We're three quarters of the way through the alphabet, the clock is ticking and the time has come. Time for us to toss some more terrifically tasty festival artists your way. Munch munch, gobble gobble... introducing our tipped artists beginning with the letter 'T'.
Who: tUnE-yArDs
From: Connecticut
Playing: Sugar Mountain
Just by glancing at
tUnE-yArDs' name, spelt in tHaT gAnGsTa cAsE eVeRy1 wAs InTo iN 2002, it's easy to see this artist isn't one to fade into the wallpaper. tUnE-yArDs is the solo project of Merrill Garbus, an eccentric wearer of face paint (but don't use it against her... she's in no way connected to the current crop of face paint donning females in indie pop) who makes colourful experimental pop, crammed with layers of instrumentation and flavours from 'round the world. Most of the time it sounds as if Garbus distributed as many instruments as she could find to a room of primary school children, then drank too much red cordial and pressed record. The result is something like the work of Jack White - sometimes brilliant, sometimes too weird to enjoy. In a day and age with so many bands following one another and blending into much of the same, it's refreshing to see an artist who can be genuinely be labelled as 'unique'. You'll either love it (hear, hear) or hate it (listen some more, she's a grower), but with a mixed bag of bold, spazzy tunes, tUnE-yArDs is guaranteed to be everything but boring live.
Who: Tinie Tempah
From: London
Playing: Future
Tinie Tempah is neither particularly short-statured nor temperamental. However, he is the kind of guy who makes you feel depressed about your life achievements. At just 23 the UK rapper gets paid to look good, drive expensive cars and be surrounded by babes (at least, that's what we've deduced from his film clips). After emerging from London’s underground grime scene in 2010, Tinie Tempah soon found himself a global superstar, scooping up piles of awards and sharing the mic with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Rihanna and Swedish House Mafia (yeah, he's the guy who raps in '
Miami 2 Ibiza'). We should be bitterly envious, but we can't help but love a guy whose debut single shoots down hip-hop stereotypes by including lyrics like '
I'mma settle for a real chick... I'd wish forever you'd be my wife'.
Fun fact: Listen up ladies! Tinie told a UK newspaper he thinks Australian and Swedish girls are among the best looking in the world.
Who: Twin Shadow
From: New York
Playing: Laneway
Together, the words 'Twin' and 'Shadow' bring the same amount of joy to music bloggers as the words 'Birthday' and 'Cake' do to regular people. The twentysomething has only one album, but it’s packed with so much goodness, it’s understandable the internet has lost its shit over him (he being George Lewis Jr.).
Twin Shadow’s music unapologetically draws from the ‘80s for inspiration, but (before you cringe) doesn’t emulate from this time like others. His sound is best described as nostalgic, dreamy and synthy. There’s post-punk, disco and new wave wedged in there, but most of the time Twin Shadow’s music is darkly beautiful dance pop. It’ll make you wish you were at a high school prom in the ‘80s. It’ll make you think of Michael J Fox. Watch for future gloating.
Fun fact: Twin Shadow actually has a twin sister.
Who: Total Control
From: Melbourne
Playing: Laneway
Total Control is comprised of members of respected Australian punk bands Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Straightjacket Nation and UV Race. Keeping in the ‘80s vein, these guys take noise punk and make it danceable. Sometimes they recall Kraftwerk mashed with old school videogames (‘Paranoid Video’), while at others it’s the kind of thing you’d use to soundtrack an underground Halloween party with pasty punters dripping in blood, tossing around rolls of toilet paper (‘
No Bibs’). People have referred to it as synth-punk, coldwave, and krautrock. Call it whatever you want, Total Control are really freaking rad.
Who: Times of Grace
From: Massachusetts
Playing: Soundwave
Their debut album was released a year ago, but
Times of Grace are in no way new to the biz. The duo is made up of Killswitch Engage guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz and former frontman Jesse Leach. Fans have likened them to Killswitch Engage at their prime (controversial?). We say it’s all you’ve ever wanted in head-banging metal – powerful singing, powerful screaming, thunderous drums and epic shredding guitars.
WORDS: Bianca Fioritti
By
BINX, 01 February 2012