Kim Bülow Bonfils
The Futureheads offered an explosion of pure energy. Absurd as it is to imagine a cross between Devo and The Proclaimers, delivered with the pop-punk simplicity of The Buzzcocks, The Futureheads make it work. I had a great time, but for the rest of the Festival audience 2 p.m. seemed a bit too early for relentless uptempo rock. Perhaps the...
Some say Efterklang is one of the most interesting Danish bands at the moment. And I always like to check out any mix of rock and electronica. But this brand of shoe-gazing postrock is just too dull for my taste. Efterklang seems lost in a maze of introvert artistic pretentiousness – even stooping to “fragile” whispered vocals. I bet they...
What would heavy metal sound like played in super-slowmotion? Something like Sunn O))): A deep, almost motionless drone – a primordial soup of distorted guitars and bass synthesizer. From the outside it sounded like the Odeon Stage had been transformed into a huge, electric didgeridoo. And Hungarian singer Attila Csihar managed to make his gritty chanting voice blend into the...
The day started with perfect sunny weather, which amazingly ended up lasting for the entire festival. On the station I met Hans E. Madsen, whom I know from my Århus days. It turns out he was the mastermind behind (among other installations) the orange neon sculpture in front of which Morten and I were posing on last year’s Roskilde report....
The Von Bondies from Detroit played the Odeon stage: Oh my – more retro garage rock of the massively noisy and uncompromising kind. They do have a good (almost danceable) groove going at times, but to often they fall back into a grungy blues feel. Canadian Broken Social Scene play against all odds: Their complex chords, noisy sound and strange...
It may be me, but I don’t really understand the hype surrounding I am Kloot. Sure, he writes decent songs and has a pleasant voice, but to me it’s just another singer/songwriter thing. Someone gave me a tip about Lali Puna from Munich, Germany, and I’m glad I went. It’s rare to see a rock band without a guitar, and...
A friend dragged me along to Within Temptation, but we left after a couple of songs: The worst cliches of goth/symphonic metal, with the female singer sounding like Kate Bush before she grew up. A little worse, and they could be Evanescence (and I really hate Evanescence). DJ Krush was the DJ as an artist: He moved fluently from playing...
My first day at the Roskilde Festival: Always be wary of bands who claim to be “inspired by Sonic Youth”. The opening act at the Odeon Stage, Blonde Redhead had some original beats and ethereal melodies. But only in the last song as the guitar noise kicked in, did they show their full potential. The Dropkick Murphys turned Arena stage...
Few bands have been surrounded by more media hype than Glasgow-based Franz Ferdinand. But tonight I saw them at Loppen, and my verdict is clear: They are brilliant: A funky indie groove delivered with intense energy – and the kind of melodies that catch you instantly, but that you can actually listen to again and again. Claus and Lars (from...