Focus 2024

Indie rock band Annie Taylor created quite a stir in 2020 with their highly acclaimed debut album ‘Sweet Mortality’. There's no holding back when the four-piece from Zurich. based around charismatic singer Gini Jungi hits the stage, and their high energy shows earned them several prestigious festival and support slots. The Swiss band released their eagerly-anticipated second album ‘Inner Smile’ last July, recorded in Bristol with producer Ali Chant (Yard Act; Katy J. Pearson; Aldous Harding).

Batbait have turned heads recently, and not only on the Zurich music scene, as an all-female band performing edgy punk rock with driving guitars, slacker vocals and furious build-ups. From indie and punk, garage rock and psychedelic pop with a 60s touch, the quartet crafts wonderfully weird releases like the ‘Paradise’ EP (2019) or their debut album ‘Dirty Clothes’ (Irascible Records, 2022), displaying pure, idiosyncratic songwriting stripped of all conventionality.

Bound By Endogamy is a Swiss duo made up of Shlomo Balexert and Kleio Thomaïdes who both come from the squat/punk scene. Their live project consists of drums, sampler and female vocals, and has been described as a cross between DAF and Kleenex with a more hardcore background. Their first EP was released on US label Dead Channel Records in March 2023 and a second 8-track album is scheduled for January 2024 with Les Disques Bongo Joe.

With her unmistakable voice and bittersweet songs somewhere between pop, soul and electro, Caroline Alves’ music gets under your skin. In her largely autobiographical songs the Swiss Music Award winner does not shy away from heavy topics like self-doubt, escape, excess, failed relationships and fear of loss. The Brazilian-born singer occasionally spices them with a little jazz, so that she can play her big vocal trump card. This summer saw Alves supporting Coldplay in Zürich and release her EP ‘Good Reputation’ via Columbia / Sony Music.

Crème solaire goes from electro-punk to explosive effects. Since 2018, the duo has been performing a performative and musical project thirsty for freedom, anger, love and revolts in Switzerland and across Europe. In a strange and intense universe, this duo creates, shares, plays and replays new characters and new stories. Crème Solaire released their second album 'Pannenstreifen ist ohne Pic-Nic' in 2021 on vinyl in five languages.

LEILA represents the new bi-cultural generation who speak out loud and strong. In just one year, she has achieved many things, including releasing a song without any promotion on Spotify: ‘Gun To My Head’ reached 1.7 million streams. There is something powerful and distinctive in her voice, and LEILA writes her lyrics in English, being the daughter of bicultural parents, she grew up multilingual. She sings about the struggle and hope of a young generation in today's world, and, as a young Bosnian-Swiss artist, she challenges social norms and creates visibility.

Monte Mai is a Swiss-Grenadian psychedelic pop trio where a unique encounter between Swiss precision and Caribbean freshness echoes through their music. A skilled blend of dilated melodies, angelic voices and punching electronic beats are delivered in perfect harmony, providing a proper balance between man and electronic soul. Composition and production are stunningly accurate and wonderfully unpredictable, as they sway from minimalistic to jammed full soundscapes with inventiveness and panache. Debut album 'Eye Sea Double' was released in early 2023.

Rapper Nathalie Froehlich is a bulldozer on stage, who will make you want to turn your government upside down. Possessed by a fierce, white-hot fire, she serves up a rave rap set which has won over the whole of Switzerland. After more than 85 concerts in two years, including the biggest Swiss festivals, the show feels like an unforgettable afterparty with a smoldering mix of techno, reggaeton, crazy rhythms and hip hop.

Psycho Weazel's music is a celebratory blend of indie dance, cold wave, breakbeat and EBM, and it's all about scorching the dancefloor. Ivo Roxo and Léo Besso have released several EPs in 2023 that will serve as a foundation to the duo’s first album, which, based on this evidence, promises to be perfectly balanced between pop and innovative dance music, slated for release in March 2024.