The Copenhagen Report is a great place to start any artistic exploration of the Danish capital. Tim Anderson is one of Denmark's most prolific bloggers, with an archive well worth flicking through - The Guardian
Now that was a party! The Copenhagen Distortion Festival was crazier than ever this year with an estimated 90,000+ participants roaming the streets (and clubs) of Copenhagen from Wednesday to Sunday last week. It really was something to experience.
We did our part which can be seen in Episode #54 of MyDenmarkTV.com - besides lots of party footage from the streets, we actually managed to film a 10+ minute interview with Distortion Festival Founder and Visionary Thomas Fleurquin WHILE CYCLING. You really couldn't have dreamed a better scenario for an interview in literally the middle of the party.
Every year I look forward to the first few days of June when the Copenhagen Distortion Festival hits the streets. This year it's from June 2-6, 2010. If you are living in a hole or a similar dark space in Copenhagen and somehow missed the party in the past few years, understand that in 2009 there were over 60 events attended by nearly 40,000. It really is a hell of a party - though obviously the weather has a big impact on how it all plays out. My personal favourite 2 days are the Nørrebro and Vesterbro street parties, which I never miss if I can help it.
We're filming an episode of MyDenmarkTV.com in during Nørrebro Distortion on Thursday, and we've even lined up an interview Mr. Distortion himself, Thomas Fleurquin, who is the mastermind behind the whole thing - from when it was a tiny little bit of madness attended by a select few party people back in 2001 to now. I'm really looking forward to chatting with him about it.
Do yourself a favour and check out the party at least one of the nights.
June 2 - Center of city
June 3 - Nørrebro
June 4 - Vesterbro
June 5 - Final Party
June 6 - Chill out in the park
This time we check out Rust Nightclub (one of the most consistent clubs in Copenhagen, if you're looking for a non-mainstream good night out) and meet Sven Houlberg the club's Event Manager (and one of the faces behind Villains Club, which happens most Thursdays at Rust - and on special occasions elsewhere in the city as well).
And our new Host, Toi, investigates VerdensKulturHuset in Nørrebro ('The World Culture House'). It really is an amazing place, used by some 250 ethnic organisations in Denmark representing nationalities from all over the world.
One of the best deals out there for a night of entertainment happens on a Friday night at Tivoli Gardens - the amusement park in the center of Copenhagen. Well, not just any Friday, but some of them. In case you live in Copenhagen, but under a rock, every week Tivoli hosts a Friday concert ("Fridagsrock") series, where for the price of admission you get a 'free' open air concert. And every now and then a major international act turns up - such as this past week - along with plenty of worthwhile Scandinavian names the rest of the weeks. Admittedly, not every one of them is exactly worth the price of admission, and there are times when Tivoli's lousy sound system can be problematic. But if you get yourself into the right position, and the band has decent sound guys, it can be pretty damn good.
This past Friday The Flaming Lips rolled into town and played a Friday concert at Tivoli. It was an impressive performance, to say the least, as The Flaming Lips take their stage show pretty seriously...well, sort of. Maybe seriously is the wrong word for a band that plays a nearly 2 hour show with a bunch of Teletubbies dancing along beside them. Yes, Yoshimi Battled the Pink Robots. Do you realize? Enough said.
"Så crooner vi igen" ('So we crooner again') announced the sign above the bar as we sauntered into Kassen on Nørrebrogade one Wednesday night not all that long ago. As the band set up the Rhodes kyeboard, double base and drum set, we had a hunch we just might have stumbled on to something. Casting our eyes over the classic bar menu, and the classically decked out bartenders, we decided we had to pull up a bar stool and find out.
Indeed we had.
There's almost nothing better than discovering a new mid-week diversion, even if it's actually not all that new and has (presumably) been there right in front of your blissfully ignorant eyes for some time. Precisely this was what happened Wednesday night about 3 weeks ago when, rambling around Nørrebro looking for just the right place to fit our mood that evening, 'Kassen' came up as a suggestion. It was a place we had been ignoring for some years.
And what do you know, turns out Wednesday at Kassen is 'Crooner Night'.
This means a special classic menu of cocktails (you know the ones, Manhatten, Martini, Cosmopolitan, etc., etc), and, best of all, a nice little lounge band playing in the corner.
Any band that can coolly finish off their evening set of crooner classics with a casually lounge-like jazzy version of a classic-in-its-own-kind-of-way 'Eye of the Tiger', just chilled-out enough to make you want to tap your feet as you throw back one last martini, is absolutely good enough to fill a few hours on an otherwise non-descript Wednesday night in Copenhagen. You gotta love it.
'Crooner night' every Wednesday at Kassen 20.00-01.00
Like there was a choice whether to join or not. When your flat lies just around the corner from the heart of the action, as does the flat of yours truly, you may as well embace the action and join in. So last night the Distortion Festival was as loud and rowdy and amusing as was to be expected.
From the 'Obama' Party bus to Christiania Cycle (with build in sound system) that kept the music playing even after it had 'officially' stopped, to the guys with a draft beer tap set up in their ground floor apartment serving beer directly through their window onto the street (now that's entrepreneurial spirit - especially given the outrageous queues at the local kiosks selling beer!) it was an entertaining evening.
As the Distortion Festival proves, when the sun shines so does Copenhagen...and when the sun sets, the fun really begins (even on a Thursday night). Thank goodness for the weekend...and the Distortion Festival in Vesterbro.
To many, Temple Bar on Nørrebrogade in Copenhagen is surely a dependable 'standby' kind of place, pretty much any night of the week (and especially on weekends). A place that is very much like an old - very old - comfortable (and rather ugly) sofa that you just can't bring yourself to throw out. In fact, Temple Bar is filled with ratty sofas and chairs upstairs that they really should bring themselves to throw out.
It is perhaps for this reason that year after year living here in Copenhagen, I have resisted the urge to frequent the place. In fact, until last week, I had never even set foot there. This was not because I doubted that it was a dependable place for having a drink and a chat with a friend or two. Rather, whenever it has come to finding a place to grab a beer in Norrebro, there was just always some place else that always pulled us in. Temple Bar just seemed like it would always be there when, eventually, it was needed. And so the years went by.
So I stumbled in there the other night (late afternoon, actually) with a friend. It's about what you'd expect. Smoking upstairs, along with a lot of ratty furniture and seriously neglected toilets - one with a partially kicked-in door allowing no privacy and a sink missing part of the sink. Yes, you read that right.
But it's cosy and if you went there enough, it is the kind of place where everybody might know your name. Or come to know it, in time.
Tucked around a little corner of Vesterbrogade, not far from Enghavevej, lies a troika of late-night temptresses that many a late-night reveller in Copenhagen has succumbed to on one occasion or another. If you've been there once for a late night rollick, you've probably been there twice. Perhaps it last occurred during the late hours of a festively glowing December night, as each of the evenings for the next three weeks will be, following one of those infamous schnapps-and-herring-fueled Danish Christmas lunches. Maybe it capped off one of those rare Copenhagen warm summer nights in July, as the sun was rising in the east. Or a frosty night in January as early-hour cyclists bravely laid tracks in the freshly-fallen snow sprinkled over the street as they peddled their way home. Or perhaps it was some other random evening, a mid-week drinking session which would otherwise have been forced to a premature ending at the hands of one in Vesterbro that was less willing - and certainly wouldn't have you after midnight.
In any event, what is certain is that whichever of these three ladies-of-the-night it was that caught your eye, it was surely the foggy distortion of a pair of thick beer-goggles that attracted you to one or the other. Their names are Ludvigsen, Hacken Busch, and the incomparable (and still-smoke filled) Mørkbar. Lying within eyeshot of each other on Vesterbrogade, they are shameless in their overtures at these late hours. But they are also deceitful, for in truth they are three thirsty vampires who under the moonlit sky of the night want nothing less than fresh blood. And as it happens plenty are willing to oblige them. Time and again. Punters lusting after one, two, three of four final late-night barley-wurlitzers (or worse) which they can and do willingly and shamelessly provide.
And so it was last night as I left the clutches of Mistress Hackenbusch (and a half-emptied shot of noxious black Små Grå) in the wee hours of the morning and headed home to the comforts of my soft bed that I found myself thinking about this unlikely yet powerful seductive pull that these three late-night Vesterbro temptresses possess, and wondering if it really had to be like this.
Copenhagen has an astounding capacity to genuinely surprise. This is perhaps the biggest strength of the city. Then again, there are quite a few strengths of the place, which I've mentioned in a few articles on this blog in the past.
So wandering along Istedgade last night turned out to be a good choice - in fact, it was something of an instinctive feeling, an intuition you could say, that lead us there. I could almost a little voice in my head at the beginning of the night saying 'even though it's Wednesday night and there's always some interesting music at Cafe Tjili Pop on Wednesday, skip it and go out in Vesterbro tonight instead!'.
I don't know what went on at Tjili Pop, but Vesterbro indeed proved quite a more than worthwhile diversion on an otherwise quiet Wednesday night.
The evening began in Boutique Lize (okay, actually it began with a drink at Darling across the street, but it reeeealy began at Boutique Lize). There we discovered, much to our surprise, that a band was playing. This was the first time I'd actually seen a band playing there. In my mind, the place is only a cocktail bar, but apparently they are trying to branch out a bit.
The band very quickly caught our ears - it was a Danish one that we'd never heard of called Mofo Steel.
And what a band they were - 5 fantastic musicians, clearly with a wide range of influences, and a style that would be impossible to pin down to anything other then fantastic songwriting. I can only hope that they keep at it - they're the kind of band you want to see go far - it would otherwise be such a tremendous waste of potential. A extremely tight and immensely talented ensemble from the keyboards (often on the wonderful Hammond organ setting), through the bass player, guitarist, drummer and lead singer.
Their next gig, we found out, is at Loppen in Christiania on Sept. 27 if you're curious. I'm certainly considering checking that one out after what I heard last night. If I was from a record label and had stumbled into last nights show at Boutique Lize unaware, I would have been crapping my pants in excitement at the prospect of the discovery.
But the night was not over.
Following the show, we were wandering along Istedgade discussing where to go next (it was still not even 11) when we heard plenty of noise coming from a little clothing shop called 'Dig' (a shop that I had never noticed before) and people spilling out the door onto the sidewalk. As we discussed whether or not to check it out (of course sheer curiousity would compel us to) I noticed that none other than the suddenly famous (in Denmark) Trentemøller was behind the decks in this tiny place. We wandered in, handed over 20 kroner for a couple glasses of punch (the only drink being served), and proceeded to dance along to frantically energetic Trentemøller DJ-set (accompanied on the decks by another female friend whose name I never found out) for the next 90 minutes. You really can't ask for anything more fantastically spontaneous then that.
Two surprises in one evening - and both within 100 meters of each other. Now that's Copenhagen at it's best.
the sight and sounds of an unexpected street-level party on Istedgade...
The Nørrebro street party that knew no end... Though I missed most of the Distortion Festival (summerhouse trip...), I made it out to a pretty cool Distortion evening in Nørrebro on the second evening. Thank goodness I did.
It turned into a true street party, a real happening (as Isabel from Eyes Wide Shut put it perfectly - Isabel, whom I just last week had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out on Thursday at Distortion, writes some great stuff over at her blog and takes fantastic pictures that tend to put mine to shame). She has some great pics from Thursday on her blog, quite unlike crappy ones I managed on my phone...
the sound of street music...
So I'll add my own two cents kroner. It's stuff like the collective planned events and semi-planned happenings that make the Distortion Festival the one-of-a-kind event that is is, and this sort of stuff is also precisely what make Copenhagen such a great place to live, because it is precisely this that sets the city a lifetime apart from most other more staid and conservative places. It's this esoteric ability that enough people in Denmark seem to understand, about what makes a great vibe and how to create it - and they are actually permitted to do so. It makes all the difference. I've written about it before (for example here).
On Thursday the Distortion street party in Nørrebro was supposed to end at midnight. However the Copenhagen police, in a remarkable show of sensitivity (that they don't always show in other situations when it is surely called for), opted to simply close the street to traffic, where it all was happening, after a while. And the shop responsible for the music (who did a fantastic job all night) decided to keep it pumping way past the time it was supposed to end, which was midnight, and so the street party went on to around 3AM. They also opted to keep on selling beer...
There was also the Official Distortion Party Bus, well worth a mention here. Whoever the f&*king genius was who found the busdriver for that one (pictured below), give them a good hardy pat on the back (and maybe a raise and a key to the city). Too f*%king perfect.
So on we hopped, not knowing where it would take us (which proved to be just around the corner to the next party - but it was just so much more fun then walking ever would have been, anyway). Onboard, music blared, people danced, and beer was drank. I can assure you that if such a thing ever was to occur in my home and native land of Canada, the bus would have been immediately impounded and the organizers arrested (yes, another answer snippet from the often posed question 'why did you choose to live in Denmark instead of Canada?'). But this is Denmark, a more sensible place, at least in relation to these sorts of issues.
I've seen it happen again and again over the years in Copenhagen. It's actually possible to create a public, or semi-public, event with spirit by actually allowing it to take on a life of it's own as it's happening - which is true in so relatively few places in the world. Because all too often, when something cool starts happening, it is forced to end prematurely for one silly reason or another.
See, because spirit is not a tangible thing, those who don't get it should never be in charge of staging events - and they definitely shouldn't be in charge of regulating them. Fortunately, such people have been kept well away from the Distortion Festival in Copenhagen.
A happy Distortion street partier indulging in the unofficial food of the Distortion Festival - the schwarma.
no shortage of street level promotion around town...
It's become something of an annual institution in Copenhagen, The Distortion Festival. A 5-day extravaganza of fantastic underground electronic music. And it all starts tomorrow evening.
It's also a classy demonstration (clothed in wonderfully trashy garmets) of just how to keep what has now (after 9 years) become a gigantic, hyped and much-talked about annual festival, as uncommercialised and underground as possible.
The formula remains pretty simple. While the promotional efforts are fairly intense, the line-up can never be accused of being even the slightest bit mainstream. During the festival each year, no venue gets used more then once, and each night, the events of that evening are concentrated into a different area of Copenhagen.
I've had some excellent Distortion evenings evenings over the years - one of the best was three years ago at Halvandet, which I mention as this year, this also happens to be the venue for Distortion's big Saturday night party. That's promising.
And I'm looking forward to wandering around Nørrebro on Thursday night to check out the local Distortion events of the evening - just a short stroll from my flat. I'm sure they'll be some good stuff...
Now that I've got my own tickets safely in hand before the show sells out (and I highly suspect it will), I think it's a good time to mention that Modest Mouse is playing at Vega in Copenhagen June 13. These guys are definitely well worth seeing. It's kind of a shame they didn't wait a couple weeks and just play at the Roskilde Festival instead, but no matter, I'll cough up the dough to go see them anyway.
Check out their myspace page for some songs from their current album We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank.
And here's the funky little video for 'Float On', from their previous album. It's a song I really love, though I think I'd have to single out 'Black Cadillacs' as my favourite on that album. Their newest albums seems to be standing the test of time fairly well, as well...
sorry, only grainy mobile phone pics once again...
The guys from Komponent struck again on Friday night (May 11), booking The Books, the fantastic guitar/cello duo of Paul de Jong and Nick Zammuto from New York.
These two guys know how to put a song together. Their music is a series of beautiful and emotional guitar/electric cello pieces, complete with vocals and plenty lots of electronic effects. The result is an original, distinct and compelling sound which quickly hooks the listener.
Moreover, what Paul and Nick really know how to do is put together a stunning performance befitting of their songs.
Each and every song is complimented by a purposefully created visual presentation that Paul and Nick have created, synced to the music - the guys queue the videos themselves at the start of each song. Filled with vibrant themes created using an assortment of random video images, old home videos and computer graphics, each one of them powerfully transformed the accompanying song into something more akin to a sort moving painting with sound. And each video oozes a certain joy of life.
The result is a feeling that you are witnessing, right in front of your eyes, a force being tapped into that is far greater than the sum of the visible parts. And you are invited to partake in whatever it is. A rare feeling, indeed.
There are few greater pleasures then happening upon a fantastic band whom you have never heard of previously. As I had overlooked the Komenent mail in my inbox at the end of last week, it took a last minute SMS from a friend to get me to the show. Ironically, I managed to arrive at Lab in Vesterbro where the event was staged before those whom I was to join - and by the time they arrived all tickets had sold out. Which meant they themselves couldn't get in. Now that's injustice.
The Books audio/visual performance leaves a lasting impact - it's not at all one that fades from memory shortly after you leave the concert.
Despite visiting Barbarellahin Copenhagen in a handful of times previously, I must admit I'd never seen the place in quite the right light. Not until yesterday. Or maybe it's just that it's only recently begun to hit it's stride.
As it turns out, Barbarellah is an excellent place to go to kick-off the night on the weekend. Arriving around 11PM yesterday, the place was standing room only - the first time I'd seen it that way - though previous visits were mostly on weeknights. As the night progressed, it got only busier and busier.
Barabarrellah on Saturday night
Since it opened about 3 years ago, Barbarellah has always been a place in Copenhagen with great potential. From the start, those behind Barbarellah had figured out a few things that most other cafes in Copenhagen hadn't.
For example, there was the insight that couches, being rather comfortable, make a quite good addition to a cafe. And by not filling the entire floor space with square wooden tables (and uncomfortable wooden chairs) squeezed as closely together as possible, a less conventional and more appealing atmosphere can be created - something Barbaralleh has managed to do quite successfully. And as music is a rather crucial aspect of ambiance, it's a good idea to have some turntables and a decent DJ set-up - and not just a stereo behind the bar. So Barbarelleh seemed to be off on the right foot from the beginning.
a couple of turntables in the corner - always a welcome addition to a cafe
Yet in spite of this great potential, Barbarellah has been a consistent underperformer.
The service has always been painfully slow and it seems to have taken a while to settle on a specific food concept for the place. Even now, I'm still not entirely sure what that concept is, in fact. There are worse places in Copenhagen for service (read: Cafe Sommersko - avoid, avoid, avoid) but the staff at Barbarrellah can leave you pretty thirsty while you wait. But last night, at least, it was not all that bad.
Barbarellah has a couple decent beers on tap (Hoegaarden and Leffe) - a prerequisite for even being considered as an interesting cafe - and they can make decent cocktails. But what is really unique is that food is served all night - not only until 10PM, the normal Copenhagen cafe cut-off time.
Meaning that at Barbarellah, it's actually possible to order a bottle of bubbly to cheerfully wash down a late night plate of nachos, cheese and salsa. An unconventional combination indeed, but hey, why not?
it's 1AM: some nachos and salsa with your champagne?
Following on the heals of Part 1 and Part 2 of this Istedgade series, the focus of this one will be the trendier end of Istedgade, let's call that 'upper Istedgade'. What could be referred to as 'lower Istedgade' (or 'Istedgade the Hooker' and 'Istedgade the Junkie') are areas of the street offering their own distinct set of nightlife possibilities - and these will be the subject of part 5 of this series...
Istedgade by night is pretty good, indeed. Bars and cafés abound. It's not wall-to-wall cafes or anything like that - that would in all liklihood prove to be hugely problematic. Furthermore, the target clientel at the establishment of Istedgade trendier places are notthose planning to end the night in a mess of sloppy drunkiness (even if a good few end up this way, nonetheless). There are other areas of Copenhagen where those less capable of handling a few drinks with dignity tend to frequent, which is a good thing for Istedgade. This is not at all to suggest that this makes Istedgade a quiet place by night. It's certainly not.
Along upper Istedgade, there are a fair number of generally unpretentious alternatives for having a quiet drink or less quiet drink.
Until recently, Cafe Riga, with it’s laid back atmosphere and underground music was the place to hang - but an ownership change some months ago, apparently provoked by complaining neighbours, has, as if a neutron bomb exploded, left the walls (and furniture) intact but sucked the life right out of the place. The fantastic underground music and excellent local DJ’s have disappeared (along with the atmosphere they largely were responsible for creating). Still, Riga’s comfortable chairs and couches remain a pleasant option for whiling away a few quiet hours in the early evening. Cafe Riga today...a rather unpretentious welcome
A better bet, if hip and trendy is your thing (and Carlsberg is not), would be Boutique Lize. Only open evenings from Wednesday to Saturday, Boutique Lize serves a variety fine beers (mostly foreign) while the highly competent bartenders happily serve up a wide assortment of cocktails - some of the better ones in town. A glass of ‘Brugs’, a tasty Belgian offering available on tap, or a mojito (arguably one of the best in Copenagen) are both particularly recommendable.
Then there are a couple of Istedgade’s longstanding institutions of alcohol consumption and chatter – Bang and Jenson and McKluuds.
While Bang and Jensen has always managed to effortlessly maintain an image of laidback, hipster-like cool (and rarely lets you down on any night of the week, even late in the evening on Sunday), McKluuds fits quite a different description. It is all 'Copenhagen bodega' - though one of the more accessible ones. By all means drop by McKluuds for a very cheap beer and a free game of pool, but not for the atmosphere.
Bang and Jensen by day - still pretty busy
Bang and Jensen by night - even busier and rarely a let-down...
McKluuds...always cheap and always...well, cheap...
The place that could take the prize for trendiness would be Strassen - and maybe it does in a parallel universe somewhere else. Unfortunately in this one, it doesn't quite make it. Consistently apathetic service (and a really nasty batch of raw burgers served up to us several months by a cook in the kitchen who apparently was a little overzealous about trying to close the grill down early for the night) has put Strassen way out of favour in my books. Still, when the bartenders are in the mood, they are capable of mixing up quite a tasty cocktail. And Strassen does get the prize for the most amusing fishtank in Vesterbro - a large tank built into the wall with a huge mural picture of Istedgade laid out behind it.
Another unpretentious possibility would be Simpelt V (across from Riga). Doing it's best to take over from where Riga left off when it changed owners, they still haven't quite got the music issue down to a science at Simpelt V, but they're kind of trying. It does look pretty hipster, what with all the vinyl hanging on the walls and the pleasantly comfortable seating.
Simpelt V - hidden behind the bikes and graffitti...
An untested newcomer is Malbeck, an establishment billing itself as an Argentian Wine bar. We'll see if this one flies, in time.
And still more newcomers will surely arrive in the area over the next months.
But what if you're hungry (you may be asking by now)? Well, that's up next in Part 4...
The Sounds - struttin' their stuff at Vega in Copenhagen
As I've mentionned before, there is nothing better than having a good, loud, guitar driven rock band to watch in the middle of the work week to liven things up a bit.
Last night at Vega in Copenhagen, a fairly excitable crowd witnessed an outstanding performance by The Sounds, from Sweden, and Under The Influence of Giants, from California.
In a way, the concert was something of a throwback. A true rock 'n roll show.
Both bands have evidently earned Master's degrees at the University of Rock 'n roll (or are well on their way to doing so), with the stage presence of the lead singer in each band more than worthy of the moniker 'rock star'. If any of the numerous performers who could be counted among the Gods of Rock had witnessed last nights performances - one of those performers who has wandered through the hallowed halls of rock 'n roll stardom - they would have surely nodded their heads approvingly. And when The Sounds lead singer Maja Ivarsson - one of those lead singers who really is quite easy on the eyes - started stage diving, well really, what more could you ask for?
I would happily check either of these bands out again, next time they come around. And particularly in the case of The Sounds, given they are from the country just across the channel, I'm sure they will.
There is pretty much no better way to break up the week a bit then to stick a nice, loud guitar driven concert (preferably with an electronic edge) right in the middle of it. Last night Ratatat, a band straight from none other than New York City, was a perfect fit for the job. And they delivered the goods.
In choosing to play in Copenhagen at Loppen (in Christiania), the guys couldn't have made a better choice. Loppen has a capacity of 200 people, though nobody seemed to be counting last night. There was rather more people then that stuffed into the place.
The sonic boom of Ratatat's rumbling (and remarkably clear) bass sound literally shook the walls and floor at times (and of course whenever enough people start jumping a little bit in Loppen, the place actually moves). But the remarkable wooden beams of Loppen (a common feature of Copenhagen's often ancient architecture) have proven again and again capable of standing the test of time (and a lot of excited people).
Ratatat's music is raw and full of power. It is in your face. You can feel it reverberating through your bones. It gets you moving. Subtle, it certainly is not. It sounds pretty good on CD (or mp3...), but seeing them play live one quickly understands what they are really all about. Ratatat's songs are essentially an exploration of a distinct and unique style and sound - characterised by a particular set of chords structures, keyboards, elements of distortion and a unmistakeable and kind of wailing harmonic guitar sound. And no vocals.
Listen to a couple songs on Ratatat's MySpace page to get a pretty clear idea of what I'm referring to (or click over to their homepage). And Ratatat are hardly unknown, but they certainly aren't well known either - even if their song Wildcat has been played some 525,000 times on their MySpace page...
Now in art, there is a long tradition of artists choosing to explore certain thematic areas and confining themselves for a while to a (oftentimes surprisingly) limited artistic space within which they let their creativity to wander, rarely venturing outside of it.
To mention a couple random examples, think of the countless water lily paintings of Monet's (inspired by his own back garden). Or perhaps the best example, the pop art of Andy Warhol. In other words, creativity does not necessarily need to be sprawling and ever-shifting to be captivating.
So though the uninitiated may be tempted to level the obvious criticism at Ratatat that their music is prone to a certain and distinct 'sameness' (you could essentially put all the songs from their two studio albums into one big pile), this is what the group is all about (thus far into their career, at least). However, because Ratatat's songs are full of moments of genius and brilliance and are so distinct, in spite of being confined to this specific and fairly narrow sonic space, to accept them for what they are is the most fruitful approach to take.
If anybody had predicted that the cold, snow and bluster of the weather in Copenhagen yesterday would have been enough to keep away the crowds for the Ratatat concert last night at Loppen, it would have been a very wrong prediction, indeed. a full house in Loppen...
(please forgive the grainy low-quality mobile phone pictures...)
Digging deeply into Copenhagen's underground electronic music scene has its rewards. It also has its challenges, since though it's out there, its extent is relatively limited - particularly the further below the surface you try to get.
If you're into electronic sounds, the various arrangement put on by Komponent (www.komponent.dk) are about as deep as you can get in Copenhagen - both in terms of music and venues. At least that is my belief after 6 years of exploring. They are well worth getting into, in my own opinion.
Komponent's usual venue of choice is Lab, a space that could not possibly be any less pretentious. Lab is hidden away in the courtyard at Vesterbrogade 107b (http://lab.107b.dk - site in Danish), and it would take about 3 minutes to convertit into a motorcycle repair shop.
The term 'underground' or 'underground scene' is not terribly revealing in itself, given that the range of activity that can fall under it's broad remit are as majestic in scope as the range of activity that could be said to be 'mainstream' (and that's a pretty wide range). As I see it, about the only criteria for the tag 'underground' to be applied to an something, is that it can only have attracted the most minimal amount of 'mainstream' attention (i.e. press/media).
In other words, by definition, music that could be termed underground is no longer underground once picked up by 'mainstream', even though, in itself, the music may remain unchanged. To put it another way, music doesn't necessarily have to be 'weird' to be underground, as many tend to believe.
That said, the events staged by Komponent tend to fall within the remit of the more 'stereotypical' association that is made with the term 'underground'. They can be somewhat 'weird'. Sometimes in a very good way, sometimes less so. Attendees at these events range from hooded, pierced and tattooed types, to those of a more nerdy appearance and disposition. Very few of them would be likely to be asked if they had just come from a classical music performance or an opera.
The music of Komponent performances mostly consists of two elements: an assortment of computer generated/manipulated blips, beats and growls and a visual element - oftentimes an equally idiosyncratic series of video or photo projections.
The visual elements are notable creations in themselves, often astoundingly original and well-suited as accompaniment to the eccentric music at hand. All of which one may find eclectically brilliant or just outright strange, depending upon your particular sensibilities.
the trusty Mac computer - a staple of the underground music scene...
the vj at the back responsible for the visuals and light, giving life to the music...
In terms of my own tastes, I find Komponent events at their best inspiring and refreshing. At their worst, I'm out the door pretty quickly. When a sort of beat eventually emerges during the sets (and it doesn't always, believe me), or there is some sense of progression to the music (and ideally some portion of it that could be said to be 'danceable'), they are fantastic - even if it's not the sort of music I typically listen to at home. Since a good chunk of the music being played is homemade by the DJ's themselves, one must appreciate that there is a degree of artistry involved that goes well beyond simply pushing buttons and matching beats.
More importantly, these are the sort of audio and visual performances that can provoke a person to dig into certain emotional corners in a way that just doesn't happen while watching reruns of 'Friends' or listening to 'U2' (though I happen to have my occassional moments enjoying both of these, as well). They are, in that way, an acquired taste with an oddly compelling appeal.
indeed, that's a truck cab hanging off the ceiling...
visuals on every wall...
yep, a Macintosh computer, circa 1984, displaying the drink menu at the bar...
jump outside for a quick breath of fresh air...rather cold winter air on this particular night
This article was also published on Shortcut - A European City Blog. Wanna see it? Click here.
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