Fresh from Finland

Melt! Festival 2009

The Music Festival Melt! is a discrete festival, that is still a well-held secret for many, located in Gräfenhainichen (roughly 1,5 hours by train from Berlin) in Germany.
The event is actually set in a late digging site, the Ferropolis, which currently serves as a museum of sorts, but when Melt! took over the results were far from archeological with it’s staggering night-lit industrial cranes. The Festival for 20 000 people had been sold out before hand this year and I don’t blame them – the line up was probably the best I had ever seen and the tickets were a mere 100 euros, which amounts to nothing when looking at the line up. The Festival raged on for three days and three nights, with headliners such as Oasis, Aphex Twin, Bloc Party and Travis, but the most notorious parties were often found elsewhere. Coca-Cola sponsor a tent for up and coming acts and that tent proved to be Valhalla. Playing there were many already renowned bands (ie. La Roux & The Dodos) and the more undiscovered lot.

Kakkmaddafakka

Kakkmaddafakka is a young Norwegian band, that according to Melt! has the coolest name (according to me, the goofiest). The tracks weren’t particularly appealing beforehand, but that was forgotten at their live performance. Why they have never been booked to perform in Finland is a mystery for me.. Promoters.. Anyone?? The youthful, energetic band brought such an energetic dance feel to the tent, even at the last day of the festival. The joyous brothers of Kakkmaddafakka reminded me a lot of the Finnish Wedding Crashers. On top of this whole ordeal, two background vocalists and hype machines were dressed as sailors on stage. They even proved they could pull off scat. Kakkmaddafakka is undoubtedly one of the most interesting live artists I have come across. Not suited for those who want to dress up for a funeral and enjoy their music stale.
Kakkmaddafakka

Miike Snow

Miike Snow has been featured on many blogs this year and the Swede has been a topical discussion issue all around. Yet, after the ridiculous energy of Kakkmaddafakka, the dance was somewhat lost upon me. His debut album did grow on the listener, better than it had during my hours of listening to it at home. The hits Animal and Burial blared off the show, after which the performers masks slowly came off. The live performance had something to watch from start to finish, with the songs echoing with their many dimensions. A look a like mix of Gaspard Augén and Sébastien Tellier, guitarist – singer Andrew Wyatt has co-produced the new album by Danie Merriweather with Mark Ronson!
Miike Snow

Passion Pit

In addition to Miike Snow, another act proved worth the hype it had received. Passion Pit was likely to be the most dormant of these three, but the ‘fixed on helium’ singer sounded even better on stage than at home. Every track sounded good and I was actually surprised as to how many good tracks Passion Pit’s debut “Manners” actually had swallowed. The Americans were about the only artist in the line up that threw an encore.. and another one, but this could be due to the fact, that they performed as the last artist, unless you count some dj-shows. From the lovely world of Twitter, I spotted that someone compared Melt! to heroin. Once you have some, you just want to have a liiiittle bit more.
Passion Pit

The Coca-Cola Soundwave Tent proved to be the Promised land – I witnessed the best live show so far. “Bergen – Berlin Mash-up Surprise” it was called and as I had suspected, it consisted of three bands playing together. The New Wine, Kakkmaddafakka and The Whitest Boy Alive performed each others as well as other artists songs. There were covers for example of Haddaway and Zombie Nations 90′s hits. As the final song, the performed a 18 piece instrumental of Fred Falkes Golden Cage – remix and the audience, as well as the bands, were in awe. At least three performers dove into the audience and the audience loved it. I can honestly say it just might have been the best show and best moments, of my life so far.

The New Wine vs. Kakkmaddafakka vs. The Whitest Boy Alive – Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix):

The gorgeous surroundings, beautiful and unselfish people, unbelievable crane stages and warehouse-parties are all contributing reasons to why one just cannot miss Melt! next year. Or for that matter, EVER.