Category Archives: Popular Music

Stories Around Music

Interview with the Argentinian Electro-Industrial Duo Vólkova
30th March 2015 22:22 // Leave a Comment //

volkova-postcard

Founded in 2013, it didn’t take the Argentinian duo Vólkova a long time to become part of the peak in alternative electronic music. Also in Europe they gained foot easily, proven by a successful tour in 2014. In 2015 the duo will have concerts all around Europe again. On the ridge between minimal wave, industrial and electroclash Vólkova are critically acclaimed throughout the continent – which they very well deserve!

Vólkova are Paula Lazzarino (vocals and lyrics) and Cesar Canali (music). During a nice little talk Paula and Cesar revealed some facts of their band’s history, why they have a connection to Slovenia and how they like it in Europe. Read More →

Posted in: Interviews, Popular Music // Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Skryabin / Скрябін

Front-Man of Ukrainian Synthpop Band Died
11th February 2015 18:38 // Leave a Comment //

kuzma

A week ago I have been to L’viv, Ukraine, to visit my dear friends, who I did not see for a long time then. When I saw people gathering on the Shevchenko square lighting candles, I thought it had something to do with the war in the east of the country. Only later I found out that the legendary musician Andriy Kuzmenko, founding member and front-man of the band Skryabin, had died on February 2nd in a car accident in Dnipropetrovs’k. Wanting to contribute to the condolences I am going to introduce you to one of the best musical groups of Eastern Europe. Read More →

Posted in: Popular Music // Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

A Musical Review of 2014

The Best New Music of the Last Year
7th January 2015 19:07 // Leave a Comment //

review2014_intro

Almost exactly two years ago this page went online. To be honest, I didn’t know in which direction this whole thing would go, but shortly after it turned out that there IS an interest in what I am writing about. My readership is growing steadily and many musicians are writing to me to introduce and discuss their music. I want to thank you very much for your attention! 🙂

While Central Europe is covered with snow these days I fled the cold and am sitting now at a sunny beach in Bodrum, Turkey. Before enjoying the dolce vita too much I am compiling a musical review of 2014 for you.

For alternative/dark music 2014 was another great year.  Instead of the usual 10 songs I will present you 11 (because I couldn’t decide), which were released in 2014 – in no particular order. Read More →

Posted in: Popular Music // Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

An Alternative Christmas Playlist 2014

23rd December 2014 20:32 // Leave a Comment //

zmaj

Remember my last year’s alternative Christmas playlist? If you don’t, you can look it up here. The idea of this playlist was born out of the necessity to escape the so-called “Christmas songs”. They ambush the unaware and innocent individual, to manifest themselves in the brains of their hosts. Let’s see if I am able to find another ten songs which serve as an enjoyable and appropriate alternative to the generic Christmas songs. Read More →

Posted in: Popular Music // Tagged: , , , , , , ,

XIII Wroclaw Industrial Festival

11th November 2014 11:50 // Leave a Comment //

Wrocław Industrial Festival 2014

After an endless car ride we eventually arrived in Wrocław, the capital of Lower Silesia, Poland. Uncountable times I have spent here, made some dear friends and it appears that behind every street corner, below every tree I can find pieces of memories and stories of my personal history with this city. This time I came here because of the Wrocław Industrial Festival, organized this year already for the 13th time. Read More →

Posted in: Popular Culture, Popular Music, Travelling // Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

His Master’s Voice

Interview with Times/Venus in Furs
30th October 2014 11:46 // 1 Comment //

times1

Now that’s a thing: I finally got in contact with one of my most favourite musicians, Times from Venus in Furs. Although being one of the pioneers of new wave music, there was hardly an evidence of his existence on the Internet. The mysterious man is back and finally I got the chance to ask him all the questions that came up over the years.

Read More →

Posted in: Interviews, Popular Music // Tagged: , , , , ,

Polish Coldwave · Zimna Fala 4

17th October 2014 18:43 // 3 Comments //

theshipyard

There can never be enough Polish coldwave. Recenty, I came across some coldwave bands from Poland, which I am going to introduce to you in another chapter on Zimna Fala: The Shipyard, Schröttersburg, Manta Birostris and Liście.

If you missed my other articles on Polish coldwave, or you don’t know yet, what Zimna Fala is, here are the links to the previous chapters: 1, 2, 3. Read More →

Posted in: Popular Culture, Popular Music, The Sounds of... // Tagged: , , , , ,

An Alternative Venue Guide

8th September 2014 17:19 // Leave a Comment //

crossclubprague

While travelling I am always searching for nice bars and clubs to spend a nice evening at. On the Internet one can find such venues, but it also takes some time. So the idea came up to make a list of interesting places all over Europe. You can find it here.

This list of venues will be updated regularly. If you have anything interesting to contribute, please use the comments or write me an e-mail.

Posted in: Everyday Life, Popular Culture, Popular Music, Travelling // Tagged: , , , ,

Some Thoughts About the Eurovision Song Contest

12th May 2014 20:34 // Leave a Comment //

Udo Jürgens vs. Conchita Wurst

Wow, if the Eurovision Song Contest is an attempt to create a European popular music culture separate from an American one, we really failed big time. It is, perhaps, not simply just a copy of the American one, but even worse and dumber in all its facets. Usually, I don’t care much about this nonsense and if yes, then mostly for social anthropological research. The last years I didn’t trouble myself to watch it, sometimes I looked up on YouTube, which song won, just to push the stop-button after a few seconds. I even wouldn’t have know that this year’s contest took place last week, if there wasn’t a headline on BBC News Europe that Austria won the whole thing – the first headline on this page for the last few months, which was not dealing with the Ukrainian Crisis. So this must be really shocking news then. Read More →

Posted in: Popular Culture, Popular Music // Tagged: , , , , ,

Fresh Music Supply

10th April 2014 12:10 // Leave a Comment //

ashcode-live

Lately I have been quite busy and didn’t find much time to write some articles on theses pages. This shall change now. Finally, I owe you some news on music.

Firstly, Hungarian minimal wave artist Ádám Bérces, Slovakian goth-punks Hysteric Helen finally released their debut albums. I am already quite busy writing some reviews and will keep you, of course, informed, when they will be published.

Minimal artist ZX Electric released his second album Fixed Unknown, a review on this you can find here. Italian darkwavers Christine Plays Viola were also busy and revealed to us their new masterpiece Vacua.

In the following I will present you some new singles and bands, which you might enjoy. Read More →

Posted in: Popular Music // Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,