portrait of the artist: PAROV STELAR

Travelling backwards in time to a saturday afternoon in 2004 – the blankTON crew visited the legendary record shop Black Market to buy some new music to play in the evening and of course, hang out, just like almost every saturday. And indeed, some new stuff had been found: “Kiss Kiss” and “Move On”, two twelve-inches immediately got our attention, thanks to the friendly staff – stomping house beats spiced up with jazz and swing samples was not exactly the new thing (think St. Germain), but this new guy from Upper Austria really hit the spot with what he was doing and the evening proved that the tracks indeed worked like a charm on the dancefloor. We knew that Parov Stelar alias Marcus Füreder had been producing electronic music for some time, but more in the minimal-house-area and we never were quite convinced. But these two gems really did the trick, especially the next single, “Wanna Get” moved on to become a classic in all the record boxes of the blankTON-DJ-crew. The first full album “Rough Cuts” became an album of the month with blankTON and received a very warm welcome among the community.

Now switch fast forward to 2013 and we have an artist who is not only one of the most successful artists in electronic music all over the globe who plays shows to sold out venues everywhere (for exceptional fees, as we hear it) and gathered more than 600.000 likes on Facebook but also an example for how to do it right. As perfectly showcased on his first collection of hits (plus a few new tracks), “The Art Of Sampling”, one thing is quite clear: he invented a successful formula and sticked to it. You may grumble about the worth of creative challenges and some artists constantly re-inventing themselves, but every musician who gets at least some attention from the public, has a distinctive style – be it in constant transition or in constant persistence. There’s nothing wrong with either of the two. Actually, the latter sits more comfortably with one of the basic paradoxies of the human race: the incredible ability for adaption versus the huge reluctance to do so.

But with all creative controversy aside, it’s also quite nice to know what you get. People love and hate surprises at the same time and with Parov Stelar you always get a solid result, that’s properly crafted, produced and packaged. What else do most people want?

In fact, we detest conceit and the judgement of an artist by ways of inventiveness. If someone found a way that works for him/herself and the public, why not go for it? There is still the vast ocean of sound that waits out there with any sonic exploration imaginable to dive into – and if you’re exhausted and weary, just try something uplifting that still got a charming twist to it – just like Parov Stelar.

Yours sincerly,

Mikka