OFF Festival Katowice 2012: A psychedelic trip around the world
From psychedelic music out of New Zealand to funk from the volcanoes of Iceland, to the unmistakable sound of Californian garage rock: everything is possible at the OFF Festival. Connan Mockasin, Retro Stefson, and Ty Segall are the latest additions to this year’s August lineup in Katowice.
Connan Mockasin
Hailing from Te Awanga in New Zealand, Connan has spent the last few years in England, where inspirational artistic contacts are easier to find (his records are released by Erol Alkan), as is an understanding for his radically individualistic approach to music. Psychedelia, jazz, contemporary music, and avant-pop grow into a single, solid trunk that bears fruit in the form of recordings that can hardly be compared to anything else. But you have to hand it to one reviewer at “Drowned in Sound” for at least trying to describe the album Forever Dolphin Love (2011): “Picture Syd Barrett performing Pet Sounds. Like Brian Wilson, he’s not afraid of singing in an uncomfortably high register. At times sounding like a five-year-old Chinese girl warbling.”
Retro Stefson
What is it that we love so much about music from Iceland? The melancholy, minimalist, introverted songs about the sea, forest, and snow, right? Well, it just so happens that Retro Stefson has nothing to do with any of the above. Mere teenagers at the time, the group debuted at the famous Iceland Airwaves festival in 2006 and were immediately hailed as one of the island’s best live bands. They’ve done everything in their power to uphold that reputation ever since, and their explosive mixture of pop, funk, Latino, and hard rock will get even the gloomiest audiences moving. But before Retro Stefson appear at the OFF Festival, check out their records: the 2008 debut Montaña and last year’s Kimbabwe. This band is a true volcano of energy from the land of volcanoes.
Ty Segall
What if the Beatles had started out in a garage in the San Francisco suburbs? If you ascribe to the theory of parallel universes, make sure not to miss the performance by Ty Segall. Ty grew up in a town called Laguna Beach (the name itself speaks volumes), where — he claims — he spent his after-school time surfing and listening to the likes of the Beach Boys, the Misfits, and Black Sabbath, before moving to San Francisco and getting hooked on psychedelic music. He experimented with differed lineups and a variety of sounds, from shy lo-fi to heavy riff-rock; find out where he ended up by listening to the album Goodbye Bread and the EP Spiders, both recently released on Drag City Records.
We’d like to remind everyone that tickets and passes are now on sale at the OFF Store at the OFF Festival website as well as the ticket sales network Seetickets (UK) .
The following tickets and passes are currently available:
1. 3-Day Festival OFF Passwith or without Campground Access: 120/160 PLN — provides access to all three days of the festival at Dolina Trzech Stawów, August 3 to 5.
2. 4-Day Festival OFF Pass with or without Campground Access: 160/200 PLN — provides access to all events on August 2 as well as all three days of the festival at Dolina Trzech Stawów, August 3 to 5.
3. OFF Before Party Ticket: 75 PLN — provides access to concerts at the Katowice Cultural Center and Hipnoza (Matthew Herbert, Alva Noto, Nils Frahm, Sleep Party People).
Remember! Prices listed above are only valid until April 16.