Europe’s premiere showcase festival returns with aplomb
With a reputation for debuting acts and hosting new talent before they hit the big time, Eurosonic is the place to be if you want to be ahead of the curve. Taking place for the first time since the pandemic, the festival played host to over 300 acts from 39 different European countries across four days. Set throughout the copious number of venues that Groningen has to offer, Eurosonic set out a musical trajectory for the coming year. From the days of bouncing between venues, a few things became apparent. In particular, acts were now transcending genres and borders more than ever before. No longer defined by just their country of birth, musical acts now, more than ever, are finding their feet abroad, further spreading a cross-cultural European identity.
Europavox were on the ground throughout the entire week, feasting on Kroketten, running between one venue and the next and trying to pick out tomorrow’s talent. Although it wasn’t possible to see everything, Europavox did manage to select our favorite artists from this year’s festival. Check out our top 10 below.
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Naaz
Winner of the 2020 Music Moves Europe (MME) Public Choice Award—the EU funded prize awarded to the continent’s best new talent—the Dutch-Kurdish pop behemoth sizzled with her brazen, self-described ‘quirk-pop’. With a full backing band, all decked out in bespoke silk garments—giving them the allure of a nomadic tribe—Naaz’s sprightly, stage-owning performance breathed new life into her songs, with live strings, keys, and guitars. With a voice like an angel, Naaz rocked out songs from her new LP ‘Never Have I Ever’, while changing the lyrics to her single ‘Azadî’ to pay tribute to Jina Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman murdered by the Iranian morality police in 2022.
KoiKoi
Nominated for the 2023 MME awards, the Serbian psych-rock, shoe-gaze pop act is something to behold live. Dynamic riffs, synth, and bass, with wonderfully executed harmonies, KoiKoi are like a 21st Century Fleetwood Mac, if Fleetwood Mac were from Belgrade. With their lyrics in Serbian, the band adds extra gusto and energy into the music to help translate the words’ meaning. Towards the end of the set, singer and guitarist Marko Grabež descended the stage, getting into the full crowd, shredding away, and singing face-to-face to the audience. Who needs to understand lyrics when you have such engagement? To finish the set off, the band launched into the infectious, new-wave song ‘Misisipi’, an anthem they left embedded in the ears of all those in attendance.
© Persco Ronde Zaal
Bulgarian Cartrader
This Berlin-based, Bulgarian pop-protagonist plays on East-European stereotypes, to create one of the most engaging and fun performances of the entire festival. Dressed in a retro-motor jacket, wearing a ushanka hat, the Bulgarian danced with the crowd, serenading with his hits ‘Golden Rope’ (which has to date, over 1.9 million streams on Spotify), ‘LAB’, and ‘Camden Free Public Library’. Much more than a gimmick act, Cartrader has the hooks and hits to continually enthral and entertain, so there’s no worries he’s about to become a real car trader anytime soon.
Svaneborg Kardyb
Aptly set up in the Akerk, the city’s mediaeval church perched on the end of the fish market, award-winning ambient-jazz duo, , and recent Europavox band-of-the-month, Svaneborg Kardyb played with their ornate surroundings and harmonics to emphasise their atmospheric melodies to the max. Near-classical, with lush Rhodes sounds and delicate progressions, the duo’s minimalistic work sounded heavenly beneath the church’s hallowed roof. Exquisite timbres, slight drum-work and precise rhythms, as can be heard on their incredible 2022 LP ‘Over Tage’, resonated amongst the pews and stalls, befitting for this Godly setting.
Zouj
Creating futuristic, p-funk, and trap through a love of synthesis and bass, German electronic-surrealistic Zouj makes a case for being the future-face of pop. But more than that, this guy really knows how to play slap bass! Playing tracks off his recent EP Met4l on City Slang, Zouj and his tight-funk backing band wowed the crowd at Palace, with its intricate style, precision performance, and poptastic elegance.
Alina Pash
A prior winner of the Music Moves Europe awards, Ukrainian hip-hop powerhouse Alina Pash showed how she became such a global name over the past year. Seamlessly blending rap, pop, and folk charm and melodies, the captivating, stage-owning, and strongly politically charged performance (#SlavaUkrayíni) was filled with some of the artists biggest hits, including ‘BOSORKANYA’, and the electro-poppin’ ‘BITANGA’. Pash has achieved what many artists have struggled to achieve, by incorporating her musical heritage into a contemporary style that is popular worldwide, all without compromising her identity or success.
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Kids Return
There’s always something special about French-youth, synth-pop, and chanson. The Parisian duo Kids Return do not buck this trend, with their breezy, summertime and melancholic pop. Comprised of Adrien Rozé and Clément Savoye, along with their über-chic backing band, Kids Return treated Eurosonic to the lo-fi, analog and infectious hits from their debut LP ‘Forever Melodies’. Deserved winners at this year’s MME awards, the French duo showcased their magnetic pull with their rapturous concert at Huize Maas.
Fran Vasilić
Croatia’s answer to Harry Styles, the moustached Lothario Fran Vasilić crooned and entertained with his spellbinding style. Although missing his guitarist through unmitigated circumstances, the slick-styled performer made up for the extra musician by wooing the packed venue beneath the News Café with his alt-pop, singalong indie-hymns. Having wrapped the crowd around his perfectly formed fingers, the musically-seductive magician had the audience singing along to his breakthrough hit ‘Hypotheticals’ by the end of his set, while also managing to play some of the more emotive odes from his latest EP, ‘The Very Last Thoughts on Earth’.
Σtella
Greek singer-songwriter Σtella has been on the Europavox radar for quite some time. As such, it filled us with great pleasure when the singer-songwriter inked a deal with Sub Pop back in early 2022. Playing songs from her latest album ‘Up and Away’, the singer-songwriter blended melodic post-punk indie, with traditional Greek folk/pop melodies. Infectious, heartfelt, and delivered with a groove, Σtella’s music deserves to be seen as well as heard.
November Ultra
Performing in the divine Lutherse Kerk, befit with wooden stalls, and hallowed atmospherics, this French singer-songwriter embraced the setting with her soft and tender vocals, and beautiful songs. Interspersed with smooth guitar plucking, and melodic synth arrangements, the magnetic harmonies of this expressive Parisian captivated the church crowd with her charming, and unique approach to cinematic-folk, and left-of-centre pop.
