Berlin has been teeming with musicians and music nuts at unprecedented levels lately due to Berlin Music Week. The kickoff to all of the festivities was a small, more local festival called Torstraßen Festival. It takes place annually in a number of venues in Berlin’s central Mitte district. This year a number of great artists were featured, among them locals like Skiing and Will Samson, but my personal favorite was an English bloke by the name of Tom Adams. I was given a tip to go see him by a friend of mine who’d been totally wowed by his living room performance at the Michelberger Hotel here, and I guess I’m easy to convince.

To say his music is beautiful wouldn’t do it justice. The combination of his timid, pleading falsetto and the distant, atmospheric noise that it floats through draws you in to listen a bit more closely. It’s actually all fairly uncomplicated sounding, but it’s mesmerizing in its simplicity. If our innermost thoughts could be transcribed into music, I have a feeling it would sound much like this. I’m not always a fan of making comparisons, but if you held a gun to my head, I’d have to say that it’s probably like a cross between The Antlers and Phillip Glass.

You can listen to his most recent EP, In the constant noise, on his Bandcamp page. If you’re looking to hear a bit more, not too long ago Mr. Adams did the music for the English indie film, The Knife That Killed Me (if that gives you any indication to the nature of his music).

Stay tuned for my ramblings on First We Take Berlin and Berlin Festival!