Time is ticking for the prestigious Amadeus Austrian Music Awards to take place on the 1st of May in Vienna. While the other nominees of the most desirable Austrian music award are still anxiously sitting on pins and needles, the winner of the FM4-Award has already been announced. Pleased to receive this award is the Viennese alternative rock band M185, which prevailed in an online voting against four competitors.
Fortunately they do exist. Austrian rock formations that pleasantly stand out from otherwise ubiquitous uniformity and make a reality of their own musical visions far from the usual mainstream music. Without a doubt, M185 belong to this exquisite group of bands and have proved this once again with their brilliant third album “Let The Light In”, which was released in 2011. Their excellent and highly praised releases, celebrated concerts at home and abroad and a whole lot of airplay have bestowed the five-member band with loads of recognition far beyond Austrian borders.
Wolfram Leitner, Alexander Diesenreiter, Roland Reiter, Joerg Skischally and Heinz Wolf celebrate a highly appealing, but also very sophisticated version of alternative guitar music between the poles of post and kraut rock, which is reminiscent of the early 90s with iconic bands such as Sonic Youth. With a sense for beautiful melodies and clever arrangements, M185 create an overall sound that bangs from the speakers and immediately captivates the listener. Exempt from any opulence, they create songs that especially live off steadily increasing suspense and an extremely exciting interaction between raw and noisy passages and restrained quiet moments. In their music, the Viennese formation manages to a cover the span between a certain musical catchiness on the one hand, and a very high sophistication on the other.
A mix that convinces and enthralls the listener at the same time. M185 provide enough evidence that there is still a lot to be said in terms of rock music. No wonder that this band can be happy to receive the FM4-Award, even though they have always taken their own indivual path and in doing so captured the hearts of music fans.
If you are in the area on the 24th of May, don’t miss the VIENNA MY LOVE event in Warsaw and the chance to get blown away by excellent Austrian music, including M185.
Michael Ternai
(translated from German)
www.m185.org