Overview
It's Friday, you've finally recovered from Monday's festivities, but you're still having intermittent withdrawals, random flashbacks and finding stray drinks tokens in your pocket from Auckland City's best one day music festival: St Jerome's Laneway Festival.
No problem. We sent Tim Lambourne along to gather his thoughts on some of his festival favourites and report back with some treasures to bolster up your summer playlist.
Lontalius
Eddie Johnson aka Lontalius set the tone early and welcomed us in with a beautiful and heartfelt set before the heat had its way with us. Check out his latest track Glow and keep an eye on the forthcoming album out March 25.
Leisure
These boys have amassed so many awards and hit records through their previous musical projects I assume they're just used as door stoppers at this point. Leisure burst onto the scene last year as the brainchild of Jordan Arts and friends and they've already won the hearts and minds of the internet and toured the States to strong reviews.
Also playing early, opening things up on the Mysterex stage, it's hard for me to get across just how sexy Leisure's sound is without freaking you out, so just press play on their Soundcloud and let them do it for you.
Thundercat
And all that jazz...so much jazz. Thundercat took us on a psychedelic journey with a guitar that looked ginormous from the back of the crowd, Christ only knows how hard it is to hold that thing let alone charm rhythms out of if that put the crowd in a voodoo trance.
Wrap your ears around 'Them Changes' if you haven't already.
Vince Staples
One of the most anticipated shows of the day from the totally scientific poll I took at my pre-Laneway drinks, Vince Staples shook up the scene 18 months or so ago and then dropped so much heat in last year's debut album 'Summertime 06' it was hard to tell whether his flow or the sunshine had you sweating behind the knees. Probably a bit of both. Throw 'Norf Norf' on and appreciate Staples' relaxed attitude and flow. And his love of Sprite.
Hudson Mohawke
I still think about the first time I heard Hud Mo's remix of 'Ooops' more than I probably should. A man who has been virtually unstoppable and helped mould the sound of bone rattling bass over the last five years be it through his solo stuff, his TNGHT collaboration with Lunice or his work with Kanye West, it was a treat getting to catch his back catalogue live. The live band set up reminiscent of SBTRKT a few years ago on the same stage helped to add a fuller sound too (no Ooops remix, though sad face).
Grimes
I had no idea what to expect from Grimes' live show and I still don't quite know how to explain what I saw and heard. Manic energy, high-pitched echo dubbed screams punctuating whimsical stories and heavy bass lines. I don't know why but I can't get the name Aristophanes out of my head. Anyway, Grimes threw the lycra-wrapped kitchen sink at Laneway and the crowd, including myself, loved every second of it.
