Monday 17 August 2009
Last Night
My friend was ID'd for male bonding and lovvers gig so we got turned away. i could have cried, and worst of all i could hear the start of male bondings set and it sounded awesome. o well, gang gang dance on tuesday and talons on wednesday to look forward to.
Wednesday 12 August 2009
Festivals: a look back
It's been a long, lazy summmer for me and i got thinking back to its beginnings: Back in june I went to glastonbury. At the time i was really underwhelmed and pretty miserable as it was (exams/losing my wallet/sun stroke had got me down) but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Thinking back to that muddy week two performances really stood out for me
Animal Collective's set (on the Park Stage) was probably some of the best, most brilliant atmospheric music I've ever heard live. Before seeing them I wasn't incredibly keen on more than a few recorded songs and thought they were another pitchfork hype band. Boy did the prove me wrong.
Heres a video of the fifth song they played, the single "Summertime Clothes". The video I wanted to show you was a brilliant live version of set closer "Brother Sport", however the recording is very illusive.
Entire set to download.
Bon Iver's set at glastonbury "on the Other Stage) was really special. I'd never really given their album "for emma, forever ago" a good listen as it is a thoroughly slow singer-songwriter afair which i normally put down as "not my thing". However live this music is a totally different afair, the heart wrenching songs about love and loss seemed to cut through me like a knife, and the beautifully layered acoustic/folky music created such an amazing atmosphere.
One song really stuck out though: their brilliant finisher "The Wolves (act 1 and 2)": Here's a video of it and watch it all the way through if you don't know the song, it starts slow and ends in some kind of crazed shouting session that leaves people in tears.
Entire set to download.
Along the same lines I remembered all the good bands I saw at Dot to Dot in Nottingham (indoor many venue festival) and of course truck festival and so looked for some videos. Although there were no real amazing heads and shoulders above standouts like at glasto heres a couple of my favourites.
Patrick Wolf puts on a really great show and didn't disappoint at dot to dot, heres him playing "the libertine". At the time i said about him: His stage presence was over powering. His theatrics entertaining. His music, the pinical of alt. pop brilliance. THis culminates in a near perfect show.
Pulled apart by horses at truck (in the barn) was mental. Here's there final song and stand out CHOON "i punched a lion in the throat", its totally bodacious:
Tubelord at truck in the barn, this is a really shit recording i found randomly during night of the pencils by some idiot who seems to video everything. O WELL enjoy
Animal Collective's set (on the Park Stage) was probably some of the best, most brilliant atmospheric music I've ever heard live. Before seeing them I wasn't incredibly keen on more than a few recorded songs and thought they were another pitchfork hype band. Boy did the prove me wrong.
Heres a video of the fifth song they played, the single "Summertime Clothes". The video I wanted to show you was a brilliant live version of set closer "Brother Sport", however the recording is very illusive.
Entire set to download.
Bon Iver's set at glastonbury "on the Other Stage) was really special. I'd never really given their album "for emma, forever ago" a good listen as it is a thoroughly slow singer-songwriter afair which i normally put down as "not my thing". However live this music is a totally different afair, the heart wrenching songs about love and loss seemed to cut through me like a knife, and the beautifully layered acoustic/folky music created such an amazing atmosphere.
One song really stuck out though: their brilliant finisher "The Wolves (act 1 and 2)": Here's a video of it and watch it all the way through if you don't know the song, it starts slow and ends in some kind of crazed shouting session that leaves people in tears.
Entire set to download.
Along the same lines I remembered all the good bands I saw at Dot to Dot in Nottingham (indoor many venue festival) and of course truck festival and so looked for some videos. Although there were no real amazing heads and shoulders above standouts like at glasto heres a couple of my favourites.
Patrick Wolf puts on a really great show and didn't disappoint at dot to dot, heres him playing "the libertine". At the time i said about him: His stage presence was over powering. His theatrics entertaining. His music, the pinical of alt. pop brilliance. THis culminates in a near perfect show.
Pulled apart by horses at truck (in the barn) was mental. Here's there final song and stand out CHOON "i punched a lion in the throat", its totally bodacious:
Tubelord at truck in the barn, this is a really shit recording i found randomly during night of the pencils by some idiot who seems to video everything. O WELL enjoy
Friday 7 August 2009
Shapes & Brontide, The Chameleon, 06/8/09
Yesterday I went to another amazing buttonpusher night at the dingy yet homely (and sadly half empty) chameleon. The gig space of the chameleon (at the top of the building) gets boiling in the summer, but theres nothing better than getting sweaty and watching some rocking bands. There always seems to get friendly crowds who really enjoy the music and fewer annoying scenesters at these nights which makes for a good atmosphere.
These Waves are probably the best derby band at the moment (possibly ever) and pretty much the only way to hear them is to travel to derby or nottingham and watch them support bands in gritty venues.
They brought a really good show full of energy to the cramped "stage" area and seemed more confident with their music than ever. THrashing about while playing and flicking their fringes. Edgy post hardcore with the same mathrock elements that made bands like Meet Me in St Louis and Secondsmile special. Shouty vocals and screams ontop the stop/start wall of sound they create is really interesting and each song is really solid. THe vocals which at times before had seemed a bit scratchy were sounding much more refined today, probably their best performance I've witnessed yet. Sadly this band have fallen on hard times and so i implore you to support them.
Alright the Captain are an awesome local instruMENTAL band who created alot of noise for three guys. I've heard them described as aggresive experimental rock, metal, prog rock, deranged art surf ... what comes to my mind when i hear them though is really tight math/metal like 65daysofstatic playing metallica with some cool spacey noises to boot. Loud, experimental and bloody good to watch. Their set was full of energy and really captivating, using the bass to create moments of surf style distortion and a mathy guitar line over some mental rythms. Surprising that such a small local band can be so good.
Brontide have blown me away before, their sheer musical genius and charisma but this time it was the performance they really stepped up a gear. Tim brilliantly loops guitars and slowly builds a huge wall of layers and tension, before manic explosiosive breakdowns that make your eyes pop out and have the whole band moshing like glamrockers. . With a change in the setlist the whole thing didnt flow aswell as it had previous times, but put that down to lack of practice since they havent really had a chance with a buzz of activity in several different projects. Still there was only one break from their relentless set as they play a new song to finish with. Some of the best techy-math music ever; like battles bashing russian circles with a loop pedal.
I really need to get a picture of tims pedal board... its pretty epic. GO AND SEE THEM LIVE OR ME WRITING THIS HAS BEEN WASTED TIME.
I thought Shapes would be really, really, really good live, but they were only really good. I think the problem is they lack some of the subtlty of their records in live shows, didnt stop the racket they made being very fucking good and the performance easily matching any other band of the night. Sweaty and topless they jumped and spat and screamed out the entirity of the new ep and a few oldies, tearing it up. THe songs sounded alot more distorted and harder live, with the shouts and screams less precise and more haphazard. THe mathy feel of their eps was lost to a more jagged hardcore sound. Set highlight was the short but brilliant Trampled By A Horse... amazing stuff, and as the name suggests pretty brutal.
Anyway the Shapes and Brontide tour is to support their new split 10": HOLY MONSTERS (holy roar + big scary monsters)
it also features the tupolev ghost and holy state who are also amazing. BUY IT HERE
These Waves are probably the best derby band at the moment (possibly ever) and pretty much the only way to hear them is to travel to derby or nottingham and watch them support bands in gritty venues.
They brought a really good show full of energy to the cramped "stage" area and seemed more confident with their music than ever. THrashing about while playing and flicking their fringes. Edgy post hardcore with the same mathrock elements that made bands like Meet Me in St Louis and Secondsmile special. Shouty vocals and screams ontop the stop/start wall of sound they create is really interesting and each song is really solid. THe vocals which at times before had seemed a bit scratchy were sounding much more refined today, probably their best performance I've witnessed yet. Sadly this band have fallen on hard times and so i implore you to support them.
Alright the Captain are an awesome local instruMENTAL band who created alot of noise for three guys. I've heard them described as aggresive experimental rock, metal, prog rock, deranged art surf ... what comes to my mind when i hear them though is really tight math/metal like 65daysofstatic playing metallica with some cool spacey noises to boot. Loud, experimental and bloody good to watch. Their set was full of energy and really captivating, using the bass to create moments of surf style distortion and a mathy guitar line over some mental rythms. Surprising that such a small local band can be so good.
Brontide have blown me away before, their sheer musical genius and charisma but this time it was the performance they really stepped up a gear. Tim brilliantly loops guitars and slowly builds a huge wall of layers and tension, before manic explosiosive breakdowns that make your eyes pop out and have the whole band moshing like glamrockers. . With a change in the setlist the whole thing didnt flow aswell as it had previous times, but put that down to lack of practice since they havent really had a chance with a buzz of activity in several different projects. Still there was only one break from their relentless set as they play a new song to finish with. Some of the best techy-math music ever; like battles bashing russian circles with a loop pedal.
I really need to get a picture of tims pedal board... its pretty epic. GO AND SEE THEM LIVE OR ME WRITING THIS HAS BEEN WASTED TIME.
I thought Shapes would be really, really, really good live, but they were only really good. I think the problem is they lack some of the subtlty of their records in live shows, didnt stop the racket they made being very fucking good and the performance easily matching any other band of the night. Sweaty and topless they jumped and spat and screamed out the entirity of the new ep and a few oldies, tearing it up. THe songs sounded alot more distorted and harder live, with the shouts and screams less precise and more haphazard. THe mathy feel of their eps was lost to a more jagged hardcore sound. Set highlight was the short but brilliant Trampled By A Horse... amazing stuff, and as the name suggests pretty brutal.
Anyway the Shapes and Brontide tour is to support their new split 10": HOLY MONSTERS (holy roar + big scary monsters)
it also features the tupolev ghost and holy state who are also amazing. BUY IT HERE
Tuesday 4 August 2009
NMExcretion: a rant
Now most of us know the NME is "a lurid piece of filth"... for those who dont heres a disclaimer before you say "WELL YOU CAN'T TALK, YOUR WRITING ON SOME NOTHING BLOG WHICH NO ONE READS": I'm not perfect, and my skills as a music journalist are at best undeveloped but i really it just to give the "New Musical Express" a good bashing today
Recently have made me VERY FUCKING ANGRY. Normally i have the good grace to ignore the NME and their topman clad readers, thinking that its just ignorance that makes them that way... not an active attempt to disgrace music.But recently I heard things, things that made me think that the NME is just another corporate spy, another pawn in their chessboard to dilute talent and keep Lady Gaga at number one.
Recently have made me VERY FUCKING ANGRY. Normally i have the good grace to ignore the NME and their topman clad readers, thinking that its just ignorance that makes them that way... not an active attempt to disgrace music.But recently I heard things, things that made me think that the NME is just another corporate spy, another pawn in their chessboard to dilute talent and keep Lady Gaga at number one.
See NME DO NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT MUSIC AT ALL. In recent years they have lost credibility, all tasteful judgement and have nothing valid or interesting to say. The worst thing is recently they tacklessly attacked good talented musicians who were in my opinion too independant and uncaring for profits or fame for the NME's liking.
They know they can get away with writing the same old glossy style bullshit because the 14 year old kids and 20 somethings trying to be "down" with said kids will take what they say as the word of god and continue to read and think alex turner deserves his applause after every 3 and a half minutes of talentless guitar torture. What annoys me most is that it's almost a senseless crime. They seem to actively work against many good talented musicians and themselves JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN.
Here are some examples of where the NME fucked up big time (just so you know I didn't buy any copies for research purposes if this is misinformed):
They gave Sam Isaac's album 0 and after 2 lines ran out of things to say about the music so went on a personal vendetta against him, implying his life is a nightmarish wreck. (see it for yourself here)
Worst of all was their take on Blakfish's debut "Champions"; giving it a 1 and describing it as "somewhere between then the pre-menstrual screams of Rolo Tomassi and the American Whines of This Town Needs Guns". (I couldnt find a link for this, just trust me)
Both these albums are fucking fantastic and you should purchase them RIGHT NOW :
Bears by Sam Isaac incredible folky pop, with a lovely voice and beautiful lyrics and catchy tunes that will stay with you for weeks.
Champions by Blakfish awesome hardcore following in the steps of meet me in st louis and reuben. One of the best bands around at the moment.
Ok so fair enough they are entitled to an opinion... but rating these albums so low seems is just attention seeking and annoying. It's like they want to bash "hip" bands to look like they aren't hopping on the band wagon and have some descernable taste. An attempt that fails.
How they have the nerve to do that and then put lilly allen and the cribs on their covers week after week and talk about how "original" the strokes are... This isn't "new" music, this is just playing up to what your audience is comfortable with, what it expects and streamlining popular music to make maximise profits for the big guns.
OK so lets balance this argument and see what interesting "new music" headlines NME have on their website right now: Snoop Dogg for ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’, P Diddy moshes his way through Arctic Monkeys' intimate New York gig: O GOD THAT HIGHLIGHTS NEW TALENTED MUSICIANS LIKE NEVER BEFORE.
Is this madness a results of having an audience of tasteless mugs who take your word as red and play their joy division cds for the millionth time; perhaps.
However the best conclusion for these mind bogglingly crap reviews is that "NME can't write anything but gossip bits for shit and in attempt to impress the new editor decided to just attack everything with slander" quoted from a wise man.
If you like NME
1`- go punch yourself hard enough to make you forget all you know about music journalism
2 - GO BUY FUCKING ARTROCKER (o and read some decent blogs)
3 - RE-EDUCATE YOURSELF
even morrisey hates them
(Disclaimer 2: the NME aren't all bad... they give some good bands coverage, this is heavily outweighed by the above sentiment)
They know they can get away with writing the same old glossy style bullshit because the 14 year old kids and 20 somethings trying to be "down" with said kids will take what they say as the word of god and continue to read and think alex turner deserves his applause after every 3 and a half minutes of talentless guitar torture. What annoys me most is that it's almost a senseless crime. They seem to actively work against many good talented musicians and themselves JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN.
Here are some examples of where the NME fucked up big time (just so you know I didn't buy any copies for research purposes if this is misinformed):
They gave Sam Isaac's album 0 and after 2 lines ran out of things to say about the music so went on a personal vendetta against him, implying his life is a nightmarish wreck. (see it for yourself here)
Worst of all was their take on Blakfish's debut "Champions"; giving it a 1 and describing it as "somewhere between then the pre-menstrual screams of Rolo Tomassi and the American Whines of This Town Needs Guns". (I couldnt find a link for this, just trust me)
Both these albums are fucking fantastic and you should purchase them RIGHT NOW :
Bears by Sam Isaac incredible folky pop, with a lovely voice and beautiful lyrics and catchy tunes that will stay with you for weeks.
Champions by Blakfish awesome hardcore following in the steps of meet me in st louis and reuben. One of the best bands around at the moment.
Ok so fair enough they are entitled to an opinion... but rating these albums so low seems is just attention seeking and annoying. It's like they want to bash "hip" bands to look like they aren't hopping on the band wagon and have some descernable taste. An attempt that fails.
How they have the nerve to do that and then put lilly allen and the cribs on their covers week after week and talk about how "original" the strokes are... This isn't "new" music, this is just playing up to what your audience is comfortable with, what it expects and streamlining popular music to make maximise profits for the big guns.
OK so lets balance this argument and see what interesting "new music" headlines NME have on their website right now: Snoop Dogg for ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’, P Diddy moshes his way through Arctic Monkeys' intimate New York gig: O GOD THAT HIGHLIGHTS NEW TALENTED MUSICIANS LIKE NEVER BEFORE.
Is this madness a results of having an audience of tasteless mugs who take your word as red and play their joy division cds for the millionth time; perhaps.
However the best conclusion for these mind bogglingly crap reviews is that "NME can't write anything but gossip bits for shit and in attempt to impress the new editor decided to just attack everything with slander" quoted from a wise man.
If you like NME
1`- go punch yourself hard enough to make you forget all you know about music journalism
2 - GO BUY FUCKING ARTROCKER (o and read some decent blogs)
3 - RE-EDUCATE YOURSELF
even morrisey hates them
(Disclaimer 2: the NME aren't all bad... they give some good bands coverage, this is heavily outweighed by the above sentiment)
Monday 3 August 2009
Talons
This post was destined for TEENAGE HANGOVER (another blog) but my friend tom was already writing about them so even though i went on a lot in the truck post i'll GO ON EVEN MORE HERE...
A recent signing to one of my favourite labels: Big Scary Monsters, this young instrumental six piece might just be my new favourite band (and that means you should atleast give them a listen right?)
These guys are my age so its a bit condescending for me to say they're "barely out of school"... o well. Barely out of school it's surprising that these guys have written some really epic tunes. They are like beautifully polished glass... thats been broken just for the the hell of it; perfectly broken And the most striking thing about them: They sounds big. Real big.
Not your ordinary Godspeed-esque post rock though... This is an edgy wall of sound, with more heavy breakdowns and beautiful build ups than a fast paced game of jenga.
The two guitarists create complex intertwining parts (perhaps with twiddly mathrock inspiration) backed by a brilliantly frantic rhythm section. However its the 2 violinist creating the shrill melody which helps create deeper more elaborate sound than many of their contemporaries.
One of the things a lot of these bands get wrong is that they don't know when to stop, when to turn off the wall of sound and interplay between guitars, but talons pull it off perfectly.
Their debut single the pearl is out in a couple of weeks and it's really something special. 5 freaking stars.
O and if you get the chance to see them live DO, it's where they come into their element. Talon's myspace
A recent signing to one of my favourite labels: Big Scary Monsters, this young instrumental six piece might just be my new favourite band (and that means you should atleast give them a listen right?)
These guys are my age so its a bit condescending for me to say they're "barely out of school"... o well. Barely out of school it's surprising that these guys have written some really epic tunes. They are like beautifully polished glass... thats been broken just for the the hell of it; perfectly broken And the most striking thing about them: They sounds big. Real big.
Not your ordinary Godspeed-esque post rock though... This is an edgy wall of sound, with more heavy breakdowns and beautiful build ups than a fast paced game of jenga.
The two guitarists create complex intertwining parts (perhaps with twiddly mathrock inspiration) backed by a brilliantly frantic rhythm section. However its the 2 violinist creating the shrill melody which helps create deeper more elaborate sound than many of their contemporaries.
One of the things a lot of these bands get wrong is that they don't know when to stop, when to turn off the wall of sound and interplay between guitars, but talons pull it off perfectly.
Their debut single the pearl is out in a couple of weeks and it's really something special. 5 freaking stars.
O and if you get the chance to see them live DO, it's where they come into their element. Talon's myspace
TRUCK TWELVE: LET IT IN
So to start this blog I thought I'd do a post on a festival I attended about a week ago. Steventon in Oxfordshire is a quiet village, ruined once a year by 2 days of rock and roooooll.
Truck has a lot of good qualities: Small enough to seem very personal, sunny enough to give me a healthy glow, smelling of cows enough to be authentic and cheap enough to leave me with change.
It's meant to be about finding your new favourite band, but a stupid amount of my favourites favourites were already playing. Seeing as i loved pretty much every band i saw this post might be a bit repetative. (to make up for it heres some party camping)
saturday
Tubelord
filling colour's (rip) giant shoes, tubelord didnt disappoint. Their hideously fun and upbeat set the tone for the whole weekend and although they only played 6 songs the atmosphere was lightning and the crowd all seemed to dig it. THe lighting for tubelord was really well done and gave the show another element along side Dave's "pig mask and jump around in the crowd" thing, (the mask didnt appear to be washed when i wore it in nottingham...xcore). As for songs the newer stuff sounded really immense and the old choons tighter than ever as they get more confident. Night of the pencils was so good it sent shivers down my spine and Azerrad was amazing as a sing along end.
The Scholars
Turned out to be some terribly stereotypical oxford "indie rock" band. Not Scholars (without the "The") who are brilliant rocking powerpop. Needless to say we left quickly. (afterwards one of them had a go at me for hating...so atleast they are take criticism gracefully)
Fanfarlo
Amazing band we were barrier for. This five piece was the perfect folk band; easy to listen to and beautifully crafter anthems with clap along beats and tear worthy lyrics. Jeremy Warmsley on guitar and bashing some percussion occasionally was pretty special too.
Data Select Party
DSP have some of the best pop music around right now and were as always immensely fun live. Playing a few new songs was probably a bad idea for a festival in my opinion (maybe just because i wanted the sing along anthems) I was pretty drunk for them and danced my socks off with sara and georgia. good times. Also dan has the best jumper and smile of any person i ve ever met.
Jeremy Warmsley
Jeremy is a very talented and funny guy. I'm not a huge fan of his indie/folk rock/pop/whatever but live he was really special and had a great energy for just one man. HE came across quite affable, asking the crowd to sit down and then taking cover requests. His 6th verse and one armed scissor cover were definately highlights of the festival.
Errors
plagued by some early technical errors (see what i did there) as cables were pulled out on the cramped beathive stage errors still pulled through to put on probably the best performance of the festival. On hindsight it wasnt the best time i've seen them but the set was amazing and they sounded great. They bring something different to the whole "math" thing with their electronica and acid elements. Beautifully worked layers of intelligent guitars and electronics building to dancable breakdowns. Incredible. Toes was great to end on aswell
Wild Beasts
Due to an arduous queue there was a long wait to get into wild beasts, meaning i missed some of the best of their new album. However the latter songs were just as brilliant, they sound much more erie and atmospheric live and the low lit barn set echoed this beautifully. THey were really beautifully deep and a pleasure to watch, the crowd seemed awe struck and the air still. Hooting and Howling blew me away and penultimate song We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues slowed down and more atmospheric live was just incredible (the album version doesnt do it justice)... probably my favourite song of the festival.
After then becoming quite a bit more drunk at the tents we headed back to see some djs at the barn...
DJ Food
THis attempt at "visual turntabling" was pretty poor, the need to find videos that could be easily mixed seemed to diminish the quality of mixing for the music and although they played quite a fun set it seemed quite lazy and uninspired.
Lee Mortimer & Foamo
This was a huge contrast to the previous set in terms of originality and quality. They really produced some awesome mixes and i couldn't stop dancing. Perfect mix of electro, house, dubstep and huge bassline tunes with an odd dash of indie. Good stuff, recomend anyone who likes good dance music to seek foamo out and watch him.
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
managing to bypass alot of the queue by talking to tim from ttng these guys were playing fairly good indie and dance floor fillers with mixed success. Dwarfed by foamo they were a little underwhelming.
sunday
Talons
Recently signed to bsm i wasnt sure what to expect from this young 6 piece. I hardly ever fall in love with bands just from seeing them live. THe xcerts and errors are two that it has happened with before, and now Talons join their ranks as one of the most interesting and exciting bands to have come along in years. Their brilliant instrumental blend of post hardcore with mathcore and indie exploded on stage: Battered drums and awesome riffs intersperced by 2 violin parts which creates a big sound. They really gave the performance a lot, very energetic in contract to the static crowd, i dont think its possible to do more than drop your jaw at a band like this though. Like grammatics meets 65dos, but its a good thing trust me.
Calories
THe sound for calories wasn't great if i'm honest, and it was hard to distinguish some of their poppy guitar lines as they were overpowered by the drums and bass, but knowing the songs made it good to enjoy and new songs like even steven sounded awesome. Terrible crowd aswell, they didnt seem to get it. Not one of the best performances but still good.
And So I Watch You From Afar
From what i understand this music is a really lively scene in Ireland and these guys lived up to that. Really good live, thought it lacked diversity and all the songs sounded very similar and with only 3 members perhaps lacking the big sound to make them special. Still very good tight post rock that was thoroughly enjoyable.
The Xcerts
The first time i saw the xcerts was roughly a year ago at dot to dot when i stumbled upon them. Since then they lost none of the energy in their performance. They prove theirs still life left in the indie rock 3 piece band format. The lyrics and sweet scottish vocals clashing with their edgy rock sound to form sing along alternate anthems. Good atmosphere and stage presence too.
The Joy Formidable
Although the barn was pretty packed for them as we turned up, i really was underwhelmed by the joy formidable. Porbably the most disapointing band of the festival, they seemed to be the same uninspired indie that metric was producing years ago. Dull droning guitars and wishy washy vocals at times trying to imitate shoe gaze. Really not my thing.
This Town Needs Guns
We waited a while for this town to come on, well worth it to see 26isdancier as an opener from the front. However the quality of sound and performance was really lacking from the home grown maths boys. The set wasn't helped by the countless 14 year olds dancing/moshing. I can't understand how you can go mental for what is essentially subtley beautiful twiddly guitar music. We stayed for about 4 songs including chinchilla and lemur and if i sit here. Good but we chose to rush off to see if PABH was any better.
Pulled Apart By Horses
Amazing live in any capacity, and although the barns crowd was too thinly spread to make for your average sweaty, jumpy pulled apart gig they put on a great performance. Sporting 2 rolo t shirts (interesting trivia?) their hardcore riffs and shouty/screamy vocals sounded great as we came in on HIGH FIVE (although the hipster crowd wasn't going mental as i would have liked to see), it was still really good to watch the performance. Universal talk box followed by Punched a lion was amazing to finish on.
The Ghost of a Thousand
Now i don't know a lot about hardcore music but my friend do, and they tell me to go see these guys for an awesome show. RIght they were, even the mic check was hardcore (CHEEEEECK!!!!). The crowd disappated very quickly as the band started thrashing out their punk guitars and dark screaming. THe crowd was really the best thing about this band though as those scene kids know how to party. Although the crowd was small and rather tame by the end, (the wall of death more like a wall of slight bruising) they were really fun. Closing on Black Art Number One it was an intense set.
look at all the oxford hipsters
The final musical instalment of the festival was Jack and Paul's dirty dub voiced over orange bioler suit guy's spits. Amazing.
Intervening time was spent annoying band members, abusing joey, finding the monster, dancing to shit dj's, GETTING BEVVED and eating pasta. Good times
Sadly i missed some bands due to laziness and overcrowding like We Were Promised Jet Packs, Sam Isaac avec band (gutted it was too packed), Yacht and Maybeshewill. But really the fact there were so many good bands that i couldnt be arsed with a 5 minute walk to others is a testiment to how brilliant the lineup was (and how drunk i got). CANT WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR
Truck has a lot of good qualities: Small enough to seem very personal, sunny enough to give me a healthy glow, smelling of cows enough to be authentic and cheap enough to leave me with change.
It's meant to be about finding your new favourite band, but a stupid amount of my favourites favourites were already playing. Seeing as i loved pretty much every band i saw this post might be a bit repetative. (to make up for it heres some party camping)
saturday
Tubelord
filling colour's (rip) giant shoes, tubelord didnt disappoint. Their hideously fun and upbeat set the tone for the whole weekend and although they only played 6 songs the atmosphere was lightning and the crowd all seemed to dig it. THe lighting for tubelord was really well done and gave the show another element along side Dave's "pig mask and jump around in the crowd" thing, (the mask didnt appear to be washed when i wore it in nottingham...xcore). As for songs the newer stuff sounded really immense and the old choons tighter than ever as they get more confident. Night of the pencils was so good it sent shivers down my spine and Azerrad was amazing as a sing along end.
The Scholars
Turned out to be some terribly stereotypical oxford "indie rock" band. Not Scholars (without the "The") who are brilliant rocking powerpop. Needless to say we left quickly. (afterwards one of them had a go at me for hating...so atleast they are take criticism gracefully)
Fanfarlo
Amazing band we were barrier for. This five piece was the perfect folk band; easy to listen to and beautifully crafter anthems with clap along beats and tear worthy lyrics. Jeremy Warmsley on guitar and bashing some percussion occasionally was pretty special too.
Data Select Party
DSP have some of the best pop music around right now and were as always immensely fun live. Playing a few new songs was probably a bad idea for a festival in my opinion (maybe just because i wanted the sing along anthems) I was pretty drunk for them and danced my socks off with sara and georgia. good times. Also dan has the best jumper and smile of any person i ve ever met.
Jeremy Warmsley
Jeremy is a very talented and funny guy. I'm not a huge fan of his indie/folk rock/pop/whatever but live he was really special and had a great energy for just one man. HE came across quite affable, asking the crowd to sit down and then taking cover requests. His 6th verse and one armed scissor cover were definately highlights of the festival.
Errors
plagued by some early technical errors (see what i did there) as cables were pulled out on the cramped beathive stage errors still pulled through to put on probably the best performance of the festival. On hindsight it wasnt the best time i've seen them but the set was amazing and they sounded great. They bring something different to the whole "math" thing with their electronica and acid elements. Beautifully worked layers of intelligent guitars and electronics building to dancable breakdowns. Incredible. Toes was great to end on aswell
Wild Beasts
Due to an arduous queue there was a long wait to get into wild beasts, meaning i missed some of the best of their new album. However the latter songs were just as brilliant, they sound much more erie and atmospheric live and the low lit barn set echoed this beautifully. THey were really beautifully deep and a pleasure to watch, the crowd seemed awe struck and the air still. Hooting and Howling blew me away and penultimate song We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues slowed down and more atmospheric live was just incredible (the album version doesnt do it justice)... probably my favourite song of the festival.
After then becoming quite a bit more drunk at the tents we headed back to see some djs at the barn...
DJ Food
THis attempt at "visual turntabling" was pretty poor, the need to find videos that could be easily mixed seemed to diminish the quality of mixing for the music and although they played quite a fun set it seemed quite lazy and uninspired.
Lee Mortimer & Foamo
This was a huge contrast to the previous set in terms of originality and quality. They really produced some awesome mixes and i couldn't stop dancing. Perfect mix of electro, house, dubstep and huge bassline tunes with an odd dash of indie. Good stuff, recomend anyone who likes good dance music to seek foamo out and watch him.
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
managing to bypass alot of the queue by talking to tim from ttng these guys were playing fairly good indie and dance floor fillers with mixed success. Dwarfed by foamo they were a little underwhelming.
sunday
Talons
Recently signed to bsm i wasnt sure what to expect from this young 6 piece. I hardly ever fall in love with bands just from seeing them live. THe xcerts and errors are two that it has happened with before, and now Talons join their ranks as one of the most interesting and exciting bands to have come along in years. Their brilliant instrumental blend of post hardcore with mathcore and indie exploded on stage: Battered drums and awesome riffs intersperced by 2 violin parts which creates a big sound. They really gave the performance a lot, very energetic in contract to the static crowd, i dont think its possible to do more than drop your jaw at a band like this though. Like grammatics meets 65dos, but its a good thing trust me.
Calories
THe sound for calories wasn't great if i'm honest, and it was hard to distinguish some of their poppy guitar lines as they were overpowered by the drums and bass, but knowing the songs made it good to enjoy and new songs like even steven sounded awesome. Terrible crowd aswell, they didnt seem to get it. Not one of the best performances but still good.
And So I Watch You From Afar
From what i understand this music is a really lively scene in Ireland and these guys lived up to that. Really good live, thought it lacked diversity and all the songs sounded very similar and with only 3 members perhaps lacking the big sound to make them special. Still very good tight post rock that was thoroughly enjoyable.
The Xcerts
The first time i saw the xcerts was roughly a year ago at dot to dot when i stumbled upon them. Since then they lost none of the energy in their performance. They prove theirs still life left in the indie rock 3 piece band format. The lyrics and sweet scottish vocals clashing with their edgy rock sound to form sing along alternate anthems. Good atmosphere and stage presence too.
The Joy Formidable
Although the barn was pretty packed for them as we turned up, i really was underwhelmed by the joy formidable. Porbably the most disapointing band of the festival, they seemed to be the same uninspired indie that metric was producing years ago. Dull droning guitars and wishy washy vocals at times trying to imitate shoe gaze. Really not my thing.
This Town Needs Guns
We waited a while for this town to come on, well worth it to see 26isdancier as an opener from the front. However the quality of sound and performance was really lacking from the home grown maths boys. The set wasn't helped by the countless 14 year olds dancing/moshing. I can't understand how you can go mental for what is essentially subtley beautiful twiddly guitar music. We stayed for about 4 songs including chinchilla and lemur and if i sit here. Good but we chose to rush off to see if PABH was any better.
Pulled Apart By Horses
Amazing live in any capacity, and although the barns crowd was too thinly spread to make for your average sweaty, jumpy pulled apart gig they put on a great performance. Sporting 2 rolo t shirts (interesting trivia?) their hardcore riffs and shouty/screamy vocals sounded great as we came in on HIGH FIVE (although the hipster crowd wasn't going mental as i would have liked to see), it was still really good to watch the performance. Universal talk box followed by Punched a lion was amazing to finish on.
The Ghost of a Thousand
Now i don't know a lot about hardcore music but my friend do, and they tell me to go see these guys for an awesome show. RIght they were, even the mic check was hardcore (CHEEEEECK!!!!). The crowd disappated very quickly as the band started thrashing out their punk guitars and dark screaming. THe crowd was really the best thing about this band though as those scene kids know how to party. Although the crowd was small and rather tame by the end, (the wall of death more like a wall of slight bruising) they were really fun. Closing on Black Art Number One it was an intense set.
look at all the oxford hipsters
The final musical instalment of the festival was Jack and Paul's dirty dub voiced over orange bioler suit guy's spits. Amazing.
Intervening time was spent annoying band members, abusing joey, finding the monster, dancing to shit dj's, GETTING BEVVED and eating pasta. Good times
Sadly i missed some bands due to laziness and overcrowding like We Were Promised Jet Packs, Sam Isaac avec band (gutted it was too packed), Yacht and Maybeshewill. But really the fact there were so many good bands that i couldnt be arsed with a 5 minute walk to others is a testiment to how brilliant the lineup was (and how drunk i got). CANT WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR
HIYA! WATCH THIS!
Hi, my names Steve and I like music. This blog is basically supplementary to the other blogs I write for and will be mainly live reviews. Thoughts on albums and music in general. Occasionally music videos I love and such. Anyway if anyone ever reads this. HI, THANK YOU
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