Way Out West festival takes place every August in Gothenburg, Sweden. The three day music and cinema festival has been growing steadily since its start in 2007 and it is now one of the major European summer festivals, attracting around 30.000 visitors each day to the beautiful SlottskogenPark at the heart of the city. After hours, when the outdoor stages at the park have closed, the music continues in various venues around the city, as part of the Stay Out West portion of the festival programme.
It’s also worth mentioning the emphasis that the festival places on environmental issues, its LGBTQ-certification by West Pride and the strictly vegetarian food policy which along with the decision not to serve alcohol in selected bars makes W.O.W. the most “straight edge” festival I have ever attended!
St. Vincent, live @ Way Out West 2018
In this post you can read about the performances we attended on August 9, 2018, the first day of the 12th edition of Way Out West festival and in the second part (check it out here) we will have all about days 2 and 3 of the event.
Day 1 - August 9
Thursday, the first day of the festival, was by far the busiest day for us, with the highest number of acts we wanted to check out, both in Slottskogen Park and later in Magasin 105 club as part of the Stay Out West gigs.
Grizzly Bear, live @ Way Out West 2018
Early in the afternoon on Azalea stage, one of the two main stages in Slottskogen Park, Grizzly Bear kicked off our W.O.W. 2018 experience with a great set based on last year’s fine "Painted Ruins" album, with the only "problem" being that the band had to play under a bright sunshine, with the sun in their eyes, as one of their songs goes.
Jenny Lewis, live @ Way Out West 2018
One of the good things we should mention about the festival’s organization is that the timetable of the lineup avoided clashes between acts with similar audience. One such issue however was not avoided at the start of the first day as Jenny Lewis’s set was scheduled to start only 20 minutes after Grizzly Bear.
Jenny Lewis, live @ Way Out West 2018
So, after about 40 minutes of Grizzly Bear, we made our way to the nearby Linne stage for the performance of the former Rilo Kiley’s singer. It’s been a while since we last heard something new from Jenny Lewis but there is plenty of material in her back catalogue to form a great set and we did have quite a blast in the half hour we got to attend, with "See Fernando" and Rilo Kiley 2004 favorite "Portions for Foxes" being the highlights.
Nils Frahm,, live @ Way Out West 2018
After relaxing for a while to the melodic experimental sounds of Nils Frahm at Flamingo stage (the other central stage of the festival), it was time for one of the best performances of W.O.W. 2018, St. Vincent’s weird and wonderful pop extravaganza at Azalea stage.
St. Vincent, live @ Way Out West 2018
Her hour-long set was focused on her latest album "MASSEDUCTION" kicking off with the high energy dance groove of "Sugarboy" and continuing with our Track of the Year for 2017, the great "Los Ageless".
Annie Clark’s frequent guitar changes between songs was aided by a masked man (who sported the same mask as the drummer and keyboardist of the band) in a little ritual that became part of the show and reminded us that even in her most dance-oriented tunes, her guitar playing always has an important part to play.
Next to her Toko Yasuda (formerly of Enon) was giving her own show handling synthesizers, bass and guitar according to the needs of each song.
Some of the prominent songs from previous albums that made it into the set included "Cheerleader", "Digital Witness" and "Rattlesnake", while the grand finale consisted of "Fear the Future", the fast version of "Slow Disco" and the excellent "New York", the only song where Annie let go of her guitar and moved to the front center of the stage to sing. A fantastic performance, which could have been the best of the festival had it taken place later at night and not during the afternoon with the sun still outshining the stage lights.
St. Vincent, live @ Way Out West 2018
Charlotte Gainsbourg, live @ Way Out West 2018
Next up at the Linne stage we enjoyed Charlotte Gainsbourg’s '80s influenced electropop set presenting songs from her 2017 album "Rest" ("Deadly Valentine" was certainly among the festival’s highlights), while back in the two central stages it was time for two veritable legends of rock music.
Patti Smith, live @ Way Out West 2018
First it was Patti Smith and her group who brought positive vibes at the Flamingo stage, in a set that combined a handful of her own classics ("Because the Night", "People Have the Power", "Dancing Barefoot") with a few selected covers (Midnight Oil’s "Beds Are Burning", Dylan’s "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and of course Them’s "Gloria" which she has made her own).
Iggy Pop, live @ Way Out West 2018
Minutes after Patti Smith's set was over, the electricity in the atmosphere was raised considerably by Iggy Pop who at 71 incredibly seems to not have lost any of his raw power. The godfather of punk showed the kids how it is done in a greatest hits set with all the tracks you would expect to hear ("I Wanna Be Your Dog", "The Passenger", "Lust for Life", "Search and Destroy", "No Fun") and a few that perhaps you wouldn’t (like ‘80s soundtrack song "Repo Man" or a cover of Bowie’s "The Jean Genie").
Arctic Monkeys, live @ Way Out West 2018
The first day’s proceedings at Slottskogen Park closed with the 90-minute headline performance by the Arctic Monkeys. The British band led by charismatic frontman Alex Turner (sporting a new, short-hair look) gave a solid performance with a well-balanced set that included songs from all of their albums.
Their latest effort "Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino" offered some of the more melodic moments of the night (like opener "Four Out of Five", the title track or "Star Treatment") while the set’s more energetic tunes ("Brianstorm", "The View from the Afternoon", "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor", "Teddy Picker") came from their earlier work.
The key to their captivating show was the correct balance between old and new material, combining in equal measure the youthful energy of their past with the more mature songwriting of their recent efforts.
Arctic Monkeys, live @ Way Out West 2018
As Arctic Monkeys closed the night at Slottskogen’s Flamingo stage with "R U Mine?", the Stay Out West portion of the festival had already began at various locations around Gothenburg’s center. We chose to make our way towards the Magasin 105 stage at Bananpiren (Banana pier) where, unfortunately, we only caught the last song of The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s set, but we did get to enjoy the dark, primal energy of Chelsea Wolfe’s performance and the menacing, gothic drone of local hero Anna von Hausswolff.
The Brian Jonestown Massacre, live @ Way Out West 2018
Chelsea Wolfe, live @ Way Out West 2018
Anna Von Hausswolff, live @ Way Out West 2018
After 12 hours of almost non-stop live music entertainment, it was high time for the ride back to the hotel to get some much needed rest and prepare for the next two days ahead of us.
More about the festival in part 2 of our Way Out West coverage, here.
Check out below selected clips from the first day of W.O.W. 2018:
Arctic Monkeys - R U Mine? (live @ Way Out West Festival 2018)
St. Vincent - Fear the Future (live @ Way Out West Festival 2018)
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Remarkable Day (live @ Way Out West Festival 2018)
Jenny Lewis - Portions for Foxes (live @ Way Out West Festival 2018)
Grizzly Bear - Yet Again (live @ Way Out West Festival 2018)
Chelsea Wolfe - Scrape (live @ Way Out West Festival 2018)
Iggy Pop - No Fun (live @ Way Out West Festival 2018)
Just before we take our brief summer break, we’re making a checklist of our favorite albums and tracks of the last couple of months just to make sure we have everything we need for our trip in the sun.
Arctic Monkeys’ fourth album features some of their most melodic songs to date. The band’s effort to rediscover its sound continues with “Suck It And See” and this time the end result is more satisfying than before as they finally get the balance between their early supercharged, angsty sound and the more melodic, classic rock-leaning influences of “Humbug” just right. With “Suck It And See” Arctic Monkeys enter maturity without becoming boring or losing the freshness of their sound.
tUnE-yArDs first album was as lo-fi and D.I.Y. as you can get, being entirely recorded by its maker, Merrill Garbus, on a handheld voice recorder and mixed with a freeware program. The fidelity of that recording might have been low, but it left no room for doubting the talents of Garbus and her impressive vocal skills. With the help of a professional studio and a band of musicians to back her up and enrich the sound of tUnE-yArDs, Garbus is really shining with “whokill”, one of the most inventive recordings of 2011 so far, where African rhythms collide with hip hop beats, folk melodies work amazingly well with soulful R&B crooning and ukulele jams are boosted by saxophone riffs. You’ve got to hear it to believe it!
At the start of the summer we also got to hear two of the best debuts of the year so far, EMA’s “Past Life Martyred Saints” and Cults’ self-titled effort.
EMA, aka Erika M Anderson of the recently defunct drone-folk act Gowns, is making a remarkable new start with her first solo effort, a passionate, confessional recording that draws inspiration from the lo-fi folk of Cat Power, the guitar noise of '90s riot grrrls and the explicit narrative of “Exile in Guyville”-era Liz Phair. “Milkman”, the album’s pop diamond in the rough, brings to mind Sonic Youth’s experiments with Madonna’s music as Ciccone Youth. A highly addictive record that sounds better and better every time I listen to it - something I’ve been doing a lot lately.
Cults have made the perfect record for the summer. MadelineFollin’s voice is ideal for the sugar sweet, love struck, girl-group sound of the band while Brian Oblivion’s guitar adds just the right amount of distortion to avoid making the recipe too sweet. The brevity of the record and the highly addictive nature of its sunny, steeped in ‘60s pop aesthetic melodies guarantee the repetitive listening of “Cults” all summer long. It remains to be seen if the record will sound just as perfect for the winter days ahead as well.
The Top 5 of June-July ’11 is rounded up with the most surprising and successful comeback of the year. Highly influential '80s indie rockers The Feelies return with their first recording in twenty years, the aptly titled “Here Before”, and pick up exactly where they left off last time they were around. The band’s sound, a unique mix of Velvet Underground, ’60s folk rock και late '70s post-punk, is untouched by the passage of time and remains today as essential and fresh as the first time they made their “crazy rhythms” in the early '80s. A classic sounding guitar-rock album in a year that desperately needs more quality in the guitar-rock department.
Top 16 Albums
1. Suck It And See - ARCTIC MONKEYS
2. Whokill - TUNE-YARDS
3. Past Life Martyred Saints - EMA
4. Cults - CULTS
5. Here Before - THE FEELIES
6. Eye Contact - GANG GANG DANCE
7. Kaputt - DESTROYER
8. Hot Sauce Committee Part Two - BEASTIE BOYS
9. In Love With Oblivion - CRYSTAL STILTS
10. Codes And Keys - DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE
11. Smoke Ring For My Halo - KURT VILE
12. Apocalypse - BILL CALLAHAN
13. Lollipop - MEAT PUPPETS
14. Demolished Thoughts - THURSTON MOORE
15. C'mon - LOW
16. Passive Me Aggressive You - THE NAKED AND FAMOUS
The super sounds of the '70s: The new Arctic Monkeys track goes for a heavy, glam rock vibe, while The Strokes return to the lean punk grooves of their early sound with added '70s rock radio melodies. It's a good intro to both bands' latest material, but we'll have to wait for the albums to see if they can recapture the glories of last decade.
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006, Domino)
With a debut this good, you really do hope that maturity never rears its ugly head! As it turns out, Arctic Monkeys had a lot of tricks up their sleeves and this was just the impressive start of a rare band that really had what it takes to go the distance. Read here our full 2006 review and here the album review from NME.
2006 was the year of TV On The Radio and Arctic Monkeys, two of the best bands of the '00s. TVOR first came to our attention in 2003, when they released their breakthrough EP “Young Liars” and the following year claimed a spot in our Top 10 albums of 2004 with the excellent “Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes” LP. In 2006 the band continued its meteoric rise with “Return to Cookie Mountain” one of the most innovative rock albums in recent years. Its impressive guitar sound was enriched with soulful vocals, funky rhythms, melodic synths and unusual percussion to create a truly unique blend. Here’s how we presented the album at the unveiling of our 2006 "Best of" list: “…Their excellent debut introduced us to a band capable of experimenting and mixing disparate influences into a surprisingly accessible and ultimately fulfilling whole. With their sophomore effort TV On The Radio manage to improve on perfection and provide amble proof that we’re dealing here with exceptional talent that will certainly leave a lasting mark on this decade’s rock music”.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Arctic Monkeys took the UK by storm with the release of the record setting “Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not” (the fastest-selling debut album in the country ever), an album that continued the streak of classic Brit debuts that started a couple of years back with Franz Ferdinand and continued with Bloc Party in 2005. This is what we had to say about our second Album of the Year at the time: “...the band from Sheffield emerged fully formed out of the booming British indie rock scene and demanded our attention from the very first single. To their credit, the unavoidable music press hype didn’t get to their heads and went on to produce a classic debut that lived up to the impossible expectations. Their lyrics might sometimes be incomprehensible outside of Yorkshire but their melodic guitar fury will certainly resonate across the rock universe.”
Among the rest of the great releases of the year we find another two excellent debuts from Brazilians Cansei De Ser Sexy and teenage Nashville punks Be Your Own Pet. C.S.S. made the party album of the year, a perfect mix of dance beats and punk guitars, while BYOP delivered an adrenalin shot to the heart of the worn-out punk genre, reminding us how it used to be done 30 years ago. Thurston Moore approved and so did we.
One of the surprises of the year came from Archie Bronson Outfit, a band that made its debut on Domino in 2004. Their second album showed tremendous progress, a blues-punk explosion that demanded our immediate attention, but the majority of the British press, in its Arctic frenzy, seemed to ignore them. The Hold Steady had better luck as their third LP gave them a wider audience and gained critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Yeah Yeah Yeahs made their triumphant comeback after 3 years by unveiling a brighter, more melodic sound in comparison to their raw debut. Despite the more pop-friendly orientation, “Show Your Bones” managed to be just as adventurous and breathtaking as its predecessor, while it cemented Karen O'sstatus as one of the best singers of this generation. The Strokes and The Decemberists continued to amaze us with their third and fourth album respectively, while Sonic Youth and Built To Spill quenched once again our thirst for epic sounding guitars.
Top 30 Albums of 2006
1. Return to cookie mountain - TV ON THE RADIO 2. Whatever people say I am, that's what I am not - ARCTIC MONKEYS 3. Cansei De Ser Sexy - C.S.S. 4. Show your bones - YEAH YEAH YEAHS 5. Be Your Own Pet - BE YOUR OWN PET 6. Derdang derdang - ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT 7. The crane wife - THE DECEMBERISTS 8. First impressions of earth - THE STROKES 9. You in reverse - BUILT TO SPILL 10. Rather ripped - SONIC YOUTH 11. Boys and girls in America - THE HOLD STEADY 12. Pieces of the people we love - THE RAPTURE 13. Fishscale - GHOSTFACE KILLAH 14. Yoyoyoyoyo - SPANK ROCK 15. Standing in the way of control - GOSSIP 16. Ringleader of the tormentors - MORRISSEY 17. I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass - YO LA TENGO 18. Rabbit fur coat - JENNY LEWIS WITH THE WATSON TWINS 19. Robbers & cowards - COLD WAR KIDS 20. Hit the floor! - YOU SAY PARTY! WE SAY DIE! 21. Sam’s town - THE KILLERS 22. The Lemonheads - THE LEMONHEADS 23. The Bronx - THE BRONX 24. The invisible deck - THE ROGERS SISTERS 25. The body the blood the machine - THE THERMALS 26. Drum's not dead - LIARS 27. Impeach my bush - PEACHES 28. The greatest - CAT POWER 29. Broken boy soldiers - THE RACONTEURS 30. Avatar - COMETS ON FIRE
Top 30 Singles of 2006
1. Steady as she goes - THE RACONTEURS 2. Wolf like me - TV ON THE RADIO 3. Turn into - YEAH YEAH YEAHS 4. The greatest - CAT POWER 5. Rise up with fists!! - JENNY LEWIS WITH THE WATSON TWINS 6. A stitch in time EP - THE TWILIGHT SINGERS 7. Alala - C.S.S. 8. Pull shapes - THE PIPETTES 9. Chosen one - THE CONCRETES 10. O Valencia! - THE DECEMBERISTS 11. Goin' against your mind - BUILT TO SPILL 12. Who the fuck are Arctic Monkeys EP - ARCTIC MONKEYS 13. You only live once - THE STROKES 14. When you were young - THE KILLERS 15. Get myself into it - THE RAPTURE 16. Standing in the way of control - GOSSIP 17. Never learn to cry - THE ROGERS SISTERS 18. Monster hospital - METRIC 19. Eleanor put your boots on - FRANZ FERDINAND 20. Solar throw-away - STEREOLAB 21. You did it! - YOU SAY PARTY! WE SAY DIE! 22. Over and over - HOT CHIP 23. Sweet talk - SPANK ROCK 24. Don’t feel right - THE ROOTS 25. Cowbell - TAPES ‘N TAPES 26. Cherry lips - ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT 27. Fraud in the 80’s - MATES OF THE STATES 28. You have killed me - MORRISSEY 29. Incinerate - SONIC YOUTH 30. World wide suicide - PEARL JAM
We’ve had quite a few great releases in the two months since the last “Listening Habits” post and at least half of them may well find their way in our end of the year Top 50 list. We have already praised the excellent "Get Color", Health’s second album (or third if you also count last year’s remix job), and especially the stellar first single "Die Slow". Dream-pop vocal melodies and layers of My Bloody Valentine-style guitar feedback clash with menacing industrial beats to create what I could only describe as noise-death-disco. Not a catchy name for a musical style, I know, but I think that Health along with a few other acts like their pals Crystal Castles are creatively recycling '80s noise rock, industrial and electro into a brand new, highly volatile hybrid.
A different but equally refreshing musical mix seems to be brewing in London lately. The Big Pink, this year’s winners of NME’s Philip Hall Radar Award for best new act, combine cutting edge electronic dance sounds with dark pop melodies and menacing late '80s-early '90s guitar noise of The Jesus And Mary Chain-A.R. Kane variety in order to tell us "A Brief History Of Love" - one of the most exciting debuts of the year along with Telepathe’s "Dance Mother". Among the many highlights of the record are the singles "Too Young to Love", "Velvet" and "Dominos", as well as "Crystal Visions" and "Frisk". Interesting facts about The Big Pink: Their name comes from the title of The Band’s first album "Music from Big Pink" while Milo Cordell (one half of the band that also includes Robbie Furze) is the boss of Merok Records, responsible for some great releases by the likes of Salem, Telepathe and Crystal Castles (as you can guess by now, I really have a soft spot for these last two groups!).
And if you are in the mood for even more dark songs about love, you can find them in abundance in the fine debut of another very promising and very young London band, The XX. Initially they impressed us with their highly addictive cover of Womack and Womack’s '80s hit "Teardrops". This song is not included in their album but its melancholic air and seamless blending of soul, electro pop and icy '80s guitar style is all over "XX", making it the perfect choice for late night listening. As Romy and Oliver exchange verses in hushed tones, you often get the feeling of eavesdropping in the intimate conversations of a couple falling in or out of love, while the music’s beat follows that of the lovers’ hearts. "VCR", "Crystalised", "Basic space" and "Infinity" are the standout tracks of the record and along with "Teardrops" give you five very good reasons to make your acquaintance with The XX.
The third London-based act to have its debut album among our top picks this month is Florence + The Machine. "Lungs" is a big sounding, grand gesturing, passionate pop record with bright tunes like "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)" or "Dog Days Are Over" which showcase the great vocal talent of Florence Welch. The album was stopped only by the ghost of Michael Jackson from claiming the top of the UK album chart and in a year when the divorce of commercial music from quality seems to be final, this fact alone is enough to justify the buzz surrounding Florence and her band.
Another act that managed to break the embargo against decent music in the pop charts is Arctic Monkeys. For the recording of "Humbug", their third full-length, the band visited Josh Homme’s studio in the California desert looking for a change of scenery and a different sound. Although you cannot really say that they’ve gone stoner rock all of a sudden, the new album is certainly slower and heavier than its predecessors, making also room for the mellower orchestral pop influences evident in Alex Turner’s work with The Last Shadow Puppets. "Humbug" may not be the instant classic that their debut was, but it does show a band willing to take chances, experiment and evolve, the traits that distinguish all great artists.
And while we’re on the subject of brave artistic experimentation, here’s one of the most adventurous records you’re going to hear this year: White Denim’s "Fits". The Austin, Texas group seamlessly incorporates all kinds of influences in its latest work, going from acid rock to garage punk and from freak folk to free jazz in the drop of a hat. The flow of the record, however, remains flawless, offering us a thrilling joyride in rock’s less travelled back roads, the paths carved by groundbreaking innovators like Meat Puppets or The Minutemen.
Yo La Tengo can certainly be counted among the few truly originals of the last 20-something years, a band that is not afraid to mix things up and kick your ass in the process. In "Popular Songs" we can hear the more "easy-listening" side of the band for the album's first 9 tracks while for the final 3 they get lost in extended jams without losing the plot too much. "Here To Fall", "Avalon Or Someone Very Similar", "Nothing To Hide", "Periodically Double Or Triple" and "If It’s True" are the latest gems in the continuing, fascinating story of Yo La Tengo.
Our Top-10 also includes the best record that will not get an official release this year (another sign that record companies have completely and utterly lost the plot), the star-studded "Dark Night Of The Soul", product of the collaboration between the omnipresent Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, David Lynch and a cast of, well, dozens. We've also listened and enjoyed "Wilco (the album)", the finest record in recent years by Wilco (the band) and "Spinnerette" by Spinnerette, the next step in the tumultuous career of Brody Dale in collaboration with Alain Johannes of Queens Of The Stone Age fame. Not as fierce as her work with The Distillers but with enough fine tracks ("Ghetto Love", "Baptized By Fire", "Distorting A Code", "Rebellious Palpitations") to keep us satisfied 'till we meet again (I don't know where, I don't know when)...
Top 15 Albums
1. A Brief History Of Love - THE BIG PINK 2. Get Color - HEALTH 3. Fits - WHITE DENIM 4. Popular Songs - YO LA TENGO 5. Humbug - ARCTIC MONKEYS 6. XX - THE XX 7. Dark Night Of The Soul - DANGER MOUSE AND SPARKLEHORSE 8. Lungs - FLORENCE + THE MACHINE 9. Spinnerette - SPINNERETTE 10. Wilco (The Album) - WILCO 11. Julian Plenti Is… Skyscraper - JULIAN PLENTI 12. Varshons - THE LEMONHEADS 13. Travels With Myself And Another - FUTURE OF THE LEFT 14. No One's First And You're Next - MODEST MOUSE 15. JJ No2 - JJ
Top 20 Tracks
1. Die Slow - HEALTH 2. Dominoes - THE BIG PINK 3. Little Girl (ft. Julian Casablancas) - DANGER MOUSE AND SPARKLEHORSE 4. Teardrops - THE XX 5. Ecstasy - JJ 6. Pinball (ft. Telepathe) - SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO 7. Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up) - FLORENCE + THE MACHINE 8. These Are My Twisted Words - RADIOHEAD 9. The Whale Song- MODEST MOUSE 10. Rats - THE BLACK HEART PROCESSION 11. Crying Lightning - ARCTIC MONKEYS 12. Baptized By Fire - SPINNERETTE 13. Games for Days - JULIAN PLENTI 14. Periodically Double Or Triple - YO LA TENGO 15. Bull Black Nova - WILCO 16. I Start To Run - WHITE DENIM 17. You Need Satan More Than He Needs You - FUTURE OF THE LEFT 18. The Fixer - PEARL JAM 19. Dirty Robot - THE LEMONHEADS 20. Le Flying Saucer Hat - CHAIRLIFT
