Smittness (be)

Smittness is the solo project of Juliane Schmitt, a multidisciplinary artist working with sound, performance, and live electronics.
Influenced by post-punk, dream pop, and musique concrète, her music forms fragile structures that slowly open up and dissolve, echoing the feeling of a half-remembered dream.
Using minimal synthesizers, programmed rhythms, voice, loops, and an electronically transformed portative organ, smittness moves between subtle euphoria and soft tension. Her live performances unfold slowly, allowing space for closeness, attention, and small, unexpected moments.

Mary Ocher (de)

Following dates in North America, most of Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Berlin's Mary Ocher returns with a marvellous piano album - "Weimar", her most intimate record yet. "Weimar" draws on early 20th-century minimalism, chamber pop, and modern classical influences, while remaining unmistakably Ocher - thoughtful, and grounded in emotional depth. The title "Weimar" alludes to the current era, echoing the fall of the Weimar Republic a century ago and the shadow of fascism that rose in its wake.

Born in Moscow to Jewish-Ukrainian parents and raised in Tel Aviv during political and religious turmoil, she learned from a very young age that questioning authority was a means of survival-and that it came at a hefty price. At 20, after refusing the draft, she left for Berlin, where she became a central underground figure, known for her uncompromising politics and critical writing on nationalism and war, influenced by her upbringing. 
After extensive international touring, with a catalog celebrated by The Quietus, The Wire, Fader, Paste, Libération, and a recent German Record Critics’ Award (Best Electronic/Experimental). Ocher stands at a pivotal moment. As nationalism, censorship, and cultural fragmentation rise the world over, her examinations of identity, fear, and belonging feel absolutely essential.  Her recent releases include collaborations with the likes of Mogwai, King Khan, Die Tödliche Doris, Felix Kubin, and Julia Kent, and homages to Delia Derbyshire and Dorothy Ashby / Omar Khayyam.