We had a conversation with Vocal groove band Bauchklang, a five-piece “vocal groove collective” from Austria. With an unique mixture of beat boxing and vocal acrobatics they cover a musical landscape stretching from Electro over Drum’n’Bass to Dub & Hip Hop- only using their voices on the way.
Catch them live at SulaFest 2018 on 3rd and 4th February.
You are known for your vocal groove. How do you make sure to continuously make music that is groovy? What’s your success tip?
Philipp: There is no formula or special recipe , we just simply try to create music that we like and at a certain point the beat arrangement and the grooves become an integral part of a composition.
While creating, often a melody or a certain chord progression comes first and afterwards we build the grooves around it- sometimes it’s the other way around.
For me it has to do with trusting your instinct and musical curiosity while writing or jamming and then letting it rest for some time and listen to it with fresh ears and see if the musical idea still holds.
You play music that ranges from Electro to Dub & Hip Hop creating a musical landscape. Which has been your best mix so far and why?
Philipp: Our path led us to explore the possibilities of a-capella music in a dance environment. 15 years ago when this art form (beatboxing and vocal percussion in such a band- setting) was not so commonly known but electronic music became more and more popular we wanted to try if we can compete with a well produced DJ set in a club or on big festival stages, and we found out that it does! It will never be that perfect but it adds the experience of a live gig for the audience and in our case if you experience us on stage you will always search for the hidden Dj somewhere in the back, but after 2 tracks that virtuous circus thing disappears and people just dance and enjoy the music!
about style mix – We collaborated with big choirs, dancers, spoken word artists, Pianists, painters, the audience, and a lot of other wonderful creative people in our shows during the years.
I couldn’t label all the styles we incorporated- but there is definitely a different choice in the vibe if you are performing at 15:00 in the afternoon on a festival or at 3am in the club 🙂
I believe we always tried to be authentic and honest with the music and the environment we perform in!
If you had to collaborate with a musician from India, who would it be and why?
Philipp: There are so many incredible artists in India, from the traditional classical field to folk music, instrumentalists and contemporary electronic music artists-and of course all the singers —— very hard choice to pick one !!!
we already had the privilege to share the stage with some living legends like Ustad Zakir Hussain and everytime we came to perform in india we had some sessions with amazing singers and percussionists.
Let’s hope that it goes on like this in the future 🙂
What’s on your set list for SulaFest?
Philipp: It’s been some time since we last performed in India and these days we just do a few very selected concerts worldwide throughout the year, so it’s really going to be something special for us!
Our set is gonna feature some of our newer material and some of our older tracks. We have the privilege of closing the festival and hope to have a big party going on with all the people present!
What are you upcoming projects?
Andi: We are currently working on a big Movie project in south america- columbia that should be finished until the end of the year.
As a fortune teller I think Bauchklang will release some nice tracks and will have more concerts in 2018 in musically untouched places for us like: Zaire, North Korea, Iceland, New Zealand, Japan or the Burning Man Festival in the United States — and of course coming back to India very soon again !!
Any message for our readers
‘BRING OUT YOUR VOICE’
