The first 10 names confirmed for the 20th edition of Pohoda Festival 2016

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Sigur Rós, PJ Harvey, Parov Stelar and more at Pohoda 2016!

In the last couple of weeks we received several emails that made us super excited and we hope that they will make festival-goers attending the 20th edition of Pohoda happy as well. After the confirmation of dreamy Sigur Rós came another confirmation of artist weʼve been trying to have playing the event basically right from the festivalʼs start. Pohoda 2016 is on the list of tour dates of the legendary UK multi-instrumentalist and vocalist PJ Harvey.

The pioneer of electro-swing, Parov Stelar, or New Yorkʼs gypsy punk, Gogol Bordello, are coming to make the airfield in Trenčín dance. Pohoda festival-goers will also have a chance to see the legend of slam poetry, Saul Williams; UK drum & bass producer, SPOR; electro-clash performed by Chicks on Speed; punk rap duo from New Jersey, Ho99o9; blues voodoo of My Baby or electro-rock of the guys from Finland, K-X-P.

PJ HARVEY
Three albums listed on Rolling Stoneʼs 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 8 nominations for Brit Awards, 6 nominations for Grammy, the first artist to receive the Mercury Prize twice. This is a list of accolades Polly Jean Harvey has under her belt. And the list of achievements goes on with the hits such as “This is Love”, “Down by the Water” or the duet with Nick Cave “Henry Lee” known around the world. Besides awards and success in prestigious charts, PJ Harvey also received an honorary degree from one of the London universities. The element that outshines all the award statues and diplomas is her amazing music Doctor Polly Jean Harvey will come to play at Pohoda to heal our ears.

PAROV STELAR
Linz, the third largest city of Austria became famous for mini Christmas cookies. However, at the turn of the century, another important export article appeared: DJ Marcus Füreder, better known under the stage name Parov Stelar. He successfully turned the mix of jazz, house, electro and breakbeat into a new genre named electro swing. After the release of album Shine, BBC’s Chris White named him one of the most promising producers active in Europe. And he was right. Thanks to tracks such as “Catgroove”, “Booty Swing”, “All Night” and more, heʼs one of the artists that topped the magical 100 million views on YouTube. Parov Stelar will be serving his vinyl Linzer cookie at Pohoda 2016.

SPOR
DJ and producer Jon Gooch, better known under the stage names SPOR or Feed Me, is a representative of the contemporary UK club dance music. He rose to fame for his drum & bass and dubstep remixes of tracks by well-known artists of various genres. This, year, his long-awaited album Caligo came out. According to Muzoic portal, “This is a classic example of the drive, which wants to crank up the volume in the car.”

SAUL WILLIAMS
Saul Williams is a guy that is equally good when performing in movies, on Broadway; when giving lectures at universities or playing unknown suburban clubs. He works with word, its rhythm and dynamics with cadence of Muhammad Ali and accuracy of Ben Carson. A Nike campaign featured his track “List of Demands”. Feature film Slam earned him awards at Sundance as well as Cannes festivals and he shone in Holler If Ya Hear Me Broadway musical. And now he comes to Pohoda.

CHICKS ON SPEED
The cult Germany-based band Chicks on Speed including an Australian and an American was founded in Munich the same year as Pohoda Festival (1997). The band are one of the most significant representatives of electroclash. Throughout their career, the band have collaborated with the likes of Julian Assange, Yoko Ono or Peaches. With Peaches, they recorded their most famous track “We Donʼt Play Guitars.” Their concerts are an invitation to performance art, multi-genre music, design as well as fashion… but most of all, to having a lot of fun.

HO99O9
Those who fancy darker hip-hop with a good deal of punk or rather rap punk are in for a mesmerizing show of New Jersey duo (currently based in LA). According to Rolling Stone and The Guardian journalists it’s totally worth it.

K-X-P
Finnish electro-rock band K-X-P name themselves as an anti band. Perhaps because of nontraditional lineup, where vocals, electronic stompboxes and bass are combined with two alternating drummers, or maybe because of a wide range of styles they draw inspiration from. Be that as it may, their live performances have three common denominators: incredible rhythm, power and energy.

“We are proud of the first ten names confirmed for the festival. Two of our long-time dreams came true – We like to think of PJ Harvey as the First Lady of world alternative; Sigur Rós are a beautiful band. Saul Williams is our most important discovery of the autumn showcase scene: His concerts are incredible, creative and exceptionally moving. We discovered him in Paris at Mama festival. Crazy Finnish electronic band K-X-P caught our attention at Reeperbahn festival in Hamburg. Chicks on Speed and Gogol Bordello have already played Pohoda; they are both mesmerizing bands and we are sure they deserve to play the festival again. Parov Stelar guarantees a quality dance music; Spor is a unique drum & bass producer B-Complex recommended. My Baby are an amazing concert band and everyone sings praises of Ho99o9. As you can see from the list of first ten names, we continue on the path of multi-genre festival where visitors can see the top tried and tested names along with the most notable up-and-coming artists. Weʼre looking forward to the upcoming booking adventure,” Director at Pohoda Festival, Michal Kaščák, says about the first 10 names confirmed for Pohoda 2016.

Weʼre planning to reveal the next names confirmed for Pohoda 2016 again in the form of GIF riddles. Since the end of November, riddles and the whole visual identity is created for us by Milk Studio agency. At Pohoda Party, we announced other interesting news as well. After sixteen years, Pohoda Festival restores its original name. With that, we follow the trend set by big European festivals that gradually stopped being named after their partners. This change is an outcome of the end of fourteen-year-long partnership with company Heineken Slovakia. Serve good-quality beer to the visitors at the 20th edition of festival. Thatʼs the challenge Banská Bystrica-based brewery with their brand Urpiner has risen to.

Pohoda Festival 2016
7-9 JULY 2016, TRENČÍN AIRPORT
www.pohodafestival.sk