Kistehén

Biography

The punk intellectual who talks to the animals BIOGRAPHY The current political crisis in the EU and the mass protests on the streets in his home country throw light on what a vital voice Lazlo is – not just for Hungary, but for all of us. The European dream is fast coming apart, and if we want to find out what might lie in store for us here in the UK, no other artist out there comes close to his unique mix of apocalyptic comment and razor-sharp humour. There is a good reason why most big Europ...

The punk intellectual who talks to the animals

BIOGRAPHY
The current political crisis in the EU and the mass protests on the streets in his home country throw light on what a vital voice Lazlo is – not just for Hungary, but for all of us. The European dream is fast coming apart, and if we want to find out what might lie in store for us here in the UK, no other artist out there comes close to his unique mix of apocalyptic comment and razor-sharp humour.

There is a good reason why most big European singers don’t export well to the UK: we Brits don’t do foreign languages, and when they try to version their songs in English to please us, it never adds up – sounding more like a dodgy voiceover on cable TV than a serious artist with something to say.

Lazlo took a smarter route: writing his English lyrics together with London production team Lemez and Fridel – who’ve worked for singers like KT Tunstall and alongside big name producers like Mike Spencer (Jamiroquai, Rizzle Kicks) and Bacon & Quarmby (Sugababes, Finlay Quaye). “Lazlo is a great artist who has a string of hit records behind him in another language. It’s not enough to translate his Hungarian lyrics into English,” says Lemez. “The trick with artist like Lazlo is that you need to be in the studio together, and only then, after hours of discussion about the song, can you re-write something natively for someone as if they were writing it themselves. His unique voice is so strong that I don’t want my voice as a writer to interfere. It could only dilute what is so strong about the original.”

And strong his songs undoubtedly are: “Venus” tackles homophobia in a startlingly fresh way; “I’m The Man” throws you into the heaviest of binges with the drinking partner from hell; “A Rabbit Not A Man” is a song of pure animal lust; “I Will Eat” is as cutting a criticism of consumer culture as you could hope to hear.

So far in the UK we know next to nothing about serious European artists for one simple reason – we don’t know their language. Finally in Lazlo, we get to hear one who is, thankfully, prepared to meet us halfway.

KiSTeHéN (Little Cow) is a fine mix of joy and melancholy, humor and lyricism. Dadaism dance music and classic ballad songs are performed by high energized charismatic musicians. The style is a crazy listening underground poetic pop. Kistehen rocked. I loved it! The band sounded great and did a really good job. It was really everything I expected...a great band: unique, fun and interesting". (Joe's Pub, New York) "Hungary's hottest export since goulash" (Funkhaus Europa 103,3) "A fantastical cultural pop rock group from Hungary. They are absolutely crazy, fun and lovely!" (Hide Out Festival Chicago)

STORY
Kistehen was founded by László Kollár-Klemencz after the great success of his songs for the 'Little yellow cow' animation series. This funny figure and his story were brought to life by him.

László Kollár-Klemencz has been the composer of songs and the writer of lyrics from the beginning. He managed to make two albums with various musician friends in the meantime: The Kistehen (Little Cow) came out in 2002, and Naughty in 2004. In 2007 Naughty became a Platinum Album in Hungary.

The band in its current form ganged up in 2005, which was also the year of the incredible success of their song "Cyber boy". It became quickly wide-known and popular with the mediation of the internet. The song burst out as a Nr. 1 hit on all the home charts and was chosen as the 'Song of the year in Hungary' on the Fonogram Award. Shortly it gained fame even abroad - it was selected for the British 'Beginner's Guide to Eastern Europe' compilation album.

By 2006 they became one of Hungary's most popular bands. Their new album "I'm in Love with Every Lady" was released that year by EMI Hungary and the international version came out on Berlin based label Eastblok Music in February, 2007. The album is available all across Europe. The release gig was in February in Berlin.

In 2007 the band did successful tours in Europe, had a debut gig in the UK (Bestival Festival) and had some storming gigs including the Lowlands Festival in The Netherlands. Their song "Virágok a réten" (featuring their gypsy friends Romano Drom) has been selected for the Top of the World album of the Songlines Magazine, UK and the Gypsy Grooves album released by Putumayo.

At the beginning of 2008 they played at the very prestigious global FEST, New York City. New York based agency agreed to help the band and be the launch pad for their carrier in the US.

At 2008 summer they were take a part of many festivals in Europe, including Esperanzah Belgium and Paaspop Festival NL.

In September 2008 they returned to the US and Canada for a 5 week tour, doing 31 shows. Besides the festival and club concerts they also had acoustic performances in theatres. The gigs included the Chicago World Music Festival, and the Hideout Block Party. They rocked New York's Joe's Pub and absolutely stormed the Lotus World Music Festival in Bloomington, IN. They also played some fantastic clubs including Safari Sam's on the Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and in Slim in San Francisco. The band started recording their new album in New York and San Francisco with American producer to be released in Fall 2009.

In September 2008 they released a special (easy listening) new album, entitled "A Man in a Tree", and performed by Little Cow Melancholic. There are personal lyrics and poem singing audible from Kollár-Klemencz László on the album in melancholy waltz rhythm.

The orchestra undertook a newer American tour in 2009 of Septembers after numbers of summer festivals. It prepares with English and American producers in the present an orchestra's new album. The music of the new album is all done (ready). The Musicians of the Kistehen band played up the songs in studio, American and English Producers are working (or already finalized) on the tracks. We are in the negotiation process, with EMI, Sony, BMG. Other way, the Kistehen band has already tested the market (on concerts) with some of the new releases.

The task of the next period beside the new album release the Kistehen band image change (From the Hungarian and English lingual difference case the Kistehen band management simplified the band's name. Till now Kistehén was in Hungarian, and abroad we used the translated English version - Little Cow. The band's name appearance KISTEHEN let there be everything in a publication), and the 2010 concert beside the compilation of a calendar, the fulfillment of present appearances and the current one are connected to a media appearance the organization of cases.

2012 Band released an EP Lazlo: Venus - In London, EP gets lot of good reviews in the UK. and the band start to grow higher they presence in UK.


DESCRIPTION
Farmyard punk singer Lazlo and his band KisTeHéN is a 100% European original – from his base at his own zoo outside Budapest, he has grafted a career as one of Europe’s most successful rock singers with a wicked style in biting, anthemic lyrics. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.