Make noise until the cable car comes – The Heart of Noise Festival 2022 in Innsbruck – The Gap
Last weekend, Innsbruck was filled with the twelfth edition of the Heart of Noise Festival. Under the motto »Love Action«, motivated artists and a hungry audience met in an intimate atmosphere.
©Daniel Jarosch
Once a year the Nordkette and Patscherkofel meet at the Heart of Noise (HoN) Festival in Innsbruck all those people who were thrown out of early musical education because of mishandling instruments and who see the angry “That’s not music!” sayers when playing their favorite tracks not as an insult, but as a challenge. The alpine sports city is thus again offered a cracking alternative to the Samba de Janeiro on the temporary beach volleyball court.
It was already the twelfth edition of the festival around the team of Chris Koubek, Stefan Meister and almost everyone who has something to do with the watch have on guard. This year, the HoN with the reduced title “Love Action” found its center after some Covid-related outliers in the House of Music and the Congress again, mainly in the greenhouse, which offered two locations with the tower and basement, which gave little in terms of heat. “Each location has advantages and disadvantages,” says Koubek, although the intimate atmosphere between the audience and the festival artists quickly makes you forget the drops of sweat.
locals and beyond
Compared to similar music festivals that claim to be avant-garde, the Heart of Noise seems to focus on closeness instead of elitism, on exchange instead of segregation. It is not uncommon for you to meet artists in the concert halls who listen to the other spectacles related to their performances. The line-up, whose gender balance easily surpassed last year’s, features international guests as well as a mix of locals from Innsbruck and all over Austria. There were, for example, the DIY dulcimer maltreaters Senyawa from Indonesia, transition chopper hieroglyphic being (As a replacement for those prevented Casual gabberz) from Detroit, the Lebanese ambient fabric softener Anthony Sahyoun or the French New Yorker by choice Leila Bordreuil. They were sensibly interwoven with the local hero noise, among others Lukas Moritz Wegscheideran infrasonic screamer Lissie Rescue Wanderer or the turntable-and-artwork legend Electric Indigo.
What all acts have in common is an extremely hungry audience that stands, sits or even lies down in front of them. The crowd, mostly from the surrounding area, probably not quite a four-digit number at peak times on Saturday night, either listens spellbound or skips the two safety beers at the bar to indulge in the uninhibited dancing. You know that it was still too long in the heart of the Alps.
noise action
The musical intensity is clocked day by day: First, in the courtyard garden pavilion, you doze off with natural light and the chirping of birds. This year without 2G controls, but again accessible for people who want to spend an afternoon strolling in the park and being attracted by the sounds. Like that kid who played the silent ambient performance of Perila accompanied by rhythmic knocking on the heavy wooden doors to a smile from the audience and the artist. The public space indirectly takes part in the music scene again – nature heals. Only Vori-Salzburg-Vienna Rising Star Kenji Araki cannot be thrown off course by the pavilion’s tranquillity. Only recently released the debut album on the Viennese label Affine Records, it not only represents the eardrum, but also puts the sense of rhythm to the test. After a single movement of the hand, nobody is sitting on the floorboards anymore – this was last seen in Córdoba in 1978.
On the way from the courtyard garden to the greenhouse, the exhibition and performance at the cube »Reich für die Insel« can be taken with you again this year. Curated by Carmen Brucic, performers from the Georgian scene dance and sing around the hip club »Bassiani«. In fact, it was so foggy that the visibly unamused fire department had to turn up because of a false alarm. Hashtag: lit! Arriving in the greenhouse after a relaxing disco nap – again there are three to four hours between the afternoon and evening program – you experience the wave movement: first the immersion, then the catharsis. space Africa bring the touching feeling called “Look out the car window when it’s raining and imagine being in the music video” on stage, The Beetle feat. Flowdan First allow themselves a complaint about an underpowered system, before they literally make the floor above the basement tremble with their massive kick drums.
power of sound and nature
In addition to the successful programming, the HoN is one of those city festivals that take place in an environment that makes the aforementioned waiting times between the programs eventful with possible activities such as a trip to the Nordkette. Hardly any Insta story from the festival artists can do without the obligatory cable car photo. The weather also played a part until the very end. First the eclectic DJ sets from Alaska Al Tropical in a few moments becomes a tropical fuck storm, tearing the trees out of the ground in the courtyard garden, whose roots must have been loosened by Kenji Araki the day before. Man takes it with humor – Safety first.
After the HoN team not only had to deal with repeated CoV cancellations in the previous year, but also touched on a train strike, they struggled today with flight postponements, but in retrospect they can look back on a largely smooth process, much to the delight of the audience be happy. The first »post« Corona HoN hit exactly where it was needed.
That Heart of Noise Festival 2022 took place in Innsbruck from June 2nd to 5th, 2022. An aftermovie should follow. Further information and updates on upcoming dates can be found via www.heartofnoise.at