In the 46th edition of IndieRE your hosts Ákos Cserháti and Dániel Kemény from the Hungarian Civil Rádió present the hip-hop artist Beton.Hofi, pop rock bands Carson Coma, Ivan & The Parazolb, Anna and the Barbies and Aranyakkord, pop musician Azahriah, beat-rock soul band Blahalouisiana, indie pop band Galaxisok and duo Veronika Harcsa & Gyémánt Bálint.

Beton.Hofi entered the Hungarian music scene only two years ago, with two mixtapes, in 2021 with Comic Sins and in 2022 Playbánia. His music is especially popular among students and can be heard in every night club in Budapest. The artist’s name is Ádám Swartz, who first had his sights set on a serious football career, but his health condition made it impossible for him to play sports actively. After years of playing football, he soon got involved in the slam poetry communities in Budapest, where he says he received a lot of positive feedback, which is why he started to take music more seriously. Hip-hop has been very popular in Hungary lately, with a lot of young talent emerging from this style. Beton.Hofi stands out among them. With his strong lyrics he quickly became the Hungarian dominant artist in the world of new wave rap, last year he received the Fonogram award, also known as the Hungarian Grammy award, in the category of Hungarian rap or hip-hop album of the year. We listened to the songs Bagira, then Tiszalök, which is a name of a small town in Eastern Hungary, and Dohánybolt, which in English means tobacco shop.

Next we present a new generation band, Carson Coma, a unique alternative soft rock, indie rock formation. Their music is inspired by the beat music of the 1960s. This is evident in both their music and their music videos – for which they’ve won several awards. Their music is currently the most popular alternative music in Hungary on various streaming platforms. We are playing music from their last two albums, Lesz, ami lesz, which just means will be what will be and from their album Digitális/Analóg. We listened to the songs Hobbihajótörött (Hobby castaway), Egyszerűen Semmi Sem Egyszerű (Nothing is simple), Polaroid and Immunissá válunk (We become immune). The song Polaroid is very likely refering to the title of the band’s latest album Digital/Analogue. The main character in the song is actually a Polaroid camera, which, according to the lyrics, is used by our characters to make analogue memories in this digital world. Speaking about the song, the band members Barni and Giorgio said: »We are now the DVD generation, we had very little contact with analogue devices. They were more like toys for us when we were kids, but we always look back on these devices with fond memories. The song is also a reflection of the renaissance of these devices in recent times. There is also a critical side to this: the days when you could still own music tracks in physical form, for example on CD, are gone. That’s why we’re making a vinyl and CD version of the record anyway. The title of the record is Digital/Analog, which is a bit of a reference to that phenomenon, but ultimately we chose that name because it sounds fucking great.«

We're introducing a guy who first created a successful YouTube channel and then suddenly started a career as a musician under a new name Azahriah. He first came to fame with his YouTube channel Paul Street, where he made videos mainly about scary, mysterious topics. Since childhood, he has also been making music, and in 2019 he started publishing his own songs. Since then, he has released three albums. We listened to a track from his 2022 EP silbak called Four Moods.

Ivan & The Parazol is a Budapest-based rock band that started making music in 2010. Their style is basically a mix of the '60s, '70s music and modern trends. Since their first concert in a high school auditorium, they've released five albums and in 2014 opened for Deep Purple in Budapest. If we had to define their style, we could put them somewhere between garage rock and psychedelic rock. The first song is called Néha kevés, néha több (Sometimes little, sometimes more), followed by their collaboration with Carson Coma, Kérdőjelek és válaszok (Question marks and answers).

Coming up next is a Hungarian beat-rock soul band, who definitely didn't have the difficult life of radio operators in mind when they chose their complicated, almost unpronounceable name. The band is called Blahalouisiana, and they were founded in 2012 in Székesfehérvár, a Hungarian town in the countryside. The only thing more complicated than the band's name is the name of their singer, Barbara Schoblocher, who is also a frequent character in the band's music videos. Their first solo album was released in April 2016, and since then they have released three more albums, the last one in 2022. The song we listened to is Ha élni felejtek (If I forget to live).

We also presented a recently released track from Anna and the Barbies. The band will celebrate their 20th anniversary next year. They're an active band, always releasing a new album every two to three years. Their latest record is called Adj király katonát (Give me a king soldier). We’ve listened to the title song.

Tibi Kiss is a leading figure in Hungarian music. He is the frontman of one of the most popular alternative bands called Quimby. Kiss Tibi has recently released an album with a new band called Aranyakkord. On this album they mainly perform the remaining songs of the band Quimby with their musician friend Gábor Vastag. They said that they see this as a hobby project, where they play songs that haven't fit anywhere else. These are often simple song starters, song lyrics written during cigarette breaks, but still they sound very nice on the album. We listened to the song Világgá megyek (I'm going to the world).

We listened to a band whose lyrics are explicitly about the problems, desires and fears of the young generation. They are called Benedek Szabó and the Galaxies or Galaxisok. Sometimes using elements of folk music, they have released interesting indie pop albums, six in total so far. The band is very well known in underground places in Hungary, not only for their music but also for their lyrics, which often have a very deep message. We listened to Ez a Nyár (This summer).

Veronika Harcsa is a singer, songwriter, composer in many genres, and an active performer of Hungarian music on the international scene. For many years she has been writing mainly jazz music with Bálint Gyémánt, who is considered by critics to be one of Hungary's best jazz guitarists and who also leads his own band. The two musicians have recently released a new song About Time.

FEATURED ARTISTS/PRODUCERS (WITH LABELS) OR FEATURED LABELS:

Beton.Hofi
https://www.facebook.com/beton.hofi/
https://www.instagram.com/beton.hofi/

Carson Coma
https://www.facebook.com/carsoncoma/
https://www.instagram.com/carsoncoma/

Azahriah
https://www.facebook.com/azahriah.official/
https://www.instagram.com/azahriah_official/

Ivan & The Parazol
https://www.facebook.com/ivanandtheparazol/
https://www.instagram.com/ivanandtheparazol/

Blahalouisiana
https://www.facebook.com/blahalouisiana/
https://www.instagram.com/blahalouisiana/

Anna and the Barbies
https://www.facebook.com/annaandthebarbies/
https://www.instagram.com/annaandthebarbies/

Aranyakkord
https://www.facebook.com/aranyakkord/

Galaxisok
https://galaxisok.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/galaxisok/
https://www.instagram.com/galaxisok/

Veronika Harcsa & Bálint Gyémánt
https://veronikaharcsablintgymnt.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/harcsaveronika/
https://www.instagram.com/harcsaveronika/

PLAYLIST:

01. Beton.Hofi, Hundred Sins – Bagira [2:03] (Playbánia, Universal Music Hungary/Banana Records, 2022)
02. Beton.Hofi – Dohánybolt [2:57] (Playbánia, Universal Music Hungary/Banana Records, 2022)
03. Beton.Hofi – Tiszalök [2:37] (Playbánia, Universal Music Hungary/Banana Records, 2022)
04. Carson Coma – Hobbihajótörött [2:48] (Lesz, ami lesz, Gold Record, 2020)
05. Carson Coma – Egyszerűen Semmi Sem Egyszerű [3:00] (Lesz, ami lesz, Gold Record, 2020)
06. Carson Coma – Polaroid [3:55] (Digitális/Analóg, Gold Record Music Kft., 2022)
07. Carson Coma – Immunissá válunk [3:30] (Digitális/Analóg, Gold Record Music Kft., 2022)
08. Azahriah – Four Moods [3:20] (Silbak EP, Supermanagement, 2022)
09. Ivan & The Parazol – Néha kevés, néha több [3:21] (single, self-released, 2020)
10. Ivan & The Parazol x Carson Coma – Kérdőjelek és a válaszok [3:16] (single, Modernial Records/Gold Record, 2021)
11. Blahalouisiana – Ha élni felejtek [3:28] (Alagutak, Fények, Nagymamád Jegenyéi, Gold Record, 2017)
12. Anna and the Barbies – Adj Király Katonát! [3:09] (Adj Király Katonát, Supermanagement, 2022)
13. Aranyakkord – Világgá megyek [2:14] (Dalok a BOLHAPIACról (Live Session), SMP, 2019)
14. Galaxisok – Ez a nyár [3:00] (single, self-released, 2022)
15. Harcsa Veronika & Gyémánt Bálint – About Time [2:56] (About Time, Jazzhaus Records, 2022)

Produced by Civil Rádió, Hungary.
Prepared, announced and mixed by Ákos Cserháti and Dániel Kemény.
Design by jure Anžiček.