bands
Dario Ivkovic: 'people don’t seem interested in roots of Balkan music'
Best-known as a member of both the German touring group Shantel & The Bucovina Club Orkestar and French band Les Yeux Noirs, the Serbian accordionist is an electrifying personality onstage. We talk music legends, Balkan beats and why 'girls like guitarists better'
Rock band Turbo: ‘absence of taste’ an ‘incurable disease’ in Hungary
When it comes to psychedelic-progressive rock music, Turbo is Hungary’s number one. Bass guitarist Jero and singer Balázs Tanka on genres, role models and taking different viewpoints on music tastes and truths in general
Music in February: The Rumour Said Fire, Corinne Bailey Rae and Jaga Jazzist
A new British neo-soul album, an old favourite from Denmark's Simon and Garfunkel and five top tracks spanning London via Brooklyn and Oslo - a selection of Europe's music tips of the month
Staff Benda Bilili, voice of the voiceless in Congo
‘We're all handicapped people, ain't we?’ runs their myspace byline. After more than a month of touring through Europe, this group of paraplegic street musicians from Kinshasa left crowds elated and bewildered almost a year after releasing their debut album Très Très Fort, courtesy of Belgian producer Vincent Kenis of Congotronics fame. A French documentary on the group has been underway for seven years
bands, documentary, war, disable people, record, discrimination, label
‘If I had to choose between sex and performing live with The Whitest Boy Alive...’
One day it was just computers. The next day, god brought instruments. Over the past decade, the Berlin-based band’s polyphonic electronic sound has translated into pure deprogrammed happiness for live dance fans across Europe. We hear the boys from Bergen, Berlin and Toruń out
The Wankin' Noodles, four boys from Rennes who sing about girls
Romain, Regis, Jean-Sylvain and Guillame went from being graphic design, cinema, information technology and literature students, to being backed by big names as France's latest post-teenage kicks band. Quick catch up with the twelve-eyed foursome at the Transmusicales festival in their hometown
bands, interview, rennes, men and women, youth, france, students
Cornershop: 'musicians might as well hand their credit cards over to the man on the street'
Northern English indie band Cornershop give us a talking to about Swiss minarets, metal music and releasing their comeback album - it's been seven years! - cheaply via their website
bands, switzerland, religion, best of cafebabel.com, referendum, indie rock, sport
Micachu and the Shapes, Emilie Simon: your music for October
Trendy London recommends its top 5 city tracks, we denote a French-flavoured album of the month and find out who Pájaro Sunrise is
bands, london, indie, france, emilie simon, pájaro sunrise, spain
Music duo Kim Ki O: ‘the danger of being Turkish’ for Europe
The Swedish pop elite love them, but EU bureaucracy is preventing Ekin Sanac and Berna Göl from breaking Europe. In Istanbul, music is an unstable bridge between east and west. Part two of a special feature
bands, visa, education, islam, joy division, brussels, myspace
Nostalgia: Sweden's top of the pops in the nineties
Swedish hits had the whole world bopping around from 1989 to 1999 thanks to artists such as Neneh Cherry, her brother Eagle Eye, Ace of Base and The Cardigans: a selection of the best Swedish music videos from the end of the 20th century
bands, vídeo clip, youtube, cultural agenda, eurogeneration, sweden, pop music
Warp records' Steve Beckett: ‘I was certain guitars would die out and electronic music would be everywhere’
For over two decades, Steve Beckett, 45, has been at the very forefront of electronic music. His independent record label 'Weird and Radical Projects' is home to the likes of Aphex Twin and Plaid, and has overseen the birth of some of the now finest names in electronic music over the past 20 years
bands, interview, paris, anniversary, steve beckett, technology, electronic music
Music in March: Killed by 9V Batteries and Extraperlo
Paris-Berlin machine rock, continental breakfast from Barcelona and Austrian pot-washers –spring is blossoming in many ways on the music scene! Café Babel’s music diary for March
bands, switzerland, berlin, barcelona, sophie hunger, cd, austria
Music: Keane, Antwerp Gipsy-Ska Orkestra and Katharina Nuttall
Piano rock from the UK, Balkans from Belgium and Blue Monday in Norway – October’s best music picks kick off a European autumn
bands, britpop, belgium, katharina nuttall, antwerp gipsy-ska orkestra, keane, kosovo
Counter-culture: Sonic Youth tour Europe
The Sonic Youth etc.: Sensational Fix exhibition has been in France since 18 June. The European museum tour brings with it the chance to experience the non conformist experimental rock group's multidisciplinary pursuits first-hand
bands, exposition, sonic youth, william s. burroughs, allen ginsberg, underground, usa
Music in July: Carla Bruni, E-Quad, Ari Koivunen
French First Ladies, Dutch idealists, Italian poets-cum-abrasive rockers and Finnish 'Rock Idols' – it's Europe's monthly music picks
bands, carla bruni, my own parasite, rock, pop music, e-quad, culture
Zagar: 'Outside Hungary we have to start all over again'
Whether connected to a computer or a piano, Balázs Zságer, 36, has the tired look of a nocturnal bird. With one foot in Hungary’s electro rock scene and another abroad, he speaks about the melancholy that underpins eastern European pop music, as well as his difficulties to get his album sold outside of his native land
bands, brunch, hungary, budapest, balázs zságer, electronic music, violin
