Urbs

Listener, Music Maker

URBS – BIOGRAPHY

After excursions into Hip Hop, Rap and film music Austrian producer and musician Urbs has returned to the downtempo and Triphop styles that were the cornerstones of his most successful work, discovering his very own niche along the way. Using obscure samples as well as traditional instrumentation for his impressionistic instrumental pieces he takes us to „Geheimland“, the secret land of our imagination where things are not as they seem.

Born as Paul Nawrata in Lower Austria, Urbs is a veteran Electronic producer and musician living in Vienna. A music fanatic from a very young age, he started writing and photographing for various fanzines in his teenage years, interviewing numerous artists as diverse as Kurt Cobain, Nick Cave and the Wu Tang Clan.

He soon felt attracted to the blossoming HipHop scene of Vienna, contributing to the radio program of legendary impressario Werner Geier aka Demon Flowers. Best described as the Austrian version of Tony Wilson, he took him under his wing and soon released his first steps in music production on his Uptight label.

In 1998 two EPs were released as Urbs & Chaoz, spawning a first success with „Closer To God“, which was not only a radio favourite, but was also used by famed director Ulrich Seidl in his early work „Models“ and remixed by none other than legendary Washington duo Thievery Corporation.

Heavily influenced by Kenny Dope, Todd Terry and Armand Van Helden’s HipHop releases, the musical style of Urbs & Chaoz was dubbed Dope Beat in central Europe and can be seen as one of the precursors of Triphop.

His next musical partner was Cutex with whom he released „Breaks Of Dawn“ and „Peace Talks!“, two LPs of timeless instrumental HipHop, both of which are seen as classics of the genre. „The Thing“, a veritable hit on Austrian radio, was used for various commercials and even selected as one of the „Best 100 Austrian Songs“ by FM4, the leading alternative radio station in the country. Until today that song has been streamed more than two million times.

His first solo album was released on G-Stone Recordings in 2005 and was co-produced by Peter Kruder (Kruder & Dorfmeister). On „Toujours Le Meme Film“, Urbs channelled his love for film music and French Chanson. He toured Europe with a six piece band and a complex visual concept and the album became a remarkable success. Songs from „Toujours Le Meme Film“ were used for US TV shows „Grey´s Anatomy“ and „Nip:Tuck“ as well as numerous commercials; Gilles Peterson discovered the album and played „So Weit“ on his Worldwide radio shows.

Urbs began producing other musicians like Austrian MC Skero, released further EPs of instrumental HipHop and numerous remixes for the likes of Tosca, Marsmobil and Daniel Haaksmann along with countless other Austrian artists.

Together with award winning composer Karwan Marouf, he worked on film music for directors like Arash and Arman Riahi as well as Werner Boote, on commercials, documentaries and contract work for Red Bull Media.

Since the early days of social media Urbs has connected with MCs and singers from around the world and in 2017 finally released those collaborations on the (Rap-)album simply titled „Urbs“, which included contributions by MCs like Wordsworth and R.A. The Rugged Man. The song „10000 Years Behind Me“ with its spectacular video starring Austrian actress Birgit Minichmayr was another success on the alternative radio in central Europe.

While in 2020 the world was in the grip of the pandemic, Urbs, who had just become a father felt inspired by the fantasy and perception of his son. He reconnected with his roots and produced „Geheimland“ in one go, trying to find the essence of his work and musical passion and creating his very own musical language along the way.

Interview:

URBS – INTERVIEW 2023

It´s been 5 years since your last album. You´re back now with a very different sound.

Is it 5 years? Oh well, that´s kind of fast for me anyway (chuckles). My son was born shortly before the release of that last album and obviously this changed my life a lot. The HipHop album (2017s selftitled LP) had been lying around for years and just had to get finished at some point. It was good, but it wasn´t really were my heart was at musically. So this new album feels closer to me and more logical regarding my musical journey.

So what´s that „Geheimland“?

I really don´t want to give too much away, since it is all about your imagination and leaving room for interpretation. It translates as „secret land“ obviously and it´s a term my son created at 3 years old. It was a place he kept talking about and he kept talking for hours about how things are in that land. Very different from the real world and an opportunity for him to explain the world to me, not the other way round. I found it a beautiful word and a beautiful place and it suited the music perfectly.

How was „Geheimland“ created?

It sounds ridiculous now, because the LP spent a full year at the pressing plant, but it really is a „lockdown“ album if there ever was one. It just felt nice and cosy in my home studio and a good way to forget about the crazyness outside. Then of course there was my son who didn´t really care about all that end-of-the-world stuff. You went out with him and he was regularly blown away by the world. „Wow!!! A red car!!“ It felt like Penny Lane in 67 everytime we went outside, so that just rubs off. So the music on this album is a lot about the wonders of the universe, about childlike amazement and really not about humanity at all. And I hope all that translates and gives people the same positive feeling when listening to it, that feeling of otherworldliness. It certainly took me to other places when I made it. It was an all-around magical experience making this album.

How do you work? Your studio is called „Home“.

That´s what it is, in more senses than one. It´s cosy and not very tidy and full of stuff that tells the story of my life. Certainly not one of those antiseptic places with minimal furniture and only technical appeal. Everything in there is kind of too old, too shabby to really work with it in the year 2023, but as long as it runs I refuse to change anything. I use samples obviously and I combine them with instruments and at the end it´s hard for the listener to tell what´s sampled and what´s played by me or by the friends who recorded parts. A lot was done on cheap headphones, because my son was sleeping in the next room.

It´s kind of rich. A lot of layers, sounds and instruments.

I like that. I think our environment has become too minimalistic. Everything looks like an Apple product. Minimalistic and easy to clean. I need a certain amount of opulence in my life- be it in music, design or food. As long as it´s not too decadent or harmful to man or nature that´s perfectly fine.

I saw it´s billed as „Triphop/Downtempo“. Is that really accurate?

Well, that´s up for everybody else to decide, but I never really had a problem with the word Triphop. I totally understand that certain acts like Portishead or Massive Attack wouldn´t want to be labelled as that, because they work more with traditional song structures and want to be taken seriously as songwriters, but apart from that I think it´s a relatively accurate description of the style. James Lavelle himself coined the term with his early U.N.K.L.E. EPs, even using the word on record. The problem is that back in the 90s and 00s more and more Triphop acts appeared who had absolutely nothing to do with HipHop and had their roots somewhere else entirely, so then it became that lame sort of chillout music everybody hates. Because HipHop is still the foundation, certainly for whatever I create.

Is „Geheimland“ a follow up to „Toujours Le Meme Film“?

I wouldn´t say so, although it has much more in common with it than with the stuff I´ve released since. „Toujours..“ was such a unique experience, a thing that just came and went very fast, and honestly, it feels hard to still relate to the person I was back then. There was a beautiful naivity to it and it humbles me so many people still love that record. It´s comparable only because both are bodies of work that arrived in a relatively short amount of time and felt like their own unique entities. “Geheimland“ came easily and was easy to finish- and that certainly applies for both albums. Kind of ideal.

That sounds like you are very satisfied with it?

I think it´s the best I´ve ever done!