Brighton’s very own musical and digital arts festival Loop is nearly upon us and we’ve got a preview of some of the acts playing over the weekend as well as a run down of our LoopLate party at Digital.
The latest news is that the outdoor stage has been pulled from this year’s festival due to the unreliable UK summer weather. It’s a bit of a shame, however don’t fret, the line-ups have been moved to the Dome Concert Hall, which is a great venue. There are some truly great acts playing this year and here is a run down of who we are looking forward to.
One of the hottest new acts of 2009, Fever Ray will be headlining the Corn Exchange on Saturday night. Fever Ray is one half of The Knife, Karin Dreijer, and her debut album has been hailed as one of the finest of the year by critics. We caught Fever Ray playing earlier this year at Sonar and if was an interesting show to say the least. The stage show might not have been spectacular as The Knife’s infamous Silent Shout tour, but Fever Ray still managed to create a haunting and visceral live experience. This is her only UK festival date this summer, and bravo to Loop for securing such a captivating artist.
Joakim and the Disco
Joakim’s full live band doesn’t tour very often, but we’ve heard great things about it. One of our favourite producers, Joakim has had resurgence after a quiet period. Last year he released an album collecting all his remixes over the years and it reminded us once again why he’s one of the finest producers in the world. He’s playing in the afternoon on Sunday in the Pavilion Theatre.
Now over to Ally from Micawber for a run down of his acts to look out for this weekend.
Plugs
That face, it looks familiar… well it is. Plugs, fronted by Does It Offend You Yeah? former member, Morgan Quaintaince, combine a fusion of DIOYY’s edgy rock/dance stylee with a sound more commonly associated with Hot Chip, Clor and bands a-like. Bands heavily reliant on programing and synthesizer panache can eventually drain on your ears, especially live, often falling in-between the no mans land between live music and the dance floor. This is not the case however with Plugs, who are certainly less Nathan Barley than DIOYY, with evidently more songwriting ability – my top pick for the festival.
Zomby
Micawber favourite, Zomby, will be joined on the Saturday night by Marie Anne Hobbs at Concorde 2. Zomby, (who’s sound has provoked this rather amusing piece of journalism from The Guardian, “Feeling wonKy: is it ketamine’s turn to drive club culture?”) has a much more distinguishable sound than the name suggest and an even wider circle of fans, thanks to his genre-defining sound that has seen his records played across the music spectrum. Erol Alkan, Ricardo Villalobos through to Animal Collective (who he supports in New York later in the year) are smashing his tunes, who alongside other UK talent such as Rustie & Hudson Mowake, creating a scene I’m labeling, “the indescribables” (Blah Blah Blah: We’ve heard it called Aquacrunk which is rather catchy but totally stupid at the same time!)
You can also catch We Have Band & equally as impressive, Data Rock on the Saturday. While Esser and Solid Gold are the remaining picks for Sunday.
Check out Micawber for more preview of events from around the UK. They know their music!