Lowlands F
estival, Holland
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omecoming
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Fine full-flavoured funk
We travel to Holland’s answer to Glastonbury to find out why Dutch breaks
funkateers Kraak & Smaak are a name on many lips…
K
raak & Smaak are up against game that make Lowlands the so-called Indeed, by the time the gig finishes with to do interviews with websites, TV crews
some tough competition. ‘Dutch answer to Glastonbury?’ the soulful belter ‘Keep Me Home’, or for ‘meet and greets’ with the fans.
Not from N*E*R*D on the Well, the answer is thousands of them, following an hour that has taken in the Ironic really, given that the lyrics to
main stage or any of the enough to pack the second biggest tent at deep house groove of ‘California Roll’ and ‘Plastic People’, written by Moloko’s Mark
other bands and DJs with the festival to bursting point and with hip-hop bangers like ‘Money In The Bag’, Brydon, are about the fake smiles of some
whom they clash at the Lowlands festival, hundreds more surrounding it craning to which sees MC Seb bounding around the of those within the music industry
but from the sun beaming down on this get a glimpse inside. stage like a wallaby, the whole tent is a machine.
beautiful site in Holland. After all, how And however hot the heat outside it’s sea of smiling, sweaty faces. “It’s about some of the people you meet
many people want to spend their time in a nothing compared to the levels the Although none are quite as smiley — or as on tour who’ve never spoken to you
dark, stuffy tent when they could be temperature soars to in here from the very sweaty — as those of Wim Plug, Mark before but now, after you’ve been on TV,
lounging on the grass, soaking up the moment singer Rose opens her mouth to Kneppers and Oscar de Jong, the three suddenly seem to like you very much!”
sunshine and all the strange sights like begin ‘Bobby and Whitney’, the lead track producers at the core of Kraak & Smaak Oscar explains. “But it’s nice because we
the neon-sprayed rave buggy, parade of from Kraak & Smaak’s second album who are grinning like guys who know didn’t want to stay underground forever.”
trolls and enormous open-air ‘Tetris’ ‘Plastic People’. they’ve just played one of the best gigs of
their lives. It’s in the Dutch underground that Kraak
“This was a very special gig for us because & Smaak began life, when Mark and Wim
Lowlands is the most important festival in were DJs in Leiden playing breakbeat and
Holland,” says Wim an hour or so after house. A yearning to get into production
they’ve had a chance to calm down. led them to hook up with Oscar for some
“Every Dutch band wants to play here. I’ve initial sessions, which resulted in 2006’s
been here before but never as a performer ‘Boogie Angst’ album, whose blend of
and this was fantastic. It was a really jazz, soul and funky breaks seemed to
memorable show and it could be a really foreshadow the current funk revivalism of
big breakthrough for us in Holland.” Mark Ronson, et al.
“If we’d released it now it would have
Kraak & Smaak have already made some fitted in perfectly but we were just ahead
pretty big cracks in their homeland’s of our time!” laughs Oscar. “I think part of
consciousness though. They are, after all, the reason ‘Squeeze Me’ was a hit was
the proud owners of a No.5 single in the because of this whole funk revival, and
Dutch charts in the form of ‘Squeeze Me’, funk is still the main ingredient in
their funky summer smash featuring the everything we do, but the rest of the
vocals of Brit soul boy Ben Westbeech. ‘Plastic People’ album is much more
And even though they say they don’t feel electronic.”
like pop stars they’ve certainly got the
same tightly packed schedules, with But as things have got more wired up in
DJmag’s chat constantly interrupted as the studio Kraak & Smaak have also been
various members of the band are led off developing their live show into something
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DJ467.AAA_Kraak & Smaak.Proofed PICS.indd 162 7/10/08 16:10:51
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