Release of the Week: fiasko

Austrian hip-hop duo fiasko offers proof of the opposite. What started with the discovery of America via the internet in their younger years, is documented years later - after various musical attempts - on their latest album. Sometimes with classic MPC-romanticism, sometimes with self-made bio-samples, fiasko deals with the topics between a quarter and midlife crisis.

Can you briefly introduce yourselves and your project?

fiasko is the code name for a longtime friendship that is deeply rooted in music. There's Max who raps and me, Matthias, who takes care of the instrumentals. The joke behind it is that we have known each other for a long time and exchanged ideas about music and making music at every opportunity, but we have never really worked together - until now. So the whole thing came about very quickly and without a big master plan, which is probably reflected in the record itself: gut feeling instead of cleverness, edges instead of rounded corners, on the whole, "it is, what it is".

Can you tell us something about your new album "fiasko"? What were your inspirations?

It was never planned as a dedicated album. Originally it was just about building a beat for already existing lyrics, which Max just wanted to get rid of for urgent reasons. But since this beat was never there, more and more were created to finally have this track. That's how it went for two months. I sent beats and Max - just in the middle of a personally very intense time - wrote about it. When we were together in the studio to record a few things, we first noticed the scope of the material and the content and musical togetherness. Two days later we had this album.

What is your experience with Spotify and the other streaming and download platforms?

We recently launched 'Gspusi Records' to broadcast our musical output to the world. From the perspective of a mini-indie label, it is of course wonderful to discuss the mechanisms of these platforms and the impact on music creators themselves. One thing is certain, however, that the availability of one's own releases there is unavoidable. After all, you want people to listen to them. Our passion is still vinyl, but that doesn't stop us personally from using Spotify in our everyday lives.

What are your plans for 2022?

At the moment we are unfortunately still trembling a little about the already once postponed date for the release concert. We're still holding out hope that the album can be presented live this year. Otherwise, we try - completely in the sense of the developing process - to plan nothing at all or even to force anything. I myself am active in the studio every day, so a lot of material accumulates even without a concrete goal. For Max, it ebbs and flows, which always results in strong and authentic lyrics. Maybe there is already more than we actually think. We just keep on sticking to the decisive credo: "It'll be alright".