The bikini-clad and smiling will be feeling the beats at Balaton Sound between July 9th and 12th. If you plan to be one of them, here’s what not to miss!
Ozomatli
Now in their fourteenth year, LA culture-mashers Ozomatli have risen from hometown heroes to U.S. State Department Cultural Ambassadors. The group’s always juggled two key identities: they’re the voice of their city and citizens of the world. Their mish-mashing together of urban-Latino, hip hop, salsa, dancehall, samba, funk, meringue, comparsa, East LA R&B, New Orleans second line, Jamaican ragga and Indian raga (no, we don’t know what all of them are either) along with piles of on-stage energy, they’re one we promise will be worth tearing yourself away from that Swedish girl you’ve met at the bar. Don’t miss their sunset set on Friday.
Röyksopp
You don’t need us to tell you about this electro chill out duo from sunny Norway: Torbjørn Brundtland and Svein Berge, to be precise. Having formed officially in 1998, they delivered the ‘every track’s eminently listenable’ Melody A.M – an essential soundtrack for any extra-leisured summer. They recently hit the musical jackpot again with the 2009 single Happy up Here – the video features the coolest Trabants you’re ever likely to see, by the way. The pleasing to pronounce Röyksopp means “puffball fungus”… don’t say we never teach you anything useful! Missing this multi-award winning pair would make you the silliest, well, silly thing by the lake. Fact. Chill out to their tunes on Sunday evening.
Rainer Trüby
German Rainer Trüby’s another thing that’s set to make the lake particularly full of lucky folk this year. Trüby’s first DJ experience was in an old people’s home in Stuttgart in 1990; nowadays, he rocks clubs worldwide, peddling his unique brand of Nu Jazz, or freestyle jazz or broken beat… as the kids are now calling it. His über cool club night, Root Down, is now in its tenth year, and he’s apparently on a worldwide festival bender this summer. Sink a fröccs, and head for the starlit stage on Friday night…
Nouvelle Vague
Even if you’ve never heard of Nouvelle Vague, you may recognize some of their songs. Borrowing tunes from Joy Division, The Cure and Depeche Mode, the French band takes rarely covered songs from the ’80s and reinterprets them in their own voice and style. The band’s name’s a clever little word play, borrowing from the Portuguese, meaning “bossa nova” and the English, “new wave.” The only rule they set when creating a new track is that the singer shouldn’t be familiar with the original version; the aim, this way, is to draw inspiration from the song itself rather than the original singer. Kick-start your night with them on Thursday night.
Click here, for everything you need to know about the festival! Clear the dates of anything remotely boring, grab your flip-flops and we’ll see you there (we’ll be the ones fröccsing for magyarland!)