The Qualitons

Panoramic Tymes

The story of The Qualitons began in 2007 when DJ/producer Kanada Káosz was invited to DJ at the Berlin Soul Ascension Festival (SAF). When he saw some of the greatest funk/soul/beat bands playing at the SAF (incl. The Soul Investigators, Afrobeat Academy, Whitefield Brothers) he went back to Budapest inspired to organize such a band in Hungary. He went to dozens of concerts to hand-pick musicians for this project.

The band were named after the living memory of the former Hungarian Recording Company „Qualiton” – a record label which existed from the late 50s up to the 70s. At first the band’s repertoire consisted of cover-versions from rare Hungarian 7″ singles but soon started to write their own songs. They released two 7″ singles on Munich’s Tramp Records and were featured on a compilation entitled Contemporary Funk (TR-9005).

The Qualitons’ first big break through came when Kaosz produced shows with the veteran Hungarian soul-rock singer Kati Kovács. They rehearsed her best songs and went on tour around Hungary. This brought a great deal of attention from the Hungarian media, as this was dubbed by them as « The Comeback of Kati Kovács« . The strength behind Kati’s big comeback was, of course, The Qualitons!

Recently legendary Japanese DJ Muro placed “Mellbimbo” by The Qualitons right at the beginning of his Afro-Funk mixtape Super Afro Funky Breaks. Furthermore in May this year Gil-Scott Heron and his band shared stage with The Qualitons at the Mediawave festival in Szombathely, Hungary. Heron and the guys enjoyed themselves so much that they congratulated The Qualitons personally for their authentic music and great performance.

The band consists of: Barna Szőke – guitar, Mátyás Premecz – Hammond/vocals, Ernő Hock – bass/vocals, Hunor G. Szabó – drums/vocals and Kanada Káosz – tambourine/claps/producer.

The Qualitons will be touring Europe in fall/winter of 2010, promoting their debut album « Panoramic Tymes ». Watch out for upcoming dates in your city!

tracklisting:
1. C’mon baby get heavy with me (vocal)
2. Overdose
3. Ejjel a sotetben (vocal)
4. Bodzarelll
5. Wandering will (vocal)
6. One man song
7. A.C. blues
8. Kekfeny
9. Slowman
10. Kulmi
11. Mellbimbo
12. More plutonium
13. Aua

http://www.tramprecords.com/

THE QUALITONS

Mellbimbo / Kulmi (Tramp Records)

The band was named after the living memory of the Hungarian Recording Company „Qualiton” – a label which exsisted between the late 1950’s and 1970’s. Those records were able to bear the spirit of the Eastern block along with the Western impacts of the language of dance music. The band was founded to cultivate the musical heritage of the authentic instrumental sounds of those ages.

Mellbimbo, the title track of their second 7inch on Tramp, is a stone-cold killer from beginning to end. The band members show once again their skills on each instrument, especially Matyas Premecz gets down on the Organ. For this recording they assembled a bright, tight horn section which arrangement is obviously influenced by the psychadelic afro-sounds of the 1970s.

Kulmi with its hypnotic midtempo groove is another original composition of the band. Barna Szőke is grooves along on his guitar, using the wah-wah pedal in a very decent way. Drummer Hunor G. Szabo does a great job too and even delivers a short but tight drum break right after the bridge.

http://www.tramprecords.com/