isu
In his own sets, Isu prefers fresh, straight-forward, sounds with dynamic
emotions. As the realest ambassador of Hungarian techno, with his never
opportunistic style of playing his records, there is no way to have a long face in
his audience.
The story of Isu, a.k.a. István Kántor starts around the first half of the nineteen-
nineties in the logbook of the Hungarian underground music industry: with his
organizing skills and “cassette-jockey” sets he carved his name in stone for the
novelty-craving elementary school audience.
After receiving his first Michael Jackson cassette - Bad - getting to know black
electronic music meant no way back: all of his pocket money turned into his ever-
growing collection of industrial, techno and EBM records right away. In
secondary school, with his like-minded friends Kalt and Dexter he became a
vinyl-junkie and started to roam around the nightlife of Budapest.
In 1998, he started his civil service as a technician at the very much acclaimed
undergound Tilos Rádió of Hungary, where he got his first possibility of
broadcasting from Tizso; his radio program, Eat the Beat is unwaveringly running
ever since, on all Saturday nights / Sunday dawns. Not long after he joins the
Minimalheadz collective, the guys who he actually started the radio program
with.
He introduces quality electro and techno to the Budapest audience under the
umbrella of Minimalheadz, inviting important foreign acts as DJ Assault, DJ
Godfather and Matthew Herbert.
At the same time he started to work at the now long deceased, but still legendary
I&I Record Store, gaining experience in the business branch - nowadays he
owns Akt Records, one of the biggest electronic music record store in Hungary,
which became the melting pot of the créme de la créme of the Hungarian
technoheads and minimalists, may them be parts of the audience, professionals,
Budapesters or countrysiders.
His biggest throws were the uniquely mystical Labyrinth parties in the system
under the Castle of Buda, which he brought to life with his friend Tégla, and the
lovely mini-festival series he started out with the brothers from Keszthely, Fiba
and Wuki in 2003, under the name of Camp for Minimal Music Lovers. The mini-
fest, after emerging from the very underground, has become the favorite non-
commercial electronic music summer event of the country, gathering more and
more people by every year.
In 2005, after finding common interest in musical taste with Chrom and Crimson,
they established Lick the Click!, which in the following five years grew out the be
the most honest event series in the Hungarian fields of minimal/techno/house,
having artists such as Matthias Tanzmann, Frivolous, the Noze, Dapayk Solo,
Deadbeat, Moritz von Oswald ft. Tikiman and many more. Around this time, he
starts his events under the name of Akt Records presents... with Szilvia
Lednitzky, sharing a long-term work-relationship in Lick the Click!, and also later
in Technokunst. The Akt Records parties enumerated artists like Modeselektor,
Mr. Oizo, Apparat, Marko Fürstenberg or Monolake for the Hungarian lovers of
electronic music.
In 2010, with acknowledged fine artist DJ Dork, he looks for a new platform to
put their path of thinking about techno: Technokunst comes to life with the
expressed aim of shepherding quality techno back to Hungary. In Budapest’s top
club, the belly of A38 ship, Technokunst gained a name for itself in a short period
of time with the help of classic, meanwhile very up-to-date artists as Len Faki,
The Black Dog, Joey Beltram, Surgeon or the Sandwell District.
In his own sets, Isu prefers fresh, straight-forward, sounds with dynamic
emotions. As the realest ambassador of Hungarian techno, with his never
opportunistic style of playing his records, there is no way to have a long face in
his audience.
