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For the second time in a week I’m back in the dark confines of the Montreux Jazz Café (previously I saw super talented folksters Make It Pink and the formidably-voiced Anna Calvi), this time for the SPOT on Denmark night of Danish delights.
Supported by ROSA, the Danish Rock Council and MXD, Music Export Denmark, SPOT on Denmark is a music festival held yearly in Aarhus, Denmark to showcase the best of Scandinavian music. ROSA and MXD then provide the best three bands at the end of the festival with industry-based assistance to promote their music. In these times of fiscal crisis and belt-tightening, it’s rather miraculous that the Danish government still prioritises and supports the creative industries in such a way. Indie pop rockers Figurines, disco-pop outfit Vinnie Who and electro-punks Reptile and Retard are the crème de la crème of SPOT on Denmark 2011.
Tonight, the promise of seeing all three bands has packed the 1000+ capacity Montreux Jazz Café to the rafters. First up are the Figurines, who prove themselves eminently capable of stealing hearts from the front row to the back corners, with the kind of cheerful, tousle-haired sexy insouciance that wins over festivals and music charts. Having toured with Kaiser Chiefs and Cold War Kids, and having recently released their fourth album, the three friends (plus two extra friends brought in for the evening) are on a roll and loving it. They start to get seriously interesting when things kick over into heavier, rockier territory, and the crowd responds accordingly with hands in the air, and scores of cameras aloft – a sure sign that an audience knows they are watching something memorable. I feel certain that I’ll be seeing their name on various festival bills all over Europe in the next few years.
I’ve been tipped off in advance about Vinnie Who’s super disco vibe, but I still didn’t expect lead singer Niels Bagge to be so incredibly, well, disco – a non-assuming, skinny guy in suit pants, dress shirt and braces – think Ólafur Arnalds with a touch of ‘Disco 2000’ style Jarvis Cocker – with a voice that would make Jimmy Somerville cry. But he carries it off with aplomb, helped out by his band, including the implausibly beautiful Kristina Kristensen on backing vocals and synths, working the feedback between audience and stage with their intelligent and irresistible disco pop. Even I, known disco-phobe, can’t help but be drawn into Vinnie’s mirrorball world. By the end of their set there is a palpable feeling of euphoria in the air.
When Reptile and Retard take the stage I get a strange sense of déjà vu – ladies and gentlemen, is David Lee Roth in the room? Wild mane of blond hair, skin-tight jeans, singlet, short tight leather jacket, a feline sexiness that is impossible to disguise…Thankfully, lead singer Mads Damsgaard Kristiansen is less concerned with comedic histrionics and heavy metal posturing, and more with turning in a feverish, hyperactive (at times hyperbolic – not sure what he wanted to achieve by yelling out that they are all on the dole) performance. Undeniably charismatic, however, that Mads. Due to public transport constraints I could only stay for the first couple of songs, but they were rippers, nihilistic electro-punk, with some suitably bleak visuals to boot. And I have it on good authority that later in the set Mads took off almost all his clothes and crowdsurfed half naked. Now that’s something I’m sure the Montreux Jazz Café doesn’t see every day.
All in all, an energetic and surprising evening from three bands with completely different styles and personas. Look forward to hearing and seeing more from all three of them.
Figurines play at Stall 6, ZH, on 28.09.11. Their fourth, self-titled album is out now.
Vinnie Who‘s debut album Then I Met You is out now.
Reptile and Retard are currently playing a series of shows in Denmark and Germany.
