I am back to business. It has been a long journey since Rockwerchter hit the stage and the ground.
DAY 1 As wet and muddy as I had expected, yea call me a pessimist and regretfully not having a pair of wellies..it was a messy and cold festival on the first day. I managed to catch the last couple of tunes from Counting Crows and Mr Jones got me all jumping, thinking about myself in my school uniform. After a couple of beers, Mika started and I had that look of ‘Nah, i’m not up for that’ but after a few more beers, I found myself dancing and singing. He had some pretty voluptuous dancers with him who drove the crowd to madness. Alcohol does wonder sometimes. I am not a big fan of Lenny Kravitz but it was good to see him life, at least to know how tiny he really is. The highlight was R.E.M with a live video mixing, which was absolutely mind blowing. There must have been camera crews and VJ onboard with them. Various camera angles, audio visual synchronisation and some chopping of live video sampling have certainly enhanced their music. Despite the cold, J and I had to stick around for the Chemical Brothers to finish the night. Those big beat pioneers have certainly sounded more Hard House than the usual chemical beats. That kept the night alive along with some funky visual projections.
Day 2 We were just in time to catch the last 2 tunes from The Verve as we had to drive back to Brussels for a GOOD shower and express shopping for shoes! Ashcroft with his shades singing Bittersweet Symphony exactly like what I heard on CD when I was still young. It was abit of nostalgia for everyone I guess. Squashed under people’s armpits, only managed to see the lights flickering, a blast from Hot Chip under the canvas. As far as I have only listened to a couple of tracks from their new album, I found the music slightly less minimal, heading more towards the Dance Pop, maybe even a little of Dub groove. Always quenching my thirst and smoking with some people, then it was Moby..all I can say is that the atmosphere was there but I don’t remember much 
Day 3 Yes, we overslept and missed MGMT. I only heard them playing from my tent. Band of Horses was the first band we saw, not exactly my cup of tea but a couple of tracks were good. The next line up, Donovan Frankenreiter whom I have just discovered and my ears were pleased with. Being a surfer definitely has influence on the music, I donno what connection there is but its called Surf Rock (oh I had my Ukulele with me too). As a close pal of Jack Johnson’s, his music could be placed in between Johnson’s and country folk (yea tempted to do line dancing) and contains some bluesy bits. To the main stage, Kings of Leon performed. They were good but I was also looking forward to Ben Harper. As soon as Harper started playing his lap slide guitar, we felt the folk and country blues. His fingers were sliding up and down the fretboard as though they were on a race circuit. Despite a moron who took a piss in the crowd, the performance was well groovy. Sigur Ros was next, turned up on stage with massive light balls on stage, feathers on jacket, stuff on the head and painted faces. He bowed the guitar along with other drones and light percussions while the sun was setting. Hoppipolla must have taken the audience away from the site for a while into the land of pretty dreams. There was a moment after that when we were almost squashed to death just for the sake of watching Radiohead next. It was my first time watching them live and they have certainly evolved in music composition and performance. Most of the songs performed are from their latest album, which has received many thumbs up. I would say that they were the highlight of the festival to most people.
Day 4 Due to oversleeping and a long brunch, oh and also grabbing freebies, pfft…we missed the first half and managed to catch The Kooks as the first band. They were energetic yound lads but thats what you need from a music festival for the atmosphere. He had also gracefully walked from the stage ONTO the crowd. We headed off to the tent next for Mark Ronson. They played ‘Valerie’ without Amy Winehouse but maybe with someone who looked more humane and alive. Great soul and funk to dance to ;). Nick Cave came up next with his latest band The Grinderman. The music sounds like what the band is called brutal and gory. His moustache helps too. Vocals remain the same but in general, they do sound rather different compared The Bad Seeds. Then, a quick peek on Kaiser Chiefs…yea they were just being Kaiser Chiefs. Justice in the tent was wicked. You just move even when you try not to because it is Disco Punk! The tent was overflowing with people; hence, we only watched them Live on screen but at least we were not too far from where their decks were. Finally, the last act for us was Beck. He played many tracks from Odelay album and the songs still sound as fresh and revitalizing as ever! This multi instrumentalist has always made his music diversed, fusing genres and to cater for all types of ears. It was great to see him life although I have not listened much to his new stuff but hearing stuff from Odelay, a fantastic album released in the mid 90’s took me back on memory lane. We walked away to head back to the car park while Beck was bidding farewell with Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime!
p/s: Apprently Pete Doherty failed to turn up because he had to watch his cat in labour!
Guess what? This is the festival of the year for me. Maybe the one and only one. Slightly more commercialised, no twats I hope but most importantly good music. Here you go, just a warm up for it… Part 1:1. Patrick Watson - Build A Home (Cinematic Orchestra)
I have always had a thing for ambient music. It takes me on a trip, i mean journey :). Well this time, it took me to France with Anothony Gonzalez, who is m83. His music could be called indie rock/ pop/ synthpop or electronic but everything within the sphere of ambient with the distant vocals bouncing against the walls all the time. Maybe if you like listening in between My Bloody Valentine and Kraftwerk, then just tune into M83.
It was a rather late night jazz after a long day of taking strolls on the horrendous busy streets. Clos your eyes and maybe you will hear 4 Heroes every now and then. This octet grew out of Benendic Lamdin Nostalgia 77 studio project. I have been listening to the studio stuff including many collaborations done with various DJs and other musicians. The free form jazz octet had seemed to be more on the soft side of jazz although there was also a love of the funk sound. I personally thought that the Double bass player had produced great bass lines that created the contrast between the funk and swing jazz sound. There was a good balance between both that made the music chilled and exciting. No boring elevator music…
This time the show was more punctual than I thought, which made me late. Therefore, I only managed to catch the last track of theirs. Maybe that is what you call save the best for last. This 7 piece band from Edinburgh crammed themselves with guitar, drums, bass, double bass, violin,synth,etc on that little stage. Combining european folk with indie rock with orchestral music, the drive you into experiencing various moods and to tripping. As soon as the vocalist stopped singing during the instrumental bit, he expressed all his unspoken lyrics on his face, strumming the acoustic guitar with all the energy that the audience could feel. Honestly, I will be early the next time I go for their gig, hopefully.
That was probably the first encounter I had with the local music ever since I arrived. It was the Basel Club Music festival with mostly local bands and a few from Germany, UK and US.
