FYF Fest at Exposition Park, Los Angeles
As Los Angeles’ premier music festival, FYF has always made it a point of pride to craft bills that really push the envelope on bringing underground or smaller acts to the forefront of their events. This year’s event holds that sentiment to the extreme, as any festival with Björk as one of its headliners is going to have all the best new bands you’ve never heard of. Here are just a few pulled from the last few lines of that lineup poster!
Nadia Rose
UPDATE: Due to visa issues Nadia Rose will no longer perform at FYF
Nadia Rose is not the only rapper that’s set to perform at the festival, but she should be one of the main ones on your radar. As one of the leading female figures of the new wave of urban artists currently dominating the UK scene, her biting lyrics and humor are already a staple of her craft. Her name might sound familiar as she was the one to step in to replace Azealia Banks’ headline slot at London’s Born and Bred festival–so you already know she has the chops to kill it at a six o’clock slot on Sunday. Her single “Skwod” drew massive praise and put her on the map critically as she released her stunning debut Highly Flammable.
Big Thief
Brooklyn’s softcore indie-rockers Big Thief are the sublime injection of sincere folk we all knew we needed, but never thought we’d find. Revolving around the singing/songwriting talents of Adrianne Lenker, this soft-voiced crooner avoids all the trite cliches of her genre with winding lyricisms that take you on intricate journeys through her vulnerable musings on love. The quartet’s most recent release, the aptly titled Capacity, is an exercise in restraint and release as the band mingles punkish guitar noisiness with a bedroom demo level of intimacy. Throw them on a stage and let the magic just unfold is what we say, as that’s just what’s going to happen at FYF when Lenker begins to enchant the crowd on The Club stage–you better be there.
Helena Hauf
Hauf is well known for cutting her teeth as a DJ at the Golden Pudel Club in Hamburg, Germany, where she threw together acid house, EBM/industrial, and electro for the raving crowds packed inside the small underground room. That alone should put her on anyone’s map as someone you should at least check out, but with a set at just before midnight on Friday at the Outer Space stage, she’s been elevated to a must-see. Her stripped-down techno concoctions–which she records using analog equipment usually in one take–belly all the grit and melodic ecstasy that you’ll need to carry you through the night and into the next day.
Julia Jacklin
Singer/songwriter Julia Jacklin might hail from Australia, but her dreamy indie-pop calls to mind the kind of gloomy afternoon on a palm tree dotted Southern California we might all be more familiar with. Mixing in a tinge of alt-country in the vein of Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten, the singer’s deeply melodic lulling is moving to say the least, combing a love of harmonies with noisey rock backings. Her debut Don’t Let The Kids Win is well worth the listen before seeing her open up The Club stage on Sunday, just as she’s more than worth the early arrival. We expect her to give a goosebump worthy set as other singer/songwriters have a history of doing on that acoustically intimate stage.
Royal Headache
Of course, what would an LA festival be without that much needed rush of punk purity, even if it comes by way of another Australian upcomer Royal Headache. Formed in the underground punk scene of Western Sydney, the band formed as a response to the bleak post-punk revival occuring in the late 00s there. Fusing together their obvious DIY garage sound with some 60s themed soul-pop, Royal Headache might not be the most traditional punk rock band–but then again, when has a punk rock band ever cared about being traditional? If you’re looking for something raw and wild in the late evening on Friday, Royal Headache is there to get you raging when they open The Club stage at seven sharp on Friday.
FYF Fest will encompass three glorious days of music at Exposition Park in Los Angeles, July 21 – 23.
GET YOUR FYF FEST TICKETS HERE!
