m4music Demotape Clinic 2020 – and the Winners Are…
Even though the Demotape Clinic could not take place at m4music Conference & Festival in the usual form this year: the best songs were still chosen in 2020.
Here they are!
This year, Giulia Dabalà from Neuchâtel won the overall “Demo of the Year” award with her song „War Drums“. Also honoured with a Fondation Suisa Awards for best demotape in the respective category are the following artists:
Electronic
Casanora – Learn How to Fly this Dragon
Rock
Yet No Yokai – Fahrenheit
Urban
Chien Bleu – Azur
Of course we don’t want to withhold from you all artists nominated for the Demotape Clinic 2020 awards – here are the three artists nominated for each of the four categories:
Electronic
Pylone from Geneva combine funky up-tempo beats with ambient sounds not a million miles away from Four Tet. Hailing from Eastern Switzerland, Wassily’s multi-layered electro tracks are dance-floor friendly without neglecting the pleasures of melody. Berne-based Casanora is an art student who specialises in abstract and spooky experimental soundscapes.
Pop
Alas the Sun, a male/female duo from Zurich, Anja Tremp and Sandro Raschle, demonstrate a penchant for summery folk-pop. Liechtenstein-born Slushhkitten is a fan of the Smiths but plays dreamy synth pop that sounds nothing like them. Giulia Dabalà melds densely layered vocal harmonies with similarly constructed, atmospheric electronica to beguilingly nebulous effect.
Rock
Lausanne-based Etienne Machine’s rock is laced with electronica and the odd hint of experiment. Friends from childhood, the six members of Wueh! wish they lived in Brixton and were regulars on the Windmill stage. Yet No Yokai from Lucerne are purveyors of hypnotic psychedelic rock somewhere between Tame Impala and Thee Oh Sees, unusually, for this genre, with lyrics in German.
Urban
Richly-voiced, Kampala-born Awori combines an unhurried rapping-style with a sparse electronic underlay. Mercee’s quiet brand of poppy R&B evinces strength through calmness and an ear for fine melody. Chien Bleu is a rapper from Geneva who likes his pace laid-back and his music trippily atmospheric.
Normally, twenty songs, selected from the hundreds of submitted demo recordings, are chosen for the Demotape Clinic, which are then discussed live by a panel of experts during m4music Conference & Festival. As it was impossible to conduct the competition in its traditional format this year, the organisers have come up with a crafty alternative: 844 songs had been submitted for consideration. Of these, 15 each in the four categories, Electronic, Pop, Rock, and Urban, were nominated for discussion in more detail by a panel of experts. The experts in turn selected three songs in each category for a crack at the Fondation Suisa Awards (CHF 3000 each for the winners), and the overall “Demo of the Year” award (CHF 5000).
Demotape Clinic
m4music Conference & Festival
Fondation Suisa
