Projects & Bands

(not really up to date, but that’s life isn’t it?)

+ MAJA OSOJNIK – LET THEM GROW
SOLO / ZSAMM (DUO WITH PATRICK WURZWALLNER) / All.The.Terms.We.Are


+ RDEČA RAKETA
++ RDEČA RAKETA & NATASCHA GANGL making SOUND COMICS: WENDY PFERD TOD MEXICO, die Revanche der Schlangenfrau, Einsame Ameisen Amnesie (mit Nikos Zachariadis)
+++ RDEČA RAKETA + PATRICK K.-H. + IVAN MARUƠIĆ KLIF on Video Art
++++ RDEČA RAKETA + BILLY ROISZ on Video Art


+ THE ANSWER IS NO with Ursula Winterauer aka Gischt

+ DRUCK (maja osojnik & anthony pateras)

+ BROKEN.HEART.COLLECTOR
+ MAJA OSOJNIK BAND

+ SOLO concepts & improvisation
+ FOYER – katharina ernst, maja osojnik, matija schellander

+ WATSCHEN INSTITUT
+ LOW FREQUENCY ORCHESTRA
+ SUBSHRUBS

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+ THE ANSWER IS NO (MAJA OSOJNIK & URSULA WINTERAUER)
2x voice, 2x e-bass, 2x electronics
In their project „The Answer is NO“ Maja Osojnik and Ursula Winterauer use the same sound sources – voice, electric bass and sampler. This conscious choice creates a live situation that creates an exciting mirroring on a visual and sonic level. Their goal is to explore, expand and deconstruct the sonic possibilities of their instruments, entering into an intense dialogue in the process. In their joint project, the musicians and composers Maja Osojnik and Ursula Winterauer move skilfully in the border area between analog and digital sounds and between virtual and real spaces.


+ MAJA OSOJNIK / LET THEM GROW 2016
music & lyrics: maja osojnik, new dbl LP & CD, new web & bandcamp
SOLO:

maja osojnik – vocals, live sampling, dj-cd player and other lo-fi electronics, paetzold bass

(c) rania moslam


++ ZSAMM:
maja osojnik – vocals, live sampling, dj-cd player and other lo-fi electronics
patrick wurzwallner – drums
christina bauer – sound engineering

artwork by me from photos made by rania moslam & alex krischner

+++ BAND ALL.THE.TERMS.WE.ARE
maja osojnik – vocals, live sampling, dj-cd player and other lo-fi electronics, paetzold bass
audrey chen – vocals, cello
raumschiff engelmayr – guitar
matija schellander – double bass, modular synthesiser
manu mayr – double bass, e-bass
lukas König – drums

artwork by robin tomens, photo by rania moslam

A powerful, haunting, versatile record full of minutely elaborated and suprising details. Susanna Niedermayr, Zeit-Ton, Ö1/ORF Vienna, 01/2016

An anthroposophical striptease of the soul, between dystopian chansons, primordial mantras, and musique concrùte—both timeless and masterful. Patrick Wurzwallner, Freistil

It is a particular music, sometimes disturbing but alive, throbbing, a beauty almost animalistic. Battiti, Rai Radio 3, 12/2015

(
) phew, on this Maja Osojnik is ablaze with righteous anger matched by fierce electronics, a storm of sound, proving that the spirit of Punk is alive and well, just don’t look for it in bands, OK? (
)
Let Them Grow is not easy listening; it’s spiky and lyrical, with brilliantly dark instrumentals containing all manner of sounds absorbed from various sonic avant-garde movements but channelled into a distinctive, personal vision
..an amazing album
..Robin Tomens, Includemeout2, UK

This record is CATHEDRAL. It is an underwater-record. It is a night-record. It is a red-wine-record. It is a Dancer-In-The-Dark-record, also because the music is very often machine-like. It is a retreat-record, I think, it sounds like it, maybe even a fleeing-record, an escape from the social, the general social, into the self, where only the special and the particular people are allowed and where work is possible (to be accomplished) – this record – that serves itself. Because, outside of this self-place, that you have to create, that you have to occupy, that is not given to you but steadily challenged, it’s more like Severin Heilmann writes in Streifzüge No. 65 : The puropse of work is rarely the work itself, it rather equips one financially to recover from it in his or her free time. Thus one’s free time has not itself as content but one’s maintenance for work. Which inevitably entails that neither in work nor in free time one can devote oneself to playfulness
Philipp Schmickl, The Attic / Bucharest, Romania, 01/2016

Nach zahlreichen Alben und diversesten Kollaborationen erscheint nun endlich das erste Soloalbum der grandiosen Alleskönnerin Maja Osojnik. “Let Them Grow” – so heißt es – ist wahrscheinlich die grĂ¶ĂŸtmögliche AnnĂ€herung an Pop dieser ansonsten in den Revieren Klassik, Jazz, Neue Musik und Prog wildernden KĂŒnstlerin. Pop wie Donaueschingen freilich oder wie Darmstadt, wo die E-Elektronik daheim war. Fritz Ostermayer, Im Sumpf FM4/ORF, Austria
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+ RDEČA RAKETA
maja osojnik & matija schellander
(bass paetzold recorder, cassette recorders,electronic devices, toys, e-bass, modular synthesizer, computer, words)

Rdeča Raketa zelebrieren auf „Wir werden“ den Bruch mit jeglicher MusikalitĂ€t, sie entwerfen ein dĂŒster cineastisches KlanggemĂ€lde, mit dem man sich schlicht und einfach auseinandersetzen muss. Taucht man aber in die Welt von Maja Osojnik und Matija Schellander ein, eröffnet sich einem ein Hörerlebnis, das auch nachhaltig wirkt. / Michael Ternai, Mica Austria, 2012 / A

Sophisticated, complex works supported by a wide sound palette (analog electronics, acoustic and electric instruments, tapes, field recordings, narration). Strong! / Monsieur Delire / 2013 / FR

Wir werden ist ein durch und durch kurioses Album, eher ein StĂŒck auf Platte gebannte Performance-Kunst, ein wenig mysteriös und garantiert eigensinnig – kurzum: Faszinierend! / Kristoffer Cornils, Underdogs & GrenzgĂ€nger (VI)/ 2013/ GER

„A fascinating and tragically extant sample of sonic poetry.“ / Vito Camarretta /  2013/ IT

Visit us here: rdeča raketa or join us on facebook

photos: jelena poprĆŸan

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2/A WENDY PFERD TOD MEXIKO (wendy horse death mexico)
#neon western #audio diverse #sound comic (radio play & performance)
natascha – text, voice
maja osojnik – vocals, live sampling, dj-cd player and other lo-fi electronics
matija schellander – modular synthesizer, laptop

The rider’s daughter from the horse comic of the past century is lost in the
desert and
meets the Mexican death cult.
“WENDY TRIPS TO MEXICO”, published by RITTER in autumn 2015, is
Book debut of playwright and theater maker Natascha Gangl. RDEČA RAKETA aka the electro-acoustic duo Maja Osojnik and Matija Schellander compose from this Text material, field recordings, analog electronics, tapes, acoustic as well as electrical Instruments a listening experience and sound paintings –
WENDY HORSE DEATH MEXICO LOSS OF BATTLE SAND TEMPERANCE DISCIPLINE DREAM WORK MAGIC NOISE EXIT FLY HEART

The three artists are related in content and form. Language becomes

Sound and sound becomes speech. From the fragmentary the density is woven. Out of the fragile the whole. Opposing voices, opposites and misunderstandings find each other and sound up. Through the alienation the reinterpretation finds place. As in the Lost the Beginnings. Time structures are questioned by loops and assembled, field recordings from Mexico meet Osojnik’s singing. Spoken language turns into melodies, Noise turns into bittersweet rancheras.
In 2016/17, the artists developed a series of different live Performances as a work-in-progress: “WENDY HORSE DEATH MEXICO or The horse is an old Rabbit”- UA Alte Schmiede, November 2016.” SUPERANDOME or Wendy and
the Speech Machines “- UA Elevate Festival, March 2017.” EL SOL SALE PARA TODAS or VergissDeinGanz “- UA Dramatic Festival Graz, June 2017.
These live performances also served as a collection of material for a final radio play, “WENDY PFERD DEATH MEXICO – A sound comic.” – UA ORF Radiokulturhaus, Vienna, October 2017. The first broadcast of WENDY PFERD DEATH MEXICO – A sound comic found on 14.01.2018 on Ö1 KUNSTRADIO – RADIOKUNST. In 2018 WENDY PFERD TOD MEXICO was awarded with the “LANGE BRENNENDE MIKRO “, the main prize of the Berlin Radio Play Festival.
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2/B RDEČA RAKETA + PATRICK K.-H. on Video Art
maja osojnik – vocals, live sampling, dj-cd player and other lo-fi electronics
matija schellander – modular synthesizer, laptop
patrick k.-h. – video art

photos by sabine pichler @ art’s birthday, radiokulturhaus vienna, 2020

2/C RDEČA RAKETA + BILLY ROISZ on Video Art
maja osojnik – vocals, live sampling, dj-cd player and other lo-fi electronics
matija schellander – modular synthesizer, laptop
billy roisz – video art
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3/ CHEAP DATE (maja osojnik & anthony pateras)
maja osojnik – voice, live sampling, electronics
anthony pateras – synths

portrait collage (c) maja osojnik

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4/ BROKEN.HEART.COLLECTOR

lyrics: maja osojnik, music: broken.heart.collector
Maja Osojnik – vocals, electronics, bass paetzold recorder
Susanna Gartmayer – bass clarinet, contra alto clarinet
Raumschiff Engelmayr – e-guitar, vocals, electronics
derhunt – bass, vocals, electronics
ddkern – drums

I’m still very excited and blown away by these five leading people of the relevant Austrian free-form scene. The 10 tracks set the roof of the well-tempered experiment completely under fire with their original FreeScoreDarkSoulRockWeirdSongFolk, that doesn’t let go of me anymore and will also capture you soon enough . One of the guaranteed best albums of the year, and no more words here except, ‘Go and check it! / Meter / HONKER / GER

Diese Supergroup, bestehend aus Maja Osojnik, Susanna Gartmayer und bulbul, sammelt gebrochene Herzen ein und entlockt dem ausblutenden Muskel schrĂ€ge, satte Impro-Jazz-Rock-Folk-KlĂ€nge. Im Kopf entsteht unter partiellem Headbangen ein sehr seltsamer MĂ€rchenfilm in Schwarz-Rot. / Isabelle Reichert, Rondo-Rubrik von Standard “beste Platten des Jahres 2011”

Visit us here: broken.heart.collector or join us on facebook

Check sound: released sounds & videos

photo: iztok zupan in kino siska, ljubljana, slovenia, 2012
photo: rania moslam at radiokulturhaus vienna 2013

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5/ MAJA OSOJNIK BAND
maja osojnik: vocals, electronic devices, recorders, lyrics, music

michael bruckner-weinhuber: guitar, music
philipp jagschitz: piano, accordion
bernd satzinger: double bass, music
mathias koch: drums

Don’t expect to get a traditional jazz record. Osojnik shows to be a fantastic composer, musician and a creative mind. She mixes Slovenian folk songs with original work and blend experimental jazz with ethnic and light rock influences in a very natural way. Using electronic added sounds she creates her own universe. Without being explosive music, Osojnik sings in a direct and energetic way. Her unexpected twists, small musical jokes put a smile on my face and in-between I get amazed by the beautiful and authentic music she creates. This Black Waters or Črne vode as the original title sounds. Is a strong new album by an artist with international quality. / Eelco Schilder / folkworld / 2010 / NE

Mit ihrer dunklen Stimme, die auch mal an Nico erinnern kann, gibt Maja Osojnik aber auch eine perfekte Chanteuse im boulevardesken Vaudeville ab, von ihrem Quartett passend schmierig begleitet. Man merkt schon, ganz so ernst, wie das Thema vorzugeben scheint, wird die Sache nicht genommen. Vielmehr wird herzhaft dekonstruktivistisch zugelangt, aber nicht ohne die Melancholie traurig-schöner Melodien zu vergessen. Gut so. / Thomas Kuschny / 2011 / Kultur Zeitschrift / A

Maja Osojnik has with great competence and determination gained a unique place in music for herself and her musicians; may she sing the songs of JeĆŸek, the verses of Gregorčič and Kosovel, songs from the Rezija region or the original music of her band, she is always unique and unforgettable. She’s a heroine like no other… / Mario Batelic / 2010 / Delo / SI

Maja Osojnik presses forward with an intensity and directness that makes sounds congeal into images. In this, she is supported by a band that is clearly attuned to their protagonist. And even if the text isn’t quite comprehensible, the dramatics are self-explanatory. Strong stuff, so to speak. But music between theatre and reality, between noise, art and soundscape, that is definitely worthy of being discovered. / Carina Prange / Jazzdimensions / 2011 / GER

Beim heurigen internationalen Jazzfestival Saalfelden war sie eine der Entdeckungen. Die Musik ist angereichert mit Folklorismen, aber auch mit Electronica – sehr interessante neue Stimme. / Roland Biswurm / Radio Bayern2 / 2011 / GER

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Check sound: released sounds & videos

photo: beat schertenleib, bee-flat, bern, switzerland 2013
photo: reinhard werner, casino schwarzenberg, burgtheater, vienna 2013
photo: larry bercow, studio, new york usa, 2011
photo: nina wöss, cultural forum new york, usa, 2011
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6/ SOLO
bleached – maja osojnik solo on electronic devices, CD-players, cassette-recorders, radios, paetzold bassrecorder
using sounds that happened in different private recordings, that were ment to fulfill an intended goal, but came out as the result of digital mistakes, unwillingly distorted, overdriven, phase shifted, useless. those unforeseen sounds, i called them “rejects” now build the basis for my solo improvisation with the sound.

photo: rania moslam
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7/ FOYER – katharina ernst, maja osojnik, matija schellander / performative sound art
The foyer is a passage. It’s a place between an outside world and a spectacel in a concert hall. People share there space and time before they become spectators of a show. The type and range of motion of this space is scanned by Katharina Ernst, Maja Osojnik and Matija Schellander. Using double bass, percussion and electronic sound created architectures, which are moved in different ways: with their own bodies. By electronic means. By the audience.

(c) Sabine Pichler
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8/ WATSCHEN INSTITUT
Maja Osojnik / Daniel Lercher / Raumschiff Engelmayr / Matija Schellander
Project W.I.L.D. – wake initiated lucid dream

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9/ LOW FREQUENCY ORCHESTRA
Maja Osojnik, AngĂ©lica CastellĂł – paetzold recorders, voice, electronic devices
Matija Schellander – double bass

Thomas Grill – electronics

The Low Frequency Orchestra was formed in Vienna by AngĂ©lica CastellĂł (recorders, devices), Thomas Grill (digital sounds), Maja Osojnik (recorders, voice, electronics) and Matija Schellander (double bass) who form the core of the ensemble. They have been joined by semi-permanent members Mathias Koch (drums) and Herwig Neugebauer (double bass) and have performed with guests including Martin Siewert (e-guitar, electronics), George Cremaschi (double bass), Susanna Gartmayer (bass clarinet), Bernhard Breuer (drums) and Michaela Grill (video). Sound design of all shows is supervised by Alfred Reiter. The ensemble has played many shows of free non-idiomatic improvised music under the title “CUT” – the only rule being that the music should have the structural quality of compositions with an emphasis on rapidly changing sections. The CD “S” is a documentation of this concept. It has been recorded in a series of four live-recording sessions at the Echoraum Vienna in 2006 and released by Einklang Records in 2008. Want to read further?

Visit us here: low frequency orchestra or join us on facebook

artwork: maja osojnik
self portraits
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10/ SUBSHRUBS
katharina klement – piano, electronics, composition
maja osojnik – paetzold, voice, electronics, composition
angelica castello – paetzold, electronics, composition
tamara wilhelm – electronics, composition

“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?” Einstein would have been happy: Subshrubs’ equipment, a seemingly disordered accumulation of cheap and high electronics, piano, recorders of various sizes, preparations, devices, ancient to medieval turntables, a TV set as source of sounds, computer, cables, microphones, mixer – a low/high-tech supra-organizational electro-acoustic structure, whose apparent chaos simply leads to new musical connotations – for when the desk isn’t empty and the things aren’t put away, everything can mingle, or – put in a more modern way – contextualize in new ways; subshrubs – in the singular, this would mean something like “Busch”, “GestrĂ€uch” (shrubbery) in German – doesn’t worry about the question “how?”. Musical activity, research, experimentation, rehearsing, working with the material – they all stand for self-determined ordering, dis-ordering, re-organizing and re-locating. The first public performance of the quartet took place as part of the Amann Studios’ concert series in September of 2006. What could be heard was most striking: The sometimes delicate, sometimes aggressively eccentric amalgamation of the musicians’ different backgrounds into a consistent electro-acoustic aggregate, a single voice with – similar to some languages – four different “pitches”, molds and characteristics. For all the closeness, an elegant distance to the subject can be felt, an aura of remoteness; subshrubs, a gang of four with no mission, whose pieces are composed, who use chance – but always with deliberation. The sound and specifics of the individual artists are considered, as is the subshrubs’ collective sound as an ensemble. (Burkhard Stangl)

out of repertoire: mute (2008) composed for subshrubs
photo: rania moslam
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PAST PROJECTS:

PLENUM
Angélica Castelló, Gabriele Drab, Katrin Hauk, Thomas List, Stefanie Neuhuber, Maja Osojnik, Reni Weichselbaum/ Paetzold Recorders PLENUM is the union of seven recorder players living in Vienna, specialized in Early Music, contemporary compositions, and free improvisation played with square recorders made by Herbert Paetzold.

moe vienna 2013, photo: maria frodl
photo: Rania Moslam
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TRAVERSING THE BALKANS / RDEČA RAKETA & KARL WRATSCHKO (FILM ARCHIVE) – A HISTORICAL ROAD MOVIE

In the last few years, the Filmarchiv Austria has cultivated its relations to its counterparts in Southeastern Europe. The shared past of the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary has created an often overlapping cinematographic heritage. Back then, the majority of the film production companies, usually located in Vienna, were sending their cameramen to Southeastern Europe to document life and occurrences in the southern part of the Danube Monarchy. The few recordings from that time that have been preserved “survived” in the Filmarchiv Austria and in similar institutions in the successor republics of former Yugoslavia. At the same time, production companies from that region worked all over Europe and produced a great number of recordings that are, as of yet, unknown in those countries.

On a concert tour through various cities from Slovenia to Turkey, silent films dealing with or originating from Southeastern Europe are shown and accompanied with live, contemporary music. Each venue has its own customized film and music program, which was designed in cooperation between the Filmarchiv Austria and the local partner organization. To that end, the content of the silent film archives of the Filmarchiv Austria has been augmented with material from the inventory of the partner organizations. These materials are presented together for the very first time. The programs have the goal of reflecting the history of a region, and also, in a sense, of bringing the regional history “back home.” This course of action promotes the exchange of cinematographic documents and their public viewing, and thereby advances the process of coming to terms with the shared history. Well-known images of momentous events in the Balkans (for example, the outbreak of the First World War) are getting supplemented with documents from various parts of Southeastern Europe. This may foster a more pluralistic understanding of these events.
The film programs, as arranged, are accompanied with live music by Rdeča Raketa (Maja Osojnik, Matija Schellander). The musical performances in the Balkans are based on previously developed compositional sketches. Special emphasis is placed on the process of formation, on the constant back and forth from which the music derives its moments of suspense, its surprising twists and ultimately, its aesthetic value. The artist duo works primarily with a set of electronic instruments, which are combined with a recorder, voice, various devices, audio tapes, or an electric bass, as needed. However, simply re-enacting a composition is not Rdeča Raketa’s style. Rather, Maja Osojnik and Matija Schellander are embarking on a musical journey which is in a state of constant flux and change.

Rikli’s Health Resort Bled, Slovenia 1922
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FRUFRU
maja osojnik & angélica castelló
(voice, recorders, electronics &  toys)

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ČIRA ČARA
BINAR
ENSEMBLE MIKADO
BALKON
BERGWIND
PRESET
MALIN UND DIE ZWILLINGSSCHWESTERN
EDUARD AND THE INNOCENT BYSTANDERS

more to come! this page is still under construction…and i guess will always be …