Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra is made up of 18 musicians from a wide variety of musical backgrounds, who all share a dedication to experimentation. They typically meet to rehearse and improvise together about once every month.

We caught up with some members of the orchestra as they prepare for the first concert in their new three part series, “Neue Orchesterformen I/III.”

Produced by Sylvia Cunningham

Berlin is a vibrant place, full of diverse sights and sounds, and the city’s many buskers are a part of the scene. In a new series, we’re talking with Berlin street musicians in order to find out more about who they are and what drives them to share their music throughout the city.

This week, we meet Santur player Hakan Tuğrul at Fehrbelliner Platz to listen to some traditional Persian music as well as his original compositions.

Produced by Nikki Motson

Berghain resident DJ Pete (aka Substance) stopped by our studio to talk about his new EP “Rise And Shine.” It’s his first solo release since 1998. DJ Pete is a fixture in Kreuzberg, the place where he grew up. He worked in the record store Hard Wax, and it’s where he started to DJ.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll 

Berlin-based Swedish musician Fredrik Kinbom has lived abroad for the past 20 years. It was in U.K. where a chance encounter led him to buy his first lap steel guitar, with which he started carving his signature sound.

We caught up with Kinbom to talk about learning politeness from the British, his interest in history, and spreading Scandinavian melancholy through his latest solo album, “Songs for Lap Steel & Harmonium.”

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll 

Kareth Schaffer is a choreographer and performer who has become a regular at Tanztage, Berlin’s contemporary dance festival, showcasing up and coming talents.

We caught up with her ahead of “Dancing Against the Far Right,” a choreographed conversation where, together with six guest speakers, Schaffer will lead a discussion with a Berlin audience around the values that dance institutions uphold.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll

Julia Holter’s music is exploratory and playful. “Aviary” is her fifth studio album and takes listeners on an unpredictable 90-minute journey, influenced in part by film scores and medieval music.

We caught up with Holter during her 2018 European tour to find out more about her recording process and how her formal musical education helped her to grow in unconventional ways.

Produced by Sylvia Cunningham

Sopranist Julie Wyma is the chairwoman of the Berliner Opernverein. Together with Berlin-based artists of different nationalities, backgrounds, and sexual orientations, Wyma has produced a staged version of the AIDS Quilt Songbook: Berlin Edition.

The project was first started in the United States by baritone William Parker, who, according to Wyma, was driven by the belief that “the artistic community could do more to recognize the epidemic and support those living with it.” The Berlin edition includes two new commissioned pieces in German, because, according to Wyma: “Each place has its own unique own story to tell…and its own way of grieving.”

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll

Fin Greenall, better known as Fink, knows a few things about music. His musical career started in the club culture of the 1990s, when he was signed to Ninja Tune. In the 2000s he got into blues and folk songwriting and Fink became a band. He has lived in Berlin since 2014.

We caught up with the musician, originally from Cornwall, to find out about his musical shifts, his love of the blues, and the journey that has led to his current output. Greenall says: “I don’t like music which is just product…intensity is the key to art. So anything that’s intense, I get.”

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll

Gavin Turek has been dancing, singing and writing songs for about as long as she can remember. The 31-year-old Los Angeleno came by KCRW Berlin’s studios while she was in town working with local producers, and we talked about her musical upbringing and how she finds her confidence on stage.

Turek’s live shows burst with energy, unsurprising for a performer who originally trained as a dancer. “I find being on stage incredibly empowering and freeing even though it’s very vulnerable at the same time,” says Turek.

Produced by Sylvia Cunningham

Nov. 9, 1989 was a historical turning point. This week, we look back and forward, bringing you different perspectives on the 29th anniversary of the fall of the Wall.

Mark Reeder describes his life like a ball in a pinball machine: “I kind of met one person and then it ricocheted onto another, and that’s how I kind of made my career.”

Most of that career was made in Berlin, where he says West Berlin was the “crazy, mad place where I lived” and East Berlin was the “crazy, mad place that I visited.” He joins us to talk about his memories of a divided city, the documentary “B-Movie,” the label he founded, and his latest projects.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll