Dirty Talons – s/T

Dirty Talons’ self-titled debut album compiles the first two recording sessions the band completed in 2021 and 2022. All basic instrumentals, as well as most lead vocals have been tracked live at Radiokulturhaus in Vienna, Austria in just a few days. While guitarists Marco and Zock, as well as bassist Bernie have released several records together during their time in ASTPAI in the past, this album marks the remarkable physical debut of vocalist Jess Howells.

Jess’ lyrics explore intra- and interpersonal struggles and connections from different perspectives and touch upon themes such as anxiety, love, insecurity, narcissism, anger, loneliness and regret.

All tracks have been mixed and mastered by the amazing Peter Miles, who has previously worked with bands such as Architects, We Are The Ocean, Petrol Girls, Crazy Arm and lots more over at Middle Farm Studios in Devon, UK.

/* PRE-ORDER: Order will be shipped one week prior to the release date */

MAIIJA – I AM

For fifteen years, Marilies Jagsch has been an integral part of the Viennese music scene. In 2008 she released her debut “Obituary for a Lost Mind” and in 2010 the album “From Ice to Water to Nothing” on the label Asinella Records founded by Clara Luzia. Away from her solo project, she collaborated with electropop icon Bernhard Fleischmann and was invited to make guest appearances with A Life, A Song, A Cigarette, Love & Fist, Alien Hand Syndrome or Wolfgang Frisch (Sofa Surfers), among others. Currently, the artist plays in the band Vienna Rest in Peace and collaborates with the Seattle-based performance group Saint Genet.

Thirteen years after the release of her last album, it’s time for a new name: MAIIJA. For her current project, Marilies Jagsch and producer Peter Paul Aufreiter (Hearts Hearts) invited some of Vienna’s most exciting musicians* to record the eleven songs of the album “I AM”, which will be released on Noise Appeal Records in September 15th 2023.

Platzgumer / Tokujirô – Taishô Romantica

In the late 1990s Austrian musician/writer Hans Platzgumer met half-Japanese Singer Carl Tokujirô Mirwald at an aftershow party in Munich. At his impromptu performance Carl had the compelling sound of a Japanese Tom Waits mixing traditional vocal techniques from Nô-theatre with western influences. The two started the electro-duo Shinto and released various records, attracting a diehard cult-following and touring both Japan and Europe multiple times. However, when the Fukushima-catastrophe of 2011 not only destroyed their Japanese label-offices but also forced them to cancel upcoming tours, they put a halt to the band. Nevertheless their Euro-Asian collaboration endured.

In 2015 the duo began delving into the Taishô-era, a period in Japanese history exactly one hundred years ago that brought about an abundance of new democratic and anarchic movements led by numerous opposing protagonists. Now, 8 years later Hans’ novel Großes Spiel (Big gamble) about those historical struggles has been published (Zsolnay/Hanser) simultaneously with a collection of 10 new songs. Taishô Romantica sets Japanese texts from the early 20th century depicting the close proxemics of life, death and ideological belief in the dramatic Taishô years against an extravagant score mingling Muzak and electronica with theatrical elements and chamber music.

Do open your doors and travel with us through time and space. Let in this new approach to an ancient and exotic bygone world. You’ll come across a startling number of similarities to the here and now.

Lausch – Love & Order

Lausch unite elements of classical 90s rock, post rock and progressive to an unconventional and catchy alternative sound. Their previous work, which comprises five studio albums and a live EP, allows comparison with the spheric instrumental works of Long Distance Calling as well as the anthemic rock sound of Biffy Clyro. Edgy riffs and heavy hooks alternate with melodic fragility, intensity is followed by reduction, complexity and eagerness to experiment harmonize with straightforwardness. The stunning voice of frontman Alexander Lausch blends in with the band’s thrilling verses and emotive choruses like a missing puzzle piece. Especially live, the trio proves that it “brilliantly masters the advanced non-mainstream rock sound” (Michael Ternai, mica). Lausch themselves say about their music, “We challenge our listeners because we want to be challenged too. Our music is not for those who are looking for easy entertainment or copies, it is for those who seek new experiences and want to grow on what we create.”