Sugar Mountain is returning after a break in 2014 with its best lineup yet. It's taking to the Victorian College Of The Arts with a lineup headed up by hip-hop superstar Nas and featuring interns favourites How To Dress Well and ODESZA.
With a lineup as good as this one is, it's inevitable that there are going to be clashes. Being that noble servicemen that we are, we've decided to make the tricky decisions for you and lead you through your Sugar Mountain day.
Banoffee
12:40 - 1:20pm, Car Park
We know the strong will that is required to arrive at a music festival on time. You always start the day with the best intentions of seeing every single one of your favourite acts but as another drink top gets popped, another drinking game gets announced and another, better festival outfit comes to mind, the importance of what used to be your #1 must-see act of the day slowly slips down the ladder. Don’t let this happen to you.
Banoffee is a strong contender on the Sugar Mountain lineup with an alias as saccharine sweet as the festival’s name. Don’t let the name fool you, however. Also known as Martha Brown, this Melbourne gal mashes together manipulated vocals and delicate electronica with R&B stylings, all while looking perfect and poised behind her keyboard and mic.
Iceage
1:00 - 1:40pm, Dodds Street
It's probably best to come to Sugar Mountain in a terrible mood and ride the moods of the day. You'll no doubt end on a high but Iceage are a band that require you to be in a broody, intent mood. Their third album, Plowing Into The Field Of Love, is stylistically their best yet and sees them take a slightly softer, country-born aesthetic. Expect the same level of intensity live, though. This band knows how to pick one person, stare at them and send shivers down their spine. It may be a little much for 1pm but give it until 1.30pm and you'll forget that the sun was ever shining.
BREAK
Take some time to see Leif Podhajsky’s artworks. He's made album covers for Tame Impala, Lykke Li, Foals just to name a few. They're entrancing, psychedelic works that will be pretty amazing to see in real life (IRL).
How To Dress Well
2:40 - 3:20pm, Car Park
If you're following the mood wave of Sugar Mountain properly, it's probably best you bring your tissues for this one. How To Dress Well, known to his mother as Tom Krell, released one of the most heartbreakingly, beautiful albums of last year (and placed third in our top albums of 2014). His voice could cut through ice when he hits that falsetto and his textured instrumentals are cinematic and expansive. You'll watch on awe-struck particularly when the music drops out in Face Again when the instruments drop out and you’re left with his solitary voice. This has the potential to be the set you'll be talking about for the rest of the day.
The 2 Bears
3:40 - 5:10pm, Car Park
When you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise. But now we’ve told you it won’t be so much of a surprise anymore, will it? The 2 Bears are a London-based outfit comprised of Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard and DJ/producer Raf Rundell. Expertly combining the stylings of hip-hop, house and soul, these two released their groove-infused second album, The Night Is Young, at the tail-end of last year. Shake off your post-How To Dress Well sadness and put on your dancing shoes, as the British duo’s set officially signals the beginning of the dance portion of your Sugar Mountain timetable.
Oscar Key Sung x Cassius Select
5:00 - 5:40pm, The Theatre
Oscar Key Sung is kind of a Melbourne legend now. If you live in Melbourne and you haven't seen him live it probably means you haven't left the house in two years. In that case, we strongly recommend you leave it for Sugar Mountain. Oscar Key Sung and Cassius Select will showcase a rare live collaboration at Sugar Mountain, bringing together Oscar's voice of velvet with Cassius Select's jittery, rhythm-induced beats. If you feel like you've seen the pair together before, it's probably because you have. They are two-thirds of Black Vanilla with Marcus Whale of Collarbones completing the trio.
Ariel Pink
6:00 - 6:40pm, Dodds Street
We wish we could tell you what to expect with Ariel Pink but we don't even think that he could tell you what to expect. Last time we saw him he was high (allegedly) and dressed in a cheerleaders outfit. His latest album Pom Pom is his best album in years and 2014 saw him collaborate with Azealia Banks and Madonna, but then apparently that was a lie. Lies and all, you'll see oddball Ariel Pink give a performance that is unlike any other on the day. He's got charisma that can't be replicated and we can't wait to hear what the new songs sound like live.
ODESZA
7:15 - 8:15pm, Car Park
This American duo has Aussies enamoured with their latest album, In Return. Their sideshows around the country are selling faster than selfie-sticks and Sugar Mountain may be your only ticket to seeing them live, plus you get the benefit of an amazing location. The sun will just be setting as ODESZA take to the stage which is perfect because In Return is a dusky opus of shimmering dance-pop tunes and electronic soundscapes. Their live set-up is pretty impressive too. We predict these guys will be enjoying the same kind of success as Disclosure over the next few years aka. they'll produce Mary J. Blige's next album.
Nas
8:55 - 10:00pm, Dodds Street
We saw Nas at Coachella (#humblebrag) and when he dropped the first few lines of N.Y. State of Mind we buried our feet into the ground and got down low. The energy for the entire performance was palpable as everybody bounced off each other like we were all in a small club in Brooklyn. It's pretty special for Australia to get a hip-hop legend like Nas performing one of the genres most defining albums, Illmatic. Whether you grew up with the album or have absolutely no idea who Nas is, there's barely a change you'll leave this performance without wanting to revisit the album over and over again. Nas has found a true passion for this album once more and delivers it like his life depends on it. 20 years since its release and it doesn't sound a day old.
Sugar Mountain will be held at the Victorian College of the Arts on Saturday, 24th January. Tickets still available here.