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Way Out West 2012

11/19/2012

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Refused
The festival Way Out West in Göteborg is a festival that always give me mixed emotions. Some years it is the greatest festival in the world and some years it's only confusing.

2012 was not one of the great years for me. The early bookings was very promising with bands like Refused and Florence and the Machine. But much of the later bookings was either not my cup of tea or proved to be a bit disapointing.

One of the acts I had hopes for was oldschool rappers De la Soul. Sadly they seemed very old and tired. They had almost turned into a parody and could have shared the stage with Markoolio that day.

Bands like First Aid Kit and Laleh delivered great performances, but lacks any kind of edge and prescence to make it interesting.

The two main stages has faults when the most popular bands performs. It's hard to see anything from the back and the construction for the mixing space is very obstructing.

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Purity Ring
But there was also some highlights during the 2012 edition of WOW.

Refused did a really energetic and cool performance. They really seemed to enjoy themselfs and I finally had a chance to see them perform. Enjoyed every minute of it.

Florence and the Machine also did good and delivered a nice show. And what a voice she has...

I also had a very good time at Annedalskyrkan (a church) on thursday with Purity Ring and Mazzy Star. Purity Ring was a new acquaintance. They played a nice set with lots of cool lightning. Always fun to find new bands to check out further.

Mazzy Star was very dreamy and ambient. There music was very fitting in the church and they choose to perform with almost no lighting. It was very nice just to close the eyes and really listen to beautiful music.

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Kraftwerk
2012 headliners was Kraftwerk. I will probably upset all my friends and peers now by saying that I thought they where really boring. Their music is magical and they sound great, but their performance is crap. I know that part of the idea of Kraftwerk is anti-rock; but if a part of rock is about having fun and beeing entertaining; then anti-rock becomes just boring.

For me any performance is a meeting between performer and audience and an exchange of energy. If the performing part refuses to take part in this exchange it kind of dies. Sure the minimalistic stageing, the lighting and projections is very nicely done... but it also gets very repetative and dull after a couple of songs.

And 3D effects??? Kiss tried this back in 1998 during the Psycho Circus tour. If Kiss have tried something and later thought it a bad idea, it's probably a good idea to not go there. I never wanna have to wear 3D goggles at a concert again!

To sum it up, 2012 was not a great year for Way Out West. Adding a third day could have been a good idea if they had booked more interesting bands, this year it only made the program feel watered.

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Stockholm Music & Arts festival - Part 2

10/8/2012

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Anna Von Haussswolff
Pardon me for taking forever to get through my summer here at TanzAnarchy. I've been really busy lately with the release of the Batch ID album and all things surronding that.

But here we go again. Day three of Stockholm Music & Arts were really great. Actually it was my second day, since I skipped day two in favour of the Pride festival.

I had really been looking forward to see Anna Von Haussswolff who kicked off the last day. But it's really not a good idea to have her playing early in the day, with the sun shining and most of the audience trying to recuperate from the night before. Her dark and drony music would work much better in smoke and darkness at a much more intimate setting. Consequently the concert seemed a bit unfocused and misplaced. Pity, since I really love her music.

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iamamiwhoami
A positive surprise this day was iamamiwhoami. They were new to me, but I really liked their modern approach to synth pop and electro. The singer Jonna Lee has a good voice and had an interesting personality on stage. Really cool show and good music.

During the day we were also treated to Buffy Sainte-Marie with a band that must playrickabilly when not touring with Buffy. Strange mix of rock'n'roll, native american chants and 70's protest music. We were also given some african funk from Fatoumata Diawara that afternoon. Interesting, but not my cup of tea. I was mainly waiting for the nights main attraction and the chance to see one of my biggest idols.

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Björk
And finally after the dark had settled over Stockholm, Björk appeared on stage in a costume that must have been inspired by the troll Plupp.

She entered the stage with a percussionist, a technician/synth player and a female choir from Iceland. And then they delivered one of the best performances I have ever seen on a festival stage.

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Plupp
Musically she focused on her latest release with bits and pieces from earlier album. I have seen her once before when she toured on the Post album and was very inspired by the dance scene. Today it seems like she draws inspiration from nature and mother earth, and manages to make music from the power of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, but also more subtle things like mitosis and other microscopic processes.

The Stockholm Music & Arts was a really diffrent and great festival. Antony and Björk delivered two awesome musical experinces. I really hope that the festival will be able to deliver an equally interesting festival next year. Hopefully with the same focus on great female performers.

Björk perfoms Hidden Place at Sthlm Music & Arts

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Stockholm Music & Arts festival - Part 1

9/22/2012

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Patti Smith
There are a couple of things that make this festival very special, and hopefully trendsetting for festivals in the future. After a couple of years with debates on precentage of women performing on festivlas (most agreeing that the number is to low) and some festivals trying to quota women (without succeeding), festival generals saying that there are not enough interesting women preformers to choose from and a few festivals that don't give a fuck.

Then it's very nice to have a festival that don't talk but do. Women performers on more then 70% of the spots. But not only is the festival largly represented by women, they are also older women like Patti Smith, Marianne Faithful, Emmylou Harris and Buffy Sainte-Marie; all with careers starting in the 70's. And it worked like a charm, with three sold out days at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm.

Sadly I missed about half the festival. I arrived late on the first day, and skipped saturday due to the Pride festival, and the fact that I had a chance to catch the most interesting performers from saturday at the Way Out West-festival the following weekend.

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Antony and the Johnsons
I am happy to have seen Patti Smith perform. I'm not a huge fan of her music, but I am aware of her importance in rock history. She's a very cool lady and a very good performer. Highlights were Because the night and a really vibrant take on Van Morrison's Gloria.

Then came Antony (and the Johnsons) with Sveriges Radios Symphony Orchestra. An amazing voice and performance that gave the night a perfect and magic ending. It was beautiful and Antony was in a good mood and seemed to enjoy to end his summer tour in Stockholm. Loved to hear Cripple and the starfish and his version of Beyoncés Crazy in love.

More about Stockholm music and Arts in Part 2.

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The Klinik is closing Bodyfest 2011

11/25/2011

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Headlining and closing Bodyfest, was another classic band, The Klinik. They are also from Belgium and comes from the same era as A Split Second. But The Klinik leans more to the industrial sound and is very far from rock'n'roll.

I have always considered The Klinik as an interesting band and I love their more melodic songs. But there is also a more experimental and ambient side of The Klinik that I doesn't appreciate as much.

Thankfully the band is concentraiting on there more accessible songs and the show is excellent. Sadly my batteries is running low and I don't have the energy to join the dancing and havoc that is going on around me. I settle for standing in the back, with a huge smile on my face, just enjoying the music. And I am already looking forward to next years Bodyfest.

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A Split Second - A dear reunion at Bodyfest

11/7/2011

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To be able to see A Split Second again in 2011 is a real treat for me at this years Bodyfest. The band was one of the first electronic band that I appreciated in the late 80's when my focus was mainly targeted at Hard Rock and Heavy Metal.

I learned about them from my younger brother who of course had chosen a music taste that was as much opposed to mine as possible. (How things have changed :D) But hearing records like A Split Seconds ...From the inside and Nitzer Ebbs That total age I just had to admit that there where some stuff from "the dark side" that was really interesting.

Ever since then I have been a huge fan of this cool Belgian band. They have succesfully combined dance rythms and electronics with rock attitude since the debut in 1986. I've seen them live once before on 1993, in Gothenburg, when they toured with the Vengeance C.O.D. album. It's almost 20 years ago, and it's 25 years after the debut. Can they possibly have something to offer an audience in 2011?

It only takes a couple of songs until I realise that A Split Second still is a really cool live act. It's not three youngsters that enters the stage, but what they may lack in youthful energy they make up for with lots and lots of stage presence and experience. They are really generous and play all their classic songs. It's also a really special feeling to hear Scandinavian bellydance live in Stockholm. A lot of happy feelings after this reunion with A Split Second.

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Orange Sector is hitting hard at Bodyfest

10/28/2011

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I realise that it's almost a month since Bodyfest, and I am only half way through my report.

The two members from Orange Sector enters the main stage and unload a very energetic and hard hitting set of old school EBM. The event starts to live up to it's name Bodyfest and the crowd starts to dance, jump and shout.

Sadly I must admit that I am not as familiar with Orange Sector as I ought to be. They seem to have managed to fly beneath my radar all the way since 1993, when they released their first record. I like what I hear and see on stage and I will most definetly start to pay this band the attention they deserve from now on. They put the "fest" back in Bodyfest.

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Parade Ground was a bloody mess at Bodyfest

10/20/2011

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I don't know what happened, but this was just weird. Jean-Marc Pauly enters the stage and hits his forehead hard on the microphone and starts bleeding. Then he pats his bloody head and shows his bloody palm repeatedly to the audience.

The sound is crap with a backtrack that is without both volume and base. The guitar is cranked to ten and drowning all other sounds. The vocals get's throug but are drowned in reverb and delay.

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I don't know if there was to much drugs going on or if it was a desperate attempt to deal with a crappy sound. Sad, cause i was looking forward to hear some of Parade Grounds quite beautiful songs and was given a bloody mess instead.

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Schwefelgelb - The new kids on the Bodyfest

10/9/2011

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The first band on the main stage for the evening was german duo Schwefelgelb. I am only familiar with a few of their songs through Youtube, and I have liked what I found there.

Their music is a mix of techno, electro, 8-bit and some healthy EBM-attitude. A bit of a surprising booking for a venue like Bodyfest, but a very healthy one. We have to let the genre evolve and expand if we want to be able to visit Bodyfest X a few years into the future.

Sadly I must admit that Schwefelgelb was not really my cup of tea as a live experience. I think that the music was leaning a bit too much towards techno, cool beats and sound effects. The band has some very good songs in their catalogue, but it seems like the band do'nt trust them to stand on their own.

But I don't think that my opinion was shared by the younger part of the audience who seemd to enyoj the bands performance immensly. And apart for my whining they were really entertaining to watch and the sound was great.

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Sturm Café & Kommando XY kicks off Bodyfest 2011

10/6/2011

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It´s usually not easy to be the first band out, especially if you have to be on stage 4.30 in the afternoon. But the EBM:ers at Bodyfest are loyal to their bands and the turn up is great in front of the small stage at Nalen even at this early hour.

On stage are two bands from Gävle, Sturm Café and Kommando XY with, Gustav Jansson as member of both bands. The concert is divided in two parts where Sturm Café is in focus during the first part.

When they start the intro to Koka kola freiheit early in the show I instantly get the feeling that this is the start of a great evening. The sound is not the best, but Sturm Cafés songs are really effective EBM-stompers that gets the audience dancing and moving anyway. It really gets good when they play Stiefelfabrik later in the setand and the whole room starts to shake.

Then they switch singer from Jonatan Löfstedt to Jocke Mohlund and the Kommando XY part of the show starts. Jocke works with the audience and gets good response. It's fun to see parts of the audience on the floor doing push-ups during Lyfta Skrot. Lots of testosterone flying around. I get very happy when they play my Kommando XY favorite Genesis Does (What Nintendon't).

Bodyfest gets off to a really good start and the last note from the stage barely rings out before the next band starts to play at the main stage. Here we go!

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CocoRosie - Bearded sisters magical evening in Malmö

8/29/2011

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Malmö - 110819
I admit it took me a while to warm up to this duo. I guess I have to blame the beards. Before Malmö I still had this resistment to them, though my girl friend had weakend my barriers some, by playing their music every now and then. Still I was reluctant to admit that they were great and kept them in the "interesting" category.

It was a cold and very windy evening in Malmö. Summer had departed just a few days ago and autumn was greeting us with a cold hand. Malmöfestivalen seemed like a really strange place for CocoRosie. A town festival mainly targeted at families who prefered listening to coverbands playing the classics at the big stage a few hundred meters away. The freaks had to gather in the outskrits of the festival, just beyond the two merry-go-rounds and the sidestalls and games.

The two sisters enters the stage accompinied by two guys. One sits down behind some synths and the other just stands there with a microphone. Then he starts to make strange sounds and I realise that he is a beatboxer. Normally a funny, interesting oddity that works for one song, but this guy provided the rythm for the whole show using only his mouth and voice - impressive!

But it's the voices of the two sisters that provides the real magic. One angel-like and almost operaesque, and the other a bit harsher with a strange, childish quality. Inspiration for the songs seems to come from all over the place, ranging from opera and folkmusic all the way to hip-hop.

After a few songs I get drawn in by the music and all the external stuff ceases to matter. The music alone is breath taking, beautifully weird and seems to be from another world. A world where Bianca and Sierra Casaday rules, and make music from harps and toys. A world I suddenly wan't to be part of and that suddenly seems to make very good sense. I leave converted and a true believer.

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