Kein Morgen (No Tomorrow) brings together photographs of parties, raves and afterhour clubs of the early 1990s. The faces captured by photographer Werner Amann reflect the ecstasy of a moment of departure, a glimmer of autonomy and freedom. The pictures were taken in Berlin, Frankfurt, Dortmund, New York, Zurich, Paris and Riccione, in clubs such as Omen, Tresor, E-Werk, Limelight, Tunnel and Sound Factory as well as at raves such as Mayday and the Berlin Love Parade. Short texts by Leif Randt look back on this time from today's perspective, a quarter of a century later. What remains is the feeling of a historic moment of understanding and solidarity.⁠ Buy

This book brings together frank and sincere conversations about art and music from the first five years of the ongoing radio show Rough Version on the iconic online station NTS Radio.⁠ ⁠ Conceived and hosted by author and curator Francesca Gavin, the monthly show has captured the musical output and sonic inspirations of some of the biggest and most interesting emerging names in contemporary art. The music opens the door to each international artist's practice, providing insights into who they are, what motivates them and what they like to listen to.⁠ Buy

What makes a good listener? Is it a skill that can be easily learned, or rather a personality trait or talent? And why do some people seem to be so much better at it than others? Uneasy Listening, written by a psychoanalyst and a violin maker, is a dialogue between two very different kinds of professional listeners: one works with speech, the other with musical instruments. Anouchka Grose and Robert Brewer Young, complete strangers at first, embark on an engaging, entertaining and intricate meditation on communication that makes wide-ranging references to psychoanalytic theory, philosophy, contemporary politics and culture. As they discuss the differences, similarities and resonances between their practices, they encounter some of the illuminating difficulties of dialogue itself. Buy

Acid House As It Happened - a brilliant title for what is already the definitive unofficial visual history of 1988. Dave Swindells photographed Acid nights in ‘88 in different clubs but also in car parks and bus depots. Dave documented and wrote about it all back then as the nightlife editor of Time Out, and is now re-visiting and re-telling the history of Acid House. As it happened. In his own words. And of course his own photographs. ⁠ Buy

In this month’s instalment of our Surprise Subscription, we are super excited to present the new issue of one of our all-time favourites - the fantastic Record Culture Magazine! Karl Henkell, editor-in-chief of Record, thought of something special for us: a curated playlist to go along with this issue. Take a listen while you read our review! Record, published twice a year, takes a deceptively simple format - long-form interviews accompanied by photos - and elevates it by the quality and integrity of its contributors. The magazine’s mission is to shine a light on the people intrinsic to niche music communities around the world, and it delivers every time. More

Once the cutting-edge technology of their time - video, floppy disk, CD and Super8 film are now virtually useless. Often, we even still have collections of these media somewhere in the basement, but we have no way to play them anymore - they have become obsolete.⁠ But there are some enthusiasts and artists who still appreciate these audio and visual carriers - mainly because of their specific aesthetics, which take you back to their era like a time capsule. And yes, there is often nostalgia involved, or a certain cultural pessimistic reflex that claims that "everything was better in the old days," but the love of obsolete media is also rebellious in nature. When recorders and cable outlets are scarce, it takes a certain amount of stubbornness to keep the technology alive.⁠ ⁠ ⁠H.o.Me. - Home for Obsolete Media introduces different analog media in a technological and culture historical context and demonstrates the potential inherent in working analog in the digital age.⁠ ⁠ Buy

2020 - the year we read about clubbing instead of actually going clubbing.⁠ Club cultures have a rich local history and are at the same time much more differentiated geographically speaking than the story of the North Atlantic axis of Detroit–Chicago–Manchester–Berlin would have us believe. This book expands the focus. It looks at ten club capitals in Africa and Europe, reporting on different scenes from the big name to the supposedly peripheral. The local music stories, the scenes, the subcultures and their global networks are reconstructed in twenty-one essays and photo sequences. The tale they tell is one of clubs as laboratories of otherness, in which people can experiment with new ways of being and assert their claim to the city. Ten Cities is a nocturnal, sound-driven journey through ten social and urban stories from 1960 through to the present.⁠ Buy

The questioning of gender roles, the creation of completely new self-concepts, punk music, feminist performances, theatrical installations, a cabinet of intimacy, rebellion, New Wave - a "creative-feminist" collective of 35 professional and amateur artists challenged Swiss society and the cultural establishment in Zurich during the turbulent 1970s and 1980s. This book examines the powerful cultural revolt that did not want to be interpreted but experienced. Buy

You know what they say: if you remember the 90s, you weren’t there. Cult German novelist Rainald Goetz was, though, and he revisits the rave scene of the Nineties in dazzling style. Fragments of sensation, impressions, scattered moments build up to conjure the dizzying highs and the thumping lows of techno culture’s legendary era. Buy

"...there were moments during the weekend that felt magical, full of natural euphoria. Wanted to feel like that forever. Now we're outside Prague trying to find a camp site."⁠ Seana Gavin's SPIRALLED - a strong contender for coolest book of the summer - is full of moments like this, where the surreal and sublime sits side-by-side with the earthy and ordinary. A dreamy double-exposure of sunbathers on a golden beach sits opposite a shot of a concrete underpass littered with trash. Such is life. ⁠At the tail end of the 90s into the early 2000s, Seana Gavin was part of the rave scene, travelling around in a giant truck accompanied by a sound system and a vast, ever-changing community of like-minded nomadic party animals, defying the commercialisation of club culture in the UK by holding free and illegal parties across Europe. ⁠Using cheap disposable cameras at first, and later a real 35mm, Gavin documented the everyday reality of the rave scene. What emerges is a chronicle of a life made up entirely of endings and beginnings, or so it seems, as the convoy moves from place to place, from party to party. People appear and disappear. What is depicted is both beautiful and transient. ⁠As Seana says, "It was a product of its time, and something that will never be repeated in quite the same way again. And that's what makes it precious."⁠ Buy

Poetry Jazz is a popular art form from Addis Ababa, bringing together poetry, language and sound experiments. With the help of "wax and gold", a lyrical form of expression, the superficial, literally understood layer of "wax" conceals a often encrypted critique as a core of "gold". The book documents six poetry concerts, which took place alternately in Addis Ababa and Berlin and gives voice to the artists in Amharic, English and German. It offers a glance behind-the-scenes at a compelling and resistant practice that addresses questions of importance across continents and suggests subversive methods to challenge threats to the freedom of expression.⁠ Buy

Music fanatics watch out for the latest addition to our sound and rhythm section. Aside of our almost classics when it comes to vinyl, electronic music and brand new releases such as Record, Zweikommasieben, Borshch and Wire - we've got another, already loveable, vibrant magazine diving into experimental music and art. 20 Seconds "is interested in bold art, fearless music and the real people behind it" says Canadian Editor-in-Chief, Daniel Melfi, who is based in Berlin and the driving force behind 20 Seconds. Writing for Vice Resident Advisor and Electronic Beats as well as magazines like Borshch and Mixmag, it seemed about time to start his own journey. The very first issue of the bi-annual print-only magazine features interviews with all-around talent TUTU, Toronto's still hidden synthesizer star Matt Thibideau as well as choreographer Katja Heitmann who is currently revolutionizing contemporary dance culture in Maastricht's Marres House. Plus: This issue includes tips to what you better never, sometimes and always should listen to. It has been said elsewhere that this magazine "will last a while, individually a lifetime. But definitely more than 20 Seconds". Well, we bloody hope so! Buy