Miriam Bryant, Little Dragon, Jens Lekman, A36 and others play on Way Out Västtrafik!
WELCOME TO WAY OUT VÄSTTRAFIK!
It’s autumn and everyday life is starting to resume in many people’s lives. A large part of this is public transport – a service that we have been encouraged not to use for a long time. But travelling sustainably is important and is something we want to encourage everyone to do. That’s why we are now launching the Way Out Västtrafik mini-festival – a rolling festival on a tram on Saturday 13 November.
Miriam Bryant, Little Dragon, Jens Lekman, A36, Jelly Crystal &Amp Raghd and Stella Explorer will each play a set on the festival trolley, which starts and ends on Marklandsgatan.
Tickets are sold per concert and will cost as much as a regular one-way ticket – i.e. SEK 34. These will be released next Friday, October 22 at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster. Not to break down an open door, but there aren’t many people who can fit on a tram, so the tickets are very limited – hang on the lock! If you do not manage to get a ticket, the concerts will also be able to be live streamed for free.
(And psst. If you are waiting for an artist’s release for the festival 2022, you don’t have to wait much longer. At least that’s how much we can promise.)
With her ability to bring together both desperation and joy with a versatile musical expression, Miriam Bryant has become one of the country’s most appreciated artists. So appreciated that she has even had a tram named after her. On November 19, her long-awaited album “P.S I Hate You” will be released, in which the art forms have been unhindered and also resulted in an accompanying feature film (short film), in which Miriam herself stars alongside Kardo Razzazi.
Little Dragon has from the start done everything in its own way with a forward-looking electronic pop whose two most distinctive elements are the unmistakable groove and Yukimi Nagano’s comforting voice, which is an instrument in itself. At first glance, it may seem that the quartet founded in Gothenburg twenty-five years ago is on the sidelines of both the mainstream and the alternative music world. Yet Little Dragon, with all its integrity, talent and uncompromising vision, always manages to become the center of events.
Jens Lekman broke through with his debut album When I Said I Wanted To Be Your Dog in 2004, and immediately became one of Sweden’s most beloved indie artists, while being celebrated around the world. Since then, Lekman has received countless awards and glowing reviews, while establishing himself as one of Sweden’s strongest and most reliable troubadours, with magical songs where his unique storytelling style and lyrics meet clever melodies.
No one has escaped the big star of the summer with the monster hit “Same Old Usual” with over 23 million streams on Spotify that even now continue to tick on: A36 he is spelled. Since his debut in 2020, Partillebon has released four singles of his own, collaborated with Aden, Jireel and Macky. If he continues at the same pace, there are nothing but several new blockbusters to expect. “Same old usual” tops not only Sweden’s top 50 list, but also that of our Scandinavian neighbours. He is also the first Swedish artist to reach a place in Finland’s top 10 in several years.
Filip Johnson goes by the pseudonym Jelly Crystal, whose music is best described as suggestive Glam pop. With his roots in the classical melodies of pop history and the Swedish indie rock scene, he has created his own expression, which is as timeless as it is futuristic. At Way Out Västtrafik he performs together with the starlet Raghd – a rapper, singer and producer from Gothenburg. With a new and honest sound, Raghd is a clearly rising star in the Swedish music sky. She recently released the awesome EP Are We There Yet? – true our words when we say that this is an artist to keep an eye on going forward.
Atmospheric dreamy pop and ambient composition are evenly balanced in an end product that is more than the sum of its melodious elements. That’s the experience of listening to Stella Explorer. It’s a musical record she admits was uncharted territory until she left her band two years ago to lift the lid on her own musicality. The new single “Kill It Before It Dies” is an echo that slowly increases in force and builds up to a point where the danceability of the track is set against the darkness of the lyrics. Stella’s deeply personal texts remind us of the flaws and shortcomings of love – the potential toxicity of relationships and the power of love to blind.
Robyn. She has refined the art of making uplifting anthems of depressed emotions and can turn pain into triumph like no other. Robyn is in the middle of pop and underground – accessible but believable, a disco pop queen with integrity, feather-light but strong.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds [AUS]. One of the planet’s most exciting and uncompromising live acts. Born out of the rubble of The Birthday Party, today has released 17 albums, the most recent of which, Ghosteen, met all expectations and a little more. The band’s first gig in Gothenburg this century takes place with us in Slottsskogen.
First Aid Kit. A raw, almost primal ability to convey the power of music in its truest form. A gift that has not only bewitched Sweden but the whole world. Sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg sing to each other and we are invited to listen, it is a rare privilege.
Yung Lean. Genuine emotions are hard to overlook and a raw, unfiltered conveying of genuine emotions is what has made Swedish Yung Lean a style-forming contemporary hip-hop.
Girl in Red [NO]. Raw talent, honesty and openness. With the long-awaited debut album ‘if i could make it go quiet’, girl in red has turned up the volume but remained true her skinlessness.
Burna Boy [NGA]. His Afrobeats music with elements of both R&B and reggae (“afrofusion” he calls it himself) has taken him to Coachella, to a sold-out Wembley Arena in London and an equally sold-out Partille Arena here in Sweden. Next stop: Slottsskogen.
Caribou [CAN]. Suddenly. If you ask us, it’s the title of one of last year’s best albums, as well as the first in six years signed Caribou. Expect euphoria when Dan Snaith makes Way Out West.
Romy [UK]. Usually a third of The xx. The idea of standing in Slottsskogen and dancing to ‘If this world comes to an end, I want to be there with you’ feels incredibly comforting right now. This will be a DJ set to remember.
Fred again.. [UK]. On a bed of sweet electro and from voice memos, YouTube clips, fragments from dialogues or videos from half-forgotten nights out, Fred again.. creates a mosaic of memories, feelings and thoughts. The hype is already underway, next summer this is what we all dance to.
Princess Nokia [US]. A symbol of opportunity and a unique voice in a sometimes streamlined music landscape. With the double album ‘Everything is Beautiful’/ Everything Sucks’ she took the world by storm and with the year-round new banger ‘It’s Not My Fault’ Princess Nokia shows that the future belongs to her
Pa Salieu [UK]. The past two years have been remarkable to say the least for England’s hottest new rapper Pa Salieu. From being tragically shot in the head at the end of 2019 to releasing a few months later the massive single ‘Frontline’: a piece of innovative UK rap that prompted critics and listeners to collectively crown Coventry’s pride Pa Salieu to the voice of the future.
Bikini Kill [US]. Punk rock icons! Bikini Kill, fronted by Kathleen Hanna as an uncompromising and incomparable frontman, is one of the most groundbreaking, exciting and style-forming bands of recent decades.
beabadoobee [UK]. London’s new indie hero. When she released the bedroom-recorded lo-fi song Coffee in 2017, she certainly hadn’t imagined that shortly after she would be a huge internet phenomenon after being sampled by a rapper. Since then she has released two EPs and in 2020 came the acclaimed debut album ‘Fake It Flowers’.
Kite. When tickets for Kite’s concert at the Royal Swedish Opera 2020 were released, the pressure caused the site to crash – twice. It says something about the devotion of the fans to Sweden’s best-kept pop secret.
Jayda G [CAN]. Mer artist än renodlad discjockey. Musiken hon spelar i sina DJ-set – ofta en riklig portion av vintage-märkt disco, boogie och soul – brukar ha en betoning på upplyftande dansmusik fylld av vitalitet och energi.
Arab Strap [SCO]. I slutet av 90-talet var Skottland en indie-stormakt. Med band som Belle & Sebastian, Primal Scream och Teenage Fanclub betraktades det lilla landet som nästa Seattle. Bland dessa utmärkta band var Arab Strap alltid det mörkaste. Med sina konfrontativa, dekadenta texter – pratade eller sjungna på bredaste skotska – fångade Arab Strap den särskilda atmosfären i ett Storbritannien efter Thatcher med sina electro-akustiska beats.
Q [US]. Det är inte ett smeknamn eller en förkortning för något. Q är helt enkelt hans namn. Och likt hans namn är hans musik avskalad. Strippad från allt överflödigt. Den senaste EP:n ‘The Shave Experiment’ (2020) är fylld av sparsamt arrangerad alternativ R&B smyckad med en trollbindande falsett, elektriska gitarrer och ett ömt, själfullt berättande.
Michael Kiwanuka [UK]. Som nästan alla verkligt angelägna artister utplånar Michael Kiwanuka gränsen mellan det personliga och det politiska. I hans låtar och i hela vår värld hänger ju allting ihop. Tar du bort det ena blir det andra betydelselöst.
