Four "closely watched vans" set out to Dutch Groningen as the first part of the Slovak expedition. Eight members of the Pohoda production team loaded them with stage and sound system for the Garage, the bands' backline, the second installation (Niemand), two table footballs for the forthcoming tournament, drinks and snacks for artists and guests as well as promotion materials (hoodies, posters, special edition of DIY magazine...) Garage, where many of our artists performing at ESNS 2019 and Penguin Radio Showcase festival will present themselves, arrived in the Netherlands a while ago. Our colleagues have now two days to prepare the installations and ground for over 120 members of the Slovak expedition which is going to represent our scene at the biggest showcase festival in Europe. Keep your fingers crossed for us. You can follow the biggest presentation of the home scene abroad at the Czech & Slovak Focus at Eurosonic 2019 event and at www.czskfocus.com. → read more

The focus on the artists from the Czech Republic and Slovakia awoke interest in our bands even before Eurosonic itself. Many media from the Benelux area as well as The Skinny, DIY, Record of the Day, All Things Loud, and Clash Magazine have written about them. The last mentioned one praised The Ills and Isama Zing in the selection of the new acts to look out for. Clash compares The Ills to Explosions In the Sky or Mogwai and adds that their songs are wild rides of euphoria that are as thrilling as they are thoughtful. Isama Zing earned a comparison to more playful Aphex Twin, with Clash describing his work as dance music for the feet as well as the brain.  → read more

Charlotte Gainsbourg is another performer of Pohoda 2019. The French-English actress and musician is Serge Gainsbourg’s and Jane Birkin’s daughter. She became famous for starring in films such as Melancholia, Jane Eyre, 21 Grams and Nymphomaniac, and has received awards for the best actress from the César Award and from film festivals in Cannes and Bratislava. As a singer, she has released five albums, with IRM (produced by Beck) and the newest Rest resonating the most. The Guardian and The Independent ranked the latter among the best albums of the year. She collaborated on the extraordinarily personal record with artists such as Paul McCartney, Connan Mockasin and Blood Orange, and received the "French Grammy" Victoires de la Musique for it.  → read more

Next Friday at 4:30 p.m. we will be screening a documentary called Ostrov Hudby Film (Island of Music) in world premiere in Forum Groningen as a part of ESNS 2019. Ostrov hudby Film (“Island of music” in English) is an independent documentary about the alternative music scene in Slovakia. It features interviews with Slovak musicians and labels, captures the atmosphere of local summer festivals and zooms in on the flourishing club scene. What are the inner workings of the music industry outside of the mainstream? What is the measure of success for Slovak musicians? Can we even speak of “a Slovak sound”? More info: http://ostrovhudby.sk/en/film → read more

In less than a week, Dutch Groningen will be transformed into a city with the highest concentration of music professionals in the world. Thanks to Czech and Slovak focus at ESNS 2019, 21 artists from our countries will have a chance to present themselves in front of them. However, other Slovak bands will also have their opportunity at a parallel, more alternative Pinguin Radio Showcase Festival. The Wilderness, Raptor Koch and Vojdi are going to playing in one of the biggest bars in the centre of the city, De Drie Gezusters, during the Thursday night within a programme curated by Pohoda. → read more

Last year, Miroslav Tóth presented himself with “The Quartet of Tentacles Reaching Out” composition (dedicated to the memory of J. Kuciak and M. Kušnírová), which was delivered in the world premiere by the Kronos Quartet. He also performed with Thisnis project, which is representing Slovakia at ESNS 2019 next week. Miroslav is also going to perform at Pohoda 2019, this time with Slávo Krekovič and other musicians with their project Shibuya Motors nominated for the RHA (Radio Head Awards) in the experimental music category. The best one-sentence description of this band provided the-aardvark.cz: “The came, destroyed us and left us grinning.”    → read more

Millennials’ favourite guy, Vernor Winfield McBriare Smith IV – known as Mac DeMarco – will make Pohoda 2019 sway to his summer BBQ soundtrack and casual surf-rock. This 28-year-old Canadian singer and multi-instrumentalist managed to release three albums and two LPs during half a decade, with Pitchfork labelling the first two albums "Best New Music" in their praising reviews. However, don’t let yourself be fooled with the lazy-dreamy records when it comes to your concert expectations. Mark Beaumont of The Guardian wrote the following about his concert at London's Brixton Academy: "After lulling the crowd with seamless sunny tunes, the Canadian pop eccentric breaks into a final act of stupendous abandon, magic tricks and yodelling." → read more

Eurosonic Noorderslag 2019 with focus on music from the Czech Republic and Slovakia starts in 11 days. Our production crew comprising Michal, Suzanne and Rasťo were in Groningen yesterday to check out the venues where bands from Slovakia and Czechia will be playing as well as localities where our installations will be placed. The rest of the team with some additional helpers were wrapping pohoda gifts for the 4,000 delegates who will be attending ESNS 2019 to discover our music. Keep your fingers crossed for us ;) → read more

Pohoda 2019 will feature one of the most famous voices in history – Liam Gallager is coming to Trenčín. Thousands of readers of Q magazine and listeners of Radio X called him the biggest frontman of all times. After a several years long break, the founder and singer of the legendary Oasis and Beady Eye came back with a fantastic solo album As You Were last year. It immediately became the number one of the British chart, selling more copies in the first week than all the other albums in the TOP twenty of the aforementioned chart altogether. Shortly after his comeback, Liam received Best Live Act and Icon Award at Q Awards, Godlike Genius for his music industry services at NME Awards, and nominations for the Brit Awards and NME Awards for the Best Singer and Live Artist. As the headliner of the TRNSMT, Benicassim and Isle of Wight festival last summer, he swept the attenders up with his mixture of new and old hits, and we are very pleased that he will fantastically end Pohoda 2019 this summer. → read more

Pohoda 2019 will also see a UK post-punk-dance duo Sink Ya Teeth. In June 2018, Maria Uzor and Gemma Cullingford released their debut Hey Buffalo, which was listed in BBC’s Album of the Day and praised by the media such as Pitchfork, The Guardian, The Observer, Q Magazine or Mojo. In the column “One to watch”, The Guardian says their “take on punk-funk is as infectious as it is emotionally engaging”. In their music, Sink Ya Teeth mix post-punk bass links with electronic dance music, distinctive vocals, interesting harmonic keyboard structures and solo passages.  → read more