I waited weeks to get to this festival. Finished my works in the office and went to the train to Mannheim. First I got to my brother to leave my luggage at his place and we went off to the festival. Retrospective I have to say that more of the half of the artists were from Germany. And there was a lot of new music from my home country to explore.
The first band we saw live on Friday were Neufundland, a new band from Cologne. Their sound is torn between post-punk darkness, tender impact, electronic dance music and great melodies. And lyrics like Joseph Stalin buys uniforms at Primark or There is nobody prescribes to me how I have to lose makes them different even in Germany.
The next artist that impressed me was SG Lewis, a producer based in Reading that combines classic songwriting with club culture. It was a really great combination of both genres. Filled with a fundamental bass he sings his lyrics in a very entertaining way. Looking forward for his next outputs.
Lilly Among Clouds is a project by a young German female singer from Würzburg. She has a fantastic voice sometimes like a siren but always beautiful. She combines her (pop)songs with massive dubstep ingredients. A voice between Norah Jones and Alanis Morrisette makes her songs something special.
Liima is a project by Danish/Finish collaboration from members of Efterlang and percussionist Tatu Rönkkö. To describe their sound is rather different. Rhythm-based trips by the sound worlds which lift the difference between concert hall and dance floor and added with reverb singing. It worked amazing live.
After a few hours on my feet I went to a smaller spot where I could sit down and listen to well unknown artist. Expecting nothing from Martin Kohlstedt he took me into another dimension. He is a wonderful piano player with huge addicts to electronic sounds. Of course nothing for the main stage but fantastic music for a time of your own. If you like Nils Frahm you could love him.
Late in the evening I went into the smaller tent they built up at the festival and was reserved for the newer heavier and faster sounds. I've gone there to listen once again to a post-punk band from Stuttgart that I featured a few month ago. Loud, fast and emotional music with heavy influence of the early 80's independent sounds. It was loud, fast and awesome to hear them live again. Probably a great hope for German independent music today.
Although we were tired we both wanted to listen to Meute a German Techno Marching Band. And it was worth waiting for them. Only the bass drum made the rhythm and a lot of horns joined it. Nothing more than fun listening to them.
