SPOT Launches Chill-Out Stage, Eight New Acts, Beta Session and NAKED
Today we have the pleasure of revealing another great bunch of acts for the SPOT weekend (27th & 28th May), and with less than a month to the festival 99 per cent of the line-up for the two days of music are in place.
Life as a festivalgoer is often hard, and sometimes you just need a bit of soothing chill-out for your legs and ears. The SPOT Festival sees to those needs with the outdoor stage Frekvens at the Amphitheatre in the festival area. Both on Friday and Saturday in the afternoon there will be DJs or live acts to bring you music of the rather laidback kind so that the audience may enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and get a bit of air between the other SPOT concerts.
A singer and a piano
The Spot Festival also presents another brand new initiative: “NAKED – a singer and a piano”. Pianist and organizer Gustav Ljunggren is in charge when in the course of the two days Kim Munk (The Broken Beats), Dorthe Gerlach (Hush), Steffen Westmark (The Blue Van) and Nabiha/Kira Skov willpresent their own songs in new, crooned versions with the grand piano as the only accompaniment and thus lots of room for the vocals. (Nahiba is to take part on Friday 27th May and Kira Skov on Saturday)
Enigmatic minimalism and heart-warming folk pop
The critically acclaimed, Arhus-based one-man project ’s budding and touching songs paint pictures of inner turmoil. The style is sombre and dark, while the anatomy of the songs is cryptic. With jumping, stumbling beats and an occasionally repetitive and electronic drive Messy Shelter’s minimalistic compositions evoke associations to radiohead’s “Kid A” and “In Rainbows”.
Deer Bear come from Aarhus too. The duo consists of the singer of death metal band Koldborn, Lars Bjørn-Hansen and Anne Hjort who besides her music academy training has mainly worked in electro pop. In this constellation some contemplative songs evolve with a Spartan orchestration: western guitar, melancholic keys and mellow strings. This makes for an organic sound with the two voices intertwining effortlessly in this slightly melancholy yet also heart-warming folk pop.
Dream pop, western music and Norwegian freedom rock
Josephine Philip Ina Lindgreen, who played together in the now disbanded ska girl group Favelachic, have joined forces and formed the girl-Americana duo Darkness Falls where they delight in their love of 60s twang guitars and the honesty of country-music. The universe is atmospheric and makes you think of a Sergio Leone western.
From Norway we have the rock veterans of Bigbang whose retro rock – or freedom rock in their own words – have clear references to the bluesy and melodious rock of the 60s and the 70s as well as to more recent punk rock.
Sleep Party People has also been confirmed for this year’s SPOT. The name is synonymous with Brian Batz who invented this dream universe in the late sleepless hours of night in his bedroom in Nørrebro, Copenhagen. The eponymous album from 2010 was well received by critics and fans alike. Other countries are beginning to show an interest in Sleep Party People too.
How to survive in the music business
Finally Copenhagen Records presents a brand new project – Copenhagen Beta, which addresses the question whether long-term survival is dependent on the music business embracing the three things that are currently removing its basis of existence: new technology, alternative promotion and the music-for-free culture. In addition to an introductory presentation of the initiative Copenhagen Beta will also present a so-called Beta Session where three new acts Sarah West, Silja and Öberg will play short sets.
