Tuesday night saw Luxembourg’s music export office, Music:LX, presenting the best of what the country has to offer in terms of up and coming bands, at the Fluxbau.
Entry was free, but in Berlin at least that’s not usually a guarantee of people coming; to be honest it more often has the opposite effect. But when I went down the steps that lead from the restaurant part of Fluxbau to its lower level where the music goes on, the place was indeed comfortably full. I guess there’s a healthy bunch of people into Luxembourgian new music than I’d previously given it credit for.
First up was Seed to Tree, a band with tight sound and nice vocals, indie folk with electronic elements and a rocky edge who’d drawn their name from a Blind Melon song: they’d spent some weeks at the top of the Luxembourg charts earlier in their career and carried themselves well. I was told later that the singer, Georges, would be playing his singer-songwriter set solo at Sonic Visions, the industry event and festival coming up later in Luxembourg.
Shapes were thrown
Next up was Edsun. Each to their own; it was serious pop, with shapes being thrown, an impressively expressive dance duo cutting the rug and Edsun himself expressing before he started that all were welcome at his concerts and should feel safe and comfortable no matter their sexuality or anything else. So, nice chap.
Tuys were the headliner of the evening and by the time they came on the crowd, having grown a little sweatier and a little looser, became as much of a heaving mass as a venue such as Fluxbau can allow. Tuys are 80s throwback indie pop; they have their sound defined, they know what they want and they’re practised. Tun, the lead singer, later told me that they’d formed the band when they were 10 years old and before they had actually learned any instruments, so points for longevity!
a little sweatier and a little looser
Tuys were my favourite band of the night and you could see that the Luxembourgians loved them too. They recently supported 30 Seconds to Mars in Luxembourg and I’d say they’re going places. You know that saying “It takes years of work to become an overnight success”. Well, there you go.
Also on the evening I managed to snag a nice man called Giovanni Trono, who’s with Music:LX, Luxembourg’s music export agency. Chatting to him I realised how nice it can be to come from such a small country, especially one where they’re making such an effort to support their young bands and artists – putting on festivals, helping them to network and generally pushing their careers. He told me how Luxembourg is full of nature with flatlands, hills and mountainous country, and how inspiring it is to live smack bang in the middle of Europe – with either Belgium, France or Germany, and all their cultural influences, never more than a 15 minute drive away – while at the same time being surrounded by quite beautiful nature (not to mention that their biggest city has been declared – the city itself, mind – a world heritage site…
Happily, I’ve been invited to check out the Luxembourg scene at close hand at their annual music industry event and festival, Sonic Visions, coming up on the 16th and 17th November. Not only featuring Luxembourgian bands, it’s fast becoming one of the coolest European music industry get-togethers going. I shall, I promise, report back. Watch this space!
