Brazil | Sophie Vlaming by Jean-François Campos for Flair March 2011
''The bottom of the world is gold and the world is upside down'' freedom - fernweh - films - boho - beatdom - bob dylan - drinks - records - sixties - coffee - poetry - summer nights - jazz
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
LOWLANDS PART IV: Sunday
And then the last day arrived. A few bands we definitely wanted to see left, but nothing really interesting. And so we decided to have a look here and there and see if there were any other surprises.
We started with 'Erland and the Carnival', a British folk rock band, who were good but not that amazing. And so we went on to Frank Turner, a folk/punk singer-songwriter. He was definitely talented. We heard a few songs but decided he sounded a bit too much like Racoon, so we left again.
It was really hot this day, our tent felt like a sauna (though it was still freezing at night, pretty annoying) and everyone at Lowlands looked sweaty and filthy.
One of the best performances we saw this day, was 'The Roots'. I already knew the hiphop band. They gave us a jamming session filled with excellent guitar playing, a lot of rap and a gigantic saxophone (or some other horn-like instrument). The show was awesome. After this show we were exhausted. I don't know if it was the weather, or the fact that we had walked all days and didn't have a lot of sleep but we were listless.
So we bought an Australian meat pie (it's delicious, tastes like a sausage-roll but better) and a special coffee with liqueur, cream and cookies. Once our stomaches were filled, we felt the energy bombing through our veins so we went to Lykke Li.
Lykke Li is a Swedish singer and I find her really cool. She dresses like a goth, long black clothes. And her voice was brilliant as well. The entire show was quite dark but I found it very magical.
The last show we saw was 'The Offspring', an American punk rock band, which you can compare to Green Day. It was one of the headliners of the festival, yet I had never heard of them. Maybe a bit before my time or just not really my music, I don't know.
After the live perfomances were over, Avalon and I decided to go to the movies. We saw 'The Monk', a French thriller with Vincent Kassel (who you may know from 'Black Swan', he played Natalie Portman's ballet teacher). It was about christianity around 1500. The film started very strong and dark but the end was a bit disappointing. The atmosphere in the movie was really cold. Not only because it was a gothic story, but also because I get the shivers from the strictness of the church and the idea that Satan exists.
Anyway, after the movie we saw that the festival site was already being cleaned so we went back to our tent.
Lowlands 2011 was over, and it was a brilliant weekend. Sometimes we had to improvise a bit because camping wasn't made for me and because the music program wasn't what we hoped for when we bought our tickets but I really enjoyed it.
Lowlands, I love you and I hope to see you next year.
We started with 'Erland and the Carnival', a British folk rock band, who were good but not that amazing. And so we went on to Frank Turner, a folk/punk singer-songwriter. He was definitely talented. We heard a few songs but decided he sounded a bit too much like Racoon, so we left again.
It was really hot this day, our tent felt like a sauna (though it was still freezing at night, pretty annoying) and everyone at Lowlands looked sweaty and filthy.
One of the best performances we saw this day, was 'The Roots'. I already knew the hiphop band. They gave us a jamming session filled with excellent guitar playing, a lot of rap and a gigantic saxophone (or some other horn-like instrument). The show was awesome. After this show we were exhausted. I don't know if it was the weather, or the fact that we had walked all days and didn't have a lot of sleep but we were listless.
So we bought an Australian meat pie (it's delicious, tastes like a sausage-roll but better) and a special coffee with liqueur, cream and cookies. Once our stomaches were filled, we felt the energy bombing through our veins so we went to Lykke Li.
Lykke Li is a Swedish singer and I find her really cool. She dresses like a goth, long black clothes. And her voice was brilliant as well. The entire show was quite dark but I found it very magical.
The last show we saw was 'The Offspring', an American punk rock band, which you can compare to Green Day. It was one of the headliners of the festival, yet I had never heard of them. Maybe a bit before my time or just not really my music, I don't know.
After the live perfomances were over, Avalon and I decided to go to the movies. We saw 'The Monk', a French thriller with Vincent Kassel (who you may know from 'Black Swan', he played Natalie Portman's ballet teacher). It was about christianity around 1500. The film started very strong and dark but the end was a bit disappointing. The atmosphere in the movie was really cold. Not only because it was a gothic story, but also because I get the shivers from the strictness of the church and the idea that Satan exists.
Anyway, after the movie we saw that the festival site was already being cleaned so we went back to our tent.
Lowlands 2011 was over, and it was a brilliant weekend. Sometimes we had to improvise a bit because camping wasn't made for me and because the music program wasn't what we hoped for when we bought our tickets but I really enjoyed it.
Lowlands, I love you and I hope to see you next year.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
LOWLANDS PART III: Saturday
Second day at Lowlands, still the same atmosphere (or even better) and we are in for more bands and inspiration.
But, first things first, we decided to go crazy at the statues of Ben & Jerry, so that the B&J crew could take some pictures of us. What do you think? ;)
This day we saw 'Young the Giant', an indierockband which was insignificant. They had the same sound as at least hundred other indierockbands. So Avalon and I went to 'Will & the People'.
On our way to this band, we were approached by a girl with a huge Canon, who asked if she could take a picture of us. We were very surprised, so after what felt like five minutes we stumbled: 'Uh yes.. sure'. It was for 'streetstyle' at the site StijlTV or Styletoday (I didn't understood it very well) so we were quite contented.
On top of that, we also got a lot of discount on the fruit salads (we paid 2,50 for two salads in stead of 12,50 for two salads) because two of our friends worked at the stand of LaPlace. Awesome, right?
'Will and the People' was definitely the best performance we saw at Lowlands. Three young British guys, the lead singer was really charismatic. The way he laughed, the way he sang, the way he entertained the audience. Their music was a mix of pop and rock with a lot of reggae influences. They sounded like a British white guy variant of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Especially when they sang 'Lion in the Morning Sun'.
Talking about Bob Marley, his son Stephen Marley was the next performance we saw. A chubby rasta guy gave us reggae like we all know it. Relaxing, and entertaining. The audience especially loved his dad's classic 'Everything is gonna be alright'.
In between Will and the People and Stephen Marley we also saw Mayer Hawthorne & the County, a soul band from the USA. It was funky music and we loved it. The band was totally black besides Mayer Hawthorne himself, a white guy. Might sound unimportant, but it was an exceptional sight. Refreshing.
On to the next great artist: Selah Sue. It was the third time I would be seeing her and I was really looking forward to it. I can dream all her songs, and her live performances always turn out to be superb. This was no exception. The only downside was that she did the exact same repertoire again: the same order of songs, the same cover (Lauryn Hill's 'Lost ones') and the same outfit. But she still managed to rock the stage.
But, first things first, we decided to go crazy at the statues of Ben & Jerry, so that the B&J crew could take some pictures of us. What do you think? ;)
This day we saw 'Young the Giant', an indierockband which was insignificant. They had the same sound as at least hundred other indierockbands. So Avalon and I went to 'Will & the People'.
On our way to this band, we were approached by a girl with a huge Canon, who asked if she could take a picture of us. We were very surprised, so after what felt like five minutes we stumbled: 'Uh yes.. sure'. It was for 'streetstyle' at the site StijlTV or Styletoday (I didn't understood it very well) so we were quite contented.
On top of that, we also got a lot of discount on the fruit salads (we paid 2,50 for two salads in stead of 12,50 for two salads) because two of our friends worked at the stand of LaPlace. Awesome, right?
'Will and the People' was definitely the best performance we saw at Lowlands. Three young British guys, the lead singer was really charismatic. The way he laughed, the way he sang, the way he entertained the audience. Their music was a mix of pop and rock with a lot of reggae influences. They sounded like a British white guy variant of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Especially when they sang 'Lion in the Morning Sun'.
Talking about Bob Marley, his son Stephen Marley was the next performance we saw. A chubby rasta guy gave us reggae like we all know it. Relaxing, and entertaining. The audience especially loved his dad's classic 'Everything is gonna be alright'.
In between Will and the People and Stephen Marley we also saw Mayer Hawthorne & the County, a soul band from the USA. It was funky music and we loved it. The band was totally black besides Mayer Hawthorne himself, a white guy. Might sound unimportant, but it was an exceptional sight. Refreshing.
On to the next great artist: Selah Sue. It was the third time I would be seeing her and I was really looking forward to it. I can dream all her songs, and her live performances always turn out to be superb. This was no exception. The only downside was that she did the exact same repertoire again: the same order of songs, the same cover (Lauryn Hill's 'Lost ones') and the same outfit. But she still managed to rock the stage.
Monday, August 22, 2011
LOWLANDS PART II: Friday
At 1 o'clock in the morning tens of thousands of fashionable (not all of them of course but you know what I mean) people made their way to the festival site at Lowlands. The program was about to start.
After a good cup of coffee from our favourite Douwe Egberts store, Avalon and I went to see 'Fitz and the Tantrums' first. In the program book, we read that it was a swinging band with a Motown and southern soul sound. Of course I was dying to see it. And it really met my expectations. What a hell of a good band as a starter. The lead singer was a extravagant man with hair like a Dalmatier and he was joined by a black soul woman. Yes, we loved it.
The same day, 'De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig', a famous Dutch rap band, was performing. I had seen the trio already at a festival in my hometown five years ago, but this time the audience went crazy. We were standing quite far away, so my photos aren't amazing, but the atmosphere was really good.
Meanwhile, we were a bit hungry so we made a walk over the festival site (which was huge, not only music podia, but also cabaret, art, a cinema and lots and lots of eating stands). We decided to try the kitchen of Suriname. I ordered moksi alesi (a bit like nasi) and bakkeljauw. I had no idea what it was, but I wanted to know, so I found out. It was real salt and dry fish, a bit like tuna but much stronger. I didn't like it very much ;)
With loaded stomaches we went to 'Noah and the Whale', a British indie band, I knew from the song '5 years time', which is a nice and sunny song. The band turned out to be really good and Avalon and I both felt for the green eyes of the lead singer Noah. How adorable.
In between two concerts (I don't remember which ones) we made a trip over the site and we were overjoyed by a discovery. One of our favourite vintage stores 'Episode' also had a stand at Lowlands! We were thrilled with excitement and immediately bought clothes. I bought a green blouse and a red bandana.
After our short shopping trip we went to see the 'Fleet Foxes' who were very, very boring.
The headliner of the day, and maybe of the entire festival, were the Arctic Monkeys. To be honest, I had never listened to many of their songs, so when Avalon was really excited to see 'Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroos', a hippe/indiefolk band, I came along (: They were terrific! The audience went wild and I had to watch out for my bag because we all jumped like we were 5-year old children. Wonderful.
Late at night we danced on electroswing and techno for a while before we went back to our tent to sleep.
After a good cup of coffee from our favourite Douwe Egberts store, Avalon and I went to see 'Fitz and the Tantrums' first. In the program book, we read that it was a swinging band with a Motown and southern soul sound. Of course I was dying to see it. And it really met my expectations. What a hell of a good band as a starter. The lead singer was a extravagant man with hair like a Dalmatier and he was joined by a black soul woman. Yes, we loved it.
The same day, 'De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig', a famous Dutch rap band, was performing. I had seen the trio already at a festival in my hometown five years ago, but this time the audience went crazy. We were standing quite far away, so my photos aren't amazing, but the atmosphere was really good.
Meanwhile, we were a bit hungry so we made a walk over the festival site (which was huge, not only music podia, but also cabaret, art, a cinema and lots and lots of eating stands). We decided to try the kitchen of Suriname. I ordered moksi alesi (a bit like nasi) and bakkeljauw. I had no idea what it was, but I wanted to know, so I found out. It was real salt and dry fish, a bit like tuna but much stronger. I didn't like it very much ;)
With loaded stomaches we went to 'Noah and the Whale', a British indie band, I knew from the song '5 years time', which is a nice and sunny song. The band turned out to be really good and Avalon and I both felt for the green eyes of the lead singer Noah. How adorable.
In between two concerts (I don't remember which ones) we made a trip over the site and we were overjoyed by a discovery. One of our favourite vintage stores 'Episode' also had a stand at Lowlands! We were thrilled with excitement and immediately bought clothes. I bought a green blouse and a red bandana.
After our short shopping trip we went to see the 'Fleet Foxes' who were very, very boring.
The headliner of the day, and maybe of the entire festival, were the Arctic Monkeys. To be honest, I had never listened to many of their songs, so when Avalon was really excited to see 'Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroos', a hippe/indiefolk band, I came along (: They were terrific! The audience went wild and I had to watch out for my bag because we all jumped like we were 5-year old children. Wonderful.
Late at night we danced on electroswing and techno for a while before we went back to our tent to sleep.
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