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.
The rapper Enana and DJ/producer mx.pinky merged their creative energy to create the EP "Becoming." It is the debut release on exude records - a label and event series by and for trans artists. Ilo Toerkell met Enana and mx.pinky to chat about their collaboration, allowing joy regardless of the repressive climate that trans and other marginalized people face, and why we need more T4T spaces.
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.
Hungarian-born, Berlin-based producer and musician Àbáse is part of a new wave redefining the city’s live music scene blending Afrobeat, Brazilian rhythms, and electronic textures into something entirely his own. Anna Grubauer caught up with him ahead of his XJAZZ! performance to talk collaboration, evolution, and the ever-shifting notion of jazz.
D.$AHIN is a Berlin-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose music reflects a life lived between cultures. Ahead of her performance at XJAZZ! Festival, OFFKEY author Alice Vyvyan-Jones sat down with her to talk about what it means to create from a place of uprootedness.
OFFKEY reports back from the heart of Kreuzberg, where jazz wasn’t just played—it was lived, stretched, bent, and reimagined at XJAZZ! 2025. Over five days, the festival transformed Berlin into a humming epicenter of improvisation, resistance, and radical joy. From breakout debuts to soul-igniting jam sessions, we witnessed a city vibrating in rhythm with a global community of artists and listeners.
With her upcoming debut solo EP "BiiLINGUAL" German-Iranian singer MADANii turns inward to unpack what it means to reclaim the parts of herself she once tried to hide. It is sung in Farsi and English, emotionally layered, and unapologetically honest. We spoke to the artist about the fire that fuels her, the burden of being misread, and why joy and community are essential to her sound.
The Iranian singer Faravaz will release her debut, "Azadi" (meaning "Freedom" in Farsi), on May 11th. The record recounts the story of her life in exile in Germany because the Iranian government sentenced her to one year in prison for the act of singing as a woman. Choosing to not return to her homeland, Faravaz fights for women’s rights from abroad. Her music is driven by the yearning and fight for liberation from patriarchal oppression.
