News

CHAiLD & MAZ Univerze | Night Call
Single release: November 3 | Beast Records

“Night Call” is CHAiLD and MAZ Univerze’s official entry for the national preselection to represent Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. “This song is as passionate as our friendship since we met just over 12 years ago. Since then, we’ve been through the ups and downs of our personal lives and careers together. From helping each other in school to writing and performing music together, from overcoming our greatest struggles to celebrating our greatest successes. We are proud to call each other best friends and great colleagues”, MAZ Univerze explains the reasons why we decided to enter the competition together.

The Cookie Jar Complot | Lobster Knife Fight
EP release: October 27

The instrumental duo The Cookie Jar Complot takes a step forward with their second EP “Lobster Knife Fight”, exploring heavier, faster and more danceable themes in music and in imagery. Consisting of eight melodic tracks, it is made up of quality songs with post- and math-rock accents combined with avant-garde and eclectic overtones for immediate effect. The songwriting duo Sven Schmeler and Gilles Glesener have been behind this endeavour since 2020, with Philipp Colling on bass and Miko Buraczyk on guitar during live performances.

RAFTSIDE | Midnight Sun
Single release: October 23 | Grzegorzki Records Berlin / Emptypop Records

“Midnight Sun” is RAFTSIDE’s official entry for the national preselection to represent Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. The brand-new song is a vibrant tribute to the pop culture of the 1980s. By blending an infectious rhythm with delightfully surreal lyrics, RAFTSIDE offers us a captivating electro-pop journey. The group manages to capture the essence of this iconic decade, evoking a time when electronic sounds and boundless creativity were celebrated. One of the unique aspects of this song is its connection to Filip Markiewicz’s painting work. The artist has developed the visual aesthetics of the video combining combines painting, 3D animation, and artificial intelligence, creating a deep connection between music and visual art. “Midnight Sun” thus becomes a multidimensional work where music, technology, and art come together to offer a new form of artistic experience.

Turnup Tun | Nuit Blanche
Album release: October 13 | Beast Records

After the album “Realtalk” in April and the EP “Schlëmme Summer 2” in August, “Nuit Blanche” is already the third longplay release of Turnup Tun this year in which he shows a very emotional side:“You lie in bed at night and just can’t fall asleep. 1000 thoughts circle in your head and don’t leave you alone. You keep trying, and eventually you fall asleep. The next day you are completely cranky and unmotivated. That’s exactly how I felt quite often and this is exactly what my new album “Nuit Blanche” is about: the topics I have to think about in the evening when my head won’t let me sleep. I am very happy to finally be able to share this song with my audience. I hope they feel the same way as I do”.

DasRADIAL | LIEBES_DRANG
Single release: October 6

DasRADIAL grows out of the absurdities of our digital age: a being, not man not machine, walks between dream and reality. Musician and actor Max Thommes, who spent 10 years as a drummer in the band INBORN! produced by acclaimed producer Ross Robinson, has been going his own way since 2019, creating a dystopian cosmos with DasRADIAL. After several works for the German State Theatre, he also produced the title track of the Arte documentary “UNTERM_RADAR”. With his electronic beats and sharp-tongued lyrics, DasRADIAL now seeks the symbiosis of art figure and musical live performance. DasRADIAL is representing Luxembourg in the EXCITE network in 2023 and performed recently at Sŵn Festival and Reeperbahn Festival.

Francis of Delirium | First Touch
Single release: October 4 | Dalliance Recordings

“The core of “First Touch” is about looking back at love with a sense of nostalgia and idealism. I wanted to capture the youthful feeling of being completely consumed by someone and believing everything would work out, even if that is naive. But, I also wanted to emphasise the beauty of that sentiment, the hope and trust that come with really believing in the authenticity of love”, says Jana. The track, produced by Catherine Marks (boygenius, Wolf Alice, The Killers), follows on from previous single, “Real Love” and makes a slight detour from the dark lyricism of the grunge-inspired songs of her first three EPs and reveals a softer, more open, hopeful and vulnerable sound palette. She adds: “It was a bit of a departure from our usual approach of writing with heavy electric guitar and drums. Instead, Chris and I decided to start experimenting with acoustic guitar and drums. During that time, I started listening to a lot of Sheryl Crow ‘s music, particularly her song ‘Soak Up the Sun’, which became a source of inspiration for the song. I wanted ‘First Touch’ to have a kind of ‘sun-rock’ vibe”.

When Airy met Fairy | Lovebomb Me
Single release: October 2

After a three-year pause, musical duo When ‘Airy Met Fairy is back with an enthralling new single. “Love Bomb Me” showcases the duo’s ability to combine haunting melodies with heartfelt lyrics. Built upon a foundation of longing, the lyrics highlight the emotional journey of the narrator who discovers newfound strength amidst heartbreak. Listeners are immediately immersed in the world of When ‘Airy Met Fairy, as the duo creates a sonic experience that reflects the conflicts and vulnerability present in relationships. Through their unique blend of folk and indie-pop, they weave a tapestry of emotions that is both relatable and cathartic.

Dreadnought | The Fire Within
EP release: October 1 | Recorded and mixed by Jeff Schmitz

The EP “The Fire Within” features three different tracks ranging from more melodic, epic moods to straight Thrash Metal, capturing the diverse inspirations that make up Dreadnought. Recorded and mixed by the band‘s own Jeff Schmitz, it is both a return to the DIY roots as well as an exploration and expansion of the quintet‘s sound.

Drogher | Hawara
Single release: September 29

After the release of a debut EP “The Last Wave” in September 2022, Drogher released their latest tune “Hawara” with the same modern death metal sound. Inspired by a broader spectrum from the metal genre, Drogher finds its harbor within a melodic death-thrash current provoking a lot of movement in the pit.

SAY YES DOG | Not Your Thing
Single release: September 8 | Diskodogs Records

Along with the announcement of their third studio album “DRÄI”, SAY YES DOG has shared the first single “Not Your Thing” from it. The upbeat track works perfectly as a mood elevator for the upcoming dark season and comes with a wacky music video directed by Tun Biever (Two Steps Twice). In November, the trio is playing several small club-shows across Europe under the label “Mini Gigs in Mega Cities”. The album release is scheduled for March 1^st 2024 and will be accompanied by a tour, starting with shows in München, Köln, Hamburg and Berlin.

ARTABAN | Rec. Play. Rewind.
Album release: July 21 | Muaaah! Records

15 years ago, the duo Charles and Max Nilles released their first album “Landscapes”. Some music critics praised it as a unique fusion of the styles of Röyksopp and Boards of Canada. Following their 2013 release “Flow,” the Nilles brothers dedicated a decade to perfecting their cinematic masterpiece, “Rec. Play. Rewind.” This latest record was signed under the banner of Muaaah! Records, an ambitious new Luxembourg-based indie label. This label was established by a trio: Marc Hauser, a programmer at Rotondes; Yann Gelezuinas, the technical director at Rotondes; and Nicolas Przeor, who is also a programmer at Rotondes and notably a guitarist for the math-rock group Mutiny on the Bounty.

Lara Grogan | What Was Mine
Single release: July 7 | Recorded and Produced by Charles Stoltz

Inspired by the Beatles, 19-year-old Lara Grogan began writing songs when she was 11. At the age of 13 she started participating in local song-writing competitions and then in music festivals such as the Screaming Fields Festival. In 2022 she performed the song “City and its People” which she wrote exclusively for the Opening concert of Esch 2022. In July 2023, Lara released the song “What Was Mine” for which she wrote the lyrics, music as well as the string arrangement. She writes from her own experience and expresses questions and thoughts about the world around her. Lara loves to experiment with interesting chord progressions and her music has elements of pop, jazz and classical music.

Dreamcatcher | Live – Under a blood red ground
Album release: June 9 | jazzhaus records

In 2018, the musicians of Dream Catcher invited their fans to an extraordinary concert to celebrate the band’s 20th anniversary at an even more extraordinary venue: the Rumelange National Mining Museum, some seventy meters below ground. The three sold-out nights were recorded and filmed to produce a double live album: “Under a Blood Red Ground”. “The album is a tribute to all the women, men, children and also animals who have worked in the mine of the “Minette”. And sometimes, unfortunately, gave their lives. Our existence, our human rights, our existence, which we like to take for granted, is based on these people and their sacrifices. As a gift to us, for which we should always be grateful”, says singer John Rech. Dream Catcher creates a beautiful connection between pub folk rock and timeless acoustic pop ballads that come from the heart.