INTERVIEW:

✹ Please present your current practice and interest.

Since my latest release „brain fog” [EXILES], my everyday practice is just fighting creative block and impostor syndrome back to back until something clicks. I’m interested in how music, visuals, and storytelling come together to form new universes and realities at the moment. The likes of Iglooghost, Kai Whiston, Slugabed & Samuel Organ made me appreciate the power of world-building and the endless possibilities that come with it. I’m also learning to use music as a healing tool to release all my pent-up feelings and frustration.

 

✹ Tell us something about the scene you are a part of.

Well, I’m quite new to the whole music-making thing as I started producing last summer and because of that, I don’t feel like I’m a pillar member of any scene in Hungary. Therefore, I don’t have much insight into the current musical landscape, but as I see it there is no big collective scene here, more like loosely-jointed friend groups make up the whole. Also, I live in a small town where quality electronic music events are few and far between which is most likely your reality when you are living in the countryside. Of course, there are one-off gigs and exceptions but most of the stuff is happening around our capital, Budapest. My first sense of community came from finding Hungarian like-minded artists on Soundcloud and Bandcamp. Shum, Suta, Guta! (they went under the name CL GOLEM when I found them), AUX were the first few that made me realize that there are people out there with similar music tastes. Only after that, I started to become familiar with labels like EXILES, DADDYPOWER RECORDS, and Dióbél Kiadó. So if I had to pinpoint my „scene” somewhere on the map it would be in the dark, forgotten but somehow cozy alleyways of Soundcloud.

 

✹ What do you think might be the biggest challenges presented after the election for your community?

I think Anna (MA’AM) summed it up perfectly in her answer. The further deliberate alienation of marginalized groups (especially the LGBTQ+ community), the inflation, and the housing crisis will make the incoming period incredibly hard for many of us. So as a result of these issues, I would say staying hopeful and being compassionate and kind to one another will be the biggest challenge for the future.

 

✹ What are your survival strategies (personal/ communal) in the current political climate in Hungary?

Probably the worst tactic that I do is to completely shut off every news source and media outlet about politics. However, I try to do it less and less because it’s important to be aware of what is going on. Another one is to take one day at a time which helps with my overthinking and immense anxiety about my future.

 

✹ What kind of support from the Western music scenes do you need, if any?

Booking more artists from the former Eastern Bloc area would be cool!