de-Affaire - Day 3

de-Affaire is a free outdoor festival in Nijmegen spanning seven evenings (+ 2 afternoons)
 

The fun thing about de-Affaire is that there is so much diversity that one cannot possibly know much about every genre out there. So I’m not going to pretend that I know a lot about the genres on display on the Monday, though naturally with my (pop) culture and literary background I can make some observations in concerning the things on the surface. For instance, I can rather safely say that most bands performing today are rooted in the American tradition (though not much culture/literary background is needed for that per se). Not to say they are all Americans (I have done just enough research to know that is not the case), but almost all genres on display have firm roots in the North-American continent.

Smoke Fairies is the first band on the bill, and though not from America, they did go there to hone their skills a few years ago. Which can be considered logical since the blues and folk mixture they perform seemingly has its influences from there. The performance in itself is more folk than blues though, as blues rather has a showmanship tradition and the two ladies, though they can sing, don’t put on much of a show. So it is calmly listening to the traditional folk sounds on one hand and the slide guitar on the other. It is nice music, but if you do not like the folk aesthetic one might not find something to really love here. They try to keep people paying attention by abruptly going from slow and soft to hard and harsh sounds, but that divide is so big at times it got me flinching.

Avi Buffalo isn’t only influenced by the sounds of America, but I cannot even fathom them coming from anywhere else. American indie rock to the fullest, the kind of band you start in high school with your fellow mates with the traditional drums, bass, rhythm guitar, and solo guitar. And when Avi is soloing, he does so the way you always imagine you would do if you were ever to start a band. Kick on the pedals, and then just rock-rock-rocking away. For some reason I can’t get the image of Marty McFly out of my head. It also feels like something you would cast, this four piece. The female drummer is casually chewing her gum with a la-di-da look in her eyes. The bassist and rhythm guitar player are the calming influences, and Avi himself is high energy and seemingly has a short attention span. One could’ve deduced that as he came out with a sort of rabbit hat and his whole face painted. Between songs he is spurning out random comments (“Is that Arnold? On your t-shirt. Oh, it’s Chuck Norris! Cool!”) while his band mates are throwing Twix bars into the audience. The music is naïve indie rock with some neat guitar solos in between. It is fun to watch them, the songs have got enough variety in them within their genre, and Avi is putting in so much energy you keep on watching.

In the Barbarossa Ruine Dirty Beaches is doing his take on American rock and blues. And it is an experimentalist take. His pose and slick hair is somewhat reminiscent of Elvis, with his guitar hanging around him like that. His distorted vocals surely do not. With his gadgets he puts down the canvas, over which he narrates and screams his stories whilst adding his guitar at times. Sometimes that canvas is some sort of beat, at other times it is more of a slow throbbing noise background. Some of it is very old school American rock, at other times it reverts more to blues. In his stories he often uses typical American iconography like valleys, watchtowers, speedways, riding horses, etcetera. It evokes that typical American image of desertland with a motel down the side of a road with a neon sign. So it is interesting, and he definitely has a certain aesthetic he abides by, though perhaps not everything is necessarily equally nice to listen to.

Closer on the main stage are Pete and the Pirates, and I have to be frank, this is simply not for me. There is something so inherently pop about it that I have a hard time labeling it as Brit pop (with The Smiths, Pulp, Blur, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand in chronological order), but real pop Pop it surely is not either. It seems a bit too bland and rather constructed to appeal to a large audience, which also means there is not much risk or edge or oomph in there. And they may do that excellently, mind you, but for me it makes for something a bit too mundane. I like things to have an edge, or a clear personality that strays from the norm and from the general accepted notions. Pete and the Pirates obviously do not do that, and whilst they may make cleverly constructed tunes, it is not what I like to listen to.

So except for the last act, which was quintessentially British, this day had a bit of an Americana vibe to it, and that diversity is nice to see because it introduces everyone to multiple aspects and forms of music, which can only be seen as a good thing. Naturally, nothing against a niche festival, but especially with a festival like this where there is free access it is great that people are exposed to multiple facets of this art form. And some stuff one might find great, other things one might not for them. Luckily it is spread out over so many days that you can quite often say, Well, maybe we’ve got better luck tomorrow.