By Marc Fong and Josh Herwitt //
Culture Collide Festival //
Various venues in San Francisco and Los Angeles
October 14th-15th in SF; October 16th-18th in LA //
Culture Collide Festival stopped off in SF for the first time ever before making its way down to LA last weekend, bringing bands from around the globe to celebrate music, food and well, culture, of course. With U.S. headliners Cloud Nothings and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah leading the way, the festival also boasted plenty of international talent, from Israel’s SKYROADS to Colombia’s Quantic. Marc Fong hit up the festival in SF and Josh Herwitt was in LA to give their own takes on a dozen different acts.
Rock N Roll Radio
Rock N Roll Radio (Korea): Though the vocals were a bit muffled and its English was rough, this Korean band communicated fun in the most basic of ways — through catchy, poppy riffs.
Go Back to the Zoo (Netherlands): The lyrics were a little repetitive, but their melodies were strong and soulful. Think early Kings of Leon.
Kamp! (Poland): Kamp!’s synth-heavy songs were fun, yet mellow, making for a slow ride into the night at the Elbo Room.
SKYROADS (Israel): Of Monsters and Men meet Freelance Whales. A little rough around the edges, this band has a strong radio sound, plus an amazing performance. Don’t be surprised to see and hear more from SKYROADS in the near future.
Everyone Is Dirty (USA): Gritty tunes from a gritty band by way of Oakland. They sound like garage rockers but with a lot of flare, great vocals and most notably, some kick-ass violin playing.
Cloud Nothings
Cloud Nothings (USA): Cleveland pop-punk outfit Cloud Nothings brought a grisly sound to The Chapel with catchy hooks and fun, crunchy riffs. If you haven’t checked out their latest album Here and Nowhere Else (read our review here) yet, you should.
Nervous Nellie (Sweden): This four-piece out of Stockholm brought some fun indie-rock tunes from its Scandinavian homeland.
Beat Connection (USA): Reminiscent of early M83, these four guys from Seattle offered a fun way to fade into the night and close out the SF edition of the fest.
De Lux (USA): Fans of this burgeoning LA act got their weekend started early in Echo Park, moving and grooving to a funky set chock full of post-disco, dance-punk cuts that have drawn comparisons (and rightfully so) to Talking Heads, LCD Soundsystem and Hot Chip. After releasing their debut LP Voyage in April to much fanfare, Glendale natives Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco appear to have a promising career ahead of them.
MØ (Denmark): Dropping their debut album No Mythologies to Follow in March, Karen Marie Ørsted and her sidekicks electrified the Echoplex with one electropop hook after another during their nearly hour-long show. It should be only a matter of time before the 26-year-old singer-songwriter is selling out venues all across the country. Her growing popularity, in fact, could very well skyrocket following her performance with Iggy Azalea on Saturday Night Live this month.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (USA): After revolutionizing independent music in the mid-2000s thanks to the interwebs, the Philly-based group has endured quite a few changes. Frontman Alec Ounsworth remains the only original member still in the band, and for all intents and purposes, it is clearly his band at this point. But the recent release of their fourth full-length album — and a relatively lackluster one — Only Run has CYHSY living off many of their earlier hits that once earned the attention of legends like David Bowie and David Byrne back in 2005.
Quantic (Colombia): Multi-instrumentalist, DJ and record producer Will Holland may be one of music’s biggest hidden talents. As one of Holland’s most prolific projects, Quantic pulls from a variety of styles, including cumbia, salsa, bossa nova, soul, funk and jazz, while the UK native works his way from one instrument to the next (his current arsenal includes guitar, bass, double bass, saxophone, accordion, piano, organ and various percussion instruments). Inside the diminutive and sweaty Echo Park United Methodist Church, Holland and his ensemble got some eager fans out of their seats just seconds after taking the stage. Though Holland said it would be Quantic’s last show for some time, they won over at least a few new fans that night, too.
