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Noir
On November 9 this year Groningen band
Noir and 170 guitarists and bassists travelled
to Berlin to commemorate the fall of the Wall.
That initiative alone already shows what a
special band Noir is, and then we yet have
to start about their own music. We can be
short about it: it is fantastic, in more than
one sense. Inspired by progressive rock and
metal bands like Tool, Deftones and Isis, Noir
paints a universe of hypnotic, highly original
songs, freakish as a mountain landscape,
impenetrable like a primeval forest and
dangerous as rattlesnakes in the desert.
Klein
See page 59.
Audiotransparent
Audiotransparent is a lot less transparent
than before. Rather, the formerly quiet,
melancholy sound image of the Groningen
indie band is now full of scratches, cracks
and buts. Ominous clouds of electronics
and glitches serve as backdrop for songs
that creak and squeak, and certainly could
be called dark and swampy. As if the band
deliberately positioned itself in times of crisis
and depression, as we currently experience.
But the songs remain unchangeably beautiful
(and certainly melancholy and sometimes
even Beatle-esque) and it’s not only to the
wounded voice of singer Bart Looman that
you will stick as to a fly strip.
Rosy Lee
From sixties celebrities like The Beatles and
The Kinks through modfather Paul Weller
and Madchester stars The Stone Roses to
Britpop kings Oasis and The Kooks from here
and now, from each of them there must be
a song embedded in the drinking-water of
the Groningen neighbourhood where Rosy
Lee is resident. However, the band can pride
themselves on a sound of their own: well-kept
and nimble, with bright, catchy songs that’ll
do the heart good.
Rosy Lee
Audiotransparent
Corijn
Growlin' Love & Pain
An Italian band that trades Rome for Groningen,
purely for the music. Can it get any crazier? Yet
this way they hoped to find a healthier breeding
ground for their English-language band
Growlin’ Love & Pain. Take note: EuroSonic
factor alert! Indeed, their sturdy stew of funky
soul and (blues) rock is widely appreciated.
Also the debut album ‘Slightly Tasteful’,
recorded in Rome, goes down well. So, high
time for the European stage of GrunnSonic
with special guest Tollak Ollestadt (Jewel,
Seal, Andrea Bocelli).
Growlin’ Love & Pain
Two of a Kind
Two sisters, two guitars (although they only
play one live), voices that colour together like
the sun and the summer, Sofie (19) and Robin
(18) IJzerman are indeed Two Of A Kind. It’s
those voices that count, in the collection elflike
indie folk pop songs with which the duo
from Groningen makes a name for themselves,
plus a choice of covers (Graham Nash, The
Weepers) that reveals a mind of their own.
Corijn
He is young and he wants something: to
combine the popularity of a modern singer/
songwriter like John Mayer with the artistry
of his musical examples, such as Nick Drake
and Bob Dylan. Well then, Corijn van Mazijk is
well under way. Thus the Groninger, decked
out with an impressive afro and an attractive,
semi-husky voice, won this year’s singer/
songwriter contest Nootuitgang, performs all
over the country and already released a single
and an EP, which didn’t do bad at all.