IQ New Music playlist spotlights ILMC 33 showcase artists

The latest edition of IQ’s New Music playlist goes live today, showcasing the exciting new acts, handpicked by major international agencies and music export offices, that are set to perform at this week’s 33rd International Live Music Conference (ILMC).

Launched last summer, the playlist complements IQ Magazine’s popular New Signings page, which keeps the live industry updated about which new, emerging and re-emerging artists are being signed by agents.

The March playlist features contributions from ITB, ATC Live, Paradigm, UTA and Primary Talent, as well as UK Sounds, Hots (Hungarian Oncoming Tunes), Soundczech and Why Portugal, each of which have picked up to 12 tracks apiece showcasing some of their hottest touring artists.

Listen to the latest selection using the Spotify playlist below – or click here to catch up on the February 2021 edition first.

Separated by agency/export office, the full track list for the March playlist is:

The full ILMC showcase schedule is available from the ILMC 33 website.

ILMC 33 takes place this week, from 3 to 5 March. A limited number of tickets are still available – click here for more information.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

SoundCzech reveals panellists for IQ Focus

IQ and SoundCzech are launching the next phase of the partnership with an hour-long IQ Focus session, shining a spotlight on the best of the Czech market.

The partnership with the Czech music export office launched in September with a Spotify playlist featuring a myriad of promising domestic acts, including Cult of Fire, Amelie Siba, The Ghost of You, Chief Bromden, Kalle and more, and was followed by a feature on the Czech market in IQ93.

The panel will be broadcast live this Thursday (10 December) at 4 pm GMT, featuring an all-star lineup from Czech’s music industry.

SoundCzech’s Naray Marton will be joined by Barbora Šubrtová (pictured), Metronome Festival Prague and United Islands of Prague; David Urban, founder of D Smack U Promotion; and Floex, clarinettist, composer and multimedia artist.

Barbora Šubrtová is head of programme at Metronome Festival Prague, an open-air event which takes place annually in Prague at the end of June. Since the first edition in 2016, Šubrtová has booked artists including Iggy Pop, Sting, Massive Attack, The Chemical Brothers, David Byrne, Foals, Kasabian, Tom Odell, John Cale, Faithless and DJ Solomun.

Šubrtová has booked artists including Iggy Pop, Sting, Massive Attack, The Chemical Brothers, David Byrne and Foals

She’s also worked for United Islands of Prague festival since 2008, booking artists including Ella Eyre, Aloe Black, Audiobullys, East India Youth and Garden City Movement. Between festivals, she works continuously in production, cultural events services and on promoted Exit Music concert series.

Šubrtová is joined by David Urban, founder of D Smack U Promotion, an agency which has become an integral part of the Czech music scene over the past two decades. D Smack U is responsible for bringing major artists to Czech Republic including Queens of the Stone Age, Editors, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Pixies; organising the legendary Jelení příkop festival; and helping with Rock for People, Rock for Churchill, and Grape festival in Slovakia.

Urban is also behind the Planet Festival project and represents bands such as Skyline and The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, as well as The Subways and Parov Stelar Band in the Czech market. He was awarded Personality of The Year at the Nouvelle Prague Awards three consecutive years.

The panel will be completed by Floex, also known as Tomáš Dvořák, a clarinettist, composer and multimedia artist from Prague. Dvořák’s moniker is a combination of the different worlds ‘float’, ‘flex’ and ‘experiment’ – reflecting his uniquely atmospheric tracks, in which he explores the possibilities of coexistence between electronic and acoustic sound worlds. Floex released his last album under Mercury KX in collaboration with Tom Hodge.

The stream is set to go live this Thursday (10 December) at 4 pm GMT on IQ’s Facebook and Youtube channels. Set a reminder on Facebook or YouTube.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

CEEntral Party goes digital with online conference

The CEEntral Party, a traditional fixture of Europe’s various music industry conferences, is moving into the digital world with a one-day online conference later this month.

On Saturday 28 November, CEEntral Party Digital will offer free workshops, panels and networking, as well as a special showcase from Rich Mix in London.

Workshops predominate in the CEEntral Party Digital programme. One of them will focus on Bandcamp, which is becoming a social network of its kind and, among other things, wants to produce vinyl records. Another workshop will focus on how to monetise digital distribution of your music. There will be also introduction to the music markets of selected Central and Eastern European countries.

Given the situation in 2020, one CEEntral Party Digital panel will focus on the future of the music world

Given the situation in 2020, one panel will focus on the future of the music world. “We called the panel David and Goliath, and we will ask whether mammoth companies will take over the smaller and local ones and how much this will after a balance of power in the field,” explains Márton Náray from SoundCzech, on behalf of the organisers.

Special stream: Katarína Máliková and others from London
The icing on the cake and the highlight of the conference will be a livestreamed concert from the London club Rich Mix. Unique audiovisual projects, which will be created directly for the purposes of CEEntral Party Digital, will feature four bands from four countries as ‘Electronica: Vision of Sound II’: namely Katarína Máliková (Slovakia), Brothers (Czech Republic), Hatti Vatti (Poland) and Óperentzia (Hungary).

The London streaming event is co-organised by the Czech Centre in London, the Hungarian Cultural Centre, the Polish Cultural Institute, the Slovak Embassy in London and Rich Mix.

Register for CEEntral Party Digital for free by clicking here.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Tune in to SoundCzech: Inside the Czech music scene

If you could take Czech music back to a more hopeful moment than the present one, it might be worth heading to January 2019, when the nation, alongside its former other half Slovakia, was part of the first-ever dual-country focus at Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS).

In a snapshot of a diverse, ambitious scene, 11 Czech acts travelled to Groningen, including internationally noted pop favourite Lenny, London-raised female rapper Hellwana, shoegazing indie-rockers Manon Meurt, UK/Czech electronic alliance Floex and Tom Hodge and well-travelled Glastonbury and Sziget veterans Mydy Rabycad.

“It was nice, and I think it was good for the scene,” says Márton Náray, director of Czech music export office SoundCzech. “We did that in collaboration with Pohoda festival in Slovakia, and that was fantastic – Michal Kašcák is one of the legends of live music. We got into a situation where we were brainstorming to do more than a simple country focus, and I think we inspired each other.”

The exposure from ESNS and surrounding events was still in the process of bearing fruit when the current crisis struck. But while the touring world has hit pause, the Czech Republic holds a strong hand in terms of talent these days.

Many of the ESNS delegation (which also included one-woman musical sensation Bohemian Cristal Instrument, Baltic party band the Circus Brothers, bagpipe-toting punks Pipes and Pints, acoustic troubadour Thom Artway, the self-descriptive Lazer Viking, and cinematic jazzers Zabelov Group) had begun to make international inroads at club- and festival-level and were demonstrably building momentum.

There is no shortage of homegrown, locally loved talent

“To be honest, my realistic expectation is never to get [a band] to the headline billing, because that’s not realistic for the Czech Republic,” says Náray. “It’s about, in a few years, having a lot of bands that are genuinely going out onto the European club circuit. There are several like that,” he adds, mentioning Mydy Rabycad, the Circus Brothers, Floex and Manon Meurt, as well as the currently resting Pipes and Pints, “but that’s the level we would love to raise [to].”

Talent-wise, the Czech Republic is in a similar position to many non-English-speaking territories. There is no shortage of homegrown, locally loved talent, from long-running funkers Monkey Business to newly reformed ’90s legends Lucie. But to break across borders requires rare luck, as well as a delicate balance of international appeal and something unique.

“It’s the usual problem,” says Paul Elsasser of London-based, European-focused Minimal Surface, whose artists include edgy Czech solo prospect Giudi. “If you want to make it big in a country, you have to sing in their language.”

Numerous Czech bands have taken that advice to heart…

Subscribe to IQ Magazine here, or continue reading this feature in the digital edition of IQ 93:

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

IQ x SoundCzech to present best new Czech artists

IQ and SoundCzech are launching the next phase of the partnership with a livestreamed artist showcase, featuring some of the best new talent emerging in the Czech Republic.

The livestream will be broadcast this Thursday (15 October) at 4 pm BST, will feature sets from three groundbreaking acts, cherrypicked by SoundCzech.

Prague-based supergroup, Market, will showcase their veritable mix of art rock, math rock, stoner metal, jazz, and UK-verging indie during the livestream.

While, Noisy Pots will deliver their “DIY kitchen electro,” using – you guessed it – pots, buckets, cans and other kitchen ephemera, along with live synths, samples, a vibraphone and more. Viewers can expect a live performance full of spontaneous energy and catchy grooves.

See a teaser of Noisy Pots’ performance below:

And finally, twins Jiří and Ondřej, will perform under their pseudonym Bratři. Hailed as “the new face of the Czech electronic music scene,” the duo will converge two captivating streams of live percussion/drum beats and synthesised melodic motives in one uncompromising flow of electrifying energy.

The stream is set to go live this Thursday at 4 pm BST on IQ’s Facebook and Youtube channels, thanks to streaming partner LiveFrom. Set a reminder on Facebook or YouTube.

IQ’s partnership with the Czech music export office launched last month with a Spotify playlist featuring a myriad of promising acts from the Czech Republic, including Cult of Fire, Amelie Siba, The Ghost of You, Chief Bromden, Kalle and more.

You can still listen to the SoundCzech x IQ playlist here and read IQ’s feature on the Czech market, featured in IQ93, below. Still to come during the partnership is an hour-long IQ Focus panel spotlighting on the best of the Czech scene.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

IQ announces partnership with SoundCzech

IQ today announces a partnership with SoundCzech, the Czech Music Office, to showcase the best of the thriving Czech live music market.

Situated in the heart of Europe, the Czech Republic is a crossroads for touring artists. While not one of the continent’s biggest markets, it is has a strong local scene bursting with talent – from the long-established large festivals, promoters and venues to smaller companies and passionate enthusiasts.

The IQ-SoundCzech partnership, which follows the export office’s participation in the recent Interactive Festival Forum, incorporates a Spotify playlist featuring the hottest Czech artists; an hour-long IQ Focus panel spotlighting on the best of the Czech scene; a livestreamed showcase featuring three Czech bands, curated by SoundCzech; and a feature on the Czech market in IQ Magazine.

“Since the Middle Ages, Czechs always had a strong footing in music, from classical composers to jazz geniuses,” comments Naray Marton from SoundCzech. “But now I think that it’s the right time to again shine a light on an absolute buzzing music scene, which can surprise you with its talents, venues, festivals, studios, services and much more.”

Listen to the SoundCzech x IQ playlist, which features artists including FVTVRE, I Love You Honey Bunny, MYDY, the Atavists, Ba:zel, Tea Sofia and Hellwana, below:

Founded in 2017, SoundCzech supports the Czech music scene, no matter the genre. It works as a music export agency with the aim of supporting the Czech music scene locally and globally.

Among the companies active in the Czech live scene are festivals Brutal Assault, Masters of Rock, Obscene Extreme, Let It Roll, Colours of Ostrava, Metronome, Mighty Sounds, Rock for People, Artu Kus, Hip Hop Kemp, Struny Podzimu, Beats for Love, Beseda u Bigbitu, Lunchmeat,  JazzFest Brno, Jazzinec, Respect Festival and Creepy Teepee, and promoters/agencies D Smack U, Fource Entertainment, 10:15 Entertainment, Conspiracy Concerts, Obscure Promotion, Pragokoncert Bohemia, Live Nation, Heartnoize Promotion and Charmenko.

Key venues include Sono Centrum, Roxy Prague, Forum Karlín, Palác Akropolis, Lucerna Music Club, Futurum Music Bar, Cross Club, Klub 007 Strahov, Fléda, Kabinet Múz, Meetfactory, Rock Café, Café v lese, Jazz Dock, Jazz Tibet Club, Barrak, CoolTour, Pod Lampou and Cross Club.

Studios, meanwhile, include SONO, Svárov, Faust, Golden Hive, 3bees studio and Jámor, and backline suppliers Nomads of Prague, Fluffwheels, High Lite Touring and Vans for Bands.

Nouvella Prague, Czech Music Crossroads and Central European Jazz Showcase are among the important showcase festivals.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Czech Republic, Slovakia joint ESNS 2019 focus countries

The Czech Republic and Slovakia will be Eurosonic Noorderlag (ESNS)’s first-ever joint focus countries in 2019.

In cooperation with Michal Kaščák, CEO of Slovakia’s Pohoda Festival, and Márton Náray, director of new Czech export office SoundCzech, the Dutch conference/showcase festival will next year shine a spotlight on the two central European neighbours, which, says booker Robert Meijerink, although “two of the youngest countries in Europe”, both have “diverse and growing music scenes, a great history and lots of amazing music to be discovered”.

Previous recent focus countries include Denmark (2018), Portugal (2017) and the central and eastern European (CEE) nations (2016).

“I am confident that this will be a remarkable focus, especially with CR/Radio Wave and Radio_FM, SoundCzech/Czech Music Office and the ETEP festivals Colours of Ostrava, Metronome Festival, Rock for People, United Islands of Prague [Czech Republic] and Pohoda [Slovakia] on board,” says ESNS conference coordinator Ruud Berends.

“We are excited about the opportunity to show European professionals how much we have to offer”

Náray says the music scene in the Czech Republic has grown tremendously over the past five to ten years, with more than 500 summer festivals, a booming club scene and a host of promising emerging talent. “We are excited about the opportunity to show European professionals how much we have to offer,” he comments. “I think it is the perfect moment to do that.”

“It is great to be a music fan in Slovakia,” adds Kaščák (pictured). “The whole world knows Metallica, PJ Harvey and the Sex Pistols – and we are lucky enough to know Čad, Jana Kirschner and the Wilderness. But don’t worry: thanks to the Czech–Slovakian focus at ESNS 2019, we will be sharing our hidden treasures with music lovers around the world.”

ESNS returns to Groningen in the Netherlands from 16 to 19 January 2019. More than 4,000 industry delegates attended Eurosonic Noorderslag 2018, which saw performances from 300 European acts, including 22 from focus country Denmark.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.

Buzz in the east

Most likely, many IQ readers have at some point wondered what might be happening in the central and eastern parts of Europe, as it seems that more and more interesting festivals are popping up every year, and there has been a growth in international ticket sales at events.

In order to stop unfounded assumptions, and to instead provide actual facts about the region, SoundCzech/Czech Music Office began operating this summer, with the aim of providing the wider live music community with access to information regarding the Czech music scene.

As the head of the office, and as a Hungarian expat living in Prague, I see the existing situation from a slightly different viewpoint than my Czech colleagues. Even though the central-eastern European region (with a focus on Czech Republic) has been active for some time, in the past few years many developments have taken place. The Czech live music scene is flourishing, with many improvements all around the country: local and international bands can play and work in good quality venues and studios; the inauguration of new associations (such as FestAs, the Czech festival association, and an association of independent labels); many local bands are now reaching international music standards; and last but not least, many young professionals are eager to find partners elsewhere in Europe to co-operate with.

The Czech live music scene is flourishing, with many improvements all around the country

I would even risk saying that the scene is ready to take off and to start crossing borders. However, I should add that the education of young professionals is an area that still needs improvement.

One other key topic we are working on is creating a general music sector platform to change the status quo of the region’s existing music sector. Just as in many other European countries, the official acknowledgement of the live music scene as a fully functioning ‘industry’ would drastically improve our ability to develop the sector further.

Considering these current developments, our focus (on behalf of SoundCzech/Czech Music Office), besides educating professionals, is to create as many access points to the Czech market as possible. You will find us at most relevant European events, and as a signature project together with other regional partners, we have created a new brand, the CEEntral Party, that we will feature at different events (ESNS, Reeperbahn, ℅ pop) with the aim of linking capable regional colleagues with professionals present at international trade gatherings.

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.