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SPACEFEST!

GDAŃSK / 13-14.12.2019

 

On 13-14 December 2019, the Gdańsk cosmodrome will launch the SpaceFest! rocket into space – already for the ninth time. Like each year, we’ll try to reach the stars, enter a different orbit and levitate to the sounds emitted by artists from around the globe.

What hasn’t changed is that fans of psychedelic rock, space-rock, shoegaze, Krautrock, noise and dreampop will have their musical palates catered for, thanks to the mouth-watering selection compiled by Nasiono Association, the organizers of the event. There will also be plenty of opportunities to dance to surprising, wacky sounds.

One of the brightest (albeit bearded) stars of this year’s SpaceFest are THE COSMIC DEAD – a psychonautal cosmodelic buckfaustian quartet from Glasgow. For anyone who hasn’t yet stood before the Dead and their live homage to the cosmos, expect religious devotion to synthesised dreamworlds, subsonic grooves, guitaristic splendour and the vast, hypnotic sounds of Hawkwind and Popol Vuh eternally jamming in the Möbius strip of time and space.

After their awe-inspiring 2015 set (some of us still find it hard to get over it), THE TELESCOPES will be returning to Gdańsk in all their glory to celebrate the 30^th birthday of their legendary album Taste. Founded in 1987 by Stephen Lawrie, the group have been mining a unique anti-myopian seam of highly influential experimental, drone, noise, dream & psych. As they say themselves, their latest album Exploding Head Syndrome “consists of eight new songs and incantations that form a series of sonic convulsions stretching the parameters of intuitive composition to the point of auditory illusion”.

One of the unquestionable highlights of the festival (and, as usual, a huge question mark) will be the PURE PHASE ENSEMBLE 9 – an international formation created specially for SpaceFest! Throughout the week before the festival, a group of musicians will meet in the rehearsal room, composing and playing material that will be later presented live to the Spacefest audience. PPE 9 will be fronted by ADAM FRANKLIN, singer and guitarist of the legendary shoegaze outfit SWERVEDRIVER. In addition, the brass section will be headed by WOJCIECH JACHNA (e.g. INNERCITY ENSEMBLE, or previously CONTEMPORARY NOISE SEXTET).

HEADS. promise to take the SpaceFest audience on a dark trip to another dimension. Formed in 2014 of two native Germans and one wandering Australian, HEADS. are like-minded individuals, drawing inspiration from the same filthy pools. With a straight-up, no-frills approach, and influences as diverse as Total Control, Rowland S. Howard and Shellac, this trio are much more than the sum of their parts.

KRZTA, a trio from Olsztyn, is set to be even more powerful. Citing Gazeta Magnetofonowa: “everything is in abundance here: angry screams, mighty, unpolished sounds and amazingly broken riffs. Dynamics. Fire. Wit”. On stage, these three guys promise a truly furiastic energy.

CHICOS DE NAZCA is a band from Santiago de Chile. Using the blasting power of repetition and reverberation, they will carve a hole in your soul as deep and abysmal as anything that’s come before them, dredging your skull through the lysergic fractal fragments of your mind.

They say the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but as if in defiance to this old adage, the organizers decided to shine a light on the best of the local scene, and chose the Tricity label Nasiono Records. KSAS (Karol Schwarz All Stars) stands for  clean, spontaneous energy. Music played live, without any preparations or rehearsals. Over almost 20 years of its activity, the band has changed line-ups and incarnations. There is just one constant: the wall of delays, which – six years after the release of their previous album Hi, Mom! – returns on Hi D(e)ad! with all its subtle power.

Gdańsk will also be represented by KWIATY. Their music has four different roots, which come together in a creative blend of indie-rock, psychedelic music, shoegaze and Twin Peaks inspirations. Kwiaty cannot be pigeonholed into a single genre, creating captivating songs that occasionally verge on more dynamic elements, rooted in punk rock.

DYNASONIC is a Polish dubwave super-trio created by Mateusz Rychlicki (Kristen, Kobieta z Wydm), Adam Sołtysik (formerly of Pogodno) and Mateusz Rosiński (wrong dial, Dym Records). In their music, bass-heavy dubs romance with vintage sounds of classical instruments and field recordings. Hypnotising repetitions naturally send us towards associations with waves, but – bearing in mind that this is experimental electronica – these waves are rather stormy.

STRAYTONES is a psychedelic rock band from Kyiv, Ukraine. Their music has roots in garage rock stylings, with heavy influences of psychedelic and surf rock. Imbued with a spirit of 60’s garage rockers and hippies and heavily influenced by modern neo-psychedelic vibes – Straytones may recall associations with The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Night Beats, Wand, Ty Segall, Fuzz, and Thee Oh Sees.

The SpaceFest! 2019 line-up would not be complete without the winners of our competition for interesting psychedelic acts: TITANIC SEA MOON. Members of this noise outfit, hailing from Słupsk and Elbląg, use to play in such bands as Ewa Braun, Guernica Y Luno, Wszystkie Wschody Słońca, Przyzwoitość, Shitface, Tornado Space Ship, and Najprzyjemniejsi.

THE BLIND SUNS, on the other hand, are a French-Polish trio drawing sounds from the likes of Mazzy Star, JAMC and The Primitives. The Blind Suns carry that Duane-Eddy-meets-Link-Wray guitar sound that sits so well alongside Dorota Kuszewska’s captivating vocals.

A somewhat surprising addition is the live act of MAREK “ROGULUS” ROGULSKI’S formation – Rogulus X Szwelas und Gos + Czerkas + Ika, a combination of an improvised music set and performative actions. The musicians use rare techniques of articulating sounds and preparation, and experiment with contemporary means of expression. They use unorthodox ways of playing instruments, focusing above all on sonoristic aspects of music.

Traditionally, each festival day will culminate with DJ sets. This year, the mind-blowing afterparty will be the work of DOUG SHIPTON – renowned record hound, LP compiler, international DJ and co-founder of accidental world music label Finders Keepers Records. This South London rare-disc-detective divides his time working alongside fellow B-Music crusader and label mate Andy Votel in unearthing schizoid channel-hopping artefacts from the alternate annals of pop history.

The years go by, but one thing stays the same: SpaceFest stands for great music, zero gravity and maximum psych factor!

 

CONCERT LINE-UP:

13 December 2019 | doors: 7 p.m.

Kwiaty (PL)

Dynasonic (PL)

Chicos de Nazca (CL)

Marble Arch (FR)

TheCosmic Dead (UK)

Rogulus X Szwelas und Gos + Czerkas + Ika – STEERAGE Ika (PL)

KSAS (PL)

DJ Doug Shipton / Finders Keepers (UK)

 

14 December 2019 | doors: 7 p.m.

Straytones (UA)

Pure Phase Ensemble ft. Adam Franklin (Swervedriver) (UK/PL)

The Blind Suns (FR/PL)

The Telescopes (UK)

Titanic Sea Moon (PL)

HEADS. (AT/D)

DJ Doug Shipton / Finders Keepers (UK)

 

 

For more information go to www.spacefest.pl and www.facebook.com/spacefestpl/

 

 

Tickets cost between PLN 35-85 (discount for students and CARD TO CULTURE holders)

and may be purchased at http://spacefest.pl/bilety or via GoOut, Soundrive Tickets and KupBilecik.pl

 

Organizer: Nasiono Association
Co-funded by The City of Gdańsk
Partners:  Metropolitan Card to Culture, Łaźnia CCA, B90
Media patrons: It’s Psychedelic Baby Magazine, Under The Radar, Hałasy i Melodie, Last Day Deaf, Radio Gdańsk S.A., Trojmiasto.pl, Gazeta Wyborcza, Co Jest Grane24,  Shameless Promotion PR, GoOut.pl

 

 

Artistic Director: Anna Szynwelska

SpaceFest! is organised by the Nasiono Association. The festival is co-financed by the City of Gdańsk.

 

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