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Source: http://www.drownedinsound.com/feeds/all/feed.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://dis11.herokuapp.com/"/>
<link rel="self" type="application/atom+xml" href="http://dis11.herokuapp.com/feed/index"/>
<title>Drowned In Sound // Feed</title>
<updated>2024-02-05T17:19:53+00:00</updated>
<icon>http://drownedinsound.com/static_images/feed/icon.jpg</icon>
<logo>http://drownedinsound.com/static_images/feed/logo.jpg</logo>
<subtitle>Music news, Listings, Reviews, Reaction, Interviews and Community</subtitle>
<entry>
<id>content:4152313</id>
<published>2024-02-05T17:19:53+00:00</published>
<updated>2024-02-05T17:19:53+00:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/news/4152313-why-music-journalism-matters-in-2024"/>
<title>Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024</title>
<updated>2024-02-05 17:19:53 +0000</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106145" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106145.jpeg" width="50" /></div>Introducing our new newsletter...]]>
</summary>
<content type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106145" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106145.jpeg" width="50" /></div>You might have noticed that Drowned in Sound has been on a reflective pause since 2019.
We've been pondering and perfecting what a fully rejuvenated DiS would look like in the years to come. The good news? We're so (slowly coming) back!
While we're still shaping our grand revival for 2024/25, we're thrilled to add to our much-loved podcast and independent label releases, a brand-new newsletter.
Starting now, expect a weekly dose of DiS in your emails.
There will be a monthly pile of music recommendations in your inbox. Alongside new essays and an internet digest of things to see, read and hear.
The newsletter, available on our revamped site, will feature two free editions per month (including one packed with must-hear music) and two exclusive editions for our valued supporters.
Each month, we'll also showcase a guest essay alongside an extended piece by me - Sean Adams, founder of Drowned in Sound, at your service since October 2000.
Our vision? To commission 50 thought-provoking essays and articles next year, while continuously enhancing our podcast.
Then what? We might even dive into the world of print magazines, as we sense the "vinyl moment" for journals is just around the corner.
Sign up at <a href="http://drownedinsound.org">drownedinsound.org</a> and browse some of our recent bits and bobs.
<div class='hide-me'>![106145](https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/540x310/106145.jpeg)</div>
]]>
</content>
<author>
<name>Sean Adams</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/sean</uri>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>content:4152312</id>
<published>2023-03-06T21:31:04+00:00</published>
<updated>2023-03-06T21:31:04+00:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/news/4152312-drowned-in-sound-is-back"/>
<title>Drowned in Sound is back!</title>
<updated>2023-03-06 21:31:04 +0000</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106143" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106143.jpeg" width="50" /></div>As a podcast and record label]]>
</summary>
<content type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106143" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106143.jpeg" width="50" /></div>Did you miss us?
Back in 2019, Drowned in Sound hit pause and archived this site.
In the meantime, our community has remained <a href="http://community.drownedinsound.com">active here here</a>.
But we've made a return, that's a little different than before.
You can keep up to date with what we're doing by signing up to our free Substack newsletter.
<iframe src="https://drownedinsound.substack.com/embed" width="480" height="320" style="border:1px solid #EEE; background:white;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<h1>What's New?</h1>
We're calling a the new era of Drowned in Sound an "audio publication" because it's a magazine-style podcast, with a singles club on our independent label, which acts a bit like a magazine cover mount.
<h1>The Podcast</h1>
Our podcast was originally launched back in 2005 and won a few awards, so it's really exciting to finally reboot it. You'll find season one of the podcast wherever you get your podcasts (<a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5rklqz67BZHi87qeGbdFpm?si=ORosv1vDRy2uvJl2X9gNrg&nd=1">Spotify</a> | <a href="https://apple.co/3H9LoKn">Apple</a> | <a href="https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/HSBs5jBsDxb">Etc.</a>), looking at the foundations and future of the music industry, speaking to a range of experts.
<h1>The Independent Label</h1>
Our singles club previously launched the careers of a range of artists including Bat for Lashes, Kaiser Chiefs, Emmy the Great, Martha Wainwright and more.
The 2023 edition of the club kicked off with Faith Vern from DiS-favourites PINS, under the guise of <a href="https://www.instagram.com/thefauxfaux/">The Faux Faux</a>, with the menacing, smokey, 'Cold Hearted Woman'.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rkWfwMHEcU4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<div class='hide-me'>![106143](https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/540x310/106143.jpeg)</div>
]]>
</content>
<author>
<name>Sean Adams</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/sean</uri>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>content:4152311</id>
<published>2020-12-27T20:04:00+00:00</published>
<updated>2020-12-27T21:11:09+00:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/news/4152311-drowned-in-sounds-21-favourite-albums-of-the-year--2020"/>
<title>Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020</title>
<updated>2020-12-27 20:04:00 +0000</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106141" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106141.png" width="50" /></div>The records that were stuck on repeat on our ghost-ship.]]>
</summary>
<content type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106141" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106141.png" width="50" /></div>If you head over to <a href="https://drownedinsound.substack.com">our new Substack newsletter</a>, you can read much more about these records, see a longer list, and keep in touch with DiS by subscribing - as from January I'm sending out weekly album recommendations.
There was no poll involved in creating this list. It's just my personal favourite, the ones that cut the deepest.
As the lone voice of the site nowadays, these were the records that were stuck on repeat on our ghost-ship... and I hope you find a new favourite from these (as that's the only point of listing season, right?!)
21) Jehnny Beth - To Love Is To Live 
20) Angel Olsen - Whole New Mess 
19) Princess Nokia - Everything is Beautiful 
18) Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts V: Together & Ghosts VI: Locusts 
17) Kate NV - Room for The Moon 
16) Polly Scattergood - In This Moment 
15) The Big Moon - Walking Like We Do 
14) Sarah Davachi - Cantus, Descant 
13) Daniel Avery & Alessandro Cortini - Illusion of Time 
12) Fiona Apple - Fetch The Bolt Cutters 
11) Juanita Stein - Snapshot 
10) Moses Sumney - græ 
9) Perfume Genius - Set Fire To My Heart Immediately 
8) Julianna Barwick - Healing Is A Miracle 
7) Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders 
6) Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher 
5) Agnes Obel - Myopia 
4) I Break Horses - Warnings 
3) Laura Marling - Song For Our Daughter 
2) Hayley Williams - Petals for Armor 
1) G⬛⬛ M⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ - ⬛⬛⬛ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🏆 <a href="https://drownedinsound.substack.com">CLICK to discover our number 1 and read about the rest of the list as well as see the full 50 favourites</a>.
🗳 <a href="https://community.drownedinsound.com/t/the-dis-2020-album-of-the-year-polling-thread/54254">CLICK to vote in our annual user poll</a>
<div class='hide-me'>![106141](https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/540x310/106141.png)</div>
]]>
</content>
<author>
<name>Sean Adams</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/sean</uri>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>content:4152310</id>
<published>2020-09-08T12:39:52+01:00</published>
<updated>2020-09-08T12:39:52+01:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/news/4152310-drowned-in-sound-to-return-as-a-weekly-newsletter"/>
<title>Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter</title>
<updated>2020-09-08 12:39:52 +0100</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106139" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106139.jpeg" width="50" /></div>Don't call it a comeback... actually, do!]]>
</summary>
<content type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106139" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106139.jpeg" width="50" /></div>Don't call it a comeback... actually, do!
This is Sean Adams, the founder of Drowned in Sound.
Firstly, I'm sorry for the radio silence on this site for the last 18 months or so. I wrote a goodbye message a few times but didn't have the heart to publish it. It felt too final to say farewell.
As you may have seen on our social channels or in the media (<a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/digital-and-mobile/8505647/drowned-sound-publishing-operations-music-site">even Billboard reported on our demise!</a>), we decided to "pause" publishing due to what you could call financial constraints. Or to put it another way... our advertising revenue went from being an inhabitable house on a hillside to the entire cliff crumbling into the sea, hitting every rock on its way in... the camera slowly zoomed in as the debris was ravaged by the waves... and the director lingered on the shot for far longer than was necessary.
However, just before the end credits started rolling, we shared news that we managed to keep our "infamous" forums going.
I just wanted to offer a MASSIVE heart-felt thank you (THANK YOU!) to everyone who made a donation and continues to help keep the lights on and our community alive. It costs $600 a month due to the continued popularity of this free service, and every £1 you can spare makes a huge different. <a href="https://community.drownedinsound.com/t/2020-fundraiser-help-keep-these-forums-online/50544">Learn more about how you can help with a regular or one-off contributoion, here</a>.
Anyway...
<h1>What's this newsletter...?</h1>
Drowned in Sound turns 20 on October 1st, so to mark the occasion and to keep the flame of the site alive, I'm starting a newsletter. Or rather, going back to DiS' roots, as before the site started, it was my personal newsletter under the guise of The Last Resort, featuring my incoherent teenage ramblings about Muse's first demo and stuff like that.
In this new newsletter, you can expect a mixture of my personal recommendations and hopefully cogent and coherent reflections on the last 20 years of music, alongside some gems from our archive, playlists, and recommend reads around the web. It's also quite likely I'll fail to resist sharing cat photos and existential memes...
Plus I'll likely drop in some bits about the class of 2021 too. I've posted a few reminders of DiS' past over on <a href="https://drownedinsound.substack.com">https://drownedinsound.substack.com</a>, which will soon become easy to find on our homepage.
Without further ado... you can subscribe for free here:
<iframe src="https://drownedinsound.substack.com/embed" width="480" height="320" style="border:1px solid #EEE; background:white;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
To ensure it stays celebratory and doesn't get too self-indulgent, I've also decided to set up a slightly more personal newsletter in parallel, which ties in with the current Unhappy Hour strand of the monthly DiS radio show mixing together the two best flavours of music: melancholy and mellow. If that sad cocktail sounds of interest, <a href="https://unhappyhour.substack.com/p/lykke-lis-sadness-is-a-blessing">here's the first edition about mittens, mezcal, and Lykke Li</a>.
<h2>Sorry! I don't want your emails</h2>
That's fair enough. Who needs another email in their inbox?! All of the posts will be available online and promoted on our social channels.
If you're not already, you can follow us/me on <a href="https://twitter.com/seaninsound">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://facebook.com/drownedinsounduk">Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/seaninsound">Instagram</a>.
More news soon...
Bye for now, 
Sean xo
<div class='hide-me'>![106139](https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/540x310/106139.jpeg)</div>
]]>
</content>
<author>
<name>Sean Adams</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/sean</uri>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>content:4152309</id>
<published>2020-09-06T15:05:57+01:00</published>
<updated>2020-09-06T15:05:57+01:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4152309-lykke-lis-sadness-is-a-blessing"/>
<title>Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing</title>
<updated>2020-09-06 15:05:57 +0100</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106138" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106138.jpeg" width="50" /></div>DiS founder launches Unhappy Hour newsletter + playlist series + radio show]]>
</summary>
<content type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106138" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106138.jpeg" width="50" /></div>DiS founder launches new Unhappy Hour newsletter & playlist series to go with the monthly Drowned in Sound radio show (more info below).
Here's the first edition to give you a taste of what's to come.
<h1>Subscribe</h1>
<iframe src="https://unhappyhour.substack.com/embed" width="540" height="150" style="border:1px solid #EEE;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
Sometimes I like to walk in the rain.
Headphones are a must for me on any walk (sorry, nature!) and from a lot of research, I can confirm that there’s nothing more perfect than Lykke Li on a drizzly day. Pick any of her four albums on a day where it’s less like tears are falling from heaven and closer to that feeling of walking through a dragon’s breath. It. Is. Perfection.
If you’re so inclined, you may feel at one with the cloud when ‘Sadness is a Blessing’ makes its final descent. It’s one of those snow globe crescendos that swirls but also feels motionless amid a flood of emotion. Still, like a changing tide.
On ‘Sadness... ‘ Motown rimshots snap beneath the lines “sorrow, the only lover I’ve ever known...” which hangs in the air, holding out its hand for the follow up “sorrow the only lover I can call my own...” Its mitten strings untangle as Lykke slowly pirouettes into “sadness is my boyfriend, oh sadness I’m your girl.” It’s such a killer line. I’d assume I’ll one day meet someone who has it as a tattoo - if I haven’t already!
If you’re reading this and have never heard this song or haven’t let its fug sprawl around you for a while, I don’t mind if you feel compelled to run off and listen to it right away.
<iframe width="540" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xu-b3u5jDiU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I’ve also made it track one on the playlist that will accompany these Unhappy Hour missives: <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4SElwDWfmmWqkVOcmq2wdt">subscribe here</a>.
Still with me? I won’t go on for much longer, promise... Let’s get back to walking in a misty wood with sad piano laments overpowering the mulch underfoot... Whilst Lykke may have tried to fool us by opening her most recent album with with an all-lowercase string-nest entitled ‘hard rain’, there’s just something about her music that feels more omnidirectional than that. Hard and heavy and oppressive her music is not. It’s such more pervasive and powerful than that.
Perhaps it’s the way her voice plumes around the microphone. Her gasps often left in the final edits. Gusts of humanity. Sighs in various stages of ecstasy and exasperation. It’s perhaps in the textures created in the space between her exhalations and the microphone where Lykke Li’s magic illuminates. It’s that filled void that a listener shares in headphones and it feels intensely intimate, even though there’s a distant cool gloom to everything Lykke does.
Many say that photography is the art of capturing light. Sound is the vibration of air, which makes the best producers electrocardiographers, capturing the pulse of someone’s heart and soul. I say this because there’s something about the way Lykke makes the air move that hits so different to almost anyone else. Listening to her voice live or on almost anyone’s track, whether it’s her recent sad banger hit with Mark Ronson or a resurrected tune with Royksopp, there’s an unmistakable pause, like the air skids to a stop... rubber and smoke sprawls in super slow motion. Shards of glass erupt and glitter as they spray...
I’m aware a male rock critic describing a woman’s voice at any greater length would be creepy (if it isn’t a bit already). However, the medium is often the message but not always because sometimes the message is “I lay in silence, the silence talks... my heart keeps pulling in the wrong decision.” Imagine if you not only wrote that line but it became a mainstream hit. On Spotify ‘Late Night Feelings’ has had 67 million plays - yes, sixty-seven MILLION! And only a third of of them were me...
It’s maybe not even her best lyric. Not that it’s a competition but from the crystallisation of reluctance “when everybody’s dancing, I don’t want to...” to “sex, money, feelings, die, baby don’t you cry...” there are too many contenders for the shimmering crown of melancholic bliss. It’s little wonder she’s gone from the top of the Hype Machine back in the mid-noughties to working with David Lynch and forcing time to standstill during Twilight (soundtracks which REALLY deserve a serious reappraisal at some point for the cultural impact they’ve had). It’s for all these reasons and more she’s christening this newsletter for lovers of wonderfully miserable music.
The irony of all of this of course is that the meaning of Lykke’s name in Swedish is “happiness, good fortune” and yet it’s from moments of unhappiness that she’s made enough to fund her own mezcal business (it’s called Yola Mezcal and I can 1000% confirm it’s one of the best brands) and carry on making it drizzle in our hearts for decades to come.
Until next time...
Keeeeeep cryyyyiiiing!!
Sean xo
P.S. Yes, I have clocked that as someone who as a teenager named a website “Drowned in Sound” that this drizzle and rain talk is another watery metaphor too far. What can I say? “Lonely rivers sigh...”
Here’s the link to the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4SElwDWfmmWqkVOcmq2wdt">Lykke Li: An Unhappy Hour Spotify playlist</a>, which is hopefully well worth one hour and 13 minutes of your life at some point. Maybe on an autumnal walk.
Do let me know what you think of the tracks and this newsletter or the Unhappy Hour radio show via <a href="http://twitter.com/seaninsound">Twitter @seaninsound</a> or <a href="http://instagram.com/seaninsound">Insta</a>.
<h1>Further Reading</h1>
One of Lykke Li’s first interviews was Drowned in Sound’s DiScover feature back in 2008. Loved this bit "sometimes I’m so fragile and weak, but other times not at all. It’s almost as if I have this much stronger spirit inside that I can’t imagine ever failing me – ‘cause if it did, I can’t even begin to imagine how I’d live. So I’d say it’s more about my own different personalities and that struggle." <a href="https://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/3197736-discover--lykke-li">Read the full piece here.</a>
VOGUE on <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/yola-jimenez-yola-mezcal">How Yola Jimenez Is Making Mezcal With Women’s Empowerment in Mind</a>.
NME’s Andrew Trendell’s interviewed <a href="https://www.nme.com/features/lykke-li-so-sad-sexy-interview-2018-motherhood-death-birth-the-future-2336436">Lykke Li on how heartbreak, hip hop and lots of mezcal helped ‘So Sad So Sexy’ come to life</a>.
CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND spoke to <a href="https://www.nme.com/features/lykke-li-so-sad-sexy-interview-2018-motherhood-death-birth-the-future-2336436">Lykke Li about what “Lynchian” means</a>.
<h1>The Unhappy Hour: Radio Show</h1>
You can <a href="https://www.mixcloud.com/seaninsound">stream recent editions of the show on Mixcloud for free</a>. Tune in to hear 2 hours of mellow and miserable music every 4 weeks, hosted by me, Sean Adams, the founder of the Drowned in Sound website.
🗓 Next show: Monday 7th September 2020 at 4pm BST. Ask your smart speaker to “play Soho Radio” or listen live online <a href="http://sohoradiolondon.com">sohoradiolondon.com</a>.
<h1>Subscribe</h1>
<iframe src="https://unhappyhour.substack.com/embed" width="540" height="250" style="border:1px solid #EEE;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
<div class='hide-me'>![106138](https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/540x310/106138.jpeg)</div>
]]>
</content>
<author>
<name>Sean Adams</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/sean</uri>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>content:4152307</id>
<published>2019-06-17T21:11:00+01:00</published>
<updated>2019-06-19T21:34:02+01:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4152307-glastonbury-2019-preview-playlist-ten-alternative-must-sees"/>
<title>Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees</title>
<updated>2019-06-17 21:11:00 +0100</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106137" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106137.jpeg" width="50" /></div>Glastonbury is back! Please enjoy a playlist + some off the wall things to do]]>
</summary>
<content type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106137" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106137.jpeg" width="50" /></div>Yes, we‘ve kind of shut up shop. But we have some pre-hiatus commitments to honour, and Drowned in Sound is off to Worthy Farm again this year for arguably the world’s biggest festival. Rather than just preview the big acts (you know who The Killers are, right?) we thought that we would do a list of ten things to do that capture the holistic spirit of the festival for you to discover if you are going for the first time, or for those who have been before and just want to spread their wings a little further.
First, though, a playlist, to get you in ‘the mood’
 <center>
<iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/albion1981/playlist/7H1EvZbqL9hh5bqF4aXTMe" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>
</center> 
<h1>10 alternative must dos at the Glastonbury Festival</h1>
 
<h1>Step back in time at The Rocket Lounge</h1>
When the headline acts finish at Glastonbury, the party is only just beginning. For many people, the late night entertainment in the South-East ‘Naughty Corner’ is their actual highlight of the festival. And with good reason – the sheer number of extraordinary venues for clubbing with a unique visual and experiential twist is beyond compare. However, one of my favourite late night areas is a little Fifties-themed bar and diner located in The Unfairground, just as you come into the late night area. It’s a place you can step away from the festival and dance all night to early rock and roll classics, alongside excellent sets from live blues, R&B and rock and roll bands. This year’s line-up includes the terrific Son of Dave, New York Brass Band and Pronghorn. It may be one of the smaller late-night areas but it’s one not to be forgotten, which is the reason I make sure I visit it at least once a year.
<h1>Block9 and NYC Downlow – Apocalyptic Disco</h1>
On the other hand, if you want the truly huge and awe-inspiring late night experience at Glastonbury, there are few things to beat Block9. Set amongst a gigantic post-apocalyptic cityscape with trains embedded in buildings and gouts of flame bursting out everywhere, you can find the fantastic NYC Downlow with brilliant disco-inflected sets from the likes of Prosumer, The Black Madonna and Erick Morello. It’s easy to get lost for a whole evening here, then to come out only to be staggered again by the sheer visual drama of the venue. Seriously, even if you don’t come to stay for the music you simply have to see Block9, especially given that this year they are doing an interactive visual artwork based on post-truth and the ‘fake news’ era.
<h1>The Crow’s Nest</h1>
Right at the top of the whole festival – past The Park stage and up a treacherous hill (which has claimed many in the mud, including myself) is one of Glastonbury’s true hidden gems – The Crow’s Nest. Run by those lovely chaps from Heavenly Records, this tiny venue sits at the highest point of the whole festival, affording tremendous views across the whole site and arguably the best point to get the sheer scale of the whole festival. Not only that, but there is a cracking little bar there and the venue plays host to a series of secret gigs throughout the whole weekend. Rumours are usually flying about but the actual line-up doesn’t get announced until the day itself, and even then there is usually a tantalising ‘special guests’ mentioned on there.
<h1>The Rabbit Hole</h1>
Slightly further down the hill, just at the top of the Park Stage is one of the hardest places to locate in the actual festival. My advice is to look for the rabbit, though the actual entrance to the venue only opens at night and at an undetermined time. Queues can be long to get in, but once you have scampered – Alice in Wonderland-style – through a tunnel, you find yourself in a surreal, psychedelic environment where costumed characters serve you gin from teapots and DJs and live bands keep you entertained. It takes a specific effort to track it down and get in (and if you don’t at first succeed; try, try, try again is my tip!) but once there, you have an experience like no other.
<h1>Brothers and West Holts</h1>
Once I have unpacked my tent and sorted out my temporary home for the weekend, my first port of call is the Brothers Cider bar by the West Holts stage. I don’t know why, but it’s just a tradition I have. But there is something magical about that first drink of the festival being some damn strong and damn sweet pear cider as the flags flicker in the breeze and the hum of humanity and the chatters of excitement start to build. Even better is having the chance to hear some glorious world music and hip-hop on the West Holts stage over the weekend – possibly my favourite overall stage at the festival. Headliners this year include Jon Hopkins, Wu Tang Clan and Janelle Monae (who played one of the best gigs I’ve ever seen on this stage in 2011) but also keep an eye out for the excellent Mauskovic Dance Band, Hollie Cook. The Turbans, Lizzo, Slowthai and Jeff Goldblum.
Yes, THAT Jeff Goldblum!
<h1>Pilton Palais Cinema Tent</h1>
Though the sheer amount of music makes your head spin at Glastonbury (and there is never enough time to see everything you want) there are occasionally moments where you need to take a couple of hours out to recover your senses and reset your compass. And one of my favourite places to do this is at the Pilton Palais Cinema Tent. Located up at the north-east corner of the site Near Pedestrian Gate C, it is a rough-and-ready tent (no chairs, bring your own) but it continually plays both new and classic films throughout the festival starting from the Wednesday. Impressively, they tend to have films still currently out at the cinema including this year where they have Dexter Fletcher’s magnificent Rocketman, as well as going beyond that with a unique preview of Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die and a Bohemian Rhapsody singalong. Also on this year are Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Pulp Fiction, Run Lola Run and Avengers: Endgame. Watch out for special guests introducing the films too – one of my most magical Glastonbury moments was having Studio Ghibli’s incandescent My Neighbour Totoro introduced in 2016 by Tilda Swinton. If you need a break from the madness, this is the place to go…
<h1>Healing and Craft Fields</h1>
…or maybe here instead? Located over the railway track and up towards the south-east of the site is a stunning area that encapsulates the origins of the festival as a meeting for travellers and hippies. Set over two fields are a series of craft workshops with such things as blacksmithery, woodwork, basket weaving, arts and crafts and jewellery making that allow you to take part in traditional crafts and to learn about trades handed down through generations. Cross over into the next field and you will find areas for meditation, yoga workshops, massage tents, tepees and a strong focus on themes of environmentalism and caring for the planet. It has a stunning sense of calm and quiet about it to the point where you can almost forget that the biggest festival in the world is going on around you, but it is wonderful for clearing the head and soul after a heavy night on the cider. Also make the time to visit the Stone Circle adjacent to it, but don’t expect any peace there – it is a raucous gathering for drummers, party-goers and the chemically charged over the whole weekend, but the sight of it is worth seeing at least once over the weekend.
<h1>Lost Horizon Sauna</h1>
Ok, Glastonbury is often muddy. And though there are showers at the Kidz Field and the Greenpeace stage, they can have long queues. So most of the time, you just accept that… let’s just say, you won’t be at your freshest over the weekend. Big deal, we’re all in the same boat. But if you do want something a little different or if you cannot go another day without being clean – body and soul – then the Lost Horizon Sauna is one of the most unique experiences you can have at the festival. Located at the top of the tepee field, it is an oasis of calm and tranquillity where you can shower, have a sauna and plunge pool and relax in a jacuzzi whilst drinking herbal tea and smoothies, all to the sound of acoustic acts. It is an additional cost of £15 per person and it can be a trek if you are on the other side of the site, but it is something you will never forget and a couple of hours that leave you feeling like a completely different person. Plus, the general ethos is that clothes=bad there, so you find everyone wandering around in the nude generally. And being naked whilst looking down at the festival below brings you that bit closer to the original hippie energy of its earliest days.
<h1>Greenpeace Stage DJ Sets</h1>
The Greenpeace area is located just to the left of the rail track as you head towards the South East corner and often I’ve taken a detour and ended up staying all night. The reason is that the Greenpeace stage is one of the best places in the festival to spend the evening. By day they have countless excellent displays and talks on preserving the planet, often with enormous animatronic figures of whales and polar bears, as well as a skatepark and some of the best food in the festival. By night, the place comes alive with DJs and special guests. Those announced to play there in 2019 include Norman Jay, Oh My God! It’s the Church, Crazy P, Rob Da Bank, She Drew the Gun, Boy Azooga and Elvana – Elvis Fronted Nirvana (who really have to be seen to be believed). But also watch out for special guest late-night DJ sets. Thom Yorke has rocked up there in the past and in 2017, Jarvis Cocker played one of the most memorable DJ sets I’ve ever seen, including making the whole place go utterly ballistic when he dropped ‘Stayin’ Alive’. Day and night, it’s the beating heart of the twin-faces of environmental activism and music that underpins the whole ethos of the festival.
<h1>See One Big Pyramid Set</h1>
Ok. I know that the stock response to anyone moaning about the headline names on the Glastonbury line-up is ‘but there is so much more to see than just the main stage’ but there really is nothing on earth like a proper Pyramid Stage gig that truly catches fire. The sheer scale of the crowds, the knowledge that you are being watched across the globe and the absolute sense of camaraderie is something that you really have to experience at least once during the festival. From Jay Z slaying the doubters in 2008, to the raw brilliance of Neil Young and the transcendent spiritual experience that was Blur’s astonishing set in 2009, to Stevie Wonder in 2010, Arcade Fire in 2014 and Radiohead in 2017, The Pyramid Stage has given some of the finest headline shows of my time going to festivals. And you don’t have to see a headliner there to get the magic – I can think of Scissor Sisters and Shakira in 2009, B.B. King in 2011, Elvis Costello in 2013, The Libertines, Burt Bacharach and Patti Smith in 2015 and being utterly magnificent during the daytime. And that’s without the famous “Legends” slot which frequently brings one of the biggest crowds of the weekend – Tom Jones with the hits in 2009, Dolly Parton owning it in 2014, Lionel Richie impeccably bringing the sun in 2015 and Barry Gibb and Chic bringing a tremendous party in 2017. However much you might prefer the music on the other stages, try to get to at least one Pyramid Stage show over the weekend to experience the unique spell that a show on that scale can bring.
Photo by Gary Wolstenholme
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<author>
<name>David Edwards</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/geordiedave1981</uri>
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<id>content:4152306</id>
<published>2019-05-29T09:43:00+01:00</published>
<updated>2019-05-29T14:52:19+01:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4152306-a-different-kind-of-weird--deus-on-the-ideal-crash"/>
<title>A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash</title>
<updated>2019-05-29 09:43:00 +0100</updated>
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<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106136" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106136.jpeg" width="50" /></div>On its 20th Anniversary, the cult Belgian art rockers talk nostalgia, growing old with your fans, and backing dancers]]>
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<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106136" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106136.jpeg" width="50" /></div>For once, Tom Barman is apprehensive. Not about tonight’s dEUS show, but the two-hour DJ set he’s been booked to play at the official after party. “What has happened in the past is this miscommunication with people,” he explains as we lounge on a terrace in the late afternoon sunshine. “They expect me to play rock, and then I play electro.” Electro? “Yeah, deep house, techno, drum’n’bass, indie house, glitch, trap, whatever you want. It’s just fucking dance music. But then they ask for R&B, so I tell them to go to the supermarket, where you can hear R&B twenty-four-seven. Nothing against R&B by the way, but I just don’t play it, you know?”
<a href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4148035-best-case-scenario--dis-meets-deus">Nothing is ever straightforward</a> in the world of dEUS, but for once they’re taking pause to celebrate their legacy and the love fans have for the album that’s come to define them. March saw the 20th Anniversary of The Ideal Crash, and alongside the now de riguer re-mastered re-issue – complete with demos, B-sides, and rarities – they decided to tour it, playing all ten tracks in full and in order, followed by an assortment of their other greatest hits. Tonight is the second of three sold-out shows in Utrecht – they also have eight in a row at Brussels’ <a href="https://www.abconcerts.be/en/">Ancienne Belgique</a> alongside dates all across Europe and a summer of festival action. In total they’ll play 34 concerts, quite an impact for something that was initially conceived as more of a low key jaunt.
“A gift,” says Barman of the reaction, but then The Ideal Crash has always stood out as being special. The title, taken from the Alain de Botton novel Essays In Love, references the personal turmoil Barman and violinist and keyboardist Klaas Janzoons were going through – both were dealing with serious heartbreak – but also the difficulty that came with replacing two original members. The band decamped to Spain for over a year and, despite various tensions simmering in the background, their time in Ronda, a dramatic old mountaintop town famous for the Puente Neuvo stone bridge where their management had bought a hotel, proved fruitful.
 <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47953835657/in/dateposted-public/" title="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47953835657_42becbfa24_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
They returned with a record where every song goes in a different direction, delighting, exploring, and confounding expectation at every turn. The Ideal Crash was also the point where dEUS left behind the chaos and the skewed mix of styles that had made their early releases vibrate with energy. Gone were the skeletal blues, howling guitars, and crashing, angry slabs of noise, and in place of Beefheart, Zappa, Tom Waits, and the jazz greats, inspiration was taken instead from Air, Beck, and Mercury Rev’s “Deserters Songs”. But despite being somewhat more rounded, it remained unmistakably dEUS – “Just a different kind of weird,” according to Barman.
This softer, more mature sound was supposed to help dEUS break the mainstream but, exhausted and on edge from years on the road and internal strife, the stress of the subsequent tour broke the band instead. All five retreated to normal life, and by the time they properly reconvened five years later, their sound – and lineup – had changed once again. Yet The Ideal Crash has endured, both in terms of its influential legacy and as the moment in time where they chose greatness on their own terms, and trusted their instincts; “We were so proud of it when we finished, we just knew,” says Barman.
“You just make albums, and you work, and then twenty years later you find out a particular one really meant something to people,” he adds. “I’m just happy to hear those songs still stand up.” They certainly do; to witness some middle-aged fans defiantly lose their shit to ‘Instant Street’, ‘Everybody’s Weird’, and the title track is to realise just how affecting dEUS’ music really was and, despite little commercial success, how far and wide it spread. Such realisations are also behind a documentary they’re filming on tour, one that will feature the life stories of their fans more than the band themselves.
“I wanted dEUS to be a vehicle for people to talk about their own lives over the past twenty years, to talk about something that’s nothing to do with us,” he explains about the plan he conceived just before the tour. “I think it can become something really sweet and personal, something very special.” There's little doubt that, in keeping with their cultural impact and near thirty-year career, it'll turn out to be something very special indeed.
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DiS: I know you’re not particularly big fans of nostalgia and the like. When did you start thinking about doing this for The Ideal Crash?
Tom Barman: About a year ago, but we don’t really see it as nostalgia. It’s more a gift to people who see it as nostalgia, which is basically the people in the room; the fans. I can speak for Klaas too; we don’t have the feeling that we’re making an extra effort, that it’s like: “Oh, look at us playing those old songs.” You know, four or five of those songs are on our setlist anyways.
So to us, this feels like a gift, and a gift that gives us something too, which is love – people are listening and enjoying it. Sorry, it sounds so corny, but that’s the way I see it now after fifteen shows. Nostalgia doesn’t even come into the equation.
And everyone agreed? Everyone was like: “Yeah, let’s do this! Let’s tour the album!”?
TB: Yeah. I think they asked for it for Worst Case Scenario too [their debut album, which was released in 1994].
Klaas Janzoons: This one is a nice one to deal with. With Worst Case Scenario, I don’t think we’d be able to play songs like ‘Mute’.
TB: ‘Mute’ or ‘Shake Your Hip’.
Those would be a bit trickier I imagine.
KJ: We have songs on that album [Worst Case Scenario] that we’ve never played, so this one works. It is strange for us to play the same set every night though.
TB: But we enjoy it.
KJ: Yeah, we enjoy it too. In the beginning, I was a bit afraid of how it was going to be, but then we have these dancers...they give it this extra thing. It’s like a piece of theatre almost. So it’s not exactly the same every time, and you look forward to the point when they come on. It’s nice.
TB: A punter in Austria put it really spot on. He said: “Knowing beforehand...” – and I don’t know if he read it on the Internet or I said it on stage, like we’re going to play it from one to ten – but he said: “a kind of calm came over me, and it made me doubly capable of just enjoying it because I knew what was going to happen.” And I agree that that would be kind of boring to build your career on, doing that every time, but for one tour, I went like: “Gee, thank you. I never saw it that way, and that makes sense.” It’s like: “I know what’s going to come, give it to me, I’m here, I’m listening.” And that’s it – there’s kind of zen quality to that.
 <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47953852588/in/dateposted-public/" title="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47953852588_0f36cac93f_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Have you been surprised by the reaction to it? Because you’re now adding more and more dates, right?
TB: There’s like five, maybe six added on, yeah. But I am surprised, in a good way. You know, you just make albums, and you work, and then twenty years later you find out a particular one really meant something to people. The confessions that we’re doing, the documentary – I haven’t seen any yet but I hear the stories, and they are proof of that.
I was also genuinely surprised because it’s a very raw album, it’s a very harsh album at times. So, when people come [to the shows], and they’re thirty-two, and they go “I was twelve when this came out”, you go “Woah!”
I always find it kind of ironic that with these classic album reissues, a lot of the time the response and the acclaim is way bigger second time around. And probably more lucrative as well.
TB: Well, we could have played and toured more [at the time], but as you know Craig [Ward] was leaving the band…More lucrative? Probably. In Belgium yes, because eight times at Ancienne Belgique is five times more than the three times we did it [in 1999]. But this is a small tour really. And as Klaas keeps on repeating, and rightfully so, back in 1999 that was some tour. So it’s not like this is way bigger or anything – it was pretty big back then too.
KJ: The old albums are more popular in general, so people are more willing to come to concerts of the old stuff.
Touring classic albums has become a thing though. Alongside the re-issues and special editions.
TB: It is a fad, but when you’re in it, it feels right. As long as you don’t do it for two years straight.
KJ: I think it’s normal because it’s a part of people’s lives, so it’s a nostalgic thing for them. Even if we make our best album ever now, people will always want to hear those old songs; maybe more than the new ones. That’s how it is with all bands that have a long career.
 <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47953836197/in/dateposted-public/" title="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47953836197_ecaa6ff810_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Looking back at the 18 months or so you had in Spain writing and recording, what are your memories and recollections of that time?
TB: For me, mostly good. Klaas had a bit of a dark period, which he will gladly talk about.
KJ: Of course. Half living in Spain at that age was like paradise, all the songs and the beautiful, old, historic city.
It is a beautiful part of the world.
KJ: And the nature is incredibly beautiful. At that age, being able to do that, like a holiday slash work thing? A lot of people at that age are still in a day job, so it was fantastic. But it had its downside. I lost my girl at that time because I was away half the time; that’s how life goes, but that was pretty hard for me.
Being far from home and family is never easy at the best of times.
KJ: Yeah. I did suffer sometimes with a bit of homesickness.
TB: Homesickness or melancholy. But I loved it! Of course, there were moments where things weren’t great, you know? But the kind of lovesickness I felt was before we went to record. That happened in 2007, so for me, it was just cleansing. And also, I discovered myself to be getting more and more interested in the production side and listening to takes. That side of recording was new to me.
What else was new was confessional lyrics, digging into yourself and getting it out of your own life.
There used to be kind of a stew on the first two records – a stew of personal things, things that I’d stolen, experimental stuff, experimental poetry, and suddenly I just went like...It just flooded out of me. So, for many reasons, it was a very exciting time.
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Which song on the record is your personal favourite?
TB: ‘Let’s See Who Goes Down First’.
KJ: Which is a funny thing, because I remember having to fight for that song to be on the album!
TB: Yeah. But it was...it came a long way. How we play it now, I love it, especially because it’s like dEUS in a nutshell. It starts very poppy, and carefree, yet ends in sheer fucking existential agony. [Laughs] Which, I think, kind of sums us up.
Related to that, do you have a favourite lyric? Or a line where you feel you nailed whatever it was that you were trying to express
Tom: Yeah, from ‘Magdalena’. “But I’m feeling good / And if you don’t exist / You’re still one illusion / That I can’t resist”. That line. That sums it up because that’s basically what love is — kind of a beautiful illusion.
Having seen the show a few times now, I’ve been really struck how faithfully you’ve managed to recreate all the songs. Was that quite hard to do on a technical level, like getting all the guitar tones right for every single song and easily flipping from one to the next?
TB: Oh yes! But all because I’m not from the school who thinks that the best versions are the ones you do after you record the album. I go with the best version on the album. Meaning, you work hard on that, you get it right, so why change it? You fucking already worked a year and a half to get it like that, why would you change it? You could have different accents, and you can make things longer – which we do by the way – but we’re an art rock band, meaning it’s not like a blues or jazz band where that was the spur of the moment thing and then on stage, in The Hague or in fucking New York, it’s going to be something completely different.
We are not that. We are building layers of stuff that we worked on and sweated on, so when it’s there, we are happy with it, and that’s the way we are going to play. That’s how I see it.
You have a new guitarist now [Bruno de Groote, who joined early last year, replacing Mauro Pawlowski], and three members who weren’t around when you made this album as well.
TB: Bruno had a big job, but the others have listened to the record a lot over the last ten years or so. I mean, for some songs, I had to study it again, just like Klaas had to or Steph [Misseghers, drummer]. You know, ‘Let’s See Who Goes Down First’, we hadn’t played that for eighteen years, so there you go.
But those parts are the way they are, and you make things longer, you make an intro longer…we’ve changed ‘Magic Hour’ a bit. We have a new ending for ‘Let’s See Who Goes Down First’. That’s just a luxury you take because you enjoy playing it so much so you think: “Let’s make it longer and make it even more exploding at the end. With Viking shouts. [Shouts]”
It works, though.
TB: It’s my favourite moment!
 <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47953853223/in/dateposted-public/" title="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47953853223_03474037a7_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I’m intrigued by the dancers and the theatrical aspect to the show, which I know is something you dabbled with early on in your career.
TB: We dabbled a lot! In the video for ‘Turnpike’, and of course for ‘Instant Street’.
But, it’s still like: “Oh wow, they’ve got dancers!”
TB: It was my idea twenty years ago, but it was Steph’s idea now. He went: “How about the dancers?” And I went: “Man, that’s insane, we can’t afford that.” But the idea stuck. And then I came up with the idea, why don’t we ask Ann [Van de Broek, choreographer and artistic director] who was there twenty years ago? She’s a great woman, she’s a great choreographer, and she has a network. So we thought: “Why don’t we work – for financial reasons, mostly, but also for the excitement and that homegrown kind of thing – with locals?” And it still cost us quite an amount of money, but it’s worth it because as Klaas says, it’s like this fresh influx of talent.
And it’s great for the fans. By now, people know because they’ve seen something on YouTube or whatever, but a lot of people are still surprised and going: “What the hell’s going on?”
You have just one dancer touring with you, right?
TB: Just one, just Nik [Rajsek]. He’s always drilling the locals.
So in every city, you’ve got a new set of dancers?
TB: Yeah. Basically, we have Anne – she is the moon. Then we have two satellite choreographers; one who travels with us – Nik – and a second satellite in every city. Let’s call him number three. Number three picks the students, and he drills them a day before we arrive, and on the day itself when we play. And that’s it.
That must add a certain element of excitement, like with every new crew you’re not quite sure exactly how it’s going to go.
TB: Well, that’s Nik’s stress of course, but Nik is very professional. And especially because he was thrown into this bus with twelve strangers and he was accepted, he was cool, he was fun.
KJ: We are almost a community, you know? Just from this tour.
TB: Actually, I’m gonna have a hard time doing without in the future, but that’s where it’s related. Maybe we won’t do without.
Maybe you can always have dancers.
TB: Yes, now we have the network. The network is sorted.
I’m also intrigued by the idea behind the documentary that you’re doing around the tour.
TB: Well, so are we!
Because you don’t want anyone talking about the band or the music per se. It’s just about their own lives over the last twenty years, right?
TB: That’s what I’m saying, but people end up doing that anyway, so you can shout as much as you like, “We don’t want you to talk about that!” But people show up for that reason, so they have particular memories that they want to share. I haven’t seen any of it, but I think this is the kind of documentary that will make itself, in the sense that those confessions are going to drive where it goes. But I just wanted dEUS to be a vehicle for lives.
 <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47953852898/in/dateposted-public/" title="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47953852898_5632ae5806_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="dEUS (© Joao MB Costa)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
For people’s stories of life and love?
TB: Yeah, but I mean people come there, they talk about something that’s nothing to do with us; about how they met their wife, why they got divorced, whatever. dEUS is just a vehicle for what we are going to have as stories. I think we’re going to intercut that with exciting live footage as well, but that’s just a half page 'Note of Intent'; the rest we’ll have to see.
KJ: People talk to us, and that’s where we mentioned the nostalgia thing coming up. When people come and talk to us after the show, they always go: “You can’t believe how much that album meant to me!” and then tell us about their lives. So, this is actually just what they are doing to us all the time. The good idea is to record it, because you can’t believe the things they say. And it’s not about us – our music was just the vehicle.
TB: It’s also embracing the fact of getting older, and you as a band with your audience. And it can become something very sweet, and hopefully not too...you know? I’m not going to edit it because I might censor things that may be good. It may become something really sweet and personal, with us as the motor for it, the propeller.
Do you have like a working title for it?
TB: Yes. Only ‘Cause Of Love: Confessions To dEUS. That’s a line from ‘Put The Freaks Up Front’.
I was chatting to Fleur [Boonman, the film director and documentary maker] in London the other night, and she said that some of the stuff she’d recorded already was incredible.
TB: That’s what it is. They all start talking about dEUS, then Fleur tries to lead it to being about them, and they either take the bait or they don’t – you’re not going to force people. But maybe some stuff about the band is also nice. That’s why I’m not going to be involved in it, because if somebody says something really beautiful and flattering about the band, I might say: “Oh, come on. That’s a bit much!” you know?
But maybe it is really beautiful, and maybe it is time to embrace that. dEUS documentaries have always been, if I may say so myself, brutally fucking honest about the fights, about the commercial underachievement, and all that negative stuff. Bands usually paint the nicest picture, but we were always the champions of: “look how fucked up we are.” Maybe it’s time to have something really nice, that’s all I’m saying.
I think you deserve that.
TB: Yeah well, we’ll see. We’ll see.
<hr>
The Ideal Crash (20th Anniversary Edition) is out now via Universal Music Belgium. For more information about dEUS, including current tour dates and ticket info, please visit their <a href="http://www.deus.be/">official website</a>.
All Photo Credits: Joao MB Costa
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</content>
<author>
<name>Derek Robertson</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/derekrocks</uri>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>content:4152305</id>
<published>2019-05-21T12:59:00+01:00</published>
<updated>2019-05-21T13:35:02+01:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4152305-way-out-east--dis-does-sharpe-festival-2019"/>
<title>Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019</title>
<updated>2019-05-21 12:59:00 +0100</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106135" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106135.jpeg" width="50" /></div>For its second edition, this showcase event has improved in subtle but meaningful ways]]>
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<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106135" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106135.jpeg" width="50" /></div>Amidst the many panels and workshops at Bratislava’s <a href="http://sharpe.sk/">Sharpe Festival</a>, one stood out. Titled “Good-hearted Promotion or Downright Spam”, it looked at the role of PR in the digital age and how artists – and, indeed, labels and journalists – could benefit from the services of a seasoned professional. A key issue for many in attendance was how to break through online noise, and how to achieve traction – and exposure – beyond their own borders. There is, of course, no easy answer. “Be truthful in your art and your message,” says Poland’s Gabriela Szuba, a promoter and booking manager. “Work hard…and be good!” adds Richard Foster, PR manager at Rotterdam’s WORM and acclaimed journalist, a somewhat self-evident exhortation but one that rings true.
And yet the sad reality is that for many bands – not just the ones performing here – neither of those things are guarantees of success. Nothing is. Sharpe draws the majority of its artists from Eastern and Central Europe but despite the talent on show – and we witness some incredible sets – a viable, sustainable career in music seems to be an almost impossible dream for many; virtually everyone we talk to has a day job or side hustle to pay the bills. One can’t shake the feeling that if some of these acts hailed from Hackney or Williamsburg they’d have a fighting chance but when you’re from, say, Ljubljana or Kiev, an indifferent shrug from the West is a more likely reaction (unsurprisingly, only two UK publications have bothered to make the trip).
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47898713391/in/dateposted-public/" title="Giungla @ Sharpe 2019 (© Martina Mlcuchova)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47898713391_fc9c66de91_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="Giungla @ Sharpe 2019 (© Martina Mlcuchova)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
It’s a shame as most of the artists playing are significantly better than the trust fund kids and cool haircut brigade that clog up many Ones To Watch and Hot Lists in the UK. Inventive too, with Ukrainian duo <a href="https://soundcloud.com/ptakhjung">Ptakh_Jung</a> being a case in point. Their dark swirls of noise blend elements of post-rock, electronica, and ambient soundscapes, and are backed by arresting, futuristic visuals. It’s all very cinematic and dystopian – a bit Aphex-Twin-meets-Ennio-Morricone – and the sensory overload they conjure is impressive. More than anything, you get the sense they’ve thought deeply about their music and what they want to convey; the slow build tension and intricate layers sound like the fruits of countless hours spent honing and tweaking.
Slovakia’s own <a href="https://mobiusdoom.bandcamp.com/">Möbius</a> are another band whose music literally demands attention. Their instrumental doom/stoner sludge hybrid rock is Sun O))) levels of loud, and extremely heavy; just like Stephen O’Malley, the guitarist employs huge amounts of low end and reverb to create great slabs of noise that shake you to your very bones. “Evokes images of huge caverns slowly collapsing around you,” says one comment on their Bandcamp page, an apt description for a band playing songs called ‘Eternal Weeping In Agonies’ and ‘All Who Drink From The Abyss Experience Complete Oblivion’. And while there is an enveloping, crushing quality to the sound, a sonic death grip that draws you in gradually to its colossal embrace, there’s also some groove buried in the murk; not for them endless repetition or noise for it’s own sake.
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47846619492/in/dateposted-public/" title="Market @ Sharpe 2019 (© Martina Mlcuchova)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47846619492_fb98c39730_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="Market @ Sharpe 2019 (© Martina Mlcuchova)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
<a href="https://marketus.bandcamp.com/">Market</a>, a five-piece hailing from Prague, have pursued the cerebral route, blending a dizzying array of styles and motifs into something that could be labelled improvisational jazz indie. Elements of rock, hip hop, Zappa and Beefheart stick out, while the vocals recall King Krule’s woozy, stream-of-consciousness thoughts on love and romance. It’s an intoxicating brew, with enough solid ideas to make the more outré moments – the quintet frequently swap instruments; some songs stop and start inexplicably – seem more like avant-garde exuberance than fatal flaws. It’s refreshing at least to see a band dare to fail with some big ideas and the chops to execute them, rather than simply adding the odd flourish to standard indie fare and thinking they’re clever.
That being said, there are also plenty of bands at Sharpe following more traditional paths and doing a mighty fine job of it. Austrian duo <a href="https://wearemolly.com/">MOLLY</a> walk the line between shoegaze and dreamy, ambient pop, effortless switching between soaring, sky-high guitars and quiet grace. “Glittering” is a good way to describe their music; some of their riffs positively shimmer, while even the noisier moments are done with subtlety and beauty. <a href="https://melby.bandcamp.com/album/none-of-this-makes-me-worry-lp">Melby</a>, from Sweden, deal in breezier fare, their airy, semi-psychedelic folk-pop an enchanting way of opening proceedings on the Friday night. They run through most of their debut record, None of this makes me worry, and it’s easy to see why various blogs have been charmed by the Stockholm-based quartet.
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/40932267083/in/dateposted-public/" title="Sharpe 2019 (© Tomáš Kuša)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/40932267083_8f404b78e8_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="Sharpe 2019 (© Tomáš Kuša)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
Question is, what comes next? How do indie bands like this evolve their sound and get bigger and better without losing whatever it was that made them noteworthy to begin with? Slovenia’s <a href="https://koalavoice.com/en/">Koala Voice</a> are a band who’ve wrestled with precisely this conundrum. Three albums in, their carefree indie pop sounds a little grittier, a little rougher around the edges. There’s a punkier, more boisterous attitude to their work now, but it suits them; the new material sounds like a band freed from the constraints of trying to second guess what might be successful and just having a blast.
Such a description could also be applied to Bristol’s <a href="https://scalping.bandcamp.com/releases">SCALPING</a>, who deliver a pulverising late-night Friday set and look like they love every minute of mayhem they serve up. Ostensibly a live techno-punk band, they’ve also been pegged as being “challengingly innovative”. Certainly, there’s nothing standard about their screaming techno, squelching bass, and post-rock time signatures; throw in some math rock swagger and you’ve got apocalyptic and insanely catchy bangers that sound like Factory Floor trying out blackened post-punk. It’s intense and mesmerizing in equal measure, and helped along by arresting, Blade Runner-style visuals projected onto the backdrop.
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47898713841/in/dateposted-public/" title="Sharpe 2019 (© Ondrej Irša)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47898713841_0db8638aae_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="Sharpe 2019 (© Ondrej Irša)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
Tucked away in a side room – officially designated as The Library – one can discover a quieter side of Sharpe. Sponsored by <a href="https://www.sofarsounds.com/">Sofar Sounds</a>, a series of special guests play short acoustic sets to a seated audience; the hook is the artists are not announced in advance. However, we’re lucky enough to be tipped off that local heroes <a href="https://ills.bandcamp.com/">The Ills</a> – a band we’ve been championing for a number of years now - will be performing, so we nab a front-row seat early for this rare event.
Their soaring post-rock soundscapes translate surprisingly well to acoustic guitars, the power of their riffs replaced by delicacy and nimbleness. Songs still have a euphoric quality, but the melodies – and the sheer prettiness – of some of the guitar lines really stand out. If someone was unfamiliar with their work, they’d be hard pushed to guess that this was not their normal modus operandi – they really are that good. A highlight is ‘I Am My Own Weakness, Darling’, taken from recent record Disco Volante / Mt. Average – aided on vocals by another local, Dominik Prok of <a href="https://52hertzwhale.bandcamp.com/">52 Hertz Whale</a>, it’s a dark, brooding tale, Prok stalking through the audience, singing a capella.
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/40932266903/in/dateposted-public/" title="The Ills @ Sharpe 2019 (© Martina Mlcuchova)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/40932266903_e53249f082_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="The Ills @ Sharpe 2019 (© Martina Mlcuchova)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
It’s a poised, serene twenty-minutes, and a lesson for anyone reluctant to step outside their comfort zone. It’s also one of the best sets we witness all weekend, topped only by another band we’ve championed before, Rotterdam’s <a href="https://thesweetreleaseofdeath.bandcamp.com/">The Sweet Release Of Death</a>. Late on Saturday they deliver a taut, fizzing thirty-minute blast that’s as powerful and energetic as anything we witness. ‘Post Everything’ highlights everything that makes them great; earworm riffs, spacious, sky-high arpeggios, and motorik drums defiantly build into a swirling crescendo that cuts out just as it threatens to spin out of control; one part noise-pop, two parts post-punk.
New track ‘Sway’, taken from their forthcoming record, is precisely the sort of anthem that needs to be experienced ear-bleedingly loud, a shattering song that nonetheless has an infectious groove buried amid the maelstrom. And through all this there’s vocalist and bassist Alicia Breton Ferrer, a stoic, deadpan presence, the calm amid the storm. It’s as tight as I’ve seen them; not a moment or note is wasted, their whip-smart new material sounding lean and streamlined.
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/40932267193/in/dateposted-public/" title="Kuenta @ Sharpe 2019 (©Tomáš Kuša)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/40932267193_cc0e23ae36_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="Kuenta @ Sharpe 2019 (©Tomáš Kuša)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
As with many of the artists playing here, they deserve wider acclaim than they’ll probably get – certainly, they’re every bit the equal of those in the UK riding the coattails of punk rock’s surge in popularity. They wouldn’t be out of place halfway up the bill at All Points East say, or Primavera Sound – as for some of the nonsense hyped <a href="http://diymag.com/neu">here</a>, well, it makes you wonder why such bands bother. Sharpe is an event that aims to redress this balance, and after two editions, its ethos and credentials are beyond reproach – they really do know their music out here. The hope is that more and more people – and the industry at large – will start paying attention and cast their ears eastwards, for if it’s quality they’re after, rich rewards await.
<hr>
Sharpe Festival takes place in Bratislava, Slovakia, at the end of April. For more information about the festival, including dates and tickets for the 2020 edition, please visit their <a href="http://sharpe.sk/">official website</a>.
Photo Credit Banner (The Sweet Release Of Death): Ondrej Irša
All Other Photos: Credit As Indicated
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</content>
<author>
<name>Derek Robertson</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/derekrocks</uri>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>content:4152304</id>
<published>2019-05-21T10:34:41+01:00</published>
<updated>2019-05-21T10:34:41+01:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4152304-25-years-of-spot-festival--dis-picks-its-best-11"/>
<title>25 years of SPOT Festival: DiS Picks Its Best 11</title>
<updated>2019-05-21 10:34:41 +0100</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106134" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106134.jpeg" width="50" /></div>We made our annual pilgrimage to Denmark's top showcase festival and discovered some fantastic bands]]>
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<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106134" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106134.jpeg" width="50" /></div>May being the month of showcase events, DiS headed over to the city of Aarhus in Denmark for <a href="https://spotfestival.dk/en/">SPOT Festival</a>. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, SPOT has firmly established itself as one of the leading events of its kind. Attracting a global audience of fans and delegates along with an array of the best musical talent Scandinavia has to offer, it’s become known as the Nordic South By Southwest for a good reason.
Taking place across numerous venues in and around the city over the first weekend in May, we found ourselves veering off the beaten track in search of hidden gems as well as focusing on the more traditional venues. Such exploration led us to a recording studio, a bowling alley, a late night cabaret bar, a gazebo on the market square, and the city’s dockland area (several times), formerly home to its industrial heartland.
With such a diverse selection of artists to choose from and less than forty-eight hours in which to do so, here are eleven of the best acts we saw over the course of the weekend.
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<h1>Catch The Breeze</h1>
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47898028821/in/dateposted-public/" title="Catch The Breeze @ SPOT (© Per Bergmann)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47898028821_ab6e1b90ca_o.jpg" width="420" height="280" alt="Catch The Breeze @ SPOT (© Per Bergmann)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
Aage Hedensted Kinch has been a mainstay of the Danish underground music scene for a number of years now having played in numerous bands and been a go-to person for overseas touring acts looking for shows. However, his current outfit <a href="https://catchthebreezeofficial.bandcamp.com/">Catch The Breeze</a> might just be his finest outlet to date.
Playing in a tiny gazebo at the Klosterport on the city’s market square, his band make an incendiary racket that brings curious passers-by to the front of its entrance (there is no stage as such) in droves, including two highly intoxicated characters that threaten to steal the show courtesy of the Bez style dance moves they throw throughout the set.
As the name suggests, Catch The Breeze make a beautiful noise that sits between classic early 90s shoegaze and the more recent Krautrock-infused spate of neo-psychedelia that’s had a resurgence in recent years. Playing a set of material almost exclusively taken from last year’s excellent Glow, they’re an early revelation that sets the scene (and indeed, the standard) for the next two days.
<h1>Collider</h1>
<a href="https://soundcloud.com/collider-1">Collider</a> are a very interesting band, not least due to the fact their music is so spontaneous and makes them impossible to compartmentalize or categorise. Musically they’re like the centre point of an axis created by My Bloody Valentine, The Raincoats and Jethro Tull, as unimaginable as that may seem. Hailing from Copenhagen, the four-piece have worked and played with Thurston Moore and that tutelage has served them well if their forty-five minutes long set is anything to go by.
Woozy, reverb-laden guitars fill the mix while Marie Nyhus Janssen and Troels Damgaard-Christensen’s swooning harmonies have an air of Bilinda Butcher and Kevin Shields about them. However, proceedings take an unexpected discourse when Janssen whips out the saxophone and flute at regular intervals to create post-punk, jazz-tinged odysseys. Suitably aided and abetted by the taut rhythm section of Mikkel Trojborg Fink and Johan Polder, their sense of unpredictability is what makes them such a breath of fresh air and ultimately, captivating outfit.
<h1>Dark Times</h1>
Oslo based trio <a href="https://darktimes.bandcamp.com/">Dark Times</a> have been around for the best part of a decade and yet, as with many of the band’s visceral contemporaries, now seems the right time more than ever for the world to hear their wares.
Having put out their first recordings in 2011 before releasing debut LP Give three years later, it’s been an uphill struggle for one of Norway’s most outspoken, feminist punk bands. Nevertheless, 2018’s excellent follow-up Tell Me What You Need – released on Norwegian independent Sheep Chase Records – has undoubtedly put them on the map, and deservedly so, as both their performances at SPOT evidently highlight.
DiS was particularly impressed by their mid-afternoon slot for Tapetown at Lydhavnen recording studios near the city’s docklands. Blasting through ten songs in just under half an hour, we’re suitably reminded of Bikini Kill, Action Pact, Dirt and Vice Squad in equal measures.
<h1>D/Troit</h1>
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/40931570003/in/dateposted-public/" title="D/Troit @ SPOT (© Tricia Yourkevich)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/40931570003_f2d555206e_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="D/Troit @ SPOT (© Tricia Yourkevich)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
We’ve been long-standing fans of <a href="https://crunchyfrog.bandcamp.com/album/do-the-right-thing?fbclid=IwAR3X2BM6Wz2965oD1LvsMVciMHrZjQPkvaVu63P3ENxp5Gans1Pux2JOMUo">D/Troit</a> and in particular, their label Crunchy Frog Recordings for a number of years now. 2019 also marks the 25th anniversary of the label’s existence and having been a pivotal heart of Denmark’s independent music scene, it’s heartwarming to see so many people turn out for their birthday afterparty at Sway.
Imagine a collaboration between The Blues Brothers and Searching For The Young Soul Rebels era Dexy’s Midnight Runners and you’re somewhere near D/Troit’s ballpark. Funk driven blues and soul are the names of the game here, and their high energy set understandably fills the dancefloor and indeed part of the stage too.
Energetic frontman Toke Bo Nisted is a focal point, his soulful voice and exquisite dance moves rightly earning the plaudits, while drummer Stefan Cannerslund Andersen is a machine of sorts, keeping time throughout the band’s set and more often than not, becomes the driving force in each of their ten, deftly delivered numbers.
<h1>Linn Koch-Emmery</h1>
Stockholm based singer-songwriter <a href="https://linnkochemmery.bandcamp.com/">Linn Koch-Emmery</a> might just be the finest Swedish musical export this decade. You may remember Linn’s twin sister Lea from the vastly underrated Kid Wave, formerly signed to Heavenly Recordings. Linn’s musical lineage is of a similar trajectory but aims even more directly for the jugular, which is just the tonic on this cold and windy Saturday night.
Playing a nine-song set of no-nonsense indie rock that’s partially indebted to the golden age of Creation Records and 4AD – we pick out a couple of glorious moments in ‘Forever Sounds’ and ‘Waves’ for instance that remind us of Teenage Fanclub and The Breeders respectively – but has both eyes firmly fixated on the future. She’s another revelation that will surely become a household name over the coming months.
<h1>Mankind</h1>
When things go wrong they go spectacularly wrong, as was the case with <a href="https://soundcloud.com/musicofmankind">Mankind</a> earlier in the day. Travelling from their native Stockholm by road in singer Arthur Onion’s car, it breaks down en route leaving bass player Fredrik Diffner stranded in the process. Most bands would have just given up at that point yet instead of feeling sorry for themselves, Mankind borrowed a friend’s vehicle and arrived at SPOT slightly later than scheduled.
Which, as it happens, turned out to be the best thing they could possibly do. Despite being bassless, their Saturday teatime set at Lydhavnen as part of the Tapetown Sessions was delivered impeccably considering it was mostly improvised around what they could play being a member down.
Frontman Onion has an air of Mac DeMarco or Ty Segall about him, particularly in his vocal delivery while songs like ‘Ghost’ and ‘My Luck Will Change’ convey a playfulness reminiscent of Deerhunter or Room On Fireera Strokes, which explains why producer Gordon Raphael is so keen to work with them.
<h1>Tears</h1>
Having emerged from the same garage punk scene as Yung (whose Mikkel Silkjaer Holm plays drums with them this evening), <a href="https://soundcloud.com/tears94">Tears</a> make an unholy racket that’s frenetic yet also gratifyingly endearing in its execution.
Regulars on the Aarhus circuit for a number of years now, Tears is essentially the brainchild of Jeppe Gronbaek, a musical chameleon of sorts whose output ranges from furious post-punk to melancholic guitar ballads, sometimes during the same couplet.
Unsurprisingly playing to a large crowd as part of the Shordwood Records event at Knud’s Kiosk in the heart of Aarhus’ docklands area, even the arrival of snow (YES SNOW! IN MAY!) throughout their set doesn’t deter the raucous excitement both on and off stage as band and crowdsurfers brave the weather conditions over yonder to engage in the time of their lives.
<h1>The Broken Beats</h1>
Kim Munk is something of a local legend around these parts, having formed <a href="https://soundcloud.com/thebrokenbeats">The Broken Beats</a> twenty years ago. Over that time, they’ve also had almost as many members as The Fall, with a staggering 56 musicians having passed through their ranks since 1999!
They’ve also put out six albums and constantly toured around Europe while Munk has written musical pieces for theatre, film, and fellow artists as well as playing in any number of other bands on the side. So it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that he’s a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to combining his music with live performance.
Which serves us well for this intimate MTV curated show in the extremely plush Scandic Hotel. Having recently signed to Target Records with four single releases planned for later this year, The Broken Beats’ set combined old and new material that reminded us of Pulp, The Divine Comedy, or even Scott Walker at his most sophisticated.
<h1>The Entrepreneurs</h1>
 <center><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/40931570013/in/dateposted-public/" title="The Entrepreneurs @ SPOT (© Tricia Yourkevich)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/40931570013_b904d7f865_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="The Entrepreneurs @ SPOT (© Tricia Yourkevich)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script></center>
Having first witnessed <a href="https://theentrepreneurs.bandcamp.com/">The Entrepreneurs</a>, a Copenhagen-based trio, at 2016’s Roskilde Festival, it’s heartening to see how far they’ve progressed in the three years since. While the rough and ready elements that stood out during that Roskilde performance remain an omnipresent feature of the band’s make-up, they’ve added a polished sheen that should stand them in good stead for their inevitable sojourn into international territories.
February’s ace debut LP Noise & Romance fully encapsulated their nascent fusion of elegant songwriting and experimental noise rock, but it’s in a live setting where everything really clicks. Playing in a seated auditorium might not seem like the ideal setting, particularly when the aversion is to stand up and throw one’s self around like a loon from the off, yet there’s something quite beguiling about these surroundings. Not least because they’re undoubtedly a sign of things to come, for on this form, The Entrepreneurs trajectory can only lead one way and that is upwards.
A simply majestic performance from one of Denmark’s finest bands.
<h1>Twin Dive</h1>
The word “potential” is often overused when it comes to art and music, but in this case, it merely illustrates the tip of the iceberg. Initially a duo comprised of Robert Jancevich (vocals and guitar) and Ragnard Gudmunds (drums), the addition of Charlotte Mortensen on bass two months has added a whole new dimension to what <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pg/twindiveband/about/?ref=page_internal">Twin Dive</a> describe as their “cosmopolitan rock and roll” sound.
Playing the Klosterport on Friday afternoon, their set also coincides with a torrential downpour, yet that doesn’t deter a stream of punters and onlookers from staying put until the bitter end. Musically, their output veers between Band Of Skulls and The Kills territory to heavier moments when we’re reminded of Smashing Pumpkins or Screaming Trees.
Recent single ‘Joy Will Follow’ understandably receives a hero’s reception, but with more 45s set to follow throughout the course of the year, we’re predicting big things for this Aarhus-based trio in the none distant future.
<h1>ZRN</h1>
Formerly known as Zeroine, this duo – now going by <a href="https://zrnband.bandcamp.com/">ZRN</a> – have been on our radar for a long time. Ever since 2014’s excellent ‘Animous’ single in fact, so it’s been a long wait to finally get to witness them in the flesh.
Playing an experimental noise set this evening, Stine Beck and Christian Sindling Soendegaard’s potent mix of drones, electronic beats, and fuzz pedal infused guitar proves a laconic cocktail for those who’ve veered off the beaten track to witness their performance at the tiny Studio 02K on Sydhavnen in the city’s docklands.
People sit on the floor cross-legged while shards of noise build then eclipse around them. It’s a dazzling sonic melange so aptly fitting for this kind of setting. Let’s hope another five years don’t pass before we meet again.
<hr>
SPOT Festival takes place early every May, in Aarhus, Denmark. For more information about the festival, including dates and tickets for the 2020 edition, please visit their <a href="https://spotfestival.dk/">official website</a>.
Photo Credit Banner: Morten Rygaard
Catch The Breeze Photo Credit: Per Bergmann
D/Troit and The Entrepreneurs Photo Credit: Tricia Yourkevich
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<author>
<name>Dom Gourlay</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/domgourlay</uri>
</author>
</entry>
<entry>
<id>content:4152303</id>
<published>2019-04-05T12:00:57+01:00</published>
<updated>2019-04-05T12:00:57+01:00</updated>
<link rel="alternate" type="text/html" href="http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4152303-twelve-hours-of-drone-is-just-the-beginning--dis-does-big-ears"/>
<title>Twelve Hours Of Drone Is Just The Beginning: DiS Does Big Ears</title>
<updated>2019-04-05 12:00:57 +0100</updated>
<summary type="html">
<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106133" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106133.jpeg" width="50" /></div>A staggering concert lineup rounded out by panel discussions, film events, and art exhibits]]>
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<![CDATA[<div style="float:right;"><img alt="106133" height="50" src="https://d1gdi8qinx8x49.cloudfront.net/50x50/106133.jpeg" width="50" /></div>Every spring since 2009, Knoxville, TN - the Scruffy City - opens for the <a href="https://bigearsfestival.org/">Big Ears Festival</a>, which showcases a staggering concert lineup rounded out by panel discussions, film events, and art exhibits. With shows in theatres, churches, bars, galleries, visitor’s centers and museums connected by dining and drinking establishments downtown, the festival has become a love letter to its unlikely hometown. Despite such a large number of venues, the organization was excellent, thanks in part to a well-designed mobile app.
The festival lineup is clearly curated with music nerds more than partygoers in mind. I heard a roomful of people laugh at a joke about ECM starting their records with five seconds of contemplative silence, and I saw a line to see Harold Budd wrap a church several times around. While the programming caters to niche listeners, it manages to be broadly niche in the awareness that audiences for Kara Lis Coverdale, Béla Fleck, and Rachel Grimes overlap more often than not. That cross-pollination is at the heart of the festival, and having so many venues permitted the listener to literally journey between experiences.
Throughout the festival, there were panel discussions which yielded conversations about all aspects of the creative process. I attended sessions on the capability of the human voice, the history of ECM records (whose 50th anniversary was celebrated there), and a panel on using history in songwriting which featured Richard Thompson, Rachel Grimes, and Rhiannon Giddens.
 <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/32598889687/in/dateposted-public/" title="Nils Frahm @ Big Ears (© Eli Johnson)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/7864/32598889687_7fbd369bfb_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="Nils Frahm @ Big Ears (© Eli Johnson)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
At that panel, Giddens got choked up discussing reading receipts for slave sales and how those ideas informed the music she wrote for the Nashville Ballet Company’s <a href="https://www.nodepression.com/ballet-joins-story-of-shakespeares-dark-lady-with-music-from-rhiannon-giddens/">Lucy Negro Redux</a> which was performed at Big Ears. Based on a book of poems by Caroline Randall Williams about a young black woman who reimagines herself as Shakespeare’s “dark lady”, the show’s sucker punch of pathos was matched only by the technical acumen. Spanning a number of musical genres and dance styles, the production achieved authentic diversity. In addition to the ballet company’s dance, Williams herself contributed poetic narration while Giddens and Francesco Turrisi performed the music.
St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral and Church Street United Methodist Church both hosted a number of shows, lending their stunning architecture and immaculate acoustics to events. I.C.E (International Contemporary Ensemble) performed five sparse works by Anna Thorvaldsdottir which unfurled seamlessly. At the same venue, Mountain Man performed a cappella harmonies, delivered in a warm, conversational style. Béla Fleck, too, benefited from the small space where the audience could see him trade between different banjos at a solo performance, showcasing each instrument’s potential alongside his expert skill and genial disposition.
 <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/32598890157/in/dateposted-public/" title="Spiritualized @ Big Ears (©Eli Johnson)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/7907/32598890157_c22814ae3a_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="Spiritualized @ Big Ears (©Eli Johnson)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
While a number of musicians performed on the piano or other keyboard-based instruments, no two did it the same. Rachel Grimes accompanied vocalists and spoken-word actors in an opera she wrote about Kentucky history. Carla Bley performed with her trio to an audience of longtime fans. At the Knoxville Art Museum, Joep Beving delivered delicate compositions with his custom-built Schimmel upright for an hour before inexplicably running out the back door. Vijay Iyer and Craig Taborn performed avant-garde jazz pieces together, each on his own piano as the music alternately harmonized and fractured. Nils Frahm’s stunning fluidity was a special highlight. He programmed beats, played a number of synthesizers, and performed minimal piano compositions on both an upright and a baby grand, occasionally using amplified toilet brushes in the piano for percussion.
In addition to the virtuoso instrumentalists, innovative singers demonstrated the versatility of the voice. Legendary composer Meredith Monk delivered a new piece titled ‘Cellular Songs’ with women from her ensemble, singers dressed in a variety of white outfits, working individually and together to dramatize the plurality of a cell. On a panel about the voice, Theo Bleckmann shared a list of things he could do with his voice, which he supported with a performance of Kate Bush covers and one of German songs.
Two of the more anticipated indie rock affairs concerts by were Mercury Rev and Spiritualized, held on subsequent nights at the Mill and Mine. Mercury Rev delivered a tight but somewhat repetitive performance. (As one festivalgoer quipped, Mercury Rev was in retrograde that night.) The following night, they provided live accompaniment for a showing of 1962 cult classic Carnival of Souls, which lent an eerie humor to the movie. Spiritualized opened with ‘Come Together’ before delivering a mix of old and new songs. Each arrangement proved they still commanded their special brand of gritty salvation.
 <a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/136019367@N06/47488631992/in/dateposted-public/" title="Drone Event @ Big Ears (© Eli Johnson)"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/7845/47488631992_40f83d962f_z.jpg" width="540" height="360" alt="Drone Event @ Big Ears (© Eli Johnson)"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A unique and conceptually hilarious event, ALL NIGHT FLIGHT: DREAMS OF THE WHIRLWIND was a 12-hour drone event in which a cast of performers took to the stage at the Standard, making music without commentary or introduction. And the results were profoundly tranquil. The audience brought blankets and sleeping bags, curling up and dozing beneath delicate projections on the ceiling and stage as the music crept. I wanted to stay on the hard floor forever, or at least a longer portion of 12 hours than I did.
My final event was a performance by Art Ensemble of Chicago, an avant-garde jazz orchestra around 20 members large. Boasting a formidable string section alongside horn virtuosos, uncommon percussion instruments, and spoken word pieces, the ecstatic performance fully invigorated the crowd. It was a good note to leave on, but I had hoped there would be a formal closing. When I snipped off my wristband later, it was hard to say goodbye.
<hr>
Photo Credit Banner: Nathan Zucker
All Other Photos: Eli Johnson
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</content>
<author>
<name>Erin Lyndal Martin</name>
<uri>http://dis11.herokuapp.com/users/lightrailcoyote</uri>
</author>
</entry>
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