SGP - Caribou

SGP

Being the headliner at a festival is tough, but headlining a festival and performing after a six year firework spectacular tradition seems impossible. Yet, stood dressed all in white and silhouetted by strobe lights on The Great Stage, Caribou seemed to handle the job with the slickness of liquid velvet.

Caribou 
Source: Andrew Whitton

Having been around for the past 11 years, Caribou knows exactly what it takes to make a crowd weak at the knees and their bodies flail. Known almost as the cult classic of psychedelic electropop, Caribou creates house music like no other. And with their clump of limbs and instruments set up, front man Dan Snaith and co make for an performance of multiple climaxes with a sweaty finish. 

Having had the entirety of the festival on the stage side of the fields, Caribou had no option but to perform to the masses. Although they only had an hour long set, it seemed like the band could have gone on for days and I have no doubt their audience would have let them. As they trickled through the setlist, Caribou made the individual songs into a seamless sea of sounds, with every beat and strobe rolling over the crowd like waves. Performing such tunes as Can't Do Without You, Odessa, and Silver, there wasn't a dry face in the crowd. 

Caribou @ SGP
Source: Andrew Whitton

Whilst electronica can be a musical umbrella that is often mass produced or overrated, Caribou, however, manages to create such an emotional as well as psychedelic experience that it's borderline extraterrestrial (slotting nicely into Secret Garden Party's space theme). On the night Caribou performed the songs so authentically it was as if they were improvised, even though some of the tunes were as old as most of the crowd. It was a multidimensional experience that suited the every gardener's vibe: whether you wanted to have spiritually uplifting voyage or whether you just wanted to boogie till the late hours, Caribou were there for you that Saturday night.

Let your ears get intimate:
Caribou/Website
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Caribou/Souncloud

SGP - Blondage

SGP

Having suffered last year with pouring rain and mud baths, Secret Garden Party got to show off their full potential this summer with beautiful weather and glitter covered gardeners, despite the fact they didn't sell out this year. For this year's theme Head Gardeners planned a weekend of intergalactic transportation, taking inspo from the cult classic Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and amply naming it The Gardeners Guide to the Galaxy.

Blondage

As a festival there stands to be no kind of set structure, rather it is truly just one big party, although having said this the festival doesn't shy away from providing many a stage, which many a great artist performed on throughout the four days. In this four-post-mini-series, there will be a taster of the bands who stood out as the 'best in show' of each day, starting obviously with Thursday.

Although the festival does officially start on Thursday, The Great Stage remains redundant until Friday, which means that it is left to the mini stages to fill the ears of wandering gardeners. New to 2016, The Urban Forest, was merely one of the stages located around the three fields. Built entirely out of old shutters, window frames, and mirrors, the Urban Forest was an home from home in the strange galaxy that was SGP '16. Headlining the Urban Forest on Thursday evening was the Danish electro-duo Blondage. 

Blondage @ Secret Garden Party

Formerly known as Ragleklods, Blondage is made up of the talented Pernille Smith-Sivertsen and Essen Andersen. With only two singles to their name, Blondage aren't easy to hear, so seemingly the best way to listen to them is live. If you were lucky enough to stumble upon their performance on Thursday, you would have found these strobe-a-holics drenched in all black and producing the juiciest synths since Kraftwerk's The Man Machine. Whilst the crowd was small, their performance was not. Whipping out instruments that didn't seem real, and managing to sing (yes both of them) whilst mixing their own music live, Blonadge's pop-electro performance created bubblegum sweet sounds that made your ears happy, whilst your feet hurt. Hidden by cutely coloured back lighting this duo were merely silhouettes on stage that, even without being able to see their faces, performed with ice cool eclat. 

Described by one in the crowd as 'like Grimes but trying less hard' they are clearly a duo to keep your eyes on. Serve yourself an aesthetically pleasing slice of whatever their having here (because you'll sure want a taste):

Blondage/Soundcloud

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Blondage/Instagram