ML
Wednesday January 17 at 7:30 PM. House Maas
Belgians abroad: since Angèle, those from across the language border have used their own speech without any problems. After Rori, Maria-Laetitia Mattern is also an export product that tries to speak the language of the Van Laekens from Brussels, via a bend along the Dutch North. That’s okay, because even though ML still feels a bit newborn, you can already smell the potential in the warm synth pop with an indie edge. ‘Crève d’Ennui’ plays with innocent bambi eyes, but flirts with bombast. ‘Nuit Noire’ is aiming for hit parade status with a spicy beat. Yet it is in the subdued folk song ‘On part’ that ML makes the most impression with her soft voice. ‘We had a great time’, thanks Mattern – French will only take you so far, of course. We say: to be continued, see you soon.
Picture Parlour
Wednesday, January 17, 8 p.m. House Maas
She sounds like Natasha Lyonne who woke up with a damn nasty hangover. If Stevie Nicks doesn’t want to know about soft rock. Like ILA gone dragging schmalzy. In short, Katherine Parlor has a throat. As if she gargles with whiskey every night before going to sleep, lives on a diet of two slippers a day, grinds hoarsely, grinds raw. The fact that her band Picture Parlor also has songs, songs with legs and ears, is the icing on the cake. ‘Norwegian Wood’ (not a cover) and ‘Judgment Day’ are raw songs full of drama and passion, which Parlor delivers with ease. When it becomes heavier and more psychedelic in ‘Sawmill Sinkhole’, the mesmerizing sound of Jefferson Airplane emerges, and we understand why Courtney Love is already a fan. Picture Parlor doesn’t need much more to break through.
Lucky Lo
Wednesday, January 17, 9:30 PM. Wenutbutter
Her name resembles a somewhat faded Swedish one from the noughties, and she also shares her Scandinavian origins. Lo Ersare crossed the Øresund Bridge, settled in Copenhagen, and from there she tries to crack Europe with her dramatic pop. That should work one day, because the cheerful singer has the kind of agile voice that tells stories. Whatever she sings: you listen. Sometimes it’s about being born as a woman and what that means, and then you get the catchy ‘Through The Eyes Of A Woman’, in which she does the kind of thing with that throat that makes a person weak. It’s a shame that her band sometimes produces somewhat generic synth-pop sounds that are mainly aimed at stadiums. The first modulation of the day arrives straight away with ‘The Big Feel’ – Eurosonic is always a bit Eurosong – but it doesn’t matter. If Lucky Lo writes one more song like ‘Peak/Valley’, you will no longer be able to ignore it. Lykke Who?
Chalk
Wednesday, January 17, 10:50 PM Vera
Chalk is a doubtful case, but of the fascinating kind. Our ears perked up every time we watched Spotify, and we already saw the Northern Irish fall through the ice twice live. Today, in that wonderful rock cave that is the Vera, it works a bit. ‘Asking’ pounds, stomps and shakes like a bucking horse, ‘Velodrome’ is just not over the top. If Trent Reznor had grown up in Belfast in the last twenty years, he would undoubtedly have sounded like this trio: a bit of post-punk, a bit of electronic beats, a lot of angry guitars. They call it ‘Berghain rock with techno-punk’, and we can live with that. Well, singer Ross Cullen, with his frilly scarf around his neck, may look a little too slick to be a speaking frontman, but he also keeps things straight in closing track ‘Conditions’. It might turn out fine, then. You can check that out for yourself at Pukkelpop this summer.
Solar cream
Wednesday 17 January 01.30u. Vera
What do we have on our bicycle bell now? Swiss, Begot, and Pascal Stoll and Rebecca Solari embody their heritage as if their lives depend on it. We hear French, German, a lot of Italian, and we guess that the unleashed front woman has thrown in at least a word of Romansh. Musically, this electro-punk also bounces in all directions. ‘Why are you so cute?’, Solari screeches in the opener, and we feel a little flattered but mainly intimidated. ‘Tout le monde deteste la peau lisse’ she roars in ‘Peau/Lisse’ and I’m pretty sure she’s not talking about her soft skin: you don’t want to argue with this singer. As if it costs nothing, she switches from singing to shouting, she slides with a throat to say ‘Ti Sento’ in the vast synth-pop drama of ‘Uomo/Dorme’. After which it starts roaring again in ‘Autobahn/Autobahn’.
Solari concludes with her favorite Dutch words: ‘Thank you, bitterballen, cheese soufflé. CHEESE SOUFFLÉ!!’.
I don’t know what exactly I saw, but I know I’ll be there next time.
Berry Galazka
Thursday, January 18, 10:50 p.m. Grand Theatre
‘Newsflash: Polish people can be brown.’ Representing ‘focus country’ Poland from Florida via London: Berry Galazka. Something about a Polish grandmother. You can immediately see it every inch Polish housewife’s cap covering her hair.
Furthermore, this is mainly a very British rap sound. ‘Woke up, chose violence’ she starts. And with his dirty guitar that song sounds like that too. ‘Grind’ has something grime-like, while ‘Wild Wild West’ is made of playfulness. She rattling answers her bully in ‘Marisa’, and then it is time for that closing breakthrough hit ‘Man Can’t Hang’ with its dancehall chorus. Berry Galazka is already a phenomenon.
Ana Lua Caiano
Sunday 18 January 10.10pm. Pay Fides
“I’d never seen snow before!” Ana Lua Caiano cannot contain her joy about the bad weather in Groningen. Inside, her remarkable fusion of Portuguese tradition and modern electronic sounds unfortunately remains a bit cold. With a loop station she places tambourine, melodies and beats on top of each other, and her singing makes grateful use of the rhythmic character of Portuguese. Call it: saudade-hop, and that turns out to be a rather cerebral genre.
At its best it sounds like DIY Ruslana with its potent drum beats. She explains how it works, ‘les lessons de Stromae’: here a set of handclaps, there a drum beat, panting can also become percussion, and ‘look, now I even have time to take a sip of water before I sing. ‘. It’s cute, but ultimately it won’t be until the two strong closers that Caiano really comes out of the head. Then the cool ‘Adormeço Sem Dizer Para Onde Vou’ and ‘Mão na Mão’ aim firmly at the hips, we are where we wanted to be at the start of this performance.
La Elite
Thursday, January 18, 12:50 am. House Maas
And now we present to you: Sleafordos Moddos. The Spanish La Elite consists of the tall David Burgués on keyboards, and on vocals the small Nil ‘Yung Prado’ Roig, a man who from afar looks a bit like His Locustiness Manu Chao. No wonder then that we can’t help but think of Mano Negra, assuming they built their energetic live shows on some cool synth presets. ‘Bailando’ is so bouncy electro-punk with Gameboy melodies, ‘Nuit Folle’ runs wildly like a fairground song. Elsewhere, a boss is called ‘hijo de puta’ and advocates the legalization of marijuana; Don’t say that this isn’t a socially relevant ambiance.
Between acts, frontman Yung Prado presents his companion a burger for his birthday. The thing tastes good, Burgués eagerly orders another one: rascal kick. La Elite will not conquer the world, but it guarantees an hour of entertainment. Sometimes that’s enough.
Lambrini Girls
Thursday, January 18, 1:30 am. House Maas
This was never the intention. The kind of rudimentary punk that Lambrini Girls deal in is made for squats: for damp, draughty holes, made of brick and concrete. Somehow the world nevertheless started listening to what Phoebe Lunny and her friends on bass and drums wanted to say, and here they are: on Eurosonic’s biggest stage.
Anyone who has already seen the band from Brighton knows what to expect, and you can also tick off the list today. Strip down to your underwear? Today Lunny will be up soon. Make the audience crouch until she says it was good? Right in the first issue. That’s ‘Big Dick Energy’, a first furious tirade against flawed masculinity – there will be a few more to come. In ‘Help Me I’m Gay’ the frontwoman goes looking for ‘gay legends’, and eventually a few heroes raise their hands. And so she continues down the list of issues. Trans rights? You can shout along in ‘Terf Wars’ ‘shut your stupid fucking mouth, you stupid fucking terf.’ Catcalling? ‘White Van’ grooves like no other Lambrini song. After which Lunny announces ‘Boys in the Band’ with a long speech about how to reprimand bad friends. ‘Believe the victim’.
In the meantime, Lunny has dived into the audience, crowd surfed, and bassist Lily Macieira is also there in her bra. It all has very little to do with music – every song sounds pretty much the same – but the point is made. Next year: the Lotto Arena.
Psycho Weazel
Friday, January 19, 12:50 am. Grand Theatre
They like to play ‘Thunderstruck’ or ‘Maria Magdalena’ on their beat mill, they come from Switzerland, and they have a great band name. It’s Friday night and we’ve had a frustrating evening, alternating between queuing and disappointing nonsense like a drunken Death Grips from Lithuania or a Front 242 interpretation from Spain. It’s up to Ivo Roxo and Léo Besso to save the day with an eclectic set that pinballly combines the best of thirty-five years of dance music. With a light show in the background that is simply off, we hear warm Bicep sounds, pumping house and thundering eighties disco, Roxo or Besso – we want to get rid of that – suddenly starts chanting ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, and everything ends with a fucking slow. The words of thanks have been said, ‘Laisse moi t’oublier’, which they recorded with Sohan Wilson, is being played, and the two tenderly hold each other in the front; a warm ending for what was perhaps one of the most promising acts of this festival.
Pukkelpop’s Dancehall is calling.