Author Archives: Nikola

Iz srca skopske scene, kroz sobe i kolektive, dolazi Vagina Corporation — bend koji DIY energiju pretvara u čistu katarzu. Njihov zvuk spaja krautrock, psych i lokalne korijene, a na pozornici pretvara publiku u zajednicu oslobođenih tijela. Uoči koncerata u Močvari 6.11. i Beogradu (Karmakoma) 5.11., pričali smo o sceni, jeziku i onome što ih stvarno pokreće.

Budite ljubazni i predstavite nam jedan drugoga! (ideja je da svaki član predstavi nekog drugog člana, s nekim vašim internim pošalicama ili informacijama)
Borjan: Luka (vokal, gitara): Veliki maestro, ne prestaje komponirati ni u jednom trenutku, osobito kad želimo malo tišine između pjesama na probama.
Luka: Dario (bubnjevi): Dario je skriveni dijamant, našao sam ga u jednom skopskom skvotu kako fenomenalno improvizira, a nakon toga sam odlučio da moramo zajedno svirati.
Dario: Filip (gitara): Njegova gitara uvijek ima previše visokih frekvencija i na svakoj tonskoj probi nas tonac traži da ih stišamo.
Filip: Borjan (bass): pikleto (nije typo, samo specifičan nadimak, hahaha)

Odakle je došla ideja za ime benda? Želite li njime nešto poručiti?
Luka: Ne znam, u posljednje vrijeme mislim da ga i ne volim baš previše. Prvo je počelo kao neka ideja autosabotaže — odaberi loše ime i ako nakon toga uspiješ, znaš da si stvarno uspio. Ne znam osjećam li se i dalje tako, hahaha.
Borjan: Često mislim da je ideja samo najgluplje i sramotno ime za bend.
Filip: Ja mislim da je to bio izazov za Luku.

Na nekoliko mjesta opisujete svoj stil kao KRAP (kraut-rock/americana/psych) i spominjete i globalne utjecaje (Neu!, Can) i lokalne (novi val u regiji). Koji lokalni makedonski utjecaji ili pjesme oblikuju vaš zvuk i na koji način?
Luka: Arhangel je ime koje ne zna puno ljudi izvan Makedonije, ali ako pitate bilo koga tko se trenutno u Makedoniji bavi glazbom koji im je omiljeni bend i utjecaj, svatko bi naveo Arhangela u top 3. To i sam mogu potvrditi. Svakako moram navesti i svoje kolege iz Lufthanse i Korporacije koji me inspiriraju svaki put kad zajedno sviramo, bilo kroz jamanje ili komponiranje novih pjesama. Scena u Skopju se drži zajedno i ima puno fenomenalnih bendova svih uzrasta. Neki od trenutačno najuzbudljivijih su mi Korla, Golemata Voda, Stoj, Posle! i mnogi drugi koji su dio ili nisu dio etiketa “Mrtov Konj” ili “Gola Planina kolektiv”. Ako Skopje nešto ima, to je glazba.

Smatrate li da bi nešto trebalo napraviti/promijeniti u ovom našem današnjem Balkan-svijetu, što se tiče glazbene scene?
Borjan: Ima puno toga, oduvijek je ideja da scenu učinimo boljom i solidarnijom no što je bila prije. Osobno mi je važno da bendovi pjevaju na materinjem jeziku. Kad imaju predobru glazbu, ali pjevaju na engleskom to mi ostavi malo gorak okus. Ne da smatram da to nije dobro, ali se toj glazbi oduzima ono što bi bila kada bi bila ispjevana na materinjem, najiskrenijem jeziku. Kad se pjeva na engleskom, nosi se maska koja dozvoljava distancu od glazbe, a kad pjevaš na svome, tada jednostavno ne možeš ne biti iskren. Ionako ima previše bendova koji pjevaju na engleskom.

Kako se povezujete s fanovima, osim na koncertima? Primjerice, jedan bend iz susjedne države je svoje fanove pozvao na piknik. Jeste li vi kada pristupili takvim neobičnim, ali kreativnim metodama ili možda razmišljali o njima?
Filip: Ja nakon svirke dajem publici svoje haljine.
Luka: Pa iskreno, mislim da bismo u tom aspektu mogli biti bolji. Kad se malo napijem želim se družiti, pozovem ljude koji su bili na koncertu na afterparty, ali većinu vremena je samo cringe i pomalo patetično. S druge strane, upoznaš puno kul ljudi i to je dobar equalizer.

Vaš album ‘Време е!’ snimljen je u garaži u Skoplju. Zašto ste za mjesto snimanja albuma odabrali ovakav prostor i zašto baš tu garažu?
Luka : Време е nije bio snimljen u garaži, već u mojoj sobi, koja vrlo često možda i liči na garažu. Nisam baš najbolji u pravilima za čistu sobu Jordana Petersona. Možda zato album i zvuči tako. Malo janky, malo DIY i malo shit. Ali hej, demo snimke imaju svoju dušu i ta duša DIY glazbe mi se jako sviđa i može biti jako dobra.

Na albumu ‘Дали ова е живо?’ osjeća se snažna energija vaših nastupa. Što biste voljeli da vaš slušatelji ponesu kući s vaših koncerata? Merch, naravno. Možda i neku emociju, umor, hype, motivaciju…?
Borjan: Meni je najbitnije da se ljudi osjete oslobođenije i ugodnije u svojim tijelima, kao što sam se ja osjetio kad sam počeo svirati pjesme nakon što me Luka pozvao u bend.

Luka: Ja volim kad ljudi dožive nekakav katarzični osjećaj i volio bih da se to desi i u Zagrebu. Da se ljudi prepuste muzici, plešu i ne razmišljaju previše je li nešto dobro ili ne. Ako ljudi o tome ne razmišljaju, onda plešu i dobro se provode. To volim. Kad ljudi plešu, tada sam i ja sretan.

Koji vam je koncert ili mjesto nastupanja ostao u nekom sjećanju i zašto?
Borjan: Jedna od mojih omiljenih svirki definitivno je bila u Zadru. Imali smo i posjećenije svirke, ali tamo je svatko u publici bio maksimalno hyped, energija je bila nevjerojatna. Nakon svirke smo trebali spavati u Nigdjezemskoj, ali oni koji su tamo bili znaju da tamo nemaju baš idealne uvjete (nema vode, ali shout-out ekipi iz Nigdjezemske, najbolji su i napravili su nam najukusniju domaću pizzu). Na kraju koncerta Luka je pomalo stidljivo pitao na mikrofon publiku možemo li kod nekoga prespavati. Ponudilo se nekoliko ljudi i na kraju smo spavali kod Makedonke koja je znala Luku i bila na Erasmusu u Zadru, a baš taj dan joj je prijateljica dala svoju booking sobu na korištenje. Tako da smo od DIY uvjeta na kraju dobili najbolji tretman.
Luka: Meni Ljubljana svaki put ima prelijepe ljude i prelijepu energiju. Možda jer tamo imamo puno prijatelja i oni tamošnji ambijent čine opuštenijim, donoseći rakiju i dajući je na sve strane. I tamo ljudi najviše plešu. Mislim da mi se zato najviše sviđa.
Filip: Kragujevac…tko zna…zna…

Znate li možda za neki bend u nastajanju, možda kolege koji još nisu oformili bend ili neke tinejdžere koje ste čuli kako sviraju u lokalnom kafiću, a da su vam “zapeli za uho”?
Borjan: Trenutačno u Skopju ima puno odličnih bendova, poput Golemata voda, Mallard i Korka. Stvarno sam ponosan kad vidim kako se ti mladi bendovi razvijaju. Golemata voda su i mene konkretno inspirirali da se ne bojim svoje emo strane u jednoj novoj pjesmi koju trenutačno pišem za Vaginu.
Luka: Slažem se s Borjanom, trenutačno u Makedoniji postoji vrlo inspirativna mlađa scena. Iz Hrvatske mi se jako sviđa Klaustrofonija, iz Slovenije su mi fenomenalni Mal premalo, a iz Srbije Klotljudi i Ubili su batlera.

Gdje biste voljeli nastupati nekada u budućnosti? Možda neki festival, prostor ili koncertna dvorana, klub?
Borjan: Bilo bi kul da sviramo u nekom dvorcu ili konačno na Samitu nesvrstanih. To izgleda kao najkul mjesto za svirku, sa svim skejterima.
Luka: Možda u nekom zatvoru ili ludnici. Kao što su radili Cramps ili Iggy Pop. To bi bio lijep način da poginemo.
Filip: U nekoj korporaciji ili frizerskom salonu “Vagina”.

Što nam spremate za Močvaru?
Borjan: Spremamo dobru žurku, kao i par pjesama na kojima trenutačno radimo, koje ćemo po prvi put odsvirati upravo u Močvari i dan prije u beogradskoj Karmakomi. Free spirit day. Total fucking party maaaaaan.

Razgovarala: Anita Ulovec (Volontiram u Močvari)
S Makedonskog prevela: Laura Tandarić

Uoči njenog koncerta povodom promocija albuma “Fauna” koji je snimila s Roko Margetom, s Dunjom je razgovarao voditelj projekta Vrelo zvuka — Emir Fulurija

Ovo je uzbudljivo razdoblje za Vas. Počelo je krajem prošle godine objavljivanjem albuma Dunija, nastavilo se dodjelom nagrade Rock&Off te velikim koncertom u Lisinskom s brojnim gostima. Kako ste u sve to uspjeli ugurati i snimanje albuma “Fauna”?
Doista je vrlo burna godina iza mene. Faunu smo snimali krajem prošle godine, a dovršavali početkom ove, ali smo malo čekali s objavljivanjem albuma jer je bilo previše događanja. Tek sada pripremamo promotivni koncert.

Album ste snimili sa sada već dugogodišnjim suradnikom, multiinstrumentalistom Rokom Margetom. Ta suradnja je izuzetno plodonosna, a moj je dojam kako ste sada baš apsolutno ‘kliknuli’. Možete li opisati kako izgleda vaš zajednički kreativni proces stvaranja pjesama?
Zapravo smo “kliknuli” već kod rada na prvom albumu. “Dokaz” je bio odmah vidljiv jer se album “Svilarica svilu prede” našao na cijenjenoj “Transglobal world music chart”.
Prva faza našeg rada je zajedničko preslušavanje i komentiranje pjesama koje sam izdvojila u uži izbor za album. Objašnjavam šta za mene neka pjesma znači i kakve ona emocije izaziva kod mene. Zatim prepuštam Roku da sam odabere pjesme koje mu se najviše sviđaju od tih ponuđenih. Slijede zajedničke probe gdje odaberemo instrumente za pojedine pjesme, ali to se mijenja dok ne dođemo do konačnog odabira.
Od samog početka me fascinirao velik broj instrumenata na kojima Roko svira, a taj broj se još znatno povećao tijekom  godina naše suradnje. Najviše nas je uvijek zanimalo kako uz određenu pjesmu neki instrument djeluje u smislu emocija i ugođaja. Osnovno je pravilo da trebamo osjetiti paše li instrument uz pjesmu ili ne. Kod Faune smo baš išli na to da ugođaj bude bajkovit. U tome nam je jako pomogao Sven Pavlović u čijem smo studiju snimali Faunu, a koji je skupa s Rokom producirao ovaj album.
Možda da spomenem i to da nemamo uzore niti bilo kakva fiksna pravila kako obrađujemo pjesme. Najvažniji su naši osjećaji, naš odnos prema pjesmama, a forma nije najvažnija, ona ne  određuje, nego je podređena našem odabiru.

Koncept albuma su pjesme o životinjama, odnosno pjesme koje kao temu imaju životinje, ali se kroz njih personificiraju ljudski odnosi. Kako ste došli na ideju da snimite taj album? Je li bilo teško pronaći dovoljno pjesama za njega ili ih je bilo toliko da su neke ostale i van albuma?
Imam dosta pjesama na “listi čekanja” – to su pjesme koje u knjigama (zbirkama tradicijskih pjesama) obilježim ljepljivim listićima kao jako zanimljive, ili glazbeno ili tekstualno. Davno sam već uočila neke pjesme o životinjama koje su me posebno dirnule. Snimila sam više albuma koji ili imaju neku “priču”, ili sadrže pjesme iste tematike. Po običaju sam se savjetovala s Rokom šta bi njemu bilo inspirativno i na kraju smo se odlučili za Faunu (neke druge teme su ostale na čekanju).

Fauna, ali i flora se koriste u tradicijskoj glazbi kao svojevrsni simboli jer se kroz njih govori o nekim odnosima i situacijama o kojima se možda nije otvoreno pričalo. Koliko je zanimljivo otkrivati takve pjesme te istraživati značenje pojedinih simbola?
To je najzanimljivija karakteristika tradicijskih stihova – mogu se tumačiti na jako puno najrazličitijih načina. Svatko si može zamisliti svoju inačicu “priče” ili emocija. Od sasvim bukvalnog tumačenja, pa do bezbroj nijansi prenesenih značenja. Dobre tradicijske pjesme su poput opširnih romana, samo su puno kraće pa se mogu pjevati ili odsvirati.

Fauna” je objavljena i na ploči u izdanju Geenger Records. Koliko Vam je važno da je album objavljen i na to mediju?
Danas je neizvjesno u kojem će se pravcu razvijati sve to oko glazbe. Budućnost za glazbenike potpuno je neizvjesna. Ima puno različitih teorija, ali je činjenica da glazbom više ne upravljaju muzičari, niti ljudi kojima je glazba ljubav, već samo biznis.
Mi koji smo živjeli u doba materijalizirane glazbe, bez obzira u kojem formatu, volimo da je ona konkretnija od digitalnih verzija. Ako posjedujete CD ili vinil, glazbu koju ste kupili možete slušati bilo kada; ona ostaje u vašem posjedu. Slično je i s knjigama. Praktično je imati Kindle gdje stane enorman broj knjiga, ali to ne znači da ih posjedujete. S digitalnim servisima nikad nije ništa sigurno, vaše omiljeno štivo ili glazba mogu biti ugašeni i nestati u bilo kojem trenutku.
Kad nam je Matija Rubinić poslao svoj dizajn za Faunu, odmah smo Roko i ja poželjeli da album bude na objavljen na vinilu. Želja nam se ispunila.

Što pripremate za promociju koncerta?
U prvom dijelu koncerta odsvirat ćemo pjesme s albuma uz neke dodatne stare žičane instrumente. Naime, s nama će svirati i Kruno Carić, pravi majstor za staru glazbu.Njegovi instrumenti će dodatno pridonijeti bajkovitosti pjesama. Naravno, odsvirat ćemo i neke naše “hitove” 🙂 s prva dva albuma.

Emir Fulurija

Ahead of their performance at Močvara, The Wants shared a bit more about themselves, their music, how they do to connect with fans and even gave us homework: bands we should be listening to. Enjoy!

Q: Can you introduce each other to us?

MVV: Hi, I’m Madison Velding-VanDam.

YN: My name is Yasmeen (you can call me Yas).

JG: Hi, I’m Jason Gates.

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Q: If you weren’t part of the music scene, what kind of work do you think you’d be doing instead?

MVV: I studied to be a lawyer. I could have gone down that path, but I’m glad I didn’t.

YN: I study physics and acoustics alongside playing music; I’d most likely be working somewhere in that space.

JG: In another world, I am a pediatric cardiac surgeon.

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Q: Now that Bastard has been released, do you feel the album has changed you—perhaps in your artistic voice, or in how you approach songwriting or performance? If so, in what concrete ways?

MVV: The evolution is hard to articulate when you’re in the middle of it. I feel more confident now in how I approach writing and in integrating all of my interests.

YN: This is my first record with the band, so for me it feels natural. The performance of the new material is definitely heavier and more emotive, which I really appreciate.

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Q: The sense of isolation—geographical, economic, societal—has been central to your lyrics and visuals. In a post-COVID, hyperconnected world, how has your perception of isolation evolved, and how is that reflected in your music today?

MVV: The hyperconnectivity of the pre-COVID world was stressful and overwhelming. Post-COVID, I sense a growing resentment toward constant connectivity. For me, isolation often comes from hyperconnectivity—it’s easy to feel small, lost, or detached from community when you’re exposed to such an endless stream of information and experiences. I admire artists who are grounding themselves in their own regions. That feels very powerful.

YN: I think the tech age mirrors big city life. The more people you live among, the less you feel like you stand out. Cities offer opportunities to live authentically, but they also come with loneliness—being surrounded by people while still being alone. The internet extends that dynamic: the whole world becomes your city, but do they really see you, or are you still alone? That sense of loneliness and being an outcast definitely runs through the album.

Q: In earlier interviews, you’ve spoken about American economic and political anxieties—class issues, “economically irrelevant” populations. How conscious are you of your audience’s socio-economic background, and does that awareness shape how you release music (formats, pricing, touring)?

MVV: We align ourselves with like-minded people. To me, that’s how I see change happening: slowly, by attrition.

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Q: You’ve often reflected on social media, performance, and authenticity. In today’s streaming-driven world, how do you decide how much of your personal life and vulnerabilities to share with the public?

MVV: I prefer to share our art with the public rather than our personal lives. 

YN: I like sharing music and political reactions with people online, but I don’t feel that sharing personal or private details adds anything positive.

JG: I mostly only talk about music and music production. It’s very rare that I’d bring up something too personal or political, though it has happened once or twice. I’m not very big on social media.

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Q: Aside from performing, what do you do to stay connected with your fans?

MVV: We share visual art and recorded music. Madison Carroll has contributed enormously to our visual language through her photography.

YN: I love going to my friends’ shows and collaborating with other artists on videos and remixes. With fans, I stay connected directly on Instagram and TikTok.

JG: I like meeting people at shows and talking about music or other common interests.

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Q: Which concert or venue do you remember most fondly, and why?

MVV: We had an incredible show at Loppen in Copenhagen on this tour. The crowd was fully present, dancing and letting go. That’s what it’s all about.

YN: Recently we played at Loppen in Copenhagen. It’s the best venue I’ve ever been to—amazing people and such a great crowd.

JG: I fondly remember seeing Swans at the Masonic Temple in Brooklyn when they got back together in 2010. It was my birthday, and my friend Yoshiko Ohara took me. Yoshiko used to have an incredible doom band called Bloody Panda. It was an amazing show.

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Q: Are there any newer bands or artists you’d recommend right now?

MVV: YHWH Nailgun, Smerz, Hildur Guðnadóttir.

YN: I really like Activity—a great Brooklyn band with electronics and swirly guitars, produced by Jeff Berner (Psychic TV).

JG: I’m excited about an album called Defensive Acoustics, coming out October 10th from Liam Andrews under the name AICHER. He also has a band called MY DISCO and a project with Regis and Boris Wilsdorf, who works with Einstürzende Neubauten. A couple tracks are already up on Bandcamp.

I also recommend Goh Nakada’s project Gorgonn, which is awesome.

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Q: If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

MVV: It’s all in the journey. Get to it!

YN: Don’t judge yourself so harshly. Just make art and put it out.

JG: Don’t worry too much, and practice more.

Anita Ulovec (Volontiram u Močvari)

From mumbling into a mic in 2009 to crafting sleek pop anthems, Lust for Youth are making music they want to hear. Ahead of their concert in Močvara on October 9th, we had a chat with Hannes. Enjoy the read!

Can you say a couple of words about who you are and your work so far?
I’m Hannes and I started LFY when I was living in Gothenburg many years ago. It was a different style of project then, more inspired by industrial and minimal wave. My interest shifted a bit and when I moved to Copenhagen and met Malthe he helped me to push the direction towards a more melodic and pop oriented sound. Which have always been a soft spot for us; good pop songs (The Smiths, Pet Shop Boys, The Tough Alliance, Francoise Hardy, The Go-Betweens etc..).

Do you remember your very first performance—what was it like, and how did it feel to perform live for the first time?
Yes, it was when I was living in Gothenburg, it was probably in the fall of 2009. We were standing on a small stage in the foyer, right next to the entrance. We had MS-20 and some cassette loops, and I mumbled in a microphone for 20 minutes. I don’t think it intrigued a lot of people but probably had some sort of charm.

Do you attend music conferences/showcase festivals? If yes, which ones?
We’ve been to SXSW and to something in Norway, but it’s really not our cup of tea. My experience is that it tends to be a bit too corporate.

Was there a person, moment, a collaborator, labelmate, mentor or influence that helped you shape your artistic vision or shift your music career in a meaningful way—someone or something you still remember fondly?
Malthe Fischer, showing me that you could pan the sound, I’d never thought about that before when I was working on the cassette porta. All the sounds were just smashed into a mess on top of each other.

Your sound has evolved from raw, minimal synth into a more polished and melodic direction—sometimes even danceable and pop-oriented. How do you balance making music that’s more accessible or commercially viable with staying true to your original artistic vision?
The artistic vision has always been to make pop music, but in our own way. We make music we like to listen to.

When you look back at your early records now—albums like Growing Seeds or Perfect View—how do you feel about them? Do you still see those as part of the same project, or like a different band entirely?
For me everything up til 2014 was a different project, from the International album is kind of where LFY as a group starts. Before that, it was a solo experiment by me, trying to learn how to make music.

Do you think about how people interpret your lyrics and visuals, or is it more about creating a mood and letting listeners feel it in their own way?
I’d say we before were more focusing on making a mood or a vibe, and whatever lyrics or samples we used to underline this feeling. The listener might interpret it differently, which is also the exciting part of it.

If you didn’t have to think about genre, past albums, or what people expect from Lust for Youth—just starting totally fresh—what kind of music do you think you’d be making? I would probably choose to get a proper education instead.

What have you been listening to lately? Do you know about any emerging names/colleagues we should check out?
I’ve been listening to Rosa Anschütz ’s beautiful new album Sabbatical.
But I would also like to mention Amateur Hour – Går I Kras, from Gothenburg, Sweden.

Is there a future project or collaboration you dream of doing and that fans might expect from Lust for Youth? 
It’s still early to say yet, let’s see what happens.

Anita Ulovec

Descartes a Kant borrowed their name from the great thinkers, but their music is anything but academic. It’s raw, theatrical, and gloriously unpredictable. We talked with the band about building meaning out of chaos, escaping genre, and why every record is its own philosophical experiment. They’re coming to Močvara 31.7. to give you a taste.

Your band name pulls from Descartes and Kant — logic, structure, philosophy… but your sound is pure chaos in the best possible way. What does that contrast represent in the context of your (really great) music?
Great question! To me life is about making sense out of chaos, and philosophy itself is pretty much about making all the questions as possible about the meaning of life – We are uncertainty searching for certainty. So I guess our music in sound and structure represents that, trying to go through all the colors, from black to white, from the sweetest to the hardest, from Descartes to Kant.

After everything — all the touring, scene shifts, and years navigating both the underground and international circuits — what’s the one thing you’ve never compromised on in your art?
Fortunately we’ve never ever had to compromise anything in our art, on the contrary we learn as much as we can about the diversity in music, all types of music scenes and all the different cultures we get to cross our paths with. It’s amazing to be able to go around the world presenting our crazy art.

Was there a specific show, band, or moment in the Mexican scene early on where you thought, “Okay, this is real — we can actually do this”?
After we released our album debut Paper Dolls, like in the same year we opened for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, for Sonic Youth and also we played at our first massive festival ‘Vive Latino’ – which is the hugest in Latinoamérica, in that year we felt that something was happening and that we had something special going on, that the people was starting to know about us and be receptive to this kind of music, and we started to take it seriously in a way.

You’ve talked before about feeling like outsiders in the Mexican scene. Has that outsider status turned into a kind of creative freedom over time? Or does it still feel like you’re carving out space where there wasn’t any?
Yeah not fitting in a genre or a specific scene gives us all of the freedom to experiment and push our own artistic limits without feeling that our audience has an expectation about us, and that has always been what this band is about, the anti genre and not fitting in a box.

Every one of your records feels like a total reinvention — from Paper Dolls to Victims of Love Propaganda, it’s like stepping into a new world each time. What pushes you to change things up from album to album?
Yeah totally, that’s like our thing, each album is like its own universe and it’s so hard and challenging to do that every few years, but it’s also what makes it super exciting, you can never get bored or too comfortable.

What’s the weirdest, most unexpected thing that’s ever sparked a song for you? Like, a dream, experience, a conversation, a smell… anything.
There was one conversation we had during a breakfast several years ago, I was talking about how cool would it be to see a tap dance solo in a punk venue, like those two different contexts converging, and that’s when I started to write ‘You May Kiss The Bride’, which is a personal wish of singing in a musical, made reality!

“No es por ti, es por mí” stands out since it’s fully in Spanish — which you don’t always do. Does something shift in your performance when you switch languages? Is there something you can say or feel in Spanish that just doesn’t come across the same in English?
Yeah, switching languages is like having a dual processor in your mind, not everything  translates precisely, but at the same time all my life has been about switching between those two languages intermittently. I grew up in California and then moved to Mexico when I was a kid, so this language shift has occurred ever since. And when you are writing music, it challenges you in a very particular way. It’s rare nowadays to hear a Mexican band sing in English, but at the same time I always viewed DAK as an intentional project, so it had made more sense through time since we have been touring more and more out of our country. I’ve realized that in the end the audience connects with the music, the performance and the art language in a broad and more immediate and intimate way, despite the lyric language our songs have been written in. Touring this album among live audiences in different countries has been incredibly fun to experiment.

If you could play one stage — any stage in the world — where do you think Descartes a Kant belongs? Like, what’s the dream venue or festival that just makes sense for your universe?
We are dying to go to Asia, it’s like our dream, and everyone says we would make so much sense there. I wish we could play at the Fuji festival someday.

You’ve mentioned how tech connects and isolates us at the same time. Do you think music still brings people together in a meaningful way — or is that kind of connection harder to come by now?
Music and art definitely bring people together in many ways, whether you are creating it or experiencing it as an audience. Hopefully in a meaningful way! In our case, every time we play a show or do an album it’s very meaningful.

What is your favorite performance so far and why?
Probably when we played in Russia because it’s such a different place and we didn’t know what to expect at all, and was probably the most effusive reaction from a crowd we’ve ever had! And there were people from all ages.

Anita Ulovec (Volontiram u Močvari)