Love is my Religion

I noticed two recurring elements in Austrian pop-music: A great affinity to African music and musicians who like to use their very un-international names with great success on an international market.
After Kruder, Dorfmeister and Waldek there is also Karl Moestl who produces dance music with a heavy afro-soul flavour.

I think that Supermax was the first group of Austro-Afro-Afficionados who shook up the dancefloors in the seventies with earthy rhythms and electric funk which was counter-balanced with rock-vocals and guitars. Their "Lovemachine" is a classic which still sounds great today with its incredible bass-figures and the sharp moog stabs. They were the first mixed-race band who went to tour South-Africa in the early eighties, which earned them much respect but also death threats from apartheid-scum.

Today the afro-flavour is cooked up by the talents of Sascha Weisz, who released two massive albums as Megablast and Karl Moestl

His first album "Touching This" is a fine mixture of relaxed breaks, future jazz and soul. When Dutch producers Kraak & Smaak layed their hands on the seductive "Love is my religion" they turned a subdued, relaxed song into an earthshaking disco-mantra!



The two defining elements in this mix are the trance-inducing "Ooohhs" by singer Betty S. and the stoic, two tone bassline which oozes relentlessly out of the speakers like a subliminal, hypnotic spell. Kraak & Smaak know how to make the dancers scream even before the breakdown comes in by transposing the bassline down by a half note around the 3 minute-mark.
When the breakdown finally comes, its not a relief from the mayhem but a withdrawal that leaves you craving for the bass to come back. More screams!

Make sure to listen to this on a proper stereo and not on laptop speakers because the bass is so deep at times, you wont be able to hear it at all.

Karl Moestl recently released his second album "De-Fusion". This is the great selfmade video to the clonky "Bassdrumrocker", which follows two very artistic kids running and jumping through Vienna like they know no gravity.