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Getting a move on

New ambitions and directions at this year's Move Festival
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October 10th, 2007 issue

COURTESY PHOTO
Gong Gong adds to the Gallic flavor of this year's fest.
Move Festival

When: Oct. 11–27
Where: Palác Akropolis, XT3, Matrix, Cross Club, Roxy, Rock Café, Retro Music Hall
Tickets: 225–440 Kč, available through Ticketpro and at the venues

Laurent Garnier

When: Thursday, Oct. 11, at 7:30
Where: Palác Akropolis
Tickets: 440 Kč,
available through Ticketpro and at the venue

For a complete schedule, check www.movefestival.eu

Thanks largely to the efforts of the French Institute, the big name at this year’s Move Festival is Gallic turntable warrior Laurent Garnier, who is bringing a live band to Prague. With his menacing, hypnotic mix of deep house, rock, funk, jazz and acid trance, he was seemingly born with a natural talent to make people dance.
Last year’s Public Outburst album of live shows and sessions surprised a lot of people with its heavy slant towards jazz electronica. But tracks like “Butterfly,” “Controlling The House” and “Barbiturik Blues” all work particularly well in a live setting, and there’s plenty of room for Garnier to work in some eccentric improvisation.
With feet firmly entrenched in the experimental electronic scene and added mutations, the organizers of this year’s festival have adopted a three-pronged approach that not only provides entertainment for the public, but provides support for the artists and takes the entire festival up a notch.
“We’re starting to do what Britain and the U.S. did about 50 or 60 years ago,” says organizer Jaroslav Rauser. “We have divided the festival into three parts. The first is for the public, the second is for music professionals and the third is for the musicians and artists themselves.”
The idea, Rouser says, is for the Czech Republic and its European neighbors to pool their artistic resources and create a climate for innovative new music to flourish.
The Move Festival will make its initial contribution to that effort with a series of workshops scheduled at Matrix the day after the Garnier show. Ten top Czech bands have been hand-picked to take part in what Rauser describes as an International Master Class. “We want to create some kind of creative lab,” he says.
Bands like Southpaw, Skyline, Lakeside X, Indy and Wich, Psycho Club and Trippers, The Slots and Luma will gather to share ideas on everything from stage management to ways of gaining international recognition.
“It will be the first time we’ve organized workshops for musicians,” Rauser says. “We’ve chosen these bands because we know they have enough ambition not only to succeed in the local Czech area, but outside as well.”
Later that evening, the bands will be given an opportunity to join in a discussion with various international professionals, including Alain Osowski, director of the music school Studio des Varietes in Paris, and Fernando Ladeiro-Marques, director of communication for Le Printemps de Bourges, one of the biggest music festivals in France.
Meanwhile, on the entertainment front, the festival is joining forces with Euro Connections, which brings Paris, Prague and Berlin together, to bring the German outfit Tied and Tickled Trio (Palác Akropolis, Oct. 24). Following the nu-jazz scene as well, the group is currently out road-testing its latest disc, Aelita, which is a bit like what you might imagine Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis would sound like trapped inside nu-electronica. The music can be tedious at times, with the lightweight soundscapes doing little more than inducing sleep. Backing them up however, Czech band Lesní zvěř should liven things up with a more energetic take on the electronic genre.
There are a number of interesting smaller events, like the Indies Scope records party for several bands at Roxy (Oct. 17), and Italian band Vanilla Sky at Rock Café (Oct. 20). And the French band Gong Gong (Akropolis, Oct. 25) could well be the next big electro thing, taking their musical cue from the likes of Mouse On Mars, Tortoise and The Aphex Twin.
The day before the closing party at Retro Music Hall (Oct. 27), it would be worth checking out Masala Sound System (Akropolis, Oct. 26). With influences ranging from drum ’n’ bass to bhangra to dance hall and spoken word, they sound nothing like you would expect from a Polish band. And their use of field recordings from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan is inspiring, to say the least.
James Scanlon can be reached at
features@praguepost.com


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