This Week's Playlist #98 - The Guess Who edition
5 songs from bands I saw at Le Guess Who 2023 in Utrecht
Hello everyone!
This Week's Playlist - Season 2, Episode 46.
I went to Le Guess Who last week. Le Guess Who is a Dutch 4 days festival happening across the whole city of Utrecht (between a five-hall contemporary music complex, TivoliVredenburg, and other musical venues and churches across town).
It showcases a wide range of genres, from avant-garde to electronic, jazz, hip-hop, experimental, and non-western music. It's the dream for a music omnivore like me and a good reminder that there's a lot of incredible, unheard music out there.
So this week, 5 bands I saw at LGW23. I hope you will enjoy it, see you next week.
Also, I'm going for a third season of this newsletter for 2024, and I'm interested in hearing your feedback or comments. Hit reply to this email.
TL;DR: I'm running a musical newsletter with a new guest sharing 5 songs each week.
There is a YouTube link for each of the songs on the cover, and here are the playlists for each streaming platform:
1. Deena Abdelwahed - Each Day
Deena played her whole new album in one of the main halls on Friday and got us all fired up at 1am on the dancefloor.
She's Tunisian, fell into the electronic music crucible as a teenager, moved later to Paris, and continued mixing Arabic influences with electronic beats.
Her new album, Jbal Rrsas (Mountains of Lead), is really captivating.
2. Bridhde Chaimbeul - Tha Fonn Gun Bhi Trom (I Am Disposed of Mirth), feat. Colin Stetson
Scottish bagpipe player Brìghde Chaimbeul (pronounced Breetch-er Hime-bowl) is bringing the experimental Celtic to the spotlight of the new alternative scene.
She played in a packed church on Thursday, and the set was mesmerizing.
3. Faten Kanaan - The North Wind
Another ambient piece (from another magical set in a church) for Faten Kanaan.
She's Syrian-Palestinian-Jordanian-Lebanese, was born in Germany, and later studied music in the US. She is now based in Brooklyn.
Her music takes the minimalist approach of Philip Glass, involving lots of repetition and wrapping you like a sonic blanket.
4. Bombino - Tazidert
I’ve played some Touaerg music in the past on that newsletter, and I was quite pleased to know that LGW scheduled the new cool kid from Niger of the desert blues scene to play a gig.
This is a song from his last album, Sahel.
5. Stereolab - French Disko
Stereolab was one of the curators and closed the festival in the main hall.
They are an English/French band from the 90s (Laetitia Sadier, the singer, has one of the thickest French accents I've heard).
They are based in London, writing jazzy, krautrock pop songs laced with radical left-wing politics.
Until the next time, Godspeed!
Thomas
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