Tallinn Music Week
Tallinn, Estonia | 27-29 March
Most people’s knowledge of Estonian acts probably stretches to someone they once saw on Eurovision. But as the UK’s entries to that fabled pantomime will surely tell you, that’s got very little do with the range of artists plugging away in the country’s many venues.
Under Soviet rule until 1991, the majority of Western music was banned in Estonia up until the country achieved independence. A trip to the KGB museum during our time there informs us that the banned acts included Blondie, Talking Heads, Pink Floyd and a whole host of others you probably take for granted.
But with little rock ‘n’ roll past, Estonia’s is a country eagerly playing catch-up, spawning a hungry and eclectic scene, albeit one that has since heavily consumed a widespread selection of Western art. Inside the venues and bars that border cobbled streets lie a broad selection of musicians that are actively looking to make a wider mark, and Tallinn Music Week, with its hordes of media, potential managers and record label staff, might just help enable them to do so.
The opening day in the Estonian capital saw President Toomas Hendrik Ilves deliver an inspiring speech about the importance of freedom, before Pussy Riot hold an equally informative and passionate conference that helped draw focused media glare towards the three-day event.
It was in the evening that focus swung to the musical talent; in the ground floor room of an old town coffee house, one of the country’s brightest hopes Odd Hugo performed, having been heralded as one of the stand-out bands of last year’s event. It became clear within seconds why they had previously sent pulses racing; tight and with a keen ear for a melody, they have all the hallmarks of a band that wouldn’t be out of place on a middle-tiered slot on Later With Jools Holland. If The National serves as their backbone, then it comes flourished with extra dabs of brass and loose yet intricately played, jazz-inflected breakdowns and a bourbon splash of Tom Waits’ well worn spirit.
But while that may be a sign of the safe and traditional, there was also room for the exponents of more experimental fodder. Tucked away inside a three-floored, dilapidated warehouse on the outskirts of the city was a venue that played host to experimental electronica: the type that had plunged its teeth into the veins of Burial and Haxan Cloak.
In a dark basement where projections lined the walls, Blood Pavilion stood out as a highlight, adding a heavy dose of DnB rhythms to ensure an extra hard-hitting kick. On the ground level, Faun Racket offered a blend of post-dubstep pop that had much in common with the onetime highly championed electroclash act Fischerspooner: perhaps due to a theatrical edge funnelled through a postmodern filter.
The following act, Russian duo Perforated Cerebral Party, warmly embraced noise, firing out a thick wall of distortion and powerful laptop-propelled beats that resembled Nine Inch Nails at their most ferocious.
Holy Motors showed that the current obsession with shoegaze and psych is not just restrained to UK shores. Their closing set benefitted from an added splash that recalled Nick Cave and PJ Harvey at their most twisted, bringing a sophistication to their dark spirited noir rock.
The next day saw an equally varied and exciting blend of acts showcase their wares to a selection of locals and out of towners. The long and winding, comment heavy hip-hop of TOMM¥ €A$H offered further evidence that having something that separates you from everyone else within the tight-knit Estonian scene is one of the primary aims.
It was following this that we stumbled upon our finest discovery of the festival, the bewitching sounds of Vul Vulpes delighting the style-conscious Von Krahl bar audience. Armed with a laptop and a microphone, she creates a sometimes downbeat, Grimes-lite appropriation of electronic pop, partial to the odd RnB-inspired bassline, and with the potential to cross over to a more widespread European audience.
Not all of the acts on show in Tallinn are ready to make the leap outside of this small bubble quite yet, but there was ample evidence that Tallinn Music Week is playing a vital part in highlighting current Estonian talent, and is doubtless helping lay strong foundations for the country’s musical future.
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Words: Nathan Westley
Photos: Marike Bremet, Diana Pashkovich, Maris Savik, Tõnu Tunnel
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