Rayland Baxter’s sophomore album, Imaginary Man, is the highlight of the week on our Spotify playlist. There are also two songs off the new beautiful Joan Shelley record, along with new songs by our buddy Kevin Morby, Andrew Combs, Lou Barlow, Donnie Fritts, The Apartments, Widowspeak, Julia Holter, and Liz Harris’ Helen.
LISB-ON,
you’re peculiar, I’ll give you that. For once, it’s great to attend a festival in which the action takes part mainly during the afternoon, leaving the last act to
close until midnight because there will always be dancing fools until the end.
But, sure, if you’re not one of them, you can leave the festival just in time
for dinner, which is something admirable in this day and age. Why do you think
matinées were such a big thing?
And then
the other peculiar aspect, who shouldn’t be that peculiar as well: Eduardo VII
Park is one of the must-see places in Lisbon, and the most big central
park of the city, a perfect place for a festival, especially during the afternoon.
Taking this into consideration, what if we told you that there’s definitely great dance music in this
line-up? That’s right, and we’re about to check up all there is to see. So keep
reading and see if it fits your taste.
Saturday 5th
It’s ladies
first! Isilda Sanches, better known
as one of the faces of Rádio Oxigénio, one of Lisbon’s best alternative radio
stations, will have its DJ skills tested, choosing
some dance songs as she’s used to on the radio. Can’t be that different, right?
So, what’s Fandango? It’s the junction of two very
experienced musicians from great Portuguese bands – Gabriel Gomes with Sétima
Legião and Madredeus, Luís Varatojo with Peste & Sida, Linha da Frente e A
Naifa – trying to bring very Portuguese instruments and musicality to the
electronic based music they’re playing. Interesting, at least, should be
quality live.
Much better
known to the audience is Mirror People,
X-Wife’s Rui Maia’s dance project. Here he will summon The Voyager Band, and I
must say I’m very curious to check how this will be brought live. I can say I
already saw Mirror People as a DJ set (no music of his own but a nice set), as
a live act (on Vodafone Paredes de Coura, and it was okay, but the songs could’ve flow better), and now we’ll see how we’ll do it in a proper
concert.
Very
interesting Portuguese acts so far, but how’s for a headliner at 6:00 PM? It’s Nicolas Jaar and he really needs no
introduction. There’s two new EPs released this year (Nymphs II and III),
soundtracks to two movies, one being the winner of Palme d’Or at Cannes, Dheepan,
but there’s still the critically acclaimed Space Is Only Noise back in 2011
and the collaboration with Dave Harrington, DARKSIDE, now on hiatus. It’s a
must see.
Speaking of
the youngsters (Nicolas Jaar is, like, my age, FML), Palms Trax started professionally just in 2013 with the Equation EP,
but shows signs of knowing the old school back to the 80s. Really excited to
see this protégée of the Berlin scene, to the point of living there this
Bristol born fellow.
Speaking of
the devil, Nina Kraviz may be Russian (I think), but she’s got the Berlin scene
all over her DJ set as well. It’s up to this fine looking lady to close the
first day of the fest, giving us a practically 3 hour set. Be ready to feel the
pedal!
Sunday 6th
Moving on
to the second day, it’s up to the music journalist, DJ and basically Portuguese
scene guru Rui Miguel Abreu to warm
up the stage for the later acts, turntabling some funk, soul and jazz hits for
the crowd. Expect a sort of musical lesson while you move your feet and be
ready to press Shazam!
One hour
later, time for other Portuguese fellow to bring his electronic music act
alive, being Mr Herbert Quain doing
a live act in collaboration with VJ João Pedro Fonseca. Let’s hope this collab
still works during daylight, if not well, bringing your sunglasses may help?
Next, time
for another tag team, Andras & Oscar.
While Andras Fox works on the producing of countless and contagious electronica,
Oscar Key Sung puts his sweet voice to the action. The result
should be a classy house jam for all the duration of their set.
But the
reasons why Sunday will be a hell of a festival day are still to come, and for
starters one of them is Jazzanova.
Somewhat of a historical act by nowadays, but not that much, releasing three
albums in the timespan of 13 years (yeah, that’s some work they put on each record),
but occupying their time in remixing other artists, these German giants will
form a band, inviting the singer Paul
Randolph to put on stage a brilliant act of chill-out, jazz house music.
The other main reason to come to Eduardo VII this day is, of course, Todd Terje. Not only because of “It’s Album Time”, one of the
fundamental albums of 2014, but because, as you may have read, it’s yet another
“Live Act”. And if you haven’t seen videos of the band Todd Terje managed to
form performing these songs, well, prepare to be VERY amazed. It’s a whole
different feel to see real strings of even Terje Olsen (real name) playing the
keys to their own songs. It’s a blast.
And guess
what? Yup, the day will end with a big German electronic DJ, how’s that for a
change? But no mind, Michael Mayer
knows the stuff and not only his extensive discography proves it, but also some
well know remixes to some famous bands, like Depeche Mode or Pet Shop Boys.
It’s a great way to end the festival and a great way to remember this LISB-ON is all about a concept and bringing quality acts that feature well on it.
That’s the way to bring a festival alive, and you may bet next Saturday there won’t be as much excitement about other events as much as there will be about LISB-ON.
We’re on!
BSC/SMF
This week on our playlist we bring you the new Destroyer album (who knew…), Poison Season. There’s still time for new songs by Beach House, Battles, Yo La Tengo, Disclosure, The Weeknd, FKA Twigs, Jason Isbell, Noah Gundersen, Cale Tyson, and Ryan Bingham.
Someone playing in front of a lot of people in the most perfect scenery you can get in a music festival. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]
Writing a review about Vodafone Paredes de Coura is always one of the most painful things I can do as a music writer. First, if I am to judge the musical performances – and, of course, some of those were pretty forgettable, others not even worth mentioning, as there are always some rotten strawberries even in the nicest basket – I can never do justice to how good the festival is as a whole. Second, if I’m to write a review, it means this years’ edition of the festival – and the best week of the whole year for most people who attend it – is over, and there are 51 boring weeks left until we return.
American Autumn is the collection of concerts I would love to book in a small café I would love to own. Café & Pop Torgal in Ourense, Galicia, Spain, is truly an inspiration for any independent promoter who books shows at a small venue in a small town. If you’re ever around the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, be sure to check out the place! This fall they’ve got concerts by Vetiver, Juan Wauters, Lady Lamb, Steve Wynn and Denison Witmer – and the festival has already expanded to Madrid, where bigger acts like Low or Alela Diane will also play shows under the American Autumn umbrella. Sometimes I wish I lived in Spain!