The compilation was inspired by the concept and initiative of Easterndaze festival as for collective collaboration bringing together three different art projects but similar mindsets, geographically, virtually and symbolically. Formed in Montreal, 2012, Total Black is a record label presently based in Berlin releasing noise, industrial, power electronics, and experimental music.
Published November, 2018
Although the international reputation of the country, whose PM hailed illiberal democracy as his preferred NWO, is not the best (to say the least), there’s a parallel culture that largely operates independently of state-run infrastructure, creating several microcosms with their own audiences and worldviews, implicitly turning against misogyny, discrimination, narrow-mindedness, and reflecting the techno-dystopian times we are living in at the moment. “…The goal of our underground is to create a second culture, a culture completely independent from all official communication media and the conventional hierarchy of value judgements put out by the establishment”, wrote Ivan Jirous, a member of The Plastic People of the Universe, in 1975.
Published April, 2017
Új Bála is a solo project by Gábor Kovács, a Hungarian musician and visual artist. Active in numerous music projects, Új Bála sees him embrace the (basement) dancefloor.
Published April, 2016
Traumas are sketches from life. Life is made of traumatic sketches.
Published January, 2016
From April 17 to June 12, 2015 we have tried to encapsulate what we have been doing in the last five years through a gallery exhibition and a series of events, which aimed to highlight the thriving DIY culture that has flourished in this region. Dozens of excellent music videos, which - with a dose of inherent irony - employ and subvert the cliches of “Eastern topography” - the concrete blocks (ghettos, right?), the ostentatious display of consumer goods, and the lo-fi aesthetic (more by necessity than choice) were displayed in the pristine white cube gallery space Higgs Field in the centre off Budapest as part of the two-month OFF Biennále Budapest, which was basically a statement against the current political status quo in Hungary.
Published June, 2015
From 17th of April until 12th of June 2015, Easterndaze is curating a an audiovisual exhibition in Budapest as part of its OFF Biennale exhibition in the Higgs Gallery. At the forefront of the two month event are music videos, as well as events which aim to centre around labels which constantly push the boundaries of their respective fields.
Published April, 2015
Farbwechsel’s recent releases are becoming more different, offering a broader range of musical genres. This change is welcome since their lo-fi and dreamy house-driven sound slowly started to become a bit worn-out.
Published December, 2014
Új Bála is side project of the singer of Der Tanz, a Hungarian noise-rock band. Whilst in his band, he transforms into a Ian Curtis-like crooner delivering his baritone with intensity and fervour, Új Bála is more introspective or introverted.
Published December, 2014
There is a thing with remixes, an almost philosophical question. Shall they eclipse the originals, shall they pay homage to them, or rather totally arbitrarily, like the ol’ Aphex Twin used to do, throw in a random track.
Published July, 2014
“Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together and they add up to a story of a life.
Published May, 2014
Another release on the Hungarian scene is something different than the traditionally more club friendly output of the Budapestians spearheaded by the likes of Norwell or S Olbricht. But still, the connection is there, as Gábor Lazar is graduate of the Faculty of Music and Visual Arts in Pécs, which is an institution also attended by S Olbricht in the past, one of the rising artists of the Farbwechsel collective with a handful of releases on internationally acclaimed labels.
Published April, 2014
The Budapest scene of the last few years has garnered attention, because of its cross-pollinatory nature, specific sound revolving around the Farbwechsel label. Lo-fi house, analogue electronics, vintage techno have become staples of sonic map of the Hungarian capital.
Published February, 2014
There is music and sound that without any ornamentation or sycophantic tropes manages to evoke specific almost synaesthetic evocations. It is almost as if it didn’t need a particular source or origin, it is acousmatic, as if it existed alone, emitted into urban decay, those areas abandoned by the well-to-do and successful.
Published January, 2014
12z sessionz Podcast by Easterndaze on Mixcloud The 12z sessionz started as a weekly rehearsal in 2012 for practicing purposes on free electroacoustic improvisation in a Budapest flat. As the project developed, 12z members started to invite friends to join the weekly improvisations, to get inspirations from very different styles and record the jamming.
Published October, 2013
Budapest, as I have experienced over the last year, is slowly turning into a hotbed for offbeat electronics, vintage dance and experimentalism. In spite of the recent politial, economic and societal state of the country /dubbed “Orbanistan”/, much of which has featured prominently in global media as of late, the music scene, especially the dance one, has been thriving.
Published August, 2013
Imre Kiss is a fledgling Hungarian producer, who is currently based in London as a freelance graphic designer. He is part of the burgeoning Budapest dance/electronic scene, underpinned by the Farbwechsel label.
Published July, 2013
In spite of the increasingly weird political situation of Hungary, the absurd new laws and changes in constitution, nationalism and other xenophobias, its underground music scene has been blooming, largely unaffected by the cuts in arts funding. Plenty of new ensembles, projects and labels have come out in the last two or three years, most notably imprints and crews surrounding them, like Farbwechsel and Last Foundation.
Published July, 2013
14-year old Hungarian producer Alley Catss, whose music and overall attitude towards the world seem to be centered around nothing, released his latest batch of sonic weirdness earlier this month. Withdwr is a collection of 8 beautifully crafted experimental lullabies that will soothe your ears and brain with their raw, unpolished softness.
Published May, 2013
12z is an improvisational project from Budapest, whose regular weekly sessions in their Buda flat overlooking a park and the famous Gellert hill, have lead to a full-fledged album, recorded not in Budapest, but in a countryside hut. 12z’s Marci Kristof has told me that he doesn’t think music that is aimed at live contexts, should be statified on record.
Published May, 2013
Route 8 emerged from the sprawling Hungarian lofi scene that mostly encompassed guitar-driven and quirky electronic acts. Route 8’s sonic trajectory verged towards the dancefloor, the dancefloor of slow, hypnotic tunes made on analogue hardware.
Published April, 2013
Gloryhole is a Hungarian indie garage/pop band, whose songs are perfectly accessible and radio friendly in The Smiths kind of way, even your mum would like them. Enter “Heavenly Remixes”, a collection of beat-driven remixes, mostly by local producers, which have ended up completely recontextualising the original, turning it into at times harrowing, menacing offering.
Published March, 2013
Budapest-based producer Balázs Semsei aka Norwell makes his debut with his psychedelic electronica project on Shabu Recordings. The Farbwechsel co-founder is the third man connected to the fledgling label we featured earlier.
Published January, 2013
1. What’s the highlight for you in Hungary’s music scene? Budapest had an eventful year in 2012.
Published January, 2013
The Budapest-based duo of Silf is a new project by experimental electronic producer Martin Mikolai aka Stephan Olbricht and his Farbwechsel co-founder and label boss Bálint Zalkai aka Alpár, exploring leftfield territories of acid, Chicago and Detroit house, with a blend of Eastern melancholia, tropic daze and vintage nostalgia. Their self-titled first EP premiers here today /insert smug smile/, stream the record in its entirety before it will be released on 1st of January 2013 via Farbwechsel.
Published December, 2012
For fans of the deeper spectrum of abstract hip-hop and zombieish bass music, we present three splendid cuts courtesy of Chi Recordings that showcase the production of our Budapest-based friend Zomblaze (his track 21 was included on our first compilation). Balkan Kannibalizm by Zomblaze Coming from the realm of hip-hop, his production uses sampling, scratching, heavy bass and hip-hop’s pulse, but moves further into industrial and experimental sonic territories, never without a catchy sample or vibe.
Published August, 2012
Yvein Monq, the Budapest-based ethereal beat-o-naut, has a new vid for his track “Brainfreeze” taken from his EP Post Apocalyptic Codex X (of which you can find out more in an interview).
Published June, 2012
Having three sides as painter, rapper and songwriter-poet Gazsi Rap Show aka Gáspár Szőke is one of those multi-facetted artists. Gathering attention of the DIY-art scene with his memorable live shows and visual aesthetics of trash art he is finishing now his first album Az Atom Utolsó Erkölcsös Vak Királya (in English: The Last Virtous Blind King Of The Atom).
Published June, 2012
Gazsi Rap Show and ∑BOL∆ ∆P∑, two protagonists of our impending release party in Budapest, have teamed up to deliver an AV invite. Reblog this video on tumblr until Friday noon, and win a pair of combo tix (valid for 2 ppl) for our compilation release party in Budapest AND the Blackbird Blackbird gig on Sunday, 13 May also in Budapest.
Published May, 2012
Bedroom pop and lo-fi in Hungary has evolved to the next stage since early 2011. The first record label to cover this scene, Golf Team Records, was born a few days ago.
Published April, 2012
Published April, 2012
Route 8 has dropped his first EP Never Ending Stories just two months ago - we also featured his 4-track debut a while ago - and for now he’s working hard on his live set debut at the release party for the imminent second compilation of Easterndaze on 11th of May in Budapest’s Roham Bar. We’re eagerly looking forward to seeing his ‘synthpop-house’ tunes live.
Published April, 2012
After last year’s techno boom, with several more than decent comebacks of mavericks like Surgeon or Regis, straightforward pounding beats started to invade the minds of the music producers around the globe once again. Hungary is no exception and that’s the place from where SYNUS0006 puts out his latest release on the B4CK6ROUNDNO1SE sub-label of the Hungarian Panel Trax imprint.
Published April, 2012
The latest export from Hungary /where our new collaborateur and author of this article Andras G. Varga comes from/ comes via Route 8, a very young producer making atmospheric electronic vibes.
Published February, 2012
The end of the year is nigh, and thus we have decided to - surprise, surprise - compile a list of Best of from the countries we have been exploring over the last two years. And since our knowledge is limited, we have asked those living, working and creating in those particular countries to tell us about the music happenings in their country.
Published December, 2011
When Benedek Szabó, the mastermind behind the Hungarian project Zombie Girlfriend asked us to be the international platform through which the project’s second LP will be announced, we couldn’t say no. First of all we love Benedek’s musical humour, as manifested in the laid-back surfpop killer Jesus Stole My Zombie Girlfriend released as a part of the seminal Hungarian Lo-fi vol.
Published December, 2011
[gallery] Following her debut EP Parttalan, the Budapestian lofi-queen Piresian Beach releases her debut LP Fuck Your Mind. You can get it from the download link below, or on her Bandcamp.
Published July, 2011
[gallery] Hungary is going through a bit of a bedlam what with the controversial new media law and government that behaves as it suffered from amnesia. Recently, there have been clampdowns on clubs and music events as the “promoters of evil drug culture”.
Published February, 2011
Hungary seems to be in thrall of all things dreamy, lo-fi and fuzz (just check out Piresian Beach and her work, she’s also on our compilation). Another case in point is the Hungarian dreamy lo-fi fuzz project Models Can’t Fuck is inspired “by the "impotence” of the Hungarian music scene (hence the name), both mainstream and underground, and the general public’s out of date thinking about contemporary music and their indifference towards new exciting acts and young bands,“ says its heart and brain Árpi Szarvas.
Published January, 2011
There’s two ways how to deal with pre-Xmas late November depression. We don’t mean to boost the pharmaceutical industry, so no tips for cute little pills here, just some musical medicaments.
Published November, 2010