Mykki – is the rising star of the so called queer rap, a sub genre of rap. I was so lucky that I caught him last week on his quick stop in Prague while he is touring the world with his ( or maybe her?) new musical piece called Betty Rubble: The Initiation. Below there are a few impressions and pictures of course…
C-Heads Podcast #13 : FAUNA
MusicWe are back with the new podcast! After a series of house or let’s say straight beat mixes we decided to try something different. And special, of course. Fauna´s exclusive podcast delivers some slow&downtempo and hip hop beats!
festival tip: Colours of Ostrava
CultureEventsMusic
Today we have a super festival tip for you! Colours of Ostrava is a multigenre festival which is held in the third largest city in Czech – Ostrava. Since last year the festival has moved its venue to the area “Dolni Vitkovice” which used to be an industrial area of mines and ironworks. The first edition of the festival was in 2002 and with every year the festival has grown more and more. Colours of Ostrava is also a winner of the Czech awards called Anděl in the category “Music event” in the years 2005 and 2006.
So far the attendants of the festival had the chance to see big names such as Robert Plant, Alanis Morissette, Cranberries, Animal Collective, Bobby McFerrin and many more. Colours of Ostrava is not only about music – the festival provides a rich accompanying program (from theates, discussions, workshops to movies).
The program for the year 2013 is in our opinion VERY big, just take a look on the headliners yourself:
Sigur Rós
The XX
The Knife
Bonobo
Woodkid
Jamie Cullum
Tomahawk
Damien Rice
Dub FX
Asaf Avidan
and many more!
View full line up here
All useful information (camping, transport, maps…) you can find here
When: 18. – 21. 7. 2013
Where: Dolni Vitkovice, Ostrava (Czech republic)
Entry: information about ticket prices + how to buy them here
Official festival website
La Bella Vida in Prague
EventsMusic
The sun has finally appeared on the sky, summer is approaching and so is the 3rd La Bella Vida season. The very first edition (out of 5 that have been planned) is taking place in a very well known venue – it is a roofed terrace of the Prague Yacht Club Podolka, just at the bank of Vltava river.
Berlin based producer and dj Alexander Kastner, who is one half of Paskal & Urban Absolutes, accepted his invitation and he is going to play a Dj set which is usually beautifully slow and deep with the perfect summer atmosphere and very often with vocals. Alex himself and/ or together with Adrian Hoffman in scope of their project Paskal & Urban Absolutes released his productions on more than 20 labels. It is worth to mention his EP “Our Smile In Your Face” which was a second release at Lukas Micka’s Prague based label. Another obviously good choice for the line up is Brno based talent Tom Holic. His performance on last year’s La Bella Vida is almost legendary. The Line up will be completed by Aitcher Clark (live) – who has been very active both with his own productions and his project Awali (together with a Ukrainian singer Tamara Shmidt). The list of guest artists will be as usually supported by residents Milan Kroutil and Awacs.
La Bella Vida facebook event
When: 18th May 2013 (start 5pm)
Where: Restaurant Podolka (Podolske nabrezi – port 1, 147 00 Prague, Czech republic)
Entry: free!

Watch new video of Twigs
Music
London based singer and producer Twigs appeared out of nowhere and caused quite big stir on the scene last year. After releasing her debut 4-track EP on her bandcamp, she disappeared – until now! And she is back with some fresh material which was co-produced with another UK artist Arca. Some sources are saying that this could be a song from an upcoming EP, but who knows. There is not so much information or fan sites of this very gifted woman. While we are all waiting for her new material, let’s enjoy this extraordinary music & video!
Twigs : How’s that
directed by Jesse Kanda written by Twigs & Arca
Sónar festival celebrates 20th anniversary
CultureEventsMusic
It’s almost unbelievable how quickly time goes by… It´s going to be 20 years since the first Sónar festival in Barcelona happened. During all those years this festival has presented a considerable amount of talented artists and bands. Also, Sónar has been able to expand its concept to other parts of our world – places like Sao Paolo, Tokyo, Osaka or Reykjavík. Like every year, in 2013 the festival program will be divided into a Day and Night part. The Line ups of Sónar festivals are always very colorful, so everyone can find his thing.
With celebrating their 20th anniversary, there will be some changes. After 19 years at the CCCB, the MACBA and the surrounding area, the festival is moving its daytime program to the Fira Montjuic area in Placa d’Espanya, an emblematic location in the city. The 4 stage concept of SonarVillage, SonarHall, SonarDôme and SonarComplex will be kept – furthermore, the capacity of all places will be increased! Plus, this new location is significantly nearer to Sónar by Night (its place remains the same). With the festival’s shuttle buses, you can get from one place to another in about 10 minutes! More about location & maps here.
Sónar+D. – another exciting change!
Sónar+D represents the evolution of the festival’s professional and new media areas, which represents a series of activities based around the same central theme: making the relationship between creativity, technology, mobility, innovation and business more visible and accessible. Sónar+D platform will offer workshops and hackathons, interactive installations, product demos and presentations, services and entrepreneurial initiatives in the field of creativity, technology and music. Attendees will also have a chance to participate on conferences and meetings with the biggest names of Sónar line up, as well as see live shows reflecting the culture of innovation through the use of new interactive devices. More about Sónar+D here.
Sónar is special. Sónar is something more than other summer festivals. Personally, I think one of the reasons for this incredible festival experience is because it’s in Barcelona. There is nothing better than besides enjoying good music to explore the beauty of this city as well. And relaxing or dancing on beaches is just another bonus. So, come & celebrate with Sónar its anniversary. You won’t regret.
SHOWCASES ON SÓNAR FESTIVAL 2013
Red Bull Music Academy, Richie Hawtin presents ENTER., Ed Banger 10, 50 Weapons, Sound Pelegrino, Suara Music, Classicworks, Rush Hour Records, Radio2 Inthemix presents
Thursday 13th June : Sónar by Day
Liars, Lindstrom & Todd Terje, Karl Hyde, Sébastian Tellier, Gold Panda, Metro Area, Mykki Blanco, Francesco Tristano: Piano 2.0, Pascal Comelade + Richard Pinhas, Gluteus Maximus, Barcelona Laptop Orchestra, Evol, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Branko, JESSE and Jimi Tenor, Cassegrain, Panoram, Ulf Eriksson, C. Tangana, Wooky, Coágul, Tutu, TGES…
Friday 14th June : Sónar by Day
Sherwood & Pinch, Jamie Lidell, Modeselektro DJ set, Matthew Herbert DJ set, Foreign Beggards, Atom ™, Ólafur Arnalds Trio, Elektro Guzzi, bRUNA, La Bien Querida, Bradien + Eduard Escoffet, Hermutt Loby, ZA!, Sísý Ey, Jansky, CHRISTEENE, DZA, Palmbomen, Anenon, UMA, Baris K, BeGun, XTRNGR,…
Friday 14th June : Sónar by Night
Kraftwerk (3D show), Skrillex, Richie Hawtin presents ENTER., Two Door Cinema Club, Major Lazer, Bat For Lashes, Nicolas Jaar, Diplo, Richie Hawtin, Maya Jane Coles, Paco Osuna, C2C, Derrick May, Baauer, Raime, Angel Molina, Sound Pellegrino Thermal Team, Karenn, Alvin Risk, Eats Everything, Oneman, Objekt, Antal, San Proper, Matthias Zimmermann, Alizzz, Thug Ladies, Arcanoid…
Saturday 15th June : Sónar by Day
Chromatics, TNGHT, AlunaGeorge, Mary Anne Hobbs, Darkstar, Skip & Die, Vatican Shadow, Dinos Chapman, Jackson and his Computer Band, Fatima Al Qadiri, Oddisee, Felix Kubin & James Pants, Beardyman, Krystal Klear, Nacho Marco, Samaris, Tiger Menja Zebra, Le K, Kidsuke, Mr. Beatnick, Satore, Sara Galán & Edu Comelles : Cello + Laptop, Drömnu, Lost Twin…
Saturday 15th June : Sónar by Night
Pet Shop Boys, Paul Kalkbrennes, Ed Banger 10: Justice DJ set + Busy P (ed banger megamix) + Breakpot, Jurasic 5, Soulwax, Hot Natured, Luciano, Laurent Garnier, Seth Troxler, Maceo Plex, Skream, Delorean, Mele, George Fitzgerald, Angel Molina, Anstam, Phon.o, Benjamin Damage, Bambounou, Coyu, Edu Imbernón, Nehuen b2b Cardopusher, Clockwork feat. Avatism, Vaal, César de Melero, Zero, Kimberly & Clark…
& many more to be announced!
Lunchmeat festival in Prague
CultureEventsMusic
The fourth edition of Lunchmeat festival is coming to fertilize the Czech club music landscape – now with a brand new and special location. Prague is going to absorb the fresh selection of beat visionaries of various kinds – be it glitch, trap, techno, house, IDM and more. Innovative visual side accompanying the music specially designed by forward thinking VJs and visualists remains commonplace. Mark Friday 26th of April in your virtual diaries – Lunchmeat is once again going to deliver nourishing audiovisual marvels for you listening pleasure.
Change is an essential element of life – and change is neccessary for Lunchmeat as well. The fourth annual feast of traditional audiovisual culture changed the place of residence at MeetFactory for a completely new and unknown space – a former cinema in the underground spaces of the National Gallery in the city center in Prague. The timing of the festival has been changed also – this year Lunchmeat is concentrated onto one day – Friday, the 26th of April. The main objective for the festival remains the same though. It has always been about bringing interesting representatives of contemporary progressive electronic music combined with an innovative visual artists. The main effort is to ensure that the result of their work will be a blend of organic audiovisual experience.
And now, the most important thing – the artists!
CLARK
The highlight of the festival will definitely be the show of one of the leading figures of legendary label Warp Records – Clark. The performance of this cult musician and electronic music matador will be completed by installations of the acclaimed Turkish visual studio NOHlab (holders of awards including from the Ars Electronica Festival) and residential artists of Lunchmeat festival.
KANGDING RAY
One of the leading figures of the famous label Raster-Noton. A graduated architect and eternal admirer of geometry – this perhaps explains why his compact beat constructions sounds so surgically precise and dangerously addictive. Not everything is techno that glitters – but you can be sure that everything he touches, turns to gold…
FANTASTIC MR. FOX
Seasoned beatmaker Fantastic Mr. Fox has been dedicated to producing since he was 14 years old – and a wealth of experience in music are recognized within production of this Manchester based artist. Black Acre label which released Fantastic Mr. Fox’s releases is one of those special ones that don’t follow hypes and trends on the scene and try to keep its quality by releasing only extraordinary qualities. Thanks to this, his erudite production has more of a permanent character.
LONG ARM
Russian producer Long Arm is already known as the author of the atmospheric compositions where the love for jazz meets with a keen sense of the original beat painting. Long Arm’s organic-sounding production found its stable home under the wings of an innovative team of Project Mooncircle. On Lunchmeat festival you can see him presenting an unique live set with drummer Ruslan Gadzhimurad.
SINJIN HAWKE
Montreal native and current Barcelona resident Sinjin Hawke belongs among the current generation of maximalist electronic artists and he is one of the most important drivers of euphorically dense club sound. His sounds are quite similar to artists such as Hudson Mohawke or Rustie. Sinjin is also an author of extraordinary EP the Lights Moreover and his live performances are extra special – he can do it without computer! His (in the literal sense) live set consists of original MIDI sequences that Sinjin, as one of a handful of current beatmakers, handles screwed on place only by MPC sequencer in a remarkable performance which is quite rare today. Definitely don’ t miss this master!
HYETAL
Hyetal has pricked up the attention of many with his productions, obtaining that hallowed MAH mix slot and garnering releases on Formant, Reduction, Planet Mu and (imminently) Soul Motive. His beats even recently prompted a member of Californian crunk smiths Lazer Sword to describe his music as feeling “like… I just won a marathon race and I’m at the dubstep rave and everyone is pouring champagne on me and I’m eating wedding cake with all my ex-girlfriends… and they just told me they still love me. All of them.”
The second stage will be marked by the current Czech & Slovak production – and its leaders Karaoke Tundra, FNTM, Stratasoul, Illex Aside, DJ Tuco and Zephyd intend to show that domestic beatmakers are not behind the foreign ones! The second stage will be located in the glass lobby of the former café bar Nova Synteza. In the week preceding there will be an open pop-space , where you can join lectures and workshops. As usual, a part of the accompanying program of Lunchmeat festival will be an infosession of the Red Bull Music Academy which present the work of Slovak beatmaker Stratasoul. RMBA celebrates 15 years since its foundation – this year in New York city, which begins almost immediately after Lunchmeat festival…
Entry: pre-sale 230 Czk + fees; on door 350 Czk
Facebook event
Djrum presents Seven Lies LP
Music
The master of connecting elements from almost every genre – that’s how you could call Felix Manuel aka Djrum (read ‘Drum’). He signed up for 2nd Drop records in 2011 and since that he delivers extraordinary music experience with every EP. His first full EP called Mountains was a perfect demonstration of how he can put together influences of dubstep and dub techno. It’s not suprising that he quickly became well-known on the scene.
Djrum – Arcana (Do I need You)
With ‘Seven Lies’, his first full-length, he represents the next level of his production. The 9-track LP will show you how colorful electronic music can be. Only he can cram into one LP dubstep, hip hop, jungle, broken beats, dub techno and furthermore in some moments you will start thinking that it is a movie soundtrack as well! This requires some skills, you must admit that.
Djrum – Lies (feat. Shadowbox)
What I personaly love so much about his music is the work with development of each track. He is able to start with a particular tempo and in the middle of the track completely changes it again and manages to increase the whole atmosphere. It’s almost impossible to get bored of his productions thanks to lot of suprises inside. ‘Seven Lies’ is not an exception. It’s a very distinctive LP with lots of atmosphere that you get soaked into immediately and at the end… you’ll be wanting more.
Djrum’s soundcloud
Review by Simona Hypsová
Image by Oliver Clasper
Soosh : Colour Is Breathe
Music
photo from Soosh’s facebook
In a few words? Dreamy, intense and fragile. That’s how the debut LP from Glasgow producer Soroosh Khavari aka Soosh can be easily described. If you are looking for a suitable music for your daydreaming (f.e. about spring like in my case), this is a great choice.
The first thing which occured to me when I listened to Colour Is Breathe is the similarity with contemporary beatmakers (esp. from the area of Los Angeles) such as Flying Lotus, Teebs or Shlohmo. Those of you who regularly follow Shlohmo may notice that Soosh actually remixed one of his tracks back in 2011. Already at that time it was obvious that he has a significant talent for beautiful beat textures…
Shlohmo – Couch (Soosh remix)
Born in Iraq, raised in Scotland but he had also lived in Italy or Canada for a while. Looks like Soosh is a busy man. But in fact he has been looking for the right inspiration which finally came and made him to change the whole approach to making music. He left samples and started to discover more of how create his own sounds. On his debut LP ‘Colour is breathe’ which was released on Error Broadcast he demonstrates the next level of beats music…
Soosh : Uncertain
The 12-tracks LP represents a journey of pastel melodies which make you close your eyes and just drifting on that dreamy textures. It’s fragile and equally intimate. Most of the tracks are instrumental, but some are accompanied by the wonderful voice of Carmel Khavari (his little sister). Her velvety voice adds something more to loose yourself within the atmosphere, which flows through the whole album. “Colour is breathe is a collection of tunes I made last year when I was living in Italy. It’s definitely a progression of my sound and in terms of earlier work it does carry on some of the vibes, but for me my sound has changed a lot… It was about really refining everything. It’s quite personal record,” said Soosh in an interview for Dummy Mag. All I can add… it’s pure beauty.
Soosh: Open hearts (directed by Kaoru Nishigaki)
Review by Simona Hypsová
Review: Jessie Ware live in Prague
EventsMusic
Jessie Ware
Photo by Matej Slezak
It could be said that the 21st of March was a night that belonged to women. To two beautiful, but most importantly, very talented women. One still struggling with a slight shyness in front of the audience, unlike the second one who demonstrates a very natural communication and completely enjoys her performance. But one thing is for sure – Jessie and Tamara made that ordinary Thursday night into a very special night…
Nominations for the Brit Awards, Mercury Prize or marking as the 10th best album of the 2012 year – all that just confirms that there is something about Jessie Ware and that she is not just an another average singer. Before the Prague audience could enjoy the debut concert of this British pop/soul star, Ukrainian/American/Czech project called Artami had their turn. Their performance was being launched by Martin Cipek playing solo and then joined Tamara Schmidt (singer) and Jack Morgan (guitar). Tamara’s voice sounded charming although it was obvious she still felt some uncertainty in front of the crowd. But with every applause after the songs she looked more relaxed and confident. The second half of Artami performance was about her beautiful voice and Jack’s guitar. Despite the applause received after each track, the audience was still more into chatting than listening to them. I guess it was just because they maybe wanted more vivid music in Jessie’s style rather than this soul caressing music… But nevermind, I believe that Artami will have a bright future ahead and the audience will start to appreciate them to the extend that they deserve in the future.

Artami
Photo by Matej Slezak
About 9pm Jessie Ware entered the stage, dressed in a casual way and smiling, accompanied by her band mates. The atmosphere in the club immediately perked up and people scrambled forward just to be able to touch Jessie. The concert started with the title track of her debut album Devotion for which Jessie received a huge applause and dozens of smiles from the crowd. She continued with other album songs, but besides them she added some new pieces – like a new excellent track with a proper groove produced by Julio Bashmore called ‘Imagine It Was Us’. In the pauses between the songs Jessie told us for instance that she already had been to Prague (and has written a thesis about Kafka back then) but this time she didn’t have time for anything except visiting and overeating herself in a great Greek restaurant near the club :) Her natural and unconstrained output just made the whole atmosphere even more positive and relaxed. The songs she and her band played were riddled with varying degrees of emotions and moods. From some brisker songs she quickly managed to switch to melancholy tracks, like the track titled ‘Taking in Water’ which she dedicated to her brother. Unfortunately at 10pm the end of the performance approached and it was time to say goodbye to the Prague crowd. And of course, what could be a better farewell than those two songs, that everyone was waiting for – Wildest Moments and Running. Such a shame she didn’t sing any addition songs… but after such a good concert, who could be angry with her? :-)

Jessie Ware
Photo by Matej Slezak
Space Dimension Controller introduces Microsector-50
Music
Belfast based producer Jack Hamill aka Space Dimension Controller is back with a new release after quite a long producer silence. The full length album titled ‘Welcome To Microsector-50′ has been released at the beginning of March 2013 on the legendary and one of our favourite labels, R&S records. However, after listening to this great music piece, it may occur to you as well – is the title ‘music album’ correct in that case?
Those of you who are at least a little familiar with Jack’s music, probably know that his sound is markedly different from others and he was able to create a personal world of sounds. Analogue beats soaked with funk and the atmosphere of Chicago house as well as music of the 80s – well, that’s Jack’s thing. But there is also one more thing that is so typical for him – passion for sci-fi stories. He spent some time with creating an own fiction, which has become a perfect base for his music and this album foremost. Writing and recording all the sounds and voices took Jack a lot of time, but the result is just awesome. It’s so different from everything within the current scene!
‘Welcome To Microsector-50′ could actually be described as something like sci-fi oddyssey. A narrative story accompanied by cybernetic sounding music. It’s an album where names of the tracks serve as chapters. The story pervading the album is Mr. 8040 (the time traveler and funk cadet) who just got back home after five years. While he is searching for his old love he comes across an old boss or experiences some drugs at nightclubs on the pirate colony EroDru-10… And then comes that moment “do I really listen to a music album or is it a story with music?”
Some might ask themselves now, why should you listen to all that talking, when you wanna hear music? Well, this is a special piece which requires special attention, that’s obvious. Welcome to Microsector-50 needs your fully attention. But in exchange for that, you will get an extraordinary experience :-)
PS: during one interview Jack mentioned that he would love to make a tour with full set, sci-fi costumes and involving the audience to that story… it might sounds strange, but strange in an awesome way, don’t you think?
SDC’s Facebook: www.facebook.com/spacedimensioncontroller
SDC’s webiste: www.tiraquon6.net
Doc Scott & Freund der Familie in Prague!
EventsMusic
It’s been almost two years since the party called ‘Volnej prubeh’ was born in my favourite Cross club. During their several parties the Prague audience had the chance to catch up on great names such as Synkro, Consequence, Fracture or Sam KDC. With the upcoming party comes also exciting news related to the extension of the crew – calling into play the crew behind successful Czech electronic festival Shotgun!
The first evening together will offer drum and bass pioneer and eternal musical visionary Doc Scott. The Shotgun stage will offer one of the members of the German Freund der Familie who represent the top of deep house & techno music. Certainly we have something to look forward to!
‘Volnej prubeh’ stage
DOC SCOTT (31 records, Metalheadz – UK)
Koogi, Touchwood, AhZ, Rade, Stanzim, Nitrous (Volnej prubeh)
Shotgun stage
FREUND DER FAMILIE (FdF, Broque – DE)
Mooris, P.D.CH. & Silvester Suske, Kellys & Click Joe
… if you are still not convinced, feel free to listen & see this great session of Freund der Familie
When: 30th March 2013
Where: Cross club (Plynarni 23, 170 00 Prague, Czech republic)
Entry: 60CZk till 9pm / after 120CZk
Fb event: www.facebook.com/event
Doc Scott on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/DOC-SCOTT
Freund der Familie: www.freundderfamilie.com
Cross club: www.crossclub.cz/en/contact
Jessie Ware in Prague!
EventsMusicBritish rising star is on the tour and one of her stops will be Prague. If you liked her debut album Devotion like us, you should not miss her!
As a small girl, Jessie listened to the songs of Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald. The first time she sang to an audience was a verse of a Christmas carol when she was 10 years old. Music means for Jessie one thing: pure emotions. And that’s exactly what you can find in her music – a colorful palette of emotions. Her recently published album called Devotion surprised everyone and it appeared on the forefront of several music charts. On Devotion Jessie was able to put together a lot of influences – from pop sounds over R’nB to hip hop. Critics praise Jessie that she considers music and music production of prime importance and that she does not quite want to be seen too much compared to other artists. Some critics also consider her as the missing piece between Adele, SBTRKT and Sade.
Currently Jessie Ware is on world tour, so make sure you don’t miss her in your city! :-)
When: 21st March 2013
Where: Palac Akropolis (Kubelikova 27, 130 00 Prague, Czech republic)
Entry: 450 CZK + fees
Jessie Ware on Facebook: www.facebook.com/jessiewaremusic
FB event: www.facebook.com/events/527836530576994
MOSAIK presents Cid Rim in Prague!
EventsMusicMosaik represents a recently formed party crew of a couple music enthusiast and supporters of quality music. Their goal? Well, to fill the missing spots on Prague music scene and present marginalized artists, genres and approaches. A series of events for musical connoisseurs will begin on March 15th with a very special guest from Austria – Cid Rim!
CID RIM (LuckyMe, Affine, TLM / Vienna)
Vienna based professional jazz drummer and lector could also be spotted with other great Austrian talent Dorian Concept under the project JSBL. With this project Cid Rim gained the first production experience of composing electronic music. Under the banner of his solo project he trains us what we can achieve with the help of modern equipment. Variable, funk music influenced music with elaborate drum sequences together with soft synthesizer melodies and inspiration from hip hop or early 70′s music. For his last year’s excellent mini-album Cid Rim is very vaunted by all the majors alternative media. He also recently got an opportunity to present his musical art in legendary Solid Steel broadcasting on BBC radio.
Line up for the first MOSAIK will be completed by Czech & Slovak support:
SIBA (Basspressure, Punk! / Bratislava)
Mike.H (SEED, Basshaviour / Praha) soundcloud.com/
Tono (BI.NI.RI / Praha) soundcloud.com/
When: 15th March 2013 (from 10pm)
Where: Café NONA (Narodni 4, 110 00 Prague, Czech republic)
Entry: 80 CZk (write an email to n.dravecka@gmail.com with subject “Mosaik” and your name) otherwise 100 CZk on door
event on facebook
Watch new video of Lapalux
Music
On the imaginary list of highly anticipated albums of 2013 you would definitely find this UK talent. Stuart Howard aka Lapalux already proved that he is a solid producer who is capable of creating beautiful stories of slow beats with hip hop influences. The proof of it could be also the fact that after two released EPs he was signed by Flying Lotus for his Brainfeeder label – the kingdom for best current beatmakers.
Now he is coming with debut album called Nostalchic which will be released on Brainfeeder on 25th March 2013. And to shorten your waiting, check out Lapalux’s new video clip for the album track ‘Without You’.

Image by Meg Sharp
Lapalux on Facebook: facebook.com/lapaluxmusic
Lapalux on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/lapalux
Photo by Meg Sharp - www.megsharp.com












