HOMETOWN GUIDE: Shit Robot On Stuttgart, Germany

16 April 2014 | 7:48 pm | Hannah Galvin

We had a chat to Shit Robot's Marcus Lambkin about his hometown of Stuttgart, Germany before he jets over to Aus for a short tour this Easter long weekend!

Marcus Lambkin is SHIT ROBOT - one of DFA Records' prestigious dance music signings. Riding the refreshing wave of funky and quirky electronic music knowingly since roughly 2008, Lambkin has put out two studio albums; his latest being 'We Got A Love' that was released on the aforementioned label in late March of this year.

To celebrate the release of his sophomore LP alongside his forthcoming Australian tour, we contacted Lambkin for a quick chat - although it wasn't your average interview. Instead of talking about the career of Shit Robot, we angled the conversation at the artist's surrounding environment, as we got him to list five of his favourite places from his hometown.

Considering Marcus Lambkin was born in Dublin and ventured to New York before eventually residing in Stuttgart with his wife, we gave him the global choice of where he thought was best to map us. As it is now where he calls home, Lambkin educated us on some of the best spots in the small German town that is Stuttgart.

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BEST RECORD STORE IN STUTTGART

"I’m sure it’s the same with everywhere else that most record stores are closing down. When I first moved here there was three or four really good record stores, and now I think there’s only one. It’s a place called Paul’s Musique. It’s a very little place and it’s the home of this record label called Philpot, which is a kind of house/techno label.

Really, really cool store, very small. A good mix of music, you know, they have a little bit of everything. Anytime I go there I end up buying a tonne of stuff. They don’t carry heaps of stock, but there is a little bit of quality in everything. You can go in there and you can buy albums, or you can go in there and get amazing house/dance crafts. It’s a great little spot."

WAGENHALLEN

BEST MUSIC VENUE IN STUTTGART

"Again, weirdly enough most of the good spots in Stuttgart have been shut down. There was two great clubs that I’d go DJ at and hang out at. One was called Rocker 33 which was kind of almost an institution, you know, it’d been going since before I ever got here. It moved around a couple of locations and it’s recently been shut down – again, which is a real shame.

And then there was this other place called Kim Tim Jim which was my absolute favourite here in Stuttgart, it was amazing. It was in an old Chinese restaurant, and up on the second and third floor it had these ornate, Oriental window designs, it had amazing Chinese window frames.. Really beautiful little spot. Great sound system, great guys, great vibe, and again, now shut down by the authorities. The party is still going, they move around to different locations, but that was my spot.

And then there was another great place – sorry I hate to talk about places that are now gone, but there was a place called Wagenhallen which was an old, disused railway line and they had three really old carriages on this sort of wasteland. They put a bar in one of these carriages – the things were full of graffiti, all the seats were taken out, and they put a DJ booth in. It was all outdoors and the music was inside the carriages. This place was absolutely amazing. It was kind of semi-legal but the cops just sort of ignored it for a while. I don’t want to get into the politics here in Stuttgart but there was a big, big deal about the rebuilding of the train station, so this great place got shut down which is a real bummer.

There’s a few new places called Bar Romantica and Dresden Bar you know, but they’re all smaller venues. The bigger clubs have sort of perished, it’s very sad."

"It’s quite a shame when they’re so unique like that to see them go, you know being in places like a Chinese Restaurant or old train-"

"Oh this thing [Wagenhallen] was incredible, you should have seen it! It was really weird as well because it was unusual. You go into Stuttgart and some clubs can be a little stuffy and a bit, you know, pretentious as well. But because of the location of this place and the way it was done, it sort of brought people out of their shell; it created a different atmosphere which is a great thing. It’s such a shame it’s gone."

KOTTAN

FAVOURITE BAR IN STUTTGART

"There’s one place we always go to before we’re going DJing called Kottan. There’s this little triangle with a fountain where everybody in the Summer sits outside, so there’s loads of seating outside. But the bar itself is tiny, it’s about the same size as my studio, tiny little spot. Just enough room to squeeze a few people at the front of the bar and you can probably get about 20 people up the side, and then squeeze in the DJ booth.

They always have great music playing, the bar staff are really awesome, friendly and nice. It’s a great little spot and pretty much the place where we always go before we go out and DJ or anything. It’s very rough and ghetto-y and the sound system is a bit crap, but they always have quality DJs playing and the music is always good so that’s the spot."

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FAVOURITE RESTAURANT IN STUTTGART

"It’s a place one of my friends took me to that I didn’t know about before called Weinstube Fröhlich, and the translation in English is very funny, it’s “Wine Bar Cheerful” if you translate it directly, which I think is always very funny in Germany because there’s nothing really cheerful about having a restaurant here. But this is a great place. The part of Germany I live in is called the Schwabisch region, which is down south, very old school, rural farmland you know.

This place deals with old school, proper Schwabisch food, very traditional German food. But it’s owned by a younger crowd, and I don’t want to say they do a “modern twist” but they do, you know, different, it’s sort of modernised; but they do it really, really well. The food is amazing, atmosphere is great, place is always packed. The best thing about it is the bartenders bring you out these amazing batches of Schnapps from these local places. After dinner the bartender will start bringing out like five bottles and we end up getting very drunk."

"Do you have a favourite dish from there?"

"That’s a tough one. I’d have to say everything is pretty good but I also have to say my wife is from here so her Schwabisch cooking is amazing, (of course I have to say that). Pretty much everything here is good but I’d have to say their Spätzle is off the chain. Spätzle is traditional German, kind of like a pasta but not, mixed with onion and cheese. It’s a very old school, traditional dish. But I have to say, everything I’ve had there has been great."

Stuttgart

FAVOURITE NATURAL SPOT IN STUTTGART

"You know, it’s going to sound really ridiculous but we live in a beautiful part of Stuttgart out in the countryside, and we have a huge garden. Out the back, we have a big garden with a barbeque pit and loads of space. My wife digs little patches to grow vegetables, I’ve got a dirt bike I can go and play around with there and we can bring the kids out. Plus the weather is just getting super nice here.

I think that’s possibly my [laughs] favourite spot to go and hang out. I mean there’s also lots of pools here, lots of springs and lakes and stuff that you can go to and hang out which are all pretty great, but I think my favourite spot would have to be our own little private, little party garden here."

"That’s alright! Nice and exclusive [laughs]"

"Exactly, we’ve got a very tight guestlist!"

Shit Robot will be here this week for a special Australian tour! Kicking off on Friday, 18th April, be sure to catch this talented artist while you can this Easter long weekend.

SHIT ROBOT AUSTRALIAN TOUR

Friday, 18th April

Leased @ Ivy Pool, Sydney (Daytime)

Tickets available via Pulse Radio

Friday, 18th April

Sugar, Adelaide (Nighttime)

Tickets only available at the door

Saturday, 19th April

New Guernica, Melbourne

Tickets only available at the door

Sunday, 20th April

Fibonacci Festival, Hawkesbury (NSW)

Tickets available via Pulse Radio

Words by Hannah Galvin.

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