Western Europe
The sound of Austria
The classical inheritance is unavoidable and mostly beside the point for a listener starting now. What is live is a dark, industrial-leaning underground and a schlager tradition that never went away.
208 artists in the catalog.
What Austria does that nowhere else does
Genres far more common here than across the rest of the catalog. The multiplier is how much more common, weighted by how many artists carry it.
Five records to start with
Not a canon — a way in. Each one links to what it is, who it's for and where to go next.
Austrian artists worth walking into
Ordered by how much we can tell you, not just by how well-known they are.
Udo Jürgens
chanson · pop music
Where to start →Falco
hip-hop · pop music
Where to start →Parov Stelar
breakbeat · deep house
Where to start →Rainhard Fendrich
pop music
Where to start →Christina Stürmer
pop music
Where to start →Freddy Quinn
Where to start →Chakuza
hip-hop
Where to start →György Ligeti
opera
Where to start →Andy Borg
schlager music
Where to start →John Tejada
electronic music
Where to start →Erich Wolfgang Korngold
film score · opera
Where to start →Wolfgang Ambros
rock music
Where to start →