So, SPOT Festival 2014 is a wrap. It’s been a first for Team Poule at this prestigious indie festival and Aarhus, you have been cold but you have been full of memorable moments. Nicely set in the city centre around the music hall, a conference center and a transformed train station, the musical line-up was heavily dominated by Danish acts.
The first absolute banger was My Heart The Brave. Despite playing an afternoon show – which always is a bit meh but they did the best of it – the quartet around Caspar from Copenhagen unleashed a perfect set. Think Delphic and Miike Snow, smooth pop melodies with driving synths. They already shared a track for a Poule d’Or Compilation back in January, and it was fantastic seeing them deliver on a proper stage. Same stage as Reptile Youth and Turboweekend, to say the least. Below is their brilliant single Keep Me From It – which you can still grab as a download on the 12th Poule d’Or Compilation.
So and driving up to Aarhus, which only is a Katzensprung from Hamburg, steadily banging that Jai Paul and Jamie xx stuff, Team Poule was hungry for some Scandinavian take on that. Thankfully, Sekuoia played Friday night at the perfect spot: Raa Hal at Godsbanen, which basically is an old train station, this great industrial hall. The sound was epic (up front at least?), and oh my Sekuoia, pictured above, mean business. They are already great on record but add a live drummer into the mix and boo-yaa here is something to make your day. Absolute banger, tremendous show. Attached below is Something We Lost of their current EP.
Probably our favorite gig was GLASS, also at Raa Hal. I mean, they only had ONE song out really before SPOT so there isn’t that much of an expectation to build up around even though Screams has been stuck in our heads for months. So then they get on stage and they rock this ultra 90s sort of british techno look. Forgive the minor photo skills at 1.30 am but the singer, pictured above, sports a proper nineties sweat suit, matching pants and jacket, in this turquoise, light blue sort of colour scheme. Jesus. And note the lad on the keys. White jumper with a giant Puma logo, Matrix-style sunglasses and the uber 90s centre parted sort of fluffy hair style. On top of this visual extravaganza, the most poppy greatness you can imagine. Feel good music in Aarhus. They really whipped the llama’s ass. Hear Screams below.
So and for the lovers of the moving picture, SPOT Festival also held ready a whole range of movies and documentaries to enjoy throughout the full four days of the festival. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen were the act that combined both. To perfection. The duo made of San Diego by way of Cleveland rapper NOTE (Nigga On The Edge) and When Saints Go Machine super producer Simon already released two EPs a couple of years ago and are now shooting a documentary of their story leading up to the festival, producing a new EP, recording together and such. The two met online in 2007 – in the age of MySpace presumably – and only met in person for the first time in 2012. Now isn’t that something. Beautiful things can build up without even being in the same room, city, or even continent. Before their concert they played a 15 minute trailer of the documentary, by KnockKnock. Truly inspiring. Watch the trailer’s trailer here. And after that, few things are as entertaining as a room full of cool and tall pale-skinned hipsters trying to be a rap hip hop audience in broad daylight. Team Poule included, obviously. Loved it.
Attached is My Way off their 2012 EP Superconductor. Doesn’t get much smoother than that.
Now and even at an indie Festival like SPOT a great deal of amazing things can happen Off-SPOT. The man, the legend, Kirrin Island showcased his great talent at the official after show party and had the great Danes eating out of his hands. Attached below is his latest gem, Perpetuum Mobile. Heaven in a song.
So, SPOT Festival you have been magical. Maybe it’s the fact that Aarhus has one of the youngest populations in Denmark and although being the country’s second biggest city, it comfortably blossoms in Copenhagen’s international shadow. Or maybe it’s just because the days in early May are much longer up there than more south. Either way, Team Poule’s mind is still floating in between Godsbanen, Musikhuset and the cozy Voxhall/Atlas building with a raw food organic restaurant (!) right next to the canal wondering where the hours went. SPOT, if you’ll have us, we’ll be back next year.
See all our picks leading up to the festival here.
