Writing on the internet about things that have occurred to me.

Quite a full agenda this week. Let's press on, shall we?

Last weekend was the Vienna Stadtfest. I didn't realise at first how much of a big deal it was going to be, but walking through the city centre the day before I noticed the massive crowds and the many many stages sprinkled liberally about the place. I started out watching a Balkan brass orchester, the Orchestr Marijan Krstic. If you don't know what Balkan brass music sounds like already, you should probably just go listen to some. It's basic premise is to make you happy and cause you to dance by the masterful combination of many many brass instruments, all played with incredible skill and at high speed. These guys were masters of their art, and the dancing really got going when all 9 descended from the stage in the Heldenplatz and wandered about in the crowd, blasting full on trumpet solos into the faces of occasionally exstatic and occasionally just confused looking Viennese...

By this time my flatmate Joseph/Giuseppe had turned up, and we proceeded to wander towards the other stages. On the way we saw a VERY large number of tourists, lots of living statues and a man walking on a tightrope while juggling flaming torches. Arriving at the Radio Wien stage we stopped to observe the antics of several, I assume extremely cool, stunt bike rider type people. It is always faintly embarrassing hearing German speakers using english words while trying to be cool, and the music was deafening and a bit rubish, but I have never seen anyone do a backflip on a bike befoe, so i was pretty happy. All through the DJ set a band were slowly setting up with a drum kit, a violinist and a tuba player. I got that familiar feeling of excitement when you can;t figure out what the next band are going to sound like, and persuaded Joseph to stay and see the band. As it turns out, this was a highly excellent decision.

Binder and Kriegelstein is the name of the band, they consist of one man on vocals, drums and laptop, one man on trombone and occasionally tuba, a man on violin and a small, smiling ridiculously clothed frontwoman. The attire is an integral part of the group's appeal, and I think shows up an important point about them, namely that they are in no way at all serious about what they are doing. Each member was dressed for a completely different band, the violinist with a solemn face, trousers and a leather waistcoat like he was some traditional austrian session musician. The trombonist in a full on ska-esque suit, the lead singer in a weird combination of traditional austrian dress and cape with an electric pink wig, and the drummer in a scruffy T-Shirt.

The music was a genius mix of ska-pop, rap, pure sugary pop goodness and honest-to-goodness folk music, with hefty doses of silliness in behaviour and lyrics. The main aim of the band is to entertain you, and entertain us they did, with an aptitude for the ridiculous which was more suited to a band taking part in the Brainlove festival, incidentally happening at the same time back in London. The mighty crushing together of genres is a powerful mix, and it fills me with happiness that such a band are popular enough here to find a number 2 spot on the biggest stage at the Stadtfest.

After the end of the set we escaped to the haven of the classical music stage, where some waltzes were the perfect background to some delicious Kaesespaetzle (basically thin gnocchi like stuff with heaps of melted chesse and the odd bit of onion and pepper. Unhealthy and tasty, as all street food must be). On the move again we quickly escaped the pedestrian rock of some beloved Austrian band of yesteryear to find ouselves in the more unusual company of 'Angelas Wean Herrn Band'. These guys combined tradition Viennese songs with Jazz, with some success I feel. The Jazz kept on the right side of utterly insane, so I was able to deal with it and enjoy the songs and solos, rather than just stand there and wander why the heck everyone was tapping their knees in time, as I have been known to do when exposed to Jazz in the past...

All in all a successful day.

I shall leave you with a couple of musical gifts from Binder and Kriegelstein, to brighten up your day. First a crazed video:



And now a pop hit:



And to finish, the live experience: