LE GUESS WHO? 2014 PROGRAM guide
index Welcome to Le Guess Who? 2014
5
venues
6
Tickets & Info
7
Main Line Up
10
Mouth to Mouth curated by M. Gira (Swans) 50 24-Hour Dronefest
60
Austin Psych Fest presents
68
Fuzzland
73
Le Mini Who?
82
Le Bazarre
83
Plein 6 & Merchandise
84
Exhibitions
85
Partners
88
Le Team Who?
90
Welcome to the 2014 edition of Le Guess Who? Everything on this bill represents years of dreaming and hard work, and we are very proud to present a line-up which we still can’t believe is our own. Therefore, we would like to extend a very special thank you to each and every one of the artists who have made this a reality. To Michael Gira for presenting Mouth to Mouth and for being an inspiration and a joy to work with; and to Selda, one of our biggest heroes and most distinctive voices in the world, for closing the festival with one of her rare performances; and a very special acknowledgement to Hilma af Klint, whose work has been a constant source of inspiration to the conceptualization of this edition. The 24-Hour Dronefest, again the fruit of years of planning with our friends at the Basilica in Hudson New York, marks one our most intense endeavors yet, and a highlight of this year’s program. There is so much to see, please find a moment to check out the full line-up here in finer detail. As always, we have worked hard to develop a context which links the craftsmanship of the honorable greats with thought-provoking hidden gems, so we encourage you to explore. Killer vibes. Bob & Johan
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 5
venues TivoliVredenburg
Vredenburgkade 11
ACU
Voorstraat 71
Moira
Wolvenstraat 10
Janskerk
Janskerkhof 26
Ekko
Bemuurde Weerd Westzijde 3
Rasa
Pauwstraat 13A
Vredenburg Leeuwenbergh
Servaasbolwerk 1A
Galerie Jaap Sleper
Lange Nieuwstraat 34
Rudolf Magnus
Vondellaan 94
De Helling
Helling 7
dB’s
CAB-Rondom 100
Tickets & Info Area TivoliVredenburg
Vredenburgkade 11
Please keep in mind that all venues have limited capacity. Make sure to be on time if you want to get in.
6 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Tickets & info Upon arrival at the festival, exchange your ticket for a festival wristband at our ticket desk in TivoliVredenburg. We are pleased to set up camp again in TivoliVredenburg, right next to Utrecht central station. Our Ticket & Info Area is located here from Thursday until Sunday. To ensure entrance to the festival venues, you will need to exchange your ticket for a wristband here.
Ticket & Info area TivoliVredenburg THURSDAY 17:00 – 00:00 FRIDAY 16:00 – 00:00 SATURDAY 12:00 – 01:00 SUNDAY 08:30 – 22:30
Ticket sales 4 Day Festival Passes (€100) and Day Tickets (Thursday and Sunday €30, Friday and Saturday €35) are available at the Ticket & Info Area in TivoliVredenburg and www.leguesswho.com.
Timetables and program guide Printed timetables, the Utrecht Treasure Guide and the Program Guide will be available at the Ticket & Info Area. Although we try to offer you the best up-to-date information, info on all printed matter is subject to change. For the latest updates please visit www.leguesswho.com.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 7
Warpaint 25.11
Metronomy 08.12
SoHaSo: John Talabot, Pional 29.11
Run The Jewels (EL-P & Killer Mike) 20.12
J.Mascis 07.12
Tindersticks 09.02
TIVOLI VREDEN BURG
A Winged Victory For The Sullen Dustin O’Halloran and Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid) met each other backstage through a mutual friend in Italy, during a European tour for Sparklehorse. They bonded over a conversation about passport difficulties and their shared love for Italian food and agreed to record an album together. Classical audiophiles pur sang, these kindred spirits spared no time or effort to find the perfect acoustic spaces and a selection of grand pianos they needed to make their vision become reality. On their second full-length album Atomos (2014) they expended their palette of piano, string and ambient sounds with harp, electronics and modular synthesisers.
The Afterveins Part of Club 3voor12/Utrecht Rotterdam is a strange but compelling place. Housing Europe’s largest port, it’s Holland’s city of labor where the multicultural inhabitants are bound to either create their own luck or otherwise whither in a growing city that sometimes seems too big for the country it’s in. Its citizens are typically stubborn and 10 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
resourceful, and the boys of The Afterveins are no exception. Blending new wave, psychedelica and folk into a sound of their own, they show daring diversity and integrity: a perfect representation of themselves and the city they call home.
Amen Dunes
Amen Dunes is the solo project of David McMahon, who first released an album under his own name in 2006 before continuing as Amen Dunes. However, the songs he would write and record in a secluded cabin over the course of the next year were deemed ‘personal recordings’ and never intended to be released. Instead, McMahon moved to live in Beijing for a couple of years. In 2009 the previously recorded songs were released as Amen Dunes debut album, gaining immediate attention. His latest album, simply titled Love, was recorded with members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who made the dark and atmospheric acoustic-based psych folk sound a bit warmer, but but also charmingly unpolished as ever.
Americo Brito Americo Brito was born on the island of São Vicente in Cape Verde and began his musical career after discovering his singing abilities while working on a cruise boat. He got involved in the music scene that took the discotheques of Portugal by storm during the late 70’s and early 80’s and made his official debut LP in 1980. For his performance at Le Guess Who?, Americo will team up with Alex Figueira (drummer of Fumaça Preta and DJ at Vintage Voudou), an avid collector of Cape Verdean music to bring the best moments of his first two albums back to the stage, more than 30 years after they were recorded.
Autechre Please be aware: doors and bars will be closed during the show. Twenty years after the release of acclaimed debut album Incunabula, Autechre remain one of the most elusive acts in electronic music. While their earlier work had firm roots in techno, house and hip-hop, their later albums tend to be more experimental, complex and harder to define. Since the early 1990’s, the British duo released eleven albums, the latest being double LP
Exai (2013). They are one of the most prominent acts signed with Warp Records. Autechre’s drive to keep propelling electronic music into new territories is what makes their story one of the most fascinating in the genre and what keeps fans coming back for more. The Autechre live experience is a classically pitch dark, mind warping audio affair.
Baba Zula
Baba Zula uses an outlandish mix of field recordings of natural sounds, traditional Turkish instrumentation and modern acoustic and electronic musical instruments and effects. While predominantly Turkish folk-inspired, they also blend in reggae and dub influences. The result is something surreal. Unheard of. Mesmerizing even. They have invented a method of ‘defined improvisation’, which allows them to utilize the benefits of improvised jams as well as predefined song structures. Their ritual-like live shows are a unique experience, in which the viewer is immersed in a mixture of disciplines of art, often featuring belly dancers, elaborate costumes and live animation.
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Binkbeats Operating from what looks like a storage room filled with weird and out of time instruments, Binkbeats has become an unparalleled musical wizard, meticulously deconstructing electronic tracks and rebuilding them in a single live take. With his ‘Beats Unraveled’ video sessions he soon hit more than a million views and Boiler Room got in touch to offer him their platform. Watching these jaw dropping videos, you can easily understand why. Binkbeats uses instruments ranging from vibraphone, guzheng (Chinese harp), turntables, exotic percussion, voice, and even typewriter. Having spent a lot of time with other people’s music, Binkbeats’ focus has now shifted to his personal
album. He’ll celebrate his live premiere at Le Guess Who?, offering the world an introduction to his personal music for the very first time.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy Bonnie “Prince” Billy is the stage name of musician/actor Will Oldham, who also recorded albums mid-’90s as different variations of the Palaces name (including Palace Brothers, Palace Music and simply Palace) before settling on his current moniker. His style has been described as rootsy Appalachian folk set in a postpunk era. His fragile songs open up as he intuitively fiddles on traditional folk instruments such as the acoustic guitar and banjo, with a little bit of ‘80s Dylan peeking its head around the corner.
Binkbeats 12 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Thematically Oldham shows he is a wellrounded musician who ages gracefully like fine bourbon, with some songs having an uplifting tone (and absurd humour) while others are suffocatingly dark.
Brandt Brauer Frick Basically going against everything the genre is known for, Brandt Brauer Frick are a rare sight within the techno genre. Not in the sense that you rarely get a chance to see them live, although it’s true they play only one or two shows a month on average, but moreover rare in the sense that they make techno without the technology. They prefer to use classical acoustic instruments like piano, violin, cello, harp, trombone, tuba, and many different percussion instruments to create something unique that resists comparisons.
Bonnie “Prince” Billy
Broeder Dieleman Broeder Dieleman is a folk singer from the Dutch province of Zeeland (after which New Zealand was named). It’s a collection of pieces of land that fall between the Netherlands, Belgium and the sea. The people there are known to be quite traditional, and above all proud of their heritage and that sense of not quite belonging to anyone, that sense of freedom. With guitar and banjo in hand, Broeder Dieleman uses his songs to deal with everyday complexities, singing in a historic Zeeuws accent, underlining his romanticized origination.
Broncho In the spirit of ‘70s punk, Broncho captures the aggression and DIY authenticity of that era and translates it to today’s standards of hi-fi production. Their 10-song debut album Can’t Get Past the Lips clocks in at a delirious 20 minutes, which in itself is a testimony to their assault-like approach. Their sound is powered by youthful exhilaration, with gritty guitar work, howling vocals and a propulsive rhythm section. The masterful garage pop simplicity of their songs is a natural result of their punk-inspired roots, of which they took the message and made it their own. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 13
2015
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metropole orkest
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Jameszoo // pekka kuusisto // swoD // naDia sirota maarten Vos // fc JongBloeD - lunatree
11.02
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Carlos Cipa Part of Denovali Nights Carlos Cipa took an interest in music at quite an early age, taking classical piano lessons with various renowned teachers at the age of six. Ten years later his interest transformed into passion when he became more and more interested in composing and improvisation, at a time he was drumming in different bands. He switched his focus back to his main instrument, the piano, and attended the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich to study classical composition. Besides his traditional neo-classical music pieces, Cipa is also keen to experiment with contemporary techniques applied to the piano’s insides to create different sounds.
Cloud Nothings Ironically, Cloud Nothings’ leading man Dylan Baldi was majoring in audio recording when he recorded their first few songs using Garageband on his home computer in between classes. Those songs created such a buzz that Baldi soon dropped out of school to assemble a real band and landed gigs with Woods and Real Estate. Being the nice guy that he is, Baldi wrote a seven-page email to his parents to explain his decision. Now being 16 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
a full-fledged band, Cloud Nothings released their fourth LP this year. They have all but left their lo-fi aesthetic, but are as frantically blistering as ever, and even noisier than before.
Cristobal & The Sea This London-based quartet hails from all corners of the continent. Alejandro (Spain), João (Portugal) and Leïla (Corsica/France) all met when they were attending the Loughborough University, where they converted one of their dorms into an improvised music studio with a £7 Skype microphone. Occasional jamming turned into writing songs, and when they moved to London the band was finally completed when they met like-minded drummer Josh through a mutual friend. Their diverse cultural backgrounds seep through and create a stunningly brilliant warm mix of tropicana and psychfolk.
Crows London-based fourpiece Crows, who played their first show outside the UK earlier this year, has made it a habit of sweeping audiences off their feet with their hypnotic sounds. Their intensely dark psychedelic garage rock seems to effortlessly build to an inevitable climax,
which they deliver with such energy that you can only stand baffled or join in on the madness. Their stage presence is equally sleazy as it is invigorating. But what else can be expected from a band that rehearses with the lights out?
Cut Hands
William Bennett has always had a sweet spot for African sounds and rhythms. Also during his time with the iconic noise outfit Whitehouse, aimed at creating “the most extreme music ever recorded�, he openly discussed his fascination with Africa. For his Cut Hands project, Bennett uses highly aggressive Ghanaian and Congolese percussion, which he eagerly collected over the years. The sound resembles something between a pounding machine and a voodoo ritual, like a musical dance-off between the ancient and the modern.
Daniel Norgren
Swedish singer-songwriter Daniel Norgren used a set of home built instruments to record his debut album Kerosine Dreams, which gained him a loyal fan base of folky blues rock enthusiasts. Essentially a oneman band, Norgren regularly performs alone but also has a full band to back him up whenever he feels the music could use full instrumentation to better convey its meaning. His stripped down repertoire is reminiscent of early blues and gospel, but can also prompt hints of garage rock in some of its rougher and expressive parts. Whichever the case, his repertoire is honorable and heartfelt throughout. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 17
Dean Blunt Dean Blunt is one of today’s most elusive artists, hands down. Just when you thought you had a grasp on Blunt and his music, he completely turns things around and slips away. Opening a concert with a 10-minute sound sample of rain coming down is just an example of how he inspires confusion and discomfort amongst his audience. In interviews he likes to plot the most outrageous answers, so not much is known about his history. What we do know is that, as one half of the recently split duo Hype Williams and with his solo works, Blunt uses strange samples to create weirdly hypnotic electronica, sending a sensational wave of amazement through the crowd.
Dorian Concept Trio Growing up, Oliver Thomas Johnson played around with his toy Yamaha keyboard and Fisher-price tape recorder. He also played a bit of piano as a kid, but traded the instrument for playing the Nintendo when he got older. Those early exposures to music and fiddling around with electronics formed the foundations for what would later become Dorian Concept. His synth- and sampler-heavy music is an eclectic mix of jazz, funk, hip-hop, ambient and soundscapes. 18 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
If Flying Lotus brings you on tour as his keyboardist, you must be doing something right.
DJ Fitz
DJ Fitz knows more about music than you do. It’s cool dude. No big deal. If a Turkish disco diva, a Nigerian record producer, and a Brazilian cabaret dancer all got together circa 1976, Fitz would be playing their party. And he’ll play yours, too.
Dracula Legs This London-based five-piece played their first gig in April. Yes, last April that is. They’ve been winning over crowds and critics since, with some venues so tightly packed that the door staff had no other option but to leave people out in the rain. Canadian vocalist Artur is a born frontman, with songwriting which resembles Nick Cave, while the rest of the band spews viciously fearless riffs in the same ballpark as King Tuff and Black Lips. A deceivingly tasty but lethal combination for sure.
U
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Dr. John & The Nite Trippers Starting his career as a session musician in the ‘50s, Dr. John combines New Orleans style rhythm and blues with jazzy funk, blues and psychedelic rock into something he calls “voodoo music”, a style for which he received multiple Grammy Awards. His debut album Gris-Gris is still considered a masterpiece; an album that immediately established Dr. John’s cult status in 1968. Although guitar seemed his primary instrument early in his career, he was forced to focus on the piano instead after he nearly lost a finger in a gun accident defending one of his bandmates in the ‘60s. As a representation of his New Orleans heritage and fascination for that culture, Dr. John puts on complex stage shows inspired by voodoo religious ceremonies. With this, his character Dr. John & The Nite Tripper was born.
Einstürzende Neubauten With almost 35 years on the record, Einstürzende Neubauten is surely one of the most persistent yet ever-changing industrial acts Europe has to offer. In their early days most of their repertoire was constructed of guitar noise, metal-on-metal percussion, powertools and undecipherable vocals. However, they soon outgrew this style of industrial music and over the course of a dozen studio albums, live records, and scored theatre pieces have helped pioneer a more avant-garde form in which improvisation, industrial/non-traditional instrumentation, neo-classical influences and idiosyncratic songwriting merge into something completely authentic. Einstürzende Neubauten will be performing their newest work of ‘Lament’ at Le Guess Who? 2014.
22 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Ela Stiles There’s something astonishing that happens to music when you strip it of its instrumentation. In a world that’s conditioned to expect what we know, and to listen for elements in music that we’ve heard before, a bare voice can suddenly strike hard through its simplicity. A single vocal track doesn’t leave any room for frills for the artist to hide in. Ela Stiles released her unconventional a-capella debut album earlier this year, and from the moment it kicks in it won’t let you go until she lets out her last breath.
Federico Albanese
He rediscovered his love for the piano and started working on his own project, scoring documentaries and films with airy and cinematic piano pieces.
Go Go Kill
Part of Club 3voor12/Utrecht With the use of banging live samples, dirty riffs and a captivating front woman, Go Go Kill make dark indie-noiserock inspired by acts like QOTSA and NIN. With Zoë Bhikharie as the vocalist this local band has a surefire way to catch and maintain your attention, with her use of live vocal effects, delays and vocal looper.
Part of Denovali Nights The multitalented Federico Albanese took a wild path of musical exploration before deciding to create fragile contemporary classical piano pieces. As a child he studied the piano and clarinet before rock music took over his life. During his teens he played in several bands as a bassist and self-taught guitarist, becoming one of the leading figures of Milan’s underground scene. While he was working as a prop man at film sets he began to truly appreciate the connection between music and images, and became interested in composition. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 23
Greylag The Greylag goose is a majestic animal. It’s the wild bird that all domestic geese originate from, and is typically the last species to migrate after it sits back and watches the others leave one by one. There’s a parallel there with the Portland based folk trio Greylag, who have travelled from all over the US to find each other and ultimately settled down to determine their own pace. They combine rustic, rootsy acoustic folk with modern electric rock. On some songs they gracefully
take flight as they build it up from quiet to loud, while on others they deliberately keep it small and harmonious.
Grup Ses Beats With so many Grup Ses Beats mixes and projects that can be found online, it seems nearly impossible to think that it’s all the work of one man. But it is. With deep knowledge of Turkish music and electro culture, Grup Ses Beats takes snippets from old Turkish movies and obscure psychedelic rock from the ‘70s,
Greylag 24 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
and mixes this with contemporary electro and hip hop sounds.
Hauschka When Volker Bertelmann first discovered the piano while attending a Christmas church service at the age of eight, he was directly blown away by the instrument and took piano lessons for the next ten years. When he started writing music as Hauschka years later however, he abandoned the traditional strive for academic perfection and drew inspiration from modern electronica. He is known to adopt a ‘prepared piano’ technique, in which he uses ping-pong balls, rubber bands, pieces of leather and other materials to alternate the sound of the instrument, so it becomes a playful art installation.
artist David Ellis to create interactive sound sculptures and has worked with artists like Paul Duncan, Bear in Heaven and Prefuse 73. His rich background and unconventional taste for sounds has resulted in a unique blend of Latin psychfunk-folk that is completely his own.
Hieroglyphic Being Being active in the sprawling Chicago house scene since the 1990s, Hieroglyphic Being a.k.a. Jamal Moss dedicates his life to the adventurous, sound-scaping electro underground both through his label ‘Mathematics Recordings’ as his own music. His tracks often feature subtle African influences in its beat patterns, while with his melodies he likes to experiment with hypnotic techno loops and hints of noise.
Helado Negro Helado Negro is just one of the many names that multifaceted creator Roberto Carlos Lange goes by. Inspired by the rich cacophony of the urban South Florida city life that he grew up in, it is no surprise that Lange developed an early fascination for anything that can create sound. As a wellrounded and accomplished artist, Lange has previously collaborated with visual
Helado Negro Le Guess Who? Program Guide 25
Homeboy Sandman
Iceage
Following his heavyweight-boxer -turned-lawyer father, Homeboy Sandman went to law school before dropping out one semester short of his degree to pursue a career as an MC. He is praised for his melodic flow and brilliant lyrics, turning his cascading spurts of words into a resonating instrument. His lyrics are often playful and witty, and narratively grievous when he needs them to be. Some call him the best lyricist around, with both the wordplay and the musical flow keeping you obsessed for more.
When Iceage caught the world by surprise with their 2011 debut album New Brigade, much was said about their surprisingly young age, their messy live shows and how they seemingly exploded out of nowhere. Deemed the protégés of punk anno present-day, Iceage have outlived and outperformed their own hype with 2013’s self-produced follow up You’re Nothing. They’ve learnt how to emphasize their brilliant hooky songwriting without compromising in power or intensity. Sounding rowdy as ever they’ve also become more and more undefinable with a third album on the way.
Iceage 26 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Jameszoo live ft Ravael Vanoli & Gideon van Gelder Dutch producer-beatmaker Jameszoo finds it hard to stay within one specific genre. He spearheads the future of Dutch wayward electronica with his freeform and ultra-wet mix of hip hop, jazz, exotica and silly child-like samples, which has earned him spots playing alongside Modeselektor, Questlove, Gold Panda and many more. He’s a self proclaimed egocentric musician, making music just for himself and taking no interest in what other people think. Both weird and wonderful, Jameszoo creates a thematic amusement park of sounds and deliberately doesn’t hand out maps at the entrance.
John Lemke
Part of Denovali Nights Originally from Berlin, John Lemke is an electronic and ambient musician currently based in Glasgow. He started his career as a composer and sound designer for indie films, theatre and animation, and a broad range of TV and film productions. In his work as a solo musician, he uses his experience as a film composer to create emotive
electro-acoustic compositions with vocal textures, rhythms, abstract guitar and prepared piano segments. While exploring the sounds of field recordings and hand crafted beats, Lemke bends genres by making the deeply moody danceable.
Jozef van Wissem
Dutch composer Jozef van Wissem studied the lute in New York City together with Pat O’Brien, and is one of the most celebrated musicians in his profession. The lute being mostly associated with medieval music, van Wissem bridges the 17th century with the contemporary. He draws inspiration from the repetitive patterns of minimalism while staying loyal to traditional lute playing techniques. He’s also no stranger to using field recordings and cut-andpaste methods to create a meditative avant-garde form of contemporary classical music.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 27
Maarten Vos & Greg Haines This year, Maarten Vos is musicianin-residence at Gaudeamus. Vos is a classically schooled cellist who experiments with electronics like Max/ MSP, Supercollider and Ableton. Gaudeamus offers him the possibility to work with British composer/musician Greg Haines. Vos feels a connection with Haines in both musical taste and expression. Both use traditional and acoustic instruments (piano, cello) in combination with (live) electronics. This work, which was developed in a joint residency early August in Berlin, features the combination of cello, keys and electronics. The composition is built around spacey ambient textures and minimalistic melodies, in which extended playing techniques will be used.
Mac DeMarco Certainly one of indie rock’s most charismatic and likeable goofballs, Mac DeMarco uses a $30 guitar he bought when he was 16 to write jangly pop jingles in his “jizz jazz studios”, i.e. the space under his bunk bed. Off-kilter pop is a term regularly used to describe his music, and this sense of something undefinable 28 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
lurking beneath the surface, ready to tip the breezy pop songs off balance, is something Mac implements in his homemade videos as well. In a recent documentary highlighting the release of 2014’s Salad Days we are treated with Mac’s whimsical personality, but also get to see the tender love and devotion he puts into personally cutting his own vinyl.
Lucrecia Dalt Using many different ways to produce sounds live on stage, like guitar, bass, computer, midi controllers, voice and percussion, Lucrecia Dalt blurs the line between a recording and performing artist. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Dalt in the studio, on stage or a live recording. With loops of atmospheric melodies as her fabric, she interlaces layer upon layer to create stunning auditive landscapes that breathe abandonment and encourage inner self exploration.
Mdou Moctar Mdou Moctar is a Tuareg singersongwriter from Niger, who rose to local fame after some of his songs went viral through the Sahel region’s cell-phone and memory card trading networks. His songs about love and peace struck a chord with people there, and have led to Mdou becoming a high-profile wedding performer throughout Niger. His first album, which was never officially released but found its way to the people anyway, features heavy auto-tuning, digital drum beats and the distinct guitar playing style that the Tuareg have become known for. His live performances are usually a hypnotic, quite psychedelic experience.
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Norberto Lobo
Nouveau Vélo
While Norberto Lobo is often referred to as a guitar virtuoso, his most admirable skill is that he doesn’t only does insane finger-picking, but also knows how to turn it into lovely multi-layered songs with a very harmonious melody and song structure. His Portuguese background is certainly audible in his music, but is never so overly omnipresent that the music loses its broader appeal. Lobo’s songs aren’t just a very skillful execution of technique, but above all a melancholic joy to listen to.
Deep in Holland’s inlands, far away from all of the tourist attractions and bestknown cities, is where one of the finest underground bands our country has to offer originated. Without the creative pollution of big city distractions, their rural provenance proved to be the perfect backdrop for them to steadily develop their ‘healing pop’ sound without having to account to anyone. Without sacrificing the reverb-drenched charm of their previous EPs, their recent debut full length establishes a more clean and isolated pop sound, while thematically deep and full of self-reflection.
Norberto Lobo Le Guess Who? Program Guide 31
Ogoya Nengo & The Dodo’s Women’s Group During Le Guess Who?, Ogoya Nengo will do one of her first performances outside of Kenya. Born in the 1930s in a small village at the shores of Lake Victoria, she soon joined the socially critical Dodo singers, a genre and community which is in danger of vanishing. Ogoya became the rave of her time, singing to great chiefs, warriors and even colonial officers and missionaries. Despite Ogoya being a legendary Kenyan folk artist with a career spanning over three decades, little people outside Kenya have had the chance of ever hearing her and her ensemble. 32 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Ought From Montreal’s blossoming underground scene comes Ought, a group of four who have been living and playing together since 2011. As Rolling Stone put it: “Four young men on the verge of a complete breakdown and/ or total transcendence; four decades of art-rock refracted into something weird, brilliant and new.” When the band caught the eye of Constellation Records, the label was ‘instantly hooked’. The band’s first full-length LP (2014) showcases a frantic version of vigorous, hook-heavy post-punk infused with vocalist Tim Beeler’s infectious intensity.
Owen Pallett
Anyone who has tried it even once will agree that the violin is an incredibly hard instrument to get the hang of. Realising Owen Pallett has studied classical violin from the age of three and wrote his first composition at 13 is astounding. Seeing
Pallett on stage using just his violin and a loop pedal to build elaborate harmonies is a mesmerizing sight to behold. Being not just a singer-songwriter in his own right but also a composer for various string sections, Pallett has collaborated with many of indie pop’s finest such as Arcade Fire, Beirut and Grizzly Bear.
Parkay Quarts aka Parquet Courts For a band that’s often been portrayed as a group of slackers, Parkay Quarts (a.k.a. Parquet Courts) are certainly energetic. A hasty, paranoid sort of energetic even. The little time they don’t spend touring, they usually spend writing and recording new songs for their next release. After a limited cassette release of their debut album, Parkay Quarts somehow stomped out their follow up over the course of just three days. Keeping the relentless bundle of energy intact, they have proven on their third LP Sunbathing Animal that they now know how to control and dose their intensity: one moment these Brooklyn punkers slap you around the face with fierce rhythms, while sluggishly strumming their guitars the next.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 33
Paus
PC Worship
With a bold mixture of processed guitars, exotic rhythms and electronica, PAUS is a hard-hitting progrock band from Portugal. Their style is positively influenced by the band members’ previous projects, since they all come from ex-hardcore bands. They put the same amount of energy into PAUS, resulting in an unforgiving improvisational exploration of the term experimental rock, mixing it with kraut and math influences. The use of two drummers playing simultaneously on a siamese drumset on centre stage has earned them an explosive live reputation.
No, PC Worship is not the stage name of an aspiring DJ or new rave electro band. It probably couldn’t be further off. PC Worship is a twisted, grungy chameleon of a band from Brooklyn that seems to organically get away with anything they set their teeth in, and even be hella good at it. Be it psych, sludge, drone, blues or anything in between, PC Worship does it all, often at the same time or within one song. A lot of their songwriting is based on improvisation and the exploration of the bizarre. If you begin to wonder whether you’re listening to their record at the wrong speed, you got it just right.
PCPC Parquet Courts and PC Worship have joined forces for a relentless New York noise-rock confederacy called PCPC. Born from a long history of touring together, the two bands knew they shared something special, a toxic connection that screamed long and hard to be explored. PCPC is a ferocious powerhouse, a supergroup of the NY underground that operates solely on solidarity and the urge to create something new. 34 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Perfume Genius Mike Hadreas, alias Perfume Genius, discovered the need to write music after he moved from New York to his mother’s home in Washington State. The grim and isolated environment that he found himself in, drove Hadreas to compose fragile piano compositions that hit hard through their humility and honesty. With dreamy, echoing vocals and meandering piano parts his music is the perfect remedy to a gloomy November afternoon, as you close your eyes and forget about the world around you. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 35
Peter Walker Nearing 80 years in age, Peter Walker was 22 years old when in 1959 he decided he wanted to dedicate his life to music and playing live. During the mid-’60s he was an integral part of the Greenwich Village folk scene and he developed a life-long fascination for the Eastern raga sounds when he attended a performance by Ravi Shankar in San Francisco. Those influences give his music an eerie psychedelic undertone. Walker would disappear from the radar in the early ‘70s, as he wanted to raise his family. But he was never able to completely put down the guitar, even traveling to Spain to submerge himself in flamenco culture. In 2007 Walker was persuaded to return to performing in public, welcomed back as an inspirator for a new generation of folk enthusiasts.
Plan Kruutntoone Formed in 1991, Plan Kruutntoone is a Dutch band renowned for singing in both Dutch and Serbo Croatian and playing all over Europe. For ‘Als Alles Er Af Is/ After the Harvest’, in maybe their purest form yet, the band is a trio again, at times using hardly more than an old sewing machine to accompany banjo, bass and 36 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
vocals. Their impressionistic music is stripped-down and heart wrenching, estranged and beautiful all at once, a sober autobiographical poetry put to sound.
Rebel Up Self-described “Sounds from the Global Underground”, Rebel Up is a Amsterdam/Brussels/The Hague based collective of DJs and artists that aims to bring more diverse global styles and raw, organic sounds to the dance floor. Their style is a mash of sounds that features Arabic roughness, amplified African rhythms, Latino cuts, Asian psychedelica, Balkanized mestizo and gritty electronics, transforming the dance floor into a beautiful biotope of the best exotic sounds our world has to offer.
Rodion G.A. Rodion G.A. are without doubt one of music’s best-kept secrets. Formed in 1975, Rodion G.A. would become one of the most innovative bands in Romanian musical history. The Romanian underground loved the band for their spaced-out mix of progressive rock and psychedelic synthesizer sounds. The vast record collection of founder Rodion Ladislau Roșca, locally crowned “King Of The Records”, contained many releases unavailable in the region and played a huge part in the development of the band’s sound. After the group disbanded in 1987 they avoided any public appearance until Romanian blogger Luca Sorin fished them out of oblivion, opening up opportunities for the legendary group to re-emerge and finally get the recognition they deserve. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 37
Rooie Waas
Sebastian Plano
Part of Club 3voor12/Utrecht Dutch for ‘red haze’, Rooie Waas is in a league of its own. This trio delivers Dutch pleas about boredom and the discontent of everyday life, wrapped in electronic noise. Their lyrics are incredibly witty and socio-critical with a sense of humor about them. But don’t let the language barrier scare you off: their raw noisey sound, tripwire-beats and vocal delivery make for a fascinating performance.
Part of Denovali Nights Embracing the modern world we live in while looking for inspiration in the past, Sebastian Plano is a pioneering classical musician who uses electronic elements to enhance his neo-classical compositions. His music is filled with miniature dramas, as instruments and sounds are added and dropped, the tempo raised and lowered, and the mood is changed to create a melancholic storyline. Intimate, quiet moments organically lead to vast soundscapes of strings and electronic percussion.
Ryley Walker With seemingly effortless ease does Ryley Walker pluck away on his acoustic guitar, channeling the spirits of the folk heroes and troubadours who came before him. With lush piano and string arrangements to back him up, he has started a personal counter-campaign to unwind after he decided that the Chicago experimental noise music scene no longer suited him. Walker now has a more laidback and folk-driven approach to making music, and we can only be grateful for that.
38 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Selda feat. Boom Pam Known as ‘the bitter sound of Turkish people’, Selda is a folk music singer, composer and political activist. She started her career in the 70s, with her first two singles about political struggle and the demands of the working class selling over 1 million copies. Her psychedelic reinterpretation of traditional Turkish folk songs as well as her own criticizing protest compositions have lost Selda her passport and caused her to be repeatedly imprisoned during the 70’s and 80’s. During Le Guess Who?, Selda will be back in Utrecht after fifteen years. In the 80’s she played in the Netherlands for the first time, in Tivoli Oudegracht, and in 1990 she performed at RASA. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 39
Sharon van Etten
Sharon van Etten
She Keeps Bees
Although Sharon Van Etten doesn’t come from a particularly musical family, being the daughter of a computer programmer and history teacher, she has quoted her parents’ vast record collection as an early source of inspiration to get into music. As a family they would visit concerts together, and Sharon learned to sing harmonies when she joined church choir in elementary school. Though she’s not a very religious person, it was the feeling of a room full of people singing together that changed something in young Sharon. In high school and university she taught herself to play the guitar and started writing songs, silencing rooms in drunken bars ever since.
Jessica Larrabee met Andy LaPlant while she was barkeeping in Brooklyn, and during off-hours was recording her album in her bedroom with just a computer and a microphone. Larrabee played in different bands before, but initially started She Keeps Bees as a solo project. After she met LaPlant, he helped her to finalize the album and later joined the band when Larrabee taught LaPlant to play the drums. Being a guitar and drums duo, and with one of the best voices ever according to Sharon van Etten, they are fierce and hard-hitting at times while fragile and soulful the next.
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Sleaford Mods
Son Lux
Imagine a damp English pub with a minimalist punk band playing constantly looping lo-fi drum beats and pounding bass patterns, with a frenzied frontman spewing a slur of verses that holds the line between rap and spoken word. Sleaford Mods sounds a lot like that, except it’s not a band but a duo. After four years of doing it all by himself, using pre-recorded beats and samples, mastermind Jason Williamson joined forces with DJ Andrew. This opened up the opportunity for Williamson to focus his attention completely on his vocals and lyrics, and solidify the overall development as a band.
During his time as a university student of piano and composition, Ryan Lott a.k.a. Son Lux first experimented with writing for dance choreography. It was during that time that he developed an ear for grand operatic compositions, an element that still has its place in his recent solo works. Using his voice and almost microscopical samples he builds hip-hop inspired beats and orchestrated electronical arrangements. While his debut album took four years to write and record, he finished his sophomore album in just 28 days. Although this was a major challenge, it seems to have been a pivotal experience for Lott as a songwriter, as he has released another full length album and a collaboration EP with Lorde since.
Sleaford Mods Le Guess Who? Program Guide 41
St. Vincent
St. Vincent
Steve Gunn
Annie Clark picked up on the life of a professional musician when she learned to play the guitar and worked as the tour manager for her uncle’s band during her teenage years. Later she would go to the Berklee College of Music and release an EP with a couple of fellow students before dropping out. She joined Sufjan Stevens’ touring band in 2006, and released her own debut album a year later. Unexpected success with critics and mainstream recognition followed, and while she’s not afraid to explore many different sounds, styles and instrumentation, there’s always her soothing voice to guide you through her intricate songwriting.
As is the case with many great musicians, Steve Gunn wasn’t particularly interested in music in the beginning. Until he was given tapes to listen to by his older sister. He soon wanted more, and via punk, rap, and hardcore in high school, to psych, folk and Indian classical music as he grew up; Steve was always on the lookout to broaden his horizon. The same devotion drove him to become an increasingly proficient guitar player over the course of his 15 years being a career musician. His many collaborations (amongst others in Kurt Vile’s Violators) and solo efforts have made Steve Gunn into a well respected artist with a sound of his own, reminiscent of methodically dismantled blues.
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MON NOVEMBER 24
MON DECEMBER 1
TUE NOVEMBER 25
TUE DECEMBER 2
broeder Dieleman
ร lรถf Arnalds
THU NOVEMBER 27
WED DECEMBER 3
King Tuff
Adrian Crowley Lamb FRI NOVEMBER 28
Merchandise
+ Sleep Party People SAT NOVEMBER 29
Anonymous
@ Paradiso Noord, Tolhuistuin
Portico
The Wands
THU DECEMBER 4
Sun Kil Moon FRI DECEMBER 5
Dans Dans
THU DECEMBER 11
Songhoy Blues
SUN DECEMBER 14
Wampire
TUE JANUARY 20
Cymbals Eat Guitars @ Paradiso Noord, Tolhuistuin
16 - 23 JANUARY
Kraftwerk
The Catalogue 12345678 in 3D
SUN FEBRUARY 1
White Fence @ Bitterzoet
TUE FEBRUARY 3
Alvvays
WWW.PARADISO.NL
Suuns & Jerusalem In My Heart Suuns hardly need an introduction. Their dissonant art rock is widely renowned for their unparalleled implementation of dark electronic elements and paranoid drone-noise which, especially in a live setting, completely washes over you and fills the room. Together with long time friend Radwan Ghazi Moumneh of Jerusalem In My Heart they rented a studio for seven days for a collaborative session, resulting in a set of vibe-laden songs full of heavy analog synths, Arabic influences and emotive electronics. The recordings were laid to rest for a full year, before two shows in 2013 and a final rework of the album in the summer of 2014 kickstarted the project back to life. Their live show, which varies from soothing and slightly disturbing to enthrallingly vigorous, is not about playing the songs note for note but more about capturing the excitement those initial sessions. 44 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Sväva
Tape
Part of Club 3voor12/Utrecht With a band name that is the Swedish word for ‘floating’ you immediately get a frame of reference of what to expect. This young band from the north of the Netherlands creates atmospheric dreampop with electronic drumbeats, airy guitars and vocals, and occasional explosions of sounds.
With hypnotic repetition, subtle layers of melody, tasteful interludes of ambient noise and field recordings, Swedish trio Tape blend acoustic instrumentation with electronics to craft a beautiful, film-like listening experience. In most of their fragile compositions, drums are absent but seldom missed. The tracks are naturally light and float upwards. It takes a lot of skill and confidence for a group of artists to play so few notes, letting the music organically breathe and evolve.
Tabanka It’s basically impossible to keep your feet still with Tabanka, a Cape Verdean funana style group from Rotterdam. Formed in 2006 after a bet, this formation exists completely of family and friends. They are inspired by established Cape Verdean funana artists like Américo Brito, and use a mix of spectacular show elements and traditional exotic instruments to give their own, eruptive take on the genre.
The Vaselines Formed in 1986, The Vaselines released just two singles and one album before they split in 1989, in the same week as they released their album. The band made a strong impression, but could nonetheless have easily faded away if Kurt Cobain didn’t obsess over them. They shortly reunited in 1990 to open for Nirvana as a one-time thing. After a few incidental reunion shows mid ‘00s, The Vaselines finally returned for a second studio album in 2010, and brought guest musicians Stevie Jackson and Bob Kildea from Belle & Sebastian on board for their tour in support of the album. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 45
The Walking Who
Tomaga
With elements of folk and country subtly present, The Walking Who are a psychedelic rock band best enjoyed with your eyes closed. Often drenched in reverb, the guitars are equally present as they are unobtrusive, even sparse at times. The Walking Who ride a jam-like wave, seemingly unaware of the world around them as they float away nodding their heads to the muffled drum kicks.
Born out of two musician’s boredom with the established, conventional approaches to making music, Tomaga sounds like an interstellar spaceship that’s spun out of control. Using modular synthesizers, contact microphones and junkyard percussion, they create trembling rhythms and extended tones that transcend both the artist and audience beyond their limits. As they sporadically incorporate elements of free jazz, the drum/synth duo ripples through the time and space continuum like it’s business as usual.
Thug Entrancer Armed with a small arsenal of vintage analog drum machines and synths, experimental musician Ryan McRyhew left Denver for South Chicago in 2011. There, in the epicentre of the creative melting, is where McRyhew’s monniker Thug Entrancer was born. His lengthy compositions are often quite dark, with ambient sounds layered over hypnotic, endless beat patterns. The chirps, squeeks, arpeggios and noises coming from his analog synths are what makes the listener fall deeper and deeper into McRyhew’s universe.
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Torn Hawk If you’ve ever watched any of Luke Wyatt’s videos (like the ones he made for ITAL for instance), you know that his video productions are extremely glitchy and are the closest thing to a bizarre ‘80s VHS collage you’ll ever see. Torn Hawk is Wyatt’s alias for making music that sounds like outof-time artifacts. Just like what led up to his “video mulching” technique, Wyatt found that he was getting tired of the endless music editing options of computers. Instead, he bounces his mixes to tape, which become flat and ‘locked in’: safe from the interactive workspaces and undo-functionalities, ready to be messed around with.
Trans Am Trans Am’s music can be described as post-rock that deliberately breaks with the traditional conventions of rock music. Their minimalistic approach to songwriting and heavy use of electronic sounds makes it sound quite robotic, even danceable. Their self-titled debut was produced by John McEntire of labelmates Tortoise. Although a vast distance separates Trans Am’s albums, all of them are concerned with an extreme, somewhat humorous reorientation of the clichés and conventions of rock music, primarily through either technical (exaggerated displays of skill) or instrumental deviation. Together with contemporaries such as Tortoise and
Stereolab, Trans Am shows off whole new ways to look at rock music.
TSU! In between his busy schedule with alternative rock band Ricochet, psychedelic pop duo OAK, and Canadian band Esmerine, James Hakan Dedeoglu somehow found time for a solo project of his own and named it TSU!. Hakan started the project in 2001 and recorded his first album in the city where he was born and raised, Istanbul, in 2012. His folky instrumental songs are very atmospheric, creating an intimate and melancholic atmosphere.
Trans Am Le Guess Who? Program Guide 47
tUnE-yArDs
A self-described “patchwork of sound snippets”, the unique signature of tUnEyArDs is accomplished by creating a drum loop layered with vocals, ukulele, bass and a colorful palette of found sounds. Their debut album BiRd-BrAiNs was completely self-recorded, produced using a hand-held voice recorder and released on recycled cassette tapes and as a pay-what-you-want digital download. The surprisingly soulful mix of sounds gradually found its way to the hearts of music lovers around the world. Now, five years later, tUnE-yArDs has collaborated with producers Malay and John Hill, best known for their work with M.I.A., resulting in a more accessible and focused third full-length.
uKanDanZ Inspired by traditional Ethiopian songs, uKanDanZ is an explosive musical hybrid of styles which, as the name suggests, 48 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
are made to dance to. With guitar, bass, drums and tenor sax they occupy a vibrant place somewhere between rock, improvised jazz, noise and Ethiogroove. Front and centre is charismatic vocalist Asnake Guebreyes from Addis Abeba, chanting Ethiopian soul melodies that transcends the highly energetic music to unheard places. They deliberately cross all traditional musical borders, creating something new and unique while at the same time staying true to the origins of the genres they magically melt into one.
Viet Cong
The slightly lo-fi recorded songs of Viet Cong can at times be noisy and aggressive, but certainly show a sharp ear for atmospheric pop melodies. Masterminds Matt Flegel and Mike Wallace, formerly of Canadian bands Women and Lab Coast respectively, began working on ideas for songs while touring through Europe as Chad Vangaalen’s backing band. By inviting additional band members from different projects they were previously involved with, they have made Viet Cong into a full-fledged band with a diverse though distinct sound ranging from jangly pop and psychedelic folk to bouncy garage rock.
Vintage Voudou DJs Like a modern-day musical tale of Indiana Jones, the Vintage Voudou DJs Alex Figueira and Edo Bouman literally travel to the far ends of this globe in search of long-lost treasure. They are Amsterdam’s finest dealers of rare exotic vinyl from the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s, operating from a tiny record shop in the infamous red light district.
White Lung In early 2007, a few young creatives of Vancouver, Canada were deeply discontent with the lack of venues in their area with an interest in noise and experimental music. They transformed the basement of an old fish processing factory into The Emergency Room, a recording studio/venue/exhibition space for the local underground. White Lung, an unforgiving punk band fronted by female vocalist Mish Way, was one of the bands that managed to acquire widespread acclaim as one of the standout bands emerging from this scene. They play their loud, vicious melodies and piercing hooks with undeniable vigor.
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
Mariam Wallentin and her husband Andreas Werliin together form the Swedish duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums. Mostly consisting of his unconventional drumming and her powerful voice, they make experimental pop, with almost spiritual qualities. Some guitarists say the best notes are the ones you don’t play, leaving room for melodies to breathe. The same goes for the music of Wildbirds & Peacedrums, who know just how to create a surprising beautiful serenity through minimalistic instrumentation.
Wolvon Part of Club 3voor12/Utrecht Wolvon gives comfort to those in need. Their post-noise infused rock has the amps permanently locked in overdrive with loads of sustain, as the reverberated vocals and pounding drums propel the songs forward. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 49
Mouth to Mouth curated by M. Gira (Swans) Michael Gira, main force behind the mighty Swans, curated a very special three-day program for Le Guess Who? 2014, entitled Mouth To Mouth. In Gira’s own words: “Mouth to Mouth is what we hope to be a yearly festival, focused on disparate music and genres. Artists are chosen based on their ability to resuscitate, set fire to the air, or to mesmerize. All of the performers chosen I find personally to be compelling in this regard. The goal: joy!” 50 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Baby Dee Classically trained harpist Baby Dee didn’t record her first album until she was nearing 50 years of age. This nightclub sensation first experimented with life as a street performer in the ‘70s, but decided to earn a living as the organist for a Catholic church in the Bronx. After ten years it was time to return to the life of a performance artists and she joined the Coney Island Circus Sideshow and Kamikaze Freak Show as an accordion playing hermaphrodite. She never thought of becoming a recording artist until her songs found their way to David Tibet (Current 93), who encouraged her to record an album.
Ben Frost Inspired by a surprisingly diverse array of influences, Ben Frost takes elements of
minimalism, black metal and destructive noise to create his own intense blend of these genres. His sound has evolved increasingly electronic and drone-like, completely encapsulating the listener in a throat grabbing alternate reality. Steering clear of comfort, he finds satisfaction in making music that feels dangerous. That’s probably the reason why his latest album A U R O R A was for the most part written in the war-torn eastern region of Congo.
Carla Bozulich After being part of the LA punk scene in the ‘80s, playing with bands since she was 15, Carla Bozulich (also known as Evangelista) gave up drugs and alcohol in her early twenties to go into more experimental musical directions. Via different bands and projects involving industrial dance and alt-country, she finally ended up releasing her solo debut in 2003. It was an experimental take on Willie Nelson’s country classic Red Headed Stranger, which featured Nelson himself as one of the collaborators. On Bozulich’s 2014 release Boy she captures all of her past musical endeavors, resulting in an intriguing and hauntingly experimental record. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 51
Father Murphy Father Murphy are a mystifying duo hailing from northern Italy. Over the last years they have released three albums and a near overkill of EPs and limited edition releases, on which their sound has evolved from psychedelic pop to a much more woozy and darker tone. Frantic chants mixed with whispers cover ill-defined religious themes such as enlightenment through self-injury. With both male and female vocals, white noise, drones and indistinct toy instruments, the whole experience seems to be designed to get you in a state that’s disturbingly awkward, like observing a dark ritual you weren’t supposed to see.
Jenny Hval Multidisciplinary artist Jenny Hval grew up in the ‘80s Oslo, where the hopeful feeling of androgynous pop got her into playing the keyboard. Also an academic writer/journalist, she moved to Australia to study creative writing at the University of Melbourne where she wrote her thesis on Kate Bush, before returning to Norway to release her debut EP in 2006. Various published articles, novels and a total of four albums, two of which as her moniker Rockettothesky, have 52 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
earned Hval the reputation of delivering a very consistent but complex artist profile. In her music, Hval’s soothing voice flows and echoes with the mystical beauty of a Norwegian fjord at the break of dawn.
Leafcutter John As a programmer of his own music software and builder of his own electronic equipment, John Burton a.k.a. Leafcutter John knows exactly how to get the sounds he wants. He uses samples, even live samples, of everyday objects and processes them to create mesmerizing electronic compositions. In his more recent works, his roots as a folk musician have found a more prominent place, giving way to the guitar and piano layered with ambient sound samples.
BESTKEPTSECRET.NL
music, art & performance festival 10 – 11 april 2015 rotterdam motelmozaique.nl
Okkyung Lee
Silver Apples
Classically trained cellist Okkyung Lee uses classical methods in combination with extended techniques to develop her artist’s voice and vision. She delivers a contemporary cello performance where noise and jazz go hand in hand with composition and improvisation. Lee’s unique style makes her an artist in high demand to collaborate with, having worked with Carla Bozulich, Laurie Anderson and Thurston Moore amongst others.
With electronic drones, throbbing rhythms and electronic melodies this duo from 1967 was far ahead of its time. They allegedly used all of their hands, knees, elbows and feet to tinker with the 86 controls needed to record their debut. After releasing a follow up a year later, they mysteriously vanished from the face of the earth. Then suddenly, decades later in 1996, they resurfaced into a world more accustomed to electronic experimentation and finally got the critical acclaim they deserved.
Prurient
Prurient is the one-man noise project of Dominick Fernow (also known as Vatican Shadow). As one of the most influential names in the field of noise, his puristic anti-technology approach is unusual and outstanding. With microphone, recorder and amplifier being the only electrical components in his setup, he creates all his sounds by using his vocals and banging objects together. Scrap metal and found objects are recycled into installations and musical instruments.
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Sir Richard Bishop Guitar virtuoso Sir Richard Bishop has released almost 100 albums and tapes since 1981 with his three-piece outfit Sun City Girls, and somehow still finds the time and inspiration to pursue a solo career as well. Drawing from a worldwide palette of sounds and sources, he pays homage to the great folk musicians of the middle east, Africa, India and Asia. His skill, speed and natural urge to improvise is dazzling to say the least and leaves you wondering how one man can create such rich compositions using just an acoustic guitar.
Savages / Bo Ningen ‘Words To The Blind’ Words The The Blind is a collaborative experiment-turned-album by Savages and Japanese avant-rock band Bo Ningen. The idea was inspired by the Dada movement, which during the first World War aimed to make sense of the disordered world through sounds and simultaneous poetry. In a similar way Savages and Bo Ningen have created a thematic album consisting of one 37-minute track loosely based around five chapters. The bands perform simultaneously in the same room, feeding off each other and creating a dynamic in which the individual musician is inferior to the composition as a whole.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 57
Swans With the fittingly titled Swans, band leader Michael Gira combines majestic beauty with a fearsome temper. With a sluggish slave boat rhythm he chants his audiences into bedeviled oblivion. After 15 years of spreading their bleak and brutally violent mixture of industrial post-punk and experimental noise rock, they went on an indefinite hiatus in 1997 and reformed in 2010. They released three studio albums since, including this year’s magnum opus To Be Kind.
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Victor Herrero During his childhood, Victor Herrero lived with Benedictine monks in the El Valle de los Caídos monastery west of Madrid, where they taught him traditional Gregorian singing. Around the same time as he was traveling all over Europe to perform with the Abbey Boys Choir, he learned to play the classical Spanish guitar. In his teens he formed a psych-rock band with reasonable success, but when they broke up after eight years Herrero went back to his roots of the Spanish guitar. Like an eternal guardian of the traditional ‘Musica Andaluz’, Herrero combines the folkloric and classical with contemporary influences.
Wire Although Wire has its roots in mid-’70s British art school/punk rock scene, they quickly distanced themselves from that to go on a more experimental path. Throughout their career they have constantly reinvented the band’s sound and have made it their work ethic to go on an indefinite hiatus in between albums until fresh new ideas came to them. As a result, different solo projects have had an impact on Wire’s constantly altering direction, making them almost
impossible to categorize. Their sound ranges from guitar based post-punk to electronically sequenced compositions.
Xiu Xiu Listing a diverse array of influences including David Lynch films, Asian percussion music and the books of Elfriede Jelinek, Xiu Xiu have released over 50 artistic works. Their music is very diverse and polarizing, ranging from indie rock masterpieces and electronically oriented dancefloor fillers to brittle folk gems. The disregard for conventional pop structures and vocalist Jamie Stewart’s extraordinary sound and themes tend to make Xiu Xiu a hate-it-or-love-it kind of band where beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.
Xylouris White
Giorgos Xylouris and Jim White join forces as Xylouris White, in which they mix traditional Cretan music with rock patterns. Xylouris is a Greek lute player, while White plays shows all over the world as the drummer of Australian instrumental rock band Dirty Three. The unique combination has spawned a cultural melting pot unlike anything else with traditional Cretan melodies driven by relentless drum patterns. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 59
24-Hour Dronefest Le Guess Who? hosts the world premiere of 24-Hour Dronefest, initiated together with New York’s Basilica Hudson. The project will cover the entire spectrum of drone during 24 non-stop hours of live performances and installations. This program will be streamed live on the website and app of Concertzender.nl. “Sound as Experience. Sound as Installation. Sound without Time. To honor sound in a space that enhances it and long form time schedule that allows it to expand. Seems like something we, Lovers of Sound, should do to honor the making of sound. A 24 Hour Drone is to be an all encompassing experience.” – Melissa Auf Der Maur / Basilica Hudson NY
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7090 Performing La Monte Young & James Fulkerson Part of the Gaudeamus Drone Experience As part of the 24-Hour Dronefest, two very special compositions will be performed live by Dutch trio 7090. Bas Wiegers, Koen Kaptijn and Nora Mulder will use their skills as violinist, trombonist and pianist to recreate ‘Conscience of Sound’ by James Fulkerson and ‘Composition 1960 #7’ by La Monte Young. In ‘Conscience of Sound’, one note unobtrusively blends into the next, stretching and transcending the tiniest tone to fill the room with sound. The second composition, La Monte Young’s ‘Composition 1960 #7’, is possibly the longest piece of music with the fewest notes. Consisting of just two alternating tones, the only instruction is “to be held for a long time”.
Ashraf Sharif Khan As the son of sitar master Ustad Muhammad Sharif Khan Poonchwala, Ashif Sharif Khan inherited a musical tradition that has been passed on from father to son over hundreds of years. With his endless strive for perfection and technical expertise on the sitar, he
believes music is a one-on-one expression of feeling. It’s always Ashraf Sharif Khan’s goal to capture the mood that is in his heart at the moment of performing and transmit that to the audience through his music, creating a magical symbiotic relationship between the artist and his crowd.
Carla Bozulich and John Eichenseer For Carla Bozulich’s 2014 album Boy, she collaborated and travelled all over the world together with John Eichenseer (aka JHNO), writing songs as they went. After being an integral part of the LA punk scene in the ‘80s, playing with bands since she was 15, Carla Bozulich gave up drugs and alcohol in her early twenties to get into more experimental musical directions. John played all of Boy’s keyboards, viola, loads of electronics and drums, and even managed to squeeze in an Armenian duduk flute. Both Bozulich and Eichenseer also collaborated on TSU!’s second album, who are also scheduled to play the festival.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 61
Dirk Serries Belgian-based artist Dirk Serries has the ability to seemingly slow down time until a phase of transcendence sets in. With 30 years of experience in creating and experimenting with ambient music, that’s no surprise. Serries deliberately avoids using any hooks in his music, but instead returns ambient music to its origins by creating subtle, delicate soundscapes. Armed only with his Gibson Les Paul custom guitar and a modest collection of pedals, Serries challenges us all to rethink the meanings of sound and silence.
Emptyset
Exploring the visceral borderlands of noise and music, Emptyset is on an everlasting quest to find the sweet spot where the two overlap. Their debut album was primarily 62 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
created by feedbacking sine waves through an array of analog equipment, resulting in a pounding hypnotic drone. Emptyset is known for experimenting with other art forms to create a symbiotic relationship between different elements, like process based image making and electromagnetism. One time they mike’d up an entire eerie Victorian mansion, utilizing the building’s unusual spaces and architecture to transpose the sound of their recordings.
Gareth Davis & Shivers Performing Peter Ablinger, Robert Ashley & Alvin Lucier. Part of the Gaudeamus Drone Experience Together with his trio Shivers, which includes members of Machinefabriek, clarinet player Gareth Davis will perform the drone-compositions ‘Weiss / Weisslich 21’ by Peter Ablinger and ‘In Memoriam Esteban Gomez’ by Robert Ashley. After releasing an album of “body-horror sludge jazz” earlier this year, Gareth Davis and his Shivers are the perfect musicians to recreate the alienating and desolate effects of these pieces. As a solo artist, Gareth Davis will also perform work of one of America’s most important composers of the 20th century, Alvin Lucier.
Heartsnatcher
Julianna Barwick
With over 15 years of experience as a drummer in various bands and genres, including an extensive two year tour with psychedelic wonder kid Jacco Gardner, Jos van Tol decided to make an introvert solo album. Using computer programming techniques and dissecting the physical hardware of the computer, he aims to research the possibilities of learning to play the computer as a complete instrument, like you would learn to play the guitar.
Julianna Barwick gracefully creates delicate, mostly wordless soundscapes with the power of her angelic voice alone. She begins most tracks with a single vocal expression, and then uses a loop station and sometimes a piano or percussion to build layer upon layer, creating a rich, dreamy piece of ambient folk. You can almost see the dew settle on the bushes and windows as her airy sounds float away on a subtle cold morning breeze. Many of her songs are ‘written’ on the spot as they sort of happen, impulsively improvising and recording at the same time.
House of Cosy Cushions Last hour live performance Founded by Dutch-English musician and visual artist Richard Bolhuis, House of Cosy Cushions is an ever-changing music collective with a set of core players and additional musicians drifting in and out. Their mostly instrumental tracks are an exploration of the dark and ominous, while also leaving space for melancholic beauty. Whichever form their songs take, they’re extremely atmospheric and deeply personal compositions which resonate with emotional integrity.
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Machinefabriek & Fox String Quartet Part of the Gaudeamus Drone Experience Rutger Zuydervelt, also known as Machinefabriek, is a Dutch sound artist who takes elements from ambient, drone, found sounds and modern classical compositions to create a detailed filmic listening experience. For his latest project, he wrote an experimental composition called ‘Halfslaap II’, which uses set structures for electronics and strings. Together with the Fox String Quartet, led by cellist Maarten Vos, the musicians partially reject these structures and constantly challenge each other to add nuance and dynamics to the play based on improvisation. Hyde Park provides unique visuals to the concert.
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Naomi Sato Part of the Gaudeamus Drone Experience Naomi Sato, originally from Japan, studied the saxophone and sho in Tokyo and Amsterdam. The sho is a traditional Japanese mouth organ, mostly used in court music called gagaku. The instrument consists of 17 bamboo pipes, and has a distinct sound that vaguely resembles a church organ. Especially for her performance during the 24-Hour Dronefest, Sato prepared a composition in which tradition and innovation meet.
Raime London-based duo Joe Andrews and Tom Halstead take notes from genres such as industrial, techno and dubstep to create their own brand of deep, dark ambient. With bleak, metallic sounds, brutal percussion and spacious soundscapes they paint a mental image of a dystopian, post-apocalyptic future in which everything is desolate and pitch dark. It’s no surprise then that they’re signed to the Blackest Ever Black label.
Stephen O’Malley Stephen O’Malley is probably best known for being one of the founding members of drone metal band Sunn 0))), as well as an impressive list of other bands and collaborations within the experimental genre. His solo work is a lot more electronic and mellow. His compositions usually build up slowly and sound stretched out, with one tone or melody constantly meandering through the entire length of tracks. You’ll find yourself in a dreamlike state, losing any sense of time listening to his music.
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Steve Hauschildt Steve Hauschildt is probably best known as part of the drone/ambient trio Emeralds, which split in 2013. Drawing comparisons to a scientist, Hauschildt was always the quiet one tinkering with electronics while the others put on a show. The synthesizer is a vital component in his ambient drone compositions which are heavily influenced by ‘70s-era kosmische musik. Last year’s ‘S/H’ is his third solo release, and with 37 tracks it takes you on a gorgeous 2,5 hour voyage through time and space.
Tim Hecker
Early on in his career Tim Hecker debuted as techno producer Jetone, before losing the connection he once felt to that genre. Delving into abstract sound collages proved to be a much more rewarding experience and within a year he debuted once more, this time with an ambient release under his own name. Hecker, a digital acoustics and software student, uses computer generated noise and found sounds to create elaborate soundscapes that become pulverizing live. He’s a master of time and composition, as he can make a seven minute track seem short while making a one minute track last forever. 66 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Wilbert Bulsink & Koen Kaptijn’s Staring Contest Part I-IV Part of the Gaudeamus Drone Experience Wibert Bulsink and Koen Kaptijn take you on a hypnotic journey that descents down a long and mesmerizing road, only to faintly change direction as it meanders through the landscape. ‘Staring Contest I-IV’ is a project of short hallucinogenic films, consisting of four chapters, in which the viewer can completely lose himself if desired.
William Basinski Although William Basinski is a classically trained clarinetist and saxophonist, he specializes in using this background in combination with tape loops and drones. By playing short loops back against themselves, he experiments with feedback loops and in the process developed his meditative and desolate sound. Basinski spent most of the ‘80s creating an extensive archive of samples, extracts and found sounds. Some of these tapes weren’t played back until decades later, when they apparently degraded in quality. Instead of throwing them away, Basinski liked the dystopian feeling of slowly crumbling tape and was able to put together an album with it before they became unsalvageable. These recordings became the four-part masterpiece The Disintegration Loops.
Austin Psych Fest presents The independent, annual Austin Psych Fest will host a program on the opening night of Le Guess Who? 2014. Austin Psych Fest focuses on a broad range of psychedelic music; the acts they present on Thursday November 20 are Loop, Tamikrest, The Growlers, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Fumaรงa Preta.
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Fumaça Preta When Portuguese-Venezuelan producer and percussionist Alex Figueira asked some old friends to join him in the small analog studio he built in the back of his house, magic happened. A diverse collection of musicians coming from Portugal, Venezuela, Brazil, U.K. and The Netherlands recorded a 7-inch single right there and then, breaking all musical boundaries. Fumaça Preta brings together elements of tropicalia, psychedelic grooves, voodoo music, funk and lots more. The result is unprecedented in its liberating exploration of trippy, tropical psychedelica.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard What started out as a group of seven friends/roommates who bonded over their love for Pavement and Thee Oh Sees, has in a few years grown to be one of Australia’s most prolific and hard working bands. Not only have they released four full-length albums in just two years, they have recently returned from touring with enough new material to release two more LPs in the next months. That’s good news to any fan of blazed psychedelica full of fuzzy guitars, chirpy drums and hallucinative explosions.
The Growlers With one of the most recognizable sounds around, Californian band The Growlers are one in a million. Their mix of surf rock with country, psychedelica and lo-fi garage pop could be the perfect soundtrack to any hazy surf compilation or Mexican spaghetti western movie. Earlier this year lead singer Brooks Nielsen broke his heel while stagediving at Primavera, but that didn’t stop the band from getting back on stage the very next day. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 69
Loop Taking inspiration from krautrock and psychedelic drone rock, Loop was formed in 1986 by vocalist/guitarist Robert Hampson. Their sound is characterized by muffled vocals, shrouded in layers of echoing guitar riffs and unforgiving, repetitive drumming. Hampson once claimed he knew only four chords at the time of forming the band. Apparently that’s all you need to create hypnotic, distorted droning soundscapes. Loop split in 1991, having released three studio albums before reforming in 2013, with the original line-up of their third album.
Tamikrest
Using a mixture of traditional eastern and western instrumentation, including electric guitar, bass, youyous, and different percussion instruments such as the djembĂŠ, Tamikrest is a beautiful example of what can happen when cultures clash. Growing up in Mali in an era plagued by civil war, having lost many friends and relatives, this band was formed when a group of 20-somethings decided it was time to forget about weapons and spread awareness through music. Initially they only played traditional Tuareg music, but slowly began incorporating western styles into their desert blues, inspired by the likes of Hendrix and Pink Floyd. 70 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
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Benjamin Booker If Jack White hand-picks you to open for him on tour, and even brings you back on stage during his own set for a show-closing guitar duel, you’re probably doing something right. Benjamin Booker is doing everything right. He has incorporated his Southern heritage of soul and gospel into his raw blend of blues inspired garage rock. Somewhat of an overnight sensation, Benjamin Booker’s self-titled debut album came out last August, mere months after its recording. It’s an epitome of his focus and youthful energy, taking inspiration from sounds of the past while being splendidly current and urgent.
Chuckamuck With gloriously sloppy live shows and irrepressible energy, Chuckamuck have completely reinvigorated the Berlin indie scene. The unapologetic young group of Berliners sing poppy garage rock songs about girls, hitchhiking to Amsterdam, roller coasters, pinball, and swimming pools - all in German. With their youthful, explosive energy they have been called the German Libertines, but that doesn’t really do them justice. They implement surfy licks and new wave guitar sounds with the vigor of garage rock, into something that feels undeniably fresh and current. Simply put: they rock hard as hell.
The Coathangers All-girl band The Coathangers started as kind of a party joke. They played a one-off house show when they could barely play their instruments, somehow completely nailed it, and were immediately asked to open for The Hiss based purely on the strength of their performance. Eight years later, they’re still going strong. An old-school approach on the punk genre is imbued in both their sound and fun-loving stage presence, with deliberately simple, catchy tunes and lyrics that take a stand against the poppy Disney-dream of the early ‘90s.
Curtis Harding
Travelling alongside his gospel singing parents as a child, Curtis Harding learned an important lesson: beautiful melodies mean nothing if they lack honesty. It’s that honesty that puts the soul in soul music, the essential ingredient that can touch and transform a listener. His debut album Soul Power is Harding’s exemplary understanding of this elusive truth. Starting his career as part of CeeLo Green’s backing band, Curtis crossed paths with Cole Alexander of the Black Lips, forming the unusual Night Sun project to express their shared passion for vintage Southern Soul. At the moment though, Curtis is focussing on his solo career, with his debut album released on Burger Records. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 75
Danny & The Darleans
Deers
Danny Kroha, founding member of legendary Detroit punk outfit The Gories, has never been shy of new projects and bands after The Gories disbanded. While also performing solo, drummer Richie Wohlfeil stumbled across Kroha in a stripped-down folky blues phase and suggested a jam session with bassist Colleen Burke. The trio clicked and Danny & The Darleans was born, adopting heavier sounds with bluesy garage rock as their basis. They’ve been described as a party band with playful and unrestrained tunes, based on the philosophy that garage rock is the folk music of 60’s teenagers.
Deers is an all-girl lo-fi garage pop band from Madrid, Spain. They’re originally a duo, who have expanded into a fourpiece for live shows. The warm, sunny climate of their hometown shines through in the form of surfy guitar licks and sweet lollypop melodies. With their carefree enthusiasm they are effortlessly charming, but also prove they know how to write infectious garage pop songs. Their twangy tunes are bright and breezy, with a cheeky undertone that conveys they’re all in it for the kicks.
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Far-Out Fangtooth Some of Far-Out Fangtooth’s early explorations with extensive noise jams and jangly pop are still apparent in their current output, although they’ve undeniably set out on a much darker path. They flirt with bleak goth-like sounds and imagery, while the hazy psychedelic undertone of 2013’s Borrowed Time LP provides the listener with an unexpected drone-like buzz.
The Garden Not many bands invent a genre and name it too. Twin brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears, a bass and drums duo from California, have done so. Their raw, seducing mix of post-punk, lo-fi, synthpop, neo-punk and hip hop elements is called Vada Vada and is as unstable as it is intriguing. “We didn’t know what else to call it so we made up our own genre for it”. They regard their band as an experimental art project, saying that if they weren’t experimenting they’d be just another rock band. Which is probably the last thing on their mind.
The Intelligence Creative mastermind and founder of The Intelligence Lars Finberg began making four-track recordings in his garage in
1998, using his son’s drumkit, drowning everything in hefty layers of reverb and distortion. A prolific slur of singles, splits, EPs, albums and compilation appearances later, their sound (or rather: recording preference) has moved away from the lofi DIY aesthetic of their earliest releases, without compromising in intensity. The Intelligence cleverly combines post punk with pop hooks, which results in an irresistible array of songs that capture the youthful energy of garage with the intellectual satisfaction of post-punk cleverness.
Juan Wauters
Having left Uruguay to find work in New York, Juan Wauters did find work in a factory, but found no satisfaction in the dull working life. As a distraction he turned to music, and within two years after immigrating he founded garage rock band The Beets. Ten years and several albums later, Wauters released his toned down solo debut NAP: North American Poetry earlier this year. This folky garage pop gem with psychedelic undertones is a refreshingly lighthearted joy to listen to, and somehow a perfect fit for all four seasons.
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King Tuff
Liquor Store The all-American goofballs of Liquor Store could not have chosen a more fitting bandname. Their sonic take on punk-infused classic rock is a direct derivative of their inebriated New Jersey temperament, with song titles such as “Free Pizza” and “Jerkin’ It”. Every single one of them is a hooky anthem that celebrates good’ol American values like cheap beer and screaming Yeah Buddy! at the top of your lungs. At one time in the band’s history, they had as many as seven guitarists on stage at the same time. Now they’ve settled for three instead, like any classic rock band should.
Arguably rock & roll’s most charismatic geezer, Kyle Thomas adopted the King Tuff alter ego sometime in his teens and it has taken on a life of its own since. His permanently mischievous smirk subtly hints at the idea that Tuffy knows something you don’t. He probably made out with your sister backstage before the show. But don’t let that put you off. He’s incredibly gifted at writing one sunny garage anthem after the other, luring you in with his infectiously whining sing-along vocals, and he will permanently win you over with guitar hooks you wish you’d written. 78 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
The Miseries The Miseries is the newest project of Dutch singer-songwriter Tim Knol, who is best known for his more delicate pop songs. With The Miseries he trades in his sensitive side for garage punk rock songs about girls and parties. Not surprisingly, the idea for the band came when they were completely drunk, and they decided it was about time to do something with their love of punk. They cranked up their amps and laid down the first tracks the very next day. With the distortion turned on, volume at 11 and a much raspier voice, this is Tim Knol like we’ve never heard him before.
The Monsters
The Parrots
Formed in 1986 in a small town in Switzerland, The Monsters are one of most trashy bands to have risen from that mountainous country. All the elements of a primitive rock’n’roll band are there: fuzzed out guitars, rolling basslines and pounding drums. But The Monsters don’t utilize any old drum set: they use a socalled clone-drum, two drum kits sewn together by their kick drum, operated by two drummers hitting the same bassdrum from each side. This makes The Monsters an unbelievably energetic live band, one that just kicks in and flips open to cut you like a Swiss army knife.
The Parrots is a fresh-from-college young garage-surf trio from Madrid, set to cause a commotion in the garage-surf-punk scene this year. NME highlighted them as Buzz Band of the Week, and many other international media following closely. The live video of Dee Dee Dangerous, filmed on stage in Amsterdam’s Red Light District clearly shows a band that knows how to have fun playing great music.
Movie Star Junkies
Movie Star Junkies started as an Italian drum-and-organ blues duo. They tested their new line-up during a monthlong tour through Europe, playing in clubs, squats, galleries and streets. They like to stir things up a little every now and then, by adding a saxophone player for some free-jazz influences during their earlier tours for example. Their songs can be quite dark in nature, sounding like a sinister rock’n’roll marching band. Lately they have drawn inspiration from early ‘70s rhythm and blues, with a more intense focus on strong songwriting.
Thee Oops With a collection of songs ranging from just over 40 seconds to just under a minute and a half, Thee Oops are certainly one of the fastest smashshit-up bands on the bill this year. Their violent take on ‘80s hardcore punk gets your blood boiling and ears obliterated. It’s not quite clear why they play so rough; maybe it’s subconscious rebellion towards their Sardinian background, or compliance towards violent Italian mobster stereotypes. But more likely it has something to do with sheer ironic fun and lots of beer.
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Wreckless Eric With a career that spans 37 years, 17 albums and countless collaborations including Yo La Tengo, The Monkees and Die Toten Hosen, Wreckless Eric has been named one of the most important pop icons of the last forty years. Before punk rock emerged in the late ‘70s, Wreckless Eric was already a familiar face in the pub rock scene that preceded it. When punk finally arrived, Eric was instantly attracted to its DIY sense of freedom and became one of the earliest artists to be signed to Stiff Records. His wild drunken antics, both on stage and backstage, made him an eccentric figure with irresistible charm.
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Yonathan Gat The story goes that Yonatan Gat (former Tel Aviv based garage band Monotonix guitar virtuoso) found the inspiration for his solo project while hearing Igor Domingues soundchecking at a festival in Portugal. The African-influenced punk drums and percussion he heard that faithful day, together with Gat’s guitar shredding and Middle Eastern resonance, make his solo work an explosive and otherworldly mix of sounds. NY Press adequately labelled it as “Jimi-Hendrixmeets-Godzilla”, and for its genre-bending qualities that’s probably the closest you’ll get to finding a descriptive categorization. zZz
Founded in 2000, zZz is a Dutch duo from Amsterdam who make dark, danceable rock. That might not sound very exciting, however their setup is what helps to create their remarkable sound: the band consists solely of an electric church organ and drums. Within a week after finding the organ they formed the band and made their first appearance playing at an underwater party. Their debut album was released in 2005, followed by a two-year tour around the globe, during which zZz became known for their brutal and intense live performances and their massive sound.
Le Mini Who?
Saturday November 22nd, the thriving neighbourhood around the Voorstraat will be transformed into a downtown festival. A substantial part of the Dutch underground and several international acts will be showcased at numerous venues, varying from record stores, clothing shops, art galleries to old cellars, small bars and lunch rooms. In addition, cultmarket Le Bazarre returns on the Neude square and a new street will be introduced: the first shows of the day will take place at the Oosterkade. And yes, it’s all for free! 11:30 – 13:30: Oosterkade between De Helling and Ledig Erf 13:30 – 18:00: Voorstraat next to Neude square For more information visit facebook.com/leminiwho or grab the Le Guess Who? Treasure Guide. 82 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Le Bazarre
On November 22nd, the seventh edition of cult market Le Bazarre takes place at the Neude square. Wind your way through stalls of vintage, design, vinyl, books and graphic art; nose around for awesome second hand clothes and great regional products. You can also grab some food at one of the mobile kitchens on-site while you’re at it. Entrance to the market is free. 12:00 – 17:00: Neude square facebook.com/lebazarre
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Plein 6 Just Like Your Mom Catering When this D.I.Y. tour support company is not hauling amps or burning rubber, they serve up vegetarian and vegan meals for artists, crew and music-fans alike. So, if you’re looking for tasty, affordable and healthy food, just like your mom used to make, look for these committed folks at Plein 6! Expect a daily pop-up restaurant with fresh food, loads of snacks and goodness.. They’ll take good care of you!
The Village Coffee & Music Angelo and Lennaert both started out in the music industry. They enjoyed a decent cup of coffee every once in a while. A few years ago their dream became reality when they opened their own little place in de Voorstraat. Why are they regulars at Le Guess Who? Because we also like great music and nice coffee! Look for The Village at Plein 6 in TivoliVredenburg.
Merchandise We have some very special merchandise available for you at the Ticket & Info Area and Plein 6 at TivoliVredenburg. Besides different festival merchandise, Swans’ Michael Gira has designed a limited edition t-shirt (edition of 100) for the Mouth to Mouth program. We also have some awesome Fuzzland merch in store for you, including t-shirts, sweater and... Fuzzland guitarpedals! That’s right.
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Exhibitions “From Where I Am: A Decade of Touring Bands In Istanbul” Photo exhibition by Aylin Güngör Between 2004 and 2014 Aylin Güngör made photographs of bands on tour in her hometown Istanbul. The bands explore the city and hang out in their free time between concerts. Güngör’s work includes photos of artists playing Le Guess Who? this year such as Carla Bozulich and tUnE-yArDs. Aylin Güngör is also the founder and publisher of İstanbul based music, movie and art magazine Bant, published since 2004.
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Le Gig Poster
An International Gigpostershow Le Gig Poster is an international silkscreen gig poster exhibition initiated by Joris Diks, silkscreen artist from Utrecht (Handprinted Stuff). Over 45 national and international artists show recent work, established in cooperation with the depicted artist and pop venues. A few artists made a special silkscreen print for acts performing at Le Guess Who? 2014. Most posters are for sale.
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Subbacultcha! Photo exhibition
A selection of photographs was published in Subbacultcha! magazine over the course of the past year. Commissioned as independent photo shoots and shot mostly overseas, these are the results of unlikely encounters Subbacultcha! has orchestrated between photographers and artists about to play a Subbacultcha! show. Of all the shoots they have set up over the course of the year, these images have stuck with them the most. While they don’t ask their photographers to conform to a specific aesthetic, there is a certain tenderness to all these images, an understanding gaze that allows for something very personal to be revealed about the artists photographed without sacrificing their persona. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 87
Le Guess Who? is a TivoliVredenburg and Distorted Channel production
TIVOLI VREDEN BURG Funders
Media partners
Creative partners
12 & 13 DECEMBER 2014 PAARD VAN TROJE DEN HAAG
ATARI TEENAGE RIOT CHICKS ON SPEED THE HARD WAY RICH AUCOI JAMBINAI
THE KYTEMAN ORCHESTRA CASE MAYFIELD BLACK MOON THUS:OWLS & MANY MORE WWW.STATE-XNEWFORMS.NL
Le Team Who? General & creative managers
Le Mini Who? & Le Bazarre
Johan Gijsen Bob van Heur
Rinke Vreeke Jacob Hagel Alice Nell
Marketing Barry Spooren Jessica Clark Breg je Wigersma Veerle Luijten
Festival Copywriting
Artist production & logistics
Rinke Wils & Koen van de Meent (Triomf)
Gijs Cals Nienke Bodewes
Assistant production Jorinde Hiddema Sophie Kemperman Cynthia Kruissink
Peter Beijk
Production & Decoration
Concept/Artwork Robert Adriaansen (Loudmouth)
Website Jerry van Heerikhuize (Loudmouth)
See you in 2015! Le Guess Who? May Day 2015 May 23 Le Guess Who? 2015 November 19 – 22