Review: FILTER Magazine’s Culture Collide Festival

 GroundSounds would like to welcome a new face to the team, Zach Siegal-Eisman. Zach is the man in charge of Before The Bigs, a great blog that showcases some up-and-coming artists that are poised to break through. He will be contributing some show reviews, spotlights, and more. Check out his first post: a review of the Culture Collide Festival in LA.

 Late last week I caught Filter Magazine’s 4th Annual Culture Collide Festival. I went to days one and two of the three day festival and thoroughly enjoyed most of the acts I saw, although this year’s lineup didn’t have the same sexiness that previous lineups had, although Maya Vik is one sexy lead singer/guitarist! Read more below for reviews on the acts I enjoyed, which included: Maya Vik, Ghost Wave, Plastic Plates, Miami Horror (DJ Set + live band), Gemini Club and Mystery Skulls.

 I was going to write reviews of every band I saw but I didn’t enjoy every band and feel it’s better to not saying anything at all on them if I have nothing good to say.

 The first act I really enjoyed was Norwegian electro pop/R&B band Maya Vik. First of all, Maya Vik is one sexy guitarist/singer who has a bright future in the music industry, the keyboardist makes the most awesome faces when he performs and has some pipes and overall this is a fun band. I loved just about every act except maybe when they slowed things down and got all love sounding; maybe being a single guy with a couple guy friends I wasn’t digging it. Overall this is a must-watch band because they will be going places and getting their audience all hot and heavy, feeling DTD (Down To Dance). Watch videos for my favorite songs, “Bummer Gun” and “On It”.

 

 Next we went to the other part of Taix to see New Zealand’s Ghost Wave whose band name embodies their performance, ghostly looking dudes just standing there playing chillwave rock vibes. It wasn’t very impressive but if you closed your eyes and imagined yourself in some happy place, their chill yet upbeat rock vibes might be awesome. However Ghost Wave needs way more energy. I loved the instrumentals, hated the energy the band portrayed and the vocals left more to be desired since I expected the whole band to be singing along but it seemed like only a couple guys wanted to sing. This is a band that’s young and will get better (I hope); watch “Here She Comes” below.

 Next my buddies and I went over to The Echo to catch Australian DJ Plastic Plates set and he did not disappoint! He played a dance set that mixed in many of his remixes sprinkled in with some originals. I don’t vividly remember anything I liked from him because I was quite drunk but I remember that I loved all of it, so much fun! My two favorites though would be his Strange Talk “Cast Away” remix and his Van She remix to “Jamaica”. Stream them both below.

On Thursday, the last act I saw was a DJ set from members Miami Horror. I was quite tired so I don’t remember much of what they played however read lower down for a review on their band set.

 Friday started with a couple of forgettable performances followed up with seeing Gemini Club, Mystery Skulls and then Miami Horror.

 Chicago’s Gemini Club made upbeat indie electro dance pop which I love. The keyboardist and beat maker have an interesting style in which their instruments are faced at an angle towards the crowd, which I and several others I overheard say they’ve never seen before. This band has a bright future as their latest music video release was through Red Bull and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear them go on tour with some major acts in the near future. Watch the video to “Sparklers” and “By Your Side”.

 

 Next came Mystery Skulls, who will be a star. I kind of wanted to see him perform with a full band but after talking about it with a co-worker; we decided that would take away from his beat making which kind of takes away from his vocals. However the vocals and beat mix live is awesome to see and it’s good reason to understand why Mystery Skulls is signed to a major label. Stream my all-time favorite Mystery Skulls track, “Ghost”, below.

 Lastly came Miami Horror who were quite awesome in that they are a band that creates an indie dance vibe that everyone can love. The synths felt like they were glowing on their last song “Holidays” and overall I loved just about every song they performed, granted I was fairly drunk, but this is a band that will only get more popular like many other Australian acts that have that electro pop/dance vibe like Empire Of The Sun, Cut Copy and many more that we all love. Watch “Holidays” below.