Burning Leaves, Bella Union Stage

Words: Rich Thane, Peter Bloxham and Jude Clarke. Photographs: Rich Thane

Yesterdays events certainly took their toll on TLOBF. What with the rain, the uneccessary walking, the rain, the pretty awful lineup on the main stages and, not to mention the rain. But we are not to be defeated - after all, we’re here for 4 days - it’s a marathon of stamina ladies and gents. Yes, Thursday = wash out. The bad weather conditions meant people were keeping under cover and pretty much ignoring the fantastic music on offer at the big red double decker. Alas, today was a whole different kettle of fish. Triumphant is the word best to describe the events of the Bella Union stage.

We make a start on day two with a pint on the roof terrace of the Big Chill House in Kings Cross, soon to be joined by friend of TLOBF - Dave. The weather is looking glorious so Pete suggests that we walk to Hyde Park. Rich Thane is restrained by Dave. We arrive at Green Park and walk straight to the press entrance and over to watch Black Kids with the minimum of fuss. Rich Thane is clearly pleased by this and remarks that ‘Today is going be awesome!’ a number of times. We purchase some pear cider and go to sit on the grass by the Bella Union stage. Black Kids, by the way weren’t very good. Probably owing more to shit sound rather than the fact that they’re just shit. Because they’re not. Well, at least Pete doesn’t think they are. Dave seems unimpressed and Rich just wants some pear cider.

Burning Leaves, Bella Union Stage

The weather and the crowd are already looking much, much healthier by the time Burning Leaves take to the stage. The atmosphere is pretty close to perfect as they harmonize their way through a haunting, minimalist set, people are not only gathered on tables and chairs, sipping cider and enjoying the weather - they’re actually really properly listening to the music!

We use guest passes to use the posh toilets in the guest area. Despite posh automatic taps, Pete still manages to spray himself with water in the crotch area. He doesn’t see the funny side. We begin to notice conspicuous Morrisey fans wearing quiffs and T-shirts proclaiming him to be God.

Paul Marshall, Bella Union Stage

Paul Marshall is accompanied by an electric cello. Rich Thane is very pleased by this, as is the rest of the crowd- he receives an enthusiastic response. Rich immediately goes over to the nearest member of Bella Union staff to get a CD after discovering they’ve just signed him. [shameless plug="Buy his album digitally from the Bella Union shop"/plug]

We eat some pretty terrible food from a nearby hot dog stand. Pete’s vegetarian options are unsuprisingly limited. He orders a  bowl of chips. Halfway through he complains that he’s sick of eating chips.

Emmy The Great, Bella Union Stage

TLOBF favourite Emmy the Great is joined by the equally excellent Young Husband for her set. Emmy is her usual chatty kooky self. Dave seems convinced that she is fixing his gaze as she ploughs through her set that is unfortunately over before she even warms up. As Emmy turns her back to tune her guitar, Dave busts a move to catch the tail end of Beck’s set. Emmy doesn’t seem to notice.

The Duke Spirit, Bella Union Stage

Tonights headliners The Duke Spirit put on a rare stripped back acoustic performace - which is always going to be an interesting proposition. Leaving their sexually charged, dirty rock n roll stripped down to it’s bear bones. Needless to say, their set is a total highlight of the day - ploughing through a set focusing heavily on the bands Neptune . ‘Dog Roses’, ‘This Ship Was Built To Last’ and ‘Into The Fold’ are delivered with so much gusto, Leila Moss being her usual captivating self. Adoring fans swoon. During ‘Soverign’ a special guest is introduced - Bella Union boss, ex-Cocteau Twin and “mentor” of the band Simon Raymonde dusts down his bass guitar. He looks sincerely happy to be there - though, the potential Cocteau Twins cover version regrettably doesn’t happen. Indie from Burning Leaves hops on stage to add her backing vocals on ‘The Step and The Walk’. Their 30 minute set over in a flash. Nuts.

After the show Leila is approached by fan after fan for photographs, one of whom remarks, rather amusingly “One day I am going marry you!”. “Okay, just make sure you let me know first!” comes the reply from Leila before he runs away with his mate, punching the air as he goes. Pete notes that it’s probably a good thing that he didn’t ask her to sign anything.

Simon Raymonde joins The Duke Spirit

As evening draws, it’s clear to all that the day has been  a complete turnaround from the teething problems of yesterday for both TLOBF and Bella Union. A triumph. Simon hands us a copy of the Bare Foot in the Park an awesome compilation from Bella Union and Oxfam featuring all of the bands playing on the stage this weekend. If you’re planning on going to the festival Saturday or Sunday make sure you pick up a copy. £3.50 from every purchase goes to Oxfam. If you aren’t heading to the festival but still want a copy of the album, drop Bella Union a line here. I’m sure they’d be happy to help.

We don’t even bother to see Morrisey, we just go to the pub to get pissed.

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Whilst Rich Thane and Pete Bloxham spent all day hanging around the Bella Bus, thus missing the ‘bigger’ acts, our very own Jude Clarke who happened to blag a free ticket for the day. We talked her into writing an account of her day - taking in the bands we’d missed. Thanks Jude!

Having blagged a very last-minute free guest pass to Friday’s Wireless Festival, as a friend’s “plus one” (thanks Jo!), I had no time beforehand to do my usual borderline-obsessive-compulsive spreadsheet creation and myspace surfing.  I turned up, then, with open mind, unplanned schedule and a determination to just see what happened, musically.

Battling past the layer upon layer of corporate logos, brands, and gimmicky marketing ideas (”win a car!” “upload your festival photos right here!” “have a free milkshake!” etc etc) I made my way to the small O2/MTV stage to see who the first of the day’s two mysterious “Special Guests” was to be.  Pleasingly, it was The National, who started my day very nicely, thank you very much, with a short 15-minute, 3-song set.  Despite not being what anyone of sound mind would describe as a summery, sunshin-ey sort of band, they were well received, and obviously glad to be playing this quick warm-up for their headlining set on the Sandisk stage later that evening.

Next was Lightspeed Champion on the Main Stage.  Endearingly geeky and with a lovely warm and tuneful voice, and the occasional tune to match (single ‘Tell Me What It’s Worth’ is a corker), this was lovely stuff to sit on the grass and enjoy.  His day was apparently made by having found Jay-Z’s setlist from his headline set the previous day, which he described, aptly, as “an ebay goldrush”.

The law of diminishing post-Libertines returns was once again illustrated by the fairly pedestrian Dirty Pretty Things‘ appearance next.  The beginning of their set was pretty much how you would expect it to be, so I wandered off in search of pastures newer and more interesting, and was rewarded by Sea Wolf in the small Tuborg Stage tent.  Their emotional country-tinged Americana was like a larger, more spacious version of Two Gallants (Six Gallants, anyone?), and constituted the day’s highlight set for me.

Next it was the obligatory misty-eyed moment for ‘Made Up Love Song #43′ during The Guillemots‘ Main Stage slot; a set which confirmed for me again that this is one of those bands that works approximately 75% better live than on record.  Fyfe Dangerfield’s manic, frenetic skittishness on stage, and the strange range of styles that the band attempt just make much more sense in this context.  If you’ve only heard this lot on record, don’t write them off.

Ambling over to the little corner of non-corporate heaven that was the Bella Union stage (when I say “stage”, I really mean “cute red old Double Decker bus, with awning, and hand-drawn poster”) I managed to catch just the very end of Burning Leaves beautiful harmonies, before fighting my way through the crowds in the Sandisk Stage tent for surely-should-have-been-headlining Siouxsie.  Despite disturbing all my long-held preconceptions by breaking into a big cheesy grin a couple of times, she mainly managed to steer just clear of caricature and cabaret; and strutted, posed and kicked her way through a crowd-delighting set incorporating favourites like ‘Christine’, ‘Happy House’ and more recent fare like ‘Into A Swan”.

I then ended my day the same way I’d started it: with The National, this time headlining the Sandisk Stage, like my own personal lugubrious bookends.  With a darker feel to their set this time round (perhaps courtesy of the setting sun, dry ice and indoor location), this felt to me like a band that ought - surely - to be reaching greater levels of awareness and acclaim than have so far come their way.  If their set ended in some huge newsworthy drama, or they took leave of their senses and decided throw in a cheeky Los Campesinos! cover, or something, then I am afraid I am unable to give you a from-the-ground report, as I had to sneak off a few songs in to - prosaically - get the train home.

This was my first Wireless experience and not one, if I’m honest, that I would be too troubled to repeat (particularly as a paying punter).  The lineup was a curious mix of the massively commercial and the not-yet-on-my-radar, and the incessant marketing (we got jumped on within - literally - five minutes of arrival and press-ganged into answering a ‘lifestyle’ questionnaire) was tedious and atmosphere-sapping.  That said, there are always going to be a few worthwhile musical experiences to winkle out of such events, and - for me - Sea Wolf and Burning Leaves are going to be the two that justified my train fare and that I shall be myspacing forthwith.

Read all about yesterdays festival shenaniganas here.

Toby, Luke & Leila from The Duke Spirit with Bella Union’s Simon Raymonde.

The Mae Shi are one of the best live acts around. Their collosal angular thrash of noise amazed me during their recent tour of these fair shores. So, I thought, why not get them to answer our 20 Questions? We caught up with Brad Breeck, who gave us one of the most considered answers for our “Stoat or Goat” question yet…

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Colors, angles, parties.

2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
Firehose, Flyin’ the Flannel. I bought it because all the cool skaters in town were into Firehose. Then I returned it because I thought the music was evil (seriously). Then I bought it again later because I realized there’s no such thing as evil music. Duh!

3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
I’ve never had a hangover, but my wife tells me that Sul Lung Tang (korean beef soup) is the best hangover cure. So when and if I ever have a hangover, i’m gonna eat that.

4. What’s on your rider?
Saltines, mountain dew, 4 bottle rockets, and 2 newborn puppies and 1 kitten per band member. Unless there’s an In n Out or Chipotle near buy.

5. How do you get ready for a live show?
Yoga (poses: eager eagle, laughing lion, jumping jackrabit, grateful gopher), pushups (5), jumping jacks (3), pullups (1/2). Then I let Jacob punch me in the face twice, and I eat a dozen baby salamanders.

6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
“The Lamb & The Lion”

7. What’s your guilty pleasure?
I don’t believe in guilty pleasure. All aesthetic experiences exist on the same plane of relevance (Bill will disagree with this). However, eating Gelato makes me slightly embarassed.

8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
Clearly the Stoat would win. The Goats main defense apparatus are it’s horn (or horns if it’s a polycerate goat) and it’s hooves. The Stoat is fast and wiley and can easily avoid the goat’s horns and hooves. The Stoat will leap at the goat’s neck and bite. The stoat has a firm jaw that it will not easily release. The stoat is a fierce and relentless fighter, and it is cute. The goat is lazy, dumb and ugly. Of course if you’re talking about the hornless goat, that’s something all together different… but the outcome would probably be the same.

9. Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
Abe Vigoda. They are from Los Angeles. If a bunch kids from the Smell started a calypso band they would sound like this… wait, that’s kinda exactly what Abd Vigoda is.

10. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Kate Blanchette

11. Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?
Melt Banana, the Sparks, Best Fwends, This Heat, Faust (performing Faust Tapes).

12. If push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album?
A Rainbow in Curved Air by Terry Riley, cause you can trip to it really easily without drugs.

13. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
Last summer, on Cape Cod, a drunk 15 year old kid slapped me in the face with all of his might. That was awesome.

14. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
Running in the park with my wife and my dogs. Doing frontside airs on a skateboard. Eating at In N Out and Chipotle.

15. What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you and did you take notice?
Don’t try to finish every idea you have, because most of your ideas aren’t good. Just finish the good ones. Yes, I took notice.

16. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
They can have it all. I won’t need it when i’m dead.

17. What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
I’m reading a biography of David Geffen, it’s a really fun one. He is an asshole. Son of Rambow was AMAZING!!

18. What three things could you not live without?
My brain, my cardivascular system, In N Out.

19. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I little league I only made contact with the ball once, and it was a foul ball. Baseball is hard.

20. And finally, we’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
Natasha Beddingfield “Love Like This”, Mandy Moore “Cry”, Hilary Duff “shine”, Cowboy Troy “I play chicken with the train”, Shania Twain “You’re Still The one”.
Theme: Songs to annoy the other guys in the band while traveling.

Links
The Mae Shi [official site] [myspace]

A brand new act on the thriving UK folk scene are female duo Smoke Fairies. Their music stripped back and haunting, wraps itself around you like a thick blanket of smoke whilst their two part harmonies rattle around your head hours after listening. We recently caught up with Katherine and Jessica to find out a little more about their history and musical influences. Turns out, unsuprisingly, they have excellent taste - not only musically but in their choice of beverage. Ladies and gentlemen - say hello to Smoke Fairies.

Hello girls - It’s our round. What are you having?
Katherine - The most expensive single malt whisky at the bar on ice please.
Jessica - That or a Banana Daiquiri

Right, now we’ve got that out of the way…A little about the band. For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should…
1. Because hopefully, there is nothing else quite like it.
2. Because it will let you escape to some place in your mind that you have never visited before.
3. Because it will leave you feeling something, not sure what exactly - it makes me feel restless.

Can you give us a bit of background history lesson on Smoke Fairies? What’s your guys story?
When we were 11 the school we were at put us in the same class. Everyday we made detailed plans in our exercise books on how we would form a band and travel around. Whilst driving late at night on the country roads of Sussex we became aware that on special nights Smoke Fairies formed out of the mist to confuse and scare drivers. We took our name from them, although we are not certain that is their correct description. When we were old enough we left England and went and lived in New Orleans for a year and then journeyed around until we settled in Vancouver for a while. We are now trying to be sensible and stay in one place for a while to work on music.

Where do your songs come from? What’s your inspiration?
Katherine - A lot are songs are drawn from the experience of travelling around and leaving places behind, or feeling distant and out of place. Some are sea shanties, others are about frustration and being stuck somewhere. A lot of our songs have an air of nostalgia to them and the heartache that comes from looking back and longing.

What was the first gig you ever played and was it a success?
Jessica - We played at fundraising event at school. We got £80 which was a success then, but no one told us we had to play for 3 hours in front of a silent audience of parents. We had to repeat some songs two or three times. That part of it was a  failure.
Katherine - At the end we thought we were getting a standing ovation, but the parents just wanted to leave really fast.

How much artist control do you possess over your music? Are you interested in how the album looks and how you’re marketed?
Katherine - Having complete artistic control is really important to us, of course. As far as marketing goes we just try to be honest and present ourselves and our music in a way that is true to its intensions. We just want people to hear it and be moved, so you probably won’t see us running around in bikinis anytime soon. Our music is moody and atmospheric so we will try to market it in a way that reflects this.

What music are you enjoying right now? Any recommendations for our readers to check out?
Jessica - A band we know called Congregation are definitely worth checking out. They have just released their first album. It makes me want to leave England and get lost in the Deep South again.
Katherine - I have been quite enjoying listening to the Fleet Foxes as well as Midlake. We have recently started sorting through all our old vinyls and re listening to them. Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills and Nash, America, Pure Prairie League, Neil Young and more… they are all classics. Sometimes it’s great to revisit old influences.

Name your Top 6 records.
Tried to be as honest as possible and not go for the standard or safe options…
Crosby Stills Nash and Young – Déjà vu
Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
Mark Lanegan - Bubble Gum
Tori Amos - Scarlets Walk
Skip James - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
16 horsepower – Folklore

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
Jessica - We once both worked in a burger van cutting onions and serving burgers. The boss wouldn’t let me wear my trainers so for some reason I ended up wearing a pair of Kaf’s dad’s shoes, which were far too big. The power and water supply got cut off, so we had to do all the sums in our head and there was no way to cool our burns.
Katherine - Jessica was called “blonde one” and I was called “other”. We got shouted at all day by a weird old looking woman who turned out to be 16. The only way to move around the van between the burning hot grills was to get on an onion (they were all over he floor) and launch yourself down the isle. There was a line of angry customers stretching to the horizon. It was hell.

Tell us a joke.
Q. If I had one green ball in one hand, and another green ball in another hand, what would I have?
A. The undivided attention of the jolly green giant…

Links
Smoke Fairies [myspace]

By the magical powers of the internet, Jude Clarke recently caught up with Strokes guitarist and one-time junior rollerskating champion (seriously) Albert Hammond Jr, to quiz him on his second solo album ¿Como Te Llama?, the pros and cons of solo work, and his future plans.

To someone who hasn’t listened to it, how would you describe your new album? Would you say it has any specific “themes”?
I would say it’s a different side to me than my first. It’s still a melodic record but I tried to branch out from what I have done. I feel like I have accomplished that and am still accomplishing it working on new material. I think it’s a great record that you can really listen to over and over again and find new things about it. I go through phases where my favourite songs change just from having listened to it. Continue Reading

Music makes connections. Through their music, lead vocalist/songwriter Simone Rubi and bassist/vocalist Terri Lowenthal of the Oakland bedroom disco band Rubies strive to make human connection their ultimate modus operandi.

Friends for seven years and former members of the now defunct Oakland pop ensemble Call and Response, Lowenthal and Rubi form the nucleus of the band, rounded out for live shows by Nicolas Dobbratz on guitar and vocals, and Øyvind Skarbø on drums. Currently signed to Tellé Records (Europe), Hybris (Sweden) and Rallye (Japan), Rubies began as a one-woman managed band. “I funded the album, managed the band, and booked shows,” says Rubi. “Most of that was done solely through the relationships I have.” Continue Reading

Sigur Ros, everyone’s favourite Icelanders, have returned. Their tried and tested “quiet/loud” combinations have garnered them universal appeal, but there’s been a sense of the band wanting to break free of their regular style, challenging their musical make-up. The problem is, they haven’t quite managed it with Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. The album cover features band members, naked, running across a road - maybe a playful comment on the contents within or, if you’re feeling harsher, a bare arsed (sorry) cheek comment on the quality of the material within.

Continue Reading

White Denim’s debut album Workout Holiday (out this week) is a bright, brash and, can I say it, sexy take on angular guitar rock. We caught up with Steve Terebecki (bass) to find out whether they could handle our recently refreshed 20 Questions.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Geeky, clumsy, flourishes.

2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
The first record I ever bought was Volcano Suns Farced at Wax n Facts in Atlanta, Georgia.

3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
Potato Bacon and Cheese Breakfast tacos from tamale house with a coffee.

4. What’s on your rider?
Right now it’s just peanut butter, celery, high life and sparks, but that’s mainly because i haven’t gotten a hold of it.

5. How do you get ready for a live show?
I am completely nervous until I plug all my busted gear in and hear that it works..then I calm down. Every sound guy is always like, "CAN YOU GIVE ME A MINUTE" and I’m always like, "CAN YOU GIVE ME A MINUTE?"

6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
Darksided Computer Mouth, Paint Silver Gold, Goldie Locks.

7. What’s your guilty pleasure?
Not going to the bathroom before I go on stage so the whole thing is even more painful and dangerous.

8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
A goat because they can gain energy from eating anything.

9. Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
As far as stuff that is happening right now, I think I have been listening to more Cass Mccombs than anything else. His EP and his first 2 records are great, his new record is excellent. Most beautiful song construction and pop melodies out right now. As far as ever, I am still listening to Andy Partridges’ Fuzzy Warbles collection, trying to get a grasp.

10. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Annie Lennox for the first half of my life, and Ja Rule for the 2nd half.

11. Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?
If I wanted to completely embarrass myself by opening for these groups then: Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett, Soft Machine, a medley of Andy Partridges’ groups, Frank Zappa featuring Captain Beefheart, and the Beatles.

12. If push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album?
I will never answer this, there are too many perfect records and if I said one I would be defying another and the music Gods will scorn me. Now, White Music and Skylarking by XTC are probably tied for "most frequently listened to".

13. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
About a week ago, Dave Foley and Kevin MacDonald came to a show in Seattle. Afterwards, James and I drove Dave Foley to an apartment to play Apples to Apples and drink beer.

14. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
The Peanut Butter Banana and Bacon sandwich that I had at Peanut Butter Company, riding the Superman rollercoaster at six flags, throwing up in a 320 dollar spanish bull ring on a $7 bottle of vodka with my girlfriend in Zacatecas, Mexico.

15. What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you and did you take notice?
"Experience is better than college, save your money." I was too scared to take notice. (I never wanted to be a professional)

16. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
My skin, I’ve heard that I have the most beautiful, magical skin.

17. What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
The only book I’ve managed to read in the past 6 months is the autobiography of John Shelby Spong so it’s the best by default. I don’t know about movies, but I like movies that make me laugh and Forgetting Sarah Marshall was hilarious.

18. What three things could you not live without?
Food, Air, Kitty Cats.

19. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I only have a 4GB iPod nano, wtf!

20. And finally, we’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
Zeni Geva - Burn Your Flesh Out
Godflesh - Crush Your Soul
Bastro - Flesh Colored House
Orange Juice - Flesh of my Flesh
Aix Em Klemm - The Girl With the Flesh Colored Crayon

Links
White Denim [official site ] [myspace ]

For a band who’s album Z saw critics claim they were ‘doing a Radiohead’ (in a time when that meant departing from their set sound and exploring other musical avenues, not giving away your album for free), it seems perhaps fitting that My Morning Jacket’s new release Evil Urges has seen their old record label RCA, through their ATO imprint, re-release their back catalogue now the band have moved on to Rough Trade. It seems to be a similar move to EMI’s repackaging of the aforementioned Radiohead back catalogue: a cynical move by a record label to squeeze the last they can out of the band and cash in on the excitement generated by the bands new album. It would be interesting to know if the records have been re-released in the US, where the band remain on ATO. Unlike many of the re-issues coming out at the moment, which often have bonus tracks, demos or in some cases DVD’s to make the items more appealing to the fans, this series of releases remains the same as it was the day they first hit the shelves. Still, that isn’t to detract from the music made by the Louisville space rockers, nor the releases themselves. Continue Reading

Before I even begin, there’s one big thing about this year’s festival that needs to be said so let’s get it out of the way first and then we can crack on with the music. With the dates clashing this year with the build up to the MotoGP, plus the fact that a motocross circuit was being built on the old site, festival organisers decided some changes were in order. They made the move to hold the entire festival outside of the confines of the Donington circuit.

Okay. This meant no hill from which to leisurely watch the bands from; no chance to walk the hallowed circuit, sucking up the exhaust fumes of Grand Prix’s past whilst perusing the stalls for a suitable sunhat; and most heinously of all, no Dunlop tyre – the gigantic archway that epitomised the Download spirit of machine and metal, leather and tread, volume and power.

Upon arrival, I see that this year the walk from campsite to stage has become so stretched that now we are expected to trudge through sand, stone, and shit for over a mile (if it’s anything less than a mile then I’m a Frenchman) before we hit the final tent. All this means if you wanted to catch Invasion on the Gibson Stage (11am, Sunday) you’d have to be setting off well before 10am. I have blisters on my blisters, as I write.

There is an upside. The second stage is no longer a tent; it’s now an open-air stage in front of which lies an expansive, rather unforgiving but swamp-free, concrete viewing area. And if you’re really very important, they have buses laid on to transport you from campsite to stage (I couldn’t find them for love nor money!)

Enough – let’s get cracking with the music. Well, it appears that there are so many big names plumping for Reading this year that one wonders whether the organisers are trying to go for a softer, more accessible Download – less brutal metal and more classic and emotional rock. Well, fair enough, considering that so many other smaller festivals are taking up the mantle with Bloodstock, Hard Rock Hell, Damnation & Ghostfest all competing for the most extreme noise bands.

With the Duracell Tent and Monster Bar DJ’s blazing out the “choons” before the first band even take the stage there is plenty of fun to be had and I certainly had my fair share. Favourites included the mosh-inciting anthem ‘Bodies’ by Drowning Pool while Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’ got a good airing over the weekend. Then, at first light, Friday morning, 50,000 of us donned our walking gear for the tiresome slog down to the arena gates; and there we queued whilst all around us chants of “Donington, what is your profession?” were screamed. Replies of “Ha-OOH, Ha-OOH, Ha-OOH!” rang around and you at last felt part of something special.

As I piled through the security line and approached the Tuborg Stage the raw punk aggression of Zebrahead saw many leap into action, bucking and air-drumming to the beat. It’s pretty impressive stuff and is only topped by the take-no-prisoners rock of Stone Gods. With Robin Goodridge (ex-Bush) stepping onto the kick-pedals of poorly Ed Graham just a few weeks previously you’d think the boys would be taking things a little easier. Hell, no. There’s a furious pace being set and as Richie Edwards screams “Let’s burn the witch”, I double-take in case they really are! ‘You Brought A Knife To A Gunfight’ sees Dan Hawkins strike his familiar rock pose, legs spread wide, as he rips great chords of solid rock into the ether. Jeez, I miss The Darkness’ energy but I sure as Hell don’t miss the spandex, the falsetto or the comedy capers. Stone Gods are the grown-up version and they own us right now.

Already exhausted, I traipse over to catch Seether on the main stage who give us a roaring display of metal-infused rock before pulling a cover of Nirvana’s ‘In Bloom’ out of the bag. The weak ‘Rise Above This’ from the new album is a disappointing climax. Thankfully, Disturbed’s insane poster of a burning monster gets me all excited again. As they blaze through ‘Ten Thousand Fists’ and ‘The Game’ I can’t help but feel something is missing from the performance. It could be the guitars are too quiet but they pick up as they go on with ‘Inside The Fire’ getting the crowd rocking with a big sampled opening.

Ignoring the chance to see (a reportedly lacklustre) Motorhead (yet again) or the immense High On Fire, I find myself being dragged over to The Subways (or as their banner reads “The Subway” (I know the London Underground is sprawling but I didn’t expect a station here at Castle Donington). Well, the band turn out to be one of the best bands of the festival with ‘Mary’ delighting and the anthemic ‘Oh Yeah’ triggering universal chants of “Have you ever seen the light?” The crowd simply lap it up with the bare-chested Billy Lunn egging us on. Most eyes, however, are on the constantly body-jacking Charlotte Cooper, positively shining in her Ace Frehley face-paint. Never have I seen a three-piece make the stage look so vast. Every inch is covered as they fight their way through the dry ice. This surely isn’t the same band that produced such a sugary-sweet limp-wristed album. Is it?

I catch the start of Rival Schools who simply don’t step up to the plate with both crowd and band inactive. They open with ‘Used For Glue’ but after a few songs I don’t feel inspired enough to stick around for ‘High Acetate’ and move on. On the main stage Judas Priest are struggling through a near two-hour set that’s been thrust upon them because of Kid Rock’s sudden admission to hospital (“exhaustion” is cited but we’re all crassly thinking “overdose”). They shouldn’t be struggling with such a vast catalogue of music to choose from but watching Rob Halford stagger about I can’t help but think he’s on his way to joining Kid Rock at Nottingham General. He manages to haul his aging limbs over a Harley at one point but it’s a kind of hollow gesture when all you can do is imagine the rider falling off it. When they do hit their stride, Priest rock like the Gods they are. ‘Breaking The Law’ is a monster and the crowd chant is memorable.

I manage to fit in a few songs of the Kiss “extravaganza” (replete with wires, explosions, face-paint, costumes, a wall of lights and a whole truckload of pomp and circumstance) but I really have to be a party-pooper because I want to see music that excites me. I know I’m in the minority but Dillinger Escape Plan’s staccato mathcore noise and vitriol combo thrill me ten-times more than watching a man painted to look like a cat beating out steady soulless rhythms.

Through smoke and sweat the DEP boys are caning their bodies, spasmodically contorting themselves into unthinkable positions and their music follows suit. When they hit full stride it’s an awesome thing. It’s roaring, flared aggression beyond belief – a mushroom cloud of muscles, angst and instruments. They climb the stanchions, they leap off stacks, they bruise and break our ears with their shattering string and stickwork. As first a stage monitor and then a microphone stand spear their way into the crowd you just know there’s going to be a bloody end for a few in the pit tonight. As the band depart I catch my breath before heading back out to catch a prolonged volley of Kiss fireworks (which are fantastic, by the way, and make me wonder why they aren’t closing the festival on Sunday) and a, by comparison, limp-sounding ‘Shout It Out Loud’ and ‘I Wanna Rock N’ Roll All Night’. I’d rather be a part of the ‘Panasonic Youth’ to be honest.

Saturday dawns and last night’s revelry means a late start. I miss out on the joys of Malefice (which I hate myself for) but catch the end of Skindred and their legendary ragga-metal vocalist Benji Webbe. He bonds the crowd tightly enough to mosh in time whilst he blazes the incredible ‘Nobody’ at them. And after raising such merry Hell he gets out a small keyboard and lulls us to sleep with a sedate tune. Very strange, but very good.

As their set ends the rain begins to fall and, over at the Gibson, Go Audio get a pleasant surprise as their tent begins to fill with sheltering punters. Nodding heads signal that their plodding pop-rock is finding many new fans and ‘Made-up Stories’ is a highlight. The rain relents and I catch the end of Job For A Cowboy. They’ve improved since I last saw them (though they still lack stage presence) with the happy circle pit response proving it to be true. Despite its age ‘Entombment Of A Machine’ gets a huge roar with ‘Knee Deep’ following up and getting the remainder of the crowd nodding along approvingly.

There’s a pre-show crowd bottlefight for 36 Crazyfists but it stops when Brock Lindow walks out to a huge ovation. He responds with “I am pretty sexy aren’t I?” and continues the banter throughout – yep, he’s got the crowd just where he wants them. ‘Heart And The Shape’ and ‘The All Night Lights’ both shine out like beacons and I find myself loving every minute.

Exhaustion hits hard and after the long hike back to the tent and a tin of hot corned beef (looks like crap, tastes like Heaven) I’m good to go again. I make it back just in time to witness Bleeding Through incite a massive circle pit around the sound desk. It’s immense and, somewhere within the ring of bodies, a bewildered ice-cream salesman gives up and cowers in his van.

I see Biffy Clyro are doing that thing they do again – what was it again… ah yes, owning the festival – tearing their way through ‘Living Is A Problem Because Everything Dies’ and the absolutely killer ‘Get Fucked Stud’. They even have time to show off and give us some scorching back catalogue classics. “’Mon The Biffy!” screams a lad in front of me and I’m wholeheartedly with him.

Moving over to the Tuborg I catch the end of Ace Frehley who, as the Wildhearts’ Ginger implies later, is probably more effective as a solo artist. His songs fizz and buckle with rock heart and soul. Following his set there is a noticeable surge and it’s because we’re about to witness the incredible talent of Pendulum. With their even-more-mainstream-than-the-last-album material to perform they have never been closer to being a decent Download headliner. Judging by what they manage to produce over the next hour I’ll be first in the queue recommending them. Epically-charged drum n’ bass with guitars and sweeping samples carry the dancing crowd straight into sonic nirvana. Yep, Pendulum’s pulsing, banging, warping music married to the mesmeric vocal of Rob Swire certainly gives us all a reason to smile.

At the main stage now and Incubus spend way too long crooning and not enough time powering out their hits whilst over at the Gibson I find a tent bursting at the seams with happy Saxon fans. Teenagers need not apply, this is an old man zone, but by gum, it is rocking! I’m only here early for Testament but I find myself caught up in it all and singing myself hoarse. Once Saxon depart and the headliners arrive, I realise that no-one has left. The old folks are all still in… and why not? Hell, Testament are the forefathers of Bay Area thrash! The gloom descends and they power onto stage in a wail of shredding guitars. Chuck Billy’s vocal is slightly over-egged with echo and comes across as not only epic but also difficult to make out. It seems to slip behind the guitar and disappears altogether when the drums really lay waste. Highlights are without doubt ‘Henchman Ride’ and ‘Alone In The Dark’ – both see the crowd finally letting loose and causing mayhem.

Reading’s Exit Ten kick off Sunday with an energetic display of their up and coming metal prowess that deserves more than the polite applause they get. Over at the Main, Apocalyptica, four hairy Finns and their cellos, are delighting the uninitiated. They carry their instruments about like they were mere violins and windmill their hair longer than anyone I’ve ever seen windmill. Inviting Lacuna Coil’s Christina Scabbia to sing ‘SOS’ is a masterstroke but then everything without vocals seems lost once she departs.

Ignoring the promise of a trip across to see Airbourne (who apparently were scaling the lighting rig over at the Tuborg Stage) I stay to witness the corseted ice maiden Sharon den Adel smile, croon and captivate. 2007’s ‘The Heart Of Everything’ gets a good airing and by the end I curse myself for not owning it. At last, the band I’ve been waiting for, In Flames, take the stage. I’m keen to see how mainstream their sound has become since the early days – the answer is not as much as has been reported. Sure it’s more melodic, but Anders Friden still sounds like the Devil Incarnate. Although, I’m disappointed by their stagecraft Anders’ occasional monotone joshing with the crowd raises many laughs. ‘The Mirror’s Truth’ certainly goes down a treat with the fans and the Download moshpit responds by finding a new level of intensity.

I see Elliot Minor get a half-hearted bottling for a performance that seems less in keeping with a rock festival than anything else on the bill, and The Wildhearts spend far too long talking. Today, they are the comedy turn with Ginger upset that he’s not getting wet. “I heard that some bottles were being thrown” he inquires before demanding that we “throw anything that isn’t nailed down” at the stage. All through their set he returns to his theme. “If I don’t leave this stage soaked I’m gonna be really disappointed”. After a great deal of good-natured banter and a few scorching rock tracks (including the killer ‘Caffeine Bomb’) they are asked to leave the stage, having overran their slot, which they do with a resigned look on their faces. Jimmy Eat World, meanwhile, are burning through ‘Salt, Sweat, Sugar’ and ‘The Middle’ and keeping us all on our toes. Man, I wish I’d brought my dancing shoes.

One band left to go and it’s a biggie. When Sepultura’s Cavalera brothers had a tiff 12 years ago it sent shock waves around the world. When they reformed it gave the chance for those who’d never seen them play together to witness just how incredible they are live. Cavalera Conspiracy, one album down, headlining the final night of Download Festival – that’s how much their reunited front means to the metal community. Igor is an unmatched force on drums; tearing into his kit like a man possessed he creates double-kick thunder which blasts into those out front. As they run through their album ‘Inflikted’, Max wails each note with a huge grin on his face and, across stage Marc Rizzo yanks at his guitar like it’s done him a disservice. Out front we’re just happy to mosh and circle pit and headbang to every beautiful note. But, there, there in the back of our minds we’re waiting, waiting. We know it’s coming… but when? Then, BANG, there it is – the glorious cover of Sepultura’s ‘Roots’ we’d all secretly been waiting for. The monstrous circle pit says everything about this band, this song and this festival that you needed to know.

Glancing at a photo of Fear Of Music, some people might disregard them on the assumption that they are yet another generic indie band. Well, all that can be said is ‘more fool them’. These fresh-faced Mancunians are anything but generic.

Since being spotted in 2001 during their teenage years, Fear Of Music have been pricking up ears nationwide, give or take a few line-up changes along the way. Having provided support for some impressive names including Manic Street Preachers, Silversun Pickups and Mute Math, and with a handful of impressive EPs under their wing already, it isn’t surprising that they have established a fast-growing fanbase. Continue Reading

Constantines are a tight five piece indie rock band, they formed in Guelph, ON, Canada in ‘99, and now call Toronto home. They have quietly and steadily put out albums since the turn of the millennium, for a brief two album period they were signed to no less a label than Sub Pop, but have now found a berth in local giants Arts & Crafts’ roster for album number four, Kensington Heights. What we get is a heads-down plough-through mentality that is belied by a reaching gaze and moments of introspection. Continue Reading

This week sees the release of What You Don’t Know Is Frontier - the new album by California’s finest purveryors of what I like to call Sludgecore (I like inventing genres - sue me). We decided it was time to catch up with Asva for some serious 20 Questions action. Their responses were, as you would imagine - short and to the point with a fair amount of blue language. Look away now kids.

Ooh and don’t forget! Our Southern Records sampler is still available to download which features an exclusive track from the new Asva album. Get it here y’all.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Glass. Ocean. Tranquility.

2. What was the first record you ever bought? And where did you buy it?
7″ by Bachman, Turner, Overdrive. Can’t remember the track. DJ’s Sound City

3. What’s the best cure for a hangover?
Fucking.

4. What’s on your rider?
555 cigarettes and very good scotch.

5. How do you get ready for a live show?
Smoke a fag and sit on my ass bullshitting with people.

6. What’s your favourite song to play live?
Pay To Come- Bad Brains. Or maybe Jet by Wings. But I won’t be doing those this time around.

7. What’s your guilty pleasure?
I don’t feel guilty about any pleasure.

8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
Is this some half ass shot at poetry?

9. Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
I don’t know any new bands… new to me? I’m enjoying Hidden Cameras quite a bit.

10. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
River Pheonix in whatever state he currently is.

11. Dead or alive, what 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival?
Sonic Youth. Early Bad Brains pre HR’s whatever. Jimmy Hendrix. The Fall. Radiohead.

12. If push comes to shove, what is your all-time favourite album?
Talk Talk- Laughing Stock

13. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
You’d have to ask the scotch.

14. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
Getting married, time with my brothers, Montana.

15. What’s the best piece of advice someone has ever given you and did you take notice?
You know how to keep a hard-on? Don’t fuck with it. Similar to ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’ And yes I took notice.

16. If you had to leave a body part to science, what would it be?
The tiniest scrotum ever.

17. What’s the best book you’ve read and film you’ve seen in the last 6 months?
No Country For Old Men (the movie) and Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen

18. What three things could you not live without?
Wife. Wine. Music… in that order

19. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I like porn.

20. And finally, we’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
The theme is good songs…
Cortez The Killer- Neil Young
Couldn’t You Wait- Silkworm
Achilles Last Stand- Led Zeppelin
Birthday- The Fall
Boiler Maker- The Jesus Lizard

Links
Asva [myspace] [label]

‘People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis - you can’t trust people,’ said Superhans in the wonderful British comedy Peep Show. But with the obscenely titled Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, the UK’s biggest musical franchise will be hoping to win the respect of Superhanses everywhere, as well as pleasing their enormous mainstream following.

The aim seems to have been to create a brooding, mysterious record. Chris Martin’s spectacular toddler-strop during a recent Radio 4 interview may have been an attempt to establish this new image, but it’s hardly going to help matters when trying to maintain a decent reputation with both existing and potential listeners. Layering your record with obscure cultural and religious references might be quirky, but everybody knows enough about Coldplay to realise this may be just a little bit contrived. Still, Brian Eno sits behind the desk on production duty, and if there’s one person that can bridge the gap between the commercial and the experimental it’s Brian Eno. His influence is apparent right away, with a sweeping, ambient instrumental introduction that goes on just a little too long for comfort. But it doesn’t end here: his musical personality is in the arrangement, the effects and the structuring of practically the entire album, so much so that one begins to wonder whether he was effectively a fifth member of the band during the creation of Coldplay’s fourth LP. Continue Reading

Primavera has, over the last four years, become a sort of Catalan ATP to the Reading/Leeds of Sónar or Benicàssim - challenging, innovative and unfailingly brilliant. Many of its six stages nearly slip off the tarmac and into the sea, a sharp salt tang fizzing in the air, catamarans and gulls gliding languidly by.

Young Marble Giants photographed by Amos Memon

This is a year dominated by the old guard. Despite a programme that reads like Pitchfork’s buzz list, Young Marble Giants, whose sole LP, Colossal Youth, came out nearly three decades ago, deliver the performance of the festival, if not the year. They’re less a live epiphany (they’re almost motionless on stage) than a stark reminder of what it means - what it should mean - to be an artist, to be human, to struggle to understand one’s place in the universe. They’re as seminal as Joy Division but without the relentless namechecking and photogenic biopics; as enraged and engaged, but delivering their barbed commentary with clenched-jaw, shiver-inducing minimalist restraint. There’s an extraordinary frisson to watching a quartet of 40-somethings, professionally obsessed with the fleeting moments of youth, excavate the fruit of their adolescence from the amber it was set in after an untimely 1980 dissolution. Playing with a live drummer instead of, famously, a slightly crap homemade drum machine, their sound is more rounded live than on record, but no less resonantly vacant. Alison Statton’s crystalline but deliberately unpolished vocals float above the high, melodic bass and rumbly rhythm guitar, the two almost impossible to untwine. They close with “Credit in the Straight World”, still the sharpest interrogation of underground culture of the last 50 years. As reunions go, this is as magical, as untainted by the passage of time, as anyone could hope for.

Watch:> Young Marble Giants: ‘Salad Days’ and ‘Credit in the Straight World’:

With a crowd of about 20,000, Primavera is small enough that you’re constantly running into friends, acquaintances and various members of Les Savy Fav (who whirled through their late-night set like a particularly colourful and ear-splitting hurricane). Look, here’s Andy Hung out of Fuck Buttons, watching Bradford Cox of Atlas Sound mooch about ahead of an eardrum-shattering set punctuated with deeply philosophical interludes about girls “getting fingered in a KFC parking lot in New Jersey”. The night before, Fuck Buttons had virtually reoriented the earth on its axis with their potent blasts of sonic might. So Andy, what were your favourite bands this year? “Shellac, Shellac, SHELLAC!”

Shellac photographed by Inma Varandela

Shellac are indeed amazing. It’s tribute to years of graft as well as genius that everything melts into place, the most awkward of time signatures washing over the enormous, raw midnight crowd like the sucking of an ebb tide. When they kick into “Prayer to God”, it’s like the tear ducts of thousands of men, dormant for years (well, since they first hit play on 1000 Hurts) swell, itch and flow. But, like a spoilsport, I have to disagree with Andy. Devo were (by a whisper) better.

Devo photographed by Inma Varandela

Devo were a revelation, issuing a wholehearted challenge to any band who’s dared to exist since 1973. Their sound may be inarguably of its time, but the sharpness of every note, the knowingness, the layers of meaning in their every power chord and mock-salute, were an unspoken reminder of the era from which they sprang: Kent State, Watergate, Wounded Knee. O to be in a band when being in a band meant taking on the Prez, however obliquely and with whatever abstract, absurdist joy. O to be in a band when being in a band meant everything.

Fanfarlo photographed by Emma Gowing

Watching Fanfarlo in England always seems a bit of a cheat. They’re so technically and melodically accomplished, so assured, so ridiculously good that it’s surreal to see them playing in, for example, a tiny upstairs room at the ICA. They should be two albums in and headlining the Astoria. Here, they’re as shiny-eyed and intense as ever playing to thousands, vocals, violins and horns ringing out pure and clear like a prayer.

Amos (drums), after confidently predicting “no smoke unless you ask for it”, is almost suffocated by the smoke machine. Poor Amos. So what were your favourite bands? “Well, I was backstage at Dinosaur Jr and embarrassed myself air-drumming to ‘Feel the Pain’ just as Malkmus walked past. Dufus!” So, Simon (vocals, guitar) what were your favourite bands? “Dirty Projectors, Port O’Brian, Deerhunter and El Guincho.”

Dirty Projectors photographed by Inma Varandela

I’m not one of the many instant converts to the clattering, hypnotic charms of El Guincho, but I’m with Simon on the Dirty Projectors. (So is Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, rocking out and oblivious to all around him for most of the set. Whaddaya say, Justin? “Fucking amazing!”) Despite being perhaps the only one around who was unimpressed by Rise Above’s seemingly remote, swottish exercises in third-world cultural examination, I was floored by their live set. More than floored - awestruck, motionless, slack-jawed. Dave Longstreth’s locked-eyeball intensity, the velvet-gloved, iron-fisted control of Amber and Angel on the flanks, the sheer gloriousness of the melodies - I’ve never been so delighted to be proved wrong.

HEALTH photographed by Inma Varandela

HEALTH are extraordinary. They seem to be able to expand - their volume, their relentless thrashing, their mighty talents - to fill whatever space is available. On the Vice stage, out on a peninsula surrounded by the sea and seemingly all 20,000-some festivalgoers, they’re like the darkest elements of a Matisse dance painting come to violent life. Wild but elegantly thrown-about limbs and bodies give visual form to their relentless beats and hammering chords. Acid clouds of sound build up, with phrases and refrains echoing and repeating until they lose all meaning, at least in any traditional sense. Their pagan exuberance - wheeling mics around, shoving them into monitors, throwing their bodies into anything that will resist - recalls misfit teenagers set loose in a laboratory of dark secrets. Weird science indeed.

A few lines must be devoted to the festival’s disappointments. Malkmus, you’re first on the list, although I suppose no one can blame the clearly billed Steven Malkmus & the Jicks for not playing a Slanted & Enchanted Don’t Look Back session, which seems to be the secret hope of the entire audience. You’re next, David Berman - Silver Jews are dully, slickly uninspiring, in line with the recent nice-enough Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. And personal disappointments - word has it that Pissed Jeans and Why? are epiphanical, and both missed.

I’m told off for missing Bon Iver, who rouses a tear and a holler from every listener, as he did four days later at St Giles church in London (and two weeks earlier at the Forum and Rough Trade East. How many landmark, heart-stopping shows can one man perform in a few short weeks?) But I don’t regret skipping his show, instead hopping across town to the unmapped, almost unadvertised satellite gigs in the Parc Joan Miró. Curious toddlers stare and bemused grannies drag their tiny dogs past a wonky stage where the magnificent David Thomas Broughton holds court. His mind-boggling mix of soaring baritone vocals and looped guitar, rattles, taps and feedback is punctuated with abrupt moments of slapstick. Unlikely as it sounds and impossible as it is to explain, every song is a lush, delicately layered, sometimes ear-shattering mystery, but I find myself humming a few uncannily catchy lines on the way back to the festival proper.

The Wave Pictures photographed by Inma Varandela

On Sunday night, the The Wave Pictures are as delightful, melancholic and quietly perfect a closing act as anyone could wish for. Against a backdrop of early flights and Monday-morning hangovers-in-waiting, they mesmerise nearly a thousand in Barcelona’s gorgeous fin-de-siècle Apolo club, complete with softly glowing globe chandeliers and mahogany wall detail. They’re reflective and wistful, but also totally gripping, with ballsy bass and drums. Crowd favourite “Now You Are Pregnant” gets as rapturous a singalong reception as always, but in retrospect it’s almost chilling. In a plea to the girlfriend who’s never really understood him, David Tattersall sings, with a catch in his throat I may be imagining, “Johnny Cash died today, and you’d say, ‘It’s not like Elvis’ … and you would be right.” We wake up to the news that Wave Pictures idol and all-round legend Bo Diddley has died.

So, David, I’d asked earlier, what were your favourite bands this year? “The Sonics were very good, very good indeed. And Jonny and Franic playing with Darren Hayman.” You can’t nominate them, they’re in your band. “It was still very exciting.” It was all very exciting. It was life-affirming, euphoric, momentous. It was the musical high tide of the year. Don’t mind us, we’ll just lie here next to the ATP stage, under the sun and the wheeling seagulls, until next year rolls around.

Photo by Amos Memon

frYars, aka the nineteen year old Ben Garrett, is something of a prodigy. His first two releases, EPs entitled ‘The Ides’ and ‘Olive Eyes’, combine lo-fi electronics with a rich, timbred voice and songs about childhood, jealousy, incest, cannibalism, war and murder; but there’s a contrasting lightness in frYars’ pop ditties that shows a pleasing sense of perversity.

Trying to pigeonhole frYars’ has proved tricky to the journos that have tried - widespread Nick Cave comparisons that have been bandied about in the London crapsheets seem like witless press release recycling. More viable links might include the “Dramatic Boy” school of pop, recently exponents of which include Patrick Wolf and Simon Bookish, or the vaguely experimental, literate alt-indie of clever young men like Jeremy Warmsley and Eugene McGuinness. Musically, there are echoes of one-hit-wonder White Town’s plinky bedroom-studio keyboard sound, and Cursor Miner’s more expansive take on ‘readymade’ synth sound palette. Piano-led ballad ‘The Novelist’s Wife’ is remniscent of Anthony & The Johnsons. But tellingly, none of these comparisons quite tell the whole story - frYars has evolved a pleasingly individual aesthetic. Continue Reading

Fleet Foxes photographs by Rich Thane.

It’s nice to suddenly find yourself at a gig that’s gone from being a slightly obscure “up-and-coming” type show to a full blown queue-round-the-block hot ticket in the space of a few weeks. Tonight’s sold out ULU Bella Union showcase is exactly that, with Fleet Foxes garnering 5/5 reviews in every broadsheet and monthly magazine going. Fame, it seems, is looking over their shoulder, and tonight’s gig feels like a significant moment in their rapid rise. Continue Reading

Momentum is gathering. Our 20 Questions are once again the talk of the land. This week we got the cheaky XX Teens to answer those questions, frontmen Richard Cash and Anthony Silvester giving us the most insightful answer to our Stoat / Goat question yet…

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Richard: Modern
Anthony: Pop
Richard: Music Continue Reading

It’s that After Hours time of the week again..This week, it’s the turn of The Owl Service. An intriguing four piece who create a truly strange and beautiful sound, as if beamed in from another era. A track from their forthcoming album A Garland Of Song (release June 13th via Southern) can be downloaded for free from our rather awesome Southern Records Sampler. Grab the whole thing here folks. We caught up with founder of the band, Steve Collins to find out what he’s been reading/watching/listening to lately….

It’s our round, what are you having?
A pint of Adnams Broadside please, with a Jack Daniels chaser.

Who’s your favourite new band at the moment? Tell us a bit about them.
One of my favourite new bands is Rubus - a 3 piece centred around singer Emily Portman (who also plays in The Devil’s Interval with another fine singer named Jim Causley). Basically, they’re dedicated to playing traditional British folk music with great arrangements, all topped off with Portman’s stunning vocals. - What’s been the best album you’ve heard in the last 12 months?My favourite new album from the last 12 months is probably Wolves in the Throne Room’s “Two Hunters”. My favourite old-but-new-to-me album is Sandy Bull “Fantasias For Guitar and Banjo”. It’s the blueprint for the current freak-folk sound - you’d think it was Six Organs of Admittance, but it was recorded in 1964. Just amazing, timeless music. Continue Reading

Formed in late 2006 The Last Dinosaur started out as a project between two friends, Jamie Cameron and Luke Hayden. Brought together by a mutual love of Peep Show, crisps, late nights and kids television programs -surely the vital foundation for any longterm friendship? One evening (possibly after one too many episodes of Peep Show), the pair for no other reason than that they were a little bit bored and felt a tad creative layed down the first fruits of what would be later known as ‘The First Last Dinosaur Song’. A four minute lo-fi jam (and I hate to use the word ‘jam’) that glides over a backdrop of handclaps, piano, organ, saxaphone and what only sounds like a chest of drawers being hit by a wooden spoon - Jesus, I haven’t done a very good job at explaining that have I? It kind of sounds like something from The Bees debut album if you had to pin a tag on it. I have to admit though, ‘The First Last Dinosaur Song’ isn’t a great introduction to the band, it’s more of a mere experiment, simply a catalyst for what was to follow. According to Cameron; “a creative flood gate opened and we started recording more, waiting until it was dark and just experimenting, seeing what happened, playing whatever our fingers told us to”. The only way is up, so they say. Continue Reading

If you are not completely sucked in and left feeling a warm fuzzy feeling inside you after the opener and first single ‘Inside A Boy’, it’s simple: You have no warm blood running through your veins. It slips in with an elegant arrangement of fluid, delicate guitars and gorgeous sweeping strings and those tender, haunting vocals that are a mark of Shara Worden (especially when she’s wailing out “We are stars colliding and we crash like lightening into love!”). I’m sorry but you just can’t but feel the wonder, the delight and the enchantment. It’s that simple. Continue Reading