Youth/Pussy Galore) is about to unleash "Urge to Kill" - the follow up to last year's live recording by this deadly combo called Retrovirus. One of the most fascinating and idiosyncratic artists of the New York avant-garde scene of the 70s, who criticized conventions, demanded equal rights, and became a pioneer of Riot Grrrl movement, is still as nonconformist, provocative, and loud.

Kantine am Berghain / Am Wriezener Bahnhof, 10243 Berlin, S+U Warschauer Str. / more info

23.59 Raster-Noton & Giegling x Kann @ Berghain/Panorama Bar

WHY: Raster-Noton, the label of Carsten Nicolai and Olaf Bender, explores in a unique way the boundaries between music and non-music, art and dancefloor, science and experiment. At their annual label night at Berghain, you will have the chance to see live shows by Diamond Version, the project of the two label owners; Dasha Rush, who will present her new album "Sleep Step"; German premiere for Ueno Masaaki, the Japanese composer who has his first release on Raster-Noton; and a few other label favorites: Robert Lippok, Frank Bretschneider, Kyoka, and Grischa Lichtenberger. Concurrently, Panorama Bar will host artists from the labels Giegling and Kann.

Berghain / Am Wriezener Bahnhof, 10243 Berlin, S+U Warschauer Str. / more info