#The Alternative Eurovision Song Contest

[nekokvmaa]

Quick drawing I did of Bambiethug cuz I was bored and they’re really cool

[topieliczka]

Look at me, look at me, look at me Tell me that you don't like what you see

[enthusiast-of-relaxing-music]

I wanted to share this with you all.

After the final i was very sad because i couldn't understand how they got only a few points while they recived so much Love on all platforms.

This numbers explain a lot for me and made me a little bit happy. lotl was not last in the public vote they only missed toi oftend the 11th place after which they actually recived Points.

[yrsonpurpose]

my sleep paralysis demons

[memesmunsigra]

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[lexiklecksi]

My top 3 picks for ESC 2024

Dear non-watchers of ESC scroll past, I gotta take a moment to celebrate the ESC on main, so here are my 3 top picks after watching some music videos. I added my unfiltered unhinged thoughts below the music videos.

They blended traditional choir singing with modern hip-hop and folk vocals. The song unfolds in layers, at times it feels like it should be sung in a church. But then the rap vocals bring it into our time. There's a deep sense of longing and cultural history reverberating through the sounds and deep vocals. It is astounding how the brought this song to life, the musical genre mix shouldn't work as well as it does. Ah, I really wish for peace in Ukraine.

I love everything about this! The dance moves, the positive vibes, the catchy tunes and of course the singing and the lyrics! Seems like Vesna started a trend with extra-long braids for ESC performances, and Italy, Luxembourg and Ukraine continue that trend. Tali and Angelina look so similar with the braids, at first I thought they were the same person XD Italian is a beautiful language, and I'm tempted to learn it. But it's only spoken in Italy, and I can already order food in Italian, so that's sufficient.

What a phenomenal, energetic song! I will try to learn the Greek lyrics by heart. I love Athens, such a beautiful city! I visited my godmother there three times and we took trips to see the Akropolis, some temples, the Oracle of Delphi etc. Also I love the irony of the music video making fun of tourists that only see one side of Greece. The stereotypical side is Ancient Greece's history, traditional music and food. Truly, Athens is a vibrant city with an enticing urban culture. I took so many photos of street art and graffiti in Athens. I think it's supposed to be a German tourist, which made me laugh as a German tourist. Then again, my mum is from Cyprus so I grew up bilingual with Greek culture.

[musicjam10]

Teatro d'ira: Vol. I, Måneskin, 19. March 2021.

After riding the success of their Eurovision win, the newly famous Italian rock band Måneskin followed their triumphant single with an internationally acclaimed album, Teatro d'ira Vol. I. A not-so-revolutionary peace of music, but definitely a different one considering the music landscape then.

The centrepiece of the album is ZITTI E BUONI. Songs following it were mostly made around it, so some of them may feel like plain copies of the single with some minor differences to make them distinguishable. This is especially the case with the Italian songs.

On the other hand, we have the two English songs, I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE and FOR YOUR LOVE. Honestly, they are horrendous and nothing more than parodies of American rock songs. They just sound embarrassing, especially I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE. A song that stunned me when I first heard it for its mediocrity and amaturism, I truly thought that it was a joke. But at the end of the day, it's nothing more than a song that was only put there to appeal to the English market.

Something to point out while we are talking about the English songs is David's voice. The performances were weak compared to the Italian songs. In the Italian ones you could feel his emotion, his pain, desire, anger but here they felt soulless and dull, and the simplicity of the lyrics only impacted the delivery more.

On the brighter side, the Italian songs (that are the majority of the album) are fairly decent and solid rock songs; the standouts for me are definitely ZITTI E BUONI, LA PAURA DEI BUIO, and the lovely VENT'ANNI.

All in all, it's a standard rock album with good performances by the band. The impact of their fashion style, on-stage energy, European roots, and overall image helped them a lot to achieve their status and make this simple album something special.

I would give it a: If you can ignore some parts of it, you'll have a pretty decent time listening to it.

If you found my review worth discussing in any way, I'm happy to do so.

Yours trully,

MJ.10.

[rancid-yogurt]

I am obsessed with Käärijä!! CHA CHA CHA!!!

Drawn on my iPad during my recently move. Bless Eurovision for helping me through it uwu

[noridal]

This post was supposed to be a rant about ESC fans asking for countries to only sing in their native language, instead I'm turning it into a music recommendation post since I feel like these requests comes from a place of "I want to listen to music that's different from usual, and not the usual pop radio songs".

As someone whose music taste can be summed up as "if it's weird, I'm in" have some music that you definitely don't listen to on the radio:

Albums:

The Rabbit that hunts tigers -Yin Yin (This would the perfect soundtrack for a futuristic western movie where the main character is also a samurai imo)

Kontinuum- Klaus Schulze (cool background music, mysterious sci-fi but not in a soul crushing or scary way)

Flight of the Ancients- The Shaolin Afronauts (the best intro to an album I've ever heard and funky jazzy vibes. Cool trumpets)

Semillero- Dengue Dengue Dengue (idk how to describe this but mh. Would use it as a soundtrack for Heart of Darkness by Conrad)

The Gereg -The Hu (Mongolian Rock-Metal, worth checking them out)

The Gods We can Touch- AURORA (this is way less obscure than other suggestions but I swear to god AURORA sounds like an angel to me but the vibes are those of a biblically accurate one)

Songs:

Hocus Pocus- Focus (prog rock jodel?!? Spotify suggested this to me and I'm in love with this)

Acid Rain- Liquid Tension Experiment (found this by searching jazz metal. Instrumental. Very good)

Trumpet Sketches - Janko Nilovic (trumpet makes brain go brrrr)

Artists:

NanowaR of Steel (Italian comedy metal band. Sings both in English and Italian, if you ask me they go for the too-good-to-be-just-a-joke comedy)

Dr. Steel (Dark with dieselpunk vibes. Every song is unique yet the vibe is so familiar, definitely villainy. Comes with lore)

Paul Shapera (a compilation of rock operas that take place in the same universe, there's plot. Lots of it. I can't recommend a single one because the cool part is seeing the story evolve)

Tales under the Oak (dungeon synth music, very calming and frog themed)

Specific playlists I have too much fun making:

POV: you just died but luckily there's a party on the other side

This is about craving your lover's insides (both playlists are currently in progress and will be updated whenever I feel like it)

All links lead to spotify, except for kontinuum which I could find only on YouTube. Also please note that the playlists include less obscure songs so maybe that's a good place from where you can start? Idk. Italic means that it's only instrumental, I feel like Hocus Pocus should be in the group too but jodel counts as singing.

[wordsbysimona]

Song of the day - 25th August, 2023

Deadzone - Blind Channel (2023)

[escinsight]

What If The Beatles Had Entered The Eurovision Song Contest?

What If The Beatles Had Entered The Eurovision Song Contest?

Could the BBC have chosen The Beatles to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest? When would it have happened? What would they have sung? Would they have won? Let’s start with the year. Obviously, The Beatles need to have formed, and also obviously it needs to be before they become bigger than Brian Cohen of Nazareth. Which really leaves just one year… 1963. In that year’s UK …

[cavedwellermusic]

A Look At Metal and Alternative Music in the Eurovision Song Contest

James takes a look at the long running Eurovision Song Contest and the metal and alternative acts that have not just performed but in some cases won over the years. He explains why its important to have representation in contests of this nature and what it means in a larger context. He also shares a few of the more "unusual" non metal and alt entries. So, dig and and check out some of the fantastic performances to have graced the Eurovision stage over the years.

[deafmangoes]

IMO, the Eurovision boycott was successful. Figures this morning reported that there was a 25% reduction in viewers (and that means less voting, and less money going to the EBU) in the UK alone - if there's similar figures abroad, that's a very large chunk of cash they lost out on.

Add to that the very visible protest efforts not only from the crowds in Malmö, but also the contestants themselves and the crowd in the arena - the EBU felt the need to edit Israel's performance so that the booing wasn't quite as loud, and even added fake cheering. They kept cutting away from the clearly unhappy audience who turned off all their lights (a 'black sea') to indicate their displeasure.

Then there was the backstage incident with the Dutch team, where EBU camera crews harassed them to the point where the Dutch performed, Joost Klein, snapped back at them - resulting in his unfair disqualification before the final and a lot of anger from the Dutch broadcasters. They refused to give their votes live and are even suing the EBU over it.

Ireland's Bambie Thug managed to successfully sneak in some pro-Palestine messages last minute into their costume, and Switzerland's Nemo, who won the contest, made a pointed speech directed at both the audience and EBU. Feelings were even stronger in the semi-finals, with France's Slimane stopping her own performance to give a speech on stage, and further protests from Australia, Ireland and others.

All through the night there were reports of people registering their disapproval: several guests dropped out and refused to give live votes. Loreen, the incumbent winner, stated her refusal to award Israel in person if they were victorious.

The EBU has lost money and severely damaged its reputation, and for what? It doesn't look like they've gained anything from this. Going forward, people will remember their stance and complicity in Israel's propaganda efforts. It's kind of ironic that next year's show will be in the infamously neutral Switzerland.

Maybe they'll learn from this. Hopefully we will, too. In the meanwhile, don't stop talking about Palestine.

As a final addition, I want to highlight that there was a grassroots alternative contest organised last night - FalastinVision. It was plagued with technical issues but it had a lot of heart and featured 15 entrants with songs highlighting the genocide and the global politics surrounding it. I'm not sure what viewing figures it got - I glimpsed at least 730 active viewers on the livestream and know that most of those were watch parties and groups (like my own), so reasonably viewership was in the few thousands.

[enthusiast-of-relaxing-music]

Lord of the Lost leave the Eurovision on a high note and just released some new tracks!

The curtain on the Eurovision Stage has fallen only for them to return to the big stages of the Rock/Metal Universe!

[probablyasocialecologist]

Eurovision is a pretty big deal, but is it more important than solidarity with the Palestinian people? No. Don’t be stupid.

[...]

Potential performers have claimed they will not attend if Israel is allowed to participate or will lobby the EBU to kick them out. Former participants and thousands of musicians from Finland, Iceland and Sweden have called for Israel to be excluded. Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) called for the expulsion of Israel. When that failed, March 2nd they called for a boycott of the song competition. Eurovision journalists have either intentionally limited their coverage of Israel in Eurovision 2024 or have dealt with the EBU’s hypocrisy head on (and received death threats). Letter writing campaigns have been directed at national broadcasters, the EBU, the performers and sponsors (you can find the details here if you are interested). Alternative, boycott-friendly watch parties are being organised (including this one in Berlin organised by myself which will be fundraising for Medical Aid Palestine). It is impossible to keep politics out of this contest. Banning Russia was a political move and the shows of sympathy and support to Ukraine by performers and even the contest organisers themselves was a political act—an act that, as far as I can tell, has been appreciated by viewers and fans. However, if Russia can get banned for an invasion, Belarus can get banned for media repression, but Israel can remain, the EBU is sending a pretty clear signal that Palestinian lives don’t matter.

[jokeroutsubs]

[ENG translation] Jamming sessions, the 'Jure Maček Curve', and new music - A Joker Out interview

An interview with Bojan Cvjetićanin and Kris Guštin, published on the Gedankengroove website on 12.04.2024. Original article written by Elie Mück, photos by Elie Mück. English translation by olenalinasarah and @nyx-aira, proofread by IG GBoleyn123.

Note: As the interview was originally conducted in English, author Elie Mück collaborated with us to give us the original wording wherever it was necessary for the right meaning to come across. Thank you, Elie!

"What would I do in this black night without you?" That's what Joker Out ask themselves in their (as-yet) unreleased song Šta bih ja. I was able to visit the five men from Slovenia in Cologne at the end of March and talk with Bojan and Kris about the song and the 'See You Soon' tour, which was almost over at that time.

The indie rock band was able to reach a wide audience across Europe with their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Their song Carpe Diem is their most successful release to date with over 20 million streams on Spotify. After several concerts across Europe and an arena show in their home country, Bojan, Kris, Nace, Jan, and Jure travelled to London at the beginning of the year. The two-month stay in London, which didn't only consist of playing Jenga and cooking (as their Instagram stories made it seem), served as preparation for a studio session in April. Before that, the group went on a European tour at the beginning of March, playing 22 concerts in 14 countries - including five shows in Germany. Kris and Bojan tell me what's behind the changing setlists and how the band comes together in jamming sessions.

Elie: To start with, how are you doing? Did you get to Cologne safely?

Bojan: We're doing well. We arrived this morning and slept until 1pm, so we're well rested. Cologne has treated us very well. The venue is perfect, very cosy, and the staff are great.

Elie: The tour is almost over, what are your impressions so far?

Bojan: To be honest, the tour has been fantastic so far! The time has gone by super fast. We've seen so many more cities than last time. When you start touring, you usually just visit the capital cities and imagine that those are the only places you can play. But this tour consists of mostly the second or third biggest cities in each country and the shows have been great so far. We are thrilled with how many people have come and how their reactions have been. So, we're having a lot of fun.

Elie: It's interesting to see that you're playing very different sized shows on this tour. The hall in Helsinki, for example, has a capacity of about 1,500 people, whereas in Munich only about 400 people fit in. What do you prefer? The bigger gigs or the smaller ones?

Kris: It depends a lot on the audience and our mood. We have to go on stage in a good mood. I don't think the number of people makes a difference. At least not at these sizes. An arena show with 10,000 people is comparatively very impersonal and you focus more on the show and what you're doing. I definitely prefer the smaller gigs, but a concert in front of 500 or 1,500 people feels about the same.

Elie: I've heard from other artists that they prefer the bigger concerts because they have more space on stage, is that similar for you?

Bojan: For me personally, the concerts with an audience of 1,500 people are the ones where I feel most comfortable. The stage is big enough for me to move around freely without a fear of tripping over something and it still feels like I can interact with every person in the room.

Elie: Compared to the tour in autumn, you are now playing a varying set. I looked at your setlists from the last few shows and it seems like you have two or three setlists that you alternate between. Who came up with that and why did you want to vary the set?

Bojan: I think we collectively came up with that. When you play 22 shows in a month, you can get stuck in routine. It can feel like things are just repeating themselves and the mood of the shows is, in a way, predetermined by the songs you play. That's why we decided to break it up and make it a bit more fun. It's very cool because we have three setlists and I have no idea which song is coming next. That's good for me because it's always a bit of a surprise. It makes the whole thing more exciting. The fans like it too. There have been some who came to several concerts and heard different songs each time.

Elie: How did you find out which songs work together?

Bojan: It was a long process.

Kris: We sit down together and try to find out what works best. It can take several days but sometimes it works straight away. Our drummer Jure has his own technique.

Bojan: We call it "The Curve".

Kris: The "Jure Maček Curve" which determines how our concerts should go in terms of mood. We decide, for example, that we should start with something energetic-

Bojan: Shh, we should keep that a secret (laughs).

Kris: So, if you have calculated everything with the "Jure Maček Curve", you have a very good set.

Elie: You also play three unreleased songs. Were these the songs that were most ready to be played live or did you have other songs in mind that you wanted to put on the setlist?

Bojan: We had a few more songs that we wanted to try out on the tour. Our idea was that we would have time during the soundchecks and in between to turn the songs into something playable. However, we have less time than we thought, which is why we decided to leave it at these three songs. I really like that because it turned out that one of the songs will definitely be the next single. The fans went totally crazy. Shortly after we had left the stage at the first concert in Helsinki, the lyrics to Šta bih ja were already online. Afterwards we were told that a TikTok of the performance had over 400,000 views, which is crazy. People are even singing along already. It was nice to see that. We've also found things we want to change about the songs. A few things that work and a few that don't work.

Elie: Have these things changed over the course of the tour?

Bojan: Not yet, we have decided to leave them as they are. But we definitely know what we want to change.

Elie: I heard that after the tour you will go to Hamburg to record your next album. What is your plan for the time in the studio?

Kris: What I think will happen in Hamburg is that we will take the first couple of days to record Šta bih ja. I think that song is the most unchangeable in its structure. We have to be quick if we want to release it as a single before the album in autumn. After that we have the rest of the time to work on the things that were created during our time in London, most of which aren't nearly as studio ready. We also recorded our biggest hit Carpe Diem in the studio in Hamburg. That one wasn't nearly as finished either when we got there, so I don't think we have anything to worry about.

Elie: In London you worked on new music in the form of jamming sessions. Did you ever get to a point where you had something like a "creative burnout"? If so, how did you manage to get back into a creative mindset?

Bojan: Definitely. I wouldn't say burnout, more like frustration. Jamming always needs all five of us and of course five different minds can't always work towards the same story. Sometimes things don’t go the way all of us would like it to go for a longer period of time. When that happens, our biggest help is our producer. He always finds the cause of the problem and works with us to find a solution. I think it's important to have someone as a kind of filter. We are all emotionally connected to our music and of course he is too, but in a different way. Our producer is like the sixth pair of eyes and therefore a very important part of the writing process.

Elie: In your latest single Everybody's Waiting you used a keyboard, which is new for you. Do you have any other things you'd like to try out for the new songs?

Kris: Jan bought a mandolin in Berlin. I'm sure that will come up in the studio.

Bojan: I'm sure we want to use more synthesiser. One song we're playing live at the moment originally had a riff that was played with the synthesiser but is now played with the guitar. This change takes away the whole point of the riff. There are many things we want to try out. I think we will also work with choirs or similar vocals. We want to be as free as possible with our creativity for this album.

Elie: We are definitely looking forward to what will happen. I really like the new songs. To finish, a question that I ask often: Which song or album do you think everyone should have listened to at least once in their life?

Kris: I listen to a lot of old music, so I can't recommend anything new. But I would say (They Long To Be) Close To You by Carpenters.

Bojan: Right now, I would definitely recommend a song that I'm listening to a lot at the moment. My song is older too, I'll go with Il mio canto libero by Lucio Battisti. The whole album is very good, we listened to it a lot while Everybody's Waiting was being made.

—

After our chat, it's not long before the band starts their show. They enchant the whole audience with their incredible energy. Like Bojan said, the fans in the first rows are very confident with the lyrics. As soon as Šta bih ja starts, everyone sings along. "What would I do in this black night without you?" The song begins and ends with this line. A song about longing and missing.

The setlist takes us through every emotion and ends with a call to the current generation:

"We've gathered the courage to rebel and make a change," says Novi Val, the last song of the evening. Bojan invites everyone to become part of the "new wave". He says he wishes Joker Out concerts to be and remain a safe space for everyone.

Everyone, including the band, stands arm in arm and slowly sways to the music. A feeling of community accompanies us as we leave the hall of the Kantine and make our way home. Joker Out show that you don't have to stick to one style of music as a group and how diverse the result can be if you don't allow yourself to be restricted creatively. All five of them seem to have an incredible amount of fun with their work and I can only hope that it stays that way for a very long time.

Check out more photos by photographer and interviewer Elie Mück on Gedankengroove!

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