Batcha de Mental is a deranged musical alter ego of Slovak designer and musician Alex Gutrai. He will play live at the impending Easterndaze gig at Stanica in Žilina in Northern Slovakia on 10 December. Be scared.

Who is Batcha de Mental?
He’s an evil character with a sentimental twist. The legend says his grandfather was the dentist of Jozef Tiso - the president of former nazi Slovakia. Batcha de Mental ihnerited Tiso’s wisdom teeth which he implanted in his own gums and therefore gained supernatural powers with which he terrorizes the Eskimo nation… But beside that, he likes to make music to bang your head against the wall and cry about the beauty of baby dolphins.

You recycle Slovak national songs as well as 80ties communist pop. Why?
I like to do stupid things.

What is your aspiration musically? What are you trying to say through music?
I want Rytmus (the multi-million Slovakian rapper) to beg for my beats, so I can turn him down. In my music I try to express the delicate feelings of an unborn kengaroo retard in a Balkan ZOO.

What should people expect from you in Žilina?
Internal bleeding.

Mad world (bdm kalafuna smell mix) by Batcha de Mental

Our project will culminate with the compilation which is gonna be out vv soon on the Polish label Audiotong featuring some of our favourite tracks by musicians we met on our East European journey. In the meantime, get lost in Slovak artist Jarmila Mitrikova’s psychedelic cover. Hope you’ll love it as much as we do:)

foto: Ivana Vereski

Another of our recordings from the Easterndaze nights. Vladimir Lenhart is a Serbian musician and journalist and his live set definitely rocked A4 with his Moroccan, Albanian, Turkish or Serbian tapes as well as a random Alles Gute language learning one, just see his magic hands at work above:) Check out an excerpt from his live set here:

Vladimir Lenhart live at Easterndaze Night in Bratislava by easterndaze

foto: Ivana Vereski

A live recording from dné’s gig at our first night on 18 November 2010. Check back for more live sets, which we’ve been diligently recording at our three shows.

Dné easterndaze night 11-2010 by easterndaze

Bratislava’s “advanced music” festival NEXT is starting in a couple of days. The 11th edition of NEXT is going to present artists such as FM Einheit, The Thing, Tarek Atoui, Mira Calix and others.

Slovak projects on the festival include a world premiere of the project Dunkeltherapie led by the young musician and composer Miro Tóth (Frutti di Mare) in cooperation with other musicians, most notably Martin Burlas - an established musician who’s active in both classical and alternative domains. Another Slovak musician performing on the festival will be ::.: known from the noise/dark-ambient project Poo (as well as Angakkut, performing on the second Easterndaze night in Kosice). ::.: will play in an collaborative session with Portuguese musicians @c.

NEXT also provides space for creative experiments of young eastern european artists - under the banner of V4 Soundlab four musicians from Slovakia, Hungary, Poland and Czech republic are brought together to create a unique performance just for the festival. This year it will be the trumpetist Robo Kolar (Frutti di Mare), electronic hip-hop producer Robert Piernikowski (Napszyklat), the noiser and experimentalist Jan Klamm (No Pavarotti) and the beat-boxer Marko Bárth who’s feedbacked vocal performance on Budapest’s Ultrahang festival 2010 was very fresh and interesting. 

Apart from an extensive roster of high-profile experimental and improvised music projects, NEXT is also known for its warm and sometimes pretty wild athmosphere. The lobby of the NOC building becomes a meeting place of Bratislava’s experimental scene, with audience and artists mixing together during the energetic and wild afterparties.

Watch the http://nextfestival.sk website for updates and also links to AV streams from the festival.