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 #4: La Roux

La Roux had the seemingly daunting task of going head to head with Calvin Harris spitting fire on the main stage. Sure enough, halfway through her performance there were  apocalyptic sounds coming from behind the A38 tent- not Harris himself mercifully, but the deafening rumble of the fireworks being shot into the great wide open. A few weak minded Sziget dwellers did dutifully run to the edge of the tent, but it probably serves as a compliment to La Roux that very few people actually went out, most of them returning promptly after briskly inspecting the celestial spectacle.

This was La Roux’s second Sziget show, and as the first was somewhat of a disappointment, I was a bit apprehensive about it, but it took only 10 seconds into the first song to realize that this was to be another class of show altogether. The very first thing that strikes you is how much more confident she is- the laboured process which led to her second album seems to have paid off as she belted out dancefloor favourite after dancefloor favourite to a crowd that never stopped moving.  It was the perfect concert for the closing evening- a self assured performance from an artist slowly but surely growing into an alternative cult figure.

Sziget 2014 Diary: Day Five

The last day was to be kicked off on the VOLT stage with Hangmás, who would in all likelihood be a tad more popular in a country more attuned to indie than Hungary, but as things stand they were relegated to an awkward half past three slot, where they tried their best to please a crowd composed mostly of people wandering in from the nearest hot dog stand. The concert was no match to the intensity of their usual club gigs, but at least we did not suffer too much of a heartbreak when the main stage beckoned, as grandiose things were about to happen there.

There are few satisfactory synonyms for tantalizingly awesome, and Ruben Block is one of them. Generally, Triggerfinger are just better than your average band: they play better, they move better, they are more Belgian and they of course have one more Ruben Block than any other band, ever. Beyond the shameless fangirling, which we should have grown out of by now, but cannot (because Ruben Block), Triggerfinger sound great even if you don’t look at the stage- to see you know who magnificently wield his guitar. Maybe for a second here and there you did wish they were back in the A38 tent , for their intensity seems better framed by a dark enclosed space, but then there’s a giant burst of a sound and you’re all happy to be out in the open and desperately fantasize about what it would be like to wipe The Kooks, OutKast and Calvin Harris off the playlist to have a whole evening of Triggerfinger. You could easily shoot up the fireworks to them as well, though frankly you would not need to, because they put the pyrotechnics in their music.

(As a sidenote to the dark small stage thing- it’s gonna happen in November on A38, and I am already prepared with a flood of Triggerfinger rock my boat puns.)

Not many bands would sound adequate after Triggerfinger, but this is not really a problem for The Kooks, for they would not sound adequate after or before anyone, and they particularly do not sound adequate during their performance. There might have been a time when some of their songs hit a cute poppy factor, but the problem with said factor is that it has a very quick expiry date. They do have some rabid groupies though, who were marginally more interesting to watch than the band itself, To be honest, they sounded just fine from the height of the Sziget wheel, but once you descend to the ground, you’re looking for answers, as to why on earth are they still around and when will this stop.

It stopped just in time for OutKast to be promising on paper, and then fail pretty miserably as well. Good thing there was a serpentine party right before their gig, so we had at least a bit of fun in the meantime. I started having my doubts about this whole André 300/Big Boi extravaganza midway into the second song, which just didn't sound exciting at all. Then neither did the third or the fourth, but I was still giving them the benefit of doubt: since I am not a particularly big fan of their genre, maybe it’s me who’s missing something. But then their fans started grumbling too. And everybody was bored and tired- it’s the last day of the festival, of course, but what’s OutKast's excuse?  The absolute sign of a Sziget failure is when the band’s hit song sounds better from the mobile toilet than from the front of the main stage- well Hey Ya was quite alright from inside the loo, and really not there at all on the outside.

By this time the end was sadly in sight, and the main stage did not promise anything fruitful. Fireworks are quite alright and so are glowing led sticks -particulary when you’re three years old, but let’s say after seven festival days anybody can be tired enough to be cheered by a led stick. Calvin Harris on the other hand is something you’d probably wish on your worst enemies, if you were particularly cruel. It’s open for debate who’s worse- last year’s Guetta or this year’s Harris. They both have die hard fans of course, and danced to strictly within the confines of a club their music is probably palatable as well- yet it’s greatest asset is that while all those silly people are jumping around senselessly to Mr Harris those in the know can enjoy something really worthwhile in A38.

La Roux was back on Sziget after a more than lukewarm first concert a few years back and a rather long hiatus altogether. But ever since her new record came out this year, her reviews kept getting better and better- so finally, here it was:  the Sziget returner who makes up for a first stumble with a brilliant performance. There was really no need, no point and no sense in going to Calvin Harris, when La Roux served up something fundamentally better: music you can dance to, but which has a soul and a brain. With two brilliant albums she can now pull of a festival appearance that is jam packed with catchy tunes from the beginning to the end.

It was very tempting to end Sziget on a high pop rush, but you’re not an old school fan if you don’t attend Sziámi’s closing gig- back in the old days his band was main stage material, but with the advent of Harrises and Guettas he was sent into exile onto one of the smaller stages. Yet nostalgia never tastes sweeter than when the curtains are about to be pulled down, so unwinding at the VOLT stage felt like a must.

What is even better than a closing gig is attending another one after it- A38 had not yet fully emptied its small box of wonders , and Darkside were simply the perfect end note for the festival. Their moody and atmospheric music calls for one last beer sipped slowly, one last chance to get lost in the sound, one last look back at this week’s madness. And the usual mantra: next year, same place, same madness, new wonders.

The Usual Suspects of Sziget

Every year when the Sziget line up starts taking shape there'll be a bunch of moaners complaining that oh, it's the same acts all over again. There's no pacifying them- pointing out that maybe these bands are liked by the majority of the audience doesn't work. 

Getting a bit more sophisticated and suggesting that major UK festivals also rotate pretty much the same headliners year after year doesn't do the job either. Hell, Glasto tried to break the mold and put on Beyonce and Metallica and that kind of backfired- just go for good old Kasabian instead and you'll be just fine (a hint to Sziget organizers here about whom to bring back next year from the usual lot). 

There's also the fact of some bands being better festival bands than others- there's a way of getting silly to Prodigy that won't really work with some newer, more groundbreaking acts. Other bands technically only work at festivals- I see no other use of Madness, to be frank. And then there's Korn. They'll always have the die hard fans to crowd the main stage area to the sounds of doom- which is quite lovely for those who want to breathe more freely at one of the smaller stages. 

So here we go with the list of bands I'll be delighted to have back this year.

Okay, delighted might be an overstatement for Lily Allen, though she definitely was just that when she actually got to headline in 2009, something no other major festival graced her with. Her new album might not be her best, but her older material is absolutely festival compatible.

One cannot be not excited by the Manics. No band that can open their set with Motorcycle Emptiness and close it with A Design for Life will ever get boring. And of course there's not resisting a Welsh flag with a fiery red dragon.

I remember the times when I actually spent the better part of a scorching hot day with my claws locked onto the front row fence to watch Placebo.  These days I'd rather lounge in the spritzer area and watch them from a safe distance. We're getting old, Brian's getting old too, but no one can deny that Pure Morning is one hell of a song and few tracks can beat the festival meanness of Infrared.

This here is Ruben Block. He is awesome. His band Triggerfinger are on the Main Stage Sunday afternoon. You have no excuse not to be there.

The new Wild Beasts album has constantly been selected into the best record lists of the year so far and they also graciously survived a frantic 5 PM heat last time around, so they sure deserve a headline spot on the A38 stage this year.

La Roux's debut album blasted onto the electro scene with the likes of the infectious Bulletproof- and then she promptly disappeared. She's back this year with some fine new tracks and shares the fate of Wild Beasts in getting a more adequate spot- her moody electro was not best fit for an afternoonish main stage, but should work wonders late in the evening on A38.