* Brandy Butler and Odd Beholder at m4music 2017 *

Since 1998, m4music festival takes place every March here in Switzerland: two days in Zurich and one day in the chosen city in the French part.

It is flawlessly organized at one of the coolest locations in town: Schiffbau; with many concerts happening on the seven (+1) stages, at or close the main building.

M4music festival is more of the cultural platform than a typical music festival. It is a place where artists, industry experts meet and exchange ideas, experiences and vision of the future. There are several ways this festival makes this happen: by offering interesting panel discussions and workshops, conferences on latest hot issues in music business, competition for the next generation of musicians (Demotape Clinic) and simply the chance to meet many local, national and international people at the venue, just hanging around, talking, sharing their opinions and knowledge.

I was visiting this festival for many years now, but only start reviewing it last few years.
But almost every year, I keep on coming back to it, not only because its convenient location (here in Zürich), but because every year I discover new band(s), have a chance to interview interesting female artists/bands, meet great people (from music and non music industry) and see again some local people that I rarely find time to catch up during the year and with our busy schedules.

Last year the festival changed it's dates so I was in California when it was happening and missed it.

But this year, I was back at the festival as Gimme A Beat, ready to explore it's "female factor".

It was a very busy two days, that felt much longer, since I've been coming early in the afternoons and leaving early morning hours, to be able to see all gigs and do all the interviews I had scheduled. But all the hard work paid off: I managed to catch 5 very talented artists and next to their gigs I've seen many others as well and met new, local interesting people through the whole process.

Therefore in order to cover all the artists properly, I will need to break my review in two 2-hour shows.

First artist that I will focus on in tonight's show is Brandy Butler, an artist that came under my radar even before the festival. It was the first time that I saw her live and even though her gig was the last one of the night and I was struggling to stay awake (10 minutes before it, i had 3 double espresso, some crisps, 3 muffins and a red bull), i was so enchanted with her voice, songs, stage presence, that I suddenly felt fresh and awake, like the day has just started.

Few hours before her gig I had a pleasure to meet Brandy for what felt like very up-close-and-personal interview. I discovered more about Brandy's life: her upbringing, her roots, life experiences..and how she became an artist that she is today. And after hearing her story I wasn't anymore surprised that amazing *The Inventory of Goodbye* is her first album. Because it happened at the right time and when she was sure about the sound, direction and ready to fully focus on it.

In the 2nd part of tonight's show I will focus on Odd Beholder, local Zurich band founded in a bomb shelter near Zürich (in Dietikon). They were performing on Friday at EXIL, venue with bit of an industrial vibe that fitted perfectly their mesmerizing, analogue, raw and somehow organically electronic sound. The place was packed with curious peeps and many fans, and with the stage being very close to the audience and dimmed lights, there was a vibe of a dreamy intimacy.

On Saturday nite i caught Daniela from the band for an itw and we talked about band's stage presence and how did she&James came together as well as meaning behind band's up and coming EP *Atlas*
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Tune it tonight to Gimme A Beat (22.05.2017) to hear my impressions of the m4music festival and gigs I've seen .. as well as all the interviews and the music of the artists that I’ve chosen for the first part of a festival review:
Brandy Butler and Odd Beholder at m4music 2017

** with playlist to be added **

from 22:00 - 00:00 on:
webradio lora

featuring:
gimme a beat at m4music

Kisses, Babymonster
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for the info about old shows please go to previous entries

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