Musicians and their labels/managements/agents are invited to apply for a live performance at the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival 2014, which will take place from the 15th – 18th of January 2014 in Groningen (NL).

What is Eurosonic Noorderslag?

Eurosonic Noorderslag is Europe’s largest showcase festival and the most important platform for the European live music industry.

Eurosonic Noorderslag 2014 focuses on Austria

Austria has been selected by the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival as a focus country for 2014. This means that more local acts than usual will be given the chance to perform live at the festival. The festival conference will also have a focus on Austria, in addition to a planned Austrian reception at the festival – excellent opportunities for labels, managers, agencies and media to network with the many international delegates.

What is ETEP?

A project to promote young talents from different genres.
ETEP (European Talent Exchange Program) is based on the international cooperation of music export offices, festivals and radio stations of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union). These select the most promising local newcomers (bands can also apply directly) to perform at the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival. Approximately 300 bands gather each year in front of an audience of 33,000 visitors, more than 80 festival organizers, 28 radio stations, 400 journalists and more than 3,100 professionals (labels, bookers, publishers, etc.) of the European music industry.

With the participation of the Austrian Music Export (a common initiative of the Austrian Music Information Center mica – music austria and the Austrian Music Fund) as project co-organizers of ETEP, the Austrian presence at this important conference and showcase platform of the European live music industry is guaranteed until 2016. In the years 2012-2016 at least 4 local bands will perform each year at the festival that sets the city of Groningen in the Netherlands into the spotlight of the European music scene for four days in January.

How can I apply?

All acts who want to perform at the festival must apply directly to Eurosonic Noorderslag before the 1st of September:
http://festival.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl/en/artist-submission

The Austrian ETEP partners, Austrian Music Export, Radio FM4, the FM4 Frequency Festival, Nova Rock festival and Waves Vienna Festival, will choose the Austrian acts by the end of August, which will they send to the Eurosonic program committee as a collective Austrian submission. Thus, this is a guarantee for Eurosonic that these acts will be supported by all local partners.

To be part of the selection for this Austrian submission, we will require:

Digital submission per e-mail to:
hergovich@musicaustria.at
Subject: “European Talent Exchange Program 2014”

Documents:

• Information material on the artists (including link to website)
• Link to audio material (eg. Soundcloud, Dropbox etc.) and live recordings (eg. YouTube, Vimeo)
• Press clips (if available)
• Contact details

NOTE: Please do not attach files to the email – too many simultaneous submissions will overload the server!
Information on label, distribution, booking agency, management, and other partners

Or per mail to:
Austrian Music Export
c/o mica – music austria
“European Talent Exchange Program 2014”
Stiftgasse 29
1070 Vienna

Documents:

• Information on the artists (including link to website)
• Sound material (CD or LP)
• Information on label, distribution, booking agency, management, and other partners
• Press clips (if available)
• Contact details (including email address)

Deadline for submissions: Monday, June 3rd, 2013.

Selection of Artists

The final decision on who will perform at the festival is made by the Eurosonic Committee.
All who submit directly to us will be informed by e-mail whether they have been included in the selection of the Austrian ETEP partners.

When does it makes sense to apply to ETEP?

There are many promising acts that apply for Eurosonic before they are really able to take advantage of this big opportunity. From our perspective, it is advisable to think carefully about when to apply -  after all, this project will still be around for the next few years. We recommend that you consider the following things:

The music should fit: Eurosonic Noorderslag is a festival for the genres of alternative, pop, rock, metal, electronic and hip hop.

The professional environment should fit: artists without the support of a label, management or a booking agency have a hard time to get something sustainable out of the performance and bring the right people to the concert.
The band should be ready for export: bands that have (almost) never played internationally and do not already have some existing international partners in the areas of distribution, promotion agency, booking, etc., should not perform at Eurosonic.

The international competition there is enormous – bands play simultaneously in up to 30 different locations, including acts that are already internationally hyped as the next big stars.

For further questions please contact:
Franz Hergovich / Austrian Music Export
tel +43 (01) 52104.51, fax +43 (01) 52104.59,
Email: hergovich@musicaustria.at

For more information about the project:
www.etep.nl | www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl

The post Apply for the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival 2014 appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

Breinschmid prefers to be somewhere in between a multitude of musical styles, and has found success here, being awarded the prestigious Hans Koller Prize in bot 2002 (together with Arkady Schilkoper) and in 2003 for the album, Muave with Alegre Correa. He isn’t prone to repeating himself, and prefers to continually strive towards something new without fear of losing his already garnered popularity. Driven by his curiosity and bravery, Breinschmid generates something always unfamiliar yet singular musical mixture of styles between jazz, classical, world music and free improvisation, although his path towards jazz specifically was not a direct one.

Georg Breinschmid studied classical Contrabass at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. Directly following his graduation he was already engaged with the highest echelon of classical orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna Symphony, as well as other chamber music ensembles (Amadeus Ensemble, Kontrapunkte and Die Reihe) and the Lowe-Austrian “Sound-Artist Orchestra”. Over time though, Breinschmid was pulled ever-more in the direction of jazz, where he saw more potential for his own musical evolution and growth. In his owns words,”I always had more of a natural tendency or inclination towards jazz than I did to certain types of classical music, which even today I haven’t yet really found an emotional outlet  for.”

His decision was made, and he turned his back on the classical orchestra path he was on to pursue the next level of his career as a freelance jazz musician. In no time at all he had a reputation as one of the most diverse and versed bassists in the international jazz scene. He joined forces with legends such as Archie Shepp, Charlie Mariano, Kenny Drew Jr., Biréli Lagrène, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Triology, Megablast, and Harry Sokal to name a few. Additionally, between 1999-2006, Breinschmid had a fixed placement in the Vienna Art Orchestra.

In all of his musical endeavors and wherever he is engaged, Breinschmid shows himself to be a flexible and chameleon-like musician who easily fits a multitude of projects. Both his albums and his projects show an immense openness and adaptability; whether it be the art of improvisation with his longstanding colleague Thomas Gansch, or his most acclaimed album “Wien bleibt Krk” which plumbs the depths of Balkan folks-music, to the project “Liszt Café” with the Janoska brothers, following in the great composer’s footsteps. Whatever Breinschmid undertakes, he always seems to be a few steps ahead of the pack.

The love of experimentation as well as his unquenchable curiosity for the new, gives wings to this contrabassist and composer to reach the highest levels of creative inspired output. With his talent to always develop himself and reinvent his music, we can expect to hear more from this artist for years to come.
Michael Ternai
translated from German by Austin Settle
Photo: Julia Wesely

Upcoming Shows:

Datum	Stadt	Location	Land
05/25/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Taipeh	Zhongzheng Auditorium	Taiwan
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06/06/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Reutlingen	Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen	Germany
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06/09/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Traunstein	Chiemgauer Musikfrühling	Germany
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06/15/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Wädenswil	Theater Ticino	Switzerland
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07/04/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Samedan	Schreinerei Zangger	Switzerland
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07/10/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Schwerin	Strandpavillon Zippendorf	Germany
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08/01/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Trier	Jazz im Brunnenhof	Germany
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08/04/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Zug	Festival Sommerklänge	Switzerland
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08/13/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Bruneck	Bruneck	Italy
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09/07/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	Georg Breinschmid in Ursensollen	Kubus	Germany
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Link: www.georgbreinschmid.com

The post Artist Portrait: Georg Breinschmid appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

To be fair, giving traditional Balkan folks music an updated beat heavy and pulsating sound is a trend which !DelaDap shares with an eclectic, however small group of groups worldwide. In any case, the band has been a forerunner for this sound within Austria, and especially Vienna, where they have been especially successful in establishing their sound and popularity.

It all began with the collaboration between the pianist Tibor Barkoczy and the vocalist, Melinda Stoika, the trio formed the fundament of the !DelaDap sound. Over the following years the spectrum of the band’s sound has evolved, as well as the expansion of participating musicians to a pool of over 30 members. Over the course of touring, the band developed an intuitive approach to songwriting, which was spurred by months of live improvisation, and was crucial to the development of a unique and specific sound, and spontaneous compositions which would be the foundation for their albums. The core of the live band had now grown to include: : Aleksander Stoijic guitar, Jovan Torbica double Bass, Alen Dzambic accordion, Pavel Shalman violin, Simona Senkiova und Kristina Gunarova vocals. Rather than utilizing a drummer, DJ Stani Vana uses digital samplers and beat makers, as well as interactive tools which allow for more spontaneous interactions with the other musicians. Although the band improvises in a live context, the song forms are often more simply arranged, and given a more fixed structure for live performances.

For a band such as !DelaDap which transcends the traditional folks music, there arises the question of the socio-political positioning of the group, which can be understood in two ways:  On the one, the  overcoming of the individual mode of the musicians, of the personal connections of the musicians to the tradition, and the other, the will of their desire to break with indigenous tradition and allow new influences to breech the old. !DelaDap has reached a break with tradition, the refusal of tradition affirmation of what distinguishes relevant artists, and their development is more rooted in the mingling of influences of urban sound topography, and in following the tributaries of new musical constellations.

At the end of the day, Vana doesn’t want to place too much burden on music, and doesn’t think he can break down any socio-political mountains, but does feel the potential for change and raises questions, like,” what is Romani, where do they come from….what makes up this minority etc.” The bridging of cultures and nationalities which !DelaDap embodies, stems from open intercultural connection and integration, with dance and community as its lowest common denominator. In this way it can be expected to see this project as staple of club life for a long time to come.
David Weidinger
translated from German by Austin Settle
Photo © Josef Fallnhauser/Studio Trizeps

Upcoming Shows:

Datum	Stadt	Location	Land
06/08/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	DelaDap in Mosomagyarovar	City Festival	Hungary
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07/06/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	DelaDap in Gorzow	Romane Dyvesa	Poland
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09/07/13 http://www.musicexport.at/artists-on-tour/	DelaDap in Istanbul	Rock’n’Coke Festival	Turkey
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Link: www.deladap.com

The post Band Portrait: !DelaDap appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

Peter Rauhofer entered the flourishing world of electronic dance music as a producer in the early 90s. With “Unique”, Rauhofer made his breakthrough in the international underground. Under the pseudonym “Club69″ he finally hit the dance charts, which opened his door to the American music market. In 2000 he won a Grammy in the category “Remix of the Year” for his adaption of “Beautiful” (Christina Aguilera). As a producer and remixer he was passed from one star to the next and created tracks for a never-ending list of celebrities in the past 15 years of music history. Among them were big names such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Depeche Mode, Rihanna and most recently Adele. As a DJ he remained a celebrated hero in major dance clubs across the globe.

It was not until April this year, when Rauhofer’s management reported of his illness. Less than a month later, the employees had to sadly announce his death. Comments under Rauhofer’s Youtube tracks list many lines of sympathy and grief, some with responses to the request of his manager Angelo Russo to keep his music in honor. One of them wrote a simple and meaningful praise: “You made great music happen”.
Lucia Laggner
translated from German

Photo: Peter Rauhofer

The post Peter Rauhofer, Austrian grammy-winning DJ and producer, dies at 48 appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

The secret has now been revealed and the winners of this year’s Amadeus Austrian Music Awards have been announced. The coveted trophies were awarded in 15 categories: star of the evening was Parov Stelar who took home 3 Amadeus Awards (“Album of the Year”, “Best Live Act”, “Best Electronic/Dance”). Klangkarussell were able to beat their 4 competitors in the category “Song of the Year” and Sofa Surfers came out first in the category “Alternative”.

Alkbottle won in the category “Hard & Heavy”, Nazar was awarded in the category “Hip Hop/RnB” and 5/8erl in Ehr’n triumphed in the category “Jazz/World/Blues”. Catastrophe & Cure were happy about winning the FM4 Awards and Julian Le Play was pleased to take home an Amadeus trophy in the category “Pop & Rock”. DJ Ötzi won the prize in the category “Schlager” and Andreas Gabalier was delighted to receive his award in the category “Folk Music”. STS were honored with an Amadeus Austrian Music Award for Lifetime Achievement, Hubert von Goisern received an honorary award for connecting genres and peoples with his music and Die Toten Hosen received their Amadeus trophy in the category “Best International Live Act”.

Winners of the Amadeus Austrian Music Awards 2013:

Lifetime Achievement: STS
Honorary Award for Music Connecting  Genres and Peoples: Hubert von Goisern
Best International Live Act: The Toten Hosen
Album of the Year: Parov Stelar – The Princess
Song of the Year: Klangkarussell – Sonnentanz
Best Live Act powered by Ö-Ticket: Parov Stelar
FM4 Award: Catastrophe & Cure
Alternative: Sofa Surfers
Electronic/Dance: Parov Stelar
Hard & Heavy: Alkbottle
HipHop/RnB: Nazar
Jazz/World/Blues: 5/8erl in Ehr’n
Pop/Rock: Julian Le Play
Schlager: DJ Ötzi
Folk Music: Andreas Gabalier

Link: www.amadeusawards.at

The post Amadeus Austrian Music Awards 2013: Winners Of The Evening appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

Attwenger  

Bauchklang  

Been Obscene  

Bensh  

Bernhard Eder  

Catch-Pop String-Strong  

Christian Muthspiel  

Clara Luzia  

Cornerstone  

Das Großmütterchen Hatz Salon Orkestar  

David Helbock  

DelaDap  

Dorit Chrysler  

Elektro Guzzi  

Fiium Shaarrk  

Francis International Airport  

Franz Hautzinger  

Gasmac Gilmore  

Georg Breinschmid  

Ghost Capsules  

GinGa  

holstuonarmusigbigbandclub  

HVOB (Her Voice Over Boys)  

James Cottriall  

James Hersey  

Just Friends and Lovers  

Klangkarussell  

Kommando Elefant  

Luise Pop  

Manu Delago  

Marina Zettl  

Michaela Rabitsch & Robert Pawlik Quartet  

Mile Me Deaf  

Mnozil Brass  

My Name Is Music  

Parov Stelar  

Raphael Wressnig  

Russkaja  

Sex Jams  

The Karlbauers  

The Merry Poppins  

Wolfgang Mitterer  

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[Photo Bauchklang: P. Rauchecker]

The post Austrian Artists On Tour appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

Founded in 2008, Valeot Records is, in their own definition, a creative platform, where musicians, sound wizards and bands have the opportunity to express themselves in their own vision and manner, and this far away from any blinkered thinking. The only requirement is that they do not submit to any current or popular trends. Looking at the names of the artists and bands that are released on Valeot Records, you quickly realize that the basic idea of the label has held strong up to this day.

“It has to have a certain appeal,” said Peter Holy in a mica – music austria interview five years ago when asked what criteria is applied for the artist selection. As expected, fear of contact or self-imposed limitations have no place here. The label owners rather try to cover the widest possible range of music. Artists that sign with Valeot Records are particularly characterized by a pronounced openness and fondness of experimentation, whereas a stylistic classification into a specific genre is deliberately considered as secondary by Alexandr Vatagin and Peter Holy.

Thus, among the now 15 label releases you will find modern singer/songwriting, as well as a variety of experimental and avant-garde crossover projects and all forms of electronic and electroacoustic music. With Valeot Records, Alexandr Vatagin and Peter Holy prove that it is possible to successfully position yourself as a label in the experimental environment and that there is a lot of excellent music created in the so-called niches, which is definitely worth being heard.
Michael Ternai
(translated from German)

Previous Releases:
valeot001 Port-Royal (it) – Afraid to Dance 2xLP (2008)
valeot002 Tupolev (at) – Memories of Björn Bolssen CD/LP (2008)
valeot003 Alexandr Vatagin (at) – Shards CD (2008)
valeot004 Slon (at) – Antenne CD (2009)
valeot005 Werner Kitzmüller (at) – Just you EP 7inch (2009)
valeot006 Slon (at)- Nachtnebel EP 7inch (2009)
valeot007 Milhaven (de)- S/T (2010)
valeot008 Protestant Work Ethic (at) – The Jar and Shock CD (2010)
valeot009 Dirac (at) – Phon CD (2010)
valeot010 Tupolev (at) – Towers of Sparks (2011)
valeot011 The Pattern Theory (uk) – S/T (2011)
valeot012 Werner Kitzmüller (at) – Evasion (2011)
valeot013 Kutin (at) – Ivory (2012)
valeot014 Attilio Novellino (it) – Through Glass (2012)
valeot015 Alexandr Vatagin (at) – Serza (2013)

Link: www.valeot.com

The post 5 Years of Valeot Records appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

You could probably write a whole book about the Austrian electronic music scene since 2000. However, summarizing this in a few paragraphs seems to be impossible. Or is it? The longer you think about what happened in terms of sounds and scenes, after the “Vienna Sound”-hype of 1996/97 and the following few years of its significant impact finally died away, it becomes all the more appealing to list a few points and keywords and write down some names that were formative and/or new in the millennium years. Without any claim to completeness.

One thing is for sure: Electronic music in the noughties was definitely no longer the trendy, hot new shit, but had rather become a normality. The nineties were influenced by names such as Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister (together with their G-Stone camp), the beat-searching Patrick Pulsinger and Erdem Tunakan (and their label Cheap Records), the genre crossing Sofa Surfers, techno excellence like Christopher Just, Clemens Neufeld and Electric Indigo, or the experimental sound focused Peter “Pita” Rehberg, Christian Fennesz, and other artists of the Mego label, as well as the “electronic band” Radian.

The new millennium continued with the exact same protagonists. The first half of the decade brought a few new players, but was largely dominated by those artists who had already gained some prominence and consequently simply formulated their approaches more accurately. In this sense, the electronic sounding trio Radian, which initially came from the Viennese experimental scene around the venue Rhiz and had a pop band cast of guitar, bass and drums, managed to advance to a highly acclaimed act with an almost academic appeal and thoroughly concepted album on the U.S. label Thrill Jockey.

Even more successful was Fennesz, who started out as a guitarist in the 80s and slowly evolved  into an exceptional electronic musician in the 90s, until he practically established his own genre in the new millennium. His album “Endless Summer” (2001) proved to be one of the defining records of the decade. The album sounded fantastic and like nothing else heard before. While Fennesz mainly piled electronically processed guitar sounds on top of each other to create harsh sound sculptures on previous releases, he increasingly let gentleness and melodies prevail on the new album. His love for pop music pushed through. He named the album after a record of the Beach Boys, a band that he covered (along with the Rolling Stones) on his seminal single “Fennesz Plays” (1998).

While these people were consistently tweaking on their approaches and releasing album after album, the past decade brought a change for other producers. “Many of the main protagonists of the 90s were a little worn out,” says Patrick Pulsinger, who was a seminal figure in the 90s as an accomplished producer, DJ and label owner. He also refers in his statement to himself: “For me, this was a time of extreme change. I left Cheap Records, moved into a new studio and completely reoriented myself musically. My jazz album ‘Easy to Assemble …’ originated from this time. The old concept with a label, producing and so on was simply no longer for me.”

From then on Pulsinger primarily emerged as a producer of other artists and took on the mastering of a variety of records in his Feedback studio in Vienna’s 5th district. It wasn’t until the end of the decade that he began to release his own music more regularly again and completed the series “Dogmatic Sequences” that he started in the early 90s and also finally released his long-awaited artist album “Impassive Skies” (2010).

In the noughties, Sofa Surfers’ member Wolfgang Schlögl also had a change of heart. Although he doesn’t think that a lot changed, his band partially went back to their rock and noise influences in terms of sound and he was able to celebrate successes during band breaks with his solo projects I-Wolf and The Slow Club (his cross-generational project with Hansi Lang and Thomas Rabitsch). However, by no means was he the only Sofa Surfers member to go solo: Markus Kienzl released two albums with bass-heavy urban music (“Product”, “Density”) and produced the versatile pop singer Tania Saedi, and Wolfgang Frisch even took a singer-songwriter approach on his solo album “Watering The Land” and worked with the Vienna-based Italian Katika.

What Wolfgang Schlögl rather referred to was that the profession of an electronic musician had gradually changed in the last decade: “A new generation of theater and film people appeared on the scene with new demands on the music. These are people who are as old as I am, sometimes even younger.  Musicians like me, who had never been asked before and never seen in these fields, were suddenly given commissions in these areas. A completely new and exciting work area opened.” For many players in the electronic music field, this proved to be – of course also financially – a rewarding task, but also had the effect that less time was available to work on their own music, and thereby releases were sometimes sparse.

Speaking of sparse: In the new millennium it became very quiet around Kruder & Dorfmeister, the big stars of the 90s. Though they never officially broke up, and every now and then they spun some records together in a club, no more new music was released (it wasn’t until their label compilation “Sixteen F**king Years Of G-Stone Recordings” was released in 2010 where they released a new piece with the uptempo number “Aikon”). Consequently, no one  realised the two as an intact team anymore. Richard Dorfmeister moved to Zurich and worked together with Rupert Huber on Tosca, his other duo, with which he regularly releases albums. Peter Kruder initially worked solo on his Peace Orchestra, temporarily entertained the trio Voom:Voom with his Munich colleagues Christian Prommer and Roland Appel and later moved on to releasing house and techno tracks under his real name.

The gap that K&D left was for a while taken by D&K, Dzihan & Kamien. With an equally slick as musical top-notch blend of downtempo, jazz and electronics, Vienna-based Vlado Dzihan and Mario Kamien easily played off all K&D copycats of the “Vienna Groove” fraction, who were cavorting around 2000 on various labels and compilations. Especially with their first two albums “Freaks & Icons” and “Gran Riserva” (2000 and 2002), they were also highly successful on an international level.

Label colleagues of Kruder & Dorfmeister also took advantage of this so-called vacuum. Thus, the exceptional hip hop DJ DSL released his lovingly crafted and painstakingly detailed album “#1″. For some years Stefan Mörth aka Stereotype skillfully practiced beat science in the sense of futuristic dub and dancehall music, before it unfortunately became rather quiet around his persona. Especially his debut album “My Sound” (2002) is an overlooked masterpiece. Meanwhile, Kruder’s old colleague Rodney Hunter developed an elegant sound mix of disco, funk and house, while Makossa & Megablast rocked the clubs with their sounds ranging from house and techno to dub and electro.

Over the years Klaus Waldeck, who was initially established by the media as an opponent of Kruder & Dorfmeister, moved away from his trip-hop soundscapes. As the duo Saint Privat with singer Valerie he mixed easy listening with bossa nova and references from French film music. Later, he again worked solo and proved himself as a pioneer of the genre electro swing with the “Ballroom Stories” album, on which he reactivated the 20s and 30s swing and jazz as modern pop music.

Far more popular and ultimately more successful was the Upper Austrian Marcus Füreder, who once began his career in the field of techno. Initially largely unnoticed by the local media, he became one of Austria’s most successful musical exports as Parov Stelar. Wherever he goes, he fills big halls with the capacity of thousands of visitors and more. On Facebook, nowadays not a bad indicator of popularity, he is now followed by approximately 502,000 people.

In terms of music production, the noughties brought a not to be underestimated development. Having already talked about the liberalization of the means of production in the 90s, since 2000 it was basically no longer necessary for a musician to be in a studio. Everything could be done with one device. The laptop became, together with the necessary software, the studio in the smallest spaces. Patrick Pulsinger sees a connection between this change and the fact that more women appeared on the scene as producers  in the new millennium: “From that time they no longer had to go to a music store and be unpleasantly approached by a guy. They could just sit down at the computer and try to make music with a few programs. To be honest, the development of female producers is extremely new. This has only been the case for the past 15 years. ”

Certainly a role model here is Eva Jantschitsch, who unmistakably introduced herself as Gustav with the album “Rettet die Wale” in 2004. Her debut album can be listened to as a product of various acquirements, empowerment and recoding. Above all, Gustav dispossessed laptop-electronics from its nerdy manliness. On her debut, there are refreshingly undogmatic sounds and arrangements that do not pay homage to the device, but let them work for itself. On her album “Verlass die Stadt” (2008) the musician then again approached the pop song and chanson, without losing its edginess.

Joining the scene a little later was Anja Plaschg aka Soap & Skin, the world’s alternative-pop star on her own initiative, skills, and with a strong connection to electronic music . Her self-produced debut album “Lovetune for Vacuum” (2009) – often forgotten that this is the work of a teenager – impressed with ingenious songs and intense arrangements between piano sounds and orchestral electronic rhythm loops. With her second album “Narrow” (2012), she continued her path as Soap & Skin and even reached the top of the Austrian charts.

Other female producers and musicians who were always worth listening to: Maja Osojnik, who is highly active  between avant-garde, improvisation and noise, the minimal techno producer Clara Moto, or Shroombab,who has been waving the drum’n'bass flag over the years, the Brazilian Joyce Muniz, who glides with her own releases between house and techno, or the singer Nomadee, who emerged with a pleasant independent hip-hop/R’n'B approach. With Comfort Zone, Christina “Chra” Nemec founded a queer-feminist electronic label, which releases acts such as Crazy Bitch in a Cave or Cherry Sunkist. And of course Electric Indigo’s platform Female Pressure, which is still an important focal point for female musicians.

New in the noughties was also that the genre boundaries became more open. In the 90s an artist like Gustav would have hardly been categorized as an electronic musician, since vocals and lyrics play a central role in her music. In the new millennium, however, many things began to mix. People who were strictly electronic in the previous decade, rediscovered their pop-socialization of the 80s and were motivated to head in the direction of songs or to pick up a guitar. In this period, the known electronic musician Bernhard Fleischmann began to reinforce traditional instruments and eventually even sang on his last two albums.

More firmly rooted in pop was the recently dissolved band Bunny Lake with the singers Teresa Rotschopf aka Suzy on the Rocks and Christian Fuchs, who started with dark electro club tunes and finally ended with true pop songs, whereas the song “1994″ even reached the mainstream radio Ö3. Electro-crooner Louie Austen was extremely active in the new millennium, although his releases no longer had the guts of the early records, which were produced by the Cheap Records crew Pulsinger and Mario Neugebauer.

Quite pop-affine is also Wolfram Eckert, who began as DJ Marflow and now simply goes by his first name. His first album “Wolfram” shows him as a savvy and witty player between electro-pop, Italo disco and Euro dance. The Carinthian in Vienna, who is well recognized as an international DJ, was one of the first fresh faces in the new millennium.

An increasing number of young producers appeared in the second half of the decade. The Vienna producer and keyboardist Dorian Concept, managed to build an international career with fierce tracks, filled to the brim with information somewhere between hip-hop deconstruction, feverish computer sounds and jazz bonds. His recent productions have been released on the British label Ninja Tune, but originally Dorian Concept comes from the camp of the label Affine Records, which is, in addition to the more preferred straight beats of the crowd-pullers Ogris Debris, fearless future-funk and bass music researchers such as The Clonious , JSBL and Cid Rim, home of an amazing number of promising acts.

Of course Elektro Guzzi also have to be mentioned here. The Viennese trio were responsible for a true sensation as an analog techno band. While on the debut album one can still hear the avant-garde music background, the successor album “Parquet” (2011) is heavily impacted by the band’s live experience and offers funtional techno in its purest form – from Detroit to dub techno, from bubbling acid to epic club anthems.

Recent years have not only been about dancing.  A lot of club sounds emerged, new labels were founded. Besides Affine Records, the Praterei Records should also be mentioned, where the twins Daniel and Fabian Schreiber are at home with their new project The New Tower Generation, as well as the label Luv Shack Records (Lee Stevens, Simon LeBon and others) or the more technoid Schönbrunner Perlen with acts such as Ken Hayakawa. House producer Roman Rauch releases his tracks with acclaimed international names such as Endless Flight or Philpot. The latter label also released the Reboot Joy Confession‘s tracks, ranging from broken beat to deep house. Ferociously rocking the dancefloors is the band Gudrun von Laxenburg.

The more experimental corner is partially gathered around the Mego label, but has also taken a different route. Thus, Richard Eigner and Roman Gerold established their project Ritornell, which sits from ambient to jazz between all chairs. Exciting was also the development of the duo Kilo, which evolved from minimal techno to free sound studies. And the experimental and improv field around the klingt.org platform and people like Dieb13 or Billy Roisz, who proved to be strenuous as ever.

The potential of electronic music from Austria is huge. Many artists of the younger generation have exposed a lot of talent samples, but have certainly not exhausted all of their skills. Whether or not the artist album as a big statement is the measure of all things, remains to be seen. Wolfgang Schlögl was recently concerned with how fragmented music is perceived today. As a response, his next solo album, which will appear in May 2013, will be a double album. Patrick Pulsinger sees the changes in music reception less dramatic: “People have always consumed music in the way they wanted to. Today more and more are making their own program”. If you take that last sentence as an omen, then the electronic music from Austria will sound even more colorful and diverse in the future. The fact that no one wants to wear the “Vienna Sound” hat any longer has not been amiss.

Cover Photo © Dominik Vsetecka
Photo Kruder & Dorfmeister © G-stone
Photo Christian Fennesz © Maria Ziegelboeck
Photo Patrick Pulsinger © Elsa Okazaki
Photo Sofa Surfers © Bernd Preiml
Photo Tosca © Markus Rossle
Photo Rodney Hunter © Oliver Jiszda
Photo Parov Stelar © Etage Noir
Photo Gustav © Thomas Degen
Photo Bunny Lake © Bunny Lake
Photo Ogris Debris © Andreas Waldschuetz
Photo Elektro Guzzi © Klaus Pichler
Photo Ritornell © Andreas Waldschütz & Adia Trischler

The post The Austrian Electronic Music Scene Since 2000 appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

Every year more than 33,000 visitors, including 3,000 representatives of the international music industry, use the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival as a chance to see 300 of Europe’s freshest talents for the first time live. Each Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival highlights a different European country and is THE opportunity for European radio stations and more than 400 music festivals to select the stars of tomorrow for the upcoming festival season.
The general program of the festival consists of mainly unknown names – in retrospect, however, past line-ups list many later known world stars such as Franz Ferdinand, James Blake, The XX, Wir Sind Helden, Seeed and The Raveonettes.

Peter Smidt (Creative Director Eurosonic Noorderslag) about the focus on Austrian music:
“Highlighting Austrian music at Eurosonic Noorderslag is a natural thing to do. At previous editions of Eurosonic Noorderslag we’ve presented now successful Austrian acts like Soap & Skin, Elektro Guzzi, Bauchklang, Clara Luzia, Gin Ga and Steaming Satellites. At this moment Klangkarussell has a number 1 hit in The Netherlands.
It has always been a pleasure to work together with our Austrian partners such as Radio FM4, Frequency Festival, Nova Rock Festival, Waves Festival and Austrian Music Export (mica – music austria & Austrian Music Fund). We are looking forward to receive the new and best Austrian acts at the coming edition of Eurosonic Noorderslag.”

The next Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival will take place from the 15th – 18th of January 2014 in Groningen (Netherlands). Starting from Thursday the 2nd of May 2013, the Austrian Music Export will offer Austrian artists the chance to apply for a performance at the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival.

For more information, visit the festival websites:
www.eurosonic-noorderslag.nl | www.etep.nl

For further questions, contact Austrian Music Export
Rainer Praschak
praschak@musicaustria.at

Tatjana Domany & Franz Hergovich (Austrian Music Export):
“A focus on Austria at the Eurosonic Noorderslag 2014 is a great honor and a huge opportunity for the local music scene! The significance within the respective sector is comparable with an invitation as the guest country at the Frankfurt Book Fair. At the moment we have a lot of young and exciting acts in Austria that will benefit from the focus at the Eurosonic Noorderslag and the support of a European PR campaign. 2014 will show more Austrian bands on European festival stages than ever before. On top of that, Austria will be prominently involved in panels and presentations within the Eurosonic Noorderslag conference, which are used by local labels, agents, managers and bookers to exchange with international delegates. We expect a lasting and sustainable effect on the entire Austrian music industry.”

Bernhard Breuer (Elektro Guzzi) about the concert at the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival 2012:
“It’s not like the past where you became known through record sales. Nowadays there are more and more festivals and they are becoming increasingly important, because the musicians earn their livelihood with live performances. Several of these events are an absolute must for newcomers. One of these is the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival in Groningen. Thousands of promoters stop here every year to search for new talents. For Elektro Guzzi it was the turning point in their career.”

Monika Eigensperger (Radio FM4):
“For me it was always very clear that music from Austria can easily compete on an international level. However without media presence even the best bands have a hard time. – FM4 therefore supports the local scene with various programs such as FM4 Soundpark and of course the inclusion in the daily music program, as well as being a cooperation partner of the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival. We are particularly pleased and proud that the focus of the upcoming Eurosonic Noorderslag is on Austria – since the music of the many exciting Austrian acts deserves to be reached by a broader audience, and for this the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival offers the perfect opportunity.”

Harry Jenner (FM4 Frequency Festival):
“When I heard about the great presentation of Austrian acts at the Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival, the following words went through my head: “Yes, this definitely makes sense and is long overdue”. There is no better place or more beautiful event to make a comeback as a music nation. Congratulations, well done!”

Thomas Zsifkovits (Nova Rock Festival):
“Groningen is a constant in the concert calendar of every event organizer. I have been going there for more than 10 years. It is a meeting of festivals, agents and media. Here you discuss things, but year after year you also see new bands from the European scene. Playing a good concert in Groningen can have a positive effect on a career. The fact that Austria is the new focus country of the Eurosonic Noorderslag  means that more bands will be represented than usual. A huge opportunity.”

Thomas Heher (Waves Festival):
“There is a lot going on in Austria: exciting acts, great events, a diverse label landscape. I am immensely pleased that Groningen has now also noticed this. The focus on Austria is probably also due to the good work of the Austrian Music Export – just to mention this in passing.”

(Photo Credit: The Kyteman Orchestra at Eurosonic Air by Bart Heemskerk)

The post Austria Is The Focus Country Of Eurosonic Noorderslag 2014 appeared first on Austrian Music Export.

This admirable undertaking promotes the exchanges between young composers from the two countries, and Ireland, too. Paul Driver (Sunday Times)

Soundings, initiated by the Austrian Cultural Forum London in 2004, presents and profiles young composers and artists from the United Kingdom and Austria in workshops, symposia and performance.  Each and every year has inspired and created many exciting artistic collaborations, projects and commissions, many of which are ongoing.

It is a unique musical project bringing together composers and musicians from two very different musical backgrounds and working environments. It offers a rare opportunity to meet some of today’s leading composers from Austria and the UK, watch them at work and hear their latest compositions – many receiving their UK premiere – performed by some of the finest musicians working in new music.

With multiple premières, collaborations and broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and profiles on Austrian ORF television, Soundings has also travelled in concert to Vienna, Venice, Bayreuth, and Oslip Mühle (Austria). Former participants have continued to develop their relationship through commissions and performances at renowned festivals such as Wien Modern, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival as well as the 2013 City of London Festival.

This year’s Soundings brings together six new faces: Austrian composers Belma Beslic Gál, Peter Jakober and Veronika Mayer as well as UK composers Charlie Usher, Hannah Kendall and Ryan Latimer. Their works will be rehearsed in workshops open to the public and performed in two evening concerts by musicians including the renowned Fidelio Trio (Darragh Morgan, violin; Robin Michael, cello; Mary Dullea, piano and curator), Austrian Duo Soufflé (Doris Nicoletti, flute and Theresia Schmidinger, clarinet), soprano Charmian Bedford and violist Reiad Chibah.

A fascinating highlight of this year’s programme will be composer portrait sessions with Piers Hellawell, Professor of composition at Queen’s University Belfast. Piers will discuss and unravel with the participating composers, trends in their recent work as well as the works to be performed in the 2 concerts. Last year’s initiative the ‘Soundings Academy’ is continued, this time with young composers rather than musicians, who will observe at close hand the week’s events and have a workshop opportunity with the performers on a new work. A round table discussion will examine the role of festivals in the performance and promotion of contemporary music and panellists include Cheltenham Festival Music Director Meurig Bowen and Hanna Crepaz, artistic director at Osterfestival in Tirol, Austria TBC. The week of events is curated by pianist Mary Dullea.

This exceptional week of interaction and creativity has become a key event
in the music calendar of the UK.

Soundings 2013 Programme

Evening Concerts

Wednesday 15 May, 7pm
Hannah Kendall  Incident, soprano and piano
Belma Beslic-Gál  flut, bass flute and electronics
Charlie Usher The Euphrates Dominates the Scene, clarinet, violin, cello and piano
Veronika Mayer UTA. Songs in Japanese , soprano flute and viola
Peter Jakober Weit Beisammen , flute, clarinet and electronics
Ryan Latimer Chloe, solo violin
Ryan Latimer Song for Summer, voice, flute, clarinet, violin and cello

Thursday 16 May, 7pm
Belma Beslic-Gál  Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður, cello and electronics
Ryan Latimer Trio, viola, clarinet and piano
Ryan Latimer Uncomfortable Music, violin and piano
Charlie Usher Syria as it is, piccolo, clarinet and cello
Veronika Mayer New work, flute, clarinet and piano
Peter Jakober Fur Zwei, piano trio
Hannah Kendall Vera, clarinet, violin, viola and cello

Round table discussion
Thursday 16 May, 5:30 pm

Composer interviews and presentations lead by Piers Hellawell
Wednesday and Thursday 10.30am – 1pm

Daily rehearsals open to the public
Tuesday to Thursday, 10.30am – 6pm.

For more information visit www.acflondon.org/music/soundings

For press enquiries please contact Vanessa Fewster press@acflondon.org

Venue:
Austrian Cultural Forum London
28 Rutland Gate
London SW7 1PQ
www.acflondon.org

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