The organizers of the international Electronic Beats Festival are energetically preparing for this Budapest musical extravaganza, and keep revealing names of new performers and accompanying programs. There will not be any lack of electronic and pop music, and besides popular international performers, representatives of the Magyar music scene will also step on stage; this summer’s debuting galactic cooperation of Gensi and Balázs Zságer, Changing Grey; the painter of lovable electronic landscapes, Mïus; and the increasingly popular indie band Fran Palermo all perform at the festival. Now we provide background to the biggest names of the festival who will get brilliant at Akvárium Klub during the first weekend of November.
It is already certain that Bat For Lashes, aka Natasha Khan, will perform at the festival. The English-Pakistani singer creates Baroque fairy-tale-like universes that operate according to her own laws; for example, her latest album, “The Bride”, is a concept album on which a bride embarks on her honeymoon alone, after her fiancé suffers a fatal car accident on his way to their wedding – surely, these songs will gift the audience of Telekom Electronic Beats with a few truly intimate moments.
Khan’s sublime storytelling will be balanced with the foolish fusion electro-rock of Is Tropical. The London-based band partly fits in the indie genre of the 21st century, and partly doesn’t: not long after their formation in 2009, instead of starting to embark on mini-tours in average-sized clubs in Britain, they instead spent all their money to perform at the absolute furthest places of the planet. This attitude is consistently present in their style as well: they write rainbowy, strangely half-exotic songs that are the perfect warm-ups for the rest of the night.
Another key performer of this year’s festival is the Manchester-born but London-based DJ Sam Shepherd, aka Floating Points. He already wrote his name in the book of innovators of electronic music well before he released his debut album, “Elaenia”; he gained immense recognition for his unique and progressive sets that also guaranteed him a spot behind the mixing machines of the world’s biggest clubs. One of the world’s most sought-after remixers, KiNK, and a popular kingpin of the international club scene, Julio Bashmore, also pay a visit to the festival.
The organizers revealed even more names in the past few days, so now we know that the already-impressive lineup will be shaken up by the Berlin-based Brandt Brauer Frick, three sympathetic figures who bring house and techno down to a common denominator with the help of classic instruments. Furthermore, among the performers will be the soul maniac Ripperton, who transcends multiple musical boundaries, and has been active since the ’90s, as well as Florian Meier, who combines funk style with the industrial sound of the ’70s.
There will also be a wide assortment of the aforementioned accompanying programs. Guests can enjoy the free lectures of imPro School that supports the new generations of the Magyar electronic music scene, the creative and interactive studio complex installations of Kitchen Budapest – founded by Telekom – and also the contemporary documentary and fiction film screenings of Telekom Electronic Beats Cinema, from Raving Iran (presenting the prohibited party culture of the Middle East) to the fascinating films of Werner Herzog about the internet.
To learn more about these programs and about other performers, follow the Facebook event, or check out the official page of Electronic Beats. Tickets are already available for November 4th here, and for November 5th here.
