Author: Easterndaze

In talks with: Obwigszyh

Budapest-based composer and DJ Obwigszyh discusses his residency in Sweden, his creative methods, his upcoming material, and a new project.

Published September, 2024

Maqame Daxe: Sounds of pop, jazz and rock from the Soviet Caucasus

Interview with Andrei Yemelianov – explorer, seeker and gatherer of early jazz, rock and lyrical pop song samples from the Caucasus through his label Maqame Daxe (“beautiful melody” in Circassian).

Published August, 2024

“Subversion is my compositional process.” Slovak experimental musician Bolka talks about his releases.

Exactly one year to the day since the release of his last album Smutné stropy (Sad Ceilings), one of the most remarkable Slovak recordings of the last year, the follow-up EP to Žiadzasamy is being released via the Weltschmerzen label. Bolka studied sonology in The Hague.

Published July, 2024

The Digicore scene in Slovakia — How to make music and build community

It can be challenging to pinpoint the precise origins of hyperpop as a musical genre. The term was first used in the 1980s in connection with the Scottish band Cocteau Twins, but they can hardly be described as the predecessors, let alone pioneers of the genre.

Published July, 2024

Pavilon and Terra Kontra join forces for a small festival coalition

This year, you don't have to choose which small festival to attend. We've looked into what to expect from the joint venture between Pavilon and Terra Kontra this July in Felsőtárkány.

Published June, 2024

Ored Recordings: Punk ethnography and the sounds of the North Caucasus

Founded in 2013 by Bulat Khalilov and Timur Kodzoko, Ored Recordings is a pioneering label dedicated to documenting and preserving the traditional and post-traditional music of the North Caucasus. Through field recordings, dinner parties, communal gatherings and local festivities, the label has captured a wide range of musical traditions and manifestations, from Circassian epic sagas to Cossack songs and Sufi rituals in Chechnya.

Published June, 2024

The Muscut and Shukai sounds of lost futures

At first glance, the sonic worlds of Ukrainian labels Muscut and Shukai sound very similar. While the aesthetics of both share the sound of the nostalgic allure of blurred, overdubbed tape loops, they diverge in their creative approach.

Published June, 2024

Punkraves in pubs, forests, factories and clubs — nearing a decade-long run, PÉNZ debuts their new mixtape

The PÉNZ collective coined (invented?) a trademark sound and vibe within the Budapest nightlife scene. Considering that they’ve been active for almost a decade, perhaps it’s not too much of a stretch to discuss their “life’s work”.

Published May, 2024

With mappa on the fluid boundaries between fictional and real sound worlds

Between Lučenec and Banská Štiavnica, Jakub Juhás, founder of the mappa label, forms soundscapes that naturally wander between the real and the fictional. Be it sonic ecosystems of ponds or eclectic electronics drowned in the meditative sound of organs.

Published May, 2024

We essentially do the same thing, just better – interview with makrohang

Not many bands have had as big an impact on me as Makrohang. I was in mourning for quite a while when they disappeared from the scene.

Published May, 2024