2019 Rewind: Viktor Talking Machine

Viktor Talking Machine

How was 2019 for you?
Viktor Talking Machine: 2019 was full of love, stress and crazy moments. We released a well-noticed EP on Monaberry with great remixes by Lauer and Italo Brutalo. We had the chance to remix Andhim and played so many great festivals and clubs. We met so many great people and are thankful for every single moment.

Highlights?
Becoming a father and discovering that two hours of sleep are enough. We moved our studio to our friends from Station Endlos and are now super happy with our rooms and the new possibilities. Superbooth this year was awesome and brought us so much new gear that we want but can’t afford. Every festival and club we played was so much fun that we can’t pick one as a super highlight.

Lowlights?
None of them belonging directly to the music scene but are part of our lives, so they influenced us in several ways. There was the deadly shooting with an anti-semitic background at a synagogue very close to the place where we live. So this changed a lot and took us of for a few days. A lot of bad events stopped our daily routine and forced us to think out of the box. The big fire [in] the Amazon, Brexit, rising right-wing extremist violence all over Europe, that the Sumatran rhino is now officially extinct in Malaysia and some more of those lowlights.

Song of the year?
The song that was our constant companion is “Lille Vals” from our friend Storken. We got this massive tune at the very beginning of the year and every time we played it the people went nuts. It is a classical goose-bump song that touches our hearts and forced us a smile on our faces.

What’s your New Year’s resolution?
Work. Work. Work.

No paywalls, free to all. Help us remain 100% independent and unbiased. Please give to Big Shot by making a secure one-time donation to help us continue covering DJ culture and electronic music like we’ve done since 2003.



2019 Rewind: Monique Bingham

Monique Bingham

How was 2019 for you?
Monique Bingham: 2019 was great musically! I feel like I’m bursting with new music and ideas. I wish our long national nightmare would end, but other than that it was productive.

Highlights?
I got to travel and perform in some new parts of Africa this year, including Namibia and Angola for the first time. Every opportunity to perform for folks is a blessing, but it’s lovely to meet people and places you had no idea your music had reached.

Lowlights?
The xenophobic “riots” in Johannesburg in September were incredibly disturbing and disheartening. It really messed me up for some weeks. I was touring there the entire month. As a part-time punk Pan-Africanist to watch African nationals fight other African nationals in Africa was a mind fuck for someone like me. But I am lucky I have a lot of great friends in SA, and I can also count the great Nigerian painter Lemi Ghariokwu as a friend, and they really talked me off the ledge.

Song of the year?
Ralf GUM feat. Bongi Mvuyana’s “Used To Be.” Bongi is one of the most original singers I have heard in ages.

What’s your New Year’s resolution?
To remember who I was when I first started this musical sojourn and to be as fearless as she was in everything I do in 2020.

No paywalls, free to all. Help us remain 100% independent and unbiased. Please give to Big Shot by making a secure one-time donation to help us continue covering DJ culture and electronic music like we’ve done since 2003.



2019 Rewind: junk-E-cat

junk-E-cat

How was 2019 for you?
junk-E-cat: 2019 was a great year for the creature. My first EP, Kreatur, came out in May followed by the latest single, “Treature,” and I’m even cooking up more music as we speak. I also feel 2019 was the year where I found the perfect team to realize my creative world.

Highlights?
Melt 2019. I played twice at 5am on top of my fire truck, luring people from the festival area to the so-called sleepless floor, a bit like a new age pied piper. Making so many people dance was such a great rush.

Another highlight was making the video for my track “Levitation.” We had the use of a whole private airport, and we coordinated a dramatic performance on top of the moving truck. Everything was over within a couple of hours, but it was an amazing experience.

Lowlights?
The massive setback with PledgeMusic at the beginning of the year. Fans and supporters gave their hard-earned cash so kindly and we were all ready to be funded to make and release the record. And then PledgeMusic collapsed and the whole situation left us and the fans empty-handed.

Song of the year?
I’ve listened to so many wonderful and inspiring tracks this year. If I need to choose one right now, it would probably be “The Righteous Mind” from Throwing Snow’s latest release.

What’s your New Year’s resolution?
More music, more shows and more urban exploring and more adventures for my fire truck.

No paywalls, free to all. Help us remain 100% independent and unbiased. Please give to Big Shot by making a secure one-time donation to help us continue covering DJ culture and electronic music like we’ve done since 2003.



2019 Rewind: Azusena

AZUSENA

How was 2019 for you?
Azusena: Enlightening and more loving.

Highlights?
Becoming closer with the people I love and admire, and learning to produce my own songs and music.

Lowlights?
Saying goodbye a lot.

Song of the year?
“Vermissen” by Juju feat. Henning May

What’s your New Year’s resolution?
To stay curious about the world, and say yes more!

No paywalls, free to all. Help us remain 100% independent and unbiased. Please give to Big Shot by making a secure one-time donation to help us continue covering DJ culture and electronic music like we’ve done since 2003.