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.&nbsp;<br /><br />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, <i>Punk Planet</i> and <i>Tikkun</i> and various American newspapers.<br /><br />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.&nbsp;<br /><br /><i>Listening for the Future</i> is that book. In 36 essays, written between March 2019 and January 2021 for Belgium&#39;s The Battleground, Bertsch paints an unparalleled portrait of European music culture.<br /><br />What makes <i>Listening for the Future </i>so<i> </i>special is that it&#39;s not just about sound. It&#39;s about an entire continent, without borders, using music as a jumping off point to talk about politics and art, at home and abroad.