Tag: Khraungbin

Music Festivals by William Ruben Helms

Although it’s January and some parts of the country are blanketed in snow, Summer Festival season is around the corner. And that means Summer Festival announcement time is upon us, y’all! Let’s get to it, huh?

Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival 2024, the internationally renowned camping festival will take place between June 13, 2024 – June 16, 2024 on The Bonnaroo Farm, located in Manchester, TN, just 60 miles southeast of Nashville.

Much like previous editions of the festival, 2024’s edition will continue the festival’s long-held reputation for hosting a roster of the world’s top artists and performers performing around the clock, across more than 10 stages over the course of the festival’s four day run. Expect live music and much more through the night and into the early morning with special sunrise sets.

This year’s edition will include sets from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Post Malone, Fred again. . , Pretty Lights, Megan Thee Stallion, Cage The Elephant, Maggie Rogers, Melanie Martinez, Khraungbin, Cigarettes After Sex, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Diplo, Carly Rae Jepsen, Fisher, Jon Batiste, Dominic Fike, Parcels, Idles, Joey Bada$$, Lizzy McAlpine, T-Pain, Interpol, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Two Friends, Taking Back Sunday, Gary Clark, Jr., TV Girl, Thundercat, Ashnikko, Brittany Howard and much more. (The full Bonnaroo 2024 lineup is below.)

For the first time in the festival’s history, their What Stage (the main stage) will power up for a special Pretty Lights Thursday night headline set. Pretty Lights will also perform a second sunrise set on the festival’s The Other Stage during the weekend. Bonnaroo will also mark the only US festival performance by rising electronic act Fred again . . . this year.

This year’s edition will also feature a very special edition of the festival’s world-famous SuperJam. Taking place on June 15, 2024 in That Tent, this year’s All-Star collaboration will be “Once More With Feeling (s) — The Dashboard Confession Emo SuperJam, with performances from special guests both announced and unannounced, guaranteeing that this year’s session will be a must-see celebration of community, showmanship and unmatched musical adventure.

Additional lineup announcements, including plans for the Where In The Woods Stage, as well as the Late Night showcase performances will be announced soon.

But in the meantime, the presale begins Thursday, January 11 at 10:00SM Central Time. Fans can sign up for a presale passcode exclusively here: http://www.bonnaroo.com/tickets. A public on-sale will follow if tickets remain.

2024 ticket options include:

  • 4-Day General Admission
  • 4-Day General Admission+
  • 4-Day VIP
  • 4-Day Platinum
  • And there are a variety of camping and parking options starting at just $25 down with a payment plan

Bonnaroo’s General Admission ticket includes over 150 performances on more than 10 stages, access to the entire campground, food for purchase from over 150 vendors, including vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options, bars, concessions, access to purchase official band and festival merch, free water stations and more amenities throughout the park and campground.

GA+ tickets include all of the above, plus unlimited access to the Centeroo GA+ Lounge, which features relaxed seating, dedicated food for purchase, air-conditioned restrooms and concierge to assist with all festival needs, a private bar with drinks for purchase plus complimentary soft drinks, a complimentary water refill station, a dedicated premium entrance lane at both gates into Center and more.

VIP and Platinum ticket holders will enjoy a number of exclusive ungrounds, including dedicated close-in and on-field viewing areas, unlimited access to VIP and Platinum Lounges, express lanes at the Festival Store, commemorative festival gifts and more. More information on VIP and Platinum tickets can be found here: http://www.bonnaroo.com/tickets.

The Festival will offer a wide range of camping and parking options at Outeroo, Bonnaroo’s campgrounds, including Primitive Car Camping, Glamping RVs, Backstage Camping, Accessible Camping, Group Camping, Community Camping and more. Premium Outeroo Camping accommodations include pre-pitched souvenir tents, cool and comfortable darkroom tents, weatherproof luxury bell tents and spacious two-person wood frame safari tents — for the ultimate Bonnaroo camping experience. Additionally, four-day on-site parking will be available for ticket holders, who won’t be camping with car parking passes granting one parking spot in the Cosmic Nomads Day Parking Lot. For details and accommodation options, check out: http://www.bonnaroo.com/accommodations.

Bonnaroo has also maintained a commitment to local and regional issues, since the festival’s beginnings. Founded back in 2009 as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, Bonnaroo Works Fund (BWF) contributes to more than 100 local, regional and national nonprofit partners benefiting the arts, education, environmental sustainability and social impact — with a direct focus on local reinvestment and asset building. Nearly $10 million in funding has been generated thus far, providing much-needed local support to Middle Tennessee, especially Manchester and Coffee County communities.

COMPLETE BONNAROO 2024 LINEUP

THURSDAY, JUNE 13

Pretty Lights (Headlining Main Stage)

FISHER

BigXthaPlug

Disco Lines

Durand Bernarr

Eggy

Geese

Gwar

The Heavy Heavy

HoneyLuv

it’s murph

Matt Maltese

Medium Build

Michigander

Militarie Gun

Nation of Language

Neal Francis’ Francis Comes Alive

Ocie Elliott

Oliver Heldens

Róisín Murphy

Say She She

Sid Sriram

FRIDAY, JUNE 14

Post Malone

Maggie Rogers

Khruangbin

Seven Lions

Joe Russo’s Almost Dead

Dominic Fike

Lizzy McAlpine

Interpol

T-Pain

Svdden Death

TV Girl

Gary Clark Jr.

The Mars Volta

Faye Webster

Key Glock

Thundercat

Lovejoy

ISOxo

GROUPLOVE

David Kushner

The Japanese House

Dr. Fresch

49 Winchester

MIKE.

Larkin Poe

Shy FX

Bonny Light Horseman

Baby Queen

Mdou Moctar

Jessica Audiffred

Half Moon Run

Hamdi

LYNY

SATURDAY, JUNE 15

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Cage The Elephant

Melanie Martinez

Cigarettes After Sex

Diplo

Jon Batiste

Reneé Rapp

Parcels

IDLES

Brittany Howard

Sean Paul

Knock2

Ethel Cain

Gregory Alan Isakov

The Teskey Brothers

BADBADNOTGOOD

Teezo Touchdown

Whyte Fang

Bakar

d4vd

The Maine

Josiah and the Bonnevilles

Kasablanca

NEIL FRANCES

Tanner Usrey

Ryan Beatty

MIKE

Trousdale

Vandelux

LOVRA

Once More With Feeling(s) – The Dashboard Confessional Emo SuperJam

SUNDAY, JUNE 16

Fred again..

Megan Thee Stallion

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Two Friends

Carly Rae Jepsen

Joey Bada$$

Goth Babe

Galantis

Taking Back Sunday

Ashnikko

Four Tet

Charles Wesley Godwin

Milky Chance

Chappell Roan

Greensky Bluegrass

The Garden

Yves Tumor

The Beaches

Jake Wesley Rogers

S.G. Goodman

Libianca

TSHA

Irreversible Entanglements

Armand Hammer

veggi

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Interview: A Q&A with Rising Swedish Pop Duo Vargas & Lagola

Choosing the band name Vargas & Lagola because they thought the names sounded like characters in a Quentin Tarantino movie, the Swedish songwriting, production and pop artist act comprised of Swedish Grammy-winning duo Salem Al Fakir and Vincent Pontare features two of their homeland’s most accomplished contemporary songwriters and producers: the pair have had successful solo careers before teaming up to write hits for a who’s who list of electro pop and pop that includes Madonna, Avicii, Swedish House Mafia, David Guetta, Axwell /\ Ingrosso, Katy Perry, Ghost, and Sia.

Founded back in 2017, the duo’s collaboration is a decided change in sonic direction from their previous output as the project finds the Swedish songwriters and producers experimenting with their own unique take on melodic alt-pop, which meshes elements of 70s Americana and Nordic melancholia. Coincidentally, as they started their own attention-grabbing project, the duo received accolades for co-writing Avicii’s “Without You” and “Waiting for Love,” which led to a Swedish Grammy Award win for Composer of the Year. Adding to a growing profile across the international electro pop scene, Al Fakir and Pontare performed their co-written hit “More Than You Know” with Axwell /\ Ingrosso at Coachella — and they played a key role in finishing Avicci’s posthumously released album TIM, contributing on three of the album’s songs.

Last year, I wrote about “Forgot To Be Your Lover,” a carefully crafted pop song that balanced easygoing AM rock, yacht rock breeziness and achingly melancholic nostalgia while sonically the track was centered around atmospheric synths, lush layers of shimmering and twangy, country-styled guitar lines. In some way, the song – to my ears at least – reminded me of Danish JOVM mainstays Palace Winter, but with an ambitious, arena rock feel.

The acclaimed and commercially successful Swedish pop duo’s highly anticipated full-length debut is slated for release at the end of the month. Building upon the growing buzz surrounding them, the duo’s latest single “Someone That Understands Me” continues a run of ambitious, arena rock-like pop. Centered around shimmering acoustic guitar, achingly plaintive vocals, enormous hooks, thunderous drumming and a scorching, Purple Rain-era Prince-like guitar solo from Ludwig Goransson, the song is the contented sigh of a world-weary person, who has stumbled upon one of life’s rare gifts – finding someone like-minded, who truly understands and accepts you for you.

I recently spoke to the duo via email about the new single, which officially drops today, their soon-to-be released album and more. Check out new single and the Q&A below.

V&L_somebodythatunderstandsme_artwork

 ____

WRH: How did you get into music?

Vincent Pontare: My father is a singer, so I got my first guitar from him when I was seven years- old.

Salem Al Fakir: I started to play violin and piano when I was three.

WRH: Who are your influences?

VP and SAF: We love all types of music! We have our roots in hip-hop/reggae/70s/60s but get most of the inspiration for VARGAS & LAGOLA from 70s Americana.

WRH: How would you describe your sound to someone completely unfamiliar with you and your work?

VP and SAF: Imagine if Fleetwood Mac and Jimi Hendrix had a kid that listened to Wu-Tang and loves to go to Burning Man, that’s us.

WRH: Who are you currently listening to?

VP and SAF: Khruangbin, Chet Baker, and Watain.

WRH: Can you name a couple of Swedish acts that should be getting love outside of Sweden but haven’t yet? And why should we know about them?

VP and SAF: VARGAS & LAGOLA. We feel that our type music is unrepresented out in the world at the moment.

WRH: The band is comprised of two, highly accomplished and incredibly successful solo songwriters and producers. What brought the two of you together to collaborate? And how has working together changed your creative process?

VP and SAF: We had met before through mutual friends and had the same booking agency and later on we shared the same studio for a month and then one day we said: we should try to write a song together!?

And the rest is history. . .

It’s a blessing to be two and in the same boat! When the other one is out of ideas or need a break the other one jumps in

WRH: Both of you have managed to write material for an impressive list of globally known pop artists. Has that work influenced or changed your creative process?

VP and SAF: I think success affects [sic] your compass for what works or not in a good way, you trust your gut feel[ing] and that’s the most important tool we have.

WRH: Your latest single “Somebody That Understands Me” features a guest spot from Ludwig Goransson. How did that come about?

VP and SAF:  You might think we already knew him cause we all are Swedes, but we didn’t’! We just fanboyed him up on Instagram and said, “Would you be up for trying a guitar solo on our upcoming single?” And he said “Yes.”

WRH: Speaking of “Somebody That Understands Me,” the track is one of those big, arena rock-friendly sentimental pop tunes with the sort of hook that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. In some way, the song kind of reminds me of Purple Rain and 1999-era Prince. So who and what influenced the song? Is it influenced by personal experience?

VP and SAF: We both have a soft spot for 90s arena rock, so we wanted to please ourselves for a second. Who doesn’t love a 12-string guitar riff!???

The song is about the beauty in finding like-minded people and a homage to thinking outside of the box in life in general. All types of music or genres we’ve been obsessed of comes from an underdog or rebellious perspective. So we wanted to get a little bit of that feeling into the lyrics and the production

WRH: Your highly anticipated full-length debut is slated for release at the end of the month. What should we expect from the album? 

VP and SAF: We want to give our fans a more nuanced palette of our musical landscape, so The Butterfly Effect is a piece in that puzzle.

WRH: What’s next for you?

VP and SAF: Promotion, touring and writing more music.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays The Orielles Release a Trippy Visual for Psych Freak Out “Down On Jupiter”

Over the past couple of years, I’ve written quite a bit about the rapidly rising Halifax, UK-based act The Orielles. And as you may recall, theca which was founded by Sidonie B. Hand-Halford (drums) her younger sister, Esmé Dee Hand-Halford and their best friend Henry Carlyle Wade (guitar, vocals) built up a great deal of buzz surrounding them, when Heavenly Recordings‘ head Jeff Barrett signed the band after catching them open for labelmates The Parrots in late 2016.

2017’s full-length debut Silver Dollar Moment found the band further establishing a genre-defying sound that meshed elements of psych rock, pop and disco centered around  surrealistic observations of every day life. After the release of their critically applauded full-length debut, the band expanded into a quartet when they recruited Alex Stephens (keys) — and with their newest member, they went into the studio to record  “Bobbi’s Second World” and a cover/rework of Peggy Gou’s “It Makes You Forget (itgehane)” that found the band’s sound playfully (and increasingly) leaning in the direction of early 80s Talking Heads, ESG and others while still being centered around rock-based instrumentation.

A year has passed since I’ve last written about the JOVM mainstays and as it turns out they were busy working on their highly-anticipated, forthcoming sophomore album Disco Volador. “Its literal interpretation from Spanish means flying disc but everyone experiences things differently. Disco Volador could be a frisbee, a UFO, an alien nightclub or how you feel when you fly; what happens to your body physically or that euphoric buzz from a great party,” the band’s Esme Dee Halford suggests in press notes. “But it is an album of escape; if I went to space, I might not come back.” Slated for a February 28, 2019 release, Disco Volador continues the band’s ongoing collaboration with producer Marta Salogni while reportedly finding the quartet pushing their sonic horizon to its outer limits, as astral travelers of sort, crating progressive and trippy tunes that sonically draws from and meshes cinematic samba, 70s disco, boogie funk, dance floor grooves and 90s acid house — and expanding the influences further to including the work of Italian film score composers Sandro Brugnolini and Piero Umiliami, as well as contemporary acts like Khruangbin and Altin Gun. “All the influences we had when writing this record were present when we recorded it, so we completely understood what we wanted this album to feel like and could bring that to fruition,” the band’s Sidonie B. Hand-Halford explains in press notes. 

The band’s highly-anticipated sophomore album also manages to capture the rapidly rising act in the moment of their post debut album success, which included a lengthy and successful summer tour that included festival stops at Green Man and bluedot. Interestingly, the album’s first single “Come Down On Jupiter” will further cement the band’s reputation for crafting seamless and expansive, genre-defying songs — in this case, you have a slow-burning and brooding intro that quickly morphs into breakneck guitar pop with a psychedelic disco freak out. And while retaining the razor sharp and infectious hooks that won the band attention nationally and internationally, the song is a further example of an insanely versatile band with incredibly dexterous musicianship. 

Directed by Rose Hendry, the recently and incredibly cinematic and hallucinogenic video for “Come Down On Jupiter” was filmed — yes, that’s right it was shot on Kodak film — at Arments Pie and Mash shop in Kensington, London. “When I first heard the track I was immediately transported into some sort of mystery melodrama from another era, with a strong dose of something psychedelic,” Rose Hendry says of the video. “This was my starting point, alongside an image by photographer, Ralph Gibson, of a cup of tea sitting on a beige table, bathed in warm sunlight with a plastic spoon resting against the lip. I enjoyed the idea of centering the video around an incident with a cup of tea — that felt dramatic to me — something “mundane” becoming something dramatic. I wanted to encapsulate the playful psychedelia in a psychological and structural way as opposed to the ‘pastiched to death’ VW campervan kind of way. Add to that toast and the rest developed from there.”