Christina Nemec is a genuine example of an unconventional thinker. A free spirit, who emphatically refuses to submit to established rules. She is an artist that goes her own way, pursuing her own ideas and standing up for them. She is one of those strong personalities who stand, in the tradition of Virginia Woolf, with her artistic work for the cause of women. She is an artist who takes things into her own hands and creates her own networks, knowing that this is the only way to reach the next level. Large record companies and publishers hardly respond to her work, probably because it is too “dirty” and raw for the mainstream.
Christina Nemec has made a name for herself in the local underground scene and has attracted a lot of attention since the early nineties. As a musician, writer, DJ, music mediator and label owner, Christina Nemec is already well known by the majority of initiates of the local music scene.
The music of Christina Nemec, also known as Chra, is not based on conventional traditional standards, but runs on its own self-defined feminist context. Here, the umbrella term ‘computer music’ can be used as a reference point. To her own benefit, Christina Nemec works with a very broad stylistic field and gathers her knowledge on the methodology of the gadgets and tools all by herself. Nemec dismembers recorded samples beyond recognition, adds numerous new effects and assembles them with painstaking attention to detail into new tracks. These are no catchy pop tunes, but rather rhythmic sound collages that tell stories and are let loose without comment to the free interpretation of the consumer.
Christina Nemec is not one of those musicians that search too long for suitable fellow collaborators. She rather trusts in her own intuition. She knows enough people, and those who share a common musical vision reveal themselves after a short time. Former comrades were, among others, Gerald Votava, Christian Candid (now: Klein Records) and Michael Martinek (Fabrique Records). Another friend was the prestigious Gustav aka Eva Jantschitsch, who participated in her performance band “SV Damenkraft”. Sort of an accolade was the collaboration with her old heroine Lydia Lunch. A few months ago, Christina Nemec was also a member of the band Mopedrock. Along the way, Christina Nemec was always puttering and tinkering on her own work.
In 2009, Christina Nemec started her own record label “Comfort Zone”. The label is stylistically very open and harbours electronic avant-garde music in queer-feminist contexts, as well as danceable techno and pop music. The music is released exclusively on vinyl, because in Christina Nemec’s opinion CDs will soon be outdated. There is also the possibility of downloading single tracks. She especially understands her label, on which she released her debut “Derive”, as a place for networking. It is important for her to work with people who maintain their own networks, organize concerts and events here and there, in order to bring people together, and thus to arouse mutual interest. In addition to Chra, Bonnie Li, Frau Herz, Alloy Alloy, Stereonucleose and Cherry Sunkist released their albums on Comfort Zone.
Christina Nemec is realistic enough to know that the commercial success will not result from the record sales. For her it is important to play concerts and to spread her music in places where it has not been heard before. It is also crucial for Christina Nemec to support each other, invite each other to different events and in this sense to lead the project in a successful direction. Nemec impressively demonstrated in the past year that this could actually work out. Just recently she played a few concerts in Mexico on invitation of a colleague. A few weeks before, she was a guest in Berlin.
There is no doubt, with this amount of projects, Christina Nemec will continue to remain a sturdy and integral part of the local music scene and there will surely be more to come.