indi.ca

I say, the Electric Peacock Festival is today. They’re organizing a very cool live music event in Mount Lavinia with actual international DJ Roger Sanchez and bands like the Duke Spirit and Trophy Wife. Plus Sri Lanka/British BBC DJ Nihal. It should be extra cool, though it is also rather expensive at Rs. 6,500. These are actual international acts though, and not saccharine like Sean Paul or pickled like Englebert Humperdink (the usual acts we get). I’ve written about the show at The Sunday Leader, all that’s changed is that it’s no longer in Negombo it’s in Mount Lavinia, so essentially in Colombo. It should be pretty cool and it starts tonight at 6:30 PM, going on till the morning. There’s more info on their website.

As for the bands, this is what I had to say in the Leader

The Duke Spirit: This is a band band. On the recording you can hear depth, guitar fuzz, human drums, plucked bass, and how it all comes together. Led by a leggy blonde backed by hairy men in tight pants they are a rock band above all else. The sound is pure instrumentation, more peacock than electric. (myspace.com/thedukespirit)

Trophy Wife: This is one on the more emo (emotional) end of the rock spectrum. Here, the same instruments (guitar, bass drums) are more ethereal and — though they would shudder at the comparison, Coldplay-eque. This type of music is danceable, but without the fuzz and rough edges of bands like The Duke Spirit.

Covert Boom: Putting the guitars down, Covert Boom begins the line-up of DJs. This London based electronic act combines everything from hip-hop to electronic in a rough but still beat driven mix. Some tracks on their MySpace mix rapper Jay-Z with drums and bass, among other things.

Funk Royale Soundsystem: Also DJs, this act, however, is more organic than covert boom. Despite using samples, the sound they seem to emulate is 1970s era funk, bass-driven, lyrically loose and eminently danceable.

Roger Sanchez came on at the last minute, but is probably the biggest act of all.