Listening for the Future

When it comes to music journalism, Charlie Bertsch has few peers. An authority on everything from German punk to Moroccan Gnawa, Bertsch is at home in nearly every conceivable genre. 

Not all critics are like that. Not by a long shot. Chalk it up to three decades of writing about music for publications such as Alternet, Punk Planet and Tikkun and various American newspapers.

One of the many critics to come of age during the 1990s alt.culture era, Charlie Bertsch has persisted where many other critics have given up, developing a global repertoire in which the local is everywhere. 

Listening for the Future is that book. In 36 essays, written between March 2019 and January 2021 for Belgium's The Battleground, Bertsch paints an unparalleled portrait of European music culture.

What makes Listening for the Future so special is that it's not just about sound. It's about an entire continent, without borders, using music as a jumping off point to talk about politics and art, at home and abroad.