Contemporary Music in Vienna

I am very eclectic when in comes to music. I can listen to (almost) anything. You might say I really love music in every way, with a particular penchant for blues, jazz and rock ’n roll.
So I needed to know what was going on in terms of music in contemporary Vienna.

Homeland of the famous composers Strauss, Haydn, Malher, Schubert and Bruckner, it would be wrong to limit Austria’s talent to classical music.
The link between Austria and music has always been very vivid but currently, Austria is experiencing a musical revamp with underground groups ready to be discovered. There are no real superstars right now but merely an ebullient music scene that might very soon burst out of the Austrian borders and infect us all.

One afternoon, a bit exhausted of traipsing around the Viennese streets in my search to uncover the « coolest » places, I really needed a coffee break and Phil (see tips), one of the spot I intended to check out, was luckily nearby. Phil is a great place to take an interesting break: it’s a café dubbed library where you can also work thanks to their free wifi, a bit like a Starbucks in a library but way better!
Besides books (most of them sadly in German), they also stock some interesting things like CD’s of avant-garde music. And that’s where I found this CD quite simply entitled « Austrian Heartbeats », stemming from the collaboration between  Music Austria and Col Legno.

Austrian heartbeats



It showcases 4 groups selected by Patrick Pulsinger, a well-known music producer and DJ: Arktis/Air, Mimu, Fijuka and Wandl Among those my favorite is Fijuka: that’s the one I chose for the video on the Vienna homepage.

fijuka

This duet of 2 girls – Ankathie (synthesizer, vocals) and Judith Filimónova (bass, vocals) – produces a sophisticated, elegant and varied electro pop, reminiscent of 80s aesthetics.

There is also a book commissioned by Austrian Music Export in English if you want to dig in further.

book

You can see this as a cool entry point to this new music scene.

Then if you really want to immerse yourself in Austrian contemporary music, there’s an online radio called micatonal.

I can’t wait to get the next edition.

Where can you buy the CD? Quite simply at Phil’s or any music store in Vienna or online at Col-Legno. You can also buy the book online but it seems you can only buy there the German edition (though an English one exists).

Cathy


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Cathy Becq - Editor
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