I've seen some great music played at some ace festivals this year. Here are my highlights!
YoungRubbi - a punk/rap kid from Rotterdam, whose energetic, angry but inclusive live set that was everything you need! The circle-pit was full of people of all ages. Here's a highlights video you should watch! (They talk in Dutch in the video. But it's only short. I'm in the video for at least 1 frame.)
Nai Barghouti - a Palestinian singer with a soaring, beautiful and powerful voice. We saw her at "Le Guess Who" festival backed by Amsterdam Sinfonietta - I'm not always a fan of orchestral gigs but these string players were light on their feet and doing interesting things. Nai ranged across many different moods, and I love to hear this "arabic" (?) singing style, powerful and ornamented. You have to hear her.
An amazing church concert from Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko: Heinali played the most perfectly-judged electronic drone music, to complement Saienko who alternated between soft West-European churchy singing and the more "brassy" East-European style of her native Ukranian singing. This was the perfect music to host in the reverberant church space, a perfect collaboration, beautifully performed.
Meth. This one's very dark and very heavy, not for general consumption. For me this was the stand-out show of Complexity Festival in Haarlem - far more than all the other heavies that day, they put across a performance that was brutal in its machine-like insistence. It's about human weakness and it's completely unforgiving. The tracks (from their recent album) are themed on vulnerable human emotions handled, largely, through screaming. Of course there are lots of bands that go in these directions, but the single-minded intensity was so complete.
Ndagga Rhythm Force - at Le Guess Who festival, I'm always looking for some hardcore African drumming mixed with heavy electronics. This time it was the Ndaggas, from Senegal (via Berlin). Intense as it should be. (I'll admit... I'm still thinking back to Nihiloxica in 2023.)
I Am Oak - he's a Dutch indie musician, who during the lockdowns recorded some lo-fi versions of his back catalogue. This led to the stripped-down intimate delivery of the live gig he gave us this year (at Peel Slowly And See festival). His quirky indie acoustic songs, simple rendition and soft voice are just completely loveable. (Currently touring UK FWIW.)
I'd love to hear your highlights too.