In the second part of our Plisskën Festival 2014 coverage we bring you photos and live videos from some of the best performances of the event's second day which took place at the Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Center on Saturday, June 7th. For the first part, click here.
The Soft Moon, live @ Plisskën Festival 2014
The two bands that attracted the largest crowd at the festival's indoor main stage on Saturday were Black Lips and The Soft Moon. For both bands this was the second time that they were playing in Athens.
The Soft Moon
Luis Vasquez's band popularity with the Greek indie fans was evident from their very first visit here, a year ago. The love affair continued with their Plisskën performance which was very well received once again. Dark, post-punk sounds evoking the ghosts of new wave past and some amazing guitar shredding, propelled by a relentless rhythm section, created the perfect setting for The Soft Moon to shine once again.
Black Lips
Black Lips first ever show here was six years ago (actually one of this blog's very first live reports) and, great as it was, had not attracted a very big crowd back then (to put it mildly). Fast forward to the summer of 2014 and Black Lips finally get the recognition they deserve also in Greece by headlining Plisskën Festival in front of a packed crowd of adoring fans. The popularity of garage rock, as I've mentioned before, is on the rise once again here and tracks like "O Katrina!", "Bad Kids" or "Boys In The Wood" make perfect anthems for the new generation of the genre's disciples.
Wooden Shjips, live @ Plisskën Festival 2014
Another highlight of the festival, also in the spirit of the revival of garage rock but with much heavier doses of psychedelia and kraut-rock repetition, came with the excellent, hour-long set of Wooden Shjips who played in between The Soft Moon and Black Lips. This was also the second appearance in Athens for Ripley Johnson' main band (he has also visited us with Moon Duo) and once again the controls were set for the heart of trippy space rock and we eagerly followed them there. Looking forward to do it all over again in the autumn when Moon Duo visit again (click here for our impressions from Wooden Shjips' first Athens gig).
Wooden Shjips' Ripley Johnson
Earlier in the evening we also enjoyed sets by Crocodiles (Brandon Welchez and his band mates proved to be fans of most bands on the festival's bill as they stayed and watched their performances by the side of the stage), Dirty Beaches (Alex Hungtai's popularity is rising with Greek fans as his tunes get more minimal and experimental), Damien Jurado (he performed solo with just his acoustic guitar for accompaniment) and Nightmare Air.
Crocodiles, live @ Plisskën Festival 2014
Dirty Beaches, live @ Plisskën Festival 2014
Damien Jurado, live @ Plisskën Festival 2014
Nightmare Air was definitely one of the pleasant surprises of the festival with their energetic, shoegaze-influenced, noise rock. The Los Angeles trio is formed by former Film School member Dave Dupuis and have released last year the album "High In The Lasers" which is definitely worth checking out. Swaan Miller, on bass and vocal duties, continues the great indie-rock tradition of outstanding female bass players!
Nightmare Air, live @ Plisskën Festival 2014
Nightmare Air's Swaan Miller
Check out below Black Lips, Wooden Shjips and Crocodiles performing "Bad Kids", "Ghouls" and "Neon Jesus" respectively, at Plisskën Festival's main stage on Saturday, June 7th:
Black Lips - Bad Kids (live @ Plisskën Festival 2014
Wooden Shjips - Ghouls (live @ Plisskën Festival 2014)
Crocodiles - Neon Jesus (live @ Plisskën Festival 2014)
The music festival season is upon us; next week we'll be attending the Plisskën Festival here in Athens, but last week Cool Music Central was in London for I'll Be Your Mirror, the sister event to the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival which usually takes place in holiday resorts. IBYM instead takes place in cities around the world and this May's event, which was curated by Yeah Yeah Yeahs, took place at London's iconic Alexandra Palace venue (the People's Palace!).
The event featured some of Yeah Yeah Yeahs favorite artists playing live in two different rooms, the huge Main Hall and the more intimate Panorama Room, plus special screenings of films and documentaries for the film buffs including Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Rumblefish, The Devils, Taking Off and Breadcrumb Trail (an in-progress Lance Bangs documentary about Slint). The 12 hours of great music on offer didn't give us the chance to visit the cinema but we did take notes on what we need to check out in the future. Here's what we did get to see and listen to during our Saturday at Alexandra Palace:
Anika
After a hasty browsing of the records on sale at Rough Trade's pop up shop in the venue's Palm Court (there was plenty of time for that during the rest of our stay in London), we headed straight for the Panorama Room were Anika was opening the festival with her seductive, laid back dub grooves. Unfortunately we didn't catch all of her band's set but we were there just in time for two of her best covers from the recent eponymous EP, The Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz" and Chromatics' "In The City". In the video playlist at the end of this post you can watch "Officer, Officer", the track that closed Anika's set.
K-Holes
First band of the day at the large (and rather too luxurious for rock 'n' roll) Main Hall of AlexandraPalace was New York City five-piece K-Holes. The band was formed by ex-Black Lips guitarist Jack Hines but their sound is more no wave than garage rock, with singer Vashti Windish stealing the spotlight with her energetic performance and sax player Sara Palmquist adding a certain James Chance element to the proceedings.
Big Freedia performing "Azz Everywhere"
Over at the Panorama Room, Big Freedia was housing a highly entertaining New Orleans bounce rap party, while the Divas demonstrated how to properly shake your booty:
The Divas shakin' it - anything goes at a Big Freedia party!
And continuing our frantic to and fro between the two rooms, we're back in the Main Hall where we stumble upon a different kind of party: New Yorkers Prince Rama present the future dance hits of the End of the World (which, frankly, sound a lot like a cross between '80s electropop and '70s disco-funk) and judging by the zombie invasion that happens at the end of their show, the End we're talking about is the infamous Zombie Apocalypse! Prince Rama may not have the best tunes of the day but thanks to their joyous performance and relentless positive energy, they certainly delivered one of the most fun sets of the festival.
Prince Rama
...and the zombie invasion of the End of the World!
The party at the Main Hall continued with the repetitive, experimental electronic grooves of The Field (perhaps better suited for a late night than a mid-afternoon performance) and with the always entertaining garage rock of the Black Lips who were surprisingly very well behaved given their hell-raising reputation (perhaps the influence of the stately Alexandra Palace?).
The Field
The Black Lips
Between these two Main Hall performances, we got the chance to catch up with Dirty Beaches at the Panorama Room (it's been a year and a half since Alex Zhang Hungtai's Bios performance), who informed us that they have just flew in from Russia while their tip for the most happening city of Europe right now is Berlin (apparently the place to be for beautiful babes and free drugs - it seems Merkel's policies are working very well for some European citizens after all!). The intense 30-minute performance combined electric guitar with electronic noise and percussion bringing the Dirty Beaches' lo-fi sound closer than ever to that of Suicide.
Dirty Beaches
The Locust
The noise intensified back at the Main Hall with a rare performance by The Locust and the triumphant return of The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion who played at lightning speed and maximum power an hour-long set with material from all their albums. It's twenty years since the first time I saw them play live (a few miles south from here, at the now sadly defunct London Astoria 2 venue) and I can verify that they haven't lost anything from their incredible showmanship!
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Mick Harvey
After a bit of relaxation with Mick Harvey giving his interpretations to the hits of Serge Gainsbourg, it was time to head for one last time to Alexandra Palace's Great Hall for the headline performance of the festival from our hosts. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have taken us into their world with the music acts and films they have chosen for this day, now it was time to bring their music into the mix.
Oh yeah, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs!
"Sacrilege", their fine new single, made for an excellent opening of the set even without the gospel choir. Karen O came on stage in a funny hat and large round glasses which were quickly replaced by a mosquito-styled pair for their second track (no prize for guessing its title), "Mosquito". The first blast from the past came immediately after with "Bang", taking us all the way back to their legendary first EP, which was also represented by "Miles Away" (check it out at our video playlist along with the mighty "Heads Will Roll").
The 15-track set featured selected highlights from all their three previous albums, with "Zero" going down a storm and "Maps" along with an explosive "Date With The Night" forming the perfect encore. One-third of the set was made up of "Mosquito" songs, which stood up well against the celebrated older material, proving that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are standing the test of time better than any band of their generation. So, there you have it...Q.E.D.: the theory of evolution applies to music as well and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are the living proof!
The evolution has begun: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Yeah Yeah Yeahs played: Sacrilege, Mosquito, Bang, Cheated Hearts, Under the Earth, Soft Shock, Subway, Zero, Gold Lion, Despair, Y Control, Miles Away, Heads Will Roll. Encore: Maps, Date with the Night
Half-hour of live music from I'll Be Your Mirror festival, starring Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Mick Harvey, Black Lips with King Khan, Dirty Beaches, Prince Rama, Big Freedia, K-Holes and Anika:
IBYM video playlist
Other performers in the IBYM festival: King Khan and the Shrines, Jah Shaka, J.G. Thirlwell's Manorexia, DJ Jonathan Toubin.
The spirit of primal '50s rock’n’roll was very much alive last Tuesday night at Bios, the venue that played host to Dirty Beaches’ first ever Athenian show. It hasn’t been long since the release of "Badlands", Dirty Beaches’ debut album, but it seems that the lo-fi nostalgic sounds of Alex Zhang Hungtai’s project have struck a chord with the local indie crowd that formed disorderly queues outside the club from early on and eventually filled it to capacity.
Dirty Beaches, live @ Bios (Athens, Oct. 11, 2011)
The night’s first invocations to rock’n’roll’s wild early days started even before Dirty Beaches took to the stage, with the energetic forty-minute performance of local act A Victim Of Society. Despite the two-piece band’s reliance on modern technology for beats and other sounds (a laptop computer), their main influence comes from primitive garage rock and surf music. A twin guitar assault, experimental attitude and vocals that sounded like the product of a telephone interception (they used an old phone’s headset instead of a microphone) completed A Victim Of Society’s very interesting sound puzzle that got even better towards the end of their set, when their beats started revealing electronic and dance music influences.
A Victim Of Society, live @ Bios (Athens, Oct. 11, 2011)
At a quarter to midnight it was time for Alex Zhang Hungtai’s band to take to the stage and fill Bios with the haunted jukebox sounds of "Badlands". For this European tour Dirty Beaches’ lineup is completed by saxophonist Francesco De Gallo who adds a jazzy dimension to Alex’s early rock’n’roll barebones guitar melodies. All other sounds and beats come courtesy of modern technology but the overall feeling of Dirty Beaches’ music comes from the era of Elvis Presley and Screamin' Jay Hawkins as filtered through the punk and garage rock influences of later day heroes like Suicide or The Cramps.
Dirty Beaches, live @ Bios (Athens, Oct. 11, 2011)
During the live performance some new elements, not evident in the album, come to focus. At times when Alex lays down the guitar and just sings and shouts to the beat, he brings to mind a rapper possessed by the spirit of James Brown, while at other moments, and especially during a cover of a DNA song, no-wave and noise rock influences come to play. The two-man set up is not always enough to do justice to some of the heavier tunes that would be better served with a drummer, but overall Alex with the help of Francesco did a great job of fleshing out the idiosyncratic sound of Dirty Beaches’ older and new material.
Here’s our video for "Horses", one of the highlights of the night, which was also featured in Dirty Beaches’ blog here, with the mention that this is Alex’s favorite version of "Horses" he has ever played live, with Frankie really nailing it on the saxophone:
