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Thu 20 Aug – Pukkelpop 2009

Below is what I enjoyed the most at Pukkelpop 2009. Since I had already seen a lot of 'rock' bands at Rock Werchter 2009, I deliberately focussed more on electronic music at Pukkelpop. And damn, I had such a great time hearing familiar music and discovering new music, I consider Pukkelpop 2009 as the best festival I've ever been to.

This is the creme de la creme, the bands which I thought were absolutely great :

1. Fever Ray : Fantastic music. Fantastic voice. Fantastic visuals. Fantastic atmosphere. Simply put: perfect!

2. Moderat : What a way to end an already outstanding festival. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from Moderat but I did like a Boys Noize remix from one of their numbers and I am familiar with the Modeselector album happy Birthday! Reasons enough to go see them at the chateau (I've never watched a show inside the chateau before either). Well, I totally loved their more ambient tinted music with creepy songs like Seamonkey being my favorites. Also being able to sit on a bench in the chateau while watching Moderat was great, my legs were already tired so this was nice. :) Spectacular video feed on the wall behind Moderat as well, very stylefully done!

3. Booka Shade : Yes I was there in 2007 as well at their memorable set in the dance hall at Pukkelpop. And yes I double dipped the Movements album as well for the DVD from that show. :) I had high expectations for Booka Shade's second performance at Pukkelpop and they didn't disappoint. It was very nice to see a much different set list with a lot of material from The Sun & The Neon Light album, but still enough room to fit in the familiar songs as well. Superb!

4. Little Boots : I didn't know Little Boots like I think a day before the festival. She was recommended by a friend, otherwise I would have ended up watching Klaxons. Thank God I went to Little Boots, definately one of the biggest surprises for me of the entire festival.

5. Birdy Nam Nam : Also here, a band I knew almost nothing about and whoom completely surprised me with their great energetic set. Super!

6. Vitalic : My expectations were skyhigh for Vitalic's new set, he's amoung my most played artists here on my Last.fm account. Well, he threw so many new songs at us in the dance hall I'm still consuming it all and wondering what to think of them. Some new songs are simply amazing, others I don't know what to think about them yet. I liked the set a lot overall but maybe I think I would have received it a little more enthousiastic if Vitalic had included a few more melodic songs (like Bells for example) and left out My Friend Dario (I'm so bored of that song already). Still, I'm extremely looking forward to his new album based on what I heard at Pukkelpop!

7. Metric : Yet another band I hardly knew a while ago. It all started with Help I'm Alive which was on the latest Afrekening compilation CD. I was so glad to see they would perform at Pukkelpop as well. Had to get out of my bed really early to see Metric so early in the afternoon but it was well worth it. My only complaint is to the organisers: you should have given Metric a lot more time to perform, the set was way too short. :)

8. Kraftwerk : I only saw half their set because it overlapped a bit with Vitalic and you don't exactly do the trip from the dance hall to the main stage in 5 minutes at rush hour. Now, the set had little to no surprises for me since it looked almost exactly the same as the Minimum Maximum live DVD from Kraftwerk. But it was the first time I ever saw them live and it was nice to finally see them.

Those 8 bands above, seperate themselves from the rest of the pack.

Other bands I also enjoyed watching, somewhat in order :

The Offspring (only partially seen)
Zombie Nation
Maximo Park (only partially seen)
dEUS (only partially seen)
Faith No More (only partially seen)
Paul Kalkbrenner
N*E*R*D (only partially seen)
Dizzee Rascal
Placebo (only partially seen, already seen at Werchter 2009)
Dave Clarke (DJ set, only partially seen)
The Subs
The Juan Maclean (only partially seen)
Dr. Lektroluv (DJ set, only partially seen)
Buraka Som Sitema

And then the bands I saw which were a bit disappointing or boring, and only gave a mediocre set :

Alter Ego
Aeroplane (DJ set, only partially seen)
Razorlight (only partially seen)
Simian Mobile Disco
50 Cent (only partially seen)

And then only one band that was very disappointing and I found their set boring and left earlier than I had scheduled :

Peaches (only partially seen)

I dragged a Panasonic DMC-TZ7 around the entire festival as well and recorded a lot of full videos in HD quality (with great sound quality as well). If you are interested in seeing those, check out my YouTube channel. And subscribe to it or keep an eye on it for the next week or so as well since I will be uploading more videos over the next couple of days.

http://www.youtube.com/breyzipp

Aeroplane

Agoria
[UK] The Green Armchair

Chic Miniature

Daft Punk
[ • ] Discovery
[ • ] Alive 2007

Delon & Dalcan
[ • ] Tanz

EZ3kiel
[FR] Barb4ry

Frank Martiniq

Gui Boratto
[ • ] Chromophobia
[ • ] Take My Breath Away

Joachim Pastor

Kavinsky
[ O ] Teddy Boy OP

? Kiko
[FR] Midnight Magic
[FR] Slave of my Mind

Marascia

Matzak
[ • ] Life Beginnings

Maxime Dangles

Melodium
[UK] Cerebro Spin
[FR] Music for Invisible People

Paul Nazca

Popof

Ricardo Tobar

Rodriguez Jr.

Rone
[ • ] Spanish Breakfast

sayCeT
[ • ] One Day at Home

Sébatien Tellier
[UK] Sexuality
[FR] Politics

The criteria for these lists were:
1) The overall beauty and spectacularness of the music
2) How massive of a song/album it was
3) How many times I listened to it during the year (according to iTunes)
4) Any interesting quirks about the song, album, or artist that I found endearing
5) Had to be originally released in 2008 (thereʼs some gray area here with promo releases, internet leaks, and new remixes of older songs, but Iʼm generally very strict)

Top 50 Best Songs of 2008 (that I heard)

1. M83 - We Own The Sky
2. Gnarls Barkley - Whoʼs Gonna Save My Soul
3. MGMT - Electric Feel (Justice Remix and Original)
4. Adele - Chasing Pavements
5. Sam Sparro - Black & Gold
6. Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains
7. David Byrne & Brian Eno - Strange Overtones
8. Erykah Badu - Soldier
9. Empire of the Sun - Walking On A Dream
10. The Whitest Boy Alive - Golden Cage (Fred Falke Remix)
11. Michael Cassette - Shadowʼs Movement
12. Jamie Lidell - Green Light
13. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
14. The Black Keys - Psychotic Girl
15. Friendly Fires feat. Au Revoir Simone - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
16. Jazzanova feat. Ben Westbeech - I Can See
17. Walter Meego - Forever
18. Raphael Saadiq - Love That Girl
19. Emiliana Torrini - Birds
20. Sebastien Tellier - Look
21. Crystal Castles - Magic Spells
22. Thomas Bronzwaer - Certitude
23. Cut Copy - Far Away
24. Santogold - L.E.S. Artistes
25. Adele - Tired
26. Beyonce - Halo
27. The Juan Maclean - Happy House
28. Coldplay - Lovers In Japan
29. Empire Of The Sun - Country
30. Empire Of The Sun - Half Mast
31. Jamie Lidell - Wait For Me
32. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
33. Kid Cudi - Day ʻNʼ Nite (Crookers Remix)
34. The Walkmen - On The Water
35. Erykah Badu - Telephone
36. Portishead - Threads
37. Little Boots - Stuck On Repeat
38. Coldplay - Lost! (and Lost?)
39. Cut Copy - Lights & Music
40. Brazilian Girls - St. Petersburg (esp. the piano version they played on MBE)
41. Gnarls Barkley - Blind Mary
42. Beck - Gamma Ray
43. M83 - Too Late
44. Portishead - The Rip
45. Sam Sparro - 21st Century Life
46. Aeroplane feat. Kathy Diamond - Whispers
47. Amadou & Mariam - Sabali
48. Gnarls Barkley - Surprise
49. Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
50. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Epic Last Song (Lifelike Remix)

Top 10 Best Albums of 2008 (that I heard)

1. Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream
2. Flying Lotus - Los Angeles
3. M83 - Saturdays=Youth
4. Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
5. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
6. Erykah Badu - New Amerykah: Part One (4th World War)
7. Cut Copy - In Ghost Colours
8. Coldplay - Viva La Vida
9. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
10. Sebastien Tellier - Sexuality

Notes: Wow, itʼs five months into 2009 and Iʼm finally finishing up my Best of 08 list. Every year the list gets bigger and it takes me longer to put it together. There was so much great music released in 2008, and I listened to so much of it, that it was necessary to expand the list to fifty. I could have easily done a Top 100, but I felt such a large selection would lessen the prestige of making it onto my list.

• While 2007 produced a list with record-breaking international representation, this year was dominated by the United States - nearly half of the songs on the list are American.

• 2008 served as a coming out party of sorts for the Australian electro and synth pop scene, with Empire Of The Sun, Sam Sparro, Cut Copy, and Midnight Juggernauts all delivering excellent albums (The Midnight Juggs album was originally released in 2007, making it ineligible for this list).

• My favorite artist/group M83 released the critically acclaimed album Saturdays=Youth. I thought it was decent, and I was proud of the growth and maturity of Anthony Gonzalez as an artist, but I didnʼt think it was as good as some of his previous albums. Nonetheless, the album featured a gem of a track in Song of the Year We Own The Sky. Itʼs the type of song that grabs hold of you from the very first note, and then proceeds to go from strength to strength. M83 was also magnificent when I saw them perform live at the Echoplex.

• Like I:Cubeʼs Live at the Planetarium in 2006, this year Los Angeles by Flying Lotus made it onto the Best Albums list without having a single track on the Best Songs list. This was because, despite being a solid album from top to bottom, there werenʼt really any standout tracks that I could justify including on the list. The one song that I seriously considered was “Parisian Goldfish”, but in the end there simply wasnʼt space for it.

• Empire Of The Sun, Gnarls Barkley, and Coldplay are the most represented artists on the list, each with three songs and an album. Adeleʼs two entries, at #4 and #25, are the highest ranking pair for any artist on the list.

• Artists that narrowly missed having a song featured on the list include Deerhunter, Katy Perry, Ne-Yo, Buraka Som Sistema, Sia, The Verve, Kraak & Smaak, John Legend, Sigur Ros, J-Live, and Toumani Diabate.

We Own the Sky – M83
Walking on a Dream – Empire of the Sun
In My Arms – Mylo
Colours – Calvin Harris
Cherry – Ratatat
Paris (Aeroplane Remix) w/ Au Revoir Simone – Friendly Fires
Vanished – Crystal Castles
The Reeling – Passion Pit
Hercules Theme – Hercules & Love Affair
I’m Losing Myself w/ David Byrne – Brazilian Girls
Eh Oh – Femi Kuti & Positive Force
Tane Mahuta – The Ruby Suns
El Burrito – Yerba Buena
Mi Primer Million – Bacilos
Festa para um Rei Negro – Salomé de Bahia
Shove It (Switch Remix) – Santogold
Summertime Clothes – Animal Collective
Masiteladi – Amadou & Mariam
Red Light Lady – Ophelia
Trem Fantasma – Os Mutantes
Sho Is Funky Down Here – James Brown
Mary Jane – Rick James
Jim Dandy – LaVern Baker
Guanavaco – Marius Cutlier
Rise & Shine – The Little Ones
Open My Eyes – The Nazz
Sheena is a Punk Rocker – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

01. Mylo - Macrobiotic
02. Alphaville - Big In Japan
03. Bungalow (Simone Fedi) - Afro Comedy
04. Appaloosa - The Day We Fell In Love
05. Lovelock - Burning Feeling
06. Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane Remix)
07. Moon Unit - Connections (Ewan Pearson’s Slo NRG Remix)
08. House Of House - Rushing To Paradise (Walkin These Streets)
09.The Shortwave Set - Now Till 69 (Aeroplane Remix)
10. The Belle Stars - Sign Of The Times
11. Sam Taylor and Pet Shop Boys - I’m In Love With A German Film Star (Jurgen Paape Remix)
12. Sebastien Tellier - Kilometer (Aeroplane Italo 84 Mix)
13. Grum - Runaway
14. ZZZ - Lion (Bag Raider Remix)
15. Poni Hoax - Antibodies

Normally I don't care much about Mixmag CD's, but this one is from another league. Gent's Aeroplane take off slowly, but from their wonderful Shortwave Set on it's damn amazing. I've got some new superheroes! The last 7 songs on this... WOW!!!!

[slash rant]

Lean Forward - Mala
Bloodline - iTAL tEK
Atomise - Ruckspin & Quantum Soul
8o8o8 - Westernsynthetics
Dub Rain - Drainbamage
Evasion - Boyronin
Justify (LuminarsiRemix) - Orbit
Gutter Music - Starkey
Paradise Garage - Squarepusher
Dreams Of Korea - Adam Shaw
Whistling In Tongues (Todd Terje Remix) - Felix Laband
Speak You Little Face Head (Jamie Lloyd Remix) - Anklepants
The Birds - Telefon Tel Aviv
El Subidon - Daedelus
Track 3 - Skizzo Frenik
The Coming Summer - Monk Fly
Electronic Lovers - Charlie Smith
Computer Love - Kraftwerk
Electric Love - Leafcutter John
Tingling Cheeks Are Love - Panoptique Electrical
Serac - Decoder Ring
Whispers (Hercules and Love Affair Remix) - Aeroplane
Lover Her (FlippoRemix) - ac23
Narla - Melbient
Attack Ships On Fire - London Elektricity
Tears In Rain - Zomby

Recharge those weary batteries with a 70 minute mix overflowing with Cosmic/Space Disco goodness. Download it here

1 Give Me Your Love (Tangoterje edit) : : Curtis Mayfield
2 Caramellas : : Aeroplane
3 Connections (Ewan Pearson Slo NRG dub) : : Moon Unit
4 Connections (Original) : : Moon Unit
5 Williams Blood (Aeroplane remix) : : Grace Jones
6 Down Till 7 (Lindstrom And Prins Thomas Vocal Mix) : : Silver City
7 Just An Illusion (Lindstrom Dub/Todd Terje Edit) : : Imagination
8 Woman (A Makhnovshchina Repossession) : : It's a fine line
9 Motor City : : Xaver Naudascher
10 Ain’t Nobody (Frankie Knuckles Hallucinogenic Dub) : : Rufus & Chaka Khan
11 Italian Boy : : Enzo Ponzio
12 Moon Unit Pt. 2 : : Mogg & Naudascher
13 Let's Practise (12" Mix) : : Lindstrøm & Solale
14 Kilometer (Aeroplane 'Italo 84' Remix) : : Sebastien Tellier
15 Underwater (Freak You Remix) : : Worship
16 La Serenissima : : Eine Kleine Nacht Musik

The second in a serie of yearmixes 2008 on eclectro is now online. Nearly 90 minutes of Bangin Electro tunes. Including D.I.M, Bloody Beetroots and Mr. Oizo. Mixed bij ddaan

Listen and download the mix here.

Tracklist:
1. Le Le - Show Monaco
2. Siriusmo - Simple
3. Tiga & Zyntherius - Sunglasses at night (D.I.M remix)
4. Zombie Nation - Forza (Fukkk Offf remix)
5. Jan Driver - Rat Alert
6. Kid Cudi - Day ‘n’ Nite (Crookers remix)
7. Action Man - Zombie Dance
8. Bloc Party - Mercury (Herve is in Disarray remix)
9. Kidda - Under The Sun (Herve remix)
10. Jesse Rose & Action Man - Take it to the club
11. Machines Don’t Care - Beat Bang
12. Hollywood Holt - Caked up (Hot Pink Delorean remix)
13. Fake Blood - Mars
14. Mr. Oizo - Bruce Willis is Dead
15. MGMT - Kids (Soulwax Remix)
16. Mr. Oizo - Positif
17. Fake Blood - Blood Splashing
18. Fischerspooner - Danse en france (D.I.M remix)
19. Yuksek - Deladeu
20. ZZT - The Worm (Erol Alkan extended edit)
21. Late of the Pier - Focker (Boys Noize Terror remix)
22. Goose - Nike Orginial Run
23. The Presets - My People
24. The Bloody Beetroots - Cornelius
25. Les Petits Pilous - Wake Up
26. Homework - Damien Hirst
27. The Proxy - Dance in Dark
28. Digitalism - Home Zone (The Proxy Remix)
29. The Proxy - Raven
30. Beastie Boys - Intergalactic (Polymorphic remix)
31. Tiga - Mind Dimension 2
(Bonus song to give your ears some rest): 32. Friendly Fires - Paris (Aeroplane remix)