Under the title »The Social Construction Of Technology« the international Max Brand Price will be awarded in New York on April 26, 2002

When the renowned British music magazine Wire published a cover story on Vienna Electronica in 1997, the international music scene suddenly paid attention to artists that had heretofore gone unnoticed. Major record companies started to flock to a city they had previously considered only a sales market. The majors were surprised to find out that small independent labels had established themselves in Austria since the early 1990s, catering to an audience of cognoscenti.

For some people a pain in the ass, for others a fruitful contribution to art in the information society – and for some a guarantor for funny evenings. The Mego crew has almost reached one of its major targets. Obviously satisfied, Mego spokesman Peter Rehberg comments on a concert of the Mego band Farmers Manual: »They seem to manage to annoy as many people as they entertain. Always a good sign«.

Observations about recent improvisation and experiment trends,
with a focus on Vienna

Curd Duca, a musician from Vienna sojourning in sunny Florida during the cold Austrian winters, might be called a slow burner. Since 1992 he’s been releasing his »Easy Listening« series of electronic space-lounge exotica for the disco 2000, but it was not until now that the one-time outsider, who had always been regarded as a quirky eccentric, has been acknowledged as one of the major electronic musicians of the nineties.

Active at the cutting edge of digital music culture, combining old practices with novel techniques, and meeting with international acclaim, Fennesz has come up with the finest, purest music as his answer to today’s myriad and multiplying techno- and ideo-logies. It is high time that we portrayed former Maische guitarist Christian Fennesz.

Harder, faster, farther or the principle of »total submission«: one nation under one groove; shiny happy people gyrating to 150 bpm and beyond. Hans Kulisch as surf instructor through the Austrian techno jungle.