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Photo: Sander Baks
Eurosonic Noorderslag, the annual showcase aiming to shine a spotlight on up-and-coming music from across Europe, took place in The Netherlands last week. We were lucky enough to be invited along. Lucky enough, but not quite fit enough – navigating between venues spread throughout the city while avoiding the 600 cyclists per square foot proved to be an exhausting, death-defying feat. It was worth it though.
The European Festival Awards kicked off Eurosonic with a politely restrained bang. Aside from the specially-brewed beer courtesy of Vestrock Festival, and the shots of something inexplicable that were passed around courtesy of someone evil, it was a fairly well behaved affair.
Whatever energy was lacking among the tables of industry professionals, though, only served to spur on the energy levels of the evening’s performers. Her two songs might have been met with muted applause, but that didn't stop Danish electro-pop Queen MØ from performing with the same uninhibited fervour she's known for.
Not only did Jack Garratt not need the help of an enthusiastic crowd - he also didn’t need the help of any other musicians. Stationed behind a guitar, keyboard, electric drum-kit and a loop pedal, Garratt became a one-man ballad-tronica band with a liquid gold voice. If you want something done right, let Jack Garratt do it himself. Judging by the queue for his show the next day, the secret of his talent is already out. We'll be hearing much more of this man in 2015.
Our first evening of the actual festival began with an unsuccessful attempt to get into the massively over-capacity Years & Years gig. Full disclosure - even our questionable, apologetic attempts to exploit our media wristbands were met with an unimpressed gesture, and what we can only presume was Dutch for 'You are in no way special enough to jump the queue.' They may be the Sound of 2015, but it's a sound we spectacularly failed to hear. Still, when we chatted with them earlier in the day, we learned all about their fan encounters, their definition of authenticity, and how they initially worried their award might be a hoax.
We just about managed to get in to see Hinds. Perhaps only because not all of Groningen had got the memo that Deers had changed their name. Hinds’ raw, woozy rock is unpolished but, for the most part, powerful. There are times when they mess up a guitar riff, catch one another’s eye, and laugh. It’s endearing, but it would be patronising to allow their innate likeability to stop us holding them up to the standards they have the potential to reach. Their scuzzy sound is deliberate and intoxicating, but in a year or so, we hope they’ll have moderated the slip-ups and slightly toned down the overwrought shout-singing.
If you needed proof that Eurosonic, for once, is not really about UK music, look no further than the miniscule and subdued crowd that gathered for Twin Atlantic. “Where’s your passion? Where’s your fire tonight?” they sang during ‘Free’. Not in this tent, that’s for sure.
Kate Tempest (Photo: Bart Heemskerk)
French-Cuban twins Ibeyi proved both more popular and infinitely more impactful. It was a performance, in fact, that was undisputedly our highlight of the festival as a whole. Kate Tempest played in the same venue the next night, and gave a bass-heavy, explosive and tense (in a really good way) performance which, thanks to her request to “Put that down and be here now”, was refreshingly void of glowing phone screens.
Our festival send-off came in the form of Noisia Invites – during which electronic trio Noisia welcomed a series of drum'n' bass DJs for hour-long sets each. Ivy Lab and Friction provided rippling, mid-tempo mixes which went down well with the eminently relaxed crowd, hidden behind the haze that comes from being allowed to smoke indoors.
And with that, the festival was finished, and we were left to nurse our blisters, add a host of new European music to our playlists, and eat waffles in Amsterdam. Eurosonic Noorderslag is a vibrant, ambitious and welcoming showcase of the best European music talent, and we can't wait to return in 2016.
