For three days in October, swathes of up-and-comers from across the UK and Europe venture to Rotterdam for Left of the Dial, the showcase festival booking a “cross-section of the most relevant alternative artists of the moment.” Based on the bucketloads of promising talent we saw, they’re not wrong.
As soon as you step off the train platform, music reverberates through the imposing Centraal station, and it’s much the same from then onwards. With arresting architecture punctuated by the rusty autumnal reds of leaves on the turn, the city streets are a geometric playground, and there’s music to be heard in every nook and cranny.
Rotterdam might be renowned for its celebrated architecture, serene canals, infectious politeness of its residents, and staking claim to Europe’s largest port for maritime trade. (No, this isn’t an advert for the Rotterdam tourist board, promise) But it’s also home to an impressive collection of independent venues. Not to mention the inventive make-shift spaces including breathtaking churches, luminescent retro gaming arcades, dingy nightclubs, bustling bars, and even boats that all welcome a diverse array of artists spanning punk, psychedelia, folk, rock, folk, post-punk, synth-pop, and the rest.
Apart from its finger-on-the-pulse curation – with no designated headliners and acts that are booked to perform on multiple occasions across the three days – what makes Left of the Dial standout from other showcase festivals is its quirky, tongue-in-cheek spirit. There’s crash courses on how to mosh; church organists jamming with bands during the opening ceremony; the wristband pick-up is next to local landmark the Kunstwerk Santa Claus which is fondly referred to as the ‘Buttplug Gnome’, and there’s a free bar for the ‘Bands On A Boat’ showcases which ensures extra wobbly sea legs as the ship ventures around Rotterdam’s sizeable port.
After its first edition in 2018, Left of the Dial – named after The Replacements’ song of the same name – has rightly earned its place on the annual calendar due to its emphasis on exceptional new music. That said, here’s ten artists we saw that you need to know, or will be kicking yourself that you didn’t know sooner:
TTSSFU
Partisan Records have really unearthed a gem with their newest recruit: TTSSFU. The project of Manchester-born shoegazer Tasmin Nicole Stephens, she started life as a musician penning eerie lullabies on GarageBand – software she insists on using still now – sometimes writing and recording a song in just a day. Songwriting may come effortlessly to Stephens, but so does conjuring an allure and atmospheric menace in equal measure on stage. Beneath the imperious organ pipes of the art nouveau Arminius Church, TTSSFU delivered reverb-heavy incantations ranging from the ex-lover’s hex of ‘I Hope You Die’ to fanfic about a tumultuous romance with Julian Casablancas. With upcoming music on Partisan Records expected, she’ll be casting a spell on much bigger audiences soon no doubt.
Kerosene Kream
Signed to independent Swedish label PNKSLM (pronounced ‘Punk Slime’), Kerosene Kream’s rapid-fire punk-rock provided welcome respite from many of the self-serious, chin-stroking musical offerings on the bill. The snotty Stockholm quintet come from the same school of sardonic thought as fellow residents Viagra Boys, and instructed front-row rioting throughout. Each song seldom lasted any longer than two minutes a pop, electrifying the venue in intervals of ear-bleeding sound, B-movie silliness, and buckets of sweat. Perfect for pogo-ing along with singer Hilda Monasterio without having to question your own fitness levels too intensely, ha.
Slate
Cardiff four-piece Slate are key players in the Welsh city’s recent re-emergence as a cultural force in music. Brandishing their literary heritage and affection for the shoulders they stand on, Slate weaved spoken word into their set, ensuring there’s an unrelenting foggy, mythic ambience when their monolithic post-punk, post-rock amalgam halts between songs. The uneasy tension boiled over into a spectacular climax, with Slate ending with ‘Remoter Heaven’, a progressive piece of gothic melodrama that warrants their seat at the table with Wales’ finest current crop of artists.
En Attendant Ana
Parisian psychedelic-pop group En Attendant Ana recently found admirers in Sub Pop Records who signed them to the lauded independent label, and understandably so. Led by singer Margaux Bouchaudon and her syrupy sweet, pitch-perfect vocals, the quintet’s coquettish presence on stage is infectious. As are their sumptuously melodic arrangements – replete with brass instrumentation and jangly guitars – which evoked clutching the grass in a Parisian park, sipping on a Spritz Breton in the city sunshine. The palpable collective energy of the crowd propelled the gleeful group towards a particularly special crescendo on their winding, motorik closer ‘Wonder’, in one of those moments that makes live music so uniquely magical.
Deary
Deary’s angelic and reflective brand of shoegaze has already caught the attention of the genre’s main player, after Slowdive invited the bright young things to support them at London’s Troxy last year. A baptism of fire for the duo of Rebecca ‘Dottie’ Cockram and Ben Easton who were just on the cusp of releasing their eponymous debut EP. But it was a challenge that the Sonic Cathedral signings relished, and they’ve only flourished since. Performing in the ornate and candle-lit Paradijskerk, deary’s resplendent waves of feedback and endearing, evocative vocals swirled around the church during a set as sublime as the surroundings.
Mermaid Chunky
Watching Mermaid Chunky in a fluorescent retro games arcade was like stepping into an IRL episode of The Mighty Boosh. The duo of audiovisual artists Freya Tate and Moina Moin – the former of which donning a particularly impressive 5ft Marge Simpson-like vertical yellow fluffy hat – stir a peculiar multi-hyphenate blend of buoyant beats, new age panpipes and off-the-cuff vocals. Safe to say they perplexed for the most part, though had the crowd bopping along once they meandered to the end of their set. Signed to DFA Records (James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem’s label), Murphy emailed Mermaid Chunky to tell them: “you’ve restored my faith in music” after Shazam-ing a song of theirs in a New York coffee shop. Whilst their unusualness might be too kooky for some, they’ve been etched in my mind since.
Wild Pink
Wild Pink’s striding heartland rock wouldn’t sound out of place on eighties rock radio at times, with a handful of tracks that Tom Petty might very well have claimed as his own. The New York City four-piece face the scars of their former life rather than strive for the open road, with singer and founder John Ross ruminating on his cancer diagnosis and subsequent recovery with softly-delivered country-leaning balladry at one juncture, then chugging indie rock riffs the next. They’ve made fans in guitar slingers J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. and boygenius’ Julien Baker, so heed their suggestion and tune in.
Sam Akpro
It’s not exactly a bombshell to discover Sam Akpro’s musical education came from his youth skating the streets of Peckham. The up-and-comers’ liminal blend of dream-pop, snotty punk-infused energy and DJ Shadow-esque drums beats could individually soundtrack an entire nineties skateboarding VHS compilation. The subversive Londoner was full of surprises, however. Backed by his body-blowing band at Rotown, Akpro’s demeanour switched from introspective to outwardly intense at the click of the fingers, following his intuition for where to direct the set. Citing Sonic Youth, J Dilla, and skate culture in general as primary influences, Sam Akpro seems similarly intent on making music unfettered by categorisation.
Video Age
Sleek and synthy pop rock that’d appropriately soundtrack a sunset drive beneath summer pastel sunsets, New Orleans duo Video Age unabashedly lean into their retro influences – notes of Paul Simon, Phil Collins, even Weezer were all detected throughout their starry-eyed set at UNIEK. As wistful and aching as their songwriting might be, they utilised the venue’s impeccable sound quality with aplomb, leaning into the discotheque setting which had folk in attendance dad-dancing all the way back to the eighties.
Ugly
Beguiling, bizarre, mind-boggling, enthralling; no matter what superlatives or synonyms you trot out for Ugly, they don’t quite cut the mustard. The Cambridge-formed quintet’s prog-folk voyages unfurl around hypnotic, ambrosial harmonies, echoing elder statesmen like Yes with their unconventional vocal sequences and even throwing in Buddhist chants for some additional transcendence. Truly a band to experience live. Each song was completely different, it seemed, yet their performance flowed seamlessly. It was necessary to see them twice just to unpick their first show – or at least attempt to. One of the most intriguing art-rock acts to emerge from the UK in recent years, it’s a crying shame Ugly aren’t already signed.
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