10 Austrian Musicians and Their Songs You Don’t Want To Miss — says music journalist Peter Schreiber
I love it when Austrian music journalist Peter Schreiber sends me a new list of songs by Austrian musicians you REALLY don’t want to miss.
His taste is impeccable, he always introduces me to artists I’m not familiar with and he is so ‘real’ in his comments about each song.
Plus, he’s just the coolest freaking dude, and… there is always something in his explanations of why he likes each track that always makes me laugh!
That’s why Peter Schreiber has an open invitation to put together a new list of songs for Leo Sigh any time he likes.
If you missed his previous (and excellent) lists showcasing superb Austrian musicians, here’s the first 10 and the second 10…well, actually 11 are here.
Peter Schreiber’s latest list of songs by Austrian musicians he wants you to take notice of kicks off below. His comments are directly below the video. Any additional comments I had are in parentheses below that.
And make sure you click on each one of these videos, because what they are all offering is pretty damned superb. (And yes, I’ve listened to each one. And yes, Schreiber is correct 🙂 ).
And…because most Austrian musicians struggle to get the recognition they deserve.
Peter Schreiber’s 10 Austrian Musicians and Their Songs You Don’t Want To Miss — Part 3
Mynth — ‘Casablanca‘
Oh dear what a beautiful song this is! It starts pretty fragile and builds into a nostalgic but positive and thrilling hymn. I absolutely love the direction Giovanna & Mario from Mynth are taking with their new single.
(**Leo Sigh — The song is gorgeous. One thought that kept going through my head too as I watched the video was how sad life often is. Especially when you look at it from the perspective of a still-innocent child, who has the potential of having the whole world opened to them as they grow older. Only to sometimes end up with nothing but heart-ache, tragedy and regret.
The other thought was how beautifully edited the video was by Rupert Höller, and how long it must have taken him to find all those perfect old clips.)
Yokohomo — ‘Rakete‘
Short and sweet, quick and dirty :D. Yokohomo are not f***ing around, this song gives you the energy boost that you need in just 2 minutes & 42 seconds.
(**Leo Sigh — Like Peter alludes to, these guys just get on with it. Because they know they’re good, and so they give this matter-of-fact performance during the video that is just bursting with high energy. And then they get back out of the van and it just quietly drives away.)
Kayou. – ‘i can’t forget you‘
I only found out that this guy (?) is from Austria by accident because I added one of his songs to my Spotify playlist and he texted me on Instagram afterwards and we had a nice chat.
I checked out his other songs and damn he’s so good!!! I basically like almost every song he has done so far. There’s not much information about him but his melancholic lo-fi songs speak for themselves anyway. I picked his newest release but you should definitely give his other songs a listen too.
(**Leo Sigh — Kayou.’s ‘i can’t forget you’ is gorgeous!
And I’m immediately drawn to him and his music as, like me, Kayou. is a massive fan of Japanese anime and of Kyoto Animation — the Japanese anime studio that was the victim of an arsonist attack a couple of months ago. An arson attack that killed 35 of their employees.
He has a beautiful remix of KyoAni’s ‘Koe no Katachi’ on his YouTube channel that he created as a tribute to the studio you should listen to — along with the rest of his songs, of course).
Thorsteinn Einarsson – ‘Symphony (Veiðimaður)’
This is a wonderful pop-gem and one of the best songs Thorsteinn Einarsson has ever written. It’s a beautiful and moving dedication to his late grandfather (and should be a big hit on pop radio in my opinion.)
(**Leo Sigh — The song is incredibly touching, and the video makes me realize I need to get out of Vienna more. Because, good heavens, Austria is a gorgeous country.
The video, by the way, was created by Dockyard, who are one of the best companies in the business).
Anger — ‘Miami‘
This is so chilled i’m actually a bit pissed that it didn’t come out in summer because this would have been a fantastic song to hang out at Donauinsel while having a beer with friends. The Couple from Brixen recently moved to Vienna and just released their first (and awesome) album Heart / Break.
(**Leo Sigh — Anger is also playing live at Vienna’s Waves Festival on Thursday night if you’d like to see them live).
Löven – ‘immer mehr immer mehr‘
OK so these guys are ones to watch. Their first song was already on heavy rotation on FM4 and I think this one is damn catchy too.
(**Leo Sigh — BTW, if you don’t listen to FM4, you should. Those guys showcase new music from Austrian artists all the time and, like with this track from Löven, the music they discover is always stellar).
Atzur – ‘Light‘
I’m getting major Florence & The Machine-Vibes from this and i mean that as a compliment. Especially the quiet parts are stunning. Btw: this is produced by Mario Fartacek (1 half of Mynth) who seems to be very busy these days 😊.
(**Leo Sigh — I’m always interested in female Austrian artists as, like everywhere else, they often don’t get the promotion male artists get (which is another reason I like Peter Schreiber. He promotes women as much as he promotes men). And Atzur is a very strong artist. In her music, her vocals and her looks — beautiful, sure, but more than that — she has a ‘powerful’ aura I like).
Lylit – ‘Call Me Bad‘
Lylit is a force and her new single and video are bursting with energy and female power. Gorgeous, Love it!
(**Leo Sigh — Pay attention to the music video as well. Shot in Vienna’s gorgeous Kunsthistorisches Museum in just one take. Pretty stunning. And love that hat!
You’ll also find my own interview with Lylit here).
Oehl – ‘Tausend Formen‘
I love how this Austrian-Icelandic Duo uses words. But I don’t think you even need to understand what they are saying because the mood in this song is pretty special (and the moving video is a fantastic visual addition to the song).
(**Leo Sigh — Peter is correct about how Oehl use words in their lyrics. I wrote about that a few months ago when I discovered their beautiful ‘‘Über Nacht’).
Wolfram feat. Yung Hurn & Egyptian Lover – ‘Rein‘
There are a lot of smart songs in this world. This is not one of them 😃 This is just a huge & fun electro monster.
(**Leo Sigh — Yep. Pretty much 🙂 And pretty cool too.)
As for Peter Schreiber… (see below)
Peter Schreiber has been a music journalist at W24 for half his life it seems :).
He was the host of the just ended #POP! music show for 3 1/2 years (literally the best popular music show on Austrian TV, and one that will be sadly missed), and is currently still at W24 where he interviews all kinds of artists about the work they do and the music they produce. (You can find his latest work here).
Personally, I like Schreiber’s work more than any other journalist I’ve watched in Austria. Because he has a quirky and incredibly warm personality that comes through in everything he does, and means he relates so well to everyone he interviews.
Check out Peter Schreiber’s ‘Best of #POP! video below. It’s a really nice compilation of just some of the many superb musicians he has interviewed, as well as shows why he is so good at what he does.
And, if you enjoy his taste in songs as much as I do, Schreiber has an enormous Spotify playlist of songs he adds to all the time with a wide range of genres and artists represented.