A Mainstreamer's Guide To Laneway Festival 2019
I always get excited around this time of year. Not because we’re heading into summer - I like wearing long coats and the sun makes me sweaty - but because we’re treated to the first Laneway 2019 line up. The annual Albert Park music festival does something to me that other events simply can’t, it makes me want to go to Auckland.
This is because every year they seem to nail their line-up, cementing their reputation as being Aotearoa’s trendiest festival. Line-up time also inevitably leads to a Spotify binge as I frantically download music from all the acts I’ve kind of heard but haven’t listened to, or the ones that are just straight up a mystery to me. But that shit takes a lot of work so I’m here to do it for you. Check out some of the less well-known but nonetheless exciting acts (there will be no Florence & the Machine bio soz) who will be a part of the 2019 festivities and drop them into casual conversation next time you’re trapped in a conversation with a bunch of hipsters or music nerds. They’ll think you’re so trendy and switched on they’ll drop their UMO vinyl in disbelief, you can thank me at Laneway.
Camp Cope
‘You worked so hard but we were 'just lucky'/To ride those coat tails into infinity/And all my success has got nothing to do with me/Yeah, tell me again how there just aren't that many girls in the music scene.’
Melbourne punk trio Camp Cope are returning to our shores in 2019 for what promises to be a set heard across Albert Park. Their 2018 sophomore album ‘How to Socialise & Make Friends’ was a critical, adrenaline-fueled attack on misogyny in the Australian indie rock scene. Relentlessly unapologetic in their delivery, Camp Cope aren’t here to validate the tortured softbois and their Friday night acoustic sets, they’re here to take a flamethrower to the patriarchal structures that still fester in local indie music scenes. It’s fair to say Aotearoa’s indie scene still has similar problems of representation and identity, it’s about time we get burnt.
TLDR: Fuck your local all-male Mac DeMarco cover band.
Talk about them to: Your friends who cover themselves in red paint and protest outside the Beehive on a weekly basis.
Introductory tune: The Opener
Rex Orange County
Rex Orange County is just 19 years old, but his voice and song composition makes him seem wise and weathered beyond his years. You may have seen his name before, popping up in two songs on Tyler the Creator’s 2017 surprise success ‘Flower Boy’. His recent album Apricot Princess has put him squarely in the spotlight in the UK and he looks poised to expand his reach to our shores.
There’s something wholesome but subversive about singing love and death ballads over hazy 70s guitar riffs and modern jazz keys, in a voice that doesn’t evens sound fit for Friday karaoke. Rex OC’s ability to use jazz and lo-fi sensibilities in his song writing as a springboard to explore other genres, rather than as a crutch make him an exciting prospect, not just for Laneway but for the next stage of his career. I have a feeling this may be the last chance we get to see him on our shores with relatively little fanfare.
TLDR: King Krule without the permanent head-cold accent.
Talk about him to: That softboi friend you have who wears an Alex Turner T Shirt, only smokes rolled cigs and is 'kind of into this girl he’s texting, but not ready for anything serious'
Introductory Tune: Loving is easy
Billie Eilish
PSA: I don’t trust anyone born after the year 2000, especially when it comes to music… except for Billie Eilish. Returning for the second year in a row, Eilish is quickly becoming a Laneway favourite. Only 16 years old she’s embodying the perfect storm of exciting stadium electro-pop that’s been percolating on the fringes of the mainstream for the past five or so years. On the back of a critically acclaimed EP ‘Don’t Smile at Me’ her debut album is about to drop later this year.
Which means she’ll be really blowing up by the time she hits our shores. But by that point, you’ll already be an Eilish expert and everyone will want your takes on this Wunderkind. Also it’s worth mentioning her legal middle name is ‘Pirate Baird’, if that doesn’t convince you to check her out then I give up.
TLDR: Lorde but younger and edgier
Talk about her to: That friend who secretly loves electro-pop but isn't secure enough to admit in public.
Introductory Tune: Ocean Eyes
Jon Hopkins
Unlike the rest of the artists on this list Mr Hopkins has been around a long time. He’s been working as a solo artist since 1998 and has collaborated with some of the UK’s biggest acts including Brian Eno, Purity Ring and Coldplay (no one’s perfect). Hopkins recently released one of the sleepers for album of the year, his fifth solo effort ‘Singularity’.
Building on the hypnotic and cosmic landscape he created in his previous album, Hopkins plays with the ideas of tension, destruction and rebirth to deliver something as suited for meditation as it is for the dancefloor. And that’s the kind pretentious shit you can spout to your mates during his set at Albert Park, when you’re all chewing your faces off and dancing like lunatics. Don’t miss your chance to see one of electronic music’s finest.
TLDR: EDM for people who are ‘too smart’ to use the term EDM.
Talk about them to: That new friend you met in some neon-filled basement who told you with big pupils and 3am sincerity that he can 'get you gear whenever you want'.
Introductory Tune: Everything Connected
Bene/Miss June
Truth be told I don’t know much about either of these acts. I know they’re both from Aotearoa, I know they’re both going to perform at Laneway and I know friends of mine who are significantly cooler than me love them, and to be honest that’s good enough for me. Laneway can often become a pissing contest of artist obscurity and next thing you know you’re being ridiculed for wanting to see Anderson.Paak instead of D.D. Dumbo.
If the aforementioned acts are a little too mainstream for your tastes I recommend checking these gems out. Not only do you get the sweet satisfaction of enjoying new artists before anyone else knows who they are but you get to support up and coming New Zealand music, and if you ask me, nothing’s cooler than that.
TLDR: Trendy new Aotearoa artists
Talk about them to: The other 4 people who will be at their Laneway sets
Introductory Tunes: Miss June – Twitch
Bene – Tough Guy
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