more body & mind
Treasure Island Music Festival 16 -17.10.10 Festivalgoers with a green conscience fear not, organisers offer a zero-emission shuttle bus to the festival grounds. And it’s just as well they do, as parking on the idyllic island in the San Francisco bay is strictly limited. The line-up contrasts between indie rock (Belle and Sebastian, The National), punk funk (LCD Soundsystem) and there are some club sounds too (Deadmau5). Treasure Island, San Francisco, USA
Red Bull Checkmate 16.10.10
Photography: Yev Kazannik
Heat wave: DJ Etienne Tron (in white T-shirt) heads down to mix with the crowds dancing to The Very Best, he had DJ’d during the afternoon with Radioclit at the beach stage
be tense, at least they haven’t got the Croatian police breathing down their necks. “We share the work. Etienne will do the Radioclit numbers and I’ll do The Very Best’s,” Karlberg explains, surrounded by people dancing in bikinis and swimming trunks at the DJ console decked out like a Tiki bar. Tron’s mix of African highlife guitar, tropical house beats and Balearic disco sounds is the perfect backdrop to the sunset. While Mwamwaya pops back to the hotel to change his T-shirt, Karlberg sits at the bar and orders a beer. There’s no backstage area at the Stop Making Sense Festival and the security staff are incredibly laidback, which explains why Karlberg is soon surrounded by London friends and fans wanting to know more about the band. “Esau and I worked on our new album at my place in Sweden over the summer. It should be out in the spring,” he explains. “But first we’re going on a long tour of the US with Vampire Weekend in two weeks’ time.” No sooner is the beer finished than Mwamwaya and Karlberg enter the main stage. Mwamwaya grabs the microphone, Karlberg gets busy with his laptop and synthesiser. The Very Best are complemented live by two female dancers and British MC Molaudi Lauds. Hands are in the air as they play their first song, ‘Chalo’. The optimism and exuberance of the band’s music immediately captivate the crowd. The
songs, based on well-known Michael Jackson, M.I.A. and Architecture In Helsinki samples, do the rest. Some festivalgoers are splashing about in the small, round paddling pool on the edge of the dancefloor; it looks like they’ve taken MC Molaudi’s words, “Wanna lose your shit,” a little too literally. During the last song, ‘Warm Heart of Africa’ Mwamwaya invites the crowd onto the stage for a grand finale: a sea of people dancing euphorically with the singer like a preacher setting the tone. “The show was tough but great,” he says after the concert, still breathless. “Tomorrow I’m really going to need a good massage.” The Very Best’s album, The Very Best Remixes Of The Very Best (Moshi Moshi) came out in August. www.myspace.com/theverybestmyspace
What do breaking and chess have in common? You wouldn’t think much at first glance. But that will change this month with a new B-Boy competition inspired by the game of chess. Eight international B-Boy crews battle for the first Red Bull Checkmate title. Odeon Theatre, Vienna, Austria
Unsound Festival 17 – 24.10.10 After a trip to New York in February, the renowned music festival returns home in order to unite electronic sounds old and new. Prominent participants include Italian horror master Goblin, Detroit-House newcomer Kyle Hall and Polish techno veteran Jacek Sienkiewicz. Kraków, Poland
Amsterdam Dance Event 20 – 23.10.10 In 1996 there was a mini music conference with 30 DJs. Now, 14 years later, this is the most important melting pot for electronic music in Europe, with 90,000 visitors, 44 venues and more than 700 DJs, from Kevin Saunderson to Tensnake to Flying Lotus. For a touch of glamour, there are the International Golden Gnome Awards. Various locations, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Elevate Festival 21 – 26.10.10
L-r: MC Molaudi, Karlberg and Mwamwaya, with female friends
Glasgow newcomer Jack Masters said after his guest performance here last year, “This is the coolest location I’ve ever played at!” It’s fair to say the cathedral in the mountain, a giant bunker in Graz, alone justifies the price of a ticket. Among the exciting line-up of electro talent are Pursuit Grooves and Electro Guzzi. Schlossberg, Graz, Austria
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