Category Archives: Festivals

Paleo 2012 lineup – The Cure, Garbage, Franz Ferdinand, The Kills, Warpaint, Kurt Vile, Other Lives + more!

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Phwoar!! In the midst of other ho-hum Swiss festival news and line-up announcements, Paleo Festival 2012 has gone and beamed a ray of sunshine into my summer festival experience – The Cure (! squeak of excitement), Garbage (another, squeakier!, squeak of excitement), Warpaint, The Kills, Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Kurt Vile, Other Lives and much more… Thank you, Paleo Festival!

Can I just say again – The Cure!! Not so long ago I was getting all nostalgic over my long-lost days as a pseudo-goth and remembering the awesomeness of Mr Smith. I saw them only once, at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, at least 20 years ago (in 1992, the Wish tour). Now, I’ll get to see The Cure LIVE again – oh, the utter excitement, it’s hard to bear, I tell you. I think I’m a bit happy in my pants :)

See the full programme here. Wednesday 18.07.12 and Saturday 21.07.12 are looking very, very fine. 

Tix on sale at midday Wednesday 25th April 2012 – see here for point of sale info. But get in quick, they usually sell out within minutes. Pointer fingers at the ready!

Review: One Of A Million Festival Baden 2012 Pt 1: Isbells + Radical Face

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Last week I trekked out to Baden for the last three nights of the One Of A Million Festival, Baden 2012, wherein I had the very great pleasure of seeing a host of wonderfully surprising, exciting and new (to me, at least) musicians in an endearingly casual, unpretentious and relaxed atmosphere. And wow, that was three nights of some of the best music I’ve heard in a long time. I wanted it to go on forever.

Belgian band Isbells and American Radical Face (aka Ben Cooper + band) played on Thursday night at the Royal (the old Kino Royale, saved from the wrecking ball in 2010 by a public outcry), a lovely old Art Deco building full of nooks and crannies. Numerous people had picked Isbells as one of the highlights of the festival, and had had a few cursory listens to their self-titled debut album, but I wasn’t prepared for the sheer richness of their delicate, wistful acoustic folk melodies. Singer Gaëtan Vandewoude’s sparse arrangements and melancholy vocals carried an emotional weight that was subtly underscored by Chantal Acda’s lucid harmonies. They ended with a singalong that warmed up even the (usually reticent) Swiss crowd – the room was literally aglow with warm fuzzy feelings afterwards.

Radical Face was funny, talkative and all-out American friendly. On this, the last night of the tour, Cooper was playing in a chair because he’d injured his back the day before the tour started, and evidently relishing the prospect of going home to recuperate. Cooper’s morbid tales of murder, revenge, train hopping and family genealogy were masterful examples of lyrical storytelling, told with a melancholy, evocative air. Pretty wonderful stuff. Special mention must also be made of drummer Jack Ringca’s epic waxed moustache – a true star in its own right.

Check out more festival photos here.

Next up: Part 2 – Sóley, The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company, Tommigun and Lanterns on the Lake

Isbells’ eponymous debut album is out now on Zealrecords.

Radical Face’s new album Family Tree: The Roots is out now.

Stay tuned for the 2013 edition of the One Of A Million Festival Baden - don’t miss it!

Winterthurer Musikfestwochen 2012 – Sigur Ros, Get Well Soon, Leech, Kettcar + more

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Well, this is pretty damn exciting – after a three year absence from the stage, epic Icelandic band Sigur Rós are headlining the Winterthurer Musikfestwochen in August 2012, along with Get Well Soon, and Leech. Woohoo!

I’ve never seen Sigur Rós, but they’ve always been on my list of must-see bands. I saw Jonsi at Zurich Openair 2010 and he was just…dazzling (in a feathered, appliqued kind of way). So I’m thinking that the lovely little cobbled main square of the Wintherthur Old Town is a perfect place for my inaugural Sigur Rós experience.

I also saw Get Well Soon in 2010 at Zurich Openair (that festival, for all its faults, had an amazing line-up). Singer and multi-instrumentalist Konstantin Gropper’s beautifully atmospheric, semi-classical pieces (inspired by philosophers like Sartre and Seneca The Younger, no less) were instantly compelling, even though I was a Get Well Soon novice. Ever since then I’ve bene waiting for another chance to see him. Even better, Get Well Soon will release a new album shortly before the festival – I can’t wait to hear it.

Swiss prog rock band Leech complete the bill on the headline day, and will also have a shiny new album to present. Other confirmed acts for the festival include German indie pop/rock band Kettcar, who will headline the free programme of the festival – the free programme of the Winterthurer Musikfestwochen is usually great (last year Anna Calvi, The Hillbilly Moon Explosion and Iron & Wine played for free). Stay tuned for more announcements, because knowing the Musikfestwochen people, they’ve got something good hidden up their sleeves.

The 2012 summer festival season is shaping up to be very, very good…

Sigur Rós, Get Well Soon and Leech play @ Winterthurer Musikfestwochen 2012 (15 – 26th August 2012) on 25.08.12. Tickets here.

Kettcar headline the free programme of the festival, on 15.08.12. The remaining free acts will be announced later in the year.  

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No country for old men – The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company

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I totally blame my parents for my love of country music. They saturated my childhood with music relaying terrible stories of cheating men, drinking and impoverished children. I can still remember all the lyrics of ‘Coat Of Many Colors‘ – yes, I’m still traumatised!

Now, however, I’ve moved beyond Kenny, Dolly, Tammy and Patsy, and onto country realms with a slightly less hyperbolic bent. Son Volt and Will Oldham had a lot to do with it (in Will’s various incarnations as Palace Music, Palace Brothers, and Bonnie Prince Billy – I saw him play in Sydney, barefoot, randy and bearded, and utterly wonderful). The first album of The National drew me in precisely because of its booze-soaked, alt-country roots.

But it’s been a long time since I listened to much alt-country, having been distracted by glam rock, indie-whatever, and even *gasp* intelligent dance (read here for a list of awful genres). But when I was figuring out what I wanted to see at the One Of A Million Festival in Baden, I came across Lugano/Zurich band The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company:

…and I remembered how much I love that alt-country, indie-folk tradition. The poignancy of Boris’s viola and the timbre of John’s voice is an incredibly eloquent combination. Wonderful.  Needless to say, I can’t wait to see them live now.

The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company play @ One Of A Million Festival, Baden, Friday 10.02.12. Tickets here. 

Charles The Bold is out now on On The Camper Records.

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One Of A Million Festival 2012 – Nils Frahm, Lanterns on the Lake, Isbells, The Black Atlantic + more

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I think I’ve found just what I need to drag me out of the SAD hole I’m in (January, dreary, grey, cold, etc etc). The second installment of the One Of A Million Festival (Baden, 04-11.02.12) starts next week, and it sounds like just my kind of festival. They’ve got a pretty nice line-up that includes quietly wonderful gems such as Lanterns on the Lake, Isbells, Nils Frahm, The Black Atlantic, Dirty Beaches, The Legendary Lightness, Nigel Wright and The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company.

Plus, I’m immensely cheered by the humble promo taglines: ‘Just one of a million festivals’, and ‘No stars. No hype. It’s music only. It’s only music.’ What a welcome relief from the excesses and bombastic hype of the summer festivals.

My top picks: Lanterns on the Lake, Nils Frahm, The Black Atlantic, Lambs & Wolves, The Legendary Lightness, and The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company.

One Of A Million Festival, Baden, 04-11 February 2012. See the full programme here. Festival passes and individual day passes here.

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Upcoming gigs

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If you don't have tix yet to The Black Keys gig...too late.

Hi, my name is High Rotation and I’m a gig junkie…It’s been 36 whole days, THIRTY SIX DAYS! since my last gig. I confess that I’m starting to get a little jumpy – I’ve got my earplugs at the ready, and elbows sharpened in preparation for defending my carefully-chosen position at that long-awaited first gig of the year…

Needless to say I’ve been hard at work scouring the gig calendars for my concert fixes for January, February and March. And, yay, there are some great gigs and festivals coming up. I’ll be doing my damnedest to get to each and every one of them.

Here are my picks of what’s coming up in Zurich in the next couple of months:

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