Mid-August heat on a buzzing river island that is loaded with larger than life art installations, stages hidden in the bushes, tree houses and a main stage tinted into the orange sunset, MS Dockville is known for nothing of this. Kidding! MS Dockville is just that, and more even! August 17 to 19 will see no less than 12 stages hosting a carefully selected line-up of international hitters like Nick Murphy or Bonobo, Everything Everything or Cigarettes After Sex. As well as local floaters like Olli Schulz, Erobique or Mis-Shapes.

Naturally, Team Poule is out to find the smaller names on the line-up, the ones retreated into the tree houses or shipping containers or hiding in the bushes. Established bookings include The Soft Moon and their lush waves, Børns and his glam party, or Baths swinging his magic wand.

One not to be overlooked will be Otzeki and their energetic, physics defying set, scheduled for Friday, 21h50 at the Butterland stage, hugged by leaves and green, and the sun dipping into the Elbe river. The group plays a great industrial feeling spin of electro pop, and just released their debut album in spring titled Binary Childhood. Find their single Foreign Love, attached below. A few last tickets for Dockville are still left at the box office, get behind that.

A heatwave of climate changing proportions is enveloping large parts of the Northern hemisphere in a melody of blue skies and steamy nights. Enter, Sunbather out of the hotbed that is Durham, North Carolina, and his lush piece Old Soul, out now via Bandcamp.

The track comes beautifully carried by soaked guitars, a healthy dose of reverb and electronic spiels, creating and a general haziness that perfectly matches this time in history. The track comes off his new album Melancholy Daze, out Aug. 17.

California’s hitmen The Caracals have been busy writing and recording and July 1st finally saw their debut EP make an entrance, and leave a mark. In The Dark is the opening track as well as the product’s full name and effortlessly combines jangly riffs and jaunty 60s optimism with a transformative Jules Winnfield type angle on life and times. A true beaut. The entire EP is well worth popping into your car or home stereo and turning it up a bit to soundtrack the warmer days of summer. Out now.

A smooth and sunny piece of pop music coming in by way of François, out of the musical hotbed that is Liverpool. Stay is his debut and nicely shows off a flawless sense for melody and build up, matched perfectly by his on-point vocals and delicate synthwork. Certainly one to look out for, and this single comes with a promise of more to come during the summer. Stay, naturally, is attached below at your convenience.

Photo credits go to the talented Balint Marjai.

In the spirit of #Pride weeks, months and lives really, Hamburg’s Vogelball has been a fixture in the event calendar leading up to MS Dockville festival every summer. Since 2011 Vogelball is being celebrated on the weekend of the local CSD parade activities, Saturday Aug. 4th, and invites music and art lovers alike to come out to Hamburg’s river island of Wilhelmsburg for an evening of performances and positive vibes only – preferably dressed in ornithological apparel, naturally a point of reference for Team Poule.

The illustrious line-up of 2018 evolves around no less than 8 stages and brings together household names and local heroes like Honey Dijon, Cakes Da Killa, Noga Erez, Kim Ann Foxman, RSS Disco, Curated by GIRLS, Nabihah Iqbal, Fidelity Kastrow, PHCK, Gaff E, Heartbeast, Tilman Tausendfreund, Simon Strotmann, Gilberto and KVIS. With additional performances by Rocking and MF Earthband. Quite the stinger. Tickets for Vogelball run at a face value of 27 euros, and they are selling fast.

Find attached below one of KVIS’ avid Isle of Wax mixes, this one in collaboration with Stones Throw’s Sofie for SOS Radio on NTS. A lush two hour companion to the steaming days of the year. Hit play and doze off.

Photo credits go to the one and only Axel Füllgraf.