In the last edition in 2019, we saw the likes of a reunited Stereolab performing alongside Michael Rother (NEU!), Deerhunter, Black Lips, A Place to Bury Strangers and the brilliant Mdou Moctar from Niger as well as home grown Neue Deutsche Wellle chanteuse Sofia Portanet. Continuing with the festival's dedication to spotlighting German contribution to experimental music, Krautrock legends Faust will be performing their iconic 1973 Album Faust IV in its entirety. Beak>, The KVB, and local heroes Bleib Modern, Andreya Casablanca (Gurr) and THALA round out the initial lineup. "Over the past couple years, there’s been a small but impeccably-curated festival bubbling up in Berlin called Synästhesie. The origins of the event center on 8MM, a beloved, dive-y rock bar that has provided a haven for Berlin’s local scene as well as a gathering place for musicians passing through town — Synästhesie is booked and presented by the people behind the bar. For two days, the fest takes over a venue and offers a lineup that skews heavily towards psychedelic music in many of its permutations, from zone-out garage rock to trippier, synthier traditions." - Stereogum
History:
Technically, Synästhesie began in 2015. Driven by the key success factor of his 8MM Bar, namely music, Alex ‘Olli’ Remzi devoted a portion of all future profits toward maintaining a live music tradition in his adopted home of Berlin. In 2006, Remzi organized the first 8MM Musik label night at the Bassy Cowboy Club next door to 8MM Bar. Around 300 guests gathered to watch the Icelandic Cramps and Jesus and Mary Chain inspired Singapore Sling perform with Powers, the new band formed by former Stereolab drummer and 8MM stalwart Joe Dilworth. Over the next 10 years, Remzi would facilitate the most reliably raucous yet enlightening string of non-mainstream concerts and subsequent sick days, since in order to keep overhead low, the concerts always occurred on Wednesday nights and would spill back over into the 8MM Bar until most people should have been having breakfast. These shows were driven by the ambition that each one should be better than the one before, and for all intents and purposes, that goal was met, culminating in a 3 week stretch in 2015 with a total of 9 bands including The Warlocks, Crocodiles, and The Lumarians, which Anton Newcombe would label Synästhesie. The name stuck and in 2016 Remzi encountered Michael Rother (NEU!) at Alexanderplatz and invited him to play at the hauntingly gorgeous bombed out ex-brewery known as UFO Studios, the location of Synästhesie II in 2016. With not much of a plan, nor walkie-talkies for that matter, Remzi and a committed group of music lover friends pulled off the festival, making it look easy while behind the scenes holding it together by threads.
2017 saw the festival reached a new milestone, that of 8MM being represented in the Volksbühne. After 15 years of being the outsider venue in Berlin, the powers that be had finally noticed the relevance of 8MM’s contribution to the Berlin music scene. In 2017, Arne Buss joined Synästhesie Festival and as head of production ensured that the quality of the artistic content was finally paired with a world class production team.
2018 saw the festival relocate to it current home, the Kulturbrauerei, as Remzi cajoled Jason Spaceman into Spiritualized’s first performance in Berlin in 15 years. Synästhesie Festival maintained the tradition of always building on what came just before. In 2019, the festival achieved the epitome of its vision by bringing together Michael Rother (NEU!), Stereolab and Deerhunter together on one stage. 3 generations of music inspired by a massively overlooked-at-home music phenomenon in the late 60’s and early 70’s Germany known as Krautrock. During the dark pandemic winter of 2020, the crew of Synästhesie managed string together 5 nights of live music, that offered a beacon of light and a chance to work for stage crews and bands. In June 2021, Synästhesie announced its return November with yet another impeccably curated lineup featuring krautrock legends Faust, Beak>, The KVB, Anika, Automatic and much more. In 2021, Remzi established Synästhesie Festival as a not-for-profit gGmbH, to support and encourage this unique aspect of German musical heritage.
