Photo: Tanya Traboulsi
The Austrians Richard Eigner and Roman Gerold have a working hypothesis: when it comes to the generation of sound, anything and everything is useful! They make their music as much with whisks and vibrating eggs as with Kalimbas and guitars – and, if necessary, they even build their own instruments themselves. But the music that Eigner and Gerold make as Ritornell isn’t just acoustic music – it’s acoustic electronica. With Ritornell everything is wired, and the sounds are electronically amplified, manipulated, re-modeled. As a result, their songs seem to float and be permeable from all directions. They’ve already recorded three albums of music like this, all of which were released by the Berlin label Karaoke Kalk.
About »SKM 60«
Even if your own memory might initially recall it otherwise, 1997 was a good year for pop music. After all, three labels were founded that still help to define the sound of contemporary pop: Shitkatapult, Karaoke Kalk, and Monika Enterprise. They released and still release albums by T.Raumschmiere and Apparat, Bill Wells and Hauschka, Barbara Morgenstern and Gudrun Gut. Put briefly, they specialise in visionary sounds, clever lyrics (when there are lyrics at all), and yes indeed – hits. All three labels survived the radical industry changes of the early 00s and remain relevant in both pop and electronic music. At »Pop-Kultur«, these Berlin indies celebrate twenty years of label work in a programme focus entitled »SKM60«. The focus consists of concerts, DJ sets, and talks.