About Estate

There are two groups with the name ESTATE. Estate (1) was formed in the early months of the year 2001 in Linz/Austria. Estate (2) is a synth hop duo from the US who's first album "The Vacation" sounds like the duo have been at it for years. Estate (1)It originally consisted of Michael Forstner (Drums), Josef "Zap" Mayer (Vocals), Paul Schausberger (Bass) and Armin Breuer (Guitar). Estate (2) Coining the genre Synth Hop, they do exactly that. Thick synths, dance-y hip hop beatz, and vocals that will remind you of when hall 'n' oats was young and lovely. Estate (1)Their first album "Unsound" was released in April 2002 on the indie-label "Suspect Records". Directly after the release of "Unsound" the band went on a big tour, playing more than a hundred shows in Austria, Germany and Italy. On that tour ESTATE supported bands like CIV, Shelter, Dri, Snapcase, The Hope Conspiracy, Such A Surge, Waterdown, The Flaming Sideburns, Harmful, Readymade, Favez, In Extremo, 4Lyn, FarmerBoy and Ektomorf to only name a few. In 2003, now having more than 16 songs to choose for a second album, singer Zap decided to leave the band. He was replaced by Leo Pissenberger, at that time bass-player of Lawfoundguilt and Versus(=an Austrian band; don't mix up with the New Yorker band). In Febuary 2005 they recorded a 6-track EP called "Arson Architecture" that was produced all on their own. Early in 2006 they signed up with the Berlin-based label "Record of the Year" and started to work on a full-lenght album. Together with their new label, a second guitar-player joined them: Bernd, though not accepted by all of the fans he is an important part of the band. In September 2006 the album was released: A 12 track masterpiece called "The Opposite of Indifference". The release was celebrated with friendly bands like SUNERAL, Outsmarted, Lawfoundguilt, Ephen Rian and a whole lot of die-hard Estate Fans. Estate(2) recently released an EP on the fabulous UK Label "Mullet Records" entitled "Nuclear City". Co-Produced with Gigamesh, the EP shows Estate's(2) love of shimmery dance pop. Estate(2) Consists of Dan Kramer, Josh Johnson, and Jessie LesMiester. The trio is based in Minneapolis, MN.