British trip hop band Morcheeba announced on 28 March that they will be headlining London’s South Facing festival on 14 August, performing alongside musical outfit ‘Unkle’ founded by James Lavelle, and special guest DJ shadow. The Festival takes place t Crystal Palace Bowl over multiple dates with several shows of various genres and notable artists, past performers including the likes of London Grammar, Becky Hill and the English National Opera. Their involvement was announced in an Instagram post with comments from fans across the world excited for the event and wishing for the line-up to be brought outside the UK.
The popular genre-mixing band have been blending electronic influence with trip hop psychedelic rock, blues and pop since 1995 when vocalist Skye Edwards and brothers Paul and Ross Godfrey formed the band. Since their debut album in 1996 ‘Who Can You Trust’, The band have released 10 albums and produced soundtracks for legendary Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh. The band’s musical innovation has been evident throughout their discography with tracks ‘Blaze Away’ and ‘Mezcal Dream’ from the album ‘Blaze Away’ showing their 90s psychedelic rock influences in an album released in 2018. Whilst 2021 album ‘Blackest Blue’ combines trip hop, dance and blues sounds. The band released their first single since 2021 in January this year, titled ‘Call for love’. The track has relaxed reverb and emotional electrics which has left fans anticipating their upcoming May album.
The festival will commence after the release of Morcheeba’s album ‘Escape the chaos’ on May 23 which commemorates the band’s 30 year anniversary. UNKLE, who will join them at this event have been touring their Rōnin Live show around the UK throughout 2024 and will bring this to the South Facing festival in August. Their experimental alternative rock trip hop performance is electrifying and produces an undeniable energy which will transform the Crystal Palace Park at this festival which has hosted huge names such as hip hop band The Roots and 60s soul and R&B icons The Originals. Rapper and record producer Skepta has also announced this month that his festival ‘Big Smoke’ will be held here on August 9.
Lavelle explains in an interview with xsnoise his goal with the Rōnin tour, stating that ‘The project started as a DJ-based performance and we aimed to push the limits of what we thought DJing was at the time, incorporating visual elements along with the music. We want people to dance, celebrate and have a great time.’ This is clear by fans’ sharing of the performance on social media.
#UNKLE / @frontonmexicoce / Rōnin pic.twitter.com/oC5TbcTCLA
— Prissssss (@prismejia_) September 24, 2023
It will be exciting to see how the two artists’ musical style will pair together and create a sensational atmosphere at the festival, especially with the inclusion of special guest DJ Shadow who rose to fame in 1996 with his iconic album ‘Endtroducing’ which has since been sampled by several notable names from Metallica to Bjork.
This iconic line up is exciting for any trip hop fan and the blend of these prominent names in the scene will make a show to remember.
