sound + vision
on the radar
mads langer
singer-songwriter
words by C.A. Ferro
Nobody bats an eye when Mads Langer steps into the trendy café on the notorious Copenhagen street, Istedgade, once the haunt of hookers and the dregs of the city. Now it’s the hippest section of town and Langer lives right around the corner.
In music speak, Langer is an ‘alt-rock singer-songwriter’. Early last year, his debut album Attention Please (Copenhagen Records) reaped the praise of Danish critics, and sales, though modest, are satisfactory for a first-timer. After being discovered by an LA-based talent broker, Langer’s music is now getting air-play in some key markets, most notably on a red-hot LA station.
Centuries ago Langer might have walked medieval roads with a lute over his shoulder, singing about heartaches and heartbeats. He’s a simple troubadour who has no doubt about his vocation. As he says with total candour: “I was born to do this.”
At a young age, right after finishing school, you moved to Copenhagen to be at the heart of the Danish music scene. Were your parents okay with the move?
I wanted to move to New York when I was around 15 or 16, but my parents, who are both teachers, wanted me to finish school. A lot of bargaining went on. I finished secondary school and finally my father said to me: “You can move to Copenhagen if you promise me you’ll never do drugs.” So we shook on it and I’ve kept the promise.
You’re getting the usual unavoidable – and not altogether accurate – comparisons to big-name singer-songwriters, such as John Mayer and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. How do you feel about that?
I suppose I’m flattered by the comparisons, but it depends on who makes them. I guess it’s inevitable that you’ll be categorized. Maybe after a record or two, you get your own name.
On your recent trips to New York and LA, was it difficult to perform for record company execs with just your guitar?
I’m OK with that; I’ve played in the streets in a number of European cities. If I feel people like what I’m doing then I’m willing to work with them. It’s not the name of the prospective label, but their commitment. They have to feel emotion for what I do and go in for the long term. I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder.
What if the label wants to re-mix the album?
I’m open to ideas, but the music is still mine.
You’ve been playing electric gigs with your band on weekends and solo at schools on other days. Which do you prefer?
I like both. It’s the contrast. I like to create a contrast in a song or in a set. At schools it’s just me and my guitar creating a commitment from the audience, a kind of relaxation with me and my music. And afterwards I mingle.
Are you writing new material?
I’m better at doing lyrics now. It took 10 years to do the first album, and now I have a couple of albums’ worth of material. But I don’t know what’s going to happen with Attention Please, so I’m in a kind of holding pattern.
insider’s guide to the berlin film festival
words by Lucy Muss
When? 8-18 February
Why? Opening its doors to some 16,000 film professionals from over 80 countries, and showcasing around 350 films per year, the Berlinale has become one of the most important dates on the international film industry’s calendar. The excitement’s mounting – who’ll win the famous Golden Bear this year?
Where? The recently rebuilt Potsdamer Platz with its modern, sharply angled architecture becomes the heart of the festival in February. Cinéastes, filmmakers and industry insiders float in and out of darkened rooms for the duration of the festival. The Cinestar, Cinemax and Berlinale Palast, the main cinemas, are all a stone’s throw from one another.
What’s special this year? Magnum in Motion, a programme of documentaries, biographies and short films by and about the Magnum agency’s outstanding photographers on its 60th anniversary.
How can you get hold of tickets? To find out more about the line-up and book tickets, visit www.berlinale.de. Tickets can also be bought directly from the cinemas, or from the various stands around Postsdamer Platz – there is one in the Arkaden shopping mall.
Insider’s tips Kick back at the Sony Centre’s lower-floor café for a loungey arty atmosphere, where you can mix with a young crowd, watch DVDs, talk film and eat real food, as opposed to cinema snacks. The Grand Hyatt, Sony Centre, Palast and The Ritz act as meeting points, press centres and interview areas throughout the Berlinale, so they’re perfect star-spotting locations. Be sure not to snap celebrities’ photos though, you will get thrown out!
From the director’s chair:
Pernille Fischer Christensen
For up-and-coming filmmakers, the Berlinale provides a vital platform. Last year the Silver Bear jury grand prix was won by rising Danish director Pernille Fischer Christensen for her tragicomedy En Soap (shared with the Iranian film Offside). The film also landed the accolade Best First Feature.
How did it feel to win at the Berlinale?
It was quite a party… If I had wanted to I could have spent the whole year afterwards travelling and partying. But after the prize-giving show Charlotte Rampling, who’s a very spiritual lady, said to me: “Well, Pernille, this is a very proud moment for you. But what you should really do is just forget about it.” So I tried to do that.
How important was Berlin for your career?
I don’t know because I haven’t experienced not winning it. But I think it has been of major importance because in my film I didn’t look at the easy sides of life. The prize from Berlin shows people it’s good and it’s quality.
Are your films particularly Danish?
Yes. Lars von Trier and his visual director were like my personal film school. When I was growing up, the content of a film came out of its form. But then Dogme came along, and everyone went for the story and for the acting, not the form. My graduation work was very visual, it was much more like the way [Chinese director] Wong Kar Wei works. But I would never be able to do a [mainly visual] picture like that in Denmark because it’s not script based, and in Denmark we are very, very focused on the script at the moment.
What’s next?
I still feel like a beginner and there’s a lot to learn. But I am currently in rehearsal on my next film. It’s called Boys and Girl are Dancing, and stars Trine Dyrholm, the actress from En Soap. The film takes place in a very old dance school in Denmark and we’re shooting this spring.
CD review
Ghost is not Real – Husky Rescue
Any search party led by Husky Rescue is sure to have cashmere blankets and fruit smoothies in its first-aid bag. They even offer a trilogy of songs called Blueberry Tree. A Finnish, electro-pop Fleetwood Mac, the band is essentially a vehicle for Helsinki-based producer Marko Nyberg and his preferred vocalist, Reeta-Leena Korhola. Fans of The Concretes, Stina Nordenstam and Goldfrapp’s Felt Mountain album should be right at home here. Wherever you’re hibernating this winter, Husky Rescue will keep you snug.
Ghost is not Real – Catskills Records, released 29 January
Art preview
Richard Prince
Is contemporary art a joke? In the case of Richard Prince, the literal answer is “Yes”. Twenty years ago, the American began painting the words of Woody Allen-ish routines onto canvas: “I went to see a pyschiatrist. He said tell me everything. I did and now he’s doing my act.” Passing off Marlboro cowboys as heroic archetypes, Prince also questions our relationship with advertising. Appropriation is the name of this game, and there’s many a true word spoken in jest.
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo
20 January – 29 April, www.af-moma.no
Film review
The Prestige – directed by Christopher Nolan
David Blaine has given magic tricks a bad name with dull, self-important stunts like sitting in a see-through box, starving himself. Here’s something truly thrilling to conjure with from British wunderkind Christopher Nolan, the director of Batman Begins and the brilliantly baffling Memento. Christian ‘Batman’ Bale and Hugh ‘Wolverine’ Jackman play rival 19th-century illusionists, battling for more than the affections of the London music-hall crowd. Michael Caine is on hand to offer us some narrative assistance, while the splendid Scarlett Johansson puts the sauce into sorcery.
The Prestige – Warner Brothers, released in Scandinavia from 5 January
Also out this month…
is Lars von Trier’s comedy The Boss of It All, with Iben Hjejle and Jean-Marc Barr (see our von Trier interview on page 42), and coming soon is Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo DiCaprio (below) as a South African jewel smuggler in wartorn 1990s Sierra Leone.
Have you been watching our in-flight films? Try this month’s Sterling movie quiz
1. In the movie Click, in which American chain-store does Adam Sandler’s character purchase a TV remote that controls real life?
a. Pottery Barn
b. Bed, Bath and Beyond
c. ABC Carpet and Home
2. Ashton Kutcher, the voice of Elliot in Open Season, goes by his middle 
name. What is Ashton’s real first name?
a. Christopher
b. John
c. Kyle
Keeping you entertained…
Through January and February, Open Season and Click are being shown on selected Sterling flights. Turn to the back of this magazine for more information.
words by Richard Clayton
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