Before Laneway unveiled their pant-wetting 2011 lineup, organizers coyly tipped their hand with a loving but seemingly innocuous blog post which asked whether LA was the new Brooklyn. In that piece they profiled West Coast acts such as Ariel Pink and Warpaint, both of whom were later announced, while stoking the Oz music rumour mill with the assumption that if you would champion an act you’d also probably book them.
Their blog has remained fairly inactive since but with recent album reviews of Cut Off Your Hands, Washed Out, Cults, Thurston Moore, Battles, Bon Iver and Wild Beasts, we’re wondering whether team Laneway are hinting at possible inclusions for 2012. Recent Splendour performers Wild Beasts seem unlikely but every other act reviewed fits both the aesthetic and timing of the festival. Also, Australia’s favourite anonymous whistle blower Miss Info seems to think Thurston Moore is a Laneway lock. Maybe there’s something in that? More clues lie in the stages Laneway have curated this year for Austin’s SXSW and London’s Field Day. Organizers loved James Woon, Mount Kimbie and Twin Shadow enough to book them for both and also gave berths to Givers, Cloud Nothings, Royal Bangs, Foster The People, Cloud Control, The Holidays, Hanni El Khatib, The Jezabels, Connan Mockasin, James Blake, Matthew Dear, The History of Apple Pie, The Horrors.
Make of that what you will. Let the speculation begin!
Here’s what happened last year….
