Live: Plisskën Festival 2015 (Athens, June 5-6, 2015) - Day 1

Highlights from the 2015 edition of the steadily growing Plisskën Festival which took place at the Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Center on June 5 and 6.

Savages, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

The Athenian alternative music festival which made its debut in December 2010, has further expanded this year to include a total of 4 stages and a strong, diverse line-up of more than 60 acts, featuring ..And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, Ariel Pink, The Horrors, Mogwai, Mudhoney, Savages and Thee Oh Sees. Let's have a look at the performances we enjoyed the most on the first day of the festival which had its best year yet:

June 5th

As you can guess by the photo we chose to feature at the top of this article, the performance that impressed us the most in this edition of Plisskën Festival came from Savages, the fiery rock quartet who is responsible for one of the best debut albums of this decade. Two years on, the band seems more confident than ever on stage and, judging by the quality of the new material they included in their live set, it seems certain that their comeback album will be just as thrilling.

Jehnny Beth's commanding presence on stage easily won over the crowd and soon ended up singing among the festival goers, while the trio of Ayse Hassan, Gemma Thompson and Fay Milton was simply amazing. By the time they reached the end of their thrilling 45-minute set with the powerful "Husbands", Savages had made a lot of new friends in Athens and received the warmest applause of the day.

Savages - I Am Here (live @ Plisskën Festival 2015)

Other notable performances of the first day of Plisskën included the return in Athens after many years of Texan noise rockers ..And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead who played an explosive "best of" set to triumphantly close proceedings on the second open-air stage of the festival, grunge godfathers Mudhoney and their latest Sub Pop offspring, Metz, who both caused noise tsunamis in the early afternoon on the main stage, Iceage who have recently started mining a more melodic, folk-influenced, vein of punk, Pharmakon, a.k.a. Margaret Chardiet, with her pulsating electronic tremors, the soothing electropop of Austra, the primitive garage rock of The Coathangers, The Twilight Sad's sad, gothic-tinged tales, the psychedelic goth-grooves of The Horrors and the experimental techno of Squarepusher.

Check out below photos and videos from all these performances and stay tuned for our highlights from the second day of the festival:

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

Mudhoney, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

Metz, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

Pharmakon, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

Austra, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

The Coathangers, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

The Twilight Sad, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

The Horrors, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

Squarepusher, live @ Plisskën Festival 2015

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Richter Scale Madness (live @ Plissken Festival 2015)

Mudhoney - Get Into Yours (live @ Plissken Festival 2015, Athens)

METZ - The Swimmer (live @ Plissken Festival 2015, Athens)

Iceage - Abundant Living (live @ Plissken Festival 2015, Athens)

The Coathangers - Watch Your Back (live @ Plissken Festival 2015, Athens)

Listening Habits 11-12.12

Crystal Castles’ unholy mix of punk nihilism, digital noise and dance floor-annihilating beats brings the Toronto duo to the top of our current favorite albums list (and the number 10 of our 2012 Top 30). Their third album continues their journey into the heart of darkness, purging all the ugliness that lurks in there with fire-spitting electropunk. Crystal Castles are fighting darkness with darkness and the ongoing battle creates violent, yet wonderful music.

"Lost Songs", the eighth album by Austin’s …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, is not going to bring you any peace of mind either. The Texan noise-rockers lyrical inspiration comes from war, tyranny and apathy and the end result is a seismic punk rock explosion that equals that of "Source Tags And Codes", their 2002 masterwork. Richter scale madness, indeed!

But if you’re looking for the true soundtrack of the apocalypse, then look no further than "The Seer", Swan’s twelfth studio album. The two-hour drone-rock monolith is one of the most demanding records I’ve come across in recent years, a punishing but rewarding sonic journey that’s certainly worth undertaking. "The Seer", as Michael Gira has stated, is the culmination of every previous album he has ever made in the last 30 years, so a working knowledge of the Swans / Gira discography will certainly help you prepare for it. Personally, I am currently revisiting Swans mid-'80s period with the compilation "Cop/Young God/Greed/Holy Money" - wonderfully brutal stuff!

For your slightly less complicated indie-rock enjoyment, I would highly recommend Guided By Voices’ "The Bears For Lunch" and The Babies’ "Our House On The Hill".

The third GBV album of 2012 (and 19th overall) is the best release of the band's current run with its classic mid-'90s line up and one of the last minute additions to our year-end Top 20. It’s safe to say, had they decided to release just one album last year with the best bits from each of their three full-lengths, that record could easily have been in the run for our Album of the Year. "The Bears For Lunch" is the closest they have come so far to recreating their '90s magic and that's no small thing. Maybe this was just their way of warming up for even greater things to come in 2013?

The Babies, the band formed by Vivian Girls guitarist Cassie Ramone and Woods’ bassist Kevin Morby, have come a long way since their self-titled 2011 debut. Their sophomore full-length is a record jam-packed with memorable garage rock gems that bring some much-needed musical sunshine in the heart of the cold winter. At least as good as anything they've given us so far with their other, more high-profile bands.

Here's the list of our favorite albums and tracks of the last couple of months:

Top 15 Albums

1.   (III) - CRYSTAL CASTLES
2.   Lost Songs - ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
3.   The Bears For Lunch - GUIDED BY VOICES
4.   The Seer - SWANS
5.   Our House On The Hill - THE BABIES
6.   Swing Lo Magellan - DIRTY PROJECTORS
7.   The Haunted Man - BAT FOR LASHES
8.   good kid, m.A.A.d city - KENDRICK LAMAR
9.   Toy - TOY
10. Oshin - DIIV
11. Strapped - THE SOFT PACK
12. Zeros - THE SOFT MOON
13. Researching The Blues - REDD KROSS
14. Melody's Echo Chamber - MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER
15. Rough Trade Shops Counter Culture 12 - VARIOUS ARTISTS

Top 20 Tracks

1.   Fall Back - FACTORY FLOOR
2.   Avatar - SWANS
3.   Catatonic - ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
4.   Doused - DIIV
5.   Moonlight Mile - THE BABIES
6.   She Lives in an Airport - GUIDED BY VOICES
7.   Let It Bleed - GOAT
8.   Plague - CRYSTAL CASTLES
9.   Backseat Freestyle - KENDRICK LAMAR
10. All Your Gold - BAT FOR LASHES
11. Kopter - TOY
12. Flying to Berlin - SAVAGES
13. Spitfire - PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
14. About To Die - DIRTY PROJECTORS
15. Ballad Of The Golden Hour - WIDOWSPEAK
16. Tallboy - THE SOFT PACK
17. Stay Away From Downtown - REDD KROSS
18. Suburban Home - FIDLAR
19. Machines - THE SOFT MOON
20. Endless Shore - MELODY'S ECHO CHAMBER

Factory Floor - Fall Back

(mp3s via stereogum and kexp)

The Top 20 Albums of the '00s: Number 17

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Source Tags And Codes (2002, Interscope)

For a five-year period, between 1998 and 2002, no one could match the sonic intensity of ...Trail Of Dead. With "Source Tags And Codes", their third album, the Austin, Texas band finally perfected their elaborate sonic assault, creating the noise masterpiece they had promised with "Madonna" right at the end of the '90s. See also our 2002 review and check out here why Pitchfork gave it a rare 10 out of 10 rating.

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Relative Ways

Counting Down The '00s: The Best Of 2002

Part three of our tribute to the best music of the '00s and this time we turn the bright lights on 2002, a year dominated by the stunning debut of Interpol, the blitzkrieg rock of Queens Of The Stone Age and the epic, apocalyptic noise of … And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead.

Here’s what I wrote about "Turn on the Bright Lights" at the unveiling of C.M.C.’s "Best Albums of 2002" list: “For a second consecutive year, the "Album of the Year" title is awarded to a newcomer from New York City. Last year it was The Strokes who took the top honor by reinventing '70s punk and reintroducing vital underground rock music into the mainstream. This year the honor goes to Interpol, who are taking inspiration from early '80s new wave stalwarts like Joy Division and The Smiths and putting their own spin to the dark atmospheric sound frequently associated to that era. What’s important though (and what separates the inspired artists from the plagiarists), is that they’re able to make that sound their own and give us a debut album that feels as inspired and timeless as those of their heroes.”

As for Queens Of The Stone Age and … And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, both delivered their best albums for this decade. The former had turned into a bona fide supergroup with the addition of Dave Grohl and Mark Lanegan to the fold for "Songs for the Deaf" and rocked harder than common sense and common law should allow, giving us no choice but to join the deaf club. The latter raised their elaborate wall of noise to new levels with "Source Tags and Codes", adding more texture and nuance to the brutal intensity of their explosive sound. "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots", the psychedelic masterpiece of The Flaming Lips, and the ambitious and sophisticated punk of Sleater-Kinney’s "One Beat" complete the list of the most memorable records of the year.

Top 30 Albums of 2002

1. Turn on the bright lights - INTERPOL
2. Songs for the deaf - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
3. Source tags and codes - ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
4. One beat - SLEATER-KINNEY
5. Yoshimi battles the pink robots - THE FLAMING LIPS
6. Evil heat - PRIMAL SCREAM
7. Highly evolved - THE VINES
8. Original pirate material - THE STREETS
9. You can't fight what you can't see - GIRLS AGAINST BOYS
10. Title TK - BREEDERS
11. They threw us all in a trench and stuck a monument on top - LIARS
12. Gotham! - RADIO 4
13. Fantastic damage - EL-P
14. Murray street - SONIC YOUTH
15. Suicide invoice - HOT SNAKES
16. Chat and business - IKARA COLT
17. Good health - PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
18. Plastic fang - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
19. Kill the moonlight - SPOON
20. Walking with thee - CLINIC
21. All artists are criminals - CHA CHA COHEN
22. Phrenology - THE ROOTS
23. The remote part - IDLEWILD
24. One by one - FOO FIGHTERS
25. The way I feel today - SIX BY SEVEN
26. Scorpio rising - DEATH IN VEGAS
27. To everybody - 90 DAY MEN
28. Free so free - J MASCIS + THE FOG
29. Universal truths and cycles - GUIDED BY VOICES
30. Since we've become translucent - MUDHONEY

Top 30 Singles Of 2002

1. Hands around my throat - DEATH IN VEGAS
2. Losing my edge - LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
3. Miss Lucifer - PRIMAL SCREAM
4. Interpol EP - INTERPOL
5. Everywhere with helicopter - GUIDED BY VOICES
6. House of jealous lovers - THE RAPTURE
7. Emerge - FISCHERSPOONER
8. Black rooster EP - THE KILLS
9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs EP - YEAH YEAH YEAHS
10. Speakers push the air - PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES
11. Get free - THE VINES
12. Fell In love with a girl - THE WHITE STRIPES
13. Relative ways - …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
14. No one knows - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
15. Sister surround - THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES
16. Do you realize?? - THE FLAMING LIPS
17. Jonathon Fisk - SPOON
18. Love burns - BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB
19. Someday - THE STROKES
20. Hate to say I told you so - THE HIVES
21. Morning has broken - THE EIGHTIES MATCHBOX B-LINE DISASTER
22. Ghetto mom - THE JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION
23. Come on - THE D4
24. Walking with thee - CLINIC
25. Let's push thing forward - THE STREETS
26. Dance to the underground - RADIO 4
27. Attack of the ghost riders - THE RAVEONETTES
28. We laugh indoors - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
29. All my life - FOO FIGHTERS
30. Used for glue - RIVAL SCHOOLS