Monday 21 September 2020

Fantasy Festival number 19: The Lineup

Myrkur: Danish singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Amalie Bruun began her musical career in the Scandinavian black metal scene. Her releases as Myrkur have their origins less in the contemporary metal scene and much more in Danish mythology, traditional folk music and classical music. You can find out more here.

Sudan Archives: LA Violinist, vocalist and producer Brittney Denise Parks, aka Sudan Archives, describes her musical influences as "Sudanese fiddlers, R&B, West African rhythms, and experimental electronic music." You can find out more over on her Bandcamp.

K Flay: Illinois singer, songwriter, rapper and musician Kristine Meredith Flaherty makes indie flavoured, hip hop influenced lo fi pop music. She has released three albums, the most recent being 2019's Solutions. You can find out more here.

Miya Folick: LA singer and songwriter Miya Folick released her debut album, Premonitions, in 2018. She makes evocative ethereal indie soundscapes (see 'God Is A Woman'), ferociously angry indie rock anthems (such as 'Deadbody') and isn't averse to a bit of slinky dance pop ('Leave The Party'). Album number two, when it arrives, should be a treat. You can find out more here.

Japanese Breakfast: Oregon's Michelle Zauner began working under the name Japanese Breakfast in about 2014, having previously served an apprenticeship in a number of indie pop and emo bands. She has released two albums of energetic, often dreamy, indie pop. You can find out more here.

Vagabon: New York singer, songwriter, musician and producer Laetitia Tamko was one of the artists who featured in 2017's Fantasy Festival series, not long after I'd singularly failed to see her at Dot To Dot Festival. At the time, her music was very much in the indie noise rock vein but, since then, she's gone in a more atmospherically electro direction, as demonstrated by her self titled second album, released in 2019. You can find out more here.

MIA: Rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, visual artist, activist, Maya Arulpragasam is a modern legend, perhaps best immortalised in 2018's documentary film Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. One of the things that has always made her such an exciting artist is the way she has been fearless in taking and mixing up multiple genres of music, from the more obvious electro and hip hop to Tamil film music and alternative rock. She built a hit single ('Paper Planes') around the opening moments of The Clash's 'Straight To Hell', infamously collaborated with Madonna and Nicki Minaj, and the promo video to 'Bad Girls' featured some particularly hair raising driving techniques. You can find her on Insta.

Lizzo: Singer, rapper, songwriter and flutist Melissa Viviane Jefferson, aka Lizzo, has been making music since 2013, but it was her third album, last years Cuz I Love You, that tipped her into the mainstream. Her roots are in hip hop and electro soul, but her music also has a strong R&B element to it and the overall sound is gloriously pop. 'Juice' was on every music station for most of last summer it felt like, and the success of the album also led to the re-discovery of her 2016 single 'Good as hell'. You can find her on Insta.

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