As we have started to get accustomed to, this year’s Intonal festival had a plethora of interesting artists lined up. Over four days the city of Malmoe becomes a hubspot for an all you can eat experimental and electronic music festival. At the center we have Inkonst, the organizer of the event and many other acts and performances throughout the year.
Overall Intonal continues to evolve as a concept and the strong point is that the event really devotes itself to stay outside of the ordinary. By the name the connotations to Atonal are of course there, but to be honest they have very little in common. The most appreciative thing is the mix of established acts and the unknown, or at least unknown to many of us in Europe. To the more safe bets were Vanligt Folk who with their intense beats really got the crowd going, and if you’re more leaned to the ambient side of things Kate NV and Sasha Kulak, as well as O Yuki Conjugate made quite intriguing audio/visual performances.
However we must say that Friday’s biggest treat were MCZO & Duke – a direct import from Tanzania featuring punk, rap, electro in a furious tempo.
Intonal is where the obscure and the burlesque, meets innovation, underground movement, electro tunes and techno beats.
As comes with tradition the pre-event was hosted at Malmö Rowing Club right by the water, a packed event to say the least. Some of the highlights included Ilpo Väisänen with his analog soundscapes, paired with Joana’s Hair – who succesfully made everything feel like you were on a spa trip.
Thursday was a day to spend in church together with Limpe Fuchs and the acoustics of that building truly made it a memorable moment.
The focus of this year’s event is to add more on the visual and performance art side of things so of course you bring Hans Appelqvist to the line up. He has worked at all the main national theatre and dance institutions in Sweden but Have you ever seen Visitor Q? is his first attempt at music drama. The performance is a long conversation between two people on a date.
On both Friday and Saturday the event settled at the Inkonst HQ where we at Stereoklang took the opportunity to talk to some of the artists backstage. First off was the US electro / techno pioneers AUX 88.
AUX 88 is composed of Tom Tom (Tommy Hamilton) and Keith Tucker. The group was originally formed as “RX-7” in 1985. The Detroit based electro-techno pioneers have been pushing Motor City-influenced breakbeat electro-funk for almost two decades and we wanted to hear all about their techno roots and love of Kraftwerk.
AUDIO INTERVIEW:
Later that same night we sat down with Jasss to talk techno, DJ-ing and her latest material and what really makes a good mix tape.
Until recently DJ sets from Silvia Jimenez flew under the radar. She typically chooses to remain on the fringes of what is considered to be conventional dance floor sounds, despite working within a club environment. Since the publication of her debut album she has deservedly received increased media attention, and it is no wonder: “Weightless”, released on Swedish label Ideal Recordings, was an extraordinary first album. As with her sets, it impresses with its surreptitious textures and its multitude of small but important nuances. It sits perfectly in the experimental electronic realm but also incorporates elements of free jazz, African rhythm, ambient pop and industrial bursts, among other influences.
AUDIO INTERVIEW:
But AUX 88 and Jasss is merely a fraction of all the good stuff that was happening during the four days and to really get the sense of it the magnitude below is the full line up, some snaps as well as an exclusive interview with Ulf Eriksson the grand master behind the whole event providing a deep dive into the past, present and future of Intonal and Inkonst.
Intonal started off five years ago and the first event wasn’t a smooth ride, chaos rather as Ulf and the team only had 3-4 months to put the show together, but with loads of help from Unsound and CTM they managed to get the bookings and the venue in place on time.
“When we came back from the CTM event with did not have a name for the festival, and with conducted crises meetings, one after the other. The name Intonal basically came to us when we were out buying milk. CTM and Unsound were paramount to get the first event in place, today we have the network and structure in place to be self-sufficient.”
What was the reason for starting it from the beginning:
“For us it was a natural progression of the ideas and concept behind Inkonst and if you want to host acts that are experimental, innovative and niche orientated a festival is much more appropriate. If we were to book any of these acts on their own a regular Friday only 50 people would show up, now we get hundreds.”
And the concept as such:
“To present contemporary music and expressive arts that covers everything from the club format, to the more academic, electro acoustic and experimental that we do in collaboration with IAC (Inter Art Center). Create a place where all things come together and where people who normally just listen to one type of music will experience something new and enjoy it. And for this year we have broaden the concept even more by putting more focus also on performing arts, i.e. Hans Appelqvist.”
Are there any connections to the Berlin hosted event Atonal:
“Naming wise one would think so, but in fact there are very few if any connections. Of course we do share some artists, but in general our event is much more diverse and colorful, while Atonal (somewhat due to the venue) focus more on techno and the dark heavy beats.”
What role does Intonal play on the Nordic / Scandinavian music scene:
“I would say quite a big role and it is growing year on year. All the Nordic countries are engage in the alternative and creative music scene for example Inkonst and Intonal are now part of a pulse collaboration (Pulssamarbete) which is a network between Nordic organizers and we have also started another collaboration for Nordic festivals called Upnode. Malmö continues to be in the forefront when it comes to moving in new directions, like if you compare with Stockholm that is more trend sensitive. They will not do the things we do until it is trendy and by then we would be looking at something else.”
Looking at the future Ulf believes that there will be a good chance that Intonal would be more present on the international arena and curating events in other countries and by doing so also be a promotor of Scandinavian music and artists.
FULL LINE UP 2019
AUX88
Jah Shaka Official
DJ Marcelle
MCZO & Duke
Oliver Coates
JASSS
Ikonika
Burnt Friedman & Mohammad Reza Mortazavi – Yek
Sebastian Mullaert & Johanna Knutsson: Sleeping concert (World premiere, separate ticket)
Erik Enocksson & Kali Malone with St. Johannes Church Choir & The Vega Choir “In Praise of Profanation” (World premiere)
Hans Appelqvist “Have you ever seen Visitor Q?” (World premiere)
KATE NV & Sasha Kulak “Tragically normal” (World premiere)
Total Leatherette (World premiere)
Wacław Zimpel
Apartment House plays Julius Eastman’s Femenine
O Yuki Conjugate
Ilpo Väisänen Ilpo Vaesaenen,I-LP-O IN DUB
Limpe Fuchs
Clara! y Maoupa
Vanligt Folk
Astrid Sonne “Ephemeral”
Falaises
Line Katcho “Immortelle”
Zeno van den Broek “Breach”
Rivet
Jimi Tenor official
Milan W.
Resina
Vul Vulpes
Chillera
Sansibar
Joana’s hair
Noise Against Fascism
Mod Sens
Golden Ivy
So&Such (club)
Red Light Radio
Chris Michael (DJ)
kliin (DJ)
Alleycat Anthem (DJ)
Kali (DJ)
Funeral Fog Records/Jurko Haltuu (DJ)
Intonal All Stars (DJs)
Acousmatic concerts:
Hertz, Nguyễn Thanh Thủy, Lisa Stenberg, Stefan Östersjö, Dante Tanzi- Carte blanche, Guiseppe Pisano & Mads Kjeldgaard
Talks:
Lisa Blanning talks to DJ Marcelle
Lisa Blanning talks to AUX88
Performances:
Bombina Bombast “#thelmatoo” (separate ticket)
Antonio Branco & Riccardo T. “Gaze Dialogue”
Fördärvet
For kids:
Play-workshop with Limpe Fuchs
Baby Rave with DJs Sona & Rasmus Alkestrand
Installations:
Tony Cokes (several installations)
Oswaldo Maciá “The Opera of Cross-pollination”
Konstmusiksystrar invites you to The Room of Chance!
Malin Lin Nordström “Terra Incognita”