Who | The Oscillation

When | Tuesday, March 22

Where | Bassy, Berlin

For fans of: Place to Bury Strangers, NEU!

UK outfit The Oscillation began in 2006 merely as an outlet for frontman Demian Castellanos’s harder rock musings. Now 10 years down the road and on the heels of releasing their fourth studio LP, the London-based band has truly found its sound. Monographic is a rather aptly-named ode to 70s-era experimental rock: droning melodies steeped in gritty reverb and feedback with flourishes of spacey synthesizer harken back to the heyday of krautrock, while the brooding vocals and bass lines hint at early post-punk. The general mood of the album is almost that of a warped, post-apocalyptic world, with careening guitars and waves of noise that give the feeling of teetering on the brink of near-chaos. The unsettled nature of The Oscillation‘s music hits a sweet spot, though, as it pulls you in and takes you on a surreal sonic journey.

Who | Låpsley

When | Tuesday, March 22

Where | Postbahnhof, Berlin

For fans of: Adele, Jamie xx

Singer-songwriter Holly Lapsley Fletcher—known simply as Låpsley—is a relatively fresh face in the music world, but she’s already making big waves, landing herself on tons of “ones to watch” lists and finding fans in superstars like Adele and Sam Smith. The 19 year-old Brit has a smooth, soulful timbre with the sharp production chops to match (lest you think of her a purely a nice voice). Released just this month, Låpsley‘s debut album, Long Way Home, features electronic orchestrations that are at times sparse, placing the focus on her achingly personal texts, and at other times dense and multi-textured. Although the overall style on this album is somewhat subdued, she throws in little disco elements here and there for a retro dance vibe. Basically, she’s like the illegitimate child of James Blake and Amy Winehouse in an alternate universe somewhere, and it’s as satisfyingly good as it sounds.