Best of Budapest & Hungary

A mysterious white mask, a Stetson hat and a distinctive musical world where the raw textures of lo-fi art-pop, dream-pop and distorted indie are paired with infectious melodies. Milo Korbenski will perform in Hungary for the first time on October 28, bringing his melancholic yet surreal musical universe to the Small Hall of Dürer Kert in Budapest.

    Milo Korbenski is one of those artists who resist easy categorisation. His songs combine instantly memorable hooks with electronic details, distorted vocals and unexpected musical turns. Influences ranging from Kurt Vile and Cocteau Twins to Black Sabbath and The xx can be heard in his music, yet Korbenski has developed a distinctive sound that is difficult to mistake for anyone else’s.

    The mystery extends beyond the music. Korbenski consistently appears in public wearing a featureless white mask, Stetson hat and denim jacket. Behind this carefully constructed persona is a prolific, largely self-taught artist who has spent much of his career writing and recording his own music, while also shaping the visual identity of his releases.

    Light at the End of the Tunnel

    Perhaps the best entry point into Korbenski’s musical world is his second album, Sex Angel, released in 2025. According to the musician, the record is about “positive realisations”: those moments when, after going through a difficult period, you finally begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But optimism in Korbenski’s world is never entirely straightforward – moments of lightness are accompanied by melancholy, surreal imagery and a touch of darkness.

    Korbenski himself has a much more vivid way of describing the record he wanted to make: something that sounded “like an album you found on a floppy disk in a puddle and then you took it home, put it on your iPod, and it became the soundtrack to your summer of fun and debauchery.” The strange analogy captures the character of Sex Angel surprisingly well: nostalgic yet contemporary, playful yet slightly damaged.

    This duality comes through particularly well on Ratworm, which pairs an energetic melody with bizarre imagery and fractured vocals. Bedrock, by contrast, ventures into more melancholic territory, with hazy synths and heavily processed vocals creating an atmosphere that feels both fragile and unsettling.

    The road to Sex Angel, however, was far from straightforward. Following 2024’s When You Gonna Tell ’Em The Truth, Aaron?, Korbenski began working on a new album, only to eventually scrap its first version entirely. Starting again brought considerable creative uncertainty: by his own account, there was a point when he feared he had lost whatever had previously made things work. Ultimately, making Sex Angel led him to an important realisation – that if the feeling of failure ever returned, it would probably never affect him quite as deeply again.

    From Behind the Mask to the Stage

    Live, Korbenski’s music takes on a new character – even if the artist himself continues to carefully conceal his own face. Wearing his trademark white mask and Stetson and performing with a changing line-up of musicians, his shows can be just as unpredictable as his songs. Quiet, intimate moments can suddenly give way to bursts of noise, while a strong sense of melody holds the controlled chaos together.

    Milo Korbenski will perform in Hungary for the first time on October 28 at Dürer Kert’s Small Hall. The intimate club setting promises an unusually close encounter with one of the most mysterious emerging figures on the British alternative scene.