Endless Illusion is a Prague-based collective which has been exploring various forms of analogue sound through genres like minimal wave, electro, acid and techno. Aside from organising events and a radio show on the respected Dutch radio Intergalactic FM, they also release music – the current under an eponymous name and historical under the moniker Jupiter08.
Published May, 2017
Pawlacz Perski is a Warsaw-based label that embodies the sprawling cassette underground by releasing genre-less music, a luxury allowed by running a tape label without having to worry about flogging products and targeting audiences. Their latest - 37th! - release comes courtesy of the inanely titled Computer Says No project by Jakub Pokorski.
Published November, 2016
Czaszka is a relatively new addition to the sprawling tape scene. Established by Polish expats Michal Fundowicz and Karolina Pietrzyk and Oliver Spieker living in Edinburgh and Berlin respectively, Czaska is hard to categorise in terms of sonics - and better so.
Published September, 2016
Mazut is a new duo that emerged from the thriving Polish underground music scene. Centred around the wonderful (and prolific) imprint BDTA, Mazut (waste oil in English) is an experimental platform for venting rage with doses of tranquility.
Published April, 2016
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
Somnoroase Pasarele. The birds that left the cage.
Published February, 2016
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
The deep, bassy echo chamber emits sound into uncanny and slightly disquieting stillness, cloaked in serene atmospherics, designed to lull its listener into a state of bromazepam trance. Aleksandra Grünholz is a Warsaw-based musician and graphic designer, whose project We Will Fail, has slowly carved its mark onto the post/dance scene of Poland and beyond.
Published December, 2014
“I work with artists for freedom of work and creation, it is important. I value the spirit of collective creation, searching for joy of free energy.
Published November, 2014
Wojciech Kucharczyk is one doyens of Polish electronic music scene, as well as visual artist and a graphic designer. Operating his Mik Musik sonic empire since 1994 (!), Kucharczyk is a tireless evangelist, championing new artists (recently, notably including modular wizard Wilhelm Bras or the idiosyncratic Czarny Latawiec), and his zeal has been reinforced two years ago, when he resurrected the Polish imprint to present an exciting new sound of the Polish underground.
Published April, 2014
For tracklist click here: Tracklist:Superskin - Suspicious Minds Superskin - Drown Superskin - Descent Somnoroase Paserele - 18_01 Somnoroase Paserele - 18_08 Somnoroase Paserele - 17_04 Střed Světa - Ozvena Zmackana Opodal Střed Světa - Travinou Obkliceni Střed Světa - untitled, unreleased Střed Světa - Tvorem v tíží země (Basic House Rub) Lightning Glove - Dream On (Ketamine God) - unreleased Sister Body - Secret Turned to Revulsion Heroiny S Olbricht & Carla Under Water - No Message (The Key) S Olbricht & Carla Under Water - Birds Nightmare Carpet - untitled Shamnelism - Shamnelism Plevna - Imperios Future Nuggets Střed Světa - Tvorem pod sluncem S Olbricht - III1 Synus006 - Dist_Black Jonáš Gruska - Lunars
Published March, 2014
“PL2UA compilation is an expression of solidarity and support of Polish musicians for people who suffer as a result of clashes in the Ukraine. By providing their music in digital form, the artists want to help those in need and those that require support.
Published February, 2014
The original, 16-minute long EP called Obete Sekty was not only one of the best releases that the Slovak label Exitab put out, it can also, without any doubt, be considered as one of the best Slovak alternative releases of the last decade. The project, which was originally recorded almost 10 years ago was finally released in 2011 and now, after three years, Tomáš Ferko also known as Teapot has decided to revisit this piece, strongly connected with the memories of his hometown, Prešov, with the help of his friends.
Published February, 2014
Very tribal. Those two words resonated through my head as I put on the latest RSS B0YS release and rhythms started to emanate in my room.
Published February, 2014
Pavel Niakhayeu is a Belarusian electronic musician (Pavel Ambiont, Nieviadomy Artyst) whose recent releases include Pagan & Urban (2013), Dare To Know (2014). He also runs the Force Carriers label and is a lecturer of ‘Contemporary Music Culture’ and ‘Creative Industries’ at EHU - Belarusian university in Vilnius, LT.
Published January, 2014
The Romanian project Nava Spatiala, whose Miron Ghiu has done a fantastic remix for fellow Romanians Somnoroase Pasarele whose album ABECD appeared our Baba Vanga label, are one of the proselytizers of dark techno and its industrial, offbeat guises championed by Downwards’ Samuel Kerridge or Blackest Ever Black. They hover between the eerie, paranoid territory of narcoleptic soundscapes, industrial and meandering atmospherics.
Published November, 2013
The Exterritory compilation series strives to present the best up-and-coming music from Central Europe - Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland, aka the V4. It is the third installment of the annual sonic list, focusing mostly on electronics and new forms of the aural underground.
Published September, 2013
Mis on techno? Publishing experimental technoid live jams made 22 years after its initial recording may sound as abstract as dubbing in a Portuguese SuperSponge commercial. But, in fact, the idea behind it appears quite clearly.
Published September, 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
Lutto Lento Another Polish project belongs to the boss of the idiosyncratic Sangoplasmo label, the tape imprint that has carved its niche over the few years of its existence with quirky, outthere sounds by local as well as international artists, including Ensemble Economique or Decimus. Lubomir, Sangoplasmo’s heart and soul, also produces music, under the guise Lutto Lento.
Published August, 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
Our friend Střed Světa released an eponymous debut album earlier this year on our little baby, the Baba Vanga label. The idiosyncratic producer, who prefers to work in his Bohemian seclusion, has recontextualized years of sonic activities into a remarkable journey that bubbles, floats, crackles and hypnotizes.
Published June, 2013
RSS Boys linger in secret, though they recently appeared on the Wire Tapper CD, their identity or whereabouts remain cloaked in a veil of mystery, aside from the fact that they release their prolific output /their latest album proper appeared in March/ on the acclaimed Mik Musik! and are part of their Secret Editions, alongside artists like Pawel Pesel /whose great release Ekscentryzm was released last year/ or Mangrove Mangrave whose release is equally pleasing the adventurous ear. All of them share a certain kind of sonic aesthetics taking its cues from slow, mangled techno and psychedelic atmospherics.
Published April, 2013
RSS Boys, the enigmatic project emerged last year as part of Mik Musik’s Secret Editions series. Their quirky techno has already caught our ears with their debut release, and recently, their track appeared on a Wire Tapper CD.
Published March, 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
Mik Musik has revamped itself last year with a slew of releases, mysteriously titled, and following in a gritty, psychedelic danceable vein. Mostly part of its super secret anonymous edition, acts like RSS Boys, Mangrove Mangrave or PAWEL PESEL, have pursued a wonky, exploratory techno direction, without utilising many of the usual genre tropes.
Published February, 2013
After having travelled half of /the eastern/ part of Europe over the last two or three years, and meeting and discovering amazing music, we have decided we want to make it heard, loud and physical. Thus, we are delving into the label game, with a simple aim - expose music that somehow stands out through idiosyncratic existence.
Published January, 2013
Two new videos have arrived via the reliably ace Mik Musik contingent, for their brilliant Secret Editions series. One of my last year’s favourites, Mangrove Mangrave, and RSS Boys - who are releasing an album at the end of February, steeped in some woozy technoid outerspace, menacing, claustrophobic, but utterly grooving.
Published January, 2013
1. What’s the highlight for you in the Macedonian music scene in 2012? More than 50 albums and many singles/EPs were released within the alternative/rock/punk/dance scene last year in Macedonia.
Published January, 2013
You just cannot complain about the amount of good quality techno releases these days. And Panel Trax/B4CK6ROUNDNO1SE are doing their share too.
Published November, 2012
The revamped label Mik Musik! have been going from strength to strength with several noteworthy releases as of late /check out our review of their previous ace release by the mysterious RSS Boys here/, navigating in the experimental dance territory, techno for the twisted minds and adventurous souls, we could call it. Its latest record is by PAWEŁ PESEL, a pseudonym whose real identity shall remain hidden, since this is part of Mik Musik!’s secret editions series.
Published November, 2012
Mik Musik - Dark Late Summer Mix by Easterndaze on Mixcloud What is the genealogy of Mik Musik?The usual - nobody wanted to release our music, so we did it ourselves. It was the early nineties.
Published September, 2012
The bandcamp profile of this release (if you understand Polish that is) reveals lot of praise and statements about originality of the two personas hidden behind the stylish band name. That elicits even more curiosity as the visual side of W DONT BLV N HYP (including song names and quite hairy cover) suggests some post-witch house territory.
Published July, 2012
Bratislava-based visual artist Boris Vitázek aka Stix is a well known VJ working mostly with the post-dubstep producer Stroon. Stix is also the main force behind the techno nights Trashold in the now legendary venue Subclub.
Published July, 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
Synus0006 aka Laslow Bényei returned to renowned Hungarian label Chi Recordings with his latest output symbolically titled Five Years Later, after Da Micro Cop EP back in 2006. Synus0006 spent the last five years tirelessly producing a lot of tunes to release them on various labels.
Published March, 2012
Vuksa Velickovic is a writer, UCL alumni, editor of the Bturn magazine focused on promoting the music, culture and style of the Balkans and a general man about town. Here he divulges what rocked his world in ‘11 and what has 2012 got in store for him.
Published January, 2012
Another in our supposedly regular monthly podcasts presenting the best music we could come across in the given period (geographically attuned to our focus of course:). This installment turned out slightly deranged with lot of spoken word, psychedelia and twisted electronics.
Published December, 2011
listeninglectures: P.C.
Published March, 2011
Napszyklat in the building where their current studio is located. The Poznaň music scene was probably the most interconnected and interesting from any Polish towns we had visited during our trip.
Published September, 2010