Oh Tillywood, what would we do without you? Your sandy streets, your bars next to pubs, your students that speak Dutch and American in the same sentence & of course your best hidden secret: Gifgrond. It might be the best hidden secret, but is it really? I mean lots of weird individuals know where to find it. They found the cryptic directions, probably on the bottom of a bottle, or perhaps an illustrious friend had whispered the location smoothly into their ears… One thing is sure; the right people know it & when you are there, you know you are “there”.
Some special people, like Marie Gavois & Michel Klöfkorn had come around even before the show had started. They had been there to record audio snippets from the sound check rehearsels of Dezeffe, Stakattak, Somaticae and Moineau Ecarlate. The four live acts that had been setting everything up so they could go in full performance mode later on… From these and 80 other soundcheck recordings Marie and Michel would create a 22-hour-long musical radio piece for Radio Art Zone (at the Capital of Culture Esch-Sur-Alzette, Luxembourg) which wil be broadcasted live on September, 1, 2022 thru; Radio ARA (LU), Resonance FM, Resonance Extra and Sound Art Radio (UK), Wave Farm / WGXC (US), ORF Kunstradio (AT), Jet FM and Π-node (FR), Radio Tsonami (CL), Radio Panik (BE), Radio Lumbung documenta 15 and more… so if you need a artsy sneaky peak behind the Gifgrond scenes you now know where to go… https://mariegavois.wordpress.com/
But for us “normies” we go through the front and at normal visiting hours. And so
The Doors (not to be mistaken with the band of Jim Morrison fame) opened up at 20:30 & I walked in as just any regular human would do. I was going for the vibe of being a person who just discovered this place for the first time… to give it that honest impression that only a true, unbiased journalist could give. completely incognito, armed with a fake mustache, fake head, real heart and ready to be like a sponge to suck up all my toxic surroundings. My plan worked, as nobody seemed to have recognized me. Finally. I could view, write and report on the real deal!
It was DJ Krikkrak who greeted everyone’s ears upon entrance with a sublime eclectic mix in which trumpets met psychedelica, oddball goofiness with a nice darling twist of punk that had always been around the corner. The mood was set and it was good! Very good even! The thumps up towards this deejay of the night couldn’t be counted on two hands! Not even two calculators could do the job!
With the magical atmosphere hyped up to it’s best, it was the perfect time for Moineau Ecarlate to pop up! And that is what Moineau Ecarlate did! This artist took the prominent spot of the center stage with a sublime hard noisy live show. It was amazing and groundbreaking interesting! What a show! With an intense live set the artist moved the sound barriers by shaping it all into an incredible lawnmower-rave that had rumbling tapes and a bottle at its inner core! With a full amount of delicate passion, Moineau Ecarlate got into it & couldn’t let go! The full on attention the artist and it’s sound showed every eye and ear that with limited things you could create a creative swooping set of energetic noise! It was fantastic and moving!
After this amazing show, one of the earlier heroes of the night; “DJ Krikkrak” smacked on some tasty psychedelic weirdo stuff. It made my brain wish that all intermezzo moments in the world could be as awesome as these fine in between times created by this deejay. Unfortunately the world has plenty to learn, yet fortunately the visitors of Gifgrond got served the best and the highest of the highest. Speaking of that… Somaticae!
Somaticae had the precious task to fill the void with sound as Krikkrak faded its sound. This was something different and yet very fitting! With squeaky inner ear-reshaping electronic sounds, this artist really got it all onto a next level. The music was as if it came from another planet, in sound and rhythm it truly shook the earth and the walls with it’s unique style. It was as if a brilliant intelligent life form had nestled itself in the mind of Somaticae and rooted its music style through the artist’s fingers. It was hard, it was smart, it was weird, it was like an Aphex Twin bouncing ball done by mind-blowing aliens! Incredible stuff!
Of course, Krikkrak threw in some smooth ways to light up the air again, ready to make way for the arrival of a three-piece band named Stakattak! Howly mowly! What a sound, what a bunch of individuals, what a tightness, volume and vibe! Stakattak delivered a superb energy that was very nice in all the rough ways!
It was the fire that would burst everyone into a participating flame! The band members switching each others instruments, the lead singer going for a stroll among the crowd and… the energy was out of the world! Frantic, manic, excellent, punky stakatakking away! What could be possible to be written about it more? They came, they turned on the volume, they played, they stabbed their music out and simply conquered! It was freaking engaging in all the best manically ways! If you didn’t lose your sh×t by now, nothing else could possibly do it for you! They smashed it!
The last live performance of this (might I say?) brilliant Gifgrond night was by nobody less than Dezeffe! Dezeffe was the perfect act to take everyone off their feet into a frantic dancing oblivion! It was amazing to see someone so technically skilled on one specific music tool to bring out a mind-boggling fun adventure for the dance floor! Everyone was caught by it by surprise, making the entire Gifgrond shake in all the good ways. Buttons were pushed, lights flashed and everything became one in a big excersize between rhythm and sound! The night surely couldn’t have ended better! Even though, DJ Krikkrak would spin records until the early hours, making it a next level elevating experience that any party guru could bow down for!
I have to do my best to make sure this one is written about in all the right ways: so here is my honest conclusion… Gifgrond was really letting these artists shine, or perhaps Dezeffe, Stakattak, DJ Krikkrak, Somaticae and Moineau Ecarlate made Gifgrond shine! They had been so diverse in their own unique style, ways and sound, yet they felt as a perfect match. All had been showing out most creativity, a full amount of true energy! You could see and hear that they loved doing what they do, which is an adrenaline generator for all among their midst! This was one of those nights you won’t forget! Epic!
http://gifgrond.nl/
KN
Yeah I Know It Sucks 
<3<3<3 what a beautiful report on an undoubtedly beautiful party as only Gifgrond can be! With beautiful pictures to accomplish the beautiful words. Thank you for giving a taste of it 😀
Just like the magnificent musical evening itself, all the words of our GIFgrondReporter fall into their right place! Thank Kai for this reminder for the nXt Gif, to be there again Gr from KeesH