Fuzz Club Festival – Edition 2015
Somewhere under two railway arches, psychedelic sounds and rock-and-roll beats are echoing and exclusive vinyls are calling your name.
Somewhere under two railway arches, psychedelic sounds and rock-and-roll beats are echoing and exclusive vinyls are calling your name.
This November 13th and 14th, Independent label, online store and production company Fuzz Club, known for bringing in the best experimental music and upcoming music genres, celebrates the 2015 edition of their annual event: Fuzz Club Festival. Co-presented with Bad Vibrations, the festival has gathered their go-to psych and underground bands from Europe and places beyond, as well as some of their recently spotted talent.
The musical madness is divided over two stages located inside the London Fields Brewhouse. Known for its cultural versatility and popularity in the music industry, the venue makes for a perfect match. The line-up features artists such as Camera, The Telescopes, Lola Colt, The Janitors, Radar Men From The Moon, and Dead Rabbits, making the festival is a first-class feast for lovers of psychedelia, noise, garage, blues, folk, electronica, basically anything that doesn’t have your everyday pop song sound.
With The KVB chosen as the main act for this event, you’ve got your go-to performance already set. Prepare for a headline full of shoegaze guitars, hypnotic voices and abstract visuals, causing the show of the Berlin-based duo to be a rare experience on its own.
As for the die-hard fans planning to be present at the event, Fuzz Club has some exclusive pre-releases of upcoming albums, as well as a selection of releases including sold out vinyl editions from Austin Psych Fest up its sleeve. If that wasn’t enough, the production company is launching the Fuzz Club Black Editions, allowing everyone to devour up to 10 copies, selling them exclusively at the festival.
Fuzz Club London 2015, November 13th & 14th at London Fields Brewhouse
FRIDAY NOV. 13th
THE KVB
CAMERA
THE TELESCOPES
10,000 RUSSOS
NEW CANDYS
THROW DOWN BONES
SATURDAY NOV. 14th
THE MYRRORS
LOLA COLT
SONIC JESUS
MUGSTAR
THE CULT OF DOM KELLER
RADAR MEN FROM THE MOON
THE JANITORS
THE ORANGE REVIVAL
DEAD RABBITS
BUY TICKETS HERE
Early Bird from £12.50
Weekend from £25
Doors:
Friday at 7pm
Saturday at 4pm
We interview the CEO of FutureEverything Drew Hemment
A 20-year ‘art project’: Drew Hemment’s journey through digital art and innovation with FutureEverything leads him to Singapore.
A 20-year ‘art project’: Drew Hemment’s journey through digital art and innovation with FutureEverything leads him to Singapore
The FutureEverything festival began 20 years ago in Manchester as a hub for digital collaboration and innovation in the arts. This September, the festival lands in ‘the city of the future’, Singapore, ready to blow minds and challenge perceptions of digital art. FutureEverything CEO, Drew Hemment, discusses the implications of our ever-expanding digital culture surrounding the arts.
FutureEverything. Credit WeAreTape
How did you find your way into digital art and what led you to transition to focus more on curating it in a large festival setting?
I came across Internet art in the early 1990s, when I spoke at and helped organise the Virtual Futures conferences. Before that in the 1980s I got fascinated by networks when I was DJing and organising acid house parties. I set up the festival in 1995. I’d hung up the decks in ‘92 and in ‘95 I ditched the literary agent and book deal and threw myself into festival curation full time.
This was an incredibly creative moment but there was nowhere people could come together. I wanted there to be an event that was about new work and practice as well as ideas. In secret, the festival itself has always been an art project to me, or at least an arts enquiry.
It seems to me that digital art is a lot more accessible for members of the 21st century public than more traditional or current experimental art forms. What is it about digital art that makes it more accessible and do you think its accessibility promotes or encourages accessibility in other artistic mediums?
Accessibility is a good thing, but it can also be a ruse. Many digital artists working today consume and replay interaction forms and images that saturate our lives, through advertising, social media etc. So digital art can be instantly familiar and accessible, in the same way pop art was before it. Any sense of a single ‘thing’ called digital art is decisively over. I am mostly interested in art, and design, which asks questions about the underlying codes that makes changes, leaving the world and the audience different to how it found them.
How do you focus on encouraging digital art and culture that creates a ‘moment’ or ‘event’ in a digital world that allows for instant access to a variety of archived artistic material and ideas? In other words, how can one innovate artistically and digitally in a world that uses technology to access an infinite amount of ideas and artistic endeavours?
We can access everything instantly; it is at our finger tips. This can create a challenge, however, because we have this overabundance of content and connectivity, people need to meet face to face. We need to focus really hard on one thing that is amazing and profound. We’ve seen music gigs explode because people need the live experience to give meaning to streaming and downloads. It’s the same in art, and ideas events, it’s a symptom of our time.
How important do you think artistic collaboration between individuals is in digital art and culture?
Collaboration, sharing and openness are central to the DNA of digital culture. People can collaborate with tens or thousands of strangers across networks to create original and beautiful media objects in which the results of individual creativity can be seen. Mobile networks enable swift and spontaneous collaboration across loosely connected groups. There are always new ways to collaborate with people from other disciplines using them as tools for new development. Having said this, collaboration does not always lead to good art. Solo practice and isolation can create exceptional things.
How has the FutureEverything festival developed since its conception to the upcoming festival in Singapore? Are you witnessing significant changes in the way technology is being used in collaboration with art?
FutureEverything Singapore does feel like something of a culmination of our journey. We have been on this 20 year rollercoaster, imagining the near future, making it and mucking around with it. Then we rock up in this city that is a city of the future, in so many ways. We have never done two festivals the same, we keep on reinventing it. In Singapore my ambition is that we hit the mark, we tap into deep and unexpected currents there and I feel like we can do something beautiful and profound.
Drew Hemment. Image courtesy FutureEverything
Field Day 2015 Photo-diary
The long-awaited Field Day festival took place last weekend in Victoria park under rays of sunshine and musical promises that were fulfilled – for the most part. Starting on Saturday with a rowdy crowd that rushed its way from stage to stage to see the artists headlining, the smaller acts performed beyond expectations while some of the headliners were good, at best. The highlights of the festival were undoubtedly Kindness, Mac Demarco, and Patti Smith, whose music and stage presence uplifted the audience with carefree dancing and head-banging moves. Todd Terje’s brilliant performance was only magnified by The Olsens and Sink The Pink, London’s famous gay, drag and queer club kids, and FKA Twigs’ gig was a theatrical show that deserved to be seen on a bigger stage. Ultimately, this year’s Field Day Festival remains a success for music lovers, and one can only hope the future line-ups will be as excellent as this year’s.
Photos by Suzanne Zhang
HIGHLIGHTS : NOS PRIMAVERA SOUND 15
NOS Primavera Sound lived up to its promise of diversity and presented a stellar line of top acts, arguably the best so far.
Photos by João Gambino and Hugo Lima
Just back from NOS Primavera Sound 15, the Porto-based cousin of the Barcelona Primavera, one can report a stunning venue with liberal in-and-out policy, near bars and restaurants, which was not too packed, yet full of friendly faces. But what of the actual centrepiece, the music? NOS Primavera Sound lived up to its promise of diversity and presented a stellar line of top acts, arguably the best so far.
Thursday, 8.45pm: arriving just in time to catch the end of Canadian Mac DeMarco , watching "Chamber of Reflection" as the sun sank, beer in hand and full of expectation. Funny guy, DeMarco is, dirty-talking in between songs, but one should not be fooled by his bizarre rambles - the guy knows how to build his space.
Kicking off the more heavy beats of the weekend was Young Turk, FKA Twigs.
Bathed in purple and blue, the little girl with the big big voice was on fine form. Twigs delivered a dark, erotic performance, her signature twists and twerks smooth and provocative as always. Although the light show was good, there was none of the usual theatrics, just a body and a voice, yet her ethereal style and depth of emotion was superior nonetheless.
Next The Juan McLean, presented the surprise of the day. I knew the DFA label and of course Nancy Whang, the American singer and musician who makes out half of the duo, beforehand. Whang, who is known for her work with LCD Soundsystem,
Soulwax, Shit Robot and Classixx's, comes highly recommended. The energy with which the duo presented an awesome hybrid of sound and style really got the crowd moving and grooving. The closing (in a big way) act Thursday was Caribou, a man who needs
little introduction. Known for his experimental style on record, Dan Snaith delivered a live set, in which he produced a liquid, bass-dominated electronic style. It resonated within, the world fading into a top quality visual backdrop. For me, this hypnotising performance reached a new level and showed Snaith's determination to continue to lead, to pioneer his psychedelic odyssey.
For us the rest of the weekend started with Patti Smith, performing her iconic debut album "Horses" on the 40th anniversary of its release in a hard-hitting mix of rock, dedications and old-school-kool. Sitting on a grass slope in the sun listening to the punk poet laureate we felt the presence of true legend and I for one fully understood the importance of the album and it's foresight of and influence on a variety of modern genres. Patti was in the building.
Possibly the greatest anticipation of the weekend was the phenomena, which is Jungle. From releasing their single "The Heat" in 2013 to being shortlisted for the Barclays Mercury Prize in 2014, Jungle has risen so fast to fame it is almost unfathomable.
Yet, seeing the vibe-collective with the psychedelic, uninhibited style live on Friday night it was clear that the hype, by no means, is unfounded. The group put on a spectacular, organic show full of collective energy in a mix of tribal wilderness, 1970s-style funk and mischievous bass. And the pure and contagious joy with which those on stage performed, built an unmatched connection with the crowd - standing still just wasn't an option.
It was a real shame that Jungle clashed with another highly anticipated act, Run the Jewels. As the former finished we made it to the last few minutes of the Hip-Hop act. The bit we caught was a dense and unyielding representation of dark electronic hip-hop. Yes, such a thing does exist and I would have liked to see more of what this interesting American duo has to offer.
And then there was Movement ...The undoubtedly biggest surprise of the weekend. The Sydney trio gave a fierce performance in a fusion of their own stuff and wellknown covers. Despite the youth of the Movement project, which is part of the Modular label,
something truly unique flickered through. Furthermore, the humbleness and gratitude the group demonstrated to the crowd was inspiring and definitely added to the experience. Musically, R&B and dance blurred in a dark, thick tone. The bass slow, lazy. The atmosphere loaded, transcendent. The sparse beats and unrelenting depth were complimented by exquisite vocals and controlled instrumental interference. Movement performed in a way, which made me lose myself, swaying with the rest of the transfixed crowd in an experience of smooth yet demanding and faceted beats and undeniably salacious undertones. It was hot. It was heavy. It was Movement.
NOS PRIMAVERA SOUND 15. Are you coming?
Just as summer is about to start, NOS Primavera Sound is preparing to kick off the Portuguese festival season.
Just as summer is about to start, NOS Primavera Sound is preparing to kick off the Portuguese festival season. Whilst less well-known than its cousin in Barcelona, NOS Primavera Sound manages a delicate balancing act of mainstream and alternative, distinguishing itself by variety of style. As well as a wide selection of internationally established artists, the festival boasts a significant representation of up-and-coming talent, from Portugal and abroad. With a lineup including acts ranging from Ariel Pink, Viet Cong and FKA Twigs to Patti Smith to Mac DeMarco to Jungle and Caribou, NOS Primavera Sound promises something for everyone.
Nestled by the Porto seaside, Parque da Cidade creates the ideal framework for the festival. Within the city, yet by the coast and with easy access and scenic surroundings the park itself is one of the main attractions of the event. Apart from the main stage and the Super Bock stage, All Tomorrow’s Parties commissions a stage responsible for the more experimental programming, in various musical styles and the Pitchfork stage, commissioned by Pitchfork Media will bring some of the emerging names of international alternative music.
Compared to many of its European competitors, NOS Primavera Sound, which runs for three days, promises great value at a relatively low price allowing for a great mix of people to gather together under the southern sun, sharing music and summer vibes. We are certainly excited to pack our bags and head off to NOS Primavera Sound 15.
All images via © NOS Primavera Sound
When: 4-6 June 2015
Where: Porto, Portugal
