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Do you know about the Bechdel test? Let me bring you up to speed then. The Bechdel test asks whether a movie, or any work of fiction really, features at least two women talking to each other about something other than a man. Surprisingly, just about half of all films pass the Bechdel test, according to wikipedia, user-edited databases and the industry press. The test serves as an indicator for the active presence of women in films and other fiction calling attention to gender inequality.

So, how about the music business then. Enter, We Make Waves. A three day music festival and conference in Berlin next week November 9–11 for women, trans, and non-binary people determined to bring disruption to the music industry, and possibly beyond. The conference program shows a whole range of TED-like panels and talks, from ‘Parenthood and Music’ and ‘Gender in Journalism’ to ‘Feminist perspectives on music criticism’.

On the musical ticket then are household names like Julianna Barwick, JD Samson, The Chicks, Meredith Graves, Vaginal Davis and many more. Attached below is a very personal and still uplifting poppy track by Oakland’s Ah-Mer-Ah-Su entitled Klonopin, fully carried by the lush melody and her smooth vocals. The piece is off her self-released EP Rebecca that came out earlier this year. She plays ACUD on Friday.

We Make Waves finds its shoreline on and around East Invalidenstraße, at St. Elisabeth church, Elisabeth villa and ACUD. Day tickets run at a reasonable 20 euro face value with the 3-day festival and conference bundle competitively priced at 40 euros. Team Poule says, surely a lot of bang for your buck.

Mark this one in your notebooks, Sampa The Great is a very exciting new name out of Melbourne. Her music is her poetry, wrapped in a warm melange of jazzy saxophones, on-point beats and her driving voice both singing and rapping. She already has a great mixtape under her name from 2015 and this month will see the release of her very personal new mixtape Birds And The BEE9 via the infamous Big Dada, Nov 10th.

Her latest single Bye River is attached below and the good news don’t end there. Team Sampa is on tour in relevant parts of Europe this month, playing Cologne’s Yuca this Friday, Nov. 3rd, Hamburg’s Häkken on Saturday 4th, and then Berlin’s Cassiopeia on Sunday 5th. Next up are stops in Paris on Monday Nov 6th, London Nov 8th, find them all nicely listed here. Team Poule says, right on the spot.

Photo credits above go to Priit Siimon.

A period of unseasonably warm days, a period of unseasonably hot new music: enter Cliffhanger, a playlist to give you that tickle of a hot summer night, once more. The playlist is part of Team Poule’s larger series frivolously entitled Bright Clouds. Each playlist is a selection of new songs, made available on Soundcloud and Spotify, for those interested. Here now, goes a new one for the late October days of the year.

#1 Delsbo Beach Club – All The Way Home. Debut single by the curly quartet, a dreamy tune with a great warm lo fi feel to it. Out now on the charming Rama Lama, and premiered on CLASH. Stockholm, Sweden.

#2 BRAUN – Gardens. Healthy new single and vintage 80s summer day vibe that is hard to find elsewhere. Off his debut album that is out now on Diving Bell. Portland, Oregon.

#3 Honeymilk – Havslåten. Lovely light guitar pop jam that lifts you right up and leaves you with a kiss. Off their second album to be released in January 2018 on Birds Records. Stockholm, Sweden.

#4 Pastel Coast – Araignée. Brilliantly fuzzy indie pop jam from this duo, no wonder they recently played with Beach Fossils. This piece comes off their EP Vague Noire, out now. Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.

#5 Stina Stjern – New Explorers. Somewhat dark pop song with a driving guitar and hypnotizing vocals on top, beaut. Her debut album is set for release in November on Sellout. Oslo, Norway.

#6 JW Ridley – Jaguar Spring. Marvelous driver song apparently produced in his bedroom. Stiff guitars, and healthy dose of reverb. Off his debut EP that is out now on Some Kinda Love / PIAS. London, UK.

#7 Vilde – Just Visiting. Another jam of his album project Study/Dance which saw him releasing an all new track every month. The hence 12-track album came out last month, check it out, great dreamy electronic pop songs. Stockholm, Sweden.

#8 Safetalk – Gold of the Highest. Dreamy somewhat psychedelic soft pop jam carried by radiant synth and the feel of a 1980s outer space movie, out now on their own label. Paris, France.

#9 Miles Dismond – All to Myself. Super smooth jazzy piece of music, a track of his debut EP to be out soon. Berkeley, California.

#10 Neon June & Verday La Negrita – Spaceships. Star of the playlist this one, an unbelievable funky vibe powered by an overly infectious saxophone and Verday’s smooth vocals in the driver seats, steaming hot and pure groove. Baltimore, Maryland & Los Angeles, California.

#11 Pleasure Systems – Crumbs. Somewhat sad but ultimately uplifting blend of indie pop, some folk and healthy handful of synths. Track comes off his debut album that is out now on Antiquated Future. Olympia, Washington.

And that’s it then, a lovely group of people making music, connected with each other on this shining playlist. Find the list on Soundcloud and Spotify. Team Poule says, …aaaand scene.

Australian song birds Vallis Alps dropped a new Fable EP early this summer and are taking their crooning talents to Europe this month for an extended line of shows, taking them to Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and finally Hamburg. You are in luck – again – because we got out gluey feathers on a pair of tickets for the occasion at Hamburg’s Molotow. All you need to do is paste a word of wisdom in the comment section below and keep your fingers firmly crossed. The lucky winner of 1×2 tickets will be picked at random on Sunday, Oct. 29th, 10pm CET sharp. Team Poule says, good luck with that.

The charming and legendary Summer Heart dropped a new album 101 last month and with it the banging single Follow. The new video then picks up the songs story of expectations and following your dreams, wrapped in warm riffs and balearic beats. It also neatly serves as a reminder that team Summer Heart is taking the album to the US this week, with shows scheduled for New York on Wednesday 18th, and Los Angeles on Monday 23rd. Team Poule says, get behind that.

Berlin-based duo Bonnie Li returns with a brand new video for their handily titled single We Should Go To Sleep As The Birds Are Singing that came out earlier this year, a hypnotic twist of dark industrial electronic music. The single is out now on Sweden’s great Icons Creating Evil Art, with Bonnie Li currently finalizing the work on Plane-Crash, their 5-track EP, which will be out in early November with a debut album penciled for 2018.

The story of the track itself dates back to their days in Paris, and long walks back home after nights in the studio, as Bonnie puts it: “I walked back home and I was dazed by the tranquility of the morning, and birds started singing. It is a love song.”

The new visuals then, tell the story of parasitizing ghosts of the past, the ghost of “trying to make things right for everyone all the time. When I was composing this song, it became clear to me that I had to stop staying attached to all those things that were in the end out of my reach, and poisoning my life.”, says Bonnie, and “I think that madness can be something beautiful in which you can find inner peace.” There you have it, a mad track really, and a Poule d’Or exclusive. Team Poule says, smooth.

Team photo above by Kiril Bikov.