Civilization

Fairly recently (3 weeks, cough, cough) I went to my only festival of the year: festival deBeschaving. It was just outside of Utrecht so no hassle with tents and travel and stuff. I'll share my highlights here, I'll spare you the criticism of Pete Doherty, Kate Nash, et al.

First act we managed to catch was Get Cape.Wear Cape.Fly. (Yes, the interpunction is important!) Really nice laptoppy singer-songwriter stuff. I was particularly taken by War of the Worlds and I-Spy. His throaty voice and (slightly) critical lyrics make this a worthy addition to my shortish trophy room of singer-songwriters.

Next was the Dodos. Advertised as calm, folk, not a beat too many. What we got instead was postfolk: droning on, pulsating. Brilliant! Not entirely representative but still good is this video of Fools. It's really amazing how just a guitar, drums and an occasional shout into the microphone can absorb you. Their new album, Visiter, is good but it does not catch the feel of their live show.
For me this was really the highlight of the festival, but my ears hurt a little afterward.

We enjoyed the sun, Das Pop, Kaizers Orchestra (a lot but from a distance) and Oi Va Voi after that, but the final highlight for me is definitely Slagmalsklubben (I'm missing an a with a circle above it here, I'm sure!). Weird Teletubby-influenced Swedish electro, so-lame-they're-funny ramblings between songs but still, you can't go wrong with a song like Sponsored By Destiny. Oh yeah, and some blinking lights!

The final bus back home beckoned, so no Mogwai.