MOTEL MOZAIQUE FESTIVAL 2014
4-5 APRIL, ROTTERDAM
DAY 1
Every first weekend of April it's time for the Motel Mozaique festival in Rotterdam. On 2 days we can enjoy a lot of new undiscovered acts in various genres, which include Psychedelic Pop/Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Westcoast, Punk, Garage Rock, New Wave, Progrock, Classic Rock, Indierock/Pop, Electropop, Funk, Neo-Soul and more crossover genres (even Surfpop and Southern Rock passed by!). This year it was clear that the focus was much more Rock orientated than the previous edition, which of course is a good thing. It was also good to see that there were more unknown acts than before, because the 2013 edition saw a lot of already established acts, which more or less is not the intention of this festival. This festival is all about discovering new acts that might become huge in a few years and the 2014 edition did fullfill this statement completely!
On day
1, friday the 4th of April, we were surprised to see the kick-off taking place
in the newly built skyscraper of Rotterdam, the massive "De Rotterdam", where on
the 7th floor with spectacular city views, a bunch of short 'free-entrance'
performances took place of several acts that would later on that day play live
at different venues throughout the city. One of those acts is the much-appraised
TEMPLES from the UK. Well, in 2013 nobody knew this lot, but when 2014 started,
the mass media began to promote them as the latest new sensation and I have to
admit that these guys are very very good. Their 20 minutes counting performance,
which was a preview of their night gig that would close the Motel Mozaique day
1, it was one of the highlights of the whole day, because with the spectacular
background of the Rotterdam skyline, this was a performance which will never
happen again! The funny thing is that I took the elevator to get to the 7th
floor and with me going up was the vocalist/guitarist James Edward Bagshaw of
TEMPLES. I doubt that it will be that easy in the future to get so close to the
band, because after the summer festivals in 2014 I think TEMPLES will become a
major venue act. Anyway, musically speaking they are interesting, because they
play 60s meets 70s psychedelic rock (T-REX is probably a major influence!), yet
I somehow hear similarities to bands like ARTFUL DODGER, ANGEL, NEW ENGLAND as
well, although with less keys and synths. So there is some sort of late 70s US
Pomprock in there as well, although most media will compare them to TAME IMPALE
and label them as a 70s Psychedelic Rockband. Take it from me, these guys are
one of the most exciting new rockbands in ages, so let's support them!
The
festival itself took place at a few locations, which included the
Schouwburgplein,
Rotterdam Schouwburg, Rotown, Gouvernestraat (where U2 once
played in the late 70s!) and the slightly off-venue, Perron. Of course it is
impossible to see every act, because a lot of times bands and artists play at
the same time frame, so you have to choose or try to catchy a glimpse of a
performance and then move on after watching it for let's say 20 minutes. Without
a bicycle you have a serious problem, because that is by far the best
transportation between the venues, which then takes only 5 minutes. Anyway,
after eating something I started Day 1 with DARYLL-ANN, a Dutch band formed
around a great guitarist (ANNE SOLDAAT) and actually this band was mainly active
during the 1990s and just recently reformed. They play a sort of Alternative 90s
Rock meets Bluesy Rock kinda direction, which rocked pretty hard actually,
although I feel that this was not one of their finest gigs. Nevertheless, for a
starting point not bad at all!
Getting on the bike to catch a US band called GARDEN AND VILLA at the Rotown
venue, I almost had an accident with an other cyclist, who had problems to hit
the brakes, but everything went ok, so I was just in time to see a major part of
the performance of this band. Musically speaking pure 1980s, with heavy synths
and clean vocals, sometimes even reminding of Canadian bands like PLATINUM
BLONDE and THE ARROWS, yet with a strong British New Wave touch as well, like an
early SIMPLE MINDS looking for THE CURE (lol!). The sound was quite good
actually and this was a band you can easily check out for a full gig, but as
time frames were very tight, I moved once again by bike back to see a US band
called QUILT, a female fronted act that played a sort of Psychedelic
Poprocksound that reminded me a little of a non-commercial version of THE
BANGLES. Oh I almost forgot to mention that underway I also saw a glimpse of
JOHNNY FLYNN from the UK, a Folksy singer-songwriter, but it was too short to
make any comments on this musician.
Then
it was time for KURT VILE, a singer-songwriter who used to be in the great band
WAR ON DRUGS, but left them to pursue a succesfull solo career and his
performance definitely saw people showing up early to make sure they could watch
this musician up close and personal. I have to say that he is one of those
singers you either love or hate, there's no in-between, because he has
absolutely not a melodic clean voice and his material is also not everyone's
taste, but if you're let's say a BOB DYLAN fan you will surely love Kurt as well.
I feel that if there was a full band around Kurt, it would have been much more
entertaining and diverse, because now after a while it was clear that only the
die-hard fans would be able to watch the full show. Kurt is clearly a
professional musician and his music is quite hard to get into, but that on the
other hand is no problem at all. Nevertheless, I do feel that I personally
prefer WAR ON DRUGS much more, because the artsy experimental folkrock of Kurt's
solo material is missing something this evening and that is a rocking back-up
band...
WILD
BEASTS is a band that also has been praised a lot lately, but when entering the
big tent where the band is playing it is obvious that this UK based act is not
that popular and the performance is quite average. The music is a mix of a lot
of genres, but 80s Synthpop has been done much better before and therefore the
level of NEW ORDER and DEPECHE MODE is not reached at all. WILD BEASTS is just a
nice background festival band, but definitely not more than that at the moment.
I am so glad I checked out the band GENTLEMEN from the UK, because this was by
far the finest band of Day 1 next to TEMPLES. It was also very surprising to see
that the venue was not packed, because this was Classic Rock at it's very best,
with influences of Progrock, Psychedelic Rock and Hardrock slipped right through
the music of GENTLEMEN. Blistering guitarsolo's a la ZEPPELIN/HENDRIX, strong
vocalwork of the Classic Hardrock kind and a real men's 'beard' rockband is on
stage here, sounding like an American Southern Hardrockband at times, but they
are British and for me a band to check out asap after the gig! It's a damn shame
their show lasted only 45 minutes, because these guys rocked the house and
should have played much longer with encores, but it was obvious that the
majority of the audience was not going for the 'encore' shouting, although the
reception was amongst the people who stayed until the end of the performance
quite good. Afterward nobody got close to the merchandise stand, so the 2 girls
trying to sell something of this awesome Classic Rockband called GENTLEMEN went
back home without making any money. It's sad, because these guys deserved much
more and so it happened that I came across them down the street later that night
and I felt they were not that happy how things went down at the gig. At least
they have 1 new fan and that's undersigned!
Then
it was 23:00 hours and hard to get into some of the venues due to the fact that
they were packed full house, so I had to miss a couple of singer-songwriters,
but I managed to get into Rotown again for the performance by EAGULLS, a British
band that sounded louder than on record and they were by far the loudest band on
day 1. They played Post-Punkrock in the classic 80s style, sounding like THE
CURE on acid or THE CLASH rocked up, although Hardcore a la EXPLOITED/GBH
instrumentally was also a good description. Not bad at all actually, but the
sound in the venue was too loud and without earplugs you probably would be deaf
for at least a week! I had really hoped to watch the TEMPLES show, which was
planned for 0:30 hours, but when I entered the venue I noticed there were
already so many people waiting to get in, it seemed like impossible to see
something of the performance. Well, keeping in mind that I had already seen them
earlier on day 1 and knowing the fact that they will probably be performing full
concerts elsewhere in Europe in 2014, I decided to close day 1 at the Schouwburg
where a fantastic musician from Island was playing a very strong show. He is
called ASGEIR and had a full rockband backing him up and at times it sounded
very loud, but in a good way. Musically speaking on record it is Electro-Pop
meets Folkpop/rock, but live on stage it is all rocked up, with somehow as
highlight the NIRVANA cover "Heart shaped box". The sound was full thanks to an
awesome band and ASGEIR is a very good singer with a clean melodic voice and so
is his music that has somehow an own direction. Very interesting musician, who
is huge in Iceland and I am sure that he will breakthrough elsewhere too,
because he is a great musician, although his stage performance and interaction
with the audience was not that memorable. Nevertheless, a nice finish of day 1!
DAY 2
After a goodnightsleep it was time for day 2,
which brought us more great music by quite a few newcomers to the scene. GIRLS
IN HAWAII is the first act to check out and despite the fact that this Belgian
band sounds very strong, the music is very cliché tingled and the melodic
Indierock has been done before by countless other bands (FLEET FOXES for example),
so after a while it was time to move on and check out SYD ARTHUR. This band from
the UK is described as Psychedelic Fu
nkrock, but when listening and watching it
is obvious that they are actually a Progressive Rockband that leans closer to
something like KING CRIMSON, UK or even RUSH for that matter. Although the sound
was not that good in the hall of the Schouwburg where they performed, this was
actually a very good band that entertained instrumentally at a very high level,
but vocally it was less impressive. I knew that JONATHAN WILSON was going to be
the finest musician of Day 2, but me and a friend who accompanied me on day 2,
we took the challenge to check out first a few other acts, such as LUKE
SITALSINGH. He performed in the beautiful church 'De Paradijskerk', which was
fully packed and right from the first few seconds it was clear that everyone in
the audience had to stay until the very end, because this was a magical gig you
don't want to miss. Luke is a superb singer, the kind I can't stop listening,
because he can go up and down easily with his voice which reminds one of JEFF
BUCKLEY here and there. He had both an acoustic and an electric guitar with him
and impressed a lot, so he was not missing a backing band. The acoustics in the
church are amazing and at one point Luke starts to sing without a microphone and
that is the absolute highlight of the gig, because that shows the amazing talent
of this singer-songwriter. Without a doubt, the melodies that are heard during
this gig are timeless and despite to some it might all sound a bit alike after a
while, Luke is a huge talent and could easily become the next big male
singer-songwriter.
The American female singer-songwriter ANGEL
OLSEN was up next and she's got one of those voices you either love or hate,
because it has a country-rock vibrato. The music itself was quite rocking and
very melodic rockish, with the band playing very tight, sounding like a mix
between the backing bands of PATTI SMITH, PAT BENATAR and 1960s Garage Rock, but
as mentioned before, it was vocally a different affair, even reminding me a tiny
bit of someone like JUICE NEWTON if I am allowed to say so. Don't get me wrong
here, as HEATHER NOVA and ALANIS MORRISETTE are also nice comparisons, because
after all, Angelhas a sort of 90s female fronted altrocksound. I think you'll
get the picture that this turned out to be a great performance, but with here
and there mixed feelings for some I think. Anyway, I had already heard a but of
the UK band THUMPERS earlier on in the day during the short free-entrance
performances, which took place in the tent. This band was not really interesting,
sounding like a somewhat better version of the much overrated Dutch band
HANDSOME POETS!
Well, then it was time to catch a huge portion
of the show by JONATHAN WILSON, an American musician who has performed regularly
in Rotterdam the past few years. The big surprise was that the venue was almost
empty, which amazed us, because this guy is terrific and puts on a show exactly
the way we want to see it! he mixes influences of the main 1970s Rockgenres (Progressive
Rock, Southern Rock and Classic Rock, with even a touch of Krautrock). It's
unbelievable that so many people missed this performance, because Jonathan and
his band are top-notch musicians you can watch over and over again, because
there is so much to discover and it is all done at picture perfection. Of course
it might be due to the fact that a lot of people probably have seen him before
in Rotterdam, but still I would not want to miss this excellent musician and so
it was clear that to us this was the highlight of day 2, although we had a bunch
more acts to check out.
The American all-girl band LA LUZ is really nice to watch, because a lot is happening on stage and somehow they remind visually a lot of HAIM, but musically completely different, as they play a mix of Surfpop and Garagerock, like a mix between BEST COAST, TEEN, DUM DUM GIRLS and THE BANGLES. I absolutely love these kinds of all-girl bands, so this one was nice to have seen, although like many other acts, at one point we know the trick how to entertain and then it gets a little same ish, so on to the next stop, which was a UK based act called MATTHEW AND THE ATLAS, who were performing at the church and were putting down a great solid show that musically was a mix of Folkrock and Westcoast, with beautiful harmonyvocals. It was perfectly made for the location and despite it was a short time we could witness this show, it was clear that it was a successfull one!
How diverse the music genres are at this
festival becomes clear during the next gig we watched, which was a US band
called HOWLER. They were by far the heaviest and noisiest band of the festival.
Even with earplugs in, this band was way too loud and at home on record it
sounded like a nice melodic garagerockband, but on stage it sounded like noisy
crap of the worst kind, which could be because of the small venue, but when the
band was soundchecking I already had the feeling this band should have stayed in
their own garage, as it was not to be taken serious. I could not believe my eyes
when I saw people outside who wanted to go in and witness a really bad rock and
roll show!
Anyway, back in the tent was a UK act called
PLANNING TO ROCK, but the name definitely didn't mean they were actually going
to rock, because this was Electropop with high pitched vocals that has been done
by NEW ORDER much better and it was obvious that these guys need to change their
bandname really soon! The biggest surprise of day 2 just has to be the
performance by ERLEND OYE, who was accompanied by 2 other musicians. Erlend is
coming out of Norway and is also part of the bands KINGS OF CONVENIENCE and THE
WHITEST BOY ALIVE. Those acts are a bit more serious Indie-Pop than what he is
doing tonight. Over here he performs as the ERLEND OYE ACOUSTIC TRIO, which is
basically a comedy act with 3 people who look like a bunch of nerds, but what
they are doing is something in the category 'you can't stop watching'. It's
funny and people seem to love it, because the place is packed towards the end
and everyone is doing exactly what Erlend is asking them to do, sitting down and
standing up, clapping in the hands and everybody has a smile on their face, so
Erlend is doing something right here. He even does the encore, because people
went crazy when he left the stage, so this was a very surprising act to have
witnessed, one you will not forget if you attended.
Completely exhausted after 2 days of music, it was time to call it a night with CLEAN PETE as final act in the church again. This act features 2 twin sisters who were putting down a nice show with their dad (???) on guitar. The lyrics were in Dutch and the music was a sort of melodic folk-pop style that was for the audience pleasant to listen to, although foreign attendees probably didn't understand a single word. For us it was a nice closing of a successfull festival, with many highlights and in the end, a stronger line-up than last year. C-Ya next year on Motel Mozaique 2015!
