BERLIN CALLING

The YouTube generation of musicians do their composing on their laptops, go jetting round the world, and don’t need to write lyrics. Because the buyers can download tracks directly, the music-makers are independent of major labels and provide much appreciated services to the dance-crazy clubbers of the global scene.

The Berlin-based live-electronics DJ and composer Ickarus (or Martin Karow, as he’s known outside the clubs) is one such musician. Together with his girlfriend and manager Mathilde he tours the globe, and a major album release is imminent. But Martin’s serious drug habit is making it increasingly difficult for Mathilde to keep the situation under control. Finally, a drug-crazed gig leads to DJ Ickarus’ admission to a Berlin clinic, where he begins writing music again and makes friends with the other patients. Mathilde, meanwhile, has taken up with her old love Corinna. The release date for the Ickarus album seems ever more uncertain.

This authentic portrait of the Berlin electro-music scene, with DJ Paul Kalkbrenner in the lead, is not the first homage by this director to the city he lives in: BERLIN IS IN GERMANY, his debut feature, won a number of awards in Germany and abroad.