Index 04: Festival Map 06: Tickets & Info 07: Venues 10: Artist Biographies 84: Food & Merchandise 85: Le Mini Who? 86: Le Bazarre 88: Films & Live Interviews 89: Le Gig Poster 90: Modulation 91: For MamboViewPoint 94: Partners 95: Le Guess Who? Team
Welcome Nine is a mystic number. Sacred number of reflection, completion and fulfillment. So much has been accomplished with LGW which we never imagined possible, we find ourselves in our ninth year, dedicated to approaching our vision with fresh eyes after so many personal highlights. This year is deep, and we are very proud to say so. There has been a renewed focus on redefining our ambitions for the festival, and this edition represents just that. A renewed depth of research and a broadening of the boundaries while re-engaging with the community, the audience and the artists we hold in such high regard. We have gone out of our way to include more sound in every way possible. It may be said that in this showcase there are no headliners, and in point of fact, this is a statement of intent- to re-examine the way in which we listen, by providing a context appropriate to the greatness and integrity of the artist. Artists such as Annette Peacock, who will be featured in a theater setting as her stature demands; a legend, regardless of how well-known she may be for a larger audience. This year brings more jazz and nonwestern music than ever before, with giants Bennie Maupin and Kamasi Washington, T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou and Os Mutantes plus a special program of oud and bazuk music from the Middle East, ‘Between Two Crescents’. Without a doubt, this is in no small part thanks to the truly inspiring and intellectual experience of working closely with Sunn O))), our featured curator this year. This collaboration has proven so very meaningful, and perfectly appropriate for our subtle Year Nine. From Icelandic sound-scape and an invocation and blessing of Russian throat-singing, a dance and percussion performance by the great Keiji Haino, free entrance to the Central Museum, free jazz legends and a film program, this edition is food for thought. Oh yeah, and some serious rock and roll. Magma! Pop Group! Evil Superstars re-united, a psychedelic evening with Jacco Gardner, and label events from Constellation Records and Numero Group. Almost a decade in and still so much to explore. Just remember, Le Guess Who is an odyssey- so find something new and you’re in exactly the right place. Have a good trip, and see you on the other side!
Bob & Johan
Lucasb rug
Bike Rental Laag Catharijne
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 5
Tickets & info + wristband pick-up We are very 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. Please note: you can not pick up a wristband at other festival venues.
Opening hours Ticket & Info Area in TivoliVredenburg: THURSDAY: FRIDAY: SATURDAY: SUNDAY:
17:00 – 00:00 17:00 – 00:00 17:00 – 00:00 12:00 – 21:00
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-todate information, info on all printed matter is subject to change. For the latest updates please visit our website; www.leguesswho.com.
6 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
1. TivoliVredenburg
Vredenburgkade 11
2. EKKO
Bemuurde Weerd Westzijde 3
3. Moira
Wolvenstraat 10
4. ACU
Voorstraat 71
5. RASA
Pauwstraat 13A
6. Kargadoor
Oudegracht 36
7. Janskerk
Janskerkhof 26
8. Stadsschouwburg
Lucasbolwerk 24
9. Theater Kikker
Ganzenmarkt 14
10. Leeuwenbergh
Servaasbolwerk 1A
11. Louis Hartlooper Complex
Tolsteegbrug 1
12. De helling
Helling 7
13. LE:EN
Heuveloord 140
14. 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. Some performances might be very loud. Please provide your own ear plugs or get them at venues like TivoliVredenburg, De Helling or EKKO. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 7
23 NOV 28 NOV 1 DEC 3 DEC 6 DEC 13 DEC 3 FEB 4 FEB 6 FEB 11 FEB 13 FEB 13 FEB 29 FEB 5 MRT
FIDLAR Emily Wells Brad Mehldau Trio Bombino Sophie Hunger Mew Daniel Norgren AURORA Behemoth + Abbath + Entombed AD + Inquisition Tortoise Youth Lagoon The Residents Grimes Avishai Cohen (Trumpet) QUARTET
8 Le Guess Who? Program Guide kijk op www.tivolivredenburg.nl voor ons actuele programma
Mega Record & CD Fair November 21 & 22 Jaarbeurs, Utrecht Meet & Greet John Sinclair (MC5) pre sale | dealers list | plan of the fair etc.
WWW.RECORDPLANET.NL
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 9
A Place To Bury Strangers Frequently dubbed “the loudest band in New York”, A Place To Bury Strangers’ crude, ear-splitting noise rock strikes like some rousing excavation, rather than defeatist head pounding against concrete walls. The band’s 2007 booming self-titled debut LP embodied the initial blast, unraveling new dim-lit sonic pathways to explore further. Ever since, A Place To Bury Strangers have been employing their caustic The Jesus & Mary Chain-ish noise textures into different musical environments. The group’s latest LP Transfixiation for instance, captures a more rhythmbased sound than ever before, actively recalling some of Suicide and Joy Division’s darkest, harshest and heaviest moments.
10 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Adrian Sherwood at the Controls x3 feat. Disappears London dub icon Adrian Sherwood’s acumen as a producer is celebrated within and beyond the parameters of Jamaican roots music. Sherwood’s cutting edge production style has put him in crosshairs with Lee “Scratch” Perry, Public Image Ltd, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode and many more. A dub purist at heart, he founded the legendary On-U Sound Records, giving rise to influential crossover-acts New Age Steppers, Mark Stewart & Maffia and African Head Charge. At Le Guess Who?, Sherwood will perform a live dub mix for Chicago post-punk powerhouse Disappears, as well as two solo sets: a classic rundown of his Sherwood At The Controls: Volume 1, 1979 - 1984 compilation, plus an immersive live dub set that showcases his latest material.
Aluk Todolo Annette Sunn O))) Presents Peacock
After being commissioned in 2008 by the BBC to write Aluk Todolo’s Sunn O))) Presents cataclysmic masterpiece a score for the Occult Rock Annette Peacock’s soundswondrous, like a volatile immersive trailblaze prestigious force lifted across recorded frommusic’s embersrich of black history has metal, krautrock marveled the likesand of David heavy Bowie, noise. Truth Eno Brian be told, andthis one-time trio from Paris, FranceSalvador collaborator may veryDalí. well be the musical Peacock once jokingly equivalent to opening told The Quietus The Ark sheof The been has Covenant. fighting Aptly her naming way backthemselves to reality aftersince ever the Indonesian taking LSD expression at Timothy for Leary’s Way Of The Ancestors Millbrook estate in the only strengthens early 1960s. Her that plunge notion. into otherworldly As you cansonic imagine, Aluk wellsprings made Todolo’s her one of influences the first artists reachtofar synthesize and beyond: her own vocals, storyteller pioneering Aleisterthe Crowleyofand realms minimalism, experimental free rock jazz, pioneers rap, classical Amon music Düül and II both psychedelic made a resounding funk along theimprint way. After on the Robert band’s decade-long Moog gifted Peacock body of work. one ofSohisindeed, Sunn O)))’s elusive prototype-synthesizers, seal of approval for she Aluk Todolo’simplementing started appearance atthe thismakeshift year’s Le Guess Who? device into her festival already should individualistic, be self- freeevident. form lingo of songwriting and composing. To hear music skip so radically across exotic new touchstones, Anna Meredith who needs reality, right? Annette Peacock In cooperation with Gaudeamus Le Guess Who? LeProgram Guess Who? Guide Program 11 Guide 11
Ariel Pink Ariel Pink’s brilliant and deliciously inane pop lampooning has made him one of the most intriguing artists of the past twenty years. Between the droll punchlines and quirky cut-and-paste hooks that embellish his latest LP pom pom, Pink’s more profound reflections have a way of hiding in plain sight. Lead single Picture Me Gone proved as much, which isn’t to say Pink has abandoned his subversive (and sometimes controversial) tendencies. Whether he comes up with nihilist disco tunes or sexually depraved nursery rhymes, Pink often manages to unnerve and charm the listener simultaneously.
12 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
In cooperation with Gaudeamus Muziekweek Last Night Of The Proms, Scottish composer Anna Meredith was able to showcase her extraordinary talents to over 40 million people. This instantly made Meredith a mainstay in British music culture and media. Collaborations vary from writing a live orchestral piece with beatboxer Shlomo to mentoring Goldie for TV Show Classical Goldie. Another cool factoid: British rock heavyweights Foals have been using her majestic Steve Reichian opus Nautilus as their entrance music. In cooperation with Gaudeamus, we’ll finally witness Meredith performing this piece and many others in the flesh.
One of today’s most unpredictable and outspoken frontmen doing whatever he wants whenever he wants on stage, that’s Atlas Sound for you. Contrary to Deerhunter’s more collaborative dynamic, Atlas Sound provides Bradford Cox an empty canvas as both a writer and a performer, with often compelling and contradicting results. Cox basically
considers his Atlas Sound “DJing, but with live-instruments instead of pre-recorded instruments.” Truth be told, the only thing written in stone at an Atlas Sound-gig is Cox’s sheer magnetism and uncanny ability to connect with his audience on equal terms.
Constellation Records Presents In many ways, art rock foursome Avec le Soleil Sortant de sa Bouche is exemplar to Le Guess Who?-curator Constellation Records’ fringe appeal. This brainchild of former Fly Pan Am bass player and composer Jean Sebastien Truchy is quite the cluster bomb of extravagant stylistics. Debut LP Zubberdust! incorporates wordless chant-singing, discordant post-punk guitars, wacky electronic textures and rambunctious afro-funk grooves, bringing to mind the work of renowned rock experimentalists Stereolab, Talking Heads and Soft Machine. Considering Avec de Soleil’s penchant for 20-minute long jam outs, they should have plenty of pizzazz left in store for their live audience as well. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 13
Baba Commandant & The Mandigo Band Baba Commandant is without a doubt one of the most individualistic and electrifying musicians in all of Africa. Baba hails from Burkina Faso, a small African country landlocked between Mali, Togo, Benin, Niger and Ghana, and this interesting demographic had a profound impact on his music. Still upholding his roots in Burkina Faso’s secular culture, Baba inevitably became enamored by the external influences of Nigerian legends Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé. Surrounded by his dynamic Mandingo band, Baba conjures a wondrous, discordant patchwork of contemporary and indigenous sounds, applying the ngoi (an ancient Burkinabé string instrument) in a modern day framework.
14 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
The Babe Rainbow While some 60s revivalist bands wear their psychedelic-themed image like a tight fitted suit, The Babe Rainbow does so appropriately: like an oversized tie dye dashiki shirt. Similar to fellow Aussies King Lizard & The Gizzard Wizard, The Babe Rainbow is a fun lovin’, gleeful bunch who feel unabashedly in tune with everything weird ‘n wonderful. The band captured some buzz two years ago with Secret Enchanted Broccoli Forest, a song as mind-expanding as its title suggests and sure to become a crowd favorite at this year’s Le Guess Who?-festival.
Bennie Maupin Sunn O))) Presents Detroit native Bennie Maupin has become a fixture in jazz history, having played on two of its absolute milestones: Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew and Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters. At the age of fourteen, Maupin became smitten by Davis’s rendition of A Paper Moon, which prompted him to study bass clarinet and sax. Working as a freelance musician in Motown, he found kindred spirits in fellow pioneers Art Blakey, Lee Morgan and Wayne Shorter before his career took
flight in New York. At the age of 75, Bennie Maupin is still seeking out fruitful collaborations with young avid jazz cats. By doing so, he inspires new generations to unshackle themselves from past conventions, much like his peers have inspired him to do the same.
The Besnard Lakes The Besnard Lakes are one of the flagship bands in a thriving Montreal music scene. The group’s billowy post-rock/shoegaze-uprush instills that sense of awe you get from trekking across some wide open,
uncharted wilderness. Founded in 2001 by guitarist Jace Lasek and and bassist Olga Goreas, The Besnard Lakes are equally adept at producing transcendental LPs as doing more subtle commissioned work. On notable project was scoring actor Mark Ruffalo’s directorial debut Sympathy for Delicious, with Ruffalo commenting: “I could see whole films in their songs.”
Bennie Maupin Le Guess Who? Program Guide 15
BIG|BRAVE Sunn O))) Presents One the finest recent acquisitions of Greg Anderson’s Southern Lord label, Montreal trio BIG|BRAVE’s unsettling sharp-edged post-rock and gritty noise outbursts feel both foreign and familiar. Offsetting their corrosive rhythmic attack is vocalist Robin Wattie’s narcotic and doleful coo. With an unstated kind of effortlessness, BIG|BRAVE’s sound teeters between chaos and serenity like some strange blend of Swans and Mazzy Star. The band’s long-awaited sophomore LP Au De Lau was co-produced by none other than Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zionstalwart Efrim Menuck.
Black Oak Kicking the Habit Presents (free entrance) After releasing a split 10” back in early 2014, Dutch songwriters Thijs Kuijken and Geert van der Velde joined forces as Black Oak. The two creative minds behind I Am Oak and The Black Atlantic have written some stunning original material together, but that’s only part of this wondrous musical 16 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
equation. Kuijken and Van der Velde avidly embrace each other’s input by breathing new life into their own respective repertoires. As a matter of fact, the chemistry between them worked out so well that Black Oak has now blossomed into a full-fledged band with a pending debut LP, titled Equinox. To put it more succinctly: two captains, one ship!
Blanck Mass There’s three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way and the Benjamin John Power way. Power once again proves himself to be a nohalf-measures kind of guy with Dumb Flesh, the second LP released under his Blanck Mass moniker. Like with premier creative conduit Fuck Buttons, Power’s Blanck Mass steamrolls the listener with a full-on assault of warped and unruly synth-based fracas. The discomfiting anatomical imagery of Dumb Flesh might leave us some clue of Power’s fortitude. This music doesn’t prompt you to dance to appease yourself or the artist’s vision, but simply because you can and damn well should. And that’s true power right there.
Bob Forrest Even cats would be envious of the many lives Bob Forrest has led. During the early 1980s, Forrest was widely known as the electric frontman of cult postpunk outfit Thelonious Monster. Forrest befriended fellow SoCal band The Red Hot Chili Peppers at the time, whose talented guitarist John Frusciante almost became a member of Thelonious Monster. After nearly succumbing to heavy drug abuse repeatedly, Forrest didn’t just sober up in 1996, he eventually became a drug counselor and activist himself at Las Encinas Hospital, inspiring many fellow musicians and addicts in his wake. As luck would have it, Forrest lives to tell about it after all with aptly-titled solo LP Survival Songs.
Bob Forrest
Bölzer Sunn O))) Presents If song titles like Coronal Mass Ejaculation or Labyrinthian Graves don’t give it away, Sunn O)))’s Le Guess
Who? endorsement sure as heck will: Bölzer’s violent jackhammer-like attack doesn’t conform to anything or anyone. For two years straight, Swiss duo Okoi “Kzr” Jones and Fabian “Hzr” Wyrsch have been steamrolling the competition with a feral and atmospheric brand of post-metal. Refreshingly, Bölzer counterpoint the arcane imagery and occult symbolism pervasive in metal culture with a more humanistic and grounded mentality.
Bully Introducing (free entrance) Alicia Bognanno may have chosen an oppressive-sounding band name, her songs arise from an underdog’s resolve. Judging by her talent for hotblooded indie rock anthems, you’d think Bognanno would be a natural at this rock ‘n roll thing. Nevertheless, she struggled finding her footing in life until she took an internship at Steve Albini’s legendary Electric Audio studio. One of punk rock’s biggest luminaries taking you under his wing is a sure fire way to get enthused about life. And as a result, Bully’s joyous debut Feels Like indeed feels like it’s full of life. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 17
Levitation Presents With their enigmatic stage presence, bizarro rock outfit Bo Ningen (Japanese for ‘Stick People’) elevated Words To The Blind, a conceptual performance piece with Savages, as the crowning moment of last year’s Le Guess Who? festival. Strangely enough, this Japanese foursome met in London a decade ago, operating within the chasms of the city’s musical landscape ever since. With a playful kind of frenzy, Bo Ningen skips base with post-punk, heavy metal, acid rock and experimental noise. Amidst all that perplexing cacophony, the band fleetingly sequesters moments of compelling beauty as well. 18 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Car Seat Headrest Blessed with a rare talent for brazen lo-fi indie rock anthems, Will Toledo’s brilliant Car Seat Headrest shares its spirit animal with the likes of Deerhunter, Guided By Voices and Silver Jews. Much like the aforementioned, Toledo’s collection of angsty, heartfelt songs reveal an oddly charming, contrarian splendor. The Seattle-based musician’s prolific output of home recordings steadily granted Car Seat Headrest exposure via pervasive media outlets like Pitchfork and Stereogum, which subsequently resulted in signing with Matador Records.
Chaos Echoes Sunn O))) Presents French metal quartet CHAOS ECHŒS passionately endorses improvisation and unconventional instruments. Technique-wise however, these pariahs remain strongly rooted in death metal, heralding it to new evolutionary plains. This is probably why CHAOS ECHŒS’ debut LP Transient presents such a mind-boggling avant-garde take on the genre, with music that embraces freeform chaos instead of set structures.
Brutal maelstroms of blast-beats and guitars aren’t the pervasive norm, but violent, sweltering surges erupting from a sinister, cavernous ambience.
Chantal Acda Introducing (free entrance) After performing with Isbells and Sleepingdog in the past, Dutch-born, Belgium-based songstress Chantal Acda’s talent for atmospheric and candid folk crystallized with her fantastic solo-debut Let Your Hands Be My Guide. This collection of arresting songs was recorded with kindred spirits: German pianist and producer Nils Frahm, multiinstrumentalist/songwriter Peter Broderick and guitarist Shahzad Ismaily (Lou Reed, Will Oldham, Tom Waits). After experiencing a special synergy with this cast of musicians, Acda invited them back to produce its exuberant follow-up, The Sparkle In Our Flaws.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 19
Sunn O))) Presents It’s quite something to behold whenever artists suddenly decide to show their teeth. Chelsea Wolfe is known for her bleak but richly embellished folk records, yet her latest LP Abyss is a complete game changer. This time, Wolfe unleashes a blight of abrasive black metal guitars, jarring industrial barrages and intense vocal spouts upon the listener. As a performer, she’s made a huge leap of faith as well: no longer veiling her appearance, but showing her full presence with impressive authority. Wolfe’s artistry revels as much in pain as it does in beauty, making her shows the perfect occasion to exorcise your own demons.
20 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Charlemagne Palestine
Christina Vantzou
Sunn O))) Presents Surely, refusenik Charlemagne Palestine’s body of work is just as inspiring, innovative and brilliant as more celebrated modern-classical peers like Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Terry Riley. In the mid-sixties, Palestine became known as The Quasimodo Of 53rd Street for his unorthodox approach to the carillon. Although the synagogue he was playing at tried to get Palestine ousted for his “cataclysmic” bell sounds, luckily, then-CBS president James T. Aubrey, whose office was stationed close to the belltower, disagreed. Ever since, Palestine has carved out a wondrous career throughout the decades, highlighted by his entrancing piano opus Strumming Music.
Fluister Nights Christina Vantzou’s utterly compelling LP No.2 (Kranky) haunts the listener like some faint orchestra in an ectoplasmic state. The Kansas-born, Brussels-based musician, visual artist and composer had an epiphany when she performed with Sparklehorse back in 2007. It was Mark Linkous who inspired her to release her first solo ambient albums after previously making up one half of minimal drone outfit The Dead Texan. Vantzou’s live shows are often epitomized by loose reinterpretations of earlier recordings, breathing new life into her electronic bedroom vignettes with organic instrumentation such as strings and woodwinds.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 21
Sunn O))) Presents Both theatrical and deeply intimate, Haley Fohr’s arresting avant-folk dirges transpire naturally rather than abiding to strictly set structures. The music’s driving force is Fohr’s beautiful, evocative singing voice, recalling Nico, Tim Buckley and Antony Hegarty. Circuit des Yeux’s latest LP In Plain Speech finds Fohr audaciously funneling her emotions outward instead of stirring them inward. Often characterized as a reclusive bedroom artist, Fohr’s current performances evoke a bright and yearning intensity that comforts and confronts the listener at the same time.
Sunn O))) Presents Having drone me tal deities Sunn O))) personally summon the God of Hellfire to this year’s Le Guess Who? festival, it’s a classic case of “Please tell us we’re dreaming”. In the late 1960s, Arthur Brown became one of the most astonishing success stories in rock history with global smash hit Fire, a song that paved the way for the likes of Alice Cooper, King Diamond, Marilyn Manson and GOAT. Simply calling The Crazy World of Arthur Brown a one-hit wonder would sell this incendiary ringmaster of theatrical rock short. As a matter of fact, Brown stood ablaze at the crossroads from where progressive, glam and psychedelic rock would eventually blossom. Just in case you’re wondering, the now 72-year
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown 22 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
old Brown bellows the words “I am the God of Hellfire” as fiercely today as when they first struck in ‘68.
Dan Friel’s music might be similar to Black Dice in the sense that it inflicts epileptic stabs of noise and distortion. Friel himself, however, insists that beneath all that racket, he essentially writes melodic pop songs. Either way, you can’t make a more universal statement than simply calling your album Life, and in some respect this notion holds true. Instead of painting an idyllic picture with melodies and sounds, Friel seems to resign to the idea that no listening experience is absolute. After all, even a pristine piece of vinyl gets compromised by sounds of traffic or birds. Instead of letting pure noise act as a trespasser, Friel ushers it into his own sonic domain with gleeful spirit.
Arbouretum is epitomized by its monolithic heavy-melodic surges, mournful sounding vocals and arcane lyrics that often reference Eastern
philosophies. Performing with the likes of Will Oldham and Cass McCombs sure has its perks, but Dave Heumann’s own band gives him free reign to explore the outer limits of country and folk. To put it more concisely, Arbouretum sounds as if Will Oldham started performing with members of Crazy Horse: stormy jamouts that are continuously at odds with Heumann’s soothing and meticulously arranged songcraft.
It’s a tremendous privilege indeed to have one of the true paragons of reggae music performing at this year’s Le Guess Who? Festival. Even if you haven’t heard the name Dawn Penn before, you’ll most definitely recognize her smash hit You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No). Initially recorded at Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One during the 60s rocksteady era, the song was given second life in 1993 by dancehall producer tandem Steely & Clevie. This not only earned Penn newfound acclaim after a 17-year sabbatical from the music industry, it granted her the required leeway to launch label Da Beat as a vehicle for both present and past material. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 23
Deerhunter Over the past decade, few bands have been as unpredictable, distinctive and consistently brilliant as Atlanta’s Deerhunter. The band’s knee jerk balancing act of cunning songcraft and untethered mayhem never sidetracks their clarity of vision. Deerhunter’s spectral masterpiece Halcyon Digest had some venom bottled up, whilst rancorous follow-up Monomania employed sound, timeless melodies beneath a junkyard of racket. A Deerhunter show often feels like a toss up: which Bradford Cox will show up this time? The extravagant court jester who provokes madness on a whim, or the brooding tunesmith who sears your insides with poised, bittersweet delivery? A trivial forecast either way, because it’s still Deerhunter all the same. 24 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Deaf Center
Death and Vanilla
Fluister Nights Deaf Center is a Norwegian ambient/ noise project founded by best buddies Erik K. Skodvin and Otto A. Totland. Skodvin and Totland’s EP Neon City and debut LP Pale Ravine became the inaugural releases of Type Records, the influential label founded by John Twells (Xela) and Stefan Lewandowski. Even though Deaf Center was hailed as one of the flagship artists of the post-classical movement, Totland and Skodvin were more preoccupied following their own creative muse. It took six more years before Deaf Center came back with another LP: the magnificent Owl Splinters was recorded at Nils Frahm’s Durton studio in Berlin, with Frahm essentially acting as a third member of the band.
Jacco Gardner Presents: Cabinet of Curiosities Death and Vanilla employs a deliciously tactile fusion of cobwebbed gloominess and stirring art rock in the vein of Broadcast, Mazzy Star and Stereolab. Unlike many contemporary bands likewise occupied with all things retro, this Mälmö, Sweden-based dream pop outfit feels truly archaic, like some ancient relic preserved in mint condition. Death and Vanilla’s most recent LP To Where The Wild Things Are gives the impression of Phil Spector, David Lynch and Henry Mancini conspiring to produce a long-forgotten pop masterpiece under the influence of LSD.
Deaf Center Le Guess Who? Program Guide 25
Deradoorian Levitation Presents Other than performing and recording with pop dissidents The Dirty Projectors, Angel Deradoorian has channeled her artistic prowess with collaborators as diverse as Animal Collective, Vampire Weekend, The Roots and Flying Lotus. Figures it was only a matter of time before Deradoorian finally molded her extraordinary talents into her own creative vision, and the results are as impressive as you’d expect. Her debut LP The Expanding Flower Planet feels like an exotic cosmic excursion, vibrant songs that simultaneously feel intimate, hypnotic and self-contained like tiny snow globe universes. 26 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Demdike Stare Sunn O))) Presents Demdike Stare is one of those special projects that makes one think of music as a collective vocabulary rather than some commodified product. Founded by Finder Keepers pundit Sean Canty and techno minimalist Miles Whittaker, Demdike Stare’s sampling-based collages of obscure field recordings, haunting ambient sounds and skeletal beats feel like some eerie score from a movie that doesn’t exist. Whittaker’s production smarts and Canty’s ear for cutting edge sounds from the past created these amorphous pieces of music that simply cannot be pinned down by a certain time or place. That almost makes the project’s occult imagery seem all too palpable, as if Demdike Stare’s sounds truly derive from some kind of spiritual underworld.
Destroyer Le Guess Who? considers Dan Bejar a staple artist for good reason. Over the past two decades, Bejar dallied with The New Pornographers and Swan Lake, but ultimately, Destroyer continues to be the primary hub for the British Columbia-based musician’s vivid songwriting smarts. Somehow,
Bejar propelled Destroyer from its oddball experimentalist heyday to the celebrated pop deserter it is today. His latest LP Poison Season is the panoramic, follow-up to grandiose masterpiece Kaputt, emblazoned with glimmers of Hunky Dory-era Bowie
Dollkraut Subbacultcha Presents In Amsterdam, Dollkraut’s Pascal Pinkert may live at the hub of the electronic dance movement, his own individualistic brand of house and techno is content dwelling around the fringes. Instead of veering towards contemporary club culture, Dollkraut draws inspiration from bygone places, sampling old movie soundtracks and show themes, exuding core aesthetics from German krimis, kung fu flicks, Italian westerns, Arabic disco and B-movies. In many ways, Dollkraut’s fantastic LP Schimanski’s Black Lullabies feels like travelling with a timemachine, experiencing history all over again with our modern day perceptions intact.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 27
The Drones
Dungen
It’s next to impossible to name an Australian group within the past fifteen years that matches The Drones’ sheer intensity and cunning storytelling. The lightning rod for the band’s sweltering and noise-ridden blues tempest is Gareth ‘Gazz’ Liddiard, whose nihilistic, bare-faced poetry makes him an apt Aussie counterpart to Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock. The Drones’ heralded album Wait Long By The River And The Bodies Of Your Enemies Will Float By earned them their overdue international break via All Tomorrow’s Parties’ home label. Despite the cutting edge nature of the music, the album won the inaugural Australian Music Prize that same year.
Jacco Gardner Presents: Cabinet of Curiosities As the creative force behind Dungen, Swedish wunderkind Gustav Ejstes traverses the realms of progressive and psychedelic rock, jazz, easy listening and regional folk with a childlike zest. Ejstes grew up in the rural town of Lanna as the son of a violin player. By his late teens, he immersed himself in hip hop and its heritage to the singular soul and funk sonics from the late 50s and beyond. Ejstes initially wanted to follow a similar path, unearthing obscure Swedish 60s and 70s LP’s that blew him away on the spot. This prompted Ejstes to abandon sampling and learn to play as many live instruments as humanly possible. With Dungen, Ejstes churns out records just as mind-expanding and adventurous as the ones he sought to emulate.
Dungen 28 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Eartheater As a member of psych-insurgents Guardian Alien, Alexandra Drewchin reaped her infamy as maimer and torturer of anything resembling a musical instrument. Her lesser known but equally arresting side project Eartheater brings an assemblage of oblique, amorphous sonic collages and transmuted avant-folk vignettes that haunt the listener like volatile spirits. Eartheater consumes itself within a misty billow of white noise that obscures all perceivable conventions and familiarities into unsettling, almost alien sounding music.
Eerie Wanda Jacco Gardner Presents: Cabinet of Curiosities With their full-length debut LP still pending, not much can be found on the mysterious Eerie Wanda, other than the gorgeous, sun-kissed Volcano Lagoon and an authentic rendition of Sanford Clark’s Still As The Night. Like fellow retro-revivalists Allah-Las and Jacco Gardner, Eerie Wanda likes to submerge in sounds from the past. Formed by singer-songwriter Marina Tadic, the group’s elementary psych
pop breathes a lush, sparkling aura that recalls Jefferson Airplane and the beatnik 60s folk rock of The Lovin’ Spoonful. Simmering at the hub of this sound is Tadic’s self-possessed Nicolike delivery.
In his salad days, Lebanon-born, Paris-based composer Elie Maalouf became a self-taught piano prodigy who developed his own distinguished style of playing. When the Vienna Philharmonic performed Beethoven’s 7th Symphony in Beirut, young Maalouf was struck by a huge wave of emotion, one that still lingers today. A true fan of music, sounds, and materials, Maalouf reconciles and transcends both Eastern and Western traditions. Wielding a buzuq (a type of lute popular in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine) Maalouf will perform a taqsim, an improvisational piece that harmonizes the intricate properties of musical notes and intervals.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 29
‘16
NEIL FINN& GLENN KOTCHE’S UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA
ANDREW BIRD
LUKE DEANE THIRD COAST ON RAGNAR PERCUSSION FILLMORE & OLAFSSON AART STROOTMAN
25.02 26.02 27.02 28.02
GRONINGEN EINDHOVEN AMSTERDAM ROTTERDAM DE OOSTERPOORT MUZIEKGEBOUW MUZIEKGEBOUW // BIMHUIS
TICKETS & INFO
WWW.CROSS-LINX.NL 30 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
DE DOELEN
COMING
TU CRAFT SPELLS 24 + LGHTNNG 11 DREAMY INDIE POP.
SU SEAN ROWE 29 + JENNY BERKEL 11 FOLK SONGS WITH A HUSKY VOICE INFLUENCED BY AMERICANA MUSIC. SU LOCATIE: KARGADOOR 06 MARK OLSON 12 (THE JAYHAWKS)
ALTERNATIVE COUNTRY MUSIC FROM THE JAYHAWS FRONTMAN.
SU DEZ MONA 13 TOTALLY UNIQUE COMBINATION OF 12 JAZZ, ROCK, SPIRITUALS, TANGO AND CHANSON.
SOON:
TH FLYING HORSEMAN 17 + BIRD ON THE WIRE 12 SULTRY, DYNAMIC, COMPELLING AND FULL OF COMPLEX RHYTHMS. FR LOCATIE: KARGADOOR 29 BROEDER DIELEMAN 01 DUTCH SONGWRITER WHO SINGS MELANCHOLIC AMERICANA IN A DIALECT FROM THE ZEALANDIC COUNTRYSIDE.
FR I AM OAK 26 UNDERSTATED AND POWERFUL FOLK 02 MUSIC FROM UTRECHT.
FR STEREO TOTAL 15 CULT DUO FROM BERLIN IS BACK 04 AFTER FOUR YEARS (EXCLUSIVE DUTCH SHOW).
EKKO SERVES BALLS! WE SERVE OUR HOME MADE MEATBALLS DURING LE GUESS WHO? VEGETARIAN (BEETROOT, CHEESE, CHICKPEA & HAZELNUT), ALBONDIGAS MEXICANA (MINCED MEAT, CORN, CHIPOTLE & SMOKED PAPRIKA) AND THE CLASSIC OWL BALLS (MINCED MEAT [50% BEEF & 50% PORK], UNION & GARLIC). FOR ONLY €7,- EACH, INCLUDING A SALAD & SALSA. IF YOU LIKE, YOU CAN ORDER A PORTION OF WEDGES FOR ONLY €2,50 EXTRA. 17H - 24H
FULL PROGRAM & TIME SCHEDULE: WWW.EKKO.NL Le Guess Who? Program Guide
31
Evil Superstars Guess what: after eleven years, alt rock heroes Evil Superstars make their return with two exclusive performances, at this year’s Le Guess Who? as well as Sonic City in Kortrijk, Belgium. Along with dEUS, these self-proclaimed Destroyers of Rock defined the 90s zeitgeist in Belgium with their genre-hopping habits and notoriously erratic live shows. The Superstars revel in theatrics much like Zappa and his Mothers, heeding an irksome tendency to lash out with deranged sonic outbursts. The Superstars’ immaculate songcraft isn’t to be underestimated: It’s A Sad Sad Planet is the sort of hook-laden classic that would make Brian Wilson green with envy.
32 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Eric Chenaux Constellation Records Presents No matter how transmuted Eric Chenaux’s revamp of traditional folk tropes get, his soulful falsetto always keeps his performances intimate and grounded, much like fellow Canuck oddball-folkie Chad VanGaalen. Hearing Chenaux’s records feels like the sonic equivalent of a Rorschach-test, with him using strange abstract noises as vivid topsoil to overlay his otherwise bare-boned approach. Chenaux has been known to experiment live with fidelity in weird ‘n wacko fashion, utilizing speakers that swing overhead, confined in jars or even inside his own mouth to explore the purview of his songwriting wits. .
Faust
It’s difficult to imagine now, but the habitually idiosyncratic Faust was once appointed by Polydor as the German equivalent to The Beatles and The Stones. In the opening sequence of the group’s highly experimental 1971 debut, faint snippets of Satisfaction and All You Need Is Love can be heard in a billow of eerie white noise, undoubtedly one of the more unruly
cases of ‘up yours’ in rock history. In hindsight, Faust is considered the most radical and mythical of Germany’s iconoclastic ‘krautrock’ movement in the early 70s. The band employs a vast patchwork of minimalist compositions and industrial textures that baffle and bewilder audiences to this day.
Föllakzoid Without question, Chile’s Föllakzoid is one of the clear-cut alpha males of the recent psych explosion: a community of like-minded bands who create repetition based rock with a specific set of rules and dynamics. For instance, their third full-length is very much informed by the unbridled Andes mountain range. Impressive as this may be, the stage is where Föllakzoid truly flexes its motorik-fuelled muscles. They completely blew us away two years ago and shall - undoubtedly - do the same at this year’s festival.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 33
Gnaw Their Tongues Curated by Terzij de Horde (free entrance) Though Gnaw Their Tongues has hardly been quiet during its hiatus, we had to wait a good three years for this Dutch nightmare machine to bring us another violent, doom-laden masterpiece. With Gnaw Their Tongues’ latest harrowing full-length Abyss Of Longing Throats unleashed upon the world, the band
Gnaw Their Tongues 34 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
has returned in full ravenous glory, offering another hellish cacophony of mangled industrial black metal, lurching deformed heaviness, twisted electronic carnage and bombastic orchestral power.
Goatsnake Sunn O))) Presents Greg Anderson isn’t just one half of Lovecraftian noise-conjurers Sunn O))), but founder of stoner rock frontiersmen Goatsnake as well. Risen from the ashes of doom rock dissidents Obsessed, Goatsnake’s downtuned, resounding guitar onslaught is the worthy successor to Kyuss in the post-stoner boom of the late 90s. At the same time, Goatsnake records have a far more sinister, primeval and downright disturbing aura. With a new LP Black Age Blues in the fold, Goatsnake still operates at the height of their powers.
Hildur Guðnadóttir Sunn O))) Presents Hildur Guðnadóttir is an Icelandic cello player and vocalist who has manifested herself at the forefront of experimental pop and contemporary music, operating as a part-time member of múm. Her solo work is often characterized by the broad spectrum of sounds she discharges from her instrument, which fluctuate from intimate simplicity to huge, majestic soundscapes. In the past, Guðnadóttir has collaborated with the likes of Animal Collective, Throbbing Gristle and Pan Sonic.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 35
Possessing a mesmerizing voice that flutters like a flame over a candle, Istanbul-based painter-turned-singer Gaye Su Akyol finds herself at the forefront of a burgeoning Turkish alternative music scene across the Black Sea Coast. Akyol’s dreamlike debut LP Develerle Yasiyorum stands at the fulcrum of homegrown orthodoxy and Western avant-garde ingenuity. The album’s an alluring, mind-expanding listening experience from start to finish, permeating authentic seventies psych rock with classical (Türk sanat müziği) motifs. Leave it to Akyol’s captivating stage aura, almost like a 1920s jazz flapper, to resolutely harmonize the somewhat erratic nature of her music.
Gaye Su Akyol 36 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Club 3voor12/Utrecht With their pleasantly foppish and ornamental brand of indie rock, The Great Communicators immediately call to mind Toronto greats Broken Social Scene. It’s no surprise that the Amsterdam/The Hague collective enlisted BSS-producer David Newfeld to produce the group’s impressive debut EP Bide Your Time. After the EP’s release in 2014, biding their time is exactly what The Great Communicators did, taking a full year to work on their highly anticipated debut album.
Introducing (free entrance) With their impressive fourth LP Comb Your Feelings Through Your Hair, it’s almost as if Grooms set out the make a jubilant mirror image of The Flaming Lips’ harrowing 2013 masterpiece The Terror. Formed in the spring of 2009, the Brooklyn-based group employs in feverish, drone-heavy alt rock sound that feels as much indebted to Sonic Youth’s serrated guitar swirls as the aforementioned Flaming Lips’ oddball psych-odysseys. And how about a fun fact for your fancy: the man now heroïcally manning the skins for Grooms is none other than Better Call Saul-star Steve Levine.
Rapper Himanshu “Heems” Suri is a man of the world. Heems first found notoriety as a member of Brooklyn hip hop outfit Das Racist with viral-hit Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. Though playful and relentlessly catchy, that song doesn’t even begin to cover the scope of Heems’ overall brilliance. After Das Racist disbanded, Heems prospered as an influential activist and artist in New York, whose work
frequently tackles issues like racial and cultural identity. His terrific and urbane document Eat Pray Thug is a compelling lament on life in post 9/11 America.
Subbacultcha Presents Some artists use their art to reveal themselves outwardly, but 19-year old Dutch producer Casimir Geelhoed’s dark ambient techno outfit HOEK communicates with his inner turmoil. Geelhoed studied composition in The Hague, but rather than applying his virtues to write classical compositions, he immersed himself into the world of minimalist electronic music. HOEK’s spooky, percussive sound resoundingly quivers the insides, giving us a potent reminder of our own fragility and futility within the cosmos’s indiscriminate rule of law.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 37
The Homesick Subbacultcha Presents Embracing the iconography of municipal Dokkum, Dutch band The Homesick crafts vibrant music and zany self-made VHS videos at a blistering pace, with unbearably catchy single Boys as their latest gem. These giddy punks turn the whimsical pop sensibilities of XTC, Deerhunter and the Postcard-bands on their head with wide-eyed charm and shrewd dexterity. Just as we’ve gotten used to brilliant debut EP Twst Yr Wrsts, The Homesick is now zealously branching out their live shows with a hypnotic motorik-driven tension.
Hooton Tennis Club Kicking the Habit Presents (free entrance) These days, you have to look extra hard to find spiritual successors to British pop heavyweights Blur, The Super Furry Animals and Teenage Fanclub. Luckily, we’ve exhumed the wonderful Hooton Tennis Club, whose gleeful, puerile garage pop envelope wry everyday observations. The band’s debut LP High Point In Cliff Town contains charmful guitar anthems 38 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
that make stumbling through life’s sequence of trivialities seem brazen and cool all of a sudden. As it happens, why worry about serving a perfect game when your songs are all aces?
Hop Along Kicking the Habit Presents (free entrance) Few indie rock records this year have been as life-affirming and empowering as Hop Along’s sophomore album Painted Shut. What began as a charming lo-fi attic project by Philly folkie Frances Quinlan became a fullfledged band, catapulting Quinlan’s disarmingly sincere songwriting wit to joyous new heights. Painted Shut reads like Quinlan’s most intimate diary entries, but burgeon and thrive like anthemic fist-pumpers. Just like that, agonizing defeat becomes true perseverance.
Ho99o9 The punishing stage intensity of New Jersey “freak rap” abomination Ho99o9 (pronounced ‘horror’) feels quite familiar. We’ve seen this kind of fracas before at a Bad Brains or Black Flag show, but usually there is some heavy duty guitar
riffage involved. Somehow, Ho99o9 astutely translate the oppressive lighting-in-a-bottle energy of hardcore punk within a hip hop framework. The entity it has ultimately become could indeed be classified as some kind of dystopian horror: abrasive, razor edged beats, sinister sampling, ghastly visuals and two possessed young men whose raps eat away at the psyche like sulfuric acid. If there is indeed a paragon of 21st Century revolt and anti-establishment, please, look no further than Ho99o9.
Housewives Housewives are the latest unruly punk-dissident Brighton label Faux Discx Records has managed to unearth. Comparable to Irish peers Girl Band, Housewives’ rabid and sinister noise rock is pretty much devoid of any palatable melody. Instead, these guys lash out their talons with scuttling discordant guitar ruckus that perpetually revs up like some machine of doom. What truly sets Housewives apart from their contemporaries is their playful proclivity towards avantjazz, minimalist compositions and Beefheartian iconoclasm.
Ho99o9 Le Guess Who? Program Guide 39
Howard Eynon
Huerco S.
Howard Eynon’s psych folk classic So What If Im Standing in Apricot Jam is one of the most coveted LP’s from the 1970s. Now being reissued forty years later, it breathes new life into a musical career that Eynon never really perceived as more than just a hobby. The Aussie songsmith’s main forte is his whimsical, dry-witted lyricism, akin to Syd Barrett and Kevin Ayers. Despite its off-the-wall brilliance, Apricot Jam ended up a commercial misfire, prompting Eynon to set his sights on acting first and foremost, even appearing in Australian cult classics such as Mad Max and The Man from Snowy River.
Brian Leeds’ brand of electronic music instills a post-modern dust bowl-like aesthetic. Tape machines, rickety synthesizers and outdated software shape the imagery of long-forgotten remnants of some dystopian metropolis burrowed beneath layers of desert topsoil. Leeds’ conceptual debut LP Colonial Patterns is a lament on a manmade world subjected to the cosmic rule of law, deliberately eroding all of techno’s striking angular features into strange, amorphous collages of noise.
Howard Eynon 40 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Insect Ark
It It Anita
Introducing (free entrance) Insect Ark started in late 2011 as a the one-woman solo project of multiinstrumentalist, animator and filmmaker Dana Schechter (Michael Gira’s Angels Of Light). In 2015, Schechter recruited drummer Ashley Spungin to perform as a duo. They weave a brooding, textural landscape, a starless night spiked with light and flash. The music braids together delay-drenched lap steel guitar, acoustic and electronic drums, distorted bass & synths to create a sonic mural both uncomfortably intimate and icy cold.
Kicking the Habit Presents (free entrance) Like many Belgium-based alt rock peers, It It Anita isn’t easily pegged in a hole, this in spite of their rather elemental, melodious output. Just when you’ve caught on to their corrosive, post-hardcore tendencies, they turn the wheel with ominous sounding intermezzo’s. Much like US counterparts And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, It It Anita enjoy reconciling punk rock fervor with more intricate orchestrations.
Islam Chipsy / EEK
J Fernandez
According to The Quietus, EEK feat. Islam Chipsy’s Live At The Cairo High Cinema Institute is one of the best live albums ever. Hard to argue that, as Islam Chipsy and EEK conjure this beautiful bizarro take on the Egyptian chaabi sound. The two live drummers clash with such vehemence and punishing intensity it’s almost as if their cadence transmutes into an entirely different sonic wavelength. At the center stands the mighty Islam Chipsy, whose signature thumping keyboard style is as expressive as it is virtuous.
Introducing (free entrance) While J Fernandez’ day job as a cartographer requires a perfectionist frame of mind, his music haphazardly nosedives into more surrealistic aural landscapes. The Chicago-based tunesmith’s mirage-like bedroom pop has a escapist quality to it, putting grounded lyricism neatly at odds with translucent cascades of sound, curious audio tinkerings and a quirky style of writing.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 41
Jacco Gardner Jacco Gardner Presents: Cabinet of Curiosities We are extremely proud to have Jacco Gardner host a special programme this year at Le Guess Who?. With a brand new supporting cast surrounding him, the Dutch melodist has achieved international acclaim with wondrous debut Cabinet Of Curiosities; a sublime collection of spectral tunes akin to The Zombies, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Roky Erickson and Syd Barrett. Gardner has a penchant for treading the line between discord and harmony with rich instrumentation, including upright piano, strings, squeezebox and mellotron. Gardner’s sophomore LP Hypnophobia was co-released by Excelsior and Trouble In Mind (Ty Segall, Night Beats, Morgan Delt), once again channelling those wonderful sixties-sensibilities in newfangled, resourceful ways. 42 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Jack Name LA anti-hero Jack Name (real name John Webster Adams) plays guitar in White Fence and produces for the likes of Cass McCombs. However, it’s his compelling solo LP Light Show that truly exhibits his genius. This album effectively employs immersive sci-fi imagery as analogy to all-important real world topics, quite similar to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust and The Byrds’ Fifth Dimension. Light Show addresses Name’s personal hobbyhorse: the utilization of drugs to neutralize the chemical imbalance in our brains, which, according to Name, muzzles our own creative thinking.
Jacuzzi Boys Miami’s gleaming Jacuzzi Boys have steadily progressed from being a sunkissed, benzodiazepine-fuelled version of The Stooges to the happy-go-lucky urbane garage pop outfit they are today. Championed by fellow resident Iggy Pop, Jacuzzi Boys definitely had one strange-looking angel on their shoulder, giving them enough traction to sign with Sub Pop division Hardly Art. Working with legendary Galaxie 500-producer Kramer had its perks
too: the Jacuzzi Boys’ bubbly self-titled LP reflected their flamboyant and blithe personality to a tee.
Jennifer Castle Jennifer Castle’s bittersweet, rustic folk songs have a way of zoning in on the profound unspoken beauty that gets lost on us each and every day. Castle’s most recent LP Pink City sculpt immensely beautiful, vivid musical landscapes, frequently recalling Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake’s more ornamental work. When touring solo, the Toronto-based songstress has a habit of decorating stages with regional handpicked flowers during her shows. This helps her attune to her surroundings and solicit a connection that’s more deep-seated than your average stage banter.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 43
In cooperation with Gaudeamus Muziekweek Radwan Ghazi Moumneh aka Jerusalem In My Heart has become a vital cog in the machinery of Quebec’s flourishing fringe music scenes. As the house engineer of Montreal-based stronghold Hotel2Tango, Mounmeh has worked his studio magic with the likes of Arcade Fire, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Suuns, Ought and Colin Stetson. His own musical output is impressive as well: Jerusalem In My Heart’s fantastic Constellation Records debut Mo7it-Al-Mo7it finds Mounmeh experimenting with Syrian wedding music and opaque electronic sound collages.
Like many of her Montreal peers, Jessica Moss (A Silver Mt. Zion, Black Ox Orkestar) is a cultivated and inquisitive creative force, performing in a myriad of local folk ensembles, as well as lending her talents to the likes of Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene and the late Vic Chesnutt. Moss hits the road with her latest solo project, which focusses on intricate compositions for 44 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
violin, voice and electronics, using a myriad effect pedals generally intended for guitars. Through inventive looping, Moss’s music can travel seamlessly from distorted rock sounds to soft chiming waves, all working beautifully within the context of topical narratives.
Sunn O))) Presents John Doran is the author of the acclaimed memoir Jolly Lad (Strange Attractor, 2015) which concerns the recovery from alcoholism, habitual drug use and mental illness. Alongside the book he released a spoken word album, HUBRIS, with musicians from Manic Street Preachers, British Sea Power and Factory Floor; as well as Perc and Arabrot. He has recorded with Eccentronic Research Council and GNOD, and performed live with Andrew Liles (Nurse With Wound/ Current 93), Kristoffer Lo and Grumbling Fur. He is honoured to be part of SunnO)))’s line up at Le Guess Who and will be performing spoken word with drones and soundscapes crafted by a very special guest.
Josh T. Pearson
Julia Holter
Texas-born singer and songwriter Josh T. Pearson’s musical footnotes may be few and far between, but whenever he does surface with a record or show, it’s bound to leave a weighty imprint. Back in 2001, he released the epic two-part chronicle The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads with short-lived indie evangelists Lift To Experience. A decade later, now living in Berlin, Pearson resurfaced with the painfully cathartic, free-form folk masterpiece The Last Of The Country Gentlemen. When on stage, Josh T. Pearson is a downright enigmatic performer, employing his dejected wit as calling card to circumvent the often dour nature of his music.
Sunn O))) Presents While some artists fancy themselves either songwriter or composer, neither shoe fits the brilliant Julia Holter quite as comfortably. In this case a good thing: Holter’s impressionistic brand of bedroom pop emits a mysterious, almost unearthly quality, drawing comparisons to the likes of Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson and Robert Wyatt. More often than not, Holter avidly turns to literature, cinema or history as an entry point for her astute creative outpour. Her critically lauded LP Loud City Song for instance, was inspired by French writer Colette’s famous 1944 novel Gigi. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 45
Kaki King Kaki King’s brazen and highly unorthodox approach refutes the notion that guitar-based music has been explored to the brim. Lauded by collaborators such as Foo Fighters, Timbaland and Tegan and Sara, King is one of those rare musicians who can transcend genre and stylistics within the confines of her guitar playing alone. Her music creates ethereal rifts that seamlessly connect the realms of pop music and avant-garde. At this year’s Le Guess Who? festival, Kaki King will funnel her free-spirited artistry into her latest project, The Neck Is a Bridge To The Body. During this visually striking performance piece, King utilizes her guitar as canvas for surreal, dream-like projections. The project is produced in collaboration with Glowing Pictures, best
Kaki King 46 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
known for their work with such artists as Animal Collective, David Byrne & Brian Eno, Beastie Boys, and TV On The Radio.
Kamasi Washington When it comes to immense scope and spectacle, you’d figure tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington’s conceptual masterpiece The Epic would leave the senses working overtime. Instead, the album’s majestic, swooping choruses, newfangled testimonial to jazz and bold experimentalism across the realms of classical music, gospel funk and hip hop makes for an engaging aural odyssey to even the biggest jazz detractors. Having served the creative vision of Kendrick Lamar, Herbie Hancock and Flying Lotus in the past, it’s safe to assume the 34-year
Kamasi Washington
Washington prefers to aim for the heart rather than the cerebral cortex. To witness The Epic in a live environment promises to be a positively epic, lifeaffirming experience.
Keiji Haino Sunn O))) Presents Nazoranai, one of Japanese avant-garde icon Keiji Haino’s many, many projects, also features Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley. The name stands for ‘not repeating oneself’, a maxim that certainly holds true for Haino’s remarkable musical output. Haino has a ravenous thirst to inquire the bare essence of music, gravitating as much towards pop music, nightclub DJing and indigenous folk as experimental drone music, jazz and minimalism. A great example is Hardy Soul, in which Haino performs old covers to validate the inherent emotional power of gospel and blues. An electrifying performer to this day: no matter what kind of instrument Haino touches, he always looks like some demon takes possession of his body.
worked in the mailroom of Jeff Buckley’s management company. As a result, Stoltz became an avid vinyl collector and authority himself, producing and recording music with a fanboy’s zest and zeal. Stoltz’s fondness of bedroom recordings translate profusely into his own work, adapting a brand of ethereal folk pop that owes as much to the sepia-toned gloom of Echo & The Bunnymen as the sonorous majesty of Brian Wilson.
Kodiak Deathbeds Alternative folk duo Kodiak Deathbeds is comprised of vocalist Amber Webber (Black Mountain, Lightning Dust) and guitarist Derek Fudesco (The Cave Singers). The ever-versatile Webber now takes on a more subdued approach by conveying her emotions into Fudesco’s signature acoustic calm. A golden combination as it turns out: Kodiak Deathbeds’ introspective selftitled LP has Webber baring her soul now more than ever.
Kelley Stoltz You could say Kelley Stoltz started out as a fly on the wall in the music bizz. At the age of twenty-four, the Detroit native Le Guess Who? Program Guide 47
Laster
Laura Cannell
Curated by Terzij de Horde (free entrance) With their cherubic walls of sound, thunderous drum torrents and shamanic vocals, ‘obscure dance music’ isn’t the first thing you think about when listening to Utrecht locals Laster. But it’s hard to argue when the band itself insists this is the most apt description to their strangely enchanting brand of melodic black metal. Who would have figured one of the biggest enigmas at this year’s Le Guess Who? happened to live just a few blocks away?
British fiddle and recorder player Laura Cannell closely scrutinizes medieval music lore to help manifest her own creative voice. Her breathtaking album Quick Sparrows Over The Black Earth is a largely improvised piece recorded in several churches, taking preserved fragments of long forgotten compositions to new spiritual trajectories. Cannell isn’t an archaic being by any means, avidly seeking out collaborations with the likes of Charles Hayward (About Group, This Heat) and Luke Abbott.
Last Ex
Lee Gamble (DJ set)
Constellation Records Presents Timber Timbre offshoot Last Ex finds Canucks Simon Trottier and Olivier Fairfield resurrecting a scrapped horror score of a film by the same name. Those already acquainted with Timber Timbre’s eerie pop noir will likely find Last Ex’s more adventurous use of similar aesthetics equally satisfying. Instead of letting the material collect dust, Fairfield and Trottier decided to use the soundtrack as a fresh creative entry point, filling the music out with lush instrumentation.
Lee Gamble’s fragmented, maverick take on techno and jungle has made him one of Berlin label PAN’s most revered artists. Through the artificial means of computer coding, Gamble was able to create exotic, dehumanized sounds by osmosis. In other words, sounds that are impossible to recreate by us human beings. Ever wondered what five-hundred oscillators all playing at once could do to an experimental jungle track? Lee Gamble will show you.
48 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Lightning Bolt Levitation Presents Leaving twenty years of lo-fi mischief in their wake, Rhode Island-based noise dissidents Lightning Bolt finally lent their amped-up clamor to a proper studio this year. Which isn’t to say latest LP Fantasy Empire’s muzzles Lightning Bolt’s signature buzzsaw-like bite. Whenever Brian Gibson (bass, huge array of effects) and Brian Chippendale (drums, oogly mask with built-in mic) are in cahoots, their riotous stage chemistry has a way of coaxing even the biggest names in music, earning nods of praise from the likes of Muse and Björk.
Lightning Bolt Le Guess Who? Program Guide 49
Liima In cooperation with Gaudeamus Muziekweek Liima is the new brainchild of Efterklang-members Casper Clausen, Rasmus Stolberg and Mads Brauer in collaboration with Finnish percussionist Tatu Rönkkö. Initially, Efterklang hired Rönkkö as yet another coperformer for their high spirited live shows. However, Rönkkö’s unique abilities and vision opportunely pulled Clausen, Stolberg and Brauer into an entirely new creative stratosphere. Liima resembles some of Efterklang’s earlier, more electronic-driven work, albeit with added emphasis on live improvisation. Funneled by Rönkkö’s creative impetus, the remaining Efterklang-members now relish keeping their music in the moment rather than meticulously composing it.
Loscil Fluister Nights Even while previously manning the skins for Destroyer, Scott Morgan has always attained his own conceptual aspirations with ambient project Loscil. Spanning eight albums, Morgan adapts compelling minimalist recordings that place the 50 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
listener in spacious, murky environments. Listening to Loscil almost feels like floating inside a warm liquid abyss, encountering docile, billowy soundscapes that seamlessly blend electronic and organic textures. According to Morgan, the Loscil project draws much inspiration from strange, astonishing divergences between raw nature and settled human industry.
Lotic Hailing from Houston, Texas, fastrising DJ/producer Lotic (J’Kerian Morgan) submerged himself in Berlin’s prevalent club scenes the past few years. While honing a livelihood with a handful of residencies, Lotic cofounded Janus, a recently demised, but highly influential community of artists intent on pushing the fringes of electronic dance music. Lotic’s latest EP Heterocetera captures a compelling dichotomy between abrasive and alluring sounds: fragmented overwrought backbeats meddling within a fulcrum of reverielike complexions. Through his art, Lotic ardently combats the heterosexual machismo agenda in club culture by establishing his identity as a black homosexual man.
Marissa Nadler Sunn O))) Presents Contrasting deep-cutting personal lyricism with a voice as divine as it is virtuous, Marissa Nadler’s records strike like a wrecking ball breaking the cement around the heart. The uninhibited way Nadler churns out her elegiac, spectral neofolk gems makes it hard to believe that music isn’t even her primary creative idiom. Nadler is a visual artist first and foremost and only started writing songs out of her own enjoyment. But as Nadler may have discovered by now, like most songwriters eventually do, making records can be just as much a cathartic experience as a creative inquiry. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 51
BELEEF
LE GUESS WHO? VOLKS KRANT MET DE
volkskrant.nl/leguesswho 52 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
TICKETS: TICKETS:MELKWEG.NL MELKWEG.NL
3 DEC EL VY
2 DEC
MINI MANSIONS
3 DEC
EL VY
3 DEC
HUDSON MOHAWKE LIVE
7 DEC
DOE PAORO
SOLD OUT
8 DEC
IBEYI
11 DEC
MAXÏMO PARK 10TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
INCLUDING A CERTAIN TRIGGER IN FULL
20 DEC
KADAVAR
ULTIMATE PAINTING + BOMBAY 4 DEC PAUW + TAMARIN DESERT 13 DEC MY BABY 23 JAN HIDDEN CHARMS 14 FEB DE STAAT 24 FEB MASSIVE ATTACK 10 + 11 JUN EINDHOVEN PSYCH LAB 22 NOV
voor het complete programma en locaties: Le Guess Who? Program Guide 53 www.effenaar.nl
Lubomyr Melnyk Fluister Nights Ukrainian composer Lubomyr Melnyk coined his rapid fire playing style Continuous Music, globally admired for its metaphysical and emotive qualities. Melnyk’s correlation with his instrument feels like a symbiosis or spiritual inquiry rather than a simple display of speed or endurance. Indeed, Melnyk is quite possibly the fastest piano player to ever live. But once you witness Melnyk floating his fingers across the ivories as if conjuring some kind of magic spell, that little factoid becomes a bit trivial. What we would normally perceive as a sequencing of melodies, become these ethereal surges of living sound. 54 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Majical Cloudz Majical Cloudz possess the beautiful gift of alleviating weighty, brooding subject matter with ethereal synthbrushstrokes and fluttering beats. MusicianMatthew Otto and vocalist Devon Welsh create this strange contrast between soothing sonics and unvarnished, earnest lyricism, a trait that sets Majical Cloudz apart from contemporaries. This contrast has become wider than ever with brilliant second LP Are You Alone?, a powerful lament on relationships, depression and self esteem. Instead of writing songs that trace down these erratic emotions, Majical Cloudz wields music like a raft that keeps sanity afloat.
Martyrdöd Sunn O))) Presents Swedish high flyers Martyrdöd’s rabid aural assault is as much enlightened by crust punk’s primal politicallyfueled thrust as heavy metal’s esoteric liturgies. Led by impassioned frontman Mikael Kjellman, Martryrdöd made international waves with their impressive LP Paranoia, a full-on denouncement of escalating beliefs of nationalism and racism in their
homeland. It’s refreshing to see a band this heavy and relentless stand on a stage without any postured bravado whatsoever. Martryrdöd’s sense of despair and fury springs from a true heartfelt candor, which strikes even louder once you see them perform.
Masayoshi Fujita Exploring the full potential of a single instrument sometimes yields equally rewarding results as working with a full orchestra. Japanese-born, Berlinbased musician Masayoshi Fujita’s deft dream-like compositions bring the vibraphone’s meditative attributes to the forefront, often confounding the listener’s own perception of time and space. Fujita’s shimmering motifs cause pleasing voids that make you feel weightless, numb and euphoric. During his performances, Fujita doesn’t just apply mallets to inquire the vibraphone’s sonic properties, but different tools like cello bows and woodwinds as well.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 55
Magma Sunn O))) Presents Not unlike Sun Ra and his Arkestra, radical prog rock outfit Magma devises an utterly perplexing musical lore, oozing with strong arcane and futuristic aesthetics. Inspired by the virtue and inventiveness of jazz legend John Coltrane, French drummer, pianist and composer Christian Vander founded Magma roughly 45 years ago. Spanning generations, Magma exclusively records and performs in Kobaïan, a made up “language from the heart” (sic) that’s symbiotic to the group’s kaleidoscopic musical blueprint. You could describe it as a surreal amalgamation of jazz, operatic chants, blues, rock and pop. Magma simply coined it Zeuhl, the Kobaïan term for ‘celestial’, which blatantly speaks for itself. So what’s the Kobaïan phrase for ‘Prepare to have your mind blown’? 56 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
METZ Who would’ve expected these three brainy kids from Toronto to be the ones relaying the sheer fury of Nirvana’s heaviest moments into the 21st century? METZ’ blunt-forced concoction of high octane 80s post-hardcore and hook-laden 90s alternative rock leaves anyone in close proximity completely numb and stupefied. With their latest LP II in the fold, METZ finally have enough material to expand their set, meaning you’ll have to withstand that awesome barrage of obtuse guitar wallop, monolithic drums and gut-wrenching bass just a wee bit longer.
Meat Wave Without question, Meat Wave has established itself as one of the more single-minded and formidable rock outfits in recent memory. Though some bands have that special knack for slow burning their way into your psyche, this Chicago-based trio sure as heck isn’t one of them. Chris Sutter (vocals/guitars), Ryan Wizniak (drums) and Joe Gac (bass) waste no time going for the slam dunk with their relentless high octane post-grunge
thrust, akin to The Wipers, Hot Snakes and contemporary peers like Cloud Nothings and Les Savy Fav.
Michael Price Trio Michael Price is one of the most coveted composers in the world, known to lend his talents to mainstream movie franchises like the Lord Of The Rings and James Bond. Occupying a unique set-up comprised of cello (Peter Gregson), soprano voice (Amanda Smallbone), piano and accompanying electronics (Price), his Michael Price trio was formed a year ago in Berlin to record Price’s majestic full-length debut album Entanglement (Erased Tapes). With a strong focus on momentary beauty, the ensemble’s instrumental performances produce a dazzling and haunting array of multilayered electronic tapestries that defy all conventions of pop, ambient and classical music.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 57
Michael Rault Jacco Gardner Presents: Cabinet of Curiosities Canadian Michael Rault’s quirky, 21st century testimonial to Lennonesque pop, psychedelic rock and seventies boogie is an obvious hand-in-glove fit for tape mongers Burger Records. The Toronto-based maestro’s free-spirited harnessing of familiar aesthetics prompted Burger to release his vibrant sophomore album Living Daylight. This record is quite the departure from Rault’s 50s-inspired debut MaMe-O back in 2010, with influences as
Mikal Cronin 58 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
diverse as The Plastic Ono Band, Todd Rundgren and T. Rex. Raised by two professional musicians as parents has its perks too, blessing Rault with both the chops and the charm to set any stage ablaze.
Mikal Cronin with Strings & Horns Mikal Cronin’s body of work occupies an interesting creative space. The Californian’s latest LP MCIII once again effortlessly reconciles his classic pop balladeering and garage rock idiosyncrasies. Cronin has yet to interlace the two parameters on a live stage, though we did see some good glimpses of it during two separate performances on Late Night with Conan O’ Brien. Allowing a string ensemble explore the spaces of his songs in such a spirited, impulsive way merited some pretty mind-blowing results. Therefore, Le Guess Who? presents Cronin a platform to turn it up a notch, with both a horn and a string section backing him up for a special one-off live performance.
Mirel Wagner performs her withered, moonstricken folk tunes with unruffled sleight of hand. It’s no surprise Wagner draws her strong imagery from renowned storytellers like Nick Cave, Kurt Vonnegut, H.G. Wells and Leonard Cohen. The title of her sophomore LP When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day encapsules the strange space her music occupies, tenuous like a sure-footed tightrope walk between the depths of joy and despair. Belying the simplistic nature of her music, the Ethiopian-born, Finland-based songstress delivers narratives with an intense, ominous undercurrent that leaves you stifled and breathless.
Introducing (free entrance) Moon Moon Moon’s gorgeous overcast dream folk is a kindred spirit to the quirky energy of Mark Linkous, Jeff Mangum and Elliott Smith. Seemingly out of nowhere, Dutch music blog Kicking The Habit unearthed Mark Lohmann’s debut LP I Want! I Want!, a series of bedroom recordings that achieve an emotional depth and craftiness uncanny for such an unassuming twenty year old. A special talent indeed, one who happens to have a nonconformist streak in him as well. Instead of pressing his EP Will O’ The Wisp on vinyl, it’s released as a video game. How cool is that?
Mirel Wagner Le Guess Who? Program Guide 59
Mustafa Özkent ve Belçika OrkestrasI In cooperation with Europalia We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that Mustafa Özkent will perform his forgotten masterpiece Gençlik Ile Elele for the first time in 40 years. Exhumed by renowned record label/archival community Finders Keepers Records, Gençlik Ile Elele (translation: Hand In Hand With Youth) is an astounding document that finds Özkent transcending the boundaries between traditional and Western sonics in a way that has to be heard to be believed. You see, Özkent is somewhat of a musical mad scientist, tinkering with modern Western instruments to make them viable within traditional parameters. As a result, Gençlik Ile Elele sounds as if urban funk, acid jazz, psyche-
delic rock and native Turkish music came from the same wellspring.
The Mysterons Club 3voor12/Utrecht With Jacco Gardner and PAUW running rampant this year with fantastic LP’s, it’s safe to assume the neo-psychedelic bug has hit The Netherlands big time. One of the more riveting newcomers have to be avant pop phenoms The Mysterons, who seamlessly integrate aesthetics like rustic sci-fi soundtracks and Portishead’s hazy, retro-chic mysticism, plus a swooping, Zeppelin-like drive to boot. Front and center stands singer Josephine Van Schaik, who emits a spellbinding aura on stage, as if perpetually enraptured inside some soothing mirage-like daydream.
The Myrrors
Mustafa Özkent 60 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Levitation Presents After their debut LP Burning Circles From The Sky got unearthed from relative obscurity in 2013, The Myrrors suddenly stood at the vanguard of Generation Y’s psychedelic rock revival. Unlike many contemporary bands applying psychedelica in cookie cutter templates, it’s refreshing to see this
Tucson, Arizona group exploit a more dogmatist frame of mind. The Myrrors’ transcendent sophomore LP Arena Negra is spawned by more cosmopolitan range of influences, as much indebted (if not more) to Turkish sufi, Balinese gamelan, Ravi Shankar and Malinese Tuareg blues as Western peers of psychedelic and progressive rock mysticism.
NAH Face it, it feels good to say ‘no’ or (in this case) ‘nah’ to something once in a while. Philly-based iconoclast Michael Kuhn took that feeling to heart with his refractory drums/sampling project NAH. Instead of wooing pervasive blogs and music media, Kuhn burrowed himself deep within Philly’s DIY circuits. Perhaps naming his album Nobody Cares What Happens, No Ones Interested isn’t an act of defeatism, but an act of defiance. Kuhn feels the most groundbreaking music, from hip hop to punk, had to say ‘no’ before making their mark. Maybe it does pay to say ‘no’ once in a while, because Kuhn will be playing Le Guess Who? with his fractured, manic hybrid of post-hardcore and hip hop, sounding like the bastard child of Lightning Bolt and Death Grips.
Nâ Hawa Doumbia Nâ Hawa Doumbia’s tremendous prowess and vibrancy as a singer transcends both traditions and borders. Not long before Doumbia’s mother died giving birth to her in the Southern regions of Mali, she predicted her daughter would become a singer, despite her grandparents’ intent to circumvent this. Doumbia’s career took off when civil servants from the Ministry of Culture overheard her singing. Over time, her albums (released on Awesome Tapes From Africa) became less informed by Western sounds, veering more towards the Wassoulou music from her home region. Like fellow Mali great Oumou Sagaré, Doumbia assertively wields her singing talents to tackle pressing issues like polygamy and civil rights.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 61
psychedelic noise. It’s as good a guess as any, whether The Necks have more in common with either jazz or classical music. This remarkable Australian improv-trio possesses the confounding ability to conjure organic, free-form sonic patchworks in impromptu fashion. Chris Abrahams (piano), Lloyd Swanton (bass) and Tony Buck (drums) don’t bother contriving a beginning or an end, feeling more inclined to magnify the beauty of the fabric itself. By virtue, each The Necks show is an unrepeatable experience, as it has been for the past three decades.
Curated by Terzij de Horde (free entrance) Amsterdam-based black metal trio Nefast has a strong inclination to bring a myriad of influences into play, filtering psychedelic, ambient music and punk rock through their vicious aural onslaught. Indeed, this band doesn’t adhere to any purist notions of the genre. While Nefast’s tempestuous blast beatriddled sound does indeed feel inherently black metal, they cause compelling strife implementing ominous, feverish swells of 62 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Nick Garrie Jacco Gardner Presents: Cabinet of Curiosities This year’s Le Guess Who? marks Nick Garrie’s first Dutch show since performing at Paradiso back in the summer of ‘69. Renowned for his overlooked baroque folk masterpiece The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas, Garrie spent most of his young life in France attending boarding school and getting swamped in surrealist poetry and literature. The album captures a strange but immensely beautiful contrast between Garrie’s intricate and personal song recordings and the 56-piece orchestra (ill-advisedly) appointed by producer Eddie Varta.
With many contemporary outfits aiming to model themselves after some of punk’s most influential figureheads, Nots appear to do the exact opposite. Natalie Hoffman, Charlotte Watson, Madison Farmer and Alexandra Eastburn adopt an refractory gang mentality that feels uniquely theirs. Hailing from Memphis, once a shining beacon of rock-’n-roll aristocracy, these four women thrive in their caustic and hermetic “weird” punk paradigm, applying scorching guitar stabs and sprawling synths with a foray that makes Blitzkrieg Bop seem like a dulcet nursery rhyme by comparison.
After outgrowing their post-hardcore roots in the late 90s, German indie giants The Notwist’s landmark album Neon Golden meshed alternative rock with intricate electronic compositions like no other band before, inspiring followers like Radiohead and Broken Social Scene. After a six year hiatus, The Notwist’s most recent LP Close To The Glass presents us yet another gripping footnote to add to their brilliant twoand-a-half decade long run.
The Numero Group was founded in 2003 by Tom Lunt, Rob Sevier and Ken Shipley as an archival record label, but has since blown up to become a multi-platform media company. Their mission is to not only unearth obscure records, but piece together narratives on how these artifacts came to fruition. Frequently dubbed America’s finest reissue label, these fine folks now supply the crate digging needs of aficionado’s on a global scale, as well as influential names like Robert Plant, DJ Shadow, Questlove and Zooey Deschanel.
The Numero Group Le Guess Who? Program Guide 63
Okay Temiz & La Fanfare Du Belgistan In cooperation with Europalia You could consider Okay Temiz the Turkish equivalent to Dutch drums and percussion dogmatist Han Bennink. It’s no surprise both their career arcs eventually intertwined, no less working with jazz legend Don Cherry on his 1971 live album Orient. Temiz is still as prolific as ever at the age of 76, currently collaborating with Belgian brass band La Fanfare Du Belgistan, who practice a highly progressive blend of Nawlins jazz, Balkan beats and Middle Eastern compositions. Exactly the kind of outof-the-box thinking someone like Temiz would appreciate, having lived quite the nomadic life himself.
OM Sunn O))) Presents According to these unconventional San Francisco noise/doom metal veterans, the name OM refers to the Hindu term for “natural vibration of the earth”. Indeed, OM’s earth-shattering wallop feels like some untamed force of nature swallowing anything in its path. The bizarre arcanelike sound tapestries of Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe usher the catastrophic 64 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
rhythm section of Al Cisneros and Emil Amos to more tense meditative states. As a result, OM became downright unclassifiable with their two Drag City releases God Is Good (produced by Steve Albini) and its 2012 follow-up, the monolithic Advaitic Songs.
Os Mutantes Jacco Gardner Presents: Cabinet of Curiosities In the late 60s, musical revolution was afoot all across the globe. In Brazil, the embodiment of revolt at the time was the influential Tropicália-movement, with psych pop absurdists Os Mutantes emerging as the most unlikely of figureheads. They ended up becoming a major influence on music icons such as Beck, David Byrne and Kurt Cobain - who asked the band to reform in 1993 with a personal letter.
Otto A. Totland Fluister Nights Otto A. Totland validates the notion that you don’t have to be a music lifer to release some of the most stunning sounds from your fingertips. Maintaining his day job back in the small Norwegian town of Porsgunn
hasn’t stopped Totland from creating some awe-inspiring music. His poignant piano-based album Pinô for instance, veers Totland into similar territory as peers like Nils Frahm and Greg Haines.
Ought Constellation Records Presents Montreal post-punk quartet Ought employs a remarkable, heartfelt lingo that finds singer/guitarist Tim Darcy frantically skimming between in goggleeyed optimism and tongue-twisting
anxiety. Ought’s critically-acclaimed debut LP More Than Any Other Day drew lofty comparisons to luminaries like Sonic Youth, The Fall and Television. Highlighted by the majestic Beautiful Blue Sky, Ought’s sophomore LP Sun Coming Down (Constellation Records) might arguably be the finest display of their frenzied and contemplative brilliance.
Os Mutantes Le Guess Who? Program Guide 65
Phurpa
The Pop Group
Sunn O))) Presents Quite honestly, Phurpa’s mastery over the most primordial of instruments, the voice, quite simply needs to be witnessed to be believed. These Russian savants, led by Alexei Tegin, bring a truly metaphysical listening experience with dirgeful, spine-chilling Trantric chants, largely based on the pre-Buddhist and Bon traditions of Tibet. Phurpa embellishes these vocal mantras further with Tibetan percussion, bells, gongs and various horns.
The face of modern pop music is as much defined by its free-thinking outcasts as the icons who opportunely happened to be at the right place at the right time. After their 35 year hiatus, The Pop Group’s latest LP Citizen Zombie feels like a vindication of their overall brilliance and influence. Before PiL and Gang Of Four, The Pop Group already reconciled fringe guitar music with dub, jazz and funk. With a name that might be considered subversive today, ironically, The Pop Group have now earned the widespread recognition that eluded them beforehand.
Phurpa 66 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Prefuse 73 Prefuse 73’s Guillermo Scott Herren is one of hip hop’s true innovators with his influential fragmented production style, exhibiting a penchant for reconfiguring vocal samples into malleable sonic textures. Herren was the one who spearheaded Warp Records’ ascend, recruiting staple artists such as Flying Lotus and Battles. After achieving universal acclaim with benchmark albums like One Word Extinguisher, Herren has continued to explore his artistry in new profound ways.
Protomartyr Detroit isn’t dubbed Detroit Rock City for kicks: the lifeblood of rock ‘n roll’s best and baddest still trickles down Motor City’s working class streets and avenues. Stylistically, comparing Protomartyr to protopunk-legends The Stooges might ring true. Doormanturned-rock singer Joe Casey, however, isn’t likely to revel in Iggy Pop-like mischief-making. His stern street smart poetry may not always paint a fun picture, its unfeigned realism is always sparked by a glint of dark humor.
Lebanon-born musician Rami Zeidan comes from a long heritage of talented buzuq players. He started playing the buzuq at age nine under his father’s tutelage, whilst gradually absorbing vital influences in late Syrian buzuq pioneer Muhammad ‘Abd al-Karim and legendary Lebanese composer Matar Muhammad. Zeidan was just fifteen years old when he made his own mark by winning a televised talent forecast for buzuq players. This subsequently paved the way for a fruitful career as both a recording artist and live performer.
Rats on Rafts Subbacultcha Presents This day and age, bands who court danger are hard to come by. Rotter dam’s fearsome foursome Rats on Rafts for one, has always relished and thrived as instigators. With longawaited sophomore LP Tape Hiss (Fire Records) authentically capturing the primeval, vitriolic outbursts that epitomizes their live shows, Rats on Rafts have now sequestered a sound to truly call their own.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 67
Levitation Presents Despite often being pigeonholed as such, Austin-based trio Ringo Deathstarr have grown to dislike the term shoegaze, which often draws associations with dour and detached looking individuals performing swirling, effects-laden guitar pop. Right down to their droll band name, Ringo Deathstarr have proven to be quite the antithesis of that notion. This cheerful bunch’s forte lies as much in the hearttugging juvenility of The Vaselines as jarring guitar sprawls reminiscent of The Jesus & Mary Chain. It’s not all fun and games however, as their fantastic mini-LP God’s Dream displays a more poignant, sonically ambitious side of Ringo Deathstarr than ever before.
Saintseneca 68 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
A renowned musician and activist, Sahar Taha made waves in both her native Iraq and her home nation of Lebanon. A proficient singer and Oudplayer, Taha is praised for her personal take on Iraqi folk orthodoxy with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Islamic Civilization in Beirut. Taha embraces her philanthropy just as forcefully, becoming a global authority on Arab music and avidly fighting for the emancipation of female performers in Islamic countries.
Saintseneca’s pastoral brand of folk-punk draws from Appalachian traditions as well as modern alternative music. Founder and songwriter Zac Little remains the only constant member of the Ohio-based band, producing records with a rotating cast of musicians. Saintseneca is known to maintain a strong DIY-ethos, often playing shows at unusual locations and spaces. This is symptomatic to a band who’s not the least bit concerned with long term ambition, but rather inquire its music and performances within the ephemeral beauty of the present.
Sunn O))) Sunn O))) Presents Not surprisingly, luminaries such as Scott Walker, Dylan Carlson (Earth) and Julian Cope found themselves gravitating towards the mighty Sunn O)))’s sheer single-mindedness and crudeness. The band’s live performances bumrush the psyche with massive shoals of heavy-hitting bass drones and immense guitar wallop. Sunn O))) sounds as if all heavy guitar-based music is melted down to a burning hot liquid, stirred inside a smoldering kettle and unleashed back upon you with deafening primal force. Time and time again, founders Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson find new baffling ways to accommodate Sunn O)))’s elemental ‘drone metal’-concept. Now with brand new LP Kannon armed and ready, it makes perfect sense for Sunn O))) to curate a special four-day program held at this year’s Le Guess Who?-festival.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 69
Songhoy Blues Compared to their Tuareg desert rock peers, Songhoy Blues embrace contemporary soul and R&B-influences a bit more vividly. Just three years ago, these Mali-based deserters were chased from their homeland up north by radical Islamists. Forced to live in the southern capital of Bamako, Songhoy Blues’ music lifted the spirits of those enduring a similar fate. Fortunately, the band’s pendulous drum grooves and rapid guitar swirls didn’t go unnoticed. With the aid of Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, the recording of debut LP Music In Exile enabled Songhoy Blues to unfetter their exuberant and highly contagious zest on a global scale.
Saltland Constellation Records Presents Under the moniker Saltland, Rebecca Foon sculpts majestic sonic panorama’s, informed by the continuous shifting of urban landscapes, environmental conditions and human demography. Much like one-time collaborator Colin Stetson does with the saxophone, Foon imposes a distinct personality to her instrument of choice, the cello. Her 70 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
ability to forge rich textures, cascading loops and melodic currents made her a highly coveted musician. Foon’s penchant for Turkish folk alone makes Saltland a cherished addition to Le Guess Who?, not to mention being a vital contributor to one of the best post-rock albums ever recorded: Set Fire To Flame’s Sings Reign Builder.
The Secret Sunn O))) Presents Italy’s The Secret might actually be - pun intended - the best kept secret of Greg Anderson’s renowned Southern Lord label. It’s hard to imagine a heavier or more ferocious band playing at this year’s Le Guess Who? festival - and that’s not the least bit of an exaggeration. The Secret’s fusion of metal, crust and hardcore just emanates sheer undomesticated rage and resentment, and they relish in every ounce of it. Southern Lord debut Solve et Coagula is basically a testimonial to true anarchy: the collapse of all social structures, the dawn of religious disillusion and ruination of pervasive institutions.
Shabazz Palaces
Shannon and The Clams
Seattle has a lot more to offer than its illustrious rock history. Take hip hop duo Shabazz Palaces for instance, who have been cooking up some of the most dynamic and bold records this decade. MC Ishmael Butler and producer Tendai “Baba” Maraire have a penchant for overhauling their elusive creative process. In many ways, the tonguetwisting lyrical prowess of Black Up couldn’t be more dissimilar to last year’s championed, free-form magnum opus Lese Majesty. The Guardian has aptly described Lese Majesty as the hip hop equivalent to Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica, and that’s saying something. Shabazz Palaces is truly peerless in every sense of the word.
Contemporary music is full of noteworthy revivalists, just don’t call Shannon and The Clams one of them. While their music undoubtedly has an old-fangled quality to it, they have an understated, almost effortless ability to sound as vibrant and fresh as anything these days. Shannon and The Clams draw as much influence from fifties doo wop, soul and rock-’n-roll as San Francisco’s flourishing punk and garage rock scene. The immensely talented and charismatic Shannon Shaw has a flair for the theatrics, but can just as easily take your breath away. Simply put, Shannon and The Clams are just a helluva lot of fun.
Shannon and the Clams Le Guess Who? Program Guide 71
11 + 12 december Paard van Troje den haag
DVA
Snarky Puppy Bing & Ruth Rocket From The Tombs Ukandanz elephant9 ft. Terje Rypdal STUFF. Jaki Liebezeit (Can) & Hans-Joachim Irmler (Faust) OZMotic & Fennesz Anna von Hausswolff En meer‌ info & tickets: www.state-xnewforms.nl
STUFF. Google-proof as their name may be, once you feast on Belgian collective STUFF.’s smorgasbord of musical genres, ‘good stuff’ would be an apt, albeit blunt, assertion. Still, it’s our job to at least attempt describing STUFF.’s swashbuckling modus operandi. The group’s self-titled debut applies The Avalanches’ technicolor, sample-based wizardry to live music, throwing in the art rock virtues of Stereolab and Tortoise for good measure. Attempting to wrap your head around translating this music to the stage is a different ballgame. Though you probably shouldn’t worry too much when dEUSfrontman Tom Barman names you the best live act he’s witnessed in 2014.
Sunflower Bean Whether it’s mushroom-fuelled tripouts or witty boy-girl repartee between Julia Cumming and Nick Kivlen, a Sunflower Bean-show always manages to tickle ones fancy. Amazingly enough, Cumming (vocals/bass), Kivlen (vocals/guitar) and Jacob Faber (skins) have yet to hit their twenties, but still they’ve already leapfrogged the New York underground with a headstrong 74 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
DIY-spirit. The recent Fat Possumsignees’ spiralling, sun-drenched hybrid of 70s acid rock and 80s post-punk is so seamless and confident, that it makes one wonder why the two were ever apart to begin with.
Suuns & Jerusalem In My Heart Levitation Presents After launching their adventurous project at last year’s Le Guess Who?, Montreal art rock sovereigns Suuns and multi-instrumentalist Jerusalem In My Heart are set to do another immersive performance. The circumstances, however, are understandably different this time around. Last year’s marvelous display was undoubtedly a highlight, yet merely marked the beginning of the project’s intensifying musical inquiry. Now, after a year of familiarizing themselves with the music they’ve written together, there’s no telling where Suuns & Jerusalem In My Heart could take things next.
The Space Lady Whether or not you believe Susan Dietrich’s claims to have been abducted by aliens, her time spent on planet earth is arguably an even more astounding story. For over two decades, Dietrich and her family lived off-the-grid to avoid persecution after her husband dodged the draft during the Vietnam War. Barely scraping by, Dietrich supported her family by busking the streets of San Francisco and Boston. Coined by onlookers as The Space Lady, she performs deliciously warped Casiotone MT-40-based song covers, wearing her signature winged helmet. Earning a steadily growing cult following ever since, The Space Lady can finally embark on her first tour at the age of 66, thanks to Night School’s reissue of her recording catalogue. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 75
Tout-Puissant Orchestre Poly- Rythmo de Cotonou
Swervedriver Shoegaze isn’t a genre known for its anthemic quality, but luckily, nobody told Swervedriver that. Also, nobody told Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge that releasing an LP after a sixteen year intermission was supposed to produce a record that sounds as radiant and immediate as I Wasn’t Born To Lose You. In a matter of speaking, Swervedriver never officially left, still harnessing monumental cyclones of guitar feedback within the confines of exuberant pop motifs. The unspoken truth remains: Swervedriver is still a force to be reckoned with.
76 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Tout-Puissant Orchestre PolyRythmo de Cotonou ‘The all-powerful polyrhythmic orchestra from Cotonou’, as translated in English, isn’t by any means a hyperbolic way of describing the sheer profusion of musical riches these Benin-based legends harness. Back in the late sixties, the PolyRythmo recorded heaps and heaps of mind-boggling records, with sounds traversing between the seams of Afrobeat, funk, jazz, soul and most notably, the indigenous voodoo music of Benin itself. After decades, a series of compilations reached Western shores, finally bringing the Poly Rythmo back from obscurity. The group reformed in 2009 and
subsequently recorded a brand new album, with contributions from Malibased starlet Fatoumata Diawara and Glaswegian rockers Franz Ferdinand.
Terzij de Horde Curated by Terzij de Horde (free entrance) Terzij de Horde is the Dutch expression for “athwart the horde”, a line taken from the poem Einde (Ending) by legendary Dutch poet Hendrik Marsman. Not surprisingly, Marsman is a huge inspiration to the band, as are many other authors and philosophers whose work belong in the same dark vitalistic vein. Terzij de Horde’s strong harmony with the Dutch literary dictum brings a substantial and highly inventive element to their music, allowing the band to wholly transcend adopted stylistics such as black metal, doom, post-rock and folk music.
thisquietarmy Introducing (free entrance) Under the thisquietarmy-moniker, Canadian Eric Quach’s prolific output has been anything but quiet, issuing a baffling 20 LPs, EPs and splits combined. The reason for his immense productivity might boil down to the
fact that Quach is also an avid painter. According to him, embracing the sentiment that performing music is akin to filling up an empty canvas. Or in other words: using sound instead of paint as a conduit for expression. Armed with a myriad of effect pedals, Quach blasts out a broth of post-rock, ambient music, industrial and drones that washes over you like a cosmic, space debris-filled shockwave.
Titus Andronicus Only Titus Andronicus could circum vent pretense and pompousness with a 29-song (!) rock opera called The Most Lamentable Tragedy. This band has mastered the lost art of anthemic punk rock, performing with a spirit and zest that smacks even the most cynical uptight jerk into a gleeful dementia. You can immediately tell these New Jersey go-getters have heard their fair share of The Clash, Springsteen and The Replacements, yet their music is completely wiped clean of any political finger-wagging or burdensome emotional inquiry. What’s left is an wholesomely optimistic, hook-laden joyride, that doesn’t relinquish any of their heroes’ blustering spirit and vigor. Le Guess Who? Program Guide 77
Today Is The Day Sunn O))) Presents As easy as it is to confuse vocalist/ guitarist Steve Austin with the wrestling legend of the same name, the volatile fury of his band Today Is The Day sure packs a similar wallop to a well-executed Stone Cold Stunner. Indeed, applying the brute force of thrash metal legends Slayer and the tense and sinister forbearance of The Melvins to Red-era King Crimson’s frantic jazz fusion blitz is a stroke of brilliance. Each Today Is The Dayalbum feels like a tiny universe in itself, always going carte blanche with a fresh batch of musical influences. Today Is The Day has proven to be one of the most illustrious and groundbreaking heavy guitar-based groups of the past two decades.
Torii Subbacultcha Presents A staple figure within Amsterdam’s lively underground, Domenico Mangione has been attentively nurturing his pet project Torii over the past few years. Inspired by an encounter with Arbutus Records’ Sebastian Cowan, Mangione 78 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
deliberately eschewed Amsterdam’s pull in favor of isolating himself in his sleepy hometown of Leiden. At an abandoned school building, he set up makeshift studio Idiot Seagull to spark his creative ambitions further. Now performing as a six-piece band, Torii’s brand of psychedelic synth pop illustrates this warm, womb-like abyss for the listener to placidly submerge in.
Torus Subbacultcha Presents Career-wise, Dutch electronic producer Torus (Joeri Woudstra) has already gotten some welcome gusts of wind in his sails. He became the franchise face of an impromptu London record label, one of his compositions was selected ‘track of the week’ by The Guardian and he has already performed at Tokyo’s renowned Red Bull Academy. Not bad for an 18-year old kid who produced his fragmented debut EP Feeel using only his MacBook mic and flimsy computer software. By all means, creating such riveting music through such humble means simply validates what kind of talent we’re dealing with here.
Total Control
Trigg & Gusset
Levitation Presents One of Iron Lung Records’ cardinal acts, Total Control has been at the forefront of Melbourne’s underground scene this decade. As their name implies, these avant-punks prefer to maintain a creative autonomy, even if it hinders their well-deserved ascend to widespread indie acclaim. Quietly but masterfully, Total Control employs Suicide’s bleak keyboard driven sound with frantic guitar stabs that recall a more caustic version of Devo. The band’s latest LP Typical System is an incredible piece of work, sounding as if it could’ve been a missing link during the genesis of the aforementioned post-punk stylistics.
Fluister Nights If soft jazz has a place in the backrooms of the underworld, it would probably sound a lot like Trigg & Gusset’s solemn cloak-and-dagger brainchild Legacy Of The Witty. This Dutch trio filters their unfettered, minimalistic instrumentation through an overcast hue, as if conducting the soundtrack of a film noir thriller that’s never been made. Hypothetically speaking, certain passages of Legacy Of The Witty could’ve easily been sampled on Portishead’s self titled LP. The best thing about Trigg & Gusset: they actually use sinister tones in a very subdued way. This approach instills a perpetual, gripping sense of unease that underpins Erik de Geer’s palliative brass and woodwind playing.
Total Control Le Guess Who? Program Guide 79
While the name Ultimate Painting might come across as extraverted, Jack Cooper and James Hoare both claimed their respective songwriting smarts with a restful modesty. When Cooper’s band Mazes opened up for Hoare’s Veronica Falls in 2013, both musicians discovered a mutual love for The Beatles, The Byrds and The Velvet Underground. As Ultimate Painting, Cooper and Hoare quickly established uncanny chemistry, producing two albums together in as many years. Ultimate Painting adheres to a whatyou-see-is-what-you-get kind of candor, finding emotional depth and astuteness within the most basic and quintessential of elements.
It takes some serious cojones to offset a brilliant angular Television-esque riff with thy ungodly hailstorm of noise and still come out on the other end with a tune. Yet somehow, Calgary’s Viet Cong manage to pull off this feat with Continental Shelf, the first single off their eponymous debut LP. Perhaps it’s a freak occurrence, or perhaps it’s something you only figure out after 80 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
a series of touring misadventures. Regardless, Viet Cong’s amorphous post-punk doesn’t aim to answer any questions, but rather purge you with unrelenting, impartial force.
Sunn O))) Presents Nearly plunging to his death left Eide comatosed and paralyzed from the ankles down, stripping him from his ability to wreak havoc behind the drums. Not surprisingly, the accident failed to hold back of one of Norway’s true metal icons. In fact, this setback only strengthened Eide’s fortitude, as he seems to juggle more projects than ever. One of them being avantgarde rockers Virus, a warped and sinister abomination that blurs the lines between thrash metal, death jazz and noise, spellbound by Eide’s menacing, theatrical croon.
“I still hate my music, it’s all the same.” The term ‘slacker’ may generally be tossed around obtusely by music media outlets, Nathan Williams and his gang have no qualms owning up to their brash tomfoolery. Then again, you can’t be all that half-baked penning a bona fide anthem like King Of The Beach, no less in an age where there’s too damn few of ‘em. Williams’s droll character assassinations are probably the most apt 21st Century reflections to the downhearted nineties angst of Nirvana. Let’s lunge forward and get rowdy…
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 81
The Weather Station With a tender, lilting vocal delivery and unique fingerpicking style rooted in banjo playing, Tamara Lindeman’s captivating folk outfit The Weather Station incessantly leaves audiences hanging on her lips. More often than not, it feels like Lindeman confides in you within the most candid of spaces, just as her vivid narratives unfurl with a deft sleight of hand. The Weather Station’s emotional catharsis manifests itself skin deep at best, focussing the listener’s attention solely on the music’s fleeting and elemental beauty.
Widowspeak With singer-songwriter Molly Hamilton’s sultry murmur as the enchanting focal point, Widowspeak swaddle woebegone closing time-blues and rustic country folk melancholy with a modern-day indie pop veneer. If the Brooklyn duo’s dusky sound summons a yearning for sanctuary, their latest LP All Yours seems to rejoice in it. All Yours documents Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas’s move to the Hudson River Valley’s upstate backdrop. Detached from the music scene’s tense creative impetus, 82 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
an unspoken confidence awakened within Widowspeak’s writing, which promises to translate to their live shows.
Wilbert Bulsink & Jessica Sligter In cooperation with Gaudeamus Muziekweek Dutch composers Wilbert Bulsink and Jessica Sligter are not only well-rehearsed as experimental pop prodigies, both of them are blessed with a habitual query to break musical conventions. Sligter has found her niche as an acclaimed vocalist within the Norwegian jazz scene, whereas Bulsink can call himself one of the most innovative Dutch electronic composers of his generation. In 2014, Sligter and
Widowspeak
Bulsink conspired to write a sonorous piece called Untitled #1. At this year’s Le Guess Who? festival, the duo will present follow up Untitled#2 (the mute) in cooperation with Gaudeamus.
Woods on Fire Club 3voor12/Utrecht Much like Radiohead and The Notwist, Woods on Fire like to studiously incorporate both acoustic and electronic sounds into something unorthodox. These Utrecht-based art rockers, however, employ an entirely different dynamic. Instead of compressing subtle artifice and stirring prog rock passages into a dense fluidity, Woods on Fire’s songs expand like majestic sonic landfills. The band’s brilliant eponymous LP was recorded at Einstürzende Neubauten’s legendary Berlin-based Andere Baustelle Studio.
Younghusband Introducing (free entrance) Younghusband’s reverie-like debut LP Dromes brings a dynamic synthesis of shoegaze, indie rock and Screamadelica-like pop sensibilities, with a magic touch provided by producer Nicolas Vernhes
(Deerhunter, The War On Drugs). Pending sophomore album Dissolver promises to be just as riveting, especially if stunning, tender-hearted lead single Better Times is any indication. Dissolver was recorded with the help of Robert Hampson (LOOP) and Warren Ellis (Dirty Three, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds).
Yung Gud Producer and beatmaker Yung Gud of the Sad Boys movement, along with Yung Lean, Bladee and Yung Sherman, has been a quintessential cog to hip hop’s global mass appeal in the digital age. These Swedish teenagers have amassed cult-like infamy with their fresh and innovative spin of today’s trap beat-based sound. With the Sad Boys, Yung Gud’s production talents are underpinned by Yung Lean’s deliciously absurd lyricism, but his solo material has him embracing a wider scope of influences. The young phenom’s recently released solo EP Beautiful, Wonderful more than lives up to its name with four instrumental tracks permeating with luscious, panoramic bliss.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 83
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. In 2015 a second store opened up at a former prison on Wolvenplein, and to give even more people a chance to get a taste of their delicious coffee, they will be back once again with a stand at Le Guess Who? in TivoliVredenburg.
Merchandise We have some very special merchandise available for you at both the Ticket & Info Area at TivoliVredenburg and Ekko. Besides different festival merchandise, there will be the opportunity to be one of the first to get your hands on the very first Le Guess Who? lp with live recordings of last years’ Selda show! 84 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Le Mini Who? tries to do what its bigger brother does on an international scale; bringing active, outgoing, inspired and upcoming, local musical scenes together with a likeminded audience. In two afternoons, the city centre transforms into a festival area. And yes, it’s all for FREE! SATURDAY - VOORSTRAAT SUNDAY - OOSTER- & WESTERKADE facebook.com/leminiwho or grab the Le Guess Who? Treasure Guide
Photo by Juri Hiensch Le Guess Who? Program Guide 85
Thanks to Le Guess Who?, in two years time our Le Bazarre could evolve into a renowned and always packed market to hunt for the best vintage, vinyl and design pieces. November 21st will be the third time Le Bazarre sets up camp on the Neude square. Wind your way through the stalls, find out what drives our local community and grab some food at one of the mobile kitchens on-site. Entrance to the market is free. SATURDAY (12:00 - 17:00) - NEUDE SQUARE facebook.com/lebazarre
Photo by Juri Hiensch 86 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 87
In collaboration with Louis Hartlooper Complex, we’re excited to announce that we’re hosting our first film program at Le Guess Who? this year. We selected the following for your viewing pleasure: The Electric Drone: a short documentary on Sunn O))) that also features interviews with the band. Kairos: short film by Belgian visual artist Alexis Destoop, with soundtrack by Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley. What Difference Does It Make? A Film About Making Music: A documentary that explores the challenges that a life in music can bring, featuring Stephen O’Malley, Erykah Badu, Brian Eno, Philip Glass, Blondie, James Murphy, and more.
Songhoy Blues 88 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
They Will Have To Kill Us First: Islamic extremists have banned music in Mali, but its world famous musicians wont give up without a fight. This film tells the story of Malinese desert blues heroes Songhoy Blues, as they fight for their right to sing. The band will also perform at RASA on Sunday evening.
Live interviews hosted by de Volkskrant Together with our media partner de Volkskrant, we will be hosting some live interviews with artists performing at the festival. These will take place in the daytime on Saturday, November 21 & Sunday, 22 at RASA. Keep an eye out on our website & the time schedule for more info.
An International Gig poster show 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? 2015. Most of the posters are for sale, so you can buy yourself or a friend a unique gift to remember the festival by!
Credit: Joris Diks Le Guess Who? Program Guide 89
Modulation
Sonar Traffic welcomes you to electronic music focused on the moment, the raw materials of sound. We will allow rhythm, harmony and melody to play along if they like. Generated by modular, patchable and/or DIY machines under direct supervision of humans. We will present items, we will improvise, we will perform. A sound adventure. Feel free to sit down and listen. Feel free to observe and experience. Feel free to ask questions. Sonar Traffic is a studio located in Kytopia, the old Tivoli building, filled with synthesizers, mostly vintage, but also more recent. With Modulation, Sonar Traffic wants to give a stage to hardware-oriented electronic music, mostly using modular synthesizers. This program includes performances by Sigma, Michel Banabila and Law-Rah Collective on Friday, November 20; Yoshio Machida, LCDrone and Yoshio Machida & Trap&Zoid on Saturday, November 21; and Allert, OSC1899, Seht Zahn and Zeno Mainardi on Sunday, November 22. 90 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
In 2009, two Dutch people and a Tanzanian bought the top of a mountain deep down in the Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. There, they started different projects with the local community, in the field of farming, education, arts, and health care. Together with Gijs Smoeff, gear supplier of Le Guess Who?, the idea for the very first Tanzanian circus for children was born. In 2012, they started to train artists who were eager to get involved. Almost 3 years later, they have done at least 50 performances, and found new teachers, parents, and more kids who joined. Parents were enthusiastic, and asked to also teach the kids English. At this moment, a container full of musical gear is sailing towards Tanzania. On January 1st, two Dutch musicians, Rogier Smal and Nora Mulder, will go there and start working together with the kids of Mambo, to make music. This should result into a child orchestra that might go out and tour together
with the circus throughout the whole Usambara. The shipping and importing of the container will cost about 7.500 euro. Smoeff and the musicians have gathered about 2.500 euro so far, the remainder is still being collected as we speak. As Le Guess Who? is very proud of the work Smoeff and the others, we’re hosting this fundraiser, which includes performances by Mulder, Heyden, Oliver, Smal and Birchall Quintet; Miriam Overlach solo harp; Sleep Gunner; Frankie Vis; Arvind Ganga; Han Buhrs & Nora Mulder; Dylan Carlson (Earth); and Jasper Stadhouders Poly Band. For more info, please see http:// noramulder.nl/sea_container.html.
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 91
013 ENT HEROP SPARRER
COCK E RBLAD + RAZO LL + MORE DSE TIAN + HAR SEBAS & E L EL OW NOV B
28 NOV
29
10 DEC
SH E CLUB EERST CL.NL X E A A R! IN 10 J :
T WACH VON STADS + WOL N E V R DIE NE ASE IN EXT
21 FEB
LYSM KATAK LESH ICF + S E PT
MET UNIEKE SHOWS VAN O.A. NEUROSIS, PARADISE LOST, MISÞYRMING, AMENRA MET LEE DORRIAN ALS CURATOR
92 Le Guess Who? Program Guide
KIJK VOOR ONS VOLLEDIGE PROGRAMMA OP
JUNE 17-18-19 2016
BEST KEPT SECRET FESTIVAL
FIRST ACTS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON BESTKEPTSECRET.NL
Funders
Media partners
Creative partners
TIVOLI VREDEN BURG
Le Guess Who? Program Guide 94
Who is Who at Le Guess Who? General & creative managers Johan Gijsen Bob van Heur
Assistant production Cynthia Kruissink Dennis Denissen
Board members
Le Mini Who? & Le Bazarre
Franc Faaij, Thomas Nova, Matthijs Timmer, Marlies Timmermans, Sjoerd Wennekes
Rinke Vreeke Jacob Hagel Alice Nell
Marketing
Production & Decoration
Barry Spooren Jessica Clark Breg je Wigersma June ten Have
Artist production & logistics Gijs Cals Nienke Bodewes
Festival Copywriting Jasper Willems
Rinke Wils Koen van de Meent (Triomf)
Concept/Artwork Robert Adriaansen (Loudmouth)
Website Jerry van Heerikhuize (Loudmouth)