‘They are like passengers, who’ve carved a heart into a tree. Only meant for those who take the time to really notice it’ is one way the music of Passengers has been described by critics.  The ethereal soundscapes, the rhythmic percussion, the strident Philicorda-organ, and the characteristic vocals build up a wall of sound that can be sensitive, hypnotizing and overwhelming. The journey is more important than the goal, which makes the music of Passengers somewhat experimental. But don’t be fooled, there are beautiful songs and melodies underneath it all.

Listen:
>> www.weareallpassengers.com

The Subhuman

You might recognize this Utrecht singer/songwriter from several other bands, including Lost Bear and I Am Oak, but he has been playing, recording and releasing material as The Subhuman already since 1999. His older songs are generally unhappy. Since the release of his last material there is also hope and expectations shimmering through the windowpanes. Currently he is finishing a new release. The Subhuman will play the intimate setting of the upstairs at O’Ceallaigh, which seems a perfect location for his music.

Listen:
>> www.myspace.com/thesubhuman

Another veteran of the Subroutine showcases, although that was with a different band. Since Rosa found two new friends to play with (in Paris) she’s been very active in writing great new material. Bringing along their token old organ, accordeon, guitar, xylophone and melodica, Bird on the Wire has played lots of shows these last months, including one at our Subroutine Connects event in Vera. Groningen loves them and they love Groningen, even though they refuse to learn how to spell O’Ceallaigh properly. Maybe they’ll bring some homemade cookies. We love them regardless. So should you. Rudeboy digs them too, you know.

Listen:
>> www.myspace.com/birdotw

Spilt Milk

Last summer the boys n’ girls of antifolk/freakfolk collective Spilt Milk recorded a bunch of two-chord droneboogie songs that were released on cassette as The Split Milk & Brenda. Basically they play the Dead Poets Society (Dode Dichters Almanak?) – songbook, recording poems of Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens among others. They performed these songs in a variety of living rooms, including De Nieuwe Anita and Vera. The result will certainly please those collectors of obscure Velvet Underground coverband bootlegs, though with the help of Brenda they succeeded in recording at least one song that will outlive us: One By One. The plot thickens, because in the following autumn ‘The Milk’ recorded the brilliant song ‘North-American Hamsters’, drawing inspiration from the (living) author Tao Lin. Recently they were already spotted in Groningen, where they made a notable Christmas appearance on a ship, in front of a live-audience and their offspring. Chanteuse Brenda was playing percussion and singing, while the guitarist tried to stop the children from crying with some charming banter. Who knows who they will bring along for this coming event? Who cares. Well, Subroutine cares.

Listen:
>> http://www.myspace.com/spltmlk
>> http://www.subroutine.nl/artists/spm.php

The newest outfit of former Bonne Aparte-front man Gerrit. In this new formation the focus shifted from destruction to creating melodic and very rhythmic songs. In the last year Herrek has silently been working on new material and their first releases. From what we can derive from the track ‘Exile’, the music of Herrek is reminiscent of that of the scene around LA -club The Smell (No Age, Health): loud, explosive and noisy but melodic. Recently Herrek did several shows around The Netherlands as part of DeSpeech.

Listen:
>> herrek.bandcamp.com/track/exile

AC Berkheimer

AC Berkheimer just released their beautiful record 'We Tell Them Tonight' and currently it is receiving some awesome feedback from Dutch and international media. As they did on their acclaimed 2008 debut ‘In a Series of Long Days’ the band brings their interpretation of shoegaze: combining fierce guitar riffs with dark and dreamy vocals. You might call it a wall of melancholy. Their unique sound has already found an audience from the USA to Japan, with some help of the blogosphere and podcasts from our favourite radio station: KEXP Seattle. 'We Tell Them Tonight' is a beautiful, multi-layered shoegaze-album, with lots of small but exciting details hidden in the songs. Valentijn en Gwendolien (also Space Siren and Nikoo) found a great balance in singing the songs again, with 'Off You Go' as an excellent example. KEXP is now playing the new record again. For the third time in a row we welcome AC Berkheimer at our festival. This year they play Kult.

Listen:
>> www.myspace.com/acberkheimer
>> www.acberkheimer.com/
>> AC Berkheimer on Subroutine

New YX

Four kids from Amsterdam that enjoy making music together. When they’re not making music together, they’re of saving the world from boredom and/or attending hipster parties that mere mortals like us can only read about in magazines. Two girls and two boys ready to take on the powers that be (and their mothers) whilst maintaining their cool. They were spotted live a couple of times this year during Subroutine’s monthly fishing weekends, so we decided to invite them to play at Subroutine Cares. They play some pretty catchy post-punk, garage tunes to which you should be able to pull some edgy shapes. Or just bob your head on the beat. Whatever tickles your fancy.

Listen:
>>www.myspace.com/newyx

Lost Bear

Seven hairy dudes from Utrecht playing in one band. You might think this is a coincidence, but we believe that there is something bigger behind this. Lost Bear plays an explosive mixture of indierock and post-hardcore. Their live shows are loud, aggressive and overwhelming. Currently in the midst of the post-production of their upcoming album, that is scheduled to be released in March. Right now we don’t know whether their two drummers will fit in Kult, but we’ll see. According to the owner of Kult, last year we broke their record by squeezing in over 150 people. Surely one extra drummer will fit. If not, we can always get a little closer to the band. The Bears don’t bite, although they have been known to do some pretty awkward dances when fed alcohol. We’ve heard that when they try a few. The bare necessities of life will come to you.

Listen:
>> www.myspace.com/lostbearmusic

Het Vinyl Collectief

This group of vinyl fanatics has been taking the country by storm in 2010. They’ve played their ever growing collection of vinyl at any location that wanted to have them. After 100’s of bar mitzvah’s, Cheese Rolling Festivals, outlandish rites of passage and off course the yearly ‘De Boeskool is Lös’-festivities in Oldenzaal - they’ve grown into the essential DJ outfit for bigger and smaller parties. Besides brining a variety of singles, 12”s and LPs the Vinyl Collectief comes with a complementary group of dancing girls - some of them NOT wearing polkadot dresses-, a décor representing a horizon of unlimited opportunities plus a dancing bear. We strongly recommend doing the monkey, bunny hop, hokey- pokey or just generally shaking your stuff to the fine tuned tunes of this lot.

>> Het vinyl Collectief on facebook

Rats on Rafts

Rotterdam has always been the Manchester of the Low Countries, notably in attitude & mentality. Rats on Rafts give the city the sound that compliments this comparison. Four guys drawing on The Fall, Sonics & Factory among others. The sound of early 80’s new wave, post-punk but also early The Ex recordings come to mind. They just released a 7”single with a cover of ‘The Moneyman’ – of Rotterdam 80’s wave group KIEM (Klank Improvisatie Elektronische Muziek). The single was picked up by BBC6. Recently we saw a great performance of Rats on Rafts in the SUB071 Leiden and we are very happy to welcome them to Groningen.

Listen:
>> www.ratsonrafts.com

Uinko Eerenstein en band

The first artist in three years of Subroutine showcases that sings in Dutch. We didn’t particularly plan to celebrate this momentous occasion - for now it’s weird enough to write a promotional text in English about him. Uinko Eerenstein and his Doodah Band play songs about merchants, school trips, primary school, girls and quietly drinking beer. They’ve won the hearts of a flock of followers by touring around various cities and hamlets in The Netherlands. We’ve heard rumours that the name Uinko is becoming more popular with young parents by the day and in the near future will be synonymous with the subjects mentioned above. But then again, those were just rumours. Fact is that Uinko is here for you.

Listen:
>> www.uinkoeerenstein.nl

Lars Ludvig Löfgren

Last year Lars Ludvig Löfgren played O’Ceallaigh as part of our cooperation with Ham Radio Communications during Subroutine Connects. That show – just Lars & Running Bear Richard Axelsson, since the other Bears were in hibernation - was one of the highlights of the first festival-evening. We were instant fans of this Swedish songwriter and the classic songs collected on his (then new) record Heterochromia - a colourful treasure chest full of retro-classical, poignant indie pop songs. Often compared to bands like The Lemonheads, The Ronettes or The Beatles; Löfgren’s love for 60’s & 70’s pop is obvious, but there is also something particularly "Swedish", and even more particularly "Löfgren", about his music, which transcends usual throwback attempts that draw inspiration from that era. Well, we decided to release Heterochromia in the Benelux and invite him to Groningen again. With some new songs up his sleeve and backed by Public Street, Lars plays several shows during the weekend. Put on your Science Fiction Shoes and stay up all night: Lars is back.

Listen:
>> www.myspace.com/larsludviglofgren
>> www.subroutine.nl/artists/lll.php

Katadreuffe

Graciously ignoring the huge elephant in the room we will not discuss any literature references in this short text. We’d rather focus on the fact that Katadreuffe is a great Amsterdam four-piece guitar band that seems to have eluded (our) radar for some time. Heavily recommended by our friends at Incendiary, describing them as looking “brittle and sullen” (whatever that means?) and one of the most exiting live bands of ‘the now’. And since Subroutine is very much about ‘the now’, we are very anxiously awaiting their layered, rhythmic, abstract mixture of post-hardcore, shoegaze, post-punk and pop.

Listen:
>> www.myspace.com/katadreuffe

Space Siren

Last year Space Siren was the last act playing in O’Ceallaigh. Since then this fantastic band from the Bollenstreek has been up to a lot. They recorded and released a fantastic 2x7”release and every time we saw them they were better than the time before. We attended shows during which audiences were blown away by noisy guitar eruptions, driven by heavy bass, pulsing drums and always accompanied by sweet, addictive vocals. We attended shows where gallons of water started coming from the ceiling halfway the set. Yes, it was a memorable year for Space Siren: there were four great Katzwijm nights in the Next-to-Jaap studios, two amazing videos and raving reviews for the release. They will start the New Year with a show in the legendary Vera kelderbar (where Dinosaur Jr. practised their live set before the reunion) and some upcoming shows in Germany. Obviously they save their best for the gig in Kult.

Listen:
>> www.myspace.com/spacesiren
>> http://www.subroutine.nl/artists/sps.php