words Sven Carlsson / images Romain Kedochim

Beatnik caught up with several of the artists at this year’s Soundwave Festival on the shores of Croatia. We also had a stupidly fun time; here’s our recap of Day 2.

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Lineup, main stage:
Put Me On It Presents: Oddisee, Tanya Auclair, Olivier Daysoul & Tranqill | Andreya Triana | Laura J Martin | Dam Funk | The Cinematic Orchestra | Kidkanevil | ASM | DJ Vadim & Yarah Bravo | Gentleman’s Dub Club

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Day 3 was set to be the main event. Not only because the day began with a showcase by Put Me On It that had Tranqill, Tanya Auclair, Olivier Daysoul and Oddisee grace the stage and then continued from strength to strength, but also becuase it was set to be the sweet goodbye to our time at Soundwave.

At this point, we knew that jumping in the sea was the best remedy for overheating on the dance floor, that beer and dancing could lead to dehydration and which burgers from the local food joint were no-nos. All of that acquired knowledge did little to keep us away from that Croatian cherry brandy, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.

Way before the cherry seduction, Andreya Triana took the stage to perform the first solo single of her career, ‘Lost Where I Belong,’ which shares its title with her debut album. More about that later.

While Andreya’s sedating tone accompanied the slow start most of the guests were trying to make to their Sunday, many ears produced a little more resistance to the hip-hop and soul jams that came after.

As a crew full of hip-hop junkies, we were more than excited to see Tranqill deliver his sweet writes along side DJ Alex Nut before Olivier Daysoul’s electronic soul turning up the BPM a notch. Daysoul’s banger with French producer Onra, ‘Long Distance,’ was a clear highlight.

But it seemed most of Soundwave’s festivalgoers had come for the electronica and live instrumentation on offer. The ambience was way too friendly for any boos or disrespect, but there weren’t too many people about to throw up their hands on command or recite any favourite lines by the artists on stage.

That fact was well understood by Oddisee, who took the stage and fired off a salvo of profanities to take some suspense out of the air. He then delivered his murderous verse from Diamond District’s ‘Streets Won’t Let Me Chill’ and launched into ‘I’m from PG’ from his recent Odd Spring release. Given his circumstances, the supremely talented producer/emcee delivered an inspired performance.

It took a majestic, late-afternoon acoustic set by Andreya Triana to hype the whole audience to a recognizable level, though. Altering songs from her beautifully dark Lost Where I Belong such as ‘Draw the Stars’ and ‘A Town Called Obsolete’ with covers of idols such as Chaka Khan. Her concluding song was a guitar-driven version of ‘Ain’t Nobody’ by Rufus, and the crowd was moved, figuratively and literally, as Andreya left the stage to jam among all of us and we gravitated towards her. Sublime.

As expected, the strong lineup ensured the final day of this year’s Soundwave continued in style. Californian funkster Dam Funk showed up with a handful of synths, delivering material from his 2009 album Toeachizown and newer material from his download series accompanied by a live drums and, low and behold, more synths. His modern funk, while slightly undermined by the sound on stage, nonetheless sounded very fitting on our mellow, last evening.

The ground was slowly starting to rumble, though, and while it may have taken a tad longer to gain the collective momentum than on the previous evenings, the inevitable party was only around the corner. But before it was time to wild out one last time, the magnificent Cinematic Orchestra was to deliver its set.

Ninja Tune’s innovative sextet taught us all a lesson in instilling a mood, but instead of punishing us for our shortcomings we were just lured in by the atmospheric instrumentation and DJ effects. From their brilliant soundtrack to Dziga Vertov’s silent film Man with a Movie Camera to their track with the same name from the album Every Day, the Orchestra put every listener in its own cradle, and rocked us not to sleep, but to some poignant state of meditation.

Perhaps that respite was what was needed to get the lot of us moving for one last night. Charismatic couple DJ Vadim and Yarah Bravo were their lively selves on stage and ensured that our kinetic efforts were once again rewarded. Third time’s a charm.

Nine-piece Leeds legends Gentleman’s Dub Club payed their old friends at New Bohemia, who along with Soundcrash organised the festival, a visit by turning the festival site upside down at midnight. A lot of jumping, a lot of people and an abundance of love capped off three days of incredible music on the stunning Croatian shores. We want more.

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