You and everyone you know already know you shouldn’t miss LCD Soundsystem, The Tallest Man on Earth, Sleaford Mods, and Thee Oh Sees, so we’ll skip the obvious parts of the programme and go straight to the fine print.
MINOR VICTORIES (Wednesday 17): Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell and Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite – two old favorites of the Paredes de Coura crowd (Slowdive has played the festival last year; Mogwai were there in 1999 and 2011) are half of this so-called superband, along with the Lockey brothers (you might recognize Justin as Editors’ guitar player). Minor Victories’ self-titled debut album sounds exactly like you think it does: dark pop rock passing through a post-rock filter.
RYLEY WALKER (Thursday 18): Walker’s concert at Paredes de Coura is the last before Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, his third LP, finally sees the light of day. Playing his first Portugal show ever, the American guitarist closely follows the footsteps of Steve Gunn, who debuted in the country exactly in the second day of the last year’s edition of the festival. Here’s to hoping the weather will be great while he plays – his “contemplative” guitar work is an ode to the sun.
WHITNEY (Thursday 18): Rising from the ashes of late-00s indie darlings Smith Westerns, Whitney has just released their debut album, Light Upon the Lake, on Secretly Canadian, to almost universal acclaim. Right place at the right time for someone who fancies the record, something that’s not so usual for Portuguese fans.
JOANA SERRAT (Thursday 18): The Catalan singer-songwriter signed to Primavera Sound’s record label finally crosses the border to Portugal. Her newest album, Cross the Verge, was recorded at the mighty Hotel2Tango in Montréal, a name that instantly tickles the brain of any Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Vic Chesnutt, Basia Bulat, or Arcade Fire fan.
SUUNS (Thursday 18): It’s SUUNS’ fourth time in Portugal, after a delightful tour with Battles some five years ago, a clubshow alongside Jerusalem in My Heart in Lisbon and a more recent trip to the Azores islands at the Tremor festival this year. The synthy, psychedelic outfit will certainly have a blast where they seem to fit better: the after-hours stage, as that post-LCD Soundsystem balm not everyone wants because they still don’t know they need it.
KEVIN MORBY (Friday 19): The absolute champion of the Now everybody likes it label returns to Portugal for the third time, less than two years after his debut at a Bolachas-organized concert in Aveiro. Now playing for way more than the seventy lucky people who witnessed his first concert in the country, the LA-based singer-songwriter who was once half of The Babies and the bass player for Woods will present the songs off his third LP, Singing Saw, released earlier this week.
JACCO GARDNER (Friday 19): As a Portuguese living in the Netherlands, it’s not hard to understand why the Dutch songwriter (and master melody crafter) can usually be found enjoying the Portuguese summer every year. I don’t know who’s the luckiest, the ones who are able to witness his live shows or Jacco himself. Be sure to bring a sweater for the cold nights of Coura, though. It can be as cold as your typical summer day in Terschelling.
PSYCHIC ILLS (Friday 19): Their transformation from being a duo playing exploratory trippy niche music for 20 people in old basements ten years ago to a full grown six piece band that draws big crowds in festivals is one to behold. Carrying their latest album, Inner Journey Out, all around Europe since the beginning of this summer, this is the opportunity to see Psychic Ills in their prime.
SEAN RILEY & THE SLOWRIDERS (Friday 19): This summer was supposed to be one to celebrate for the Coimbra-based indie rock band, playing two of the biggest festivals in the country (NOS Alive and Vodafone Paredes de Coura) after the release of their third album in the beginning of April. But since tragedy struck the band with the disappearance of bassist Bruno Simões last June, it’s his life and legacy that will be celebrated instead.
LUST FOR YOUTH (Saturday 20): The last band in the last night of the festival. Hannes Norrvide and his pals created some waves with International a couple of years ago, and they’re back in the country with a new album released in the spring. If you’re into Scandinavian danceable (but not euphoric) electronica, this is what you want to finish your Paredes de Coura experience.
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.
The major highlight of the first night of concerts will certainly be the British shoegazers’ second gig in two years, after reforming at last year’s Primavera Sound. Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead’s iconic outfit will take the stage before headliners TV on the Radio, a band who doesn’t play in Portugal since 2007 and did next to nothing relevant since that day – just one more reason to expect Slowdive’s set to be the most interesting of the night.
Steve Gunn. Thursday, Vodafone stage. 7:50pm
Besides being one of the guitar players on Kurt Vile’s Violators, Steve Gunn has been trying to forge a name for himself, releasing a handful of great records in the past six years, which include the acclaimed Paradise of Bachelors-released Time Off (2013) and Way Out Weather (2014). Those had guaranteed the American avant singer-songwriter a place on Matador’s roster, just before embarking on extensive weeks of touring with the likes of Wilco and Ryley Walker.
Father John Misty. Thursday, Vodafone stage. 9:20pm
Josh Tillman’s days as a regular singer-songwriter performing sub-par regular folk songs under his own name are long gone, and for good. After a stint with Fleet Foxes and a series of undernoticed solo albums, Tillman finally got it right with his persona Father John Misty.I Love You, Honeybear, his second record, is yet another collection of superb, witty pop songs that make you both chuckle and applaud as if you were nervously and enthusiastically watching a football game on your own.
Waxahatchee. Friday, Vodafone.FM stage. 8:30pm
Katie Crutchfield has been releasing consistently good records under the moniker Waxahatchee since 2010, and her move to Merge Records after two stellar albums under Don Giovanni didn’t surprise anyone familiar with her confessional, down to earth songwriting style. The Alabama native will be presenting 2015’s Ivy Tripp, her poppier collection of songs to date.
The War on Drugs. Friday, Vodafone stage. 12:45am
The War on Drugs constitute further proof that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to be one of the most interesting outfits in rock music today. Drowning in Springsteenesque sprawling influence, Granduciel and his band reached indie stardom after 2014’s Lost in the Dream and will probably provoke some of the most celebrated moments of this year’s edition of the festival.
Natalie Prass. Saturday, Vodafone.FM stage. 7pm
Championed by Matthew E. White, who both produced and released her debut album on his own imprint, Spacebomb Records, earlier in the year, Natalie Prass’ career finally – and deservedly – takes off. Ryan Adams brought her on tour shortly after and here she is. One of the rare cases when a not-so-big but rising artist is picked by a Portuguese festival. Let us just cherish this for a moment.
Woods. Saturday, Vodafone stage. 7:50pm
Woods’ eight record, With Light and With Love, brought back to the spotlight this once promising band. Back to the country after a mostly unnoticed concert in a mostly psychedelic rock festival last year, the gorgeous scenery of Paredes de Coura looks like the ideal place for the Brooklyn folk rockers to finally leave its mark on the Portuguese scene.
In 2014, whenever we think
about blurred lines – other than that
infamous song – we think about that ever diluting line that separates work and
leisure, especially when you get to work on something that’s just too much fun
and sounds more like a hobby than a real job. Covering a festival is usually
one of those situations, except when you have to endure really bad or
unbalanced lineups. Now imagine you’re not only covering a festival with a good
lineup, but you’re surrounded by people who are passionate about it and are having
the best week of their year, in a land immersed in green and drenched by the
sun, with good (and cheap) food and drink awaiting on every corner of a small
but welcoming village. That’s Paredes de Coura for you, folks. And we can hardly
wait until next years’ festival.
Janelle Monáe. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]
The first day of the
festival was dominated by the Q.U.E.E.N. Janelle
Monáe. Accompanied by a big band all dressed in white, the Kansas singer
pulled up a flawless show where hits like “Tightrope”, “Cold War”, “PrimeTime”
or even a version of “I Feel Good” were celebrated like no other moments in
that day. Earlier on, Porto-based female rapper Capicua had enchanted the still smallish crowd that forgot about
the Champions League game and went to the festival site early. Public Service Broadcasting and their thinking person’s music closed the first
day of the festival on a high note, although the Britons could have benefitted from
being scheduled before 1 am.
Seasick Steve. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]
Thursday, the first day of
the festival in full force, with concerts in both stages, began earlier, with one
of southern Portugal’s best rock musicians of the last couple of years, Fast Eddie Nelson warming up for what
would be one of the best concerts of the festival. Seasick Steve, a late bloomer who didn’t record an album until he
was in his late 50s, brought his rocking delta blues to the main stage in the
greatest of fashions, and doing what Portuguese audiences love the most: talking
a lot and bringing people to the stage. Lucky girl. You’ve shared a stage with
a soon-to-be-legend. Meanwhile, on the smaller stage, Thurston Moore played yet another lukewarm show (good to see Steve
Shelley on drums, though) that screams “please, let’s sort out our problems and
reform Sonic Youth, can we?” We know, wishful thinking. They’re never, ever,
ever getting back together.
Another artist whose music
doesn’t quite translate well to a big stage is Mac DeMarco’s, tailor of a handful of gems spread across three
records (‘Chamber of Reflection’, ‘Ode to Viceroy’, ‘Cooking Up Something Good’,
‘The Stars Keep On Calling My Name’) but who needs to resort to crazy stage
antics to grab people’s attention. It works. Mac’s a crowd-pleaser and there
was still time to roll one with a Bob Marley cover (‘Jamming’). That would probably
the best way to keep his music interesting after a few minutes.
But the best moment of the
whole festival (spoilers!) came in the form of a San Francisco trio. Presenting
their latest album, Drop, Thee Oh Sees brought memories of past
triumphant concerts in the smaller stage (right on the top of my head, No Age ’11,
Deer Tick ’12 and Iceage ’13). John Dwyer’s violent garage-y, vaguely
psychedelic riffs (thank God for ‘Toe Cutter/Thumb Buster’) brought the tent to
a boil, with yours truly’s nose fortunately saved one inch from the cold ground
by a kind stranger after a crowdsurf went bad. Thank you.
The rest of the night was
dominated by the hit machine that is Franz
Ferdinand; making people who don’t even like them tap their feet since
2002. Festivals around Europe, you already know it: if you’re short of
headliners, Franz Ferdinand are your guys. You know the drill: ‘Tell Her
Tonight’, ‘Take Me Out’, ‘Jacqueline’, ‘Walk Away’, ‘Do You Want To’ and ‘This
Fire’ as the closer and nobody is going to complain. Pretty effective, even in
autopilot.
Conor Oberst w/Dawes. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]
Day 3 began with one of
Bolachas’ favorites, Dawes. The Californian
roots-rockers, playing their last European show before coming back to the US,
played a heat-defeating laidback set which included fan-favorites ‘That Western
Skyline’ or ‘When My Time Comes’, coupled with songs off their latest two
records, Nothing is Wrong and Stories Don’t End, including the
beautiful set-closer ‘Fire Away’. There was still time for a brand new song to
be included in a forthcoming record, coming up in early 2015. We would meet
again later on the main stage though: Conor
Oberst, in his first ever appearance in Portugal, used the Goldsmiths’ act
as his backing band, playing some songs off his latest solo record, Upside Down Mountain, and revisiting
some of Bright Eyes’ material, which included three fan favorites ‘Old Soul
Song’, ‘Another Travelin’ Song’ (both off I’m
Wide Awake It’s Morning) and the oldie ‘Lover I Don’t Have To Love’. The
highlight of their set, however, was the beautiful rendition of ‘I Got the
Reason #2’. There’s a good reason that a song off a record that didn’t get much
attention is a constant on his live set, and you can (and should) check YouTube
to know why. Taylor Goldsmith really shines on this one, and Oberst can
consider himself lucky he got to pick such a talented band to support them on a
tour.
Between the two
Americana-infused sets we had plenty of reasons to be entertained though, from
the sludgy rock and roll of the young almost-locals Killimanjaro, tearing the main stage apart and Linda Martini’s more intricate and sonically expansive endeavors to Buke and Gase’s experimentalism (and
by experimentalism we don’t mean ‘weirdness’, we mean invented instruments and
shit). Before Oberst took the stage, Yuck
were playing a surprisingly good show on the Vodafone FM stage, considering
they had just lost what arguably was their most creative band member (and
frontman) Daniel Blumberg. It helped that the band decided that playing some of
the most powerful songs off the first record, such as ‘Holing Out’, ‘Georgia’
or ‘Get Away’, during the first half of the set, was a good idea – and they
topped it off with the single off their sophomore album, ‘Middle Sea’. If
Oberst wasn’t calling from the other side of the festival side we would’ve happily
stayed there until the end.
The rest of the day was
less than memorable, though: Black Lips
are always fun and it’s a pleasure to see kids having the time of their lives,
singing along, moshing and crowdsurfing to ‘O Katrina!’ or ‘Bad Kids’, but the
main stage is too big for them; Cut Copy
are, generally, a waste of time.
After another memorable
hours-long DJ set by Gin Party
Soundsystem at the mystical Xapas Bar, memories of the sublime Sensible Soccers concert, opening the
last day of the festival, are still a bit blurry. The Portuguese band’s soft
and beautifully crafted kraut-something rhythms and melodies brought us back to
Earth just in time for two absolute disappointments: The Dodos are not what they used to be (really bland show at the
Vodafone FM stage, such lack of flame) and Kurt
Vile’s concert was a shadow of the one he gave back in 2011 on the smaller
stage, when a powerful and aptly named ‘Freak Train’ teared the stage apart
just before dinner. Fortunately, The
Growlers saved the night with the most cheerful and energized show of the
last day of concerts, featuring some fans dressed up as animals (seriously, how
do they endure hot afternoons on those suits?) and high doses of surf’n’roll. The
last concert of the Vodafone FM stage was also one of the best of the whole festival,
with Goat’s psychedelic freakiness
(nice dancers and visuals, guys) making everyone dance, although we felt the
small stage was, indeed, too small for them.
James Blake. Photo by Hugo Lima [Vodafone Paredes de Coura]
Back to ‘serious business’
concerts: Beirut, against all odds
(the cool kids don’t think Zach Condon is hip anymore), did an amazing job,
even if sometimes the sound of people talking prevailed over the band’s sound. ‘Nantes’,
‘Elephant Gun’ or ‘A Sunday Smile’ brought them some extra cheers, though. But,
in the end, what the average music fan brought home as their best memory from
Paredes de Coura was a sublime James
Blake show that would only be better if people who didn’t want to see him learnt
to shut the fuck up or go talk somewhere else. Blake
started by shaking things off with the brilliant ‘CMYK’ but quickly moved on to
more introspective areas (such as Feist and Joni Mitchell’s ‘Limit to Your Love’
and ‘A Case of You’), meddling between his latest album Overgrown (‘Life Round Here’, ‘Overgrown’, ‘Retrograde’) and his breakthrough
self-titled debut (both ‘Lindisfarnes’ or the show’s highlight ‘The Wilhelm
Scream’). Some might argue that his music wasn’t suited to wrap up the last
night of concerts at Paredes de Coura, but ultimately everyone else’s smiles seemed
to outshine their torches.
