Listopia 2014

I like writing my yearly summary lists on the first of January- because what if something universe altering will happen late on the 31st of December? Well, nothing ever did, but I am still somehow hoping. Maybe I can organize a movie marathon this year, or listen to all the overlooked albums in one go and find a hidden gem. As things stand however, here is a totally subjective list of concerts, songs, albums and movies I loved this year.

 Anna Calvi/March/A38

 Foals/July/VOLT

  Arctic Monkeys/July/VOLT 

La Roux/August/Sziget

 Miles Kane/August/Sziget

Yasmine Hamdan/August/Sziget

Queens of the Stone Age/August/Sziget

Stromae/August/Sziget

St Vincent/October/A38

Triggerfinger/November/A38

It's been a pretty sweet year overall- I had dreamt of seeing St Vincent live at the beginning of the year, and not only did she come to the wonderful A38, but in the meantime she also released the album that would finish first on so many year end lists. (My preferences have no particular order, but let's say the top 3 is mostly accurate.) 

I dreamt of Arctic Monkeys and Foals- well they came as well, and although at first I was a bit cross about hurtling through half of Hungary all the way to Sopron, I have to say it was one of the highlights of the year. There's a particular bliss to being so dead tired waiting for the first train in Sopron station that the whole world basically melts into a lucid dream. 

And then there's the Horrors, who were supposed to come, but cancelled in the end, so I decided why not cross half the continent for them. And that was also wonderful,for I finally my eternal dilemma of London vs Paris and well, there is of course a definite plus to seeing a British band on home turf. As I already mentioned, I was however slightly traumatized by the exile of my camera- while I do agree that having people shove smart phones into each other's faces or flash the band at the worst of times is a pure nuisance, I see no point in banning enthusiasts who actually come with the proper equipment and take good pictures. The live the moment argument also fails in my case- for I see no better way of living the moment than capturing it forever.

Given the epic success of my 2014 dreams, I'll aim for Interpol, Lykke Li and Perfume Genius this time, and see what comes out of it. It's quite encouraging that Sziget already has Florence and the Machine, ALT-J and Fauve on the line up- I sense another vintage year coming our way.

Perfume Genius- Queen
St Vincent- Digital Witness
Interpol- My Desire
The Horrors- I See You
Damon Albarn- Heavy Seas of Love
Jamie T- Love is Only a Heartbeat Away
Lykke Li- No Rest for the Wicked
Elliphant feat MO- One More
Triggerfinger- By Absence of the Sun
FKA Twigs- Two Weeks

St Vincent- St Vincent
Perfume Genius- Too Bright
Interpol- El Pintor
The Horrors- Luminous
Lykke Li- I Never Learn
La Roux-Trouble in Paradise
Leonard Cohen- Popular Problems
Jamie T- Carry on the Grudge
Caribou- One Love
Damon Albarn- Everyday Robots

When it comes to the movies, try as I might to restrict the list to 10, I felt physical pain each time I attempted throwing out one of the movies, so I said, 12, why the hell not, it will be my not at all dirty dozen. 2014 proved its greatness again. Well truth be said, some of the movies do actually date back to 2013, but I will spare you the rant about Eastern European film distribution and say I included the movies that I saw in 2014 and shaped my year and yet again, maybe it's for the best like this, because I actually love all these twelve movies and the more I look at them, the more I see them uniting into a strange wholeness. 

Only Lovers Left Alive
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inside Llewyn Davis
Under the Skin
Snowpiercer
Two Days One Night
Van valami furcsa és megmagyarázhatatlan (For Some Inexplicable Reason)
Ida
A Most Wanted Man
Guardians of the Galaxy
Her
Nebraska

Best Concerts of Sziget #3: Yasmine Hamdan

Jim Jarmusch is a man of many talents, like discovering the music you always wanted to listen to, but never knew where to look for it. On this particular occasion you’d have to go to Beirut via Paris (or Paris via Beirut, depends on how you look at it), just like Jarmusch’s eternally journeying vampires move around the world. There is something wonderfully befitting his timeless heroes in Yasmine Hamdan’s music: it seems, at the same time, extremely ancient and very modern, extremely calm and very unsettling. The ingredients are basic: her voice, some guitars, a sprinkling of traditional instruments here and there, but the result is as arresting as the source is simple, it doesn’t feel as much as music being made, but music that simply is, an existential element contained within itself.

Sziget 2014 Diary- Day Two

So this year's Sziget ticked another box and duly had its rain day too- or as the Brits in attendance call it, fine summer festival weather, a tad humid but not too chilly.Which pretty much meant a downpour and people scurrying to the merchandise tents for some plastic sheet to wrap themselves in. The worst of it came, in rather unjust fashion, during the Mary PopKids gig: the band were worthy winners of the Nagyszinpad contest, in which several upcoming local bands competed for the public's votes- the one with the most would end up playing the main stage of this summer's major festivals. The fact that they managed to gather a rather large and raucous crowd despite a minor blitz monsoon comes to prove that they're made of the good stuff and seem destined to stay on the scene.

Another efficient way to stay warm (and eventually dry out) during the rain was the Russkaya concert at the World village venue. Initial enthusiasm seemed to be fueled by the fact that the front rows of the crowd were covered by an extension of the stage's roof, but it soon became evident that even the soggy ones at the back will not resist the infectious world music assault of the Austro-Russians (that does sound mildly unsettling, though).Their music isn't particularly innovative but it sure is catchy and sports some festival-efficient gimmicks, which was probably the vital element given the present circumstances. By the time something called the psycho-tractor was implemented (well, people running around in circles) the rain had actually subsided and allowed for a dash to the Main stage for Bastille.

Although you kind of wish it did not, for Bastille were the first band this week who inspired in me a harsh cry of "what a load of utter crap". They sound like a poorly executed mixture of genres they assume hipsters and teenage girls-and the random boy- aspiring to be hipsters would like. Even their logo looks like the doodle of an art school kid bored with her history class: lemme illustrate this storming of the something thingy, Bastille, here you go, with a TRIANGLE in it. The lead singer is also a tad uncertain as to whether he's in an indie band, as his moves seem to be spastic jerks combined with some rap posturing, totally out of sync with his music, his (possible) style and the universe in general. You say Bastille, I say run, fast and furious, through the mud, to the closest stage with any random act on it. Marmosets juggling tomatoes- hell yeah, they would surely blow Bastille out of the water.

Lily Allen was up next- she'd been to Sziget before, in a very unlikely headline time slot, but was relegated to the more befitting late evening one this time around. Unlike her previous performance, which was constantly threatened by her voice completely deserting her when she most needed it, on this occasion her classic tunes sounded spot on. She even dabbled with some apparently feminist visual imagery- though baby bottles, twerking dancers and dangerously high heels sure add up to a confusing combo, even if you count the irony in. The minute problem, however, is that her new album is bad. Well, I was trying to be polite I guess. It's atrocious, like someone who is not Lily Allen actually trying to be Lily Allen with disastrous results. So whenever she tore through one of the new bits, I had a Bastille like urge to run.

And to this urge I eventually listened-with spectacular results. Seeing and especially hearing Yasmine Hamdan is like being hit by the elemental power of nature- there is something eerie, totally absorbing and compelling in the way she plays music, and one of the very first thoughts that hit me was that this is actually the feminism Lily is looking for. It's just that Yasmine is not trying to find it, she is contained within it- occasionally it's not hard out there at all, occasionally someone comes along who makes it look all too easy, because she has a spark inside. It was this spark that inspired Jim Jarmusch when he chose Yasmine to play in Only Lovers Left Alive, and hats off to him for making her known to those willing to listen.

There was apparently some Macklemore and Some Other Person business going on on the main stage, but I say you need at least three good tunes to be a star, and they produced about fifteen seconds of that so far, therefore off I was for some trustworthy Bonobo- same of old, nothing out of this world, but he has three good tunes and sometimes that's all it takes. Bonobo was followed by what I can only explain with a bout of severely infectious group insanity: Stromae is seemingly a flawless god of some sorts, and he even performs miracles, like crowding the whole of Belgium, about half of France and a French speaking Canadian region into one tiny Sziget tent. Truth be said, he has some fine tracks, worked out a neat little stage act and manages to be rather entertaining over the whole hour or so- but, for the love of Odin, there's no reason to die in a sweltering tent, stuck to the sweaty back of a Fleming, for Stromae.

The united nations of Stromae having mercifully strutted off into the dark cool of the Sziget night, we were left to wait for Kavinsky. Who was late and left it late: his music is as good as French electro gets- and French electro being probably the best electro in the world, that says a lot. Nevertheless, he knew it and we knew it: we were all there for Nightcall, which, mean Frenchman that he is, he left for the closing section of the set. Which was actually a great choice after all- taking the urban train never felt as Ryan Gosling badass as when you have THAT tune stuck in your head.

Ten Acts You Shouldn't Miss on Sziget

It took me a  few festivals to learn it (childish habits die hard), but the Main Stage is generally not the place to be if you want exciting things to happen to you.(Should you however think a somewhat unwashed and muddy Frenchman giving you a hug is exciting, please do linger around said stage right after a summmer storm.) Sure enough, there'll always be at least one great headliner and some fine acts in the earlier slots, but the real good stuff is very likely to pop up on one of the smaller stages, occasionally at ungodly hours.

So here is a run through of ten acts that might turn out to be the secret highlight of the festival- and might as well not, maybe that one show that will blow your mind is secretly tucked away in the programming and you'll just stumble on it because you have a hole in your planning, your buddy got lost at that particular stage or the sandwich bar you like happens to be nextdoor. 

Jake Bugg (Main Stage, Wednesday August 13, 4 PM)- a bit NME for some tastes, he's what they like to call a precocious singer songwriter, and sure enough, he has two records to his name at barely 20- at that age I had problems locating Massive Attack on the Main Stage, so I'll give the guy some credit.He IS playing at an ungodly hour- with a bit of (bad) luck he'll find out how silly British people are to call their nice summer days a heatwave- so the odds are in our favour when it comes to some not so ordinary Sziget entertainment. Jake Bugg- Lightning Bolt

Mary PopKids (Main Stage, Thursday August 14, 4 PM)- these people won a talent show, but before you stab yourself in the eye imagining Simon COwell-like horrors, take a deep breath, for they are awesome. They sound like all the warm summer songs you've already heard all wrapped into one- therefore sounding like none, and that much better. Mary PopKids- Runaway

Kavinsky (A38 Stage, Thursday August 14, 1 AM)- If you've seen Drive there are not many things one needs to add as to why you must be there for this concert. If you haven't seen Drive you're pretty much a bad person and should not be anywhere at all- no really, watch the movie and listen to some French electro. They do work wonders. Kavinsky-Nightcall

Palma Violets (A38 Stage, Friday August 15. 4:30 PM)- another NME band who might just become kind of big one day. If you don't trust their taste, think of VOLT's biggest headliner this year- no, not Tankcsapda. Another odd slot that might have a whiff of a sauna outing, but judging by Triggerfinger's show last year, it's simply a matter of who can rock, and who can't. Palma Violets- We Found Love

Angel Haze (A38 Stage, Friday August 15, 7:50 PM)- People rapping about this and that can become a bit tiring after a while,except when they're rapping about things that we'd rather keep quiet about, but shouldn't. So here's why you absolutely must listen to Angel Haze: http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jan/31/rapper-angel-haze-religion-rape-survival. Angel Haze- New York

Kelis (A38 Stage, Friday August 15, 9:40 PM)- She'll probably never be able to escape her Milkshake girl image, the mixed curse-blessing of having had one hit that went truly global. This being said, that splendid pop artifact is actually not her best song by far- think in terms of the spiteful bile rain of I Hate You So Much Right Now, the cool vibes and zany visuals of Acapella or the sheer meanness of Bossy. Right, you don't want to miss any of that. Kelis- Acapella

Klaxons(A38 Stage, Friday August 15, 11:30 PM)- Yes, they are past their prime, yes, fluoro nu rave bands can and will hurt your eyes and ears and yes, they belong to a genre that produced such insipid monsters as Late of the Pier. And yes again, hard as they might try, they will never be able to either match or surpass their first album. This being said, Myths of the Near Future is a piece of modern music history and should therefore be listened to even if for documentary value. Also, you are noticing correctly, you are not to leave A38 on Friday, unless you want your brain to turn into moosh while listening to Korn on the Main Stage- which obviously you don't. Klaxons- Atlantis to Interzone

Jagwar Ma (A38 Stage,Saturday August 16, 7:50 PM)- They're everybody's darlings a bit, from the press to fellow musicians, and they should be yours too, if only for the fact that it sounds really sophisticated to drop their name in a casual conversation: "So hey, have you heard the new Jagwar Ma?!".Putting such shallowness behind us, they do sound pretty fine, and have some cool summery vibes to match the occasion too. Jagwar Ma- What Love

Yasmine Hamdan- (Vilagfalu Stage, Thursday August 14, 8 PM)- The World Music Stage might feel a bit subdued compared to previous years, but it is kind of hard bringing new names when you've had almost all of the greats of the genre playing there already. Yasmine Hamdan should be a treat though- if you've seen Only Lovers Left Alive there are not many things one needs to add as to why you must be there for this concert. If you haven't, you're pretty much a bad person and well, you know the rest. Yasmine Hamdan- Hal

Miles Kane- (A38 Stage, Thursday August 14, 9:40 PM)- Miles Kane should need no introduction, but if he does, it only means it's high time you went to A38 on Thursday and checked him out. He might be better known for his Last Shadow Puppets project, which he runs with some bloked called Alex Turner, but his solo material is also a feast for the ears willing to listen. Miles Kane- Don't Forget Who You Are