The 22nd edition of Primavera Sound brings back the format of a weekend based in Barcelona, and even so the music on offer is once again overflowing. Each artist, each band is important, but also the sum of them all. It is therefore just as stimulating to closely scrutinise every detail and particularity of this heterogeneous and inclusive line-up as it is to take a couple of steps back and get a bit of perspective. Zoom in, zoom out. But haven’t we agreed that this lineup is a gift? Well, let’s unwrap the 5 artists you shouldn’t miss from the 29th of May to the 2nd of June at Primavera Sound Barcelona 2024.
1. CHELSEA WOLFE
Where to start? With the album Pain Is Beauty, whose title contains the very essence of their sonic aesthetic.
What you should know: To put on a Chelsea Wolfe record is to begin a journey through a wasteland of doom folk and extreme metal, guided by a voice that, rather than distorting like a guttural gargoyle, possesses an emotive depth that looks the elite contemporary female singer-songwriters straight in the eyes. You’ll be scared, but you won’t want to leave.
What you don’t necessarily need to know, but it’s cool: In recent years she has broadened the horizons of her discography, releasing a joint album with Converge and composing, alongside Tyler Bates, the soundtrack for X, one of the recent horror film sensations.
Why is she at Primavera Sound? Because every festival needs an akelarre.
You will like her if you like… Opening your wounds, Anna von Hausswolff, The Lords of Salem, Myrkur.
2. ETHEL CAIN
Where to start? With American Teenager, the opening song on her debut album, Preacher’s Daughter, released in 2022. With its Springsteenian touches and Taylor Swift-like narrative, is the path to take to descend into the depths of Ethel Cain.
What you should know: After an EP that positioned her as a new voice of American pop with gothic reminiscences, Ethel Cain doubled her bet with Preacher’s Daughter, a work that moves between autobiography, American literary tradition and religious terror, between dream pop, slowcore and gothic rock, constantly blurring the barriers between one and the other.
What you don’t necessarily need to know, but it’s cool: In 2018, Ethel Cain queued for over 24 hours to be in the front row of a Florence + The Machine concert, and this photo was taken there. Just four years later, Ethel opened for Florence during her tour and got to sing a duet with her, this time not by chance, in an almost identical picture.
Why is she at Primavera Sound? Because the nearly eight minutes of A House In Nebraska live could be life changing.
You’ll like her if you like… Lana del Rey, Florence + The Machine, albums that tell not necessarily happy stories and pop stars who end up being so almost despite themselves.
3. BRUTUS
Where to start? Unison Life, the hardcore album that Dolores O’Riordan would have made.
What you should know: This trio from Leuven has been earning the role of infallible mediator for almost ten years now: at their concerts, fans of punk, post-rock, theatrical rock, metal, progressive hardcore and whatever else come thogether. Stefanie Mannaerts, Stijn Vanhoegaerden and Peter Mulders are the calm and the storm, depending on which part of the song you catch.
What you don’t necessarily need to know, but it’s cool: The influences that the three members cite in interviews, sometimes for the same song, seem to contradict each other: Bruce Springsteen, The Weekndand Slayer, for example. And yet, it is this crazy contrast that make them interesting.
Why are they at Primavera Sound? Because when we organised their volcanic tour in venues it was crystal clear to us and to our audience that: whenever we can see them on stage, we will.
You’ll like them if you like… Refused, Sinéad O’Connor when she got angry and when she calmed down, Deftones, the Scottish Shower.
4. THE ARMED
Where to start? the Armed multiverse has so many worlds that it’s best to start with the latest, Perfect Savior: a hyperbolic and noisy parody of stadium rock. But is it a parody?
What you should know: the Armed are trolls whose main aim in life is to shock. To alarm. And to stun you. The latest meta-act of hooliganism of this bewildering creative cell from Detroit is to make a kind of commercial rock (actually, it’s an extreme romantic, glam-noise or fluorescent-coloured hardcore song) as if they had made it big.
What you don’t necessarily need to know, but it’s cool: Until the summer of 2023 when frontman Tony Wolski decided to come clean and tell the real story of the band (for those who wanted to believe him), the Armed were an anonymous collective that messed with the press and fans by sending actors to interviews, faking promotional photos and using made-up names.
Why are they at Primavera Sound? Because it’s the closest we’ll ever get to programming Spinal Tap.
You’ll like them if you like… Bob Log III, exaggeration before restraint, Andy Kaufman, situationism, Jello Biafra.
5. SCOWL
Where to start? Wherever you want, except for their remix of Psychic Dance Routine with Nuovo Testamento. You’ll think they’re a Eurodance band, and nothing could be further from the truth.
What you should know: That they have an incendiary live set, as the lucky ones who crowded into Razzmatazz 3 for their recent sold-out show in Barcelona can verify.
What you don’t necessarily need to know, but it’s cool: Brooklyn Vegan asked the members of the Californian band for their favourite albums of the past year and they came up with things as diverse as Chubby and the Gang (The Mutt’s Nuts), Lana del Rey (Chemtrails…), Turnstile (Glow On), Billie Eilish (the band leader’s favourite singer), Iceage (Seek Shelter) and the latest from Dinosaur Jr. Cool playlist, right?
Why are they at Primavera Sound? Because their singer, Kat Moss, said that their main goal is to play live, as much as they can. And there is no better stage to do it on than at the Parc del Fòrum, they had to be invited.
You’ll like them if you like… Messing around, phosphorescent wigs, 21st century hardcore, 20th century pogos, songs of a minute and a half maximum.
