Pumpkin Records Wies

Farewell with 41 musical appetizers

Wolfgang Pollanz (right) has handed over the agendas at Pumpkin Records to Gabriel Schmidt.

(Bild: Christian Koschar)

Good music knows no boundaries - even in terms of time. The southwest Styrian record label Pumpkin Records has now released a sampler with 41 songs - none of which is longer than one minute. The project also celebrates the departure of label founder Wolfgang Pollanz.

"Some babies were made in less than a minute", sings Paul & Pets about the great things that can be achieved in a short time. The song in which he does this is itself barely a minute long, because that is precisely the concept behind the sampler "Have a Minute?": A total of 41 songs from 41 different acts can be found on it, each with a length of one minute. Pumpkin thus remains true to its indie roots, but still finds a way into the future, which (thanks to TikTok and co.) is also becoming increasingly impatient musically.

Old hands and newcomers
It is precisely this balancing act that is at stake: this is the 150th album in the history of the record label Pumpkin Records, which Wolfgang Pollanz founded in 1998 in Wies in south-west Styria. And with this anniversary album, he is also celebrating the handover of the label to his successor Gabriel Schmidt on a musical level. They have curated this album together - and so it features not only old Pumpkin hands, but also some fresh faces.

Son of the Velvet Rat can also be found on the sampler

(Bild: Marija Kanizaj)

The newcomers in particular serve up something refreshing on "Have a Minute?": Billi Mpeg, for example, presents a trip-hop banger with "Pretty Lies and Ugly Truth", which is perfectly suited to unwinding during a short break. The Royal Diving Academy adds a little smooth jazz to the indie mix. And Selina Galka plunges into a hypnotic spiral in "Fallin".

41 times the shortest form
But the old hands also know how to convince in the short form: Son of the Velvet Rat, for example, takes a wonderfully dark walk with a zombie. Exit Void (with Anja Plaschg alias Soap & Skin), on the other hand, conjure up a miniature work of sound art with "Exodus 03". Matthias Forenbacher, Robert Rotifer and Ratrock Tot Sint Jans are also convincing in their musical abridged form.

At the end of the 41 songs, you can only join Spa Mayerling at the end, who wishes for nothing more than a little more time in the wonderfully melancholy tones of "Letzte Runde".