4 Emerging Artists Shaping Austria’s ‘Woke’ Alternative Music Scene
Roll over, Beethoven; Shu shu, Schubert! Austria’s new generation of socially conscious musicians are here to shake off the patriarchy, one tune at a time.
Think of Austrian musicians and chances are some oil-painted portrait of an 18th century composer pops up in your head. Yes, the face of Austrian music has been male, pale, and covered by a neatly powdered wig — until now.
Despite the difficulties of making it as an indie band in Austria’s conservative music landscape, where a majority of the state’s art budget supports high culture and classical orchestras, the Viennese alternative music scene is buzzing. Squeezing themselves together in a limited number of gig venues and independent labels, Austria’s alternative sound is a hodgepodge of inter-genre collaborations between indie-pop, rap and electronic artists. And with more female and LGBTQ artists emerging in recent years, sprouting from feminist workshops like Girls Rock Camp and Sounds Queer?, the alternative music charts are getting more political than ever. Several up-and-coming artists are now challenging the male-dominated genre by churning out anthems tackling sexism, racism, and transphobia; here’s four of them.
Mavi Phoenix — 12 Inches
When Mavi Phoenix released his first EP in 2014, at age 19, he still identified as a girl. In July 2019, he came out as transgender with the DIY music video for “Bullet in My Heart”, where iPhone video clips were mixed with simple white-on-black text clips explaining gender dysphoria.
In an interview with Document Journal from 2019, Mavi explains that he wrote the 2020 concept album “Boys Toys” as a way of exploring his lost boyhood: “[Boys Toys] is the name of the boy that is, like, inside of me; the alter ego. The whole album kind of revolves around him, and I want to give him space; I want him to live for once in his life. […] Then you can imagine it’s my young, boyish self that comes forward.”
The track “12 Inches” has Mavi playing with different personas as a way of exploring gender and identity. It is a performance seeping with dark humour (“I’m just being jealous of every guy I meet / He might be real ugly but he a dude at least”), provocative one-liners (“I’m just a little blonde bitch / But I gotta big cock”), and vulnerable statements followed by denials (“My life is fucked up / … no it’s not”). In writing about his identity-seeking in a way that is both intimate and cryptic, playful yet melancholic, Mavi creates a complex, beat-poetry-like portrayal of his transgender coming-of-age from boy to man.
Schapka — Squirten
While non-German speakers may be at lyrical loss here, Schapka’s explicit music video ensures that no one is left behind. The DIY noise-punk band was founded on the same day that Pussy Riot were imprisoned in 2012 — and ended up as Pussy Riot’s support act during their 2017 RIOT DAYS tour. In naming their 2017 debut album after the Russian propaganda law used to charge feminist and LGBTQ activists, Schapka describes their music as queer feminist propaganda. Eager to squash taboos through their distinct blend of irony, honesty and riot grrl-rage, Schapka’s track “Squirten” is a feminist anthem dedicated to normalising female body secretion.
Ebow — Asyl
Kurdish-German artist Ebow moved to Vienna to get closer to its thriving female and queer rap scene. As a queer Muslim woman who raps about migration, the LGBTQ community and cultural identity, Ebow’s presence is in sharp contrast to the male-dominated German-speaking gangster rap scene. In an interview with C/O Vienna, she says that German labels push gangster rap because it fits racist stereotypes: “This image of a dangeous Turkish guy who deals is easier to consume than a queer person who raps about her experiences.” In the song “Punani Power”, Ebow confronts the rage provoked by her breaking these stereotypes: “You hate me, you hate me so much, ‘cause this Kanak acts too important, too educated, looks too good, and that destroys your boxes for Muslim women”.*
Her track “Asyl” from the 2019 album “K4L” is a speech laden with irony and shared trauma, written through conversations with friends and directed to asylum seekers in Europe: “Asalam Alayum / Brothers and sisters”. Ebow raps about stateless refugee children (“The application was lost / The application never arrived / A child is stranded / Without a name, without a country”), about the degrading assimilation process (“Forget your origins / […] / Finally learn the language / Finally become a slave”), about the inhumane passport ranking that favours Western countries ( “We are worth the worth that the passport gives us.” ).*
*German-to-English translation from C/O Vienna and LyricsTranslate
My Ugly Clementine — Playground
The indie-rock supergroup My Ugly Clementine received international praise and the 2021 IMPALA European Independent Album Of The Year for their 2020 debut LP Vitamin C. Jam-packed with impassioned clap backs to misogynist stereotypes, the album outlines what gender equality means in a modern Western context.
The opening track “Playground” is an empowerment anthem in response to sexism in the music industry: the line “Just because I have smaller hands doesn’t mean I can’t do what my male friends can” is one of many examples of how My Ugly Clementine tries to explain feminism in the simplest way possible. And it works; with catchy melodies and lyrics that resemble diary notes and slumber party talk rather than political manifestos, My Ugly Clementine manages to reach out without preaching out.
Did these Austrian artists spike your interest? Tune in to the biweekly radio show The Trans-European Indie Express, your digital music interrailing experience in the pandemic, to find out more about the Austrian alternative music scene.
