Sharktank between pop, hip-hop and indie
A good band has its own sound from the first single. Sharktank is such a good new Austrian band. Who apparently effortlessly succeeds in what can sometimes go wrong: a merging of the hip-hop and pop traditions of the 90s and, above all, the guitar-enriched 2000s indie rock. It’s even funky sometimes, the first EP called “Bad Energy”.
Sharktank are Katrin Paucz, Michael “Mile” Lechner and Marco Kleebauer, the latter also known above all as half of the Leyya duo or as a producer for bands such as Bilderbuch and Oehl. All three of them are very creative and well-networked minds, and that’s why the songs have everything that is needed to make a hit: the sing-along chorus, the narrative rap part, the hooks and the beats – more on this in fm4.ORF.at. (Lisa Schneider, FM4)
Sharktank: „Bad Energy“, Ink Music
Breaking up the patriarchy with Viennese post-punk
The Viennese quartet Culk faces the patriarchy in all its ugly grimaces on the second album “Vertreuen über dich”. The guitar-heavy sound between dark post-punk and echoing shoegaze appropriately captures the severity of everyday sexism, violence and injustice. In the exclusively German-language texts, singer Sophie Löw encounters all of these topics with a poetic language that becomes more explicit from song to song – sometimes just describes, sometimes questioned, but in any case always looks very carefully. With “Scatter over you” a threatening soundtrack was created, with which we can cheer for the end of patriarchy with relish – more about this in fm4.ORF.at. (Michaela Pichler, FM4)
Culk: “Scatter over you”, Siluh Records
Back to the future with Kruder & Dorfmeister
In the 90s, the local DJ and producer duo Kruder & Dorfmeister moved out to conquer the world with their “Viennese sound”. In the hustle and bustle of success, it can happen that you record an album and simply forget to release it. That was made up for in autumn this year, “1995” was released. And it is more than a contemporary document, but shows that the characteristic sound has aged quite well – more on this in New album fresh from the 90s. (Christian Körber, ORF.at)
Kruder & Dorfmeister: „1995“, G-Stone
Left Boy became Ferdinand
Last year a familiar face with a familiar voice appeared out of nowhere in the Austrian music scene: the man who became a star overnight almost ten years ago with his YouTube hit “Jack Sparrow” is now called Ferdinand. With Ferdinand – including the artist’s real first name – despite the new name, a lot has remained the same: he is still a great entertainer who sings and raps in English. The music sounds better and more sophisticated. Ferdinand has consistently further developed and refined his musical recipe for success of assembling pieces from different genres and musical decades into a musical puzzle, which also includes publishing it piece by piece individually – more on this in fm4.ORF.at. (Alica Ouschan, FM4)
Lost in electropop dreams
After their first singles in 2014, millions of clicks on YouTube and a show at the huge South-by-Southwest Festival in Texas, it was necessary for the Austrian electropop trio Nihils to take a break. To get inspiration for new songs, the three Tyroleans Ramon Riezouw, Thomas Lackner and Florian Nothegger traveled separately to Australia, Portugal and Bali to immerse themselves in the culture, landscape and music scene. Back in their adopted home Berlin, they exchanged their experiences, photos and videos in the rehearsal room and turned them into melancholy, thoughtful and at the same time catchy pop songs. The EP “AM / PM Pt. 1 “is the first part of this song collection and also impresses with its thematic variety and great production – more on this in fm4.ORF.at. (Andreas Gstettner-Brugger, FM4)
Nothing “AM / PM PT. 1 “, n-Recordings
The transformation to bright pop
Loneliness and silence. These are the best conditions for the Salzburg twins Giovanna and Mario Fartacek to write lyrics and songs. So far they have released dark, atmospheric electronic songs under the name Mynth. Her new album “Shades I Mynth” is a transformation into great, bright pop. Mario focused on the guitar again instead of synthesizers, and Giovanna made room and space for her strong voice in the songs. The concept album, which assigns a shade of green to each song, is about dreaming, about distant places one wishes to be, about inner development processes and how difficult it can be to go your own way. Mynth go their own way and have thus created an impressive work – more on this in fm4.ORF.at. (Andreas Gstettner-Brugger, FM4)
Mynth: „Shades I Mynth“, Assim Records
Emotions between Wienerlied and mariachi trumpets
Felix Kramer is probably one of the most honest singer / songwriters in the country. On his latest album “Alles Gut” he expresses what we all often think, but nobody dares to say. In tender ballads and energetic songs with cheeky Latino rhythms and trumpet movements, Felix sings about the imperfection of people, the inner struggle with often contradicting emotions and thus combines sober nonchalance with humor and humanity. People scream and laugh, but also reflect and philosophise sadly. The clever texts seem so natural, as if discussions were being retold in the kitchen of a student party. However, Felix Kramer refines every single word, and the immediacy of his lyrics is enhanced by the raw band sound. “Alles Gut” by Felix Kramer has become an incredibly beautiful, direct, thoughtful and funny album – more on that in fm4.ORF.at. (Andreas Gstettner-Brugger, FM4)
Felix Kramer: “Alles Gut”, Phat Penguin Records
With indie pop against the performance society
There’s something new in the Austrian west: with the trio Dreimalumalpha from Innsbruck and their debut album, for example. It bears the bold title “Youth lost in money”, which resonates with a good portion of criticism of capitalism. As an alternative to the competitive society, Dreimalumalpha invite you to dream with their music, to build castles in the air and tear them down again, to eat ice cream early in the morning, as it is also called in catchy indie hits such as “Visiting”. Between the dreamy lines, Dremalumalpha philosophize on their first long player about the revolution and ask questions about the big picture in our society – fm4.ORF.at. (Michaela Pichler, FM4)
Three times alpha: “Youth lost to money”, Motormusic
Elephants are thick
Almost, but only almost, Alf Peherstorfer would have been lost with his hit career to the silver iron and other Schunkelshows of this world. But now he’s back with his band Kommando Elefant, almost a kind of indie institution in Austria. On their sixth album “Selteneelemente” the influence of hits cannot be completely denied. This is not entirely new: elephants have always been rather thick when it comes to pathos. Is that subversion through affirmation? It doesn’t matter: “Rare Elements” is also clever as usual, and it’s hard to ignore the penchant for hymns at Kommando Elefant. (Christian Körber, ORF.at)
Elephant command: “Rare elements”. Las Vegas Records
German-Austrian friendship
Ansa Sauermann from Dresden has now lived in Vienna long enough to include him in the Austrian music series. And it also sounds like a mixture of the Wiener Welle with Wanda, Nino and the like and sounds of German spheres, above all Thees Uhlmann. Sometimes louder, sometimes quieter, Sauermann demonstrates a feeling for great pop.
Ansa Sauermann: “Trümmerlotte”, lottery label
Imaginary folklore between poetry and ukulele
The trio Alpine Dweller calls themselves a folk band. But that is only part of the truth: Between the ukulele, harp, chello, viola and guitar there is a delicate vocal progression. In their Ö1 radio session, Joana Karacsonyi, Flora Geisselbrecht and Matthias Schinnerl come very close to their goal of “imaginary folklore” – an independent dream music. The live recording is good for the poetic songs from the repertoire of the two Alpine Dweller albums, especially the dreamy “Yellow Coat”, the energetic “The Owls” and “Sonne”, a feel-good song for the winter months. As a bonus there is the new piece “Planets”. (Florian Baranyi, ORF.at)
Alpine Dweller: „Ö1 Studio 2 Radiosession“, No Fear Records
Making music of making music will
At Earl Mobley, making music happens organically and without any external pressure. This was also the case with this year’s release by the Viennese musician: “For You To Hide” – a mini-album comprising only seven songs, but covering a wide range of genres and styles. Clearly coming from the guitar direction, the solo artist also likes to try out beats and hip-hop elements, sprinkling jazz, funk and soul. The instrumentation ranges from Hammond organ to saxophone. It is the simple and therefore big themes that Earl Mobley sings about: the lonely walk, the longing for a retreat, or the feeling of being very close to someone, something that we all too often had to miss this year – more on that in fm4.ORF.at. (Christian Pausch, FM4)
Earl Mobley: „For You To Hide”, Siluh Records
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