A lot of people have asked for Camilla Sparksss to reappear at the 2024 edition of Northern Winter Beat. We are happy to both fulfill your wish and disappoint you.
Camilla Sparksss aka. Barbara Lehnhoff is indeed returning. This time with post-punk-art-pop duo, Peter Kernel, whom we also had the pleasure of presenting back in 2016.
Lehnhoff and band mate, Aris Bassetti, describe their music as fully empty and simply complicated, we call it completely amazing. Their noisy sound, developed sense of melody, and hard-hitting live shows have sent them around Europe and Canada with more than 800 shows at a diverse list of settings, including Milan Fashion Week, Montreux Jazz Festival, noise festivals, and swimming pools.
Peter Kernel will be performing with a new album at NWB, until the release you can hear the newest single “Drift to Death”.
The Norwegian band Drongo have, with their fascination for wildlife, humoristic videos and riveting live performances, started to make a name for themselves in our neighbouring country.
The group draws clear inspiration from Norwegian legends as Casio Kids and Todd Terje. But they bring a bigger and more organic sound to the space disco/kraut rock/cosmic house (call it what you want) table, with band leader and drummer extraordinaire, Hans Uhre, directing the eight-headed creature forward.
Whether you prefer to own the dancefloor or bop your head with your hand clenched around a pint… You are in for a treat.
Mariam Wallentin has, for more than 15 years, composed and performed her experimental pop as one half of the duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums, and now solo as Mariam The Believer. She never shies away from challenging the listener, nor from creating the great melody.
You instantly recognise her vocal, that simultaneously possesses an unbelievable amount of strength and fragile beauty. This, combined with her compositional skills, has made her a sought-after collaborator for a schizophrenic variety of acts like the Swedish big band explosion ‘Fire! Orchestra’, Ben Frost, Deerhoof, St Vincent, Lykke Li and even Leonard Cohen. Just to name a few.
At Northern Winter Beat 24, you can expect to hear new music from her upcoming album ‘Breathing Techniques’. It is (from what we hear) going in a more orchestral direction. Think strings with a modern twist of keyboards and Mariam The Believer’s omnipresent rhythmic pop sensibilities.
With the “well-known” combination of human beatboxing, banjo, and a cassette player, the French duo Cantenac Dagar creates their rax mix of loop-based beats and drone repetitions.
To truly understand their music, you have to experience them live on stage. Music without a beginning, music without an end. Their concerts are described as a gigantic fire spreading across the old world. Music on high alert.
Backxwash aka Ashanti Mutinta is a Zambian-Canadian rapper & producer based in Montreal, Quebec. She is most noted for her 2020 Polaris Music Prize-winning album God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It.
Her work is based in the horrorcore, hip-hop and industrial metal genres, and includes a culmination of themes around the intersection between faith, identity, and queerness. The poetry of her lyrics are the beginning of a cathartic healing process in which she is granting herself permission to be angry
In 2021 Backxwash released her 3rd album titled I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES. And she announced that it would be the second album in a trilogy. God Has Nothing was a study in mercy & forgiveness and provided some semblance of hope. Whereas I LIE HERE BURIED presents Backxwash finding solace in being completely consumed by her malevolent behaviors.
Her latest album HIS HAPPINESS SHALL COME FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING (2022) is the final LP in the trilogy. It is entirely self-produced. It includes instrumental and vocal features by Morgan-Paige, Pupil Slicer, Michael Go, Censored Dialogue, Sadistik, and Ghais Guevara.
Her latest album I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES, features productions by Backxwash, clipping., Nowhere2Run. It also features by Censored Dialogue, Lauren Bousfield, Sad13, and Ada Rook.