c/o pop in Cologne is a major European showcase festival, and – as they’re quick to note – they’ve proved over and over that they’re more than “just” a music festival. This year they’ll be proving it again from April 24 – 28, with a combination of musical highlights and less typical fare – football-oriented programming for the Europe Cup, performance art, music quizzes, aerobics…it sounds like it’s going to be a blast. And – as always – we’ll be there with a roster of A-list pop acts from Austria.
Bex
BEX is a force to be reckoned with – she’s been working on her individual sound since 2021, finding just the right mix of skills, self-confidence and explicitness. With her visit to c/o pop, the Ghana-born Viennese rapper and performer continues the meteoric rise that started with her Amadeus-nominated features with W1ZE and a slot at Popfest Wien in 2022, then continued with her EP “Bundles” and winning the XA – Export Award at Waves Vienna in 2023.
- BEX plays Thursday, April 25th, 9:30-10:15 p.m. @ arttheater Basement
Filly
Filly grew up in a country hotel run by her grandparents; her escape was the hotel’s basement, where she wrote down stories – those she heard around the hotel as well as her own. Fate put her together with the producers filous and Johannes Römer, and the result was her 2023 EP “Watching Strangers Smile”.
- Filly plays Thursday, April 25th, 10:15-11 p.m. @ arttheater Saal
Endless Wellness
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably already heard of Endless Wellness. The sensitive folk-rocky quartet crafts alternative love songs that deal with depression, society, awareness. They spent essentially all of 2023 on the FM4 charts, they played (among many other shows) Jazzfestival Saalfelden in August, and – with the release of their debut LP, Was für ein Glück, at the beginning of the year, – it looks like their journey is set to continue.
- Endless Wellness plays on Friday, April 26th, 9:30-10:15 p.m. @ arttheater Basement
Bibiza
Vienna’s very own twentysomething Casanova, Bibiza, has been riding high since the 2023 release of Wiener Schickeria – a cornucopia of compact club hits and the kind of lyrics Vienna artists have been known for since, well, ever. “If you stagger, you get more out of the path.” Prost!
- Bibiza plays on Saturday, April 27th, 8:15-9:15 p.m. @ Live Music Hall
NESS
NESS is young, but you can’t really call her a newcomer anymore: in 2023, she sold out her tour behind the EP “Betrunken” and had features with SDP and Rian. She’s announced a tour of Germany in fall 2024, so this will give audiences over that way a preview of the likeable young artist’s hitworthy singles, honesty, and vulnerability.
- NESS plays on Sunday, April 28th, 6:15-7 p.m. @ Club Bahnhof Ehrenfeld
Eli preiss
Eli Preiss‘s third album in as many years, b.a.d., is almost a year old, and she’s going strong. Her music eschews conventional genre divisions, mixing hip-hop, club sounds, and R&B into a refreshing aural landscape, spiced with emotion and personal experience, straddling the division between underground and mainstream.
- Eli Preiss plays on Sunday, April 28th, 7:45-8:30 p.m. @ Club Bahnhof Ehrenwald
And don’t forget:
As in previous years, Austrian Music Export cordially invites all delegates to our Austrian Heartbeats Reception, happening at Herbrand’s networking area on Thursday, April 25th, from 4:30 – 6 p.m.!