OFF Festival: The Walkmen to Curate the Experimental Stage

The legendary New York act The Walkmen will take over the Experimental Stage for one day at the OFF Festival. The lineup will feature Thee Oh Sees, Sam Amidon, Veronica Falls, and more.

OFF Festival: The Walkmen to Curate the Experimental Stage Photo by OFF Festival

Fans of the OFF Festival have already known for a while that The Walkmen, one of the most outstanding and underrated indie rock bands in the US, will be performing at this year's edition of the festival. Now we’re thrilled to announce that the group will also be serving as curators of the Experimental Stage, which will feature such acts as Thee Oh Sees and a DJ set by Austra (who will also be playing a full performance elsewhere!).

Here’s a full list of guests chosen by The Walkmen for their day at the Experimental Stage:

John Grant
This former frontman for the legendary band The Czars stepped out back out of the shadows in 2010 with his stirring solo debut, Queen of Denmark. "Like a couple of similarly intense classics before it - Antony & The Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now and Bon Iver's For Emma..., Queen of Denmark sounds like a record its creator has been waiting his whole life to make," raved the British music magazine Mojo, which rated Grant’s album number one in 2010. A few months ago, the artist came back with a new, equally moving, delicate, and beautiful record, Pale Green Ghosts, which features a guest vocal appearance by Sinead O’Connor along with a bunch of new electronic sounds.

Sam Amidon
Whether he's singing Mariah Carey or Tears for Fears, every note that comes out of Sam Amidon is heavy with melancholy and loneliness, as one would expect from an small-town American ballad writer. And yet the artist evades attempts at simple and unambiguous pigeonholing. His latest album, Bright Sunny South, at once his first on Nonesuch Records, also includes hints of jazz or even avant-garde music, making Sam one of today’s most original singer-songwriters.

Cass McCombs
This California native has spent most of his life on the road, performing his music anywhere with anyone willing to listen, from big-name festivals to home concerts. His only admitted inspirations are The Beatles and American folk, but his music reveals the influence of later sounds, mainly the kind you'd hear coming out of East Coast basements and garages in the 80s. His 2011 release Humor Risk is his sixth and last album to date, but there’s a good chance he'll show up in Katowice with some new material.

Veronica Falls
Dead simple guitar riffs, a tarnished sound, and vocal harmonies: the British band Veronica Falls play music that went out of style so long ago that it's cool again. They debuted a mere two years ago with a successful eponymous album, and now the UK music press is raving about their follow-up, Waiting for Something to Happen, produced by Rory Attwell (The Vaccines, Male Bonding). Their energetic yet stylish live shows get even better reviews.

How How
A Warsaw act that plays improvised electro-acoustic music in a way that can even be appreciated by ears unaccustomed to the avant-garde. Released this year, their second album, Knick-Knack, is at once atmospheric and amorphous, but don't be surprised if their live show is nothing like the record?

All acts so far
A Band Of Buriers, Buke And Gase, AlunaGeorge, Austra, Bisz/B.O.K Band, Blondes, Bohren Und Der Club Of Gore, Brutal Truth, Chelsea Wolfe, Circle, Deerhunter, Drekoty, Fatima Al Qadiri, Frozen Bird, Fucked Up, Furia, Girls Against Boys, Goat, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gówno, Guardian Alien, Hera, Hokei, Japandroids, Jens Lekman, John Talabot - Live, Julia Holter, KTL, Labyrinth Ear, Laurel Halo, Magnificent Muttley, Merchandise, Metz, Micachu, Mikal Cronin, Molesta Ewenement, My Bloody Valentine, Mykki Blanco, Nathalie And The Loners, Nite Jewel And Peanut Butter Wolf, Patrick Wolf, Piotr Kurek, Rebeka, Shackleton, Skalpel, Solange, Super Girl & Romantic Boys, The Haxan Cloak, The Pop Group, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Walkmen, Thee Oh Sees, Très.B, Woods, UL/KR, Zbigniew Wodecki with Mitch & Mitch Orchestra and Choir, Zeni Geva, John Grant, Sam Amidon, Cass McCombs, Veronica Falls, How How

Tickets
Tickets are now available at the OFF Shop at the official festival website, as well as at Ticketpro.pl, ebilet.pl and Empik stores in Poland, and internationally at seetickets.com and festicket.com.

Three Day Pass no camping: 150 zl / 36 Euro
Three Day Pass with camping: 190 zl / 46 Euro

All four day passes  are sold out.

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