Come mid-January, the entirety of the European (and much of the worldwide) music industry will relocate to one of the unlikeliest of hotspots: the Dutch city of Groningen. The Northern hotspot will once again host the year’s first big industry event, Eurosonic Noorderslag. The showcase festival presents industry executives, bookers, managers, the press and some 35,000 visitors with the best new music that Europe has to offer. Previous editions have lit the flame for the likes of Dua Lipa, Sigrid, Nothing But Thieves, Franz Ferdinand, Sports Team and Enter Shikari, with this decade’s first edition offering a line-up filled with some of the most intriguing, hotly anticipated future prospects around right now. We’ve scoured the finest musical experiences which Groningen has to offer between 15 and 18 January, and for the first part of our Eurosonic Noorderslag preview we’ve picked eight things you can’t miss.
THUMPER
For fans of: The Strokes, Otherkin, a good fucking anthem
QUEEN’S PLEASURE
For fans of: Blur, Ramones, post-punk
SINEAD O’BRIEN
For fans of: PJ Harvey, Goat Girl, intense and gripping poetry
ALTIN GÜN
For fans of: Turkish standards, psychedelic rock, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s microtonal music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay-soJ66dew
BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD
For fans of: Pavement, black midi, long-winded drives through the countryside at night
BOKASSA
For fans of: Sleep, Metallica, a thunderous riff
PERSONAL TRAINER
For fans of: Pip Blom, Iguana Death Cult, Dutch indie
CELESTE
For fans of: Adele, Amy Winehouse, intimacy