The wheels are well and truly in motion for next year’s Australian edition of the St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival and following on from news that the indie music festival is getting a new home for its Perth leg, the rumour mill for the 2014 lineup now officially kicks off… thanks to the Laneway organisers themselves.
Just as it did last year, organisers are whetting appetites by putting together some hints at artists that could be appearing on a future festival bill in a blog post on five international breakthrough acts for 2014.
“We’ve been keeping busy putting together the line-up for Laneway 2014,” reads the post on the official Laneway website. “So whether or not any of the following acts make the cut is anyone’s guess. Is that a line-up hint? We’ll let you be the judge.”
Considering last year’s similar breakthrough list eventually roped in Japandroids and Jessie Ware for Laneway 2013 – from a list that included Haim, Purity Ring,and Daughter – it’s more than likely that at least one of the five breakthrough picks from Laneway will turn up on the 2014 lineup.
So who’s got the indie festival organisers jazzed?
London-based trio Factory Floor are at the top of the list and have been “drip-feeding us their distinctive brand of acid-industrial beats via a fine collection of EPs and singles over the last few years” reads the Laneway post. Factory Floor’s debut album is due this September via DFA Records, the influential New York label responsible for LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture. A good Laneway fit but perhaps a red herring?
A more likely bet is XXYYXX, the obscure moniker for the prodigiously talented 17-year-old Marcel Everett, who played Laneway’s SXSW Party at the Austin, Texas conference this year, as organisers themselves point out, adding that “we can’t help but wonder about the avant-garde electronic goodness he’s got reserved for our collective eardrums.”
Another strong contender for Laneway 2014 featured on the Top 5 list is Brooklyn’s correct spelling-adverse HAERTS. Not only do are they are perfect fit for Laneway – as an emerging indie band with two killer singles to their name (‘Wings’ and ‘All The Days’) – but the quintet are also playing the first ever Laneway Detroit this September, which is good reason to believe they’ll continue their working relationship with HAERTS for an Aussie appearance.
Arthur Beatrice are an emerging London quartet that mine mellow grooves and downtempo atmospheres from a traditional indie rock format and splashes of organ and keys. Laneway state the emerging band “have been on our radar since dropping their excellent singles ‘Midland’ and ‘Charity’ a little while back,” while noting they’re “pretty pumped” for July’s debut EP.
Last but not least is the enigmatic 60s-inspired sounds of The Yum Dee Days, with little info available on the people behind the band except that they’re from Brooklyn. But Laneway organisers are certainly keen to see them revealed onstage somewhere, even if that mean’s possibly being their own: “Listen to ‘The Future Is A Drag’ and try not to picture yourself vibing out at a music festival somewhere in the world,” their post reads. “We think it’s impossible not to!”
Complementing last year’s similar Top 5 International Breakthrough artists was a mirrored list of local acts, so you can probably expect Laneway organisers tor drop a similar list soon enough, further stoking the Laneway 2014 rumour mill. But one band is already a likely lock for next year’s edition, with all-girl British post-punk band Savages letting slip of their likelihood of playing the February event.
“We’re coming over in February next year,” drummer Fay Milton reavealed recently. “I don’t know if our festival has been announced actually, but I’ve been to the festival before, it should be good.” Savages are also playing the Laneway Festival in Detroit Michigan this September, the festival’s inaugural showing in America, demonstrating its exponential growth since starting as street party in Melbourne alleys back in 2004.
Our Tone Deaf reviewer said of the Melbourne leg this year said that Laneway is “fast becoming the most enviable date on the summer festival calendar,” and since its inception it has expanded nationally as well as launching Singapore and Auckland, New Zealand editions, and has also outgrown its Western Australian leg, moving from its regular home at the Perth Cultural Centre to a new site in Fremantle in a new five year deal that starts with next year’s edition.
