Feat. great bands: Pavement, Bugsküll, Built to Spill, Guv'ner, Sebadoh, Sammy, Guided by Voices, Dinosaur Jr, Polvo, Silver Jews... 

US/Canada 90's Indie Rock & Lo-Fi are genres I cherish, although few people know about it.

Most people never heard these songs, this was 90s indie music that not many listened to back then, even more so outside of the English western music world (USA, UK, Australia...). 

This Indie scene wasn't that much connected to grunge (different scenes, cities and mindset), Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins and so on, had exploded into the early 90s alternative rock tidal wave that shook & drastically changed the mainstream music landscape to the ground - ending the 80s/90s dominance of the hair-sprayed Metal bands era like Poison, Europe, Bon Jovi... - in the wake of Nirvana's "Nevermind" deflagration. It was a massive cultural shift driven by a new generation. I remember watching MTV before Nirvana as a young teenager, and hating most "rock" music that was on there...

Although metal bands like Guns N' Roses had emerged with a more gritty sound and were huge for a long time, as time went by in the 90s they lost more & more relevance and couldn't stop the massive impact of the grunge/alternative rock cultural revolution and its long-lasting influence, even after the death of Kurt Cobain and the disbandment of other bands of the era. 

Although older and from another generation, and having started around 1980, there was a link/kinship between Sonic Youth and some of the 90s indie bands included in this mix such as Pavement, with whom they shared stages and backstages on several occasions, Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr, or Eric's Trip (a song by Sonic Youth and the name of one of the members of the band). Although Canadians, Eric's trip landed a contract and put out several albums on Sub Pop, Seattle Nirvana's early label. Sonic Youth outlived almost every other band until the separation and subsequent divorce of founding members Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore in 2011.

In my school in Geneva, only one guy was into indie rock, lo-fi... and none of my friends liked this. I was always going on my own to the few shows that made it to town or Switzerland. Saw Cat Power playing solo at La Dolce Vita in Lausanne, Guv'ner in a Geneva squat, Sebadoh at Fri-Son... Barely 18, I hitch-hiked my way across the whole country to the Rote Fabrik in Zurich in 1995 with an older Portuguese guy I had met at a few concerts, to see the Big Cat Tour feat. Pavement (with two drummers)! www.last.fm/de/festival/268613+Big+Cat 

Was a great music night at Zurich's legendary flagship alternative venue/areal Rote Fabrik. I will always fondly remember Pavement, Mercury Rev and Dirty Three especially, as well as Blumfeld, a great German band. We ended up sleeping on a bare mattress in the attic of a squat near the Zurich train station, then somehow hitch-hiked our way back to Geneva, dirty from the whole trip, between a ride in a truck that left us half way at a gas station kinda in the middle of nowhere, before being super lucky not too long after, when a nice Mercedes with a Geneva license plate pulled over to fuel, and the guy incredibly agreed to take us back for a two hours ride into his beautiful car straight to Geneva! 

Anyway, that's for the memories. Curious to see if this music will resonate and reach a new audience now! It's the 90s revival after all! ;) 

Enjoy, like, share & leave some comments! ❤️‍🔥

Cobeia - 90's US Indie Rock/Lo-Fi Mix

This mix/performance was part of the MEG-AIMP / Réveil des Archives Sonores series: 
N.18 w/ @Cobeia (music curator of @ecoutesauvert) 11-05-23 / 18:30 - 20 in the Museum foyer

I was invited to do a vinyl DJ set at the Museum of Ethnology in Geneva (MEG) from their extensive archives. 

On that day, I was given access to dig in a Collection that belonged to Marco Botta, a foreign affairs Swiss diplomat who accumulated records (and newspapers) from all his trips around the World. 🌎 After his death, his family donated the vast Collection to the MEG. It contains folklore & modern music from all over the world up to the 80s. Several big shelves of vinyl from South America, Europe, Oceania, Africa... subdivided by countries. Around 5000 records, most in pristine condition! 

With the little time at my disposal, I decided to focus on Africa, because of my link to it, extensive travels around North and East Africa, my readings about the forging of the Portuguese 1st Global Empire, circumventing Africa on their way to India, the many documentaries I saw about the continent, and my interest in its many cultures & music. 

For 4 hours, I looked through the collection, could hear the music on a record player, and made my selection. Right after, I played a 1 hour and a half set with the records in public. The set was recorded, filmed & broadcast on WAV33.

I had 2 turntables and a Pioneer mixer at my disposal. I did spontaneously a mixed set, at times overlapping tunes and using the effects, especially in the first half hour, which features mostly tribal music and otherworldly sounds before moving towards former Portuguese colonies and Islands music.   

I started with an imaginary Ancient Egypt track from a record of a Tutankhamun exhibition in Seattle from 1976, followed by an oud song from the Ottoman Period era by a well-known Egyptian Musician. Then went into Tuareg incursions, tribalistic music, Portuguese colonies (Cabo Verde, Angola...), circumvolution of Africa passing the Cape of Good Hope, all the way to the other side through the various lands (South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Ethiopia...) and Islands off the coast of Africa (Maurice, Comoros, Seychelles...) in the Indian Ocean as far as La Reunion and Zanzibar.

Thanks to all at MEG and everyone who was there to listen. 💙

This is the recorded result of which I am pretty proud! Enjoy!!! 😘

-------

Text from the MEG website: www.meg.ch/fr/programme-dactivites

Réveil Archives Sonores #18: @Cobeia

For a 1h30 set, the guest artists take us on a musical journey through their personal selection of sound archives.

Cobeia is a DJ and record collector from Geneva. He is also the curator/organizer of Ecoutes au vert (EAV), a series of musical events that has been running since 2006. Over the years, he has organised many concerts and evenings of electro-acoustic, African, No Wave, Electronic, Disco and Experimental music, with talented local and international artists.

Curious to explore a wide range of styles, he unearths gems through long digging sessions. Traditional and modern African music, Outernational, Jazz, Afro-Funk, Post Punk, Disco, Cosmic, Italo, Wave, Electronic, Ambient, Experimental... are just some of the genres he loves. Music that often features a mix of instruments, synths and drum machines, with an analog sound in a computerized world. ;)

Cobeia has mixed at venues & festivals in Geneva, Switzerland, Berlin, Thailand and Vietnam.

A few years ago with Ecoutes au vert, he organized a concert by the traditional Kenyan group Ogoya Nengo & the Dodo Women's Choir Group in collaboration with the MEG.

The records played during this DJ set come from the Marco Botta collection, acquired by MEG in 2011. The collection comprises almost 5,000 LPs (33rpm), released on a multitude of labels from around the world.

Cobeia - African Mix @ MEG 🌍 (Museum Ethnography Geneva)

DJ, Record Collector, Music Curator & Promoter 
w/ wide tastes across the sound spectrum 🪐 
⇣ Others: @cobeia-listening

SC hides most mixes when not paying anymore... 🙄
ALL MY MIXES (Cosmic, Disco, Italo, Wave, Edits, Balearic, African...)  www.mixcloud.com/cobeia + www.mixcloud.com/cobeia_2

Bookings / Promos: cobeia@gmx.net 

Running @ecoutesauvert (EAV) + Music for Indoors (MFI) MFI Mix series:  www.tinyurl.com/43ndn5ef 

@Cobeia is a sonic enthusiast with an extensive Vinyl & Digital collection. Exploring an array of genres, he digs up timeless high-quality gems. 💎 Music w/ instruments, synths, drum machines w/ a warm Analog sound in a computer world. :)

ON THE DANCEFLOOR:

💋 𝐂𝐨𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐜/ 𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐨/ 𝐖𝐚𝐯𝐞/ 𝐀𝐜𝐢𝐝/ 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨/ 𝐄𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐬 

LISTENING SETS: 
Mix Series, Radios, Spaces, Bars, Museums...

💋 𝐉𝐚𝐳𝐳/ 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥/ 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐤/ 𝐁𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐜/ 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧/ 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐚𝐞/𝐃𝐮𝐛 / 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥/ 𝐀𝐥𝐭 𝐏𝐨𝐩/ 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤/ 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐤/ 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐏𝐮𝐧𝐤/𝐍𝐨 𝐖𝐚𝐯𝐞 / 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜/ 𝐀𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭/ 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥... 

Enjoying my Mixes & Playlists? Please TIP my Selector/DJ work! It takes much time, money & effort to dig, listen & create quality vinyl mixes. Paypal link in box above 👆🏼 (Send as Friends & Family). ❤️

2026

💄 Mo 30-11 Cave12 (Geneva)

2025

💄 Sa 22-11 BONGO JOE (Geneva) Post-Punk/No Wave Mix / Film + Q&A w/ legend Don Letts (UK)
💄 Sa 15-11 OTB (Berlin) b2b @naga_music
💄 Je 30-10 CANAL54 (Geneva)
💄 Sa 15-08 DISCOBESTIALE Festival (Sardinia)
💄 Sa 14-06 L'ORANGERIE (Geneva)
💄 RADIO RAHEEM (Milano) Postponed 2026
💄 Sa 10-05 UNDEAD (Regio Calabria) Postponed
💄 Sa 29-03 90mil (Berlin) MFI/@ecoutesauvert Night 
  w/ 4 Live & 6 DJ/Record Collectors
💄 Fr 14-03 @RefugeWorldwide Radio (Berlin)
💄 Th 06-03 CANAL54 (Geneva)
💄 Sa 07-02 @Sameheads (Berlin) Ayo Ke Disco Release Party! w/ @Norsicaa & @Renavolvo
💄 Sa 01-02 HEINERS (Berlin)

2024

💄 SA 07-12 OTB (Berlin) b2b Marvin @BalearicBanana
💄 FR 16-11 HEINERS (Berlin)
💄 SA 09-11 SCHANKI (Berlin)
💄 SA 22-06 HEINERS 
💄 FR 19-04 SCHANKI 
💄 FR 12-04 HEINERS 
💄 FR 23-02 HEINERS 
💄 FR 08-03 PETITE REINE (Geneva) 
💄 SU 18-02 Berlinale Film Premiere Party (Berlin)
💄 TH 15-02 8MM Bar (Berlin) w/ @bandit-voyage (@cheptel-records - Geneva) Live! www.banditvoyage.bandcamp.com

🚨 PAST REPRESENTS THE FUTURE 🚨

BERLIN / Griessmühle, Homopatik, @about-blank-berlin, Schrippe Hawaïi, @Sameheads, Zw/Heiners, Rummelsbucht, Atelier, Jonny Knüppel, OTB, Loophole, ACUD, Trickster, @menschmeier_berlin, Klunkerkranisch, Antje Oeklesund, 8mm, Paloma, Bar 25 & more... 

GENEVA / Underground spaces (Duplex, Walden, Cave12, Artamis, Falaises…); Bars (Canal 54, La Petite Reine...), Special Places (Bains des Pâquis, L'Orangerie, A la Pointe...); Clubs (@motelcampo, @le-zoo-usine, La Gravière, KZRN, La Jonquille, 360° LGBTQ+ Party) 

Around SWITZERLAND / @zukunft, Le Bourg, Dachstock, Fri-Son, Case à Choc, Mouton Noir, @kashemezurich, Bad Bonn, @klubkegelbahn, Neubad, @trnstnradio ... Festivals (Fête de la Musique, Electron, Festival de la Cité, Montreux Jazz Festival...)

ASIA / DJed in 2019 at a Festival in Koh Phangan Thailand & @theobservatory-hcmc Vietnam

@Cobeia was part of the Wet Delights cosmic crew 12 hours underground Parties in Berlin w/ guests like Albion @big-muffle, @Hysteric, Rune Lindbæk, @Chris_Korda, @soFAholic... 

💄 SHORT BIO 💄

Since his teens, Cobeia's been an avid listener collecting music on Vinyl, CDs, MDs, Tapes & Digital. Growing up in Geneva in a multicultural family & environment, he enjoyed the vibrant 90s local squats and Swiss alternative scenes, studied filmmaking in London from 96 to 99 before living between Geneva and Berlin 

Among other trips, he travelled extensively throughout Eastern and Southern Europe, North & East Africa, as well as Southeast Asia, further expanding his music appreciation. ✨

He's always been curious about life and various art forms and has been passionately exploring underground culture ever since. Since 2001, Cobeia's been a dedicated DJ, record collector, cultural actor, music curator & organiser. 

🚨 PROMOTING CONCERTS & PARTIES 🚨

Since 2001 he organised many electro-acoustic, alt-pop, indie-rock and electronic music events... before conceptualising his main project:

💄 ECOUTES AU VERT (Est. 2006) 💄 

EAV originated as an outdoor summer series with great music in parks & by lakes/riversides + indoor parties in Geneva. Soon enough, events with Concerts & DJs also took place throughout the year. 

2009 - 2015, EAV put up parties at @motelcampo with ace international & local guests. 

Events also took place in BERLIN since 2015 at Urban Spree, @klunkerkranich, @sameheads, Internet Explorer, Ziegra11, gART.n, Zenner, Loophole, Heiners...

Among many, COBEIA booked these great artists and often DJed along them:

LIVE: Shackleton, @Legowelt-official, @BlackMeteoricStar, @theEmperorMachine, Konono Nº1, OVAL, Mapstation, @LuckyDragons, Tevo Howard, Jan Jelinek & Masayoshi Fujita, Lichens/Robert Lowe, @JuliaHolter, Volcano the Bear, @colleenplays, @co_la, @LucreciaDalt, Rhys Chatham, @Hyperculte, Massicot, @JohnMoods, @CV-Vision, @bandit-voyage, @world_wild_web, @marlais, @killy44... 

AFRICAN & OUTERNATIONAL BANDS: Les Filles d'illighadad, @DeryaYildirimofficial & Grup Simsek, Imperial Tiger Orchestra, @MdouMoctar, @MeridianBrothers, Hailu Mergia, BKO Quintet, Nahawa Doumbia, ROB, Orchestra of Spheres, The Pyramids, Sahra Halgan, Fendika, Les Pythons de la Fournaise, OTPMD, @Cyril-Cyril-Music, L'Eclair, Onom Agemo & @AhmedAgKaedy...

DJs: I-F, @PrinsThomas, @Solarsf, @Helena-hauff, @Analog-Africa, Darshan Jesrani (Metro Area), ATA, @BeautifulSwimmers, @Svengalisghost, @AwesomeTapesFromAfrica, @Appleblim, @HodgeBristol, @AndrePahl, Daniel Wang, @Franz-Scala, @mark-grusane...

🚨 EARLY DAYS 🚨
 
2001 - 06: Part of a collective, Cobeia ran ace Underground Art Space DUPLEX in Geneva, where he booked electronic, experimental pop & folk-rock live acts: SO (Oval), Goodiepal, @planningtorock, Hermann Düne, Julie Doiron, @modeselektor... + DJs of various genres, while working in 2003 & 04 at FORDE Art Space at L'Usine. 

During the 2010s, he put up the JUKEBOX nights at @MotelCampo, Letage, Artamis, Falaises... w/ @andrew-weatherall, Mr. Ties, @Boris, @tevohowardrecordings, @kodenine, @djrupture, @thebugofficial, Shadetek, @glasscandy, Desire, @chromaticsofficial...

COBEIA

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