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Mdungu
What you get from far is tasty, reads a good
Dutch proverb. The VOC knew all about it. But
why would you get from afar, what’s playing
right under your nose as if the World Cup
has to be won? For the Amsterdam-based
Mdungu thinks nothing of creating a highly
infectious mash-up of West African pop music
such as the Senegalese mbalax, the Nigerian
afrobeat and the legacy of Malinese griots,
mixed with western styles like jazz, funk and
rock, with spectacular results. Not bad for a
bunch of white boys from the Netherlands,
Luxembourg and Spain, complemented by
a Gambian percussionist. Hypnotic rhythms,
howling guitar solos, three saxophonists and
every venue upside down!
C-mon & Kypski vs Metropole Orkest
Genre-benders C-Mon & Kypski, accompanied
by the Metropole Orchestra conducted by
Jules Buckley, while there will also be a family
pack full of guests at the table: Jiggy Djé,
Benjamin Herman & Jules Deelder, Giovanca,
Florim Torre (De Staat), Dio, Janne Schra
(Room Eleven) and Anneke van Giersbergen
(Agua de Annique).
Moke
See page 66.
Zwart Licht
De Staat
You know the phenomenon? That some words
change meaning over time? Like here by De
Staat (= The State) we no longer mean the
State of the Netherlands, but the rock band
from Nijmegen who, as a T.C. Matic of the
Stone Age, in one year’s time has shoved the
country in its back pocket. Raw, fiery and
passionate. Statesman Torre Florim (vocals/
guitar) and his merry men were the discovery
of the previous Noorderslag edition and since
then didn’t need to look back anymore. In
the meantime they have played all over The
Netherlands and their debut album ‘Wait For
Evolution’ is the cool calling card of Holland
indie rock land. In short: De Staat is always
ready. And a must-see for all Saturday Night
Live fans who demand more cowbell!
Skinto
‘Now I am nothing, but soon I am the shit!’,
reads the MySpace of rapper Skinto. We
gladly believe that. In fact, we’re as sure
about that as the talking machine gun from
Amsterdam-Zuidoost himself. Because Skinto
is gruesomely good and doesn’t resemble any
other Dutch hip hopper. Over boiling grime
and dubstep beats he bangs his way to the
top with aggressive street raps in which Dutch
and English fight for supremacy.
Kraantje Pappie
Kraantje Pappie: if that isn’t a West Indian.
Wrong! Kraantje Pappie is white as cream
(OK, with a dash of Moluccan blood) and the
main representative of the city of Groningen
in the Dutch-speaking hip hop scene. A nice
entrance as the new kid on the block, but of
course it’s the music that counts. Humor and
energy are Pappie’s strengths, and backed by
two backup mc’s and one imaginative beat
master, he gladly puts them into action on the
stages of the Low Countries. And of course
on his new debut EP ‘Boulimia’, released on
Noah’s Ark, the label of colleague and hero
Jiggy Djé. So Noorderslag will be a home
game, but first there’s the finals of the Grote
Prijs, in December. Will you keep your fingers
crossed with us?
Zwart Licht
Black light. You know, that funny club light that
lights up your teeth. But Zwart Licht (Dutch for
‘black light’), that’s a different story. They set
your whole body aglow. Leave that to beat
baker Hayzee and rappers Akwasi and young
buddy Leeroy, who with Zwart Licht finally
give Dutch hip hop in Amsterdam some street
credibility. Their debut album ‘Bliksemschicht’,
of course released on the Top Notch label, is
full of grime beats and grim lyrics, although in
some tracks there is also room for some nice
old school braggin’ & boastin’. Whichever way
you look at it, with Zwart Licht you definitely
see sharper.
Knalpot
Let’s not hope that your own knalpot (=
exhaust) sounds like it, but in musical terms
this Amsterdam experimental duo is a real
treat. Consisting of a drummer, a guitarist
who simultaneously plays casio, plus a pile
of effect-boxes, Knalpot stumbles like a
sputtering tractor in a messed-up music
shop. Juggling with time signatures, song
structures and music styles, with stuttering
grooves, distorted riffs and bleeps and beeps
everywhere, but always 100% live. And despite
references to jazz, dub, improvisation and the
sound of the English Warp label, also made
with 100% rock attitude. Eat that, rock gods.
Juju & Jordash
Juju & Jordash
Jazz, post-rock, avant-garde, world music,
behold the wondrous roots of the Amsterdam
dance producers duo Juju & Jordash. Roots
that still shine through in their multilayered
sound paintings, where the beat usually is
elastic, and not very prominent, rating by
dance floor standards. But there is so much
going on in this richly decorated deep house,
including shifts to Detroit techno, that as a
listener you better abandon any standard. The
music of Juju & Jordash, recently recorded
on a debut album on the label of the hip
Dekmantel collective, you have to undergo
with a blank mind. Those legs will move of
themselves.
Knalpot
Applescal
A dance producer who’s working with such
concentration that he almost plunges into
his laptop. There won’t be much more to see
abou the live set of Applescal, in 2008 the
winner of the Grote Prijs (the biggest Dutch
live music contest) in the category Dance/
Producers. Why, that’s not necessary at all.
Just close your eyes, and the most amazing
dreams appear to the intelligent dance music
of the 21-year old from Amsterdam. Techno
ain’t a four-to-the-floor format to him, but
pure modelling clay. He moulds the most
colourful creations from it, while grazing the
entire dance spectrum: from minimal to acid,
from clicks ‘n’ cuts to ambient, everything
finds its place in Applescal’s techno works of
art. And yes, it is excellent music to dance to.