CLUB MOSAIK

Philipp Quehenberger (keyboard) and Tex Rubinowitz (voice and shawm) - two quarters of MÄUSE, Austria's most unpredictable band - perform again and again with spinet and lyrics, homages to Thomas Forstner ("Venedig im Regen"), railways ("Attenzione du fällst gleich") and ABBA ("When i kissed the teacher"), Tales from the forest of the hanged, stories of woodlice in Hendrik Ibsen's ouevre, talking radishes and planets made of aspirin and an ode to the "hammer in the idiot's hand".

The press wrote about the duo, who sometimes call themselves "Fickton Johnnies" or "Cortison Junkies": "The singer claims to be "the Italian jazz bump guru". Yet he neither speaks Italian nor has the qualities of a guru, and the term jazz is nothing more than a rancid slogan he borrowed from a Romanian furniture store. "Ședința este jazz" (Sitting is jazz). In the early days of the satirical programme "Willkommen Österreich", the keyboardist caused people to question the concept of public television, so much so that he disturbed viewers. The two are regarded as guarantors of mischief, and at quite a few concerts they were offered money to stop."

Philipp Quehenberger, born in Innsbruck in 1977, grew up in Seattle and Newcastle and lives as a musician and composer in Vienna.

Tex Rubinowitz, born in Hanover in 1961, illustrator and author, lives in Vienna, won the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize in 2014.