THIRD WAVE OF ACTS FOR POHODA FESTIVAL 2017

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The latest name confirmed for the 21^st Pohoda is a big talent of the UK scene, blues-rock singer-songwriter Jake Bugg. 

Jake Bugg, who’s just 22 years old, has three albums under his belt, each made it to TOP 5 in the UK Albums Chart (the debut reached number one). He played his catchy indie-rock tracks influenced by blues at Glastonbury at the age of 17 already. He won NME Award, Q Award and Silver Clef Award and received another 11 prestigious nominations for Mercury Prize, BRIT Awards or Ivor Novello Awards. Last summer, he released his third album On My One, whose tracks together with older hits, you’ll get to hear at Pohoda 2017.

Jake started playing the guitar as a 12-year-old. Influenced by the likes of Don McLean, Oasis, Hendrix, Cash or The Beatles, he started composing and playing his own music at the age of 16. A year later, BBC selected him to play the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury 2011. What also helped him become well-known was a national beer campaign that featured his “Country Song.” At that time, he signed to Mercury Records and started working on his debut, which was released in October 2012. Clash hailed the “precocious talent fusing retro folk with blistering contemporary rock riffs.” Album Jake Bugg reached number one in the UK Albums Chart and is one of the top 100 best-selling UK albums of this decade. The same year, he was a supporting act of his role model, Noel Gallagher.

On his second album, Shangri La, he collaborated with Rick Rubin or Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Jake played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2013, received nominations for Mercury Prize, Brit Awards, NME Awards and won a Q Award in the category of “Best New Act”. In July 2014, he started working on his third album, On My One. The album was released last year in July and shows more frequent attempts to mix genres, but also puts emphasis on his favorite blues. Year 2015 was particularly successful as far as the awards are concerned. In February, Bugg won NME Award (Best Solo Artist) and in August a Silver Clef Award (Best Male Artist). His song “Simple as This” was featured in the movie The Fault in Our Stars. Other songs were used in the movie The Giver or TV series Happy Valley. Besides Later… Jools Holland, he appeared on programs The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Show with David Letterman and many more. At the beginning of July, he will perform his music show at the 21^st Pohoda.

The IDM legend Squarepusher, one of the founders of grunge, charismatic Mark Lanegan with his band, and rapping punk rockers Sleaford Mods to play also at the 21^st Pohoda.

Squarepusher

Last Tuesday, 20 journalists of Pitchfork published a selection of the fifty best IDM (intelligent dance music) albums of all times. Tom Jenkinson, also known as Squarepusher, appeared there with as much as two albums (on the 9^th and 24^th place). This brilliant fretless bass guitar player, electronic multi-instrumentalist, and innovator combines jazz and electronic dance music in compositions intertwined with virtuoso parts. In the mid-90s, he joined forces with the legendary publisher Warp Records to soon become one of its most significant names. So far, he has released with them 16 albums and a number of EPs, compilations, and remixes. Squarepusher has been pushing the boundaries of genres for more than two decades. At his concerts, he combines electronic transformations of sound with percussion, strings, and keyboards play. This makes his “one man show” concerts so attractive that he gains admirers even among people who are not lovers of electronic music.

Mark Lanegan Band

Mark Lanegan is one of the most outstanding figures of grunge and also the first singer of the golden era of this genre to have performed in Slovakia. In 2012, he played a memorable concert at the Zrkadlový háj hall. He has been part of the bands Screaming Trees and Mad Season (with the Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley), the Queens of the Stone Age, and has worked with Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Moby, and Isobell Campbell (Belle and Sebastian). It is for his raspy, deep voice and mesmerizing dark atmosphere that he is likened to Waits, Cohen, and Cave. Any comparisons are useless. Lanegan is unique, just as each of his performances. Lanegan is a requested artist especially for his charismatic appearance and voice. Matthew Murphy of Pitchfork wrote about him: “As scratchy as a three-day beard yet as supple and pliable as moccasin leather, Lanegan’s voice has evolved into a remarkable instrument, one that couldn’t have been earned by easy living.”

Sleaford Mods

Punk´s not dead! Don´t you believe? Listen to Sleaford Mods! A perfect confirmation of the veracity of this statement and cyber-punk-rap for the 21^st century. A computer in the minimalist role of a band, served by the simple Enter key, no pretense, no unnecessary hitting the buttons: just a direct dynamic base and shooting lyrics on the top, sharp and uncompromising, and a throaty voice whom you believe every word. Everything works convincingly, captivatingly, wonderfully. We  have been hunting after this band after the first time we heard them as if they were the wildest game and it took a couple of years, but the time has come when we can proudly say they are on the trophy list for the upcoming edition of Pohoda. The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, The Observer, NME, Mojo, Uncut, and many other media rated the last album of post-punk band Sleaford Mods as 8 out of 10. According to the Guardian, they are the “Britain’s angriest band, their sweary rants a brutal stream of working-class disaffection”. They will issue their tenth album English Tapas this March, will tour North America in the spring, and in early July they will perform also at Pohoda 2017.