02-05-2015 Spot Festival

Location: Aarhus (Denmark)
By: Sabine van Gameren

Spot festival is one of those festivals in Europe that is made to discover new acts. Showcases are all over town and we managed to get over to Aarhus, Denmark to tell you about it. Our main focus was the Mera Luna contest that was held in Radar at the end of the evening, but in the daytime we have been seeing some acts as well.

Wandering around town we come to this open area where everyone was able to enter. Thy Music Collective had a bunch of bands playing and so the first act we got to see was The Entrepreneurs. The guys had a good sound going but was already quite at the end of their set. They seem to be rather busy with their music alone, letting their audience for what it is. Something that may be a point of attention. They describe themselves as romantic Punk which quite covers the load. Musically the band impressed within the short time we had with them, but performance wise it was a bit dull.

A bit later we found our way to the Musikhuset where in a café stage some bands were playing. First it was a Belgian solo act by Arne Leurentop which we were looking at. He performs under the name and They Spoke In Anthems. A lot of instruments are along, all played by Arne and with the use of electronics, loops and a variety of other tricks he makes the sound more substantial than one usually has as a single person playing. If you are not a big fan of that looping thing it becomes a bit boring after a while though. Nevertheless, it is an act that one will enjoy in settings like these, intimate and having the audience close to it.

A bit of a pity was the act The Bongo Club. It appeared to us that these youngsters are playing this festival a bit too early in their career, giving the impression they have not really played a whole lot of shows and basically just mess around. The Swedish guys make indierock and come across a bit like they are whining and complaining all the time. The music they played would probably hit ground most by a teenage audience who can identify themselves with these guys a bit better. To us it was the disappointment of the day, we expected a bit more.

After that debacle we thought it would be time to move over to Radar and see bands play in a club setting. It was Meadows Ever Bleeding that was onstage but pretty much at their final song, so although we liked the last song, it’s simply too short to tell about.
Pool from Germany followed. They had a rather generic sound but did not really disappoint. They seem to have some audience enjoying them and so the mood came into it again.

The very first surprise of the day was Coco Moon. They are local and so the club was really packed for them. No surprise that they have that, because they are a good example of how we like our acts to overwhelm us. Musically we could refer to the hypnotic side of Joy Division for example, but the vocals of femme fatale Nana are giving it a whole different touch. She has a whole lot of strength in her and while watching her it is obvious that she is not even getting the max out of it while impressing us, so for the future this surely is an act to keep an eye on for we are convinced that she will grow even more with time and experience. The dreamy Coco Moon captivated the whole audience tonight and got a well-deserved applause.

The German Wilhelm Tell Me brought some gifts to please their audience, free cd’s could be found anywhere in the venue. The Indie formation comes with an energetic live show and leaves no second go to waste to include the audience within it. A rocking show that reminded us to the Finnish Private Line.

After a long changeover it was time for the Mera Luna contest. The first band to play out of three was the Swedish act Agent Side Grinder. The band is bringing an electronic set that they played up with bring some unusual instruments. While the stage is quite filled with synths it is no surprise that the whole is rather static, but their frontman brings some charismatic touch to it which makes it more energetic. A good show from the Swedish.

New Wave formation Private Pact is somewhat local here. They are from Copenhagen and seem to have some fans along. Where the previous act still made the effort to make the show energetic and vibrant, that was lacking a bit at their show. After a while it feels like the band is one that I would love to listen to at home, playing from my sound system, but seeing it live does not bring any extra.
Musically they surprised here and there, but also have a familiar sound within them, think Bauhaus for example.

As one of the last acts playing throughout the whole festival we got to see Black Light Discipline. The Industrial act from Finland is for sure the most energetic we have seen today and as they have the Metal in there as well it is not much of a surprise to see the audience get all wild for them. Good to see many were still out there at night and so a pretty filled Radar was closing the night of with the danceable tunes of the Finns.

Unfortunately we cannot tell you yet who was the winner of the evening and will be playing at Mera Luna, they will publish that on the Mera Luna website next week, but it seems to us that all three bands are winners today as there were plenty people present and everyone seem to have a great time watching these bands play.

Photo’s by sabinevangameren.com

Links:
Spot Festival Website