Looking Back at 12 Points 2013

Our opening act of 2013 was one of great colour, creativity and sense of humour with Mopo, the multi-instrumentalist trio from Helsinki. Mopo kicked off the festival to an energetic start and their unique performance style influenced by jazz and 70s punk with some unconventional toy instruments have stolen the hearts of many audiences since they stole ours. Their latest album ‘Beibe’ deservedly won the Finnish Grammy for best Album in 2014. This group have preformed relentlessly over the past year including London’s Match & Fuse Festival, expanding their reputation for acoustic imagination.

Dublin’s own OKO, a typically electric quartet lead by guitarist Shane Latimer, graced our stage on day 2 with wide and cerebral sonic fields. Since we’ve seen them, OKO have been winning over audiences with their 2014 debut album ‘I Love you Computer Mountain.’ In more recent news, this experimental crowd begin their OKO & Tim Berne tour in early March 2016. Here OKO take the stage with the legendary Tim Berne improvising on skeletal compositions and drawing from a range of influences such as drum ‘n’ bass, hip-hop, dubstep, vintage TV shows, free jazz and IDM.

The remarkable Beats & Pieces Big Band, originally based in Manchester have been all over since their performance at 12 Points 2013. Led by composer Ben Cottrell, they have since received airplay on BBC Radio 2, Radio 3 and 6 music as well as awards such as Ensemble of the year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Radically modernizing big band traditions, Beats and Pieces are playing several eventsin March from Germany to the Czech republic to Poland and Austria, returning to the UK in June 2016. Their second album ‘All In’ is titled with the confidence it has earned receiving glowing reviews.

On the glorious day four, Dutch based ferocious trio Cactus Truck took the stage in Dublin. The ballsy, bar-clearing trio filtered the fainthearted from the brave in this free wave, no wave ambush of brilliant musicality. In February last year we were delighted to hear the release of the band’s suitably titled album ‘Seizures Palace,’ which surpassed our high expectations. Along with this news, recently Cactus Truck’s John Dikeman has taken on another project, the Dikeman, Parker, Drake trio. Their album ‘Live at Resistenza’ has been described as a ”supremely musical date and almost as exhilarating on record as it must have been live” and “a real endeavor for the heart and soul.” With the trio currently planning their 2016 tour, these are ones to watch out for.

This is only a small portion of the mass of talent from 12 Points 2013. For news on the other artists that played that year, visit our artist page.