This year, the Berlin-based Pop-Kultur Festival celebrates its 11th edition. Next to carefully curated concerts and commissioned works, the event is steeped in conversations around pop and culture, expanding its thematic offerings with talks and listening event. Here is what OFFKEY is looking forward to at Pop-Kultur 2025.
Jazz musician and composer Haggai Cohen-Milo and rapper and poet Stimulus might come from different musical worlds, but together they’ve built something entirely original. In "Gravitations", they channel Mahler, Verdi, and Debussy into a genre-defying project about death, devotion, and reinvention. Anna Grubauer met the duo to talk about how it all came together.
The New Delhi-based rapper and producer Kinari recently released her new project "BADDUA". Ilo Toerkell spoke to the artist about the diverse range of influences she draws from, including traditional Indian and Tamil sounds, hip-hop and Ballroom beats, her relationship to faith, and how the district Dilli 17 of her hometown has shaped her creative output.
With a sound that slips between jazz, club and experimental, Glasgow outfit corto.alto is hard to pin down — and all the more exciting for it. Headed by trombonist and producer Liam Shortall, the group brings raw energy and genre fluidity to the stage. Ahead of their show at XJAZZ!, Anna Grubauer spoke to him about live shows, creative freedom, and the friendships that keep it all moving.
Salami Rose Joe Louis, aka Lindsay Olsen, is a genre traveler, multi-instrumentalist producer, and a signee to Flying Lotus's Brainfeeder label. With a background in science, her work often explores themes like environmental crisis, emotional alienation, and cosmic consciousness. OFFKEY author Alice Vyvyan-Jones spoke to the artist about discussing her new album "Lorings".
After a public outcry and a petition signed by many influential people from the radio scene and beyond, RBB backtracked on their plans of taking COSMO completely off the airwaves. However, a new proposal could restrict the multilingual radio station in its broadcasting region of Berlin and Brandenburg. OFFKEY editor Felicia Ete Aghaye shares their take on the on-going developments.
Berlin-based singer-songwriter Luke Noa steps into the spotlight with "Début", his first full-length album. Honest, intimate, and effortlessly melodic, the eight-track release marks a defining moment in his young career. OFFKEY's editor Felicia Ete Aghaye took a closer listen to the record that quietly demands to be heard.
Hidaiyah "Yaya" Bey is a musician from Queens, New York, whose sound fuses elements of R&B, hip-hop, jazz, and dance into something entirely her own. OFFKEY author Alice Vyvyan-Jones had the honour of sitting down with Hidaiyah ahead of her debut Berlin show at Privatklub to speak about her upcoming album "do it afraid".
