As we say a sorrowful “auf Wiedersehen” to Berlin’s most beloved radio station, we listen back to some of the memorable sets that shaped the city’s soundscape.
More than half a decade ago, Sarah Miles and Anastazja Filipovna founded what would later become the German capital‘s worst-kept secret, a source to turn to for new, avant-garde music shaping the city’s already notoriously eclectic and world-renowned sonic landscape. Berlin Community Radio was a culturally significant curation of aspiring and established artists, young and old, a platform for creatives of all niches, a collaborative project with many hearts and many souls. Unfortunately, 2018 would become a slope, a steep slide into reality, and after a heavy loss of funding, the duo and their team chose to call it quits. “Our team and ourselves put in years worth of unpaid work and had to rely on free labor from our volunteers, contributors, programmers/ developers, graphic designers, video makers, hoping things will get better with time, but we simply do not believe this is how things should be done”, a statement reads. “There is only so far you can go on enthusiasm and believing in what you do.”
Whether or not past sets, or the site at large, will be available post-mortem is yet to be seen, but broadcasting officially comes to a close on February 5th, 2019. They say all good things must come to an end, and here, sadly, this rather discouraging saying prevails. But instead of wailing in grief, we decided to do Berlin Community Radio’s undying legacy justice in a more positive way, by compiling a small list of our favourite mixes. R.I.P. BCR – Listen and enjoy!
ANCIENT METHODS The enigmatic duo behind Ancient Methods has become a staple for Berlin Community Radio, as they’ve shared with us more than a dozen sets of their new wave, 80s and witch house tinged sound over the course of two years.
BROWN RICE A weekly potpourri of poolside house, tropical afro beats and beach party get-downs, JM Moser’s “Brown Rice” show for BCR was a much needed escape into warmer thoughts, a holiday by way of headphones we Berliners appreciated greatly, particularly during our ridiculously cold winter months.
HERRENSAUNA Co-founded by INDIE-friend Nicolas Endlicher aka Herrenscheide, Herrensauna is a recurring, hardcore queer, radically techno-tinted coming-together of Berlin’s hedonist worshippers of night life. Their set for BCR a few years ago offers a grandiose glimpse into their world.
NO SEX CLUB BCR’S rubrik “No Sex Club” is a standout, having spawned contributions by close to twenty talented musicians. Its premiere episode is an ambient-heavy, multi-instrumental compilation of mixed emotions, a soothing listen from start to finish.
PHASE FATALE With this dark, twisted hybrid of international vintage heavy metal, embellished with distorted dins of techno, Berghain-label “Ostgut Ton”-signee Phase Fatale provided BCR with a somewhat unorthodox, but majorly pleasurable set of after-midnight moods.
For more of Berlin Community Radio’s painfully good catalogue, click here.
Head Image: Screenshot via Instagram.
