Splendid

Splendour in the grass was really really good. Normally I try and steer clear of music festivals in Sydney when the line-up is absolutely jaw dropping as the crowds who swarm in usually aren't the most pleasant folk on steroids. Two genius ideas to help eliminate this at Splendour? Put it in the middle of no where up at Woodford in QLD, and also only have DJs playing between the bands, and therefore not inviting people to rave for hours on end to the likes of MSTRKRFT (boo!), Aoki (boo!) and other creeps who merely cater to the lowest common denominator. In fact, with the exception of The Only (whoever they are) and some creep from Red Bull who put up a portable stage near the tents and played Warp at 11.50am on the last day, there wasn't too much typical Sydney festival behaviour to be found. Everybody was polite, free spirited and genuinely stoked to watch bands from all over the world do their thing.

Highlights of the festival for myself were undoubtedly Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem who backed up from their stunning sideshows in Sydney and Melbourne to absolutely amaze us all with the quality of their live show. Here's a couple of remixes you might have missed.

I feel better (Richard X Remix) - Hot Chip

Dance Yrself Clean (Cuisine Version) - LCD Soundystem

On top of this, Two Door Cinema Club were simply electric, Florence and the Machine was incredible, in fact Florence's stage presence was up there as the absolute best. The 20 000 person coliseum was in a stunned silence as she bellowed out hit after hit leaving us all dazed. The Strokes were at the best and right up there with the best live bands I've seen. In all the whole thing was great and if you're in the southern hemisphere you should do whatever is in your power to do it for yourself next year. Cannot recommend that highly enough!

Calvi on the Rocks, thanks.

What do Hot Chip, Joakim, A-Trak, Midnight Juggernauts, Munk, Tiga & Brodinski, Holy Ghost, Breakbot, The Twelves, Yuksek and Jupiter all have in common?

They're all playing at the incredible Calvi on the Rocks festival this year.

Calvi
 On
 The
 Rocks
 is
 a
 music
 festival in Corsica an island in the Mediterranean Sea that is West of Italy, South-east of the French Mainland and North of the island of Sardinia. It's a hybrid of
 electronic
 music,
 pop
 music,
 traditional
 music both live
 and from some of the worlds foremost 
DJs.


The
 idea 
of 
this 
festival 
is 
to combine
 people 
around sea,
 sun, 
holidaying in the Mediterranean 
and of course, great
 music.
 

 Calvi
 On
 The
 Rocks 
takes 
place
 in
 Calvi, 
a 
small 
and 
beautiful
 town
 in 
the 
north
west 
of
 Corsica.
 
During 
the 
afternoon,
 people 
who 
want 
to 
have 
a 
rest
 and listen 
to
 music
 
can 
stay 
at 
the 
Octopussy 
Beach 
(to 
party), Bout 
Du 
Monde 
Beach 
(to 
relax) 
or Mara 
Beach.


From
 9
pm 
to 
2am, 
there are 
Dj 
sets and live music 
at 
the 
'Théâtre
 de 
Verdure' 
near 
the 
sea.
 After 
this, everybody on the island is invited to 
Club 
Tao 
or 
Club 
24 
where 
the 
party
 continues 
with 
all 
the 
acts 
from 
the 
festival.
 The whole thing of course going over 5 days.

And all we've got to offer in Australia is 2 days up in bloody Woodford.
©
AKROE

Now maybe you're wondering why I'm talking about this considering how far away I live from Corsica, and the reasons aren't that the organisers are shipping me a case of Russian Standard Vodka for a plug, but rather that by talking about it I could get my hands on one of the best mixtapes I've heard in quite a while.

Jupiter are a group out of Paris and London in the same vein as Joakim and Cut Copy, making music that is, as they describe it, electro funk disco. They're really good. If you check out their Facebook page and scroll down you can preview some of their work. This mixtape is a taste of Calvi to come, with all the tracks being from artists who are performing at the July festival. Get on it.

Calvi 8 - Mixed by Jupiter

Tracklisting
Midnight Juggernauts - This New Technology (CcenturiesS Remix)
Joakim - Spiders
Hot Chip - She Wolf (Shakira Cover)
Yuksek - So Far Away From The Sea (The Twelves Remix)
Fortune - Gimme
Munk - Back Down (Cut Copy Jackmaster Remix)
Jupiter - Vox Populi
Chateau Marmont - Heliochrome

If you would like some more info about Calvi on the rocks including links to buy tickets, check out their website www.calviontherocks.com or become a fan of the Festival on Facebook.

Check out this video from last year to see what you're missing out on.

Calvi on the Rocks 2009 from Clichey on Vimeo.