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|  Kira & the Kindred Spirits - one of the top acts
at this years
SPOT Festival. | | |
Three of the brightest stars on the new Danish pop/rock-scene have now been confirmed for SPOT 11: Peter Sommer, Mikael Simpson, and Kira and the Kindred Spirits. They have all been at the Aarhus Festival before – Peter Sommer even played as part of My First Valentine as far back as SPOT 03 in 1996. However, the future looks brighter than ever before for all three names with the critics’ praise and their popularity reaching new heights during the last couple of years.
As half the duo Superjeg, Peter Sommer proved his talent, but as a solo artist he has moved up another step. Not least due to an immensely popular song in Denmark about "talking – not speaking" – a song, which demonstrates his gift for idiomatically playful lyrics in Danish and his skills as an irresistible offbeat tunesmith. Over the last year, his singer/songwriter colleague Mikael Simpson has consolidated his status as a critics’ favourite. Not only was his 2004 album "De Ti Skud" a sure thing on the critics’ album-of-the-year lists, it also won him plenty of awards including the association of Danish music critics’ own awards for Best Album and Best Composer, as well as a Danish Music Award. That Kira is well on her way to becoming Denmark’s new rock diva is beyond question if one is to judge from the amount of airplay and the hype around her band’s new album "This is Not An Exit".
However, SPOT is a lot more than big names and mainstream shooting stars. The festival also takes great pride in reflecting the entire range of the Danish rhythmic music scene. Thus, at SPOT 11 there is a particular focus on jazz. Saturday, a stage will be dedicated to the young Danish jazz scene, which is going to be presented by Sunship, an association of Danish organisers which earlier this year won the "Jazz Venue of the Year" award.
The initiative has come about through the joint efforts of Sunship, The Danish Jazz Federation, and ROSA. Anderskov Accident, Mold, and Kasper Tranberg Smalltet explore the outskirts of avant-garde jazz, while I Got You On Tape and Gramski Beat search the virginal soil between jazz and rock with plenty of curiosity. Autofant and norwegean Triåveræinne on their part experiment with electrifying and forward-looking hybrids of jazz and electronica. In other words, seven fascinating directions for modern jazz of 2005.
|  The critics favourite and his cat:
Mikael Simpson with Finnochio | | |
Still, on the border to the Land of Jazz, we find Ikscheltaschel. They conjure up a tremendously wicked hip hop – equal parts of dizzy beats and a nonsense language invented by the spiritual leaders of Ikscheltaschel, the two jazz cousins Kresten Osgood and Søren Kjærgaard. A more straight hip hop flows from Ataf, whose mature lyrics in Danish have attracted quite a bit of attention. No wonder, Ataf has also found his way to the poster for this year’s SPOT Festival.
The backwoods of the Nordic electronic music is also worth a visit this year. M.U.S.T. feature the wizard of Sorten Muld Henrik Munch, the wind virtuoso Christian Vuust and the video artist Iben West for a performance of music which fuses oneiric compositions and beautiful video collages. Blue Foundation are famous for their languorously beautiful updating of the trip hop of the mid-nineties. Efterklang master a similar combination of scintillating pop tunes and grand, orchestral electronica. Finnish Fat Beat Orchestraround off the electronic line up with their endlessly relaxing version of electronic dub.
Well, the long list of new names for the SPOT line up does not end here. We have also found room for pure rock underground – melodious Funch, hard-hitting Lack, and Kå whose front-woman – Katrine Villadsen – is the Danish equivalent of PJ Harvey. These three bands are presented in association with Rhythmic Music Denmark. Last but not least, we find Finnish Sister Flo. They present the finest indie rock Finland has to offer right now, for which they are treasured in their home country. Who knows? In that respect, SPOT 11 could be quite an eye-opener for the Danish music audience.
|  Peter Sommer has enjoyed great succes
as a solo-artist in the recent year. | | |
Previously, the following SPOT 11 names have been revealed: Bikstok Røgsystem, Clemens, Karen, Tina Dico, Skambankt (N), Cloroform (N), Dungen (S), The Tiny (S), Samsaya (N), Mark Linn, Melk, Geeza, Ea Philippa, Ske (IS), Cleaning Women (FI), Hatesphere, Barra Head, Stuen th., The Royal Highness, Delicia Mini, Rasmus Nøhr, and Djosos Krost. A total of approximately 90 bands are expected to be announced for the festival, which takes place on 10th -11th June in and around The Concert Hall, Ridehuset, and VoxHall.
Tickets can be purchased at BilletNet, The Concert Hall, Aarhus, and Aarhus Billetbureau.
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