Analog Balaton

Aba Zsuffa and Ákos Vörös came together to form the duo Analog Balaton in Budapest in 2017. Initially released only sporadically, their songs started to attract a constantly growing fanbase.  The pair’s multilayered compositions have made Analog Balaton one of the most exciting bands in the country, one with a sound based on acoustic guitar music and darker pulsating electronica since the beginning. With their second LP released in October this year, they will close out 2024 with a double concert at the House of Music.

The evolution of Analog Balaton’s career is unique in many ways. Even before they had recorded or released any songs, they were playing sold-out live-act parties all over the country.  Starting from Hungary’s underground circles, they pushed ever forward, so that with their first LP, released in 2021, they were already able to appeal to quite a wide audience, although in such a way that kept the nine-track album – entitled Lent (‘Down There’) – faithful to their initial improvisational, minimalist electronica, while already boasting a very strong lyrical world across the songs.

The debut album is a story of rough nights, lethargic mornings and lonely sorrows, and the honesty of the words immediately hit home, making Lent an undivided success both within the industry and with the audience. In 2022, Analog Balaton was a crucial fixture at every festival, and they also released their next EP, Csússz le (‘Slide Down’) – with contributions from the likes of Csaba Szendrői (Elefánt) and 6363 (Gege). Zsuffa and Vörös kept up their momentum in 2023 too, with achievements that included winning the Music Hungary Showtime award at the end of the year. The duo’s second album came out in October 2024: entitled Repedés (‘Crack’), it is an expanded version of Csússz le. Following the record release, the band will set out on a tour around Hungary before closing out the year with a double concert at the House of Music.

New Wave – Improvisations for Classical Music

The Chaos String Quartet, comprised of Susanne Schäffer (first violin), Eszter Kruchió (second violin), Sara Marzadori (viola) and Bas Jongen (cello), has already experimented with coupling the string quartet – both as a genre and as an instrumental configuration – with musical improvisation: their project Free the Franz had them, together with István Grencsó, delivering radical reinterpretations of the works of Schubert. This time around they are teaming up with Máté Pozsár, one of the most active and renowned pianists in the Hungarian jazz scene, to play selected masterpieces from the quartet literature, ranging from the Viennese Classics (Haydn and Beethoven) to Shostakovich and György Ligeti.

One of the aims of the five musicians at this concert is to introduce the concept and aspirations of the ‘third stream’, the name of the stylistic trend towards integrating jazz and classical music together, to Hungary, where it is still largely unfamiliar. There to discuss this movement and much else with the performers during the performance will be composer Samu Gryllus.