Today started a little differently. A drive through the slushing snow towards Cardiff International Airport. Barely had I bought a coffee and I was climbing a small cityhopper plane on my way to Eurosonic festival, held in the northerly town of Groningen, in The Netherlands, Holland.
The flight to Amsterdam, just one hour, then direct and busy train for two hours to Groningen, and yes, gosh, "Holland is flat" I exclaim to myself while we chug effortlessly cross country.
Eurosonic is a unique music festival in that it's a co-operative event that started as "members" - aka radio stations or suchlike - brought one band each. It's an ethos that's still at the heart of the festival.
There are also lots of Welsh acts playing this year, including Marina & the Diamonds, Los Campesinos! and Ellie Goulding. Also some exciting new British talent are playing in the form of The XX, Everything Everything and The Leisure Society. So as you can see it's one of the first important stops in the musical calendar for bands who might be looking to widen their touring net.
I first heard of Eurosonic when the late great John Peel brought North Wales' Melys out to represent the UK, many years ago, and remember the band telling me what an incredible time they'd had at the event.
Well at this time of writing it's 3.30am Dutch time and the first day has been a blast. I've watched Italian indie, Finnish folk, Danish Grime, Norwegian post rock, and German pub rock... Yep, the latter not so good!
Here's a quick list of the best who played today.
Seabear, intimate indie-folk from Iceland
seabearia.com
CALLmeKAT, cosy and cuddly wonky pianos from Danish singer.
myspace.com/thisiscallmekat
Jamaica, French rock duo produced by Justice bod!
myspace.com/poneyponey
Isbells, sparse close harmony singing, originally recorded in an old
shack in Belgium. Lush.
myspace.com/theisbells
Lucy Love, Danish MIA style mc with dark and loud Dubstep bass and
grime beats.
myspace.com/lucyloveme
The Megaphonic Thrift, Norwegian post-rock/punk mixture, part Sonic
Youth part My Bloody Valentine wall of sound and personal highlight of
the night.
myspace.com/megaphonicthrift
Here's a photo of Finland's Vuk:
Another full day of bar-hopping tomorrow as I try and catch some more gems, check back for a blog update on Monday, and music and fun from the festival on next week's show. I know, It's a hard life!
