I’ve been a fan of Herr Dorfmeister for quite some time now. Back in the day when life was attending uni and raucous parties graced by sophisticated, marijuana-obsessed Europeans, the masters of ‘stoner dub’ were introduced to me via a recording simply titled The K & D Sessions. It turned out that this was a DJ set spread over two compact discs put together by two Austrian fellows – Peter Kruder and Richard Dorfmeister.
From that point on, no summertime outdoor barbeque seemed complete without at least one of these tracks grooving on out from the stereo. Further exploration of these individuals’ work led to the discovery of Tosca, a project involving Dorfmeister, and Rupert Huber – not unknown to the Europe experimental electronic scene.
A few years ago, Kruder and Dorfmeister made it out to Australia for a tour, and Tosca were slated to do the same earlier this year but unexpectedly cancelled soon after the tour had been announced. Who knew when they’d make it out here, if ever. Oh, to still live in Europe and catch them whenever I pleased.
When the opportunity came to review this latest title, I leapt at the chance. Dorfmeister I knew, but the duo he’d teamed up with were not familiar to me. Madrid de los Austrias is a Viennese production duo comprising Sunshine Enterprises label front man Heinz Tronigger and multi-instrumentalist Michael Kreiner, affectionately nicknamed ‘Pogo’.
So what exactly does the title Grand Slam have to do with three Austrian music producers? Not exactly Grand Slam season in their area of the world at the moment, is it? Apparently these fellows are quite the tennis enthusiasts. Also, this debut mix album is supposed to be a personal ‘grand slam’ of sorts – Dorfmeister vs. Madrid de los Austrias. Two against one hardly seems fair but it’s all in fun.
Article comments
1 - Connie Phillips
This article has been placed at the Advance.net websites, a site affiliated with about 12 newspapers.
One such site is here.
2 - Snarkattack
Thanking you kindly Connie! Am very flattered.