Lockdowns and venue closures mean that for a while the only ‘live’ music is likely to be the streamed variety and artists have been quick to react, and to take the opportunity before that market gets cluttered, too.
Danish based Low-Fi Concert are already well established supporting intimate and lo-fi concerts, and are now supporting streamed gigs also. They hosted a concert by Glasgow-based Dane Asthmatic Heart last Sunday, whom very recently featured in Nordic Music Review with ‘Bird of Paradise’. You can find a replay of that concert on her Facebook page here.
A different kind of show was played on Friday 20th March by one of Sweden’s leading electronic specialists and turntable experts, ‘Slim Vic’ Zeidner. His 30-minute show was streamed from his own studio in central Sweden, by way of one in London hosted by Graham Dunning.
I’ll lay my cards on the table. I’ve never really understood the skill behind turntable manipulation but then I’ve never really tried to. But I set out to watch all of this before trundling off for the Last Post at the pub. The decision was partly influenced by the fact that I know Viktor is held in very high regard in Sweden and beyond and I was amazed at the skill level. Especially when he had just about all the turntables going at once. Just how you co-ordinate it all baffles me. It’s like those old music hall acts where they used to spin multiple plates at once.
For the final example I turn to the lady who is possibly my favourite of all artists just now, Denmark’s Lydmor. She put on what was supposed to be an acoustic show on Sunday 22nd March, one of a series that is being broadcast each night (by different artists) out of Copenhagen, but at the last minute added a Sequential Prophet 6, the king of the synthesisers for many, so she could perform her electro-pop stuff as well.
The result was a masterful performance delivered with great charm, humour, emotion and grace, one befitting the current circumstances we are in. Try to watch all of it if you can and you might understand why I regard her as the #1 artist in Europe right now. Currently only on Facebook (starts at 59:50) possibly moving to YouTube later.
We will try to bring you details of further streamed concerts and Low-Fi Concerts supported events. This week in particular we’re looking forward to violinist Claudia Cox and cellist Carmen Bóveda playing a live streamed performance from Bergen on Thursday night. Claudia, also the violinist in Major Parkinson, has devised a stunning, mesmerizing solo set that is sometimes used as an ‘Opener’ for the band, and we really look forward to her performance with Carmen. Visit the event page here.