Who: Reyn Hartley Instagram
Why: Because I never win with time...
Who: ÄTNA Facebook Twitter Instagram Website
Why: Because one of my favorite duos ever - ÄTNA - released a new song a couple of days ago, so it's obvious that I had to share it with you... Wait, what? "One of his favorite duos ever and he never even shared any of their original songs here?". OK, let me tell you a short story...
It was the April of 2020, we were in the middle of the first lockdown, and I received a song by Martin Kohlstedt - it was called "Ksycha" and it had a note that it's the "ÄTNA Who Are You Rework". I was really impressed by the incredible electronic production of this track and I even put it on my Best of April 2020 playlist.
Now we have to jump a couple of months ahead - it was the end of 2020, we were in the middle of the second lockdown, so I was intensively searching for some music that'd help me get through this shitty time. One day, during my daily YouTube check I've seen a song that was called "Ruining My Brain", I clicked on it, started listening, and - I'm not lying - I was taken to another world. It was love from first sight (or maybe hearing?)! The atmosphere, the unique composition (drop that starts at 2:45 destroyed my brain - in a positive way of course), the incredible level of production (they're from Berlin so I couldn't expect anything else). So, after repeating "Ruining My Brain" about 10 times in a row, I've started discovering ÄTNA - after a few hours, I've listened to everything that I was able to found on the Internet - including their full live set from one of the festivals. I was pretty sure - that's my new favorite band.
On the next day, I've followed them on every single social media that I'm using, I've shown them to my music soulmates, and I've promised myself that I have to write a longer article about them on CSGM. As you can see - keeping promises that I gave to myself is not my forte...
But let's start with the most important information - who are they? ÄTNA is a Berlin-based duo - singer and synth player Inéz Schäfer and drummer Demian Kappenstein. They're playing together since 2016 and they've released 2 EP's and one long-play. And when it came to describing their sound - pardon my French, but it's one of the most fuckin' incredible artistic indietronica that I've ever listened to. You may find so many influences, so many genres in their songs that without listening to their discography, you may not be able to understand why I'm so impressed. Especially that almost every one of their tracks is completely different, so they definitely aren't the ones to be pigeonholed. So, no more empty talking - check why I'm so in love! Let's start with the song that started all my journey with ÄTNA original releases:
"Ruining My Brain"
And if you still don't believe my words and think that the next song will be similar, just listen to this beautiful masterpiece:
"Remission"
I've decided that I'll share only 3 older ÄTNA songs with you. I don't want to ruin the pleasure of discovering their music on your own. So, I've spent the last 30 minutes trying to explain to myself which song should I choose and why - finally, without any reason, I've decided to show you:
"Sister"
It was only 3 songs but I believe that you understood why I can't stop listening to ÄTNA for almost a year. I highly recommend you checking literally everything that was made by them - including their amazing live sessions (just discovered that there's one that I haven't watched yet - already know what I'll be doing for the next 40 minutes).
But why am I writing this today? Well, because a couple of days ago I've received their new single to share and I was like: "Damn, Maciej, you fucked up...". So, sorry ÄTNA, you have to know that I love you even though my self-promises are empty words sometimes.
What about the new single? It's recorded with the 11-piece German techno marching band MEUTE and it's here:
"Weirdo"
Don't forget to check the rest of ÄTNA discography - I have to go now and watch that live I was talking about!
Why: Because you know how that goes, love ain’t simple...
Why: Because I thought I wouldn’t make it on my own...