The city’s coolest clubs welcome the most exciting young musicians during a full week of madness. Sounds familiar? Yes, the Rakéta Festival (May 30-June 5) is basically the Hungarian version of Creepy Teepee or SXSW. Some bands make their very first appearance during the week, while many of them are already well-known for their freaking-strange live shows, and a few of the acts already received praise from websites like FACT or Electronic Beats. Which bands, you wonder? What bands play what, you wanna ask? Take our guided tour and find out!
Monday, May 30 – 5pm: Gustave Tiger, Rosa Parks, Deep Glaze, Veszélyes Faszfej, Központ Elhárítási Terror @ A38 Ship Secessionist art rock, cathedral punk – it’s hard to put labels on a band like Gustave Tiger, which incorporates elements of gospel choirs and black metal blastbeats into its sound. They are one of the most original acts of the local underground scene, and on this night, they’ll present their newest album to the audience, so be sure to catch them! Deep Glaze is influenced by everything from electronica to traditional blues, and they channel these inspirations into twisted psychedelic jams. Rosa Parks is a famous math-rock band, named after the bold civil-rights activist. Veszélyes Faszfej plays hazardous turbopop, and Központ Elhárítási Terror is into proto-punk-garage-rock.
Tuesday, May 31 – 10.30pm: Cielo Dive, Black Bartók, TPS Report @ RoHAMBlack Bartók sounds like Depeche Mode on a bad trip: drum machines, industrial soundscapes, and twisted electro blues by the members of Hangmás, Terrible Ted, and Sonar. Cielo Dive is an up-and-coming Hungarian band, experimenting on the borders of alternative emocore, garage, and postrock. As they say, it's “melancholic monochrome emo”. TPS Report revolves around three things: dudes, parties, and skateboarding.
Wednesday, June 1 – 6pm: Dope Calypso, Carson Coma, Meteo @ BEAT ON THE BRAT One half of the bands that are scheduled to play on day three will perform at
Beat On The Brat: Hiúz, a catchy pop-punk brigade; Carson Coma, a teenage band playing psychedelic rock; and Meteo, sounding like a stoner-psychedelic-garage band from San Francisco.
Wednesday, June 1 – 6pm: Papaver Cousins, Upor András, Commando Cat featuring Bodrisztava @ Zeg Zug The other bands for this day will perform at the cozy Zeg Zug: Papaver Cousins, a singer-songwriter duo of two unlikely cousins delivering a wide range of guitar-based music built on the roots of folk and blues; Upor András, a singer-songwriter-guitarist, known for his energetic performance, diverse vocal qualities, and expressive guitar playing; and last but not least, Commando Cat and Bodrisztava will bring some filthy rock ’n’ roll vibes to the venue.
Thursday, June 2 – 11pm: Agavoid, Belau, Sad Acid, Gridscape, Christopher Waver @ ToldiGridscape – a retrofuturistic synthwave attack from Hungary! Think of acts like Perturbator or Carpenter Brut and you’ve got it. Belau is a chillwave/downtempo act that will transport you to a sandy beach, while the sun is sinking below the horizon. Sad Acid is, well, acid for sad people – but who could resist that? Christopher Waver is the new project of Kristóf Huszár (ex-Youniverse), who fancies genres like funk or house, and makes twisted dance music that sounds like it was made in the ’70s. He is also a member of Agavoid, a band that play psychedelic dream pop.
Friday, June 3 – 7pm: Szilánk, Berriloom, Chezan @ Vittula One half of the bands that are scheduled to play on day five will perform at Club Vittula: berriloom is a one-man project, making chilled-out dream pop- and synth-inspired electronic music, that will transport you into another dimension. Apart from him, there will be two acoustic performances:
Chezan and Szilánk.
Friday, June 3 – 9pm: HANS, ANEZ, Iszlai, MALVO, Planetmalcolm, SzO, Sazabio @ MÜSZI The other bands of day five will be performing at MÜSZI: Sazabio is a natural-born funkster, who won’t stop until palm trees start growing in the venue. Every concert of ANEZ is a special indie-electronic performance with a Björk-like vocalist, and we have a feeling that this won’t be an exception. Planetmalcolm is like the fusion of a crazy scientist and an experimental beatmaker, keeping things on the dirtier side. SzO fancies the melancholic and lo-fi version of house, the one that is the trademark of labels like Lobster Theremin. HANS will play an improvised noise set, and MALVO will bring some glitch noises to MÜSZI. Iszlai labels himself as “surreal noise painting” – which sounds more than interesting!
Saturday, June 4 – 5pm: Musica Moralia, Umi Tuesday, Stopsonic, Lightning Field, Pepi Rössler @ Gólya The Rakéta Festival management will organize the first Budapest-based Ladyfest on Saturday, with the following female-fronted acts: Musica Moralia, the one-person project of a girl with keening vocals and postfolk style. Lightning Field, a folk-based bedroom project whose quiet and intimate songs resemble the music of Nick Drake or Robert Wyatt. Umi Tuesday plays country-tinged lounge pop from America. Screamo act Pepi Rössler and
Stopsonic feature imanexperiment and two other members who are into twisted electronic pop/dance music.
Saturday, June 4 – 9pm: Mechanical Corpse, Céh, Desdemona Daene, Axentriq, Black Wrist, KINZO is HERE, Mike Nylons, Modeo @ Auróra Desdemona Daene is like the Hungarian Alva Noto, experimenting with noises and soundscapes that you can get lost in. Céh is an eardrum-smashing power-punk outrage with some electronic elements. Black Wrist is a one-man witch-house project: needless to say, it’s kvlt. Kinzo Is Here plays “Minotaur’s latexcore madness”, which means ultrabrutal breakcore, gabber, and other shocking genres. It won’t go down easily, so prepare your body! Mechanical Corpse is an industrial-ambient-noise project, not only for the living dead. The program will be closed by the b2b set of Modeo and Mike Nylons, which will surely take you on a journey.
Sunday, June 5 – 5.15pm: No Eves, The Beans, The Nobody Elses, Tape Kebab, 40 Days, Felső Tízezer @ A38 Ship
No Eves play balls-to-the-walls stoner rock with a twist: if you like the bands of Josh Homme, you’ll surely love it. The Nobody Elses are fresh-faced indie kids, who love sun-kissed indie pop – listening to it and playing it, too. Felső Tízezer is formed by The Somersault Boy-leader László Sallai and his friends, and they play catchy pop-rock with a strong ’90s influence. 40 Days plays indie rock on the way of psychedelia. Tape Kebab and The Beans will perform too.
