BLUE CRIME

Gigs in summer do something to people's brains. They seem to warp space, alter expectations. And there was a loose, maybe bacchanalian atmosphere hanging over the shiny de Nobel on the night. Normal preparations had been thrown a curve ball earlier in the evening when King Ayisoba, resplendent in a pair of massive, painted clogs had clumped up to the backroom staff and demanded a bowl of hot water "for food". (And as Ayisoba IS a king, there's no arguing the toss). Whatever went into that bowl remained a mystery, but its pungent aroma permeated the atmosphere backstage.

Musically this was as wide a clash as AA had mananged to assemble. Glitchcore, new wave and Ghanaian rhythms.

(...)

Then a change of scene ENTIRELY with Blue Crime. We'd seen them on the Nacht van Kunst en Wetenschap in Groningen (albeit in the basement of a hipster-ponce burger bar)and were struck by their elegant (and probably unwitting) live take on a whole heap of 70s underground things, such as Amon Duul II's more hippy releases, (Carnival in Babylon, Wolf City), Marianne Faithful, Patti Smith and a wee bit of Kid Strange. Their (doubtless unwitting) Star Wars stealing La Dusseldorf's white clothing gambit certainly made more sense on AA's high stage, they were out to make a statement. One thing is immediately noticeable; they can play in a way that many Dutch bands don't; they have this (maybe nascent) grandeur about their music. They like space in their tracks, demand you listen, and don't seem to want to apologise for their presence. They hold their instruments as if they Know They Are In A Band. I really like that; a mix of Quo's ponytailed menace and the Sun King's chamber orchestra on a quiet, post-Baroque bender. The only thing needed was a bit of pace, some sharper, grittier, scraping textures and, well, dirt in the middle of the set. They've got to be careful of making every melody line a nuanced, or clever one; especially if they pile one mid-paced track on top of the other. The last track - when they rocked out and blasted everyone with a white hot canister of noise - was brilliant. If that kind of noise was propelling, or at least counterbalancing the whole set and not just acting out a role as a concluding crash, they'd be on a launchpad to somewhere very interesting indeed. - Incendiary Magazine / By Richard James Foster

The Meduse MagiQ crew has been on a tip as of late. Led by Bird on the Wire’s Rosa Ronsdorf and Blue Crime’s Alexandra Duvekot, the Amsterdam-based collective of musicians and artists alike have been honing their craft at their own parties at local squat Vrankrijk, venturing out ever so often to deliver mind-melting injections of shimmering dream-pop and sinuous psych to the rest of the city. Just the other day, Blue Crime took to De Nieuwe Anita in support of Italians Be Forest, outshining the latter – in dress and sound – for what was perhaps one of the best local performances of the year. Previously relying on little more than their live shows and a bandcamp demo, the foursome have finally rectified the lack of sample material with “The Whore”, its accompanying collection of chalky, conjoined limbs, and the promise of a new EP. - Subbacultcha