The duo have forged an uncompromising, new musical language of composition and improvisation that travels fluidly between forms. Radically manipulated flutes, anarchic soprano vocals and analogue electronics mix with a jazz-punk guitar/bass hybrid.

The essence of their collaboration is encapsulated in the name; dark and light, feminine and masculine, punk and romantic, free-form and intricately composed. Exploring extremes and creating contrast is fundamental to their work. Treading upon the edges of genre – Witch ‘n’ Monk are equally as celebrated in the jazz and contemporary classical spheres as well as DIY and underground circles.

​Their latest album – 2020’s ‘Witch ’n’ Monk’ – was released by John Zorn’s label Tzadik Records and named ‘Contemporary Album of the Month’ by The Guardian and was awarded the German Critics Award in the crossover category.

Link: https://www.witchnmonk.com/

Foto: Camille Blake

Im legendären Red Barn Recorders Studio in Morongo Valley/CA entstanden binnen 3 Tagen Aufnahmen, die dem jeweiligen Oeuvre ein bisher ungehörtes Momentum hinzufügen. Es sind spontane, raue Versionen von teils neuen, teils älteren SotVR-Songs und ausgewählten All-Time-Favorites.

Lechners tiefer gestimmte Resonator-Gitarre fügt den Liedern einen düsteren Aspekt hinzu und Danny Frankel (Lou Reed, Spain etc.) an Schlagzeug & Perkussion und Janie Cowan (Bob Dylan’s Shadow Kingdom) am Kontrabass sorgen für eine dunkel flirrende rhythmische Unterlage.

Improvisierte und durchkomponierte Passagen wechseln einander ab. Die Dynamik reicht von zerbrechlichem Folk bis zu brachialen Noise-Anklängen, wobei Farben und Übergänge fließend und unscharf sind.

Diese Songs sind Geschöpfe des Moments. Sie mögen festgeschrieben sein in Melodie, Struktur und Wort, lebendig werden sie erst im Augenblick der Performance; nachzuhören auf The Red Barn Sessions.

Die Lieder werden nun digital im Monatsrhythmus veröffentlicht. Den Anfang macht mit „Inland Empire“ eine posthume Hommage an David Lynch.

Link: redbarnsessions

Foto: Lara Cortellini

With the band’s sound anchored firmly between restraint and release, Kruger’s voice scales its walls of ambient noise, deftly weaving whispers and guttural invocations alike through its haunted, post-punk terrain; her uniquely sonorous vocal knowing exactly when to hush and when to howl.

The band’s immersive performances, shifting effortlessly between intimacy and abandon, are celebrated for their emotional precision and force – held together by the tight, intuitive interplay between Liú Mottes (guitar), Jean-Louise Parker (viola), Gidon Carmel (drums), and Andreas Bonkowski (bass) – drawing comparisons to Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

In 2023, they were awarded the Europavox Spotlight Prize, performing at five of the platform’s showcase festivals across the continent. That same year, Kruger was selected as a Keychange participant – a global network and movement working towards gender equality in the music industry. Her voice also appears on the most recent album by The Underground Youth and the last two records by Swans.

In 2026, the band will release and tour their seventh studio album, Pale Bloom – a glistening sonic emulsion that animates itself in the body of the listener, like an awakened desire stretching itself into being.

Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys are perfect for fans of artists who blend introspective, atmospheric, and experimental sound with elements of dark folk, art pop, and ambient noise.

Links: ARTE, youtube, Linktree

Foto: Mitch Stöhring

An experimental musician and performance artist, Black Dahlia blurs the boundaries between theatre, sound, and surreal spectacle. Her creations exist in dreamlike spaces where masks, characters, and worlds collide — flamboyant, avant-garde expressions that draw as much from performance art, mime, and surrealism as they do from music itself. Whether inhabiting strange personas on stage or building vast sonic landscapes, Black Dahlia conjures universes that feel both alien and intimately human, inviting her audience to step into the unknown.

Black Dahlia has performed across Europe and Australia alongside Kirin J Callinan, John Maus, Cosey Mueller, and Enola, with appearances at SXSW Sydney, Metanoia Festival, Kalabalik På Tyrolen, and Dark Mofo.

Her acclaimed concept album The Imposter (via her imprint School of Dahlia) unfolds like a surreal stage play. Written, produced, arranged and performed by Black Dahlia, it follows a lone wanderer, The Imposter, who chases an enigmatic light away from a distant Paradise, only to find himself lost between realms, drifting through an interstellar limbo of time and strange encounters.

Step inside, and let the story unfold.

“Black Dahlia is an evolving entity, as mysterious as the lone wanderer whose celestial journey she narrates here.” - Electronic Sounds Mag

“The Imposter is a surreal descent into identity collapse, distortion, and violent rebirth — crafted by one of experimental art’s most uncompromising forces.” - Fame Magazine

“...a theatre of dreams.” - EARMILK

“Black Dahlia isn't simply releasing music; she's building entire universes.” - Record of the Day

“Eccentric with a bold defiance of conventional norms.” - Post-Punk

Foto: Anne Thu Pham

Das Institut 16 Jazz- und Popularmusikforschung der Kunstuni Graz
hütet 50.000 Schallmedien, die seit den 1960er Jahren gesammelt und
durch die Privatarchive von Dietrich Schulz-Köhn (Jazzexperte) und
Ekkehard Jost (Musikwissenschaftler) erweitert wurden.

Für den Archive Pleasure Social Club ziehen Mitarbeiter*innen des
Instituts einmal im Monat eine Selektion aus den Kästen und machen sie
im Café Wolf körperlich erlebbar. Dabei werden die Mechanismen
ausgeschaltet, die das Akademische oft vom Sinnlichen entfernen.

Foto: KUG

Kultivierter Dilettantismus mit einer Prise Wahnsinn. Die Tiere verwursten den Veganismus. Sie erkämpfen den Frieden. Reicht das noch nicht, wird man von ihren latenten Sexualfantasien ins Anatomische geleitet.