Mutiny On The Bounty – A triumphant opening to Congés Annulés

Local math rock favourites Mutiny On The Bounty kicked off the 8th edition of Congés Annulés Festival at Rotondes on Friday night in front of a zealous crowd.

Now in its eight year, Congés Annulés has become the highlight of the summer programme for many music goers in Luxembourg, bringing with it an eclectic collection of artists from all over the globe from modern classical with “Greg Haines” on July 30 to experimental music from “Goat” on August 3, before finishing on August 26 with the trance rock of “Föllakzoid”. Check the August preview for some highlights of the festival.

Starting outdoors from 7pm with a DJ set from Luxembourg based hip hop artists Hokube, the evening had a celebratory feel in the air, maybe it was the excitement of the the night or even month ahead or maybe it was just that it was another fine summers evening, but by the time American producer and drummer NAH kicked things off most of the crowd were still outside.

NAH walked onto the very dimly lit stage and proceeded to make one all mighty racket, the mellow lighting was juxtaposed to the sound as there was a cacophony of sound blasting from the speakers, one minute bringing comparisons to Death Grips with some industrial samples and loops, the next it was Aphex Twin, which at times felt quite abrasive and challenging but the intensity was in some ways cathartic and thoroughly entertaining.

By the time MOTB took to the stage Rotondes had filled all the way to the bar at the back in anticipation of Luxembourg’s foremost band and on last nights showing they certainly deserve that accolade. Their set was full of power and passion from start to finish, I’ve managed to see MOTB a good few times now in Luxembourg and even a show in Glasgow but last night was their finest moment, maybe it was just that Friday night vibe but everything just seemed to click.

When a band can combine complex instrumental sounds into weird complex shapes but still get the crowd going from head nodding to outright head banging they’re doing something right. Through moments of distortion with a fidgety yet brutal groove they blend in the sharp clean guitar sounds which makes the songs feel alive and visceral before deconstructing them only to build them right back up again.

With the lack of a singer in the band they do their speaking through their instruments, be it subtly or with an almighty crash but either way they left the audience bobbing away all set and opened the festival with a bang. If every night could be as busy and as invigorating as last night, then it will be another triumphant festival.

Rotondes – 29/07/16

Weekend highlights

July 29: Mutiny On The Bounty, Rotondes, 9pm
Opening this years Congés Annulés festival are local math rock favourites Mutiny on The Bounty with support from NAH who bring their own off-kilter electro elements with heavily manipulated samples.

July 29: Feet, Rocas, 9pm
Young indie garage rock band from Coventry come to Luxembourg on their first European tour as they look to build on early support from radio and media.

 

July 30: Greg Haines + Pascal Schumacher meets Maxime Delpierre, Rotondes, 8pm
English composer and musician Greg Haines will take you through unknown territories between heavy delays, tape saturations and dub influenced sounds as he delves into modern classical and traditional compositions.

July 31: Little Eye, Casino2000, 9pm
Scottish pop rockers Little Eye are a band on a mission to be the biggest act on the planet and having supported the likes of Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The Specials they’re going about it the right way.

Weekend highlights

July 22: Hoba Hoba Spirit, Neimënster, 8pm
Part of the OMNI Festival, Casablanca based fusion band Hoba Hoba Spirit will bring their “crowd-wowing, multilingual Moroc’N’Roll” (New York Times) show to Neimënster.

July 22-24: Water Art Festival, Stauséi Lake, Times vary
Bringing music and sports to the beautiful surroundings of Stausí lake, the festival welcomes Grammy winning act Tinariwen from Algeria and Mali with their modern “Toureg style of music along with French outfit Attentat and local act Seed to Tree. The Sunday will be all about water activities on the lake.

July 23: Blues’n Jazz Rallye, Grund, Clausen, Pfaffenthal, 5pm
Thousands of Blues and Jazz fans will descend into the streets and cafés of Clausen, Grund and Pfaffenthal as the area will host the annual festival with an international line up of musicians.

Old school hip hop back in town with Jurassic 5

More than 20 years on from their inception, Jurassic 5 still look to be enjoying themselves as much ever as they took to the Rockhal stage on Monday night.

Having reformed in 2013 after a 6-year hiatus Jurassic 5 are back thrilling crowds just as they did in their heyday of the late 90’s. J5 were never a big selling hip hop act but they were much loved and brought back an old school hip hop vibe when the genre was becoming self indulgent and all about the bling.

As they opened with “I Am Somebody” each member bounded onto the stage and their infectious energy was palpable. This led to the audience waving their hands in the air (like they just didn’t care) and swaying side to side. It’s that party atmosphere that set J5 apart and it’s clear they haven’t lost any of that fun or charisma over the years.

With all 6 founding members back, this meant DJ Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark were on stage to drop the beats and take the spotlight as they escaped the confines of the decks with an ingenuous playful moment, which saw them walk around the stage with a wearable drum machine as well as a homemade turntable/guitar hybrid, as they had a scratch battle between themselves.

If that wasn’t enough there was even a kazoo solo in their classic hit “Concrete Schoolyard” taking us back to 1998 in the process. The infectious energy of Akil, Zaakir and Marc 7 anchored by the distinctive deep voice of Chali 2na, sustained excitement for the whole show as they bounced off one another literally and lyrically with big beaming smiles throughout, whilst on “Future Sound” the four MCs swapped and overlapped verses with consummate ease.

Unfortunately, on “Remember His Name” they couldn’t quite remember the lyrics but that didn’t matter as they laughed it off and asked the crowd to shout out more suggestions for songs as they delved into some old favourites like “In The Flesh”, which once again got the hands in the air bouncing along.

Old school hip hop comes into its own in the live setting and it was hard to not get caught up in all the excitement flowing from the stage, even if the venue was exceptional warm but hey what better soundtrack to a summers night than good time hip hop.

Having recently released their first new track in over a decade with “Customer Service”, there looks to be more in this reunion than just a fleeting bunch of shows. And with the dark days we’re all going through now, some upbeat old school hip hop is needed more now than ever, so welcome back Jurassic 5.

Rockhal – 18.07.16

The infinite charm of Mac DeMarco

Mac DeMarco made a triumphant return to Luxembourg on Wednesday and delighted the Rockhal crowd with a night of unadulterated joy.

His last appearance in Luxembourg was at Exit07 back in 2013, since then DeMarco has released two critically acclaimed albums and moved on from the lo-fi rock sound to a more polished and accomplished psych pop groove winning him legions of fans around the globe as the poster child of the slacker rock movement.

First up last night was Australian Alex Cameron and as he called him his business partner Roy Molloy on saxophone. Cameron came out wearing a striking silver velvet suit and serenaded us to some programmed beats and synths giving the revitalised 80s sound a nice twist as he waltzed around the stage pulling off some stellar power poses. His dry humour between songs just added an extra element which took us into stand up comedy territory, winning over anyone not so sure about the whole 80s revival.

After a truly enjoyable and amusing set from Cameron, DeMarco and band walked onto the stage along with new bassist Rory McCarthy sporting a fine dress to the comical The Bollock Brothers “Harley David (Son of a Bitch)” song accompanied by images of Kelsey Grammer on the screen above their heads, both of which sum them up quite perfectly and reaffirms this is not a band who take themselves too seriously.

As laidback as his last two albums have been, the songs seem to have taken on a more urgent feel live, maybe this is to add more excitement and energy to the live show but whatever the reason it worked as the jangly guitars and woozy vocals on “The way you Love Her” and “Salad Days” whipped up the crowd into joyous raptures creating a party atmosphere in the room.

With plenty of energy perpetrating throughout the crowd it took to “Another One” to take it down a bit with much of the audience bringing out their lighters and swaying away, even on the down tempo moments they wanted to get involved.

The instrumental of Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years” took the show into Spinal Tap territory with both guitarists and bassist playing their instruments behind their heads, there are few shows you see people bent double with laughter but last night was one of them, as DeMarco’s infinite charm of this happy-go-lucky, slacker-rock persona managed to convey an intimate and relatable affair for the audience.

Keeping it upbeat, “Freaking out the Neighbourhood” had the jangly guitars and woozy vocals prevalent as usual with DeMarco bringing Molloy from the support back onto stage and asked the audience to help him crowd surf, to which a sea of hands went up and kept him afloat whilst a others in the crowd decided to join in.

Finishing on the relatively slow “Chamber of Reflection” and “Still Together”, the band were joined by Cameron and Molloy as new bass player McCarthy began to thank the band for the tour which then descended into them all hugging and chatting on stage before a theatrical moment saw a few of them collapsing to the floor, no doubt this is a fun tour to be part of, it was certainly a fun one to to witness.

Rockhal – 13.07.16

Weekend highlights

July 16: Screaming Fields, Rockhal
Organised by Rocklab, Screaming Fields is an annual festival consisting of local bands who have been voted through to the final to perform at Rockhal to gain invaluable experience and pick up top advice from industry pros. This year includes District 7, Soulhenge and The Kooters to name a few.

July 16: MeYouZik
The annual world music festival MeYouZik will bring Australian electro-swing band Eugene the Cat along with the African beats of Soweto Soul and German based DJ Shantel who mixes Balkan music with electro.

July 17: Rock um Knuedler
Another open air festival to be held in Luxembourg city centre this summer is Rock um Knuedler which will host English hip hop artist Marlon Roudette alongside a host of local acts from indie band FOX and punk act Versus You.

Joe Bonamassa – A salute to the British blues explosion

Neimënster continued their run of open air shows on Tuesday night with American blues rocker Joe Bonamassa taking on the British blues acts of the 60s.

This special show saw Bonamassa pay homage to the music of Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, all of whom have had a huge influence on the guitarist, as he said last night “If it wasn’t for those guys I’d probably be a house painter”.

From an early age Bonamassa had been brought up on British blues and it’s a sound that has resonated with him all his life, stating “There’s a certain sophistication to their approach to the blues that I really like”. This adulation of the genre saw him take to the road and tour the songs of his three most influential, Beck, Clapton and Page.

Opening the evening was English blues guitarist Joanne Shaw Taylor who was discovered at the tender age of 16 by Dave Stewart of the Eurhythmics, and if her voice hasn’t changed much in the perusing years then you can see why. Her warm raspy vocals complimented the heavy blues rock; it came as no surprise that she is always on the road as the stage looked like a second home to her.

Then it was time for Bonamassa, with his blue suit, slicked back hair and sunglasses he strolled out onto the stage and kicked into Jeff Beck’s “Beck’s Bolero”, a ten-minute instrumental which was to set the tone for the evening, from some raw guitar riffs to the most delicate of nuances he had it all.

It would have been easy for Bonamassa to play all the hits but this was one for the purists, choosing some of the more leftfield tracks such as Led Zeppelin’s “Boogie with Stu”, however he still brought his own twist to the songs, again giving us something extra throughout.

It wasn’t just Bonamassa that thrilled the crowd either, but his incredible band made up of recent Rock & Roll hall of famer Reece Wynans on keys for his part in Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band, Russ Irwin on guitar, Michael Rhodes on bass and Anton “The thunder from down under” Fig. So as you can imagine the band were tight when required but also knew when to loosen it up and just allow Bonamassa to go off on one of his solos but it was his breakdowns which were as encapsulating as anything else such as on Beck’s “Let Me Love You Baby”

With the show coming to a close Bonamassa extended Clapton’s “Pretending” with the help of some mercurial skills from Wynans on keys as they stretched it out with some incredible blues riffs, the likes that hooked Bonamassa when he was just a child.

He brought the evening to a close with a Zeppelin double header of “White Summer” and “How Many More Times”, the former being another welcome leftfield choice with its Arabic inspired guitar sound as Bonamassa held the stage all on his own with this solo.

After a set full of British blues classics, they came back for the encore and played “Slow Gin” off Bonamassa’s album of the same name. For someone who was suffering from a sinus infection his vocals were on just as top form as his guitar playing.

It was a rare treat to see a guitarist of such calibre playing all the songs that have influenced him from a young age and with a new album out here’s hoping he’ll be back touring once more very soon.

Neimënster – 12.07.16

Iggy Pop – Still full of raw power

The godfather of punk brought his lust for life to Luxembourg for the first time on Monday night and with the casements as his backdrop he couldn’t have picked a better setting than Neimënster Abbey.

It’s 47 years since Iggy Pop rewrote the handbook of rock, introducing the world to punk before they even knew what it was. Still a force to be reckoned with, he has shown no signs of slowing down. His new album “Post Pop Depression” produced by Josh Homme of “Queens Of The Stone Age” is his most accomplished work since his Bowie produced albums “The Idiot” & “Lust for Life” of the mid-70s, with both producers managing to draw out his raw animal energy and existential angst to great effect.

Pop launched out of the traps, with The Stooges tracks “No Fun” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, songs most bands would kill to finish on, but with a back catalogue stretching to 1969 he had plenty more up his sleeve, well maybe more like down his trousers as Iggy was, as expected, flaunting his leathery torso and so he should.

His trademark primal energy seems unwavering after all these years as he delved into hits from his mid-70s creative peak with “The Passenger” and “Lust for Life”. With his fist pumping and lunging across the stage it didn’t take long before he made his way down into the pit in front of the crowd flailing his arms around with all his adoring fans.

As well as garage rock and punk there was still the evocative and sleazy grooves of “Nightclubbing” and art funk of “Sister Midnight” which saw Pop prowl over every inch of the stage. Although he might walk with a limp these days he can still make his way around the stage with vigour and looks more comfortable leaping around than he does walking, which pretty much sums him up, there is nothing idle about his performances.

After the encore he came back with a few from “Post Pop Depression” with the punk-funk baseline and shimmering guitars which has more than a touch of Bowie on “Sunday” before “Break Into Your Heart” which certainly has Homme’s fingerprints all over it with the brooding and simmering chunky sound. Since its release Pop has alluded to the new record being his last and if so it’s certainly a fitting departure.

With the night coming to a close there was one last blast of The Stooges with the powerhouse punk of “Search and Destroy” and “Down On The Street”. There are fewer greater sights in rock than the bare torso and long blond hair of Iggy Pop prowling the stage as he contorts his body to every grinding riff and thunderous beat.

Having first seen Pop 15 years ago I wondered how many years he had left with that energy in him, all this time later and I still wonder if anything can slow him down. Clearly drugs and aging hasn’t yet, lets just hope he can make it through 2016 and see if in 15 years time he’ll still have his lust for life, cause he certainly gives us ours.

Neimënster – 11/07/16

Flugelhorns & ukulele aplenty from Beirut

10 years on from their debut album, Beirut brought their blend of Balkan folk to Luxembourg for the first time, playing Rockhal on Wednesday night.

Started as a solo project by Zach Condon back in 2006, it quickly transformed into a touring band with many from those early days still with him today. 10 years on from “Gulag Orkestar” Condon has gone through marriage, divorce and exhaustion after extensive touring which explains the four years’ absence between the last two records. Now back with their 4th record “No No No” out on the wonderful 4AD records they have a new focus and drive.

Support last night came from local act Seed to Tree who created the perfect foil for the upcoming Beirut with their folk sentiments accompanied occasionally by a sparse mandolin whilst delving into some atmospheric soundscapes on “Wondering”. Over the last few years they have cemented themselves as one of the leading local bands and tonight just proved once more why, with a thoroughly accomplished set setting us up nicely for Beirut.

Arriving onstage to a slightly muted welcome, Condon and his 5-piece band consisting of Trombone, trumpet, accordion and ukulele along with the conventional drums, keyboards and bass kicked off the evening with “Scenic World” before moving swiftly into “Elephant Gun” which immediately set the tone for the night, with the brass section sweeping you up in the joyous Balkan jaunt which has become their signature sound.

Songs like “No No No” from their last album, whilst catchy don’t hold quite the same charm as the likes of “The Akara” which provided a darker more expressive sound whilst still achieving a polka-inspired rhythm and lively melody through the brass section and Condon’s vocals.

There does seem to be an intention to progress the sound somewhat on the new album, whilst still keeping the Balkan flow, but when the sound is diluted you end up with a few too many midtempo tracks that begin to blend into one another, fortunately they still have the likes of “Postcards From Italy” to bring it back.

As they began to get into the second half of the set the tempo was taken up a notch with the introduction of some synths on the likes of “Fener” & “The Rip Tide” which gave the sound a new refreshing dynamic.

“Nantes” got the biggest reaction up to that point with the crowd singing along for the first time before an encore consisting of a “A Hawk and A Hacksaw” cover of “Serbian Cocek”, which saw the brass section take on solos before finishing on “The Gulag Orkestar” which is probably their best example of the Balkan sound, gathering a riveting tempo at the end.

Although the set was littered with classic Beirut tracks which got your feet shuffling away, there are a few too many songs that just blend into one another and it wasn’t till the introduction of some bright keys later on, that they caught your attention once more.
Now on 4Ad it will be interesting to see how they continue to evolve their sound, whether they will lean towards a more radio friendly record such as “No No No” or will they go back to their core sound as on “The Gulag Orkestar”? Only time will tell.

Rockhal – 6.07.16

Weekend highlights

July 8: Andrea Fornari, de Gudde Wëllen, 9pm
Originally from Italy, multi-instrumentalist Fornari is now based in Luxembourg and realising his second EP “Home” this Friday night. Mixture of alternative folk.

July 8: Harmonie Municipale Dudelange, 8pm
The city of Dudelange and the municipal band present a special outdoor concert at Parc Le’h with a unique programme consisting of arrangements written especially for this occasion by Guido Rennert and Jean-Jacques Mailliet. It will include special guests Dream Catcher, Go By Brooks, Kuffi & Tuys.

July 9: Blues Express, Differdange, 6pm
Held over two sites in Differdange and connected by a train that takes people from each site, this Blues festival attracts 15,000 people each year and invites 40 international, regional and national groups to perform from “Robben Ford” to “King King”.

 
July 9-10: Rock A Field, times vary
This weekend the biggest rock festival of the year returns and this time it brings with it, Pixies, Bring Me The Horizon, Deichkind, The 1975 & Steve Aoki along side local acts Austinn, When Airy Met Fairy & Tommek.