CHART ANALYSIS: At the ESNS Festival, the Music Moves Europe Artist Chart comes alive

Remember last year’s ESNS Festival in Groningen? It seems like ages ago when we were shaking hands with the rest of the music industry, ate the typical egg balls and enjoyed live music in packed venues…

With hindsight, we were able to see a lot of talented live acts, which are now at the top of the Music Moves Europe Artist Chart. At the festival, there were performances of British indie-pop singer Alfie Templeman (currently #5), Belgian R’n’B act Lous & The Yazuka (#11), British soulful singer-songwriter Arlo Parks (#12) and Norwegian pop singer Emma Steinbakken (#15). Besides these, there were also live shows of British soul-pop singer Celeste, British singer-songwriter Tom Gregory, Irish indie rock band Inhaler, British dance-pop singer Georgia, Italian dance hitmakers Meduza, and British indie rock live sensations Black Midi, Working Men’s Club and Dry Cleaning, to name a few.

If we have a look at the already announced hundred or so names for the upcoming ESNS Festival, there are already two acts which appear in the Music Moves Europe Artist Chart: Italian indie-pop singer Julia Bardo at #48 and Dutch beach pop act Goldkimono at #63. Besides those, also Icelandic Eurovision Song contest candidate Daði Freyr, Swedish pop hitmaker Nea and Dutch psych-rock band Altin Gün will perform at this virtual edition. And on a positive note, at a virtual festival, you’ll never have the possibility that the queue outside the venue is too long…

While last month has been great for British dance singer Romy (now rising to #13), Spanish dance producer HVME (#17) and mysterious British soul act Sault (#20), we may welcome no less than ten newcomers this month. From dance to art rock to hip hop from six different countries of origin. Highest of these ten new entries is Irish producer Shane Codd, whose Get Out Of My Head (Universal) is a radio hit in the UK, and besides that enjoys airplay in Estonia and Macedonia.

Also, new at #68 is Manchester-based singer-songwriter Jack Curley. His song I’m Here For You (Warner) is an airplay hit in Germany, Finland and Croatia. One notch lower, we welcome OIEE, the electronic project from Hungarian Bence Kocsis: his track Drown, out on indie label Banding, is popular in Lithuania and Poland. And at #77 we find British producer Teisha Matthews, known under her artist name Tsha. Several tracks from her Flowers EP (Ninja Tune) are well received in dance shows all across Europe.

Lokoy is the artist name of bass player Lasse Lokøy of Norwegian punk band Sløtface, in at #79. His single Both Eyes (Propeller) is more rhythmic and poppy than you would expect, knowing his background. It is making waves in Northern Europe. We find another exotic act name at #80: KUU is a new Balearic dance project of British producers Alex Metric and Riton, together with Zimbabwean singer Shungudzo. Their track How Could I Ever (Warner) is doing well in Belgium, Poland and Sweden.

Then two spoken word artists arrive. At #84, Irish poet and performer Sinead O Brien mixes spoken word with art-rock as she demonstrated already at the ESNS festival in January. Her song Most Modern Painting (Chess Club) reaches the UK, but also several other European countries as far away as Switzerland, Portugal and Slovakia. And at #87 German art-rock singer Albertine Sarges uses the parlando technique on Free Today (Moshi Moshi), a big hit on British radio station BBC 6 Music.

Finally, Belgian rapper Green Montana finds success at #94 with Tout Gâcher (Universal) in the French-speaking countries, where they know that title translates to ’ruin everything’. And the new entry at #100 is from British pop singer Griff. She now gets noticed in Northern Europe with songs like 1,000,000 X Better (Warner), which she wrote with acclaimed British pop act Honne. If you were in Groningen earlier this year, you might have seen her live performance…