Rarely does music pupate so successfully under what feels like dozens of layers of diverse influences, only to break out of its cocoon at just the right moment – and proudly create something completely new. Even for the year 2020, which is certainly not lacking in unusual sounds, Ätna are adventurous, untamed and far ahead of their time. The duo from Dresden repeatedly manages to inject artistry into Art Pop without ever sounding pretentious, perhaps because indietronica, club music and alternative R&B are equally developed here. Inéz Schaefer sings her soul out of her body with an absurdly changeable timbre on her debut ‘Made By Desire’, oscillating between ethereal grandeur and intimate immediacy. Songs such as ‘Ruining My Brain’, which flows into a techno maelstrom, and the spinning piano ballad ‘Try’ show that the two can touch whatever they want in their sound cosmos. There is always a musical feeling that seduces, amazes and leaves categories behind – often in the same song, be that in the studio or on stage.

Chinese Football is a four-piece indie rock/emo/post rock band based in Wuhan,China. Chinese Football formed in 2011 when vocalist Xubo met guitarist Wang Bo. The current lineup completed when bassist Li Lixin joined in in 2012 and girl drummer Zhen Zili jumped on board in 2016. Chinese Football tries to keep the original tension of punk music and operating with a DIY attitude. inspired by late 1990s emo pioneers like Jimmy Eat World, Get Up Kids and American Football, Chinese Football specializes in a potent guitar-bass-driven wistful indie rock sound. Mixing with brain- washed guitar riffs with Mandarin lyrics, Chinese Football is devoted to expressing the fantasy of youth and its frustration.

The production sophistication of Radiohead, the lustfully dark tenor of Portishead and the melodic sensitivity of Alt-J: Faces On TV’s first album Night Funeral two years ago earned them praise and comparisons the like of which other bands can spend decades seeking. Many have wondered how multi-instrumentalist Jasper Maekelberg is able to conjure such magic out of nowhere. Although the Belgian musician had previously collaborated with Sam Sparro, Gabriel Rios and Jev Neve, he only realised his own vision through the Faces On TV project, which he launched with four friends in 2016. There have been numerous highlights and achievements – no surprise when you listen to brilliantly arranged songs such as ‘Run Against the Stream’ and the epic ‘Love/Dead’. Inspired by indie poetry, great songwriter gestures and beautiful music videos, the project has remained a well-guarded insider tip that captivates eyes and ears alike. Until now!


In the bizarre year 2020, Faces on TV reappears with surprising singles ‘Womba’ and ‘Time After Time’. The new Faces is unfettered and sultry, an ode to drum-computers and to Prince. Jasper laid the foundation for the new music in the back of the tour bus and, more than ever, you can hear the mental gymnastics of a musical all-rounder who bursts with creativity.

Noa, Naomi and Nataja Lachmi put their heads together to start their own band project when they were still at school. That was back in 2013. As Velvet Volume, the three sisters quickly progressed from small venues in their home town of Aarhus to the prestigious Crown Prince Couple’s Award, the annual award show of the music magazine Gaffa, and on to Denmark’s national radio charts. From then on, the trio with the punky rock sound was an unmissable presence in the concert scene north of Hamburg. They toured extensively and released their debut album Look Look Look! in 2017, which made quite an impact. The three lively ladies have consistently developed their style and this year they present the follow-up album, Ego’s Need. Besides exceptionally clever song-writing, the album demonstrates one thing above all else: the courage to be independent in an industry still dominated by men.

Active under the moniker defasten since the genesis of the internet age, Patrick Doan’s visual works have evolved in parallel to his deep absorption in all known forms of electronic music and its (sub)cultures. His future-facing visual design aesthetic exists online through audio reactive, hyper3d digital video and performances, from architecturally deconstructed cyberspaces to virtual clubs. These net-based realities have taken shape from Patrick’s colliding interests in current and future tech, alongside the rapidly altered machined landscape of the post-Anthropocene driven by deep neural AI.

ALTERGATE

Zone5_2XX829 is a virtual environment in Patrick’s expanding metaverse project ALTERGATE. A cyber scene from the selected node will play out, with the host user Patrick integrated in the synthetic level reconstructed around a simulated 3d world location.

His virtual presence will feature a custom sound collage by real-world Berlin-based Japanese electronic composer Yu Miyashita, also known as Yaporigami (BRDG Tokyo, Virgin Babylon Records, Detroit Underground, The Collection Artaud)

Nova Heart has been a pioneer of the Chinese indie scene. The band was established by Helen Feng 冯海宁 in Beijing 2011 after Feng left electro-punk outfit Pet Conspiracy宠物同谋 which she co-founded in 2007. Soon after she was joined by drumming legend Shi Lu aka Atom of seminal Beijing band Hedgehog刺猬 and her former bandmate Bo Xuan.

In the following years, Nova Heart did what no Chinese band had ever done until then. They extensively toured internationally on all continents (playing festivals from Glastonbury in the UK to Sakifo in Reunion Island and Clockenflap in Hong Kong) and having radio airplay on major international stations (BBC in the UK, Triple J in Australia, Eins Live in Germany, KCRW in the US), and gave interviews from everybody from Der Spiegel, via VICE to The Guardian CNN, or VOGUE, the latter describing Nova Heart´s workas „dark, sexy and beautiful - music Karl Lagerfeld would be proud of“

But, more importantly, with Feng at the helm, Nova Heart found an artistic voice, the west, as well as China, were listening to at the same time.

And this voice always pushed the agenda e.g. with a video on LGTBQ issues (Beautiful Boys), a rarity in China; the Rosemary Baby-Esque nightmares of a miscarried child (in the Lackluster No. video, directed by Feng herself and starring T in a China-Noir Style) or the exaggerated obsession with superficiality (in the video of We are Golden).

Nova Heart is working on a new album.

Mimik Banka is a band based in Beijing, the music capital of China. Most of their music is based on Indie Rock with elements from electronic music, Dream Pop, and Trip-hop, and even hints of jazz and classical. Their music focuses on stories of people in cities. It’s about their dilemmas, longing and love. Instead of direct observation, they choose to write music with a finer outline, creating an atmosphere with a unique harmonic vocabulary that allows the listeners to truly sink into the mind of the characters that are described in the lyrics and melodies. Their music provokes an image of cities and people that are shrouded in grotesque mists. You can vent, let your mind fly, or simply let your thoughts wander in such a fog. They have performed on numerous stages across china for major festivals like strawberry, midi, or simple life.

The band also collaborated on many occasions with artists for various interdisciplinary art activities in spaces like the UCCA in Beijing or the short film- festival Interfilm in Berlin on the Volksbühne.