Farbwechsel – VA03: Diverse Künstler Drei
Published April, 2017
by Easterndaze
The Budapest-based label Farbwechsel has been relatively dormant in the last two years, but that wouldn’t be obvious from their latest opus magnum – a 17 track compilation that gathers producers from their roster, friends and like-minded knob-twisters. Sonically, it’s as diverse as its title promises – from the straighter strains of techno and house of the likes of Imre Kiss and Mike Nylons, through weirder, more quirky endeavours by the likes of 12z and academic and sound artist Zlatko Baracskai. There’s the customary dark melancholia by label boss S Olbricht, modular medley by Alpár, Kokum’s ‘post-punk’, Új Bála’s gritty tech, while Acid Witch queen Yinna continues in a mellow vein. The underlying vibe lingers amid ghosts of the past, delayed melodies and kick drums, fragile and slightly rough around the edges with echoes of the lo-fi aesthetics that made Farbwechsel – especially S Olbricht and Imre Kiss – its prime ambassadors.
The label has been active since 2012, and over the last five years, has catapulted many of its producers – S Olbricht, Norwell, Alpár, A I W A, Imre Kiss – on the global electronic map (cooperations with UK label Lobster Theremin, Boiler Room’s Budapest takover featuring Farbwechsel producers – albeit entitled BR Budapest x Lobster Theremin), and coincided with a Renaissance of the Budapest music scene, which thrives in spite of the circumstances it has to exist in.