MENT Festival at the Castle
MENT - a three-day showcase festival of artists from all of Europe and beyond, during which around 70 acts perform at different venues in Ljubljana. The international conference focuses on the music industry and creativity.
ROCK HALL
18:45 - BERNHARD EDER (Austria)
19:45 - CHEAP HOUSE (France)
20:45 - NAKED (Serbia)
BERNHARD EDER (Austria)
“Marvellous, demoralized pop songs by the sleepless melancholiac.”
ROLLINGSTONE.DE
Those familiar with Eder since his beginnings in 2007 will know what a unique musician he is. On his new, 7th album “Reset” the Austrian showcases a more experimental approach. Accompanied by the band, he explores futuristic musical dimensions through piercing synths, a wide array of samples and the warmth of the organ. The deep subdued sounds they create bring to mind the music of Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Air and Elliott Smith. Eder has played more than 600 shows in Europe and beyond, arranged music for theatre and film, and his latest album could easily be the soundtrack of the next Blade Runner.
Supported by INES - Innovation Network of European Showcases INES#TALENT 2020
WWW: www.bernhardeder.ne
FB: https://www.facebook.com/bernhard.eder
BC: https://bernhardeder.bandcamp.com/
CHEAP HOUSE (France)
“Discovery of the year!” HOPL'AWARDS
This rambunctious four-piece from Strasbourg was only founded in 2018, yet their uplifting energy is already shaking grounds and destroying inertia. Their influences reach all the way to West African roots, touch the heart of Berlin’s nightlife ecstasy and tap into the vibrant cultural alleys of London’s young jazz scene with bands like The Comet is Coming and Sons of Kemet. Cheap House are explosive, edgy and exciting. They fully embrace chaos and transform it into a beautifully destructive instrumental dance storm.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/CheapHouseBand/
NAKED (Serbia)
The Belgrade-based band created the imaginary exile-state of Nakedonia in which the wind blows, birds and crickets chirp, and the sounds of a rattle connect the past with the present.” Sergej Komnenić, JAZZIN
Naked stands for openness, freedom, hope and love, values that have inspired this Serbian band since day one. Playing a unique mix of traditional Balkan music, African and Eastern European traditions, urban trends, swing, funk, bebop and free-jazz, they have released four albums and performed around the world, from Chile to Korea. After their upcoming American tour, they will finally perform at MENT. Naked create their captivating stripped-down sound using only a violin, saxophone and clarinet, which are accompanied by upbeat bass lines and tight drums. All About Jazz calls their music a labour of love and describes them as a mesmerising unit, a collective whose musical syntax continues to suggest that there are not several musicians here but one.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/nakedbandbelgrade/
BC: https://nakedbandbelgrade.bandcamp.com/
CASTLE THEATRE
19:00 - ŠećeЯ (Croatia)
20:00 - EVIJA VĒBERE (Latvia)
21:00 - II/III (Slovenia)
ŠećeЯ (Croatia)
“Always interesting, always different and always completely unique, all this could be said for this performance as well – we are always glad to hear and see her.” Boris Abramović, MUSIC-BOX.HR
How to keep your sugar cravings at bay? We’ve found the ultimate answer – the music of Croatian artist, multiinstrumentalist and ex-Vlasta Popić member Tena Rak aka ŠećeЯ (“Sugar”), served in the form of fairy-tale folktronica. Her debut album and EP from 2018 showcased Tena’s experimental inclinations on acoustic guitar and her soft silky voice. The recently released new material brings forth a new emphasis on echoes and pre-sequencing, a result of collaborations with various regional artists. Her gigs are now further enhanced with a special dance performance that has already been successfully presented throughout a wider southeastern European region.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/shaicher.hr/
BC: https://shaicher.bandcamp.com/
EVIJA VĒBERE (Latvia)
“If the butterfly could speak with its wings like we do with our lips, it would sing in Evija’s voice.” Uldis Rudaks, DIENA.LV
Imagination set to music and finely tuned with an otherworldly dreamworld that only the brave dare visit… we are guided through a universe covered with a magic forest by the fairylike voice of the Latvian sorcerer Evija Vēbere. The mysterious land is illuminated by playful and light synthetic melodies that sometimes swirl into wild and schizophrenic sonic depths. Her eclectic, liberal creative zeal was developed while she was part of the attention-grabbing avant-pop duo Howling Owl. Evija’s debut “Sirdsbūt” earned her the national “Best Alternative Music Album 2019” award.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/evijaveberemusic/
BC: https://evijavebere.bandcamp.com/
II/III (Slovenia)
“II/III smoothly combines elements of the electric harp with field recording, merges ambient and experimental sounds and gradually interweaves its calm intros with minimalist 4/4 rhythms.” Lovrenc Rogelj, RADIO ŠTUDENT
Two out of three – a dramatic exploration of dark electroacoustic soundscapes full of digitally generated and reciprocally interwoven patterns of drone tension, melancholy and Dadaism. Floating above them are the innocent sounds of the electric harp, which light the way towards cold ambient horizons. Our guides on this tour are audio-visual artist and harp master Urška Preis aka rouge-ah and Tine Vrabič aka Nitz, a versatile explorer of electronic sounds and programme manager at Ljubljana’s K4. Your souvenir from their upcoming gig at Ljubljana Castle will be the long-awaited EP, which the duo will premiere at MENT 2020.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/twooutofthree/
SC: https://soundcloud.com/two-out-of-three
HRIBAR HALL
19:15 - TRUPA TRUPA (Poland)
20:15 - SKINNY PELEMBE (Great Britain)
21:15 - WCKD NATION (Slovenia)
TRUPA TRUPA (Poland)
“The rare dystopian post-punk band to embrace optimism and levity as necessary survival mechanisms. Trupa Trupa may not have the perfect prescription for a better world, but they welcome you to imagine one together.” Stuart Berman, PITCHFORK
“A revelation. ★★★★★,” wrote Morning Star’s Michal Boncza of “Of the Sun”, the fifth album from Polish rock quartet Trupa Trupa, released on Glitterbeat Records. Then Iggy Pop played some of their tracks on his BBC 6 show. Meanwhile, Jim McGuinn (The Current) couldn’t stress enough how many times he had rinsed this excellent album that combes influences of Radiohead, Mogwai, Syd Barrett and Explosions in the Sky. This Gdansk-based band, which first caught our attention in 2015, is apparently on the right path. Their sound is both simple and complex. Essentially minimalist in structure, their tracks effortlessly meander between post-hardcore, shoegaze and post-rock, creating a contagiously magical compound of sounds and dispositions.
Supported by INES - Innovation Network of European Showcases INES#TALENT 2020
WWW: www.trupatrupa.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/trupatrupa/
BC: https://trupatrupa.bandcamp.com/album/of-the-sun
SKINNY PELEMBE (Great Britain)
»At times powerful and timeless, at other times they reduce to almost hushed whispers – there is a quality to his voice that keeps you hooked. This is the power of Skinny Pelembe and “Dreaming is Dead Now”.« Nick Roseblade, CLASH
Johannesburg-born Skinny Pelembe is a multi-talented wonder, who crafts patchworks of personal and musical touchstones. First debuting in 2017, he’s honed a distinctive musical style; memories and observations are weaved together, sun-dazzled California folk is blended into the murkier corners of the UK dance lineage. He celebrates flawed, post-recession Britain, exalting the UK in all of its imperfect, contradictory realities. His debut album “Dreaming Is Dead Now” came out last May. Since then, he’s been tipped by The Observer, The Quietus, Huck and others. It’s a rare kind of debut record – the kind where the messy, in-between musical spaces are given space to shine, where hitherto untapped tangents are unfurled to see what might be found inside.
WWW: www.skinnypelembe.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/skinnypelembe/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/skinnypelembe/
WCKD NATION (Slovenia)
“A very welcome breath of fresh air on the domestic scene.” Jernej Sobočan, VAL202
Wckd Nation is a community of musicians from Ljubljana, founded by multi-instrumentalists, composers, producers and brothers Peter and Žiga Smrdel. The core group consists of eight members, while at MENT you can expect a spectacle with more than ten people on the stage. This neo-soul band released its debut single at the end of 2018. Their smooth vocals are inspired by new-age R&B, while the instrumentals are fuelled by the spirit of future jazz, a nod to the contemporary British jazz scene. 2019 saw them head on their first international tour, including an appearance at Tallinn Music Week. Their latest single ‘The Swan King’, was released in November, but we are now stoked about the contagious upcoming single ‘Airplane Blonde,’ a MENT-office favourite, that sees Wckd Nation explore hip-hop in an exciting new way.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/WckdNation/
BC: https://wckdnation.bandcamp.com/
CASTLE CHAPEL
19:30 - iT / ANOTHER CRYING GAME (Slovenia)
20:30 - ZveN / ZVEZDANA NOVAKOVIĆ (Slovenia)
iT / Another Crying Game (Slovenia)
“Irena Tomažin is presently without doubt the most singular sonic oddity of the domestic and wider scene.” Tadej Stolić, SIGIC
In 2011, using the moniker iT, Irena Z. Tomažin released “Crying Games”, one of her most recognizable works so far. This superb piece of art, composed of a multitude voices, fragmented texts, monologues and loops, is now finally getting a sequel in the form of “Another Crying Game”. As one of the most active Slovenian vocalists, she has released three solo albums and performed everywhere from Tokio to Paris, Beirut to Baltimore, while her list of collaborations calls for a special Wikipedia entry. Among many others, she has worked with Xavier Charles, Lee Paterson, Tomaž Grom, Christof Kurzmann and Liz Allbee. Besides, she has produced nine original vocal-dance performances in which she explores the links between voice, gesture, body, space and sonority.
WWW: http://www.centralala.si/en/musicians-database-irena-z-tomazin/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/irena.tomazin.10
BC: https://it-irenatomazin.bandcamp.com/
SC: https://soundcloud.com/it-irena-tomazin
ZveN / ZVEZDANA NOVAKOVIĆ (Slovenia)
“You're not a human being. You're a hallucination!” Svetlana Makarovič
ZveN / Zvezdana Novaković is a young multiply awarded artist, harpist, composer, performer and singer, who explores her potentials in the frames of classical, jazz and folk music traditions. She is author of many compositions for theatre and puppet shows, and a regular collaborator of the legendary Slovenian writer and poet Svetlana Makarovič, the cult band Laibach, Macedonian jazz maestro Vasko Atanasovski and others. Zvezdana is also the founding member of various groups like Slovena Voices (Bulgaria), Bosa (Brazil), The Voice of the Strings (Sweden), Vellamo & Faronika (Finland) and others. At MENT 2020, she will present her solo performance.
WWW: https://zvezdananovakovic.wixsite.com/music
FB: https://www.facebook.com/zvezdana.novakovic.3
