You may already know the Dutch bands that will perform in live streams at Eurosonic Noorderslag. But what about these five promising acts from the rest of Europe?
Just like last year, the Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) music festival will experience a fully digital edition from 19 to 22 January. As always, the international showcase program is spread over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Saturday evening is packed with Dutch talent. Divided over three channels, short performances of 10-15 minutes of all bands and artists can be streamed live. And just like last year, there are no costs involved. So don’t stand in line, just click.
Before the winner of the Popprijs 2021 will be announced on Saturday evening at a quarter past eleven, the best that the Netherlands currently has to offer pop talent has already passed by that evening. Many names (Froukje, Goldband, Meau, S10 and Merol) will delight readers of de Volkskrant to seem familiar.
V takes a look beyond the national borders and chooses tips from the overwhelming range of promising new European pop talent.
Wet Leg (Wednesday 9.30pm)
The best indie pop singles of 2021 were made by the British Law Leg. Although it has grown into a five-man band during performances, Wet Leg is mainly a duo of two guitar-playing friends who met at school on the Isle of Wight.
Rhian Teasdale does most of the lead vocals and Hester Chambers always comes with catchy and simple guitar riffs.
They discovered how much fun it was to play together when the world was locked in 2020. A wonderful song came out: chaise longue. Typically such a melancholic and uplifting song that the British have patented. You can hear the somewhat playful side of the post-punk from the eighties, but also the apparently larmoyante of Pavement has not gone unnoticed by Wet Leg. There followed after chaise longue a few more singles that provided additional evidence for the claim made in countless British media that Wet Leg is the best new band of the moment.
Meskerem Mees (Thursday 9.55 pm)
The 22-year-old in Meskerem Mees from Ghent was adopted from Ethiopia by Belgian parents when she was ten months old. Meskerem means ‘new beginning’ and at its end debut album released last year julius let the singer and guitarist really hear a new sound. Based on American folk by the illustrious Karen Dalton, for example, her songs immediately have a timeless quality. Her voice is warm, her guitar playing sober but extremely colorful. Apart from the acoustic guitar, the velvety sound is not much more than Febe Lazou’s cello. Producer Koen Gisen allowed little more than some bird sounds and fluttering piano notes. We don’t need more to let the warm songs, sung with an enchanting voice, come in.
Denise Chaila (Thurs 10.10 pm)
Lots of Irish talent at ESNS this year, but apart from Sprints and CMAT we are very curious about Denise Chaila. The rapper and singer from Zambia has been living in Ireland for years and there the Irish Times her already in 2020 as ‘big hip-hop promise’, followed early last year by The Guardian. For the well-known reasons, her development was also halted, but she appeared in November last year It’s a Mixtape meets all expectations effortlessly.
Chaila takes elements of grime and other deep bass-driven hip-hop subgenres and seems to have listened carefully to the enigmatic Inflo (Sault, Little Simz) in terms of production.
Too bad there can’t be an audience when the beat in 061 falls deep into it, because it is bound to bounce nicely on it. Named after the area code of her hometown of Limerick, this strong song keeps her close to home. Kanye West, to whom she turned in Return of the King would like to measure, is far from there. Better yet, she doesn’t need it at all to further develop her own style.
Self Esteem (Friday 8pm)
In the Netherlands, it all still has to happen for the now 34-year-old Rebecca Taylor, who last year as Self Esteem second solo album released. But in her own UK it’s raining five-star reviews and chose The Guardian hair Prioritize Pleasure as album of the year.
Maximum pop, that’s how her electronic disco music is typified. You can hear hints of Madonna, a lot of Robyn and Charli XCX, while the grandeur of the early Christine & the Queens is not far away either.
It’s still hard to imagine that the same Taylor was part of the rather dull duo Slow Club for ten years. With Self Esteem she has emphatically detached herself from the cozy indie idiom. But does everything look and sound just as liberating live as Self Esteem is on record? After all the British praise, we would like to establish that here.
Yard Act (Friday 9:05 PM)
Every year ESNS has a British guitar band on the program that ‘everyone’ is talking about. This year the band is called Yard Act and as it should be, this foursome has also chosen the right moment to present themselves internationally. Because on the same day that their livestream can be seen, their debut album will also be released The Overload and yes, it is actually just as good as previous singles already made hope.
Yard Act from Leeds has a singer with James Smith who talks in a way that, especially in the British press, evokes comparisons with Mark E. Smith from The Fall. However, he doesn’t sound dogged enough for that, we should rather think of someone Gerard Langley, from the once hip Blue Airplanes. But when Yard Act goes off, the name Sleaford Mods also comes up as a reference. Smith’s lyrics are alternately angry, witty and absurd, and Ryan Needham’s angular, somewhat obnoxious guitar parts are reminiscent of old fellow townspeople Gang Of Four. Enough to get very curious about their performance.