Kazety

FRI May 21 9:15 pm Konvikt / ramparts / concert

KAZETY

David Doubek aka Ventolin el. guitar, samples, vocals
Johana Švarcová keyboards, vocals
A Schwarz Vj
Filip Míšek drums

discography
2009 Kazety

A compelling synthetic sound, simple keyboard tunes and hypnotically
repetitive lyrics laced with the magic of b&w visuals...


Kazety (“Cassettes”) is a project of the actress and performer Johana Švarcová (DNO Theatre, Radio Ivo) and musician David Doubek (aka Ventolin) who bring out a compelling retro synth sound. Their music is based on blurred guitar sound-scapes, dance rhythms, simple keyboard tunes and catchy, hypnotically repetitive and seemingly banal lyrics, which blend naïveté with message and Dada with romance. The disjointed and restless duo is joined by the guest drummer Filip Míšek (Khoiba) and an audiovisual expert (A Schwarz) whose task is to encourage black & white aesthetics. The effect resembles a straightforward and mesmeric trip into the frowning preserves of deeply rooted feelings, set against the 80s sound which is definitely not short of playfulness and detachment, but which is furthermore endowed with a deal of striking stylization. Kazety were nominated for this year's Czech “Anděl” music award in the Alternative Music category.


If they didn't sing in Czech, they would definitely become – thanks to using analogue loops, punk-like primitive schemes and neverending repetitive beats – one of continental Europe's fresh newcoming talents of indie pop. (...)

Be ready to instantly fall in love with Kazety after the first listen, or maybe even while just looking at the black-and-white album cover art. I'm not sure whether this is the best Czech album of the year, but in any case, it's complex in a special way and just the thing. This is how you do it! I love it!

Kazety provide a model for a really good and funny Czech electro. Their eponymous album is just the music that a standard listener of Czech Radio 1 wished to listen to during the second half of the 1990s, glancing over the border since there was no appropriate counterpart at home.

At the moment, Kazety are something you might call “a promising act”. And it will be really interesting to watch out where (if anywhere at all) their paths will take them from this point of departure.