Festival report: Emmaboda
The big question surrounding this year's festival was whether indie (as we know it) is dead. Festival organiser, Håkan Karlsson, claimed so and that due to this, 2007 would be the last year of 'Indieboda.'
What has always attracted me to Swedish indie music (and Emmaboda in the past) is that British indie is long dead, due to the commercialisation and commodification of guitar bands during the time of post-Britpop, resulting in the rise of 'Stadium Indie,' whereby the definition of indie as we know it (outsider music?) was all but destroyed.
Since my first visit to the Emmaboda Festival in 2005, I have discovered a lot of fantastic tiny Swedish indie bands. The lineup for 2007 was mostly bereft of the big guns, most likely due to Luger deciding to book them for the new Way Out West festival instead. Then again, Emmaboda has always been about discovery anyway, so it didn't matter.
The opening party in the bar area saw Billie the Vision & The Dancers play something of a homecoming show, first having played the sparsely attended Frukost series of gigs two years previously. Giving an airing to their song about the very gig in question, "Absolutely salutely", didn't do them any disservice. The other notable highlight of the Förfest opening party was Effete, a female led synth troup from Växjö. They are a post-modern pop dream, wearing matching jackets from H&M (you can't make this up), and singing songs about inadequate men. If this were 1992, they would be sitting atop the chart of MTV's European Top 20.
Day one of the festival saw the ridiculous spandex pomp of Black Belt, swiftly followed by current sensation Miss Li, performing her showboating musical persona which climaxed with the fruity vocal stylings of "Oh boy". Over on the Angent stage, I'm From Barcelona pulled out their sub-Flaming Lips/Super Furry Animals schtick. Their live show was entertaining as always, but this doesn't really distract from the fact that they only have two or three standout songs. Find of the day was You/Me, a little known electronic duo and perfect for the asymmetrically cropped fashionista crowd. Record labels start queuing here.
On day two, Those Dancing Days opened the proceedings with their organic and charming 'apple pie pop.' The band has oodles of potential, but I hope that the hype surrounding the band gives them an opportunity to hone their live show first. Later on, Ida Maria did her rock chick thang and got away without looking too clichéd. She has bags of charisma and could well follow in the lineage of strong front women alongside Chrissie Hynde and Shirley Manson. Kristian Antilla and Timo Räisänen were the designated pinups for the girls on day two. I actually didn't recognise Timo with his shirt on, but true to form, he ripped it off later in the set. The Håkan Hellström-inspired sound of Antilla drew some of the craziest dance moves of the day, which were only heightened when Antilla dived into the crowd at the end of the set.
Day three saw Rough Bunnies providing the most charming set of the festival. Dedicated to their Italian fans, the band's performance was almost half stand up comedy, half music. O'holics were a competent psychedelic rock band, but veered into clichéd territory when the kaftan-adorned member of the band crouched down to play a sitar. Shout Out Louds drew the biggest crowd of the day, but their set was unfortunately dogged with sound problems. However, this didn't stop the band performing a magnificent version of "Impossible". It's dance style build up was given greater significance due to the resilient way the band determinedly carried on despite technical problems.
All in all, the festival was a great success, with the smaller artists contributing to the festival's discovery heritage which in itself acted as a testament to the tastemaker abilities of the organisers. One wonders what format the festival will take next year. Roll on 2008.
About the writers:
Nick Levine is sweating in the humid London heat.