Deer Shed
WHAT? Reliable old 'family friendliness' from a festival that pledges to treat the kids well and the families sated. Other entertainments include Bob Stanley in conversation, scientific demonstrations and a Fall-based round table involving four ex-members (including both Hanleys). The site refers to a 'Time Travel' theme. If that means fancy dress there'll be trouble.
WHERE? Baldersby Park, Topcliffe, North Yorkshire
HOW? £109, soon to become £119
WHO? British Sea Power, Johnny Marr, Slow Club, Summer Camp, Toy, Steve Mason, Georgia Ruth, Pins, Cate Le Bon, Cheatahs, Sam Airey, Nordic Giants, Withered Hand, Post War Glamour Girls, Girls Names, Wolf Alice, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Stornoway, Woman's Hour, Happyness, PAWS, Teleman, All We Are, We Were Evergreen, Eliza And The Bear
Indietracks
WHAT? An eighth year of gathering the indiepop clans together in the grounds of a railway museum - the one thing you'll probably know about the festival is its acoustic stage in the goods wagon of a steam train, but that's not to overlook the stages in a tram shed and deconsecrated tin church.
WHERE? Midland Railway Museum, Ripley, Derbyshire
HOW? £72 either online or from the railway
WHO? Gruff Rhys, Allo Darlin', Joanna Gruesome, Dean Wareham, Spearmint (!), The Popguns, The Spook School, Sweet Baboo, The Chills, MJ Hibbett and the Validators, The Hidden Cameras, Laura J Martin, Trust Fund, The Just Joans, Withered Hand, Cosines, Let's Wrestle, No Ditching, ONSIND, Ravioli Me Away, The Flatmates, Nat Johnson, The Proper Ornaments, TeenCanteen
Tramlines
WHAT? Three days in which to take over central Sheffield for a sixth time
WHERE? Fifteen venues in the city
HOW? £28 for the weekend
WHO? Future of the Left, Public Enemy, Sky Larkin, Slow Club, The Wedding Present, Her Name Is Calla, Maybeshewill, Toy, Bo Ningen, Nordic Giants, Three Trapped Tigers, The Cribs, Katy B, Peggy Sue, Post War Glamour Girls, Rolo Tomassi, Esben and the Witch, Gold Panda, PINS, Talons, East India Youth, Menace Beach, The Beat, Ms Dynamite, Sivu, Juce, Rodney P & Skitz, Screaming Maldini, Veronica Falls, Woman’s Hour, VerseChorusVerse, Kerbdog, Brontide, Autobahn, Blessa, Sister Sledge
Showing posts with label festivals in general. Show all posts
Showing posts with label festivals in general. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
Friday, May 16, 2014
Weekends away 2014 round-up: Dot To Dot, Bushstock, Dinefwr, Camden Crawl
Dot To Dot
WHAT? Venerable multi-venue tri-city shindig now in its tenth year (though doing nothing to celebrate the fact) showcasing big names, major label development deal potential future big names, a few surprising imports and underground bands, and so forth
WHERE? Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham
WHEN? 23rd, 24th and 25th May respectively
HOW? £22 apiece
WHO? Courtney Barnett, Drenge, White Lung, Real Estate, Wolf Alice, Honeyblood, Sivu, We Were Evergreen, Fickle Friends, Superfood, Young Romance, Luke Sital-Singh, The Bohicas, Slaves, Years and Years, Ezra Furman, Horse Thief, Stats, Peace, Indiana, Kyla La Grange, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Jaws, Famy, Drowners, God Damn (Check listings as not all bands play everywhere)
Bushstock
WHAT? Communion's annual get-together
WHERE? St Stephens Church, Bush Hall, Defectors Weld and The Sindercombe Social, Shepherd's Bush
WHEN? 14th June
HOW? £27.50
WHO? Peggy Sue, The Felice Brothers, Farewell JR, Luke Sital-Singh, Honeyblood, Fickle Friends, Chloe Howl, Amber Run, Big Sixes, Blaenavon
Dinefwr
WHAT? A high quality music stage tacked onto a literature festival (among the non-musical end of the bill: Daniel Kitson & Gavin Osborn, Bridget Christie, Viv Albertine, Shaun 'Letters Of Note' Usher, Laura 'Everyday Sexism' Bates, Jeremy Hardy and James Endeacott)
WHERE? Dinefwr Park and Castle, Carmarthenshire
WHEN? 20th-22nd June
HOW? £65 online or from the park, Spillers, Literature Wales in Cardiff, Carmarthen's Tangled Parrot or Ticketline, Cardiff
WHO?
Gruff Rhys, Sweet Baboo, Cate Le Bon, Trwbador, Alexis Taylor, Charlotte Church, Adrian Edmondson & the Bad Shepherds, Richard Dawson
Camden Crawl
WHAT? Loads of bands in and around Chalk Farm Road, A&Rs drawn at dawn
WHERE? 21 venues around the titular area
WHEN? 20th-21st June
HOW? At the moment, just under £50 for the weekend
WHO?Johnny Foreigner, Haiku Salut, of Montreal, Laetitia Sadier, Tall Ships, Au Revoir Simone, Jeffrey Lewis & The Jrams, ABC (!), Steve Mason, Atari Teenage Riot, PINS, Shopping, Girls Names, Novella, Mouse On Mars, Brawlers, PAWS, Nai Harvest, Yuck, Younghusband, Phil Hartnoll, Brontide, Slaves, Alexis Taylor, Woahnows, Big Deal, Mazes, The Crookes, Black Moth, The Field, Dignan Porch, Dry The River, Laurel Halo
WHAT? Venerable multi-venue tri-city shindig now in its tenth year (though doing nothing to celebrate the fact) showcasing big names, major label development deal potential future big names, a few surprising imports and underground bands, and so forth
WHERE? Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham
WHEN? 23rd, 24th and 25th May respectively
HOW? £22 apiece
WHO? Courtney Barnett, Drenge, White Lung, Real Estate, Wolf Alice, Honeyblood, Sivu, We Were Evergreen, Fickle Friends, Superfood, Young Romance, Luke Sital-Singh, The Bohicas, Slaves, Years and Years, Ezra Furman, Horse Thief, Stats, Peace, Indiana, Kyla La Grange, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Jaws, Famy, Drowners, God Damn (Check listings as not all bands play everywhere)
Bushstock
WHAT? Communion's annual get-together
WHERE? St Stephens Church, Bush Hall, Defectors Weld and The Sindercombe Social, Shepherd's Bush
WHEN? 14th June
HOW? £27.50
WHO? Peggy Sue, The Felice Brothers, Farewell JR, Luke Sital-Singh, Honeyblood, Fickle Friends, Chloe Howl, Amber Run, Big Sixes, Blaenavon
Dinefwr
WHAT? A high quality music stage tacked onto a literature festival (among the non-musical end of the bill: Daniel Kitson & Gavin Osborn, Bridget Christie, Viv Albertine, Shaun 'Letters Of Note' Usher, Laura 'Everyday Sexism' Bates, Jeremy Hardy and James Endeacott)
WHERE? Dinefwr Park and Castle, Carmarthenshire
WHEN? 20th-22nd June
HOW? £65 online or from the park, Spillers, Literature Wales in Cardiff, Carmarthen's Tangled Parrot or Ticketline, Cardiff
WHO?
Gruff Rhys, Sweet Baboo, Cate Le Bon, Trwbador, Alexis Taylor, Charlotte Church, Adrian Edmondson & the Bad Shepherds, Richard Dawson
Camden Crawl
WHAT? Loads of bands in and around Chalk Farm Road, A&Rs drawn at dawn
WHERE? 21 venues around the titular area
WHEN? 20th-21st June
HOW? At the moment, just under £50 for the weekend
WHO?Johnny Foreigner, Haiku Salut, of Montreal, Laetitia Sadier, Tall Ships, Au Revoir Simone, Jeffrey Lewis & The Jrams, ABC (!), Steve Mason, Atari Teenage Riot, PINS, Shopping, Girls Names, Novella, Mouse On Mars, Brawlers, PAWS, Nai Harvest, Yuck, Younghusband, Phil Hartnoll, Brontide, Slaves, Alexis Taylor, Woahnows, Big Deal, Mazes, The Crookes, Black Moth, The Field, Dignan Porch, Dry The River, Laurel Halo
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Weekends away 2014: Lunar
WHAT? Leftfield approach to a folk festival in Nick Drake's home town
WHERE? Umberslade Estate, Tanworth-In-Arden, Staffordshire
WHEN? 6th-8th June
WHY? A satellite event of the sainted Moseley Folk Festival, Lunar was established two years ago, took a year off and now gets it together in the country with all manner of extra activities, from mask making to African drumming workshops to Afro-Caribbean traditional storytelling to Northern Soul dance lessons. And on Saturday morning, listen to Nick's own scratched copy of Pink Moon on the Drake family gramophone! Yeah, I know.
HOW? £89 weekend
WHO?
FRIDAY: British Sea Power, Tim Burgess, Toy, Money, Don Letts DJing
SATURDAY: Donovan, Temples, Linda Perhacs, Laura J Martin, Goodnight Lenin, Victories At Sea, Seeland, John Renbourn and Wizz Jones, Andy Votel DJing
SUNDAY: The Polyphonic Spree, Lanterns On The Lake, Misty's Big Adventure, Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, The Magic Band, Pram, Scott Matthews
WHERE? Umberslade Estate, Tanworth-In-Arden, Staffordshire
WHEN? 6th-8th June
WHY? A satellite event of the sainted Moseley Folk Festival, Lunar was established two years ago, took a year off and now gets it together in the country with all manner of extra activities, from mask making to African drumming workshops to Afro-Caribbean traditional storytelling to Northern Soul dance lessons. And on Saturday morning, listen to Nick's own scratched copy of Pink Moon on the Drake family gramophone! Yeah, I know.
HOW? £89 weekend
WHO?
FRIDAY: British Sea Power, Tim Burgess, Toy, Money, Don Letts DJing
SATURDAY: Donovan, Temples, Linda Perhacs, Laura J Martin, Goodnight Lenin, Victories At Sea, Seeland, John Renbourn and Wizz Jones, Andy Votel DJing
SUNDAY: The Polyphonic Spree, Lanterns On The Lake, Misty's Big Adventure, Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, The Magic Band, Pram, Scott Matthews
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Weekends away 2014: Gold Sounds
WHAT? A Spring Bank Holiday Monday alldayer of noise-pop, high quality largely northern indie and such great things
WHERE? Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
WHEN? 26th May
WHY? "Celebrating the best in fuzzed out, sweet sweet noise". Sounds like us incarnate.
HOW? £12.50 from Crash, Jumbo, the venue and here
WHO?Cloud Nothings, Sky Larkin, Joanna Gruesome, PINS, Radstewart, White Lung, Post War Glamour Girls, Menace Beach, Eugene Quell, PAWS, Blessa, The Spills
WHERE? Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
WHEN? 26th May
WHY? "Celebrating the best in fuzzed out, sweet sweet noise". Sounds like us incarnate.
HOW? £12.50 from Crash, Jumbo, the venue and here
WHO?Cloud Nothings, Sky Larkin, Joanna Gruesome, PINS, Radstewart, White Lung, Post War Glamour Girls, Menace Beach, Eugene Quell, PAWS, Blessa, The Spills
Monday, April 07, 2014
Weekends away 2014: Live At Leeds
WHAT? One of the great British live music cities puts bands of all sizes all over the place for May Day
WHERE? Brudenell Social Club, The Cockpit, The Faversham, Holy Trinity Church, Leeds Met, Leeds Uni, Nation Of Shopkeepers, O2 Academy, The Wardrobe, The Cockpit Bar, Town Hall, Oporto, The HiFi Club, Belgrave Music Hall, The Packhorse and Faversham
WHEN? 2nd-5th May
WHY? Eight years old now, LAL attracts some big commercial hitters and heavy new band hitters as much as hugely promising local talent in harmony
HOW? £25 from loads of online and in person outlets
WHO?
FRIDAY: Blood Red Shoes, Melt Yourself Down, plus The Unconference panels, workshops, Q&As etc
SATURDAY: Johnny Flynn, Fair Ohs, Woman's Hour, Eliza and the Bear, The Amazing Snakeheads, We Were Evergreen, Happyness, Pet Moon, Blaenavon, Bat And Ball, Imp, Marika Hackman...
...Bipolar Sunshine, George Ezra, Fuck Buttons, The Hold Steady, Pulled Apart By Horses, I Like Trains, Fat White Family, The Wytches, Superfood, Yuck, Saint Raymond, Sam Airey, Honeyblood, Lanterns On The Lake, Rae Morris, ¡Forward Russia! - no, really, ¡Forward Russia! are back, albeit apparently only for this one occasion...
...Cheatahs, Courtney Barnett, Albert Hammond Jr, Fickle Friends, Royal Blood, Black Moth, Drenge, The Witch Hunt, Teleman, Tennis, Rosie Lowe, Arc Iris, Menace Beach, Ella Eyre, Clean Bandit, Nina Nesbitt, Chloe Howl, Wolf Alice, King Charles, Arthur Beatrice, MT, The Sunshine Underground, The Bohicas, Sivu, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Gambles, Circa Waves, Lola Colt, Lyla Foy, Mausi, A Plastic Rose and Los Campesinos!
SUNDAY: Dum Dum Girls, Neurosis, Kodaline, Crocodiles
WHERE? Brudenell Social Club, The Cockpit, The Faversham, Holy Trinity Church, Leeds Met, Leeds Uni, Nation Of Shopkeepers, O2 Academy, The Wardrobe, The Cockpit Bar, Town Hall, Oporto, The HiFi Club, Belgrave Music Hall, The Packhorse and Faversham
WHEN? 2nd-5th May
WHY? Eight years old now, LAL attracts some big commercial hitters and heavy new band hitters as much as hugely promising local talent in harmony
HOW? £25 from loads of online and in person outlets
WHO?
FRIDAY: Blood Red Shoes, Melt Yourself Down, plus The Unconference panels, workshops, Q&As etc
SATURDAY: Johnny Flynn, Fair Ohs, Woman's Hour, Eliza and the Bear, The Amazing Snakeheads, We Were Evergreen, Happyness, Pet Moon, Blaenavon, Bat And Ball, Imp, Marika Hackman...
...Bipolar Sunshine, George Ezra, Fuck Buttons, The Hold Steady, Pulled Apart By Horses, I Like Trains, Fat White Family, The Wytches, Superfood, Yuck, Saint Raymond, Sam Airey, Honeyblood, Lanterns On The Lake, Rae Morris, ¡Forward Russia! - no, really, ¡Forward Russia! are back, albeit apparently only for this one occasion...
...Cheatahs, Courtney Barnett, Albert Hammond Jr, Fickle Friends, Royal Blood, Black Moth, Drenge, The Witch Hunt, Teleman, Tennis, Rosie Lowe, Arc Iris, Menace Beach, Ella Eyre, Clean Bandit, Nina Nesbitt, Chloe Howl, Wolf Alice, King Charles, Arthur Beatrice, MT, The Sunshine Underground, The Bohicas, Sivu, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Gambles, Circa Waves, Lola Colt, Lyla Foy, Mausi, A Plastic Rose and Los Campesinos!
SUNDAY: Dum Dum Girls, Neurosis, Kodaline, Crocodiles
Weekends away 2014: Odd Box Weekender
WHAT? Much admired DIY indie label puts on the fifth of its annual weekenders, this time over three days
WHERE? Power Lunches, Dalston on Friday; Macbeth, Hoxton on Saturday; the Lexington Sunday
WHEN? 2nd-4th May
WHY? Trev Odd Box has a good ear for ground level indiepop of all shades, from jangly to noisy, and his label events always tempt a high calibre.
HOW? £27.50 the weekend, plus Saturday/Sunday/both passes
WHO?
FRIDAY: The Manhattan Love Suicides (reformed POBPAH-supported noiseniks), Tyrannosaurus Dead, Sock Puppets, The Wendy Darlings, The Sweet Nothings
SATURDAY: The Spook School, Shopping, Heathers, Fever Dream, The Wharves, T.O.Y.S, Gum, Ravioli Me Away, Moustache of Insanity, Falling & Laughing, Palomica
SUNDAY: Kid Canaveral, One Happy Island, Night Flowers, Chorusgirl
WHERE? Power Lunches, Dalston on Friday; Macbeth, Hoxton on Saturday; the Lexington Sunday
WHEN? 2nd-4th May
WHY? Trev Odd Box has a good ear for ground level indiepop of all shades, from jangly to noisy, and his label events always tempt a high calibre.
HOW? £27.50 the weekend, plus Saturday/Sunday/both passes
WHO?
FRIDAY: The Manhattan Love Suicides (reformed POBPAH-supported noiseniks), Tyrannosaurus Dead, Sock Puppets, The Wendy Darlings, The Sweet Nothings
SATURDAY: The Spook School, Shopping, Heathers, Fever Dream, The Wharves, T.O.Y.S, Gum, Ravioli Me Away, Moustache of Insanity, Falling & Laughing, Palomica
SUNDAY: Kid Canaveral, One Happy Island, Night Flowers, Chorusgirl
Sunday, April 06, 2014
Weekends away 2014: Liverpool Sound City
WHAT? City-wide (largely) new music hullaballoo in its seventh year
WHERE? The city's cultural quarter, including East Village Arts Club, Kazimier Gardens, Leaf Cafe, Liverpool Cathedral, Mello Mello, Parr Street Car Park (!), Tavern on the Green, The Attic, The Brink, The Cavern Club, The Factory, The Garage, The Kazimier, The Shipping Forecast and The Zanzibar
WHEN? 1st-3rd May
WHY? One of the more established multi-day events and a place labels send their hottest properties and unsigned bands get well catered for alongside established crowd pullers. Alongside the music a full series of conferences, panels and speakers discuss "music, football and style", including John Cale, Thurston Moore, Dave Haslam, Andy Votel, Record Store Day founder Spencer Hickman, John Doran of The Quietus, Kevin 'Powder' Sampson, Peter Hooton of The Farm and former Premier League chief executive Rick Parry.
HOW? £120 for a full conference and music pass, £66 for just the music, plus assorted day and two-day tickets from here
WHO?
THURSDAY: Gruff Rhys, Blood Red Shoes, And So I Watch You From Afar, DZ Deathrays, Jon Hopkins, PINS, Marika Hackman, The Wytches, Courtney Barnett, Clean Bandit, Fat White Family, Thumpers, The Bohicas, The Amazing Snakeheads, Jane Weaver, God Damn, Traams, Sivu, Circa Waves, Houdini Dax
FRIDAY: The Hold Steady, Fuck Buttons, Factory Floor, Drenge, Wolf Alice, Woman's Hour, Girls Names, East India Youth, Fair Ohs, Superfood, Fickle Friends, Lanterns On The Lake, Albert Hammond Jr, Chloe Howl, Blessa, Bipolar Sunshine, Pawws, We Were Evergreen, Raleigh Ritchie, Tennis, Royal Blood, Spring King, Saint Raymond, Eliza and the Bear
SATURDAY: 65daysofstatic, Radiophonic Workshop, Public Service Broadcasting, Jungle, Kill It Kid, September Girls, All We Are, Jagwar Ma, Luke Sital-Singh, Jimi Goodwin, Death At Sea, Bridie Jackson and The Arbour, We Have Band, Famy, 35 Summers, Kodaline, The Kooks
WHERE? The city's cultural quarter, including East Village Arts Club, Kazimier Gardens, Leaf Cafe, Liverpool Cathedral, Mello Mello, Parr Street Car Park (!), Tavern on the Green, The Attic, The Brink, The Cavern Club, The Factory, The Garage, The Kazimier, The Shipping Forecast and The Zanzibar
WHEN? 1st-3rd May
WHY? One of the more established multi-day events and a place labels send their hottest properties and unsigned bands get well catered for alongside established crowd pullers. Alongside the music a full series of conferences, panels and speakers discuss "music, football and style", including John Cale, Thurston Moore, Dave Haslam, Andy Votel, Record Store Day founder Spencer Hickman, John Doran of The Quietus, Kevin 'Powder' Sampson, Peter Hooton of The Farm and former Premier League chief executive Rick Parry.
HOW? £120 for a full conference and music pass, £66 for just the music, plus assorted day and two-day tickets from here
WHO?
THURSDAY: Gruff Rhys, Blood Red Shoes, And So I Watch You From Afar, DZ Deathrays, Jon Hopkins, PINS, Marika Hackman, The Wytches, Courtney Barnett, Clean Bandit, Fat White Family, Thumpers, The Bohicas, The Amazing Snakeheads, Jane Weaver, God Damn, Traams, Sivu, Circa Waves, Houdini Dax
FRIDAY: The Hold Steady, Fuck Buttons, Factory Floor, Drenge, Wolf Alice, Woman's Hour, Girls Names, East India Youth, Fair Ohs, Superfood, Fickle Friends, Lanterns On The Lake, Albert Hammond Jr, Chloe Howl, Blessa, Bipolar Sunshine, Pawws, We Were Evergreen, Raleigh Ritchie, Tennis, Royal Blood, Spring King, Saint Raymond, Eliza and the Bear
SATURDAY: 65daysofstatic, Radiophonic Workshop, Public Service Broadcasting, Jungle, Kill It Kid, September Girls, All We Are, Jagwar Ma, Luke Sital-Singh, Jimi Goodwin, Death At Sea, Bridie Jackson and The Arbour, We Have Band, Famy, 35 Summers, Kodaline, The Kooks
Monday, March 31, 2014
Weekends away 2014: Handmade Festival
WHAT? Like a multi-venue event but more so, putting the outer reaches into intriguing spaces around a major city centre
WHERE? A number of central Leicester venues
WHEN? 2nd-4th May
WHY? With stages supported by 2000 Trees, ArcTanGent, Big Scary Monsters and Alcopop! there's a decent post-hardcore/instrumental/post-rock leaning to the bill, but not without some intriguing deviations. Unlike most city festivals this also exploits non-standard locations, with stages in vintage halls and galleries
HOW? £33 for the weekend
WHO?
FRIDAY: And So I Watch You From Afar, Three Trapped Tigers, Her Name Is Calla, Grace Petrie, FTSE, Peter Wyeth
SATURDAY: Shonen Knife, Haiku Salut, We Three And The Death Rattle, Katie Malco, Sisterland, TE Morris, Weikie, Tellison, Tangled Hair, Woahnows, Brawlers, Feedback Voice
SUNDAY: I LIKE TRAINS, Dry The River, Dark Dark Horse, VerseChorusVerse
WHERE? A number of central Leicester venues
WHEN? 2nd-4th May
WHY? With stages supported by 2000 Trees, ArcTanGent, Big Scary Monsters and Alcopop! there's a decent post-hardcore/instrumental/post-rock leaning to the bill, but not without some intriguing deviations. Unlike most city festivals this also exploits non-standard locations, with stages in vintage halls and galleries
HOW? £33 for the weekend
WHO?
FRIDAY: And So I Watch You From Afar, Three Trapped Tigers, Her Name Is Calla, Grace Petrie, FTSE, Peter Wyeth
SATURDAY: Shonen Knife, Haiku Salut, We Three And The Death Rattle, Katie Malco, Sisterland, TE Morris, Weikie, Tellison, Tangled Hair, Woahnows, Brawlers, Feedback Voice
SUNDAY: I LIKE TRAINS, Dry The River, Dark Dark Horse, VerseChorusVerse
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Weekends away 2014: Focus Wales
WHAT? 150+ live bands, plus assorted interactive sessions, comedy and so forth
WHERE? A number of central Wrexham venues, all within walking distance
WHEN? 23rd-26th April
WHY? STN has always been a sucker for a thoughtfully booked multi-venue festival, and also for festivals in Wales, so... The first of the year's really fascinating expansive bills, smartly put together and not overly willing to make too much of a fuss about itself. Also a range of panels, seminars and speeches involving the likes of Huw Stephens, Alan McGee, John Robb, Will Sergeant, Chris Hawkins and Islet/Shape Records' Mark Daman Thomas.
HOW? £30 for music, £50 for everything, individual gig and day tickets too - all broken down here
WHO?
THURSDAY: Damo Suzuki, John Cooper Clarke, Georgia Ruth, Cian Ciarán, Seazoo, The Gentle Good, All We Are
FRIDAY: Islet, Euros Childs, Mowbird, Golden Fable, Masters In France, Houdini Dax, HMS Morris, Poltergeist
SATURDAY: Gulp, Keys, Chris T-T, We Are Animal, Black Moth
WHERE? A number of central Wrexham venues, all within walking distance
WHEN? 23rd-26th April
WHY? STN has always been a sucker for a thoughtfully booked multi-venue festival, and also for festivals in Wales, so... The first of the year's really fascinating expansive bills, smartly put together and not overly willing to make too much of a fuss about itself. Also a range of panels, seminars and speeches involving the likes of Huw Stephens, Alan McGee, John Robb, Will Sergeant, Chris Hawkins and Islet/Shape Records' Mark Daman Thomas.
HOW? £30 for music, £50 for everything, individual gig and day tickets too - all broken down here
WHO?
THURSDAY: Damo Suzuki, John Cooper Clarke, Georgia Ruth, Cian Ciarán, Seazoo, The Gentle Good, All We Are
FRIDAY: Islet, Euros Childs, Mowbird, Golden Fable, Masters In France, Houdini Dax, HMS Morris, Poltergeist
SATURDAY: Gulp, Keys, Chris T-T, We Are Animal, Black Moth
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Weekends away 2014: Wales Goes Pop!
Restarting our occasional series of plugs and previews for lesser known festivals and extended events:
WHAT? An all-ages Easter weekend scan of the indiepop high rollers and associates
WHERE? The Gate, Cardiff
WHEN? 18th-20th April
WHY? Smartly booked in an appropriately small-scale grand setting, the first WGP! last year was a joyous occasion, as these things tend to be in the post-Indietracks sphere, and it shows how far those particular stylistic tentacles can reach.
HOW? £40 from Spillers in Cardiff, Diverse Records in Newport or online
WHO? (or at least the best of those playing)
FRIDAY: Helen Love (their first hometown gig in quite some years), September Girls, The Magic Theatre, Flowers, Seazoo, Young Romance
SATURDAY: The Wedding Present, Radstewart, The School, The Proper Ornaments, Steven James Adams
SUNDAY: Withered Hand, Laetitia Sadier, Sweet Baboo, Haiku Salut, Woodpigeon, Owl & Mouse, Rozi Plain
WHAT? An all-ages Easter weekend scan of the indiepop high rollers and associates
WHERE? The Gate, Cardiff
WHEN? 18th-20th April
WHY? Smartly booked in an appropriately small-scale grand setting, the first WGP! last year was a joyous occasion, as these things tend to be in the post-Indietracks sphere, and it shows how far those particular stylistic tentacles can reach.
HOW? £40 from Spillers in Cardiff, Diverse Records in Newport or online
WHO? (or at least the best of those playing)
FRIDAY: Helen Love (their first hometown gig in quite some years), September Girls, The Magic Theatre, Flowers, Seazoo, Young Romance
SATURDAY: The Wedding Present, Radstewart, The School, The Proper Ornaments, Steven James Adams
SUNDAY: Withered Hand, Laetitia Sadier, Sweet Baboo, Haiku Salut, Woodpigeon, Owl & Mouse, Rozi Plain
Monday, July 04, 2011
A grand day out: Summer Westival
According to the venue, Summer Westival is "bringing the whole community together". Some ambitious ideas about family friendliness, as you'll see, but West End Centre in Aldershot is going for it on July's fourth Friday and Saturday, putting down grass inside and inviting fancy dress and "hands-on arts activities".
Dananananaykroyd
In fairness, if any band is going to bring the whole community together in perhaps a more physical sense than intended, if not exactly prove most amenable to the kiddies of Hampshire, it's Saturday night headliners Dananananaykroyd. We've seen some disappointment regarding There Is A Way, but we've also seen them live very recently and can confirm that for sheer balls-out energy, wrecking ball riffage and patent dual ridiculousness upfront there is still nobody in Britain to touch them.
Stagecoach
That's not to say some aren't trying. Athletic gear including headbands, crowd excursions (their mandolin usually ends up around someone else's neck by close of play) and absolute electrifying energy allied to off-kilter post-grunge/Weezer power-pop are what you get, and you'll be glad of it.
Hold Your Horse Is
We seem to be developing an archetype. Hold Your Horse Is play taut, tense, pummelling broken riffs and math-gone-grunge with some ferocity and no short amount of tightness, with the confidence of a band who already have a live record to their name.
ALSO: So presumably the Friday headliners are more palatable to an all ages audience expecting fun for all? Erm, no, it's Johnny Foreigner. One of them will swear in front of children. Several times. (Both headliners are also playing the ace Off The Cuff in Birmingham 22nd-24th July, as are Tubelord, Shoes And Socks Off, DD/MM/YYYY, Brontide, Tall Ships and Talons) Also there are Kid Carpet, Knifeworld, Freeze The Atlantic (two thirds of Reuben), Ellen And The Escapades, Our Lost Infantry and The Xcerts, plus an acoustic stage starring Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell.
Calendar: 22nd-23rd July
Tickets: £10 per day via WeGotTickets: Friday, Saturday
Dananananaykroyd
In fairness, if any band is going to bring the whole community together in perhaps a more physical sense than intended, if not exactly prove most amenable to the kiddies of Hampshire, it's Saturday night headliners Dananananaykroyd. We've seen some disappointment regarding There Is A Way, but we've also seen them live very recently and can confirm that for sheer balls-out energy, wrecking ball riffage and patent dual ridiculousness upfront there is still nobody in Britain to touch them.
Stagecoach
That's not to say some aren't trying. Athletic gear including headbands, crowd excursions (their mandolin usually ends up around someone else's neck by close of play) and absolute electrifying energy allied to off-kilter post-grunge/Weezer power-pop are what you get, and you'll be glad of it.
Hold Your Horse Is
We seem to be developing an archetype. Hold Your Horse Is play taut, tense, pummelling broken riffs and math-gone-grunge with some ferocity and no short amount of tightness, with the confidence of a band who already have a live record to their name.
ALSO: So presumably the Friday headliners are more palatable to an all ages audience expecting fun for all? Erm, no, it's Johnny Foreigner. One of them will swear in front of children. Several times. (Both headliners are also playing the ace Off The Cuff in Birmingham 22nd-24th July, as are Tubelord, Shoes And Socks Off, DD/MM/YYYY, Brontide, Tall Ships and Talons) Also there are Kid Carpet, Knifeworld, Freeze The Atlantic (two thirds of Reuben), Ellen And The Escapades, Our Lost Infantry and The Xcerts, plus an acoustic stage starring Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell.
Calendar: 22nd-23rd July
Tickets: £10 per day via WeGotTickets: Friday, Saturday
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
A grand day out: Sweet Beans Festival
Sweet Beans are some newish London promoters, Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane is their domain, and they're filling it for a day of their favourite people. Can't ask for much clearer than that.
Her Name Is Calla
The Calla live experience is as full of roaring peaks and delicate troughs as their music and general emotional state, epic in a way that you'd thought had been drilled out of that word by overuse. Sheets of chaos and pindrop quiet are natural bedfellows in a mighty live sound that will show why they're natural headliners for such an event. Tom Morris will earlier be giving his own broken emotional songs a solo set.
Tall Ships
The humble loop pedal has had a lot of airtime these last few years, whether KT Tunstall taking it to the mainstream through sundry solo guitarists confusing themselves right through to David Thomas Broughton's singularities. Tall Ships take it to the math-pop quintessence, looping intricate guitar parts and synth drones over clattering grooves that wander all over the shop in compressed gloriousness. They've recently been supporting We Are Scientists. Que?
†Hymns†
Ecclesiastical suggestions be damned, except in occasional reference. Hymns are Samuel Manville, once of Blakfish, and Peter Reisner, never of Blakfish. They claim to be interpreting modern classical in the garage rock duo idiom. What that translates as is a precise rocket launch of noise and conviction.
ALSO: Lots of instrumental powerhouses, the sturm und drang of Talons, intense complexities of Brontide, the heavy elasticity of You Slut!, the twin engine assault of Nitkowski and the languid power of Rumour Cubes among them. The ever available Hold Your Horse Is, Jumping Ships and Ute are here, as is Shoes And Socks Off, while Nicholas Stevenson and Katie Malco are among the acoustic alernative.
Calendar: 10th July
Tickets: £15 from WeGotTickets
Her Name Is Calla
The Calla live experience is as full of roaring peaks and delicate troughs as their music and general emotional state, epic in a way that you'd thought had been drilled out of that word by overuse. Sheets of chaos and pindrop quiet are natural bedfellows in a mighty live sound that will show why they're natural headliners for such an event. Tom Morris will earlier be giving his own broken emotional songs a solo set.
Tall Ships
The humble loop pedal has had a lot of airtime these last few years, whether KT Tunstall taking it to the mainstream through sundry solo guitarists confusing themselves right through to David Thomas Broughton's singularities. Tall Ships take it to the math-pop quintessence, looping intricate guitar parts and synth drones over clattering grooves that wander all over the shop in compressed gloriousness. They've recently been supporting We Are Scientists. Que?
†Hymns†
Ecclesiastical suggestions be damned, except in occasional reference. Hymns are Samuel Manville, once of Blakfish, and Peter Reisner, never of Blakfish. They claim to be interpreting modern classical in the garage rock duo idiom. What that translates as is a precise rocket launch of noise and conviction.
ALSO: Lots of instrumental powerhouses, the sturm und drang of Talons, intense complexities of Brontide, the heavy elasticity of You Slut!, the twin engine assault of Nitkowski and the languid power of Rumour Cubes among them. The ever available Hold Your Horse Is, Jumping Ships and Ute are here, as is Shoes And Socks Off, while Nicholas Stevenson and Katie Malco are among the acoustic alernative.
Calendar: 10th July
Tickets: £15 from WeGotTickets
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
A grand day out: 1234 Shoreditch
A "future rock'n'roll" all-dayer with no end of corporate branding and heavy support from Vice magazine set in a park in Hoxton. It sounds like a living hell. Last year, with Peter Hook doing his Joy Division variety show, a 60s garage covers band featuring Bobby Gillespie, Glen Matlock and Zak Starkey, and These New Puritans managing less than half a song before technical snafus and rigid timeslots intervened, it might actually have been so.
The Raveonettes
Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo have kind of dropped back into the pack over their last couple of albums, now their monomanaical fuzzy garage with cheekbones schtick has been subsumed by so many others. They can still make a live racket, though, not only utilising the chemistry between the front two but recently incorporating two drummers.
Damo Suzuki
He is Damo Suzuki. The former Can leader now likes to play with scratch improvised backing for ages from what he terms his 'sound carriers' based on whoever's available. So basically freakouts, jamming stumblings and general shamanic pulsations. This is just a recentish example we found.
Fair Ohs
Having started off as a grotty sub-120 second hardcore fuzz band, Fair Ohs subsequently went all hi-life tropical. Given to wearing shorts and no shoes onstage as it apparently aids the dancing, their serrated version of Afropop plays off something slightly too together for slipshodness but nowhere near thought out to the last degree either.
ALSO: Clearly nobody has heard of most of these bands, which means we only have their self-penned bios on the official site to go on, which are rarely much of an outright clue to anything. As such Novella's idea they "sound like beach fatigue" comes with a warning siren, but who wouldn't be won over by Chapter Sweetheart's aiming high declaration of being "a musical collective brought to you from the streets of Hitsville that every so often bring you 20 minutes of fine and affordable live entertainment and a string of self penned recordings." (They actually sound like a car crash in progress) Otherwise Black Lips bring their ideas of fun, The Chapman Family wind everyone up, Echo Lake reverberate, Electricity In Our Homes hammer, Warm Brains are the new band of producer to the lo-fi stars Rory Attwell, The King Blues can fuck off, Two Wounded Birds do surf, Christian Aids and Becoming Real get the bloggers going and Lydia Lunch does what she does because she's Lydia Lunch.
Calendar: 9th July
Tickets: £22.50 from WeGotTickets
The Raveonettes
Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo have kind of dropped back into the pack over their last couple of albums, now their monomanaical fuzzy garage with cheekbones schtick has been subsumed by so many others. They can still make a live racket, though, not only utilising the chemistry between the front two but recently incorporating two drummers.
Damo Suzuki
He is Damo Suzuki. The former Can leader now likes to play with scratch improvised backing for ages from what he terms his 'sound carriers' based on whoever's available. So basically freakouts, jamming stumblings and general shamanic pulsations. This is just a recentish example we found.
Fair Ohs
Having started off as a grotty sub-120 second hardcore fuzz band, Fair Ohs subsequently went all hi-life tropical. Given to wearing shorts and no shoes onstage as it apparently aids the dancing, their serrated version of Afropop plays off something slightly too together for slipshodness but nowhere near thought out to the last degree either.
ALSO: Clearly nobody has heard of most of these bands, which means we only have their self-penned bios on the official site to go on, which are rarely much of an outright clue to anything. As such Novella's idea they "sound like beach fatigue" comes with a warning siren, but who wouldn't be won over by Chapter Sweetheart's aiming high declaration of being "a musical collective brought to you from the streets of Hitsville that every so often bring you 20 minutes of fine and affordable live entertainment and a string of self penned recordings." (They actually sound like a car crash in progress) Otherwise Black Lips bring their ideas of fun, The Chapman Family wind everyone up, Echo Lake reverberate, Electricity In Our Homes hammer, Warm Brains are the new band of producer to the lo-fi stars Rory Attwell, The King Blues can fuck off, Two Wounded Birds do surf, Christian Aids and Becoming Real get the bloggers going and Lydia Lunch does what she does because she's Lydia Lunch.
Calendar: 9th July
Tickets: £22.50 from WeGotTickets
Monday, June 27, 2011
A grand day out: Alcopopalooza III
First there was Alcopopalooza, then there was Alcopopalooza II, now there is another one of it. Alcopop!'s third annual second Saturday in July get-together, BBQ, DJs, a Mega Drive with NBA Jam set up, puts a load of bands in Brixton Windmill and a load of singers in its garden. This year also marks the label's combined fiftieth release and fifth birthday, for which they're also putting out a compilation CD on 4th July with accompanying jacket (!), the splendidly and all-encompassingly titled We Grew Up On A Diet Of Jurassic Park And Sensible Soccer (And All We've Got Left Is This Lousy Record Label).
Johnny Foreigner
Oh, you know. As of a couple of weeks ago album three/four/however many those Bandcamp compilations add was 95% recorded and 60% mixed - their approximations - meaning ample opportunities for Alexei to blow up his amp head again cannot be far away. Look, here's one of the new songs now.
My First Tooth
Northampton folk-pop collective MFT may on paper have made for surprising JoFo support (they're also touring with Athlete in July), but when we saw them in Milton Keynes at Easter despite no great musical similarity their energy and bounciness where you might not think much possible given the poignancy of the material.
Shoes & Socks Off
Tobias Hayes releases an album once every crescent moon, it seems. Number five will in fact be out in late summer/autumn, but with a proper lyric book also imminent it's not as if he'll be short of material to pick at the emotional scabs with in ire-driven stream of consciousness style.
ALSO: Alcopop! old stagers The Attika State and Ute, LightGuides, Jumping Ships and Delta/Alaska, none of whom we know anything about. Outside, as well as SASO, the draw is an acoustic debut for "two piece atheist rock band" Hymns, who we'll describe more in a couple of days.
Calendar: 9th July
Tickets: £9 from WeGotTickets
Johnny Foreigner
Oh, you know. As of a couple of weeks ago album three/four/however many those Bandcamp compilations add was 95% recorded and 60% mixed - their approximations - meaning ample opportunities for Alexei to blow up his amp head again cannot be far away. Look, here's one of the new songs now.
My First Tooth
Northampton folk-pop collective MFT may on paper have made for surprising JoFo support (they're also touring with Athlete in July), but when we saw them in Milton Keynes at Easter despite no great musical similarity their energy and bounciness where you might not think much possible given the poignancy of the material.
Shoes & Socks Off
Tobias Hayes releases an album once every crescent moon, it seems. Number five will in fact be out in late summer/autumn, but with a proper lyric book also imminent it's not as if he'll be short of material to pick at the emotional scabs with in ire-driven stream of consciousness style.
ALSO: Alcopop! old stagers The Attika State and Ute, LightGuides, Jumping Ships and Delta/Alaska, none of whom we know anything about. Outside, as well as SASO, the draw is an acoustic debut for "two piece atheist rock band" Hymns, who we'll describe more in a couple of days.
Calendar: 9th July
Tickets: £9 from WeGotTickets
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
A grand day out: DOUBLEDOTBASH!
For that name to be standable at all you need to know this is the project of a Reading based collective (promoting, zines, CD-Rs) called doubledotdash!? (punctuation artist's own). In association with and at South Street Arts Centre and RISC they're putting on a day's worth of underground artists over three stages, such as...
Islet
Always different, always the same. That is if you consider the same to incorporate frequent crowd visits, quadruplet drumming and a set of songs that pull the rug out from underneath noise-pop, No Wave, psychedelia, krautrock, wired post-punk and everything else that breaks tunes into small pieces, gets pissed and attempts to rewire them from memory. Somehow they're currently esconsed making all this into album form. Extraordinary in all senses.
Darren Hayman
Hayman's on a solo tour at the moment to promote the latest in the Hefner reissue series, and in many ways the most controversial. He's not stinted on playing songs from Dead Media live since he picked up the solo baton but, as he sardonically notes of the analogue keyboard-led collection, "as time goes by more and more people some up and tell me how much they like it. Well, if you'd all told me at the time perhaps there'd be a sixth Hefner album".
Shield Your Eyes
A new split 10" with That Fucking Tank and Kong plus news of a fourth album currently being mixed helps bolster the trio's reputation as among our most prolific, not to mention most weirdly frenetic. Almost free jazz in math instrumental form, they rub shards of musicianship up against each other in a wildly atonal but somehow gripping form. Also, occasional growls-for-vocallist Stef Ketteringham has been known to cut strings off his guitar between songs rather than take the coward's way out and retune.
ALSO: So, so many bands with curious names. Among the notables Minotaur Shock is the name under which David Edwards records wandering acoustic electronica latterly for 4AD, Hannah Peel received many positive notices for her post-Newsom sinister folk and Rozi Plain is a plaintive scion of the Fence Collective.
Calendar: 2nd July
Tickets: £17.50 from WeGotTickets
Islet
Always different, always the same. That is if you consider the same to incorporate frequent crowd visits, quadruplet drumming and a set of songs that pull the rug out from underneath noise-pop, No Wave, psychedelia, krautrock, wired post-punk and everything else that breaks tunes into small pieces, gets pissed and attempts to rewire them from memory. Somehow they're currently esconsed making all this into album form. Extraordinary in all senses.
Darren Hayman
Hayman's on a solo tour at the moment to promote the latest in the Hefner reissue series, and in many ways the most controversial. He's not stinted on playing songs from Dead Media live since he picked up the solo baton but, as he sardonically notes of the analogue keyboard-led collection, "as time goes by more and more people some up and tell me how much they like it. Well, if you'd all told me at the time perhaps there'd be a sixth Hefner album".
Shield Your Eyes
A new split 10" with That Fucking Tank and Kong plus news of a fourth album currently being mixed helps bolster the trio's reputation as among our most prolific, not to mention most weirdly frenetic. Almost free jazz in math instrumental form, they rub shards of musicianship up against each other in a wildly atonal but somehow gripping form. Also, occasional growls-for-vocallist Stef Ketteringham has been known to cut strings off his guitar between songs rather than take the coward's way out and retune.
ALSO: So, so many bands with curious names. Among the notables Minotaur Shock is the name under which David Edwards records wandering acoustic electronica latterly for 4AD, Hannah Peel received many positive notices for her post-Newsom sinister folk and Rozi Plain is a plaintive scion of the Fence Collective.
Calendar: 2nd July
Tickets: £17.50 from WeGotTickets
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
A grand day out: Glaston-Ferret
No, it's not a great name, but at least the Mad Ferret pub in Preston has a reason for it - it's the weekend of Glastonbury, see, "set up to combat the varying degrees of impossibility of getting a Glastonbury ticket these days". To commemorate they lay real grass inside the pub, which is surely a health hazard in waiting, as well as hay bales and sales of ice cream and scrumpy. Oh, and bands.
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club
The Saturday night headliners always were a storming live proposition, but warming up for their out this week third album Bag Of Meat the trio seem to be turning it up a notch, both in presentation - Crusaders garb, bakelite telephone receiver as second mike, creepy mannequin at the front of the stage - and in sound, manic and dynamic in equal measure. A right racket, basically.
The Voluntary Butler Scheme
We don't know whether Rob Jones plays with a band these days but it's more fun for everyone but himself if he's alone with his keyboard stand-cum-bureau covered in noisemakers, toys and some very important and overused loop pedals. Second album The Grandad Galaxy, out July 18th, sends his stylistic radar haywire, from hip hop and J-pop to 50s rock and roll.
Race Horses
The Sunday headliners are a good old-fashioned psych-indie outfit of the Gorky's lineage, not unreasonably as they're from Wales too, Aberystwyth to be precise. And like many a good late 90s Welsh band they might start in psych-indie circles but their radar soon weaves all over the place and ends up existing well outside the current state of things.
ALSO: emotive, expansive elegance from Tigers That Talked, twisted melodies from Polytechnic fallout Driver Drive Faster, jangling psych oddness from Hey Sholay, spiky Brightonians We Walk In Straight Lines, The B Of The Bang, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players and a lot of people whose names we don't know.
Calendar: 25th-26th June
Tickets: £5 per day, £8 the weekend
The Victorian English Gentlemens Club
The Saturday night headliners always were a storming live proposition, but warming up for their out this week third album Bag Of Meat the trio seem to be turning it up a notch, both in presentation - Crusaders garb, bakelite telephone receiver as second mike, creepy mannequin at the front of the stage - and in sound, manic and dynamic in equal measure. A right racket, basically.
The Voluntary Butler Scheme
We don't know whether Rob Jones plays with a band these days but it's more fun for everyone but himself if he's alone with his keyboard stand-cum-bureau covered in noisemakers, toys and some very important and overused loop pedals. Second album The Grandad Galaxy, out July 18th, sends his stylistic radar haywire, from hip hop and J-pop to 50s rock and roll.
Race Horses
The Sunday headliners are a good old-fashioned psych-indie outfit of the Gorky's lineage, not unreasonably as they're from Wales too, Aberystwyth to be precise. And like many a good late 90s Welsh band they might start in psych-indie circles but their radar soon weaves all over the place and ends up existing well outside the current state of things.
ALSO: emotive, expansive elegance from Tigers That Talked, twisted melodies from Polytechnic fallout Driver Drive Faster, jangling psych oddness from Hey Sholay, spiky Brightonians We Walk In Straight Lines, The B Of The Bang, The Retrospective Soundtrack Players and a lot of people whose names we don't know.
Calendar: 25th-26th June
Tickets: £5 per day, £8 the weekend
Monday, June 13, 2011
Tracklist: (STN goes north, runs into) Runaround Kids - No Dreams
As you may know, we were at the inaugural Long Division festival in Wakefield on Saturday (we're aware it technically ran Friday to Sunday, but we have limits). The first thing to say is congratulations to Dean, Chris and everybody else involved in the largely excellent organisation. Yes, there was the odd issue with too big a band in too small a venue (cf Wave Pictures in a pub back room, the queue nearly back to the front door) and we hope what seems from all accounts to be a security overreaction that brought the Wedding Present's it has to be said slightly underpowered headline set to a lengthy pause (in the only venue the festival didn't supply their own people for, according to the organisers) doesn't affect the chances of a licence being granted for next year. That aside, everywhere ran pretty much to time, the venues were approachable and within short distances, there were no other major organisational issues on the day that we saw and it genuinely looked like everyone was in the best of spirits. Even the predicted rain pretty much held off.
Musically there was, of course, a great Los Campesinos! set, very much one from a band doing the summer circuit knowing they have a whole new set of songs ready to launch, but little the worse for that. It occurred to us as the floorboards became spring loaded that LC! gigs are, when you stop and think about it, becoming pretty weird. A room full of well lubricated kids, all with arms aloft, at least a couple of whom are trying to crowdsurf, indulging in a collective shoutalong to a heavy treatise on the death of love replete with imagery about being dropped from a plane and "given the option of dying painlessly in peace at 45". Elsewhere what we saw of the Wind-Up Birds confirmed their cynical outsider greatness (new single to be Tracklisted very soon) and that national cult status is overdue, Emma Pollock's command of offbeat melody really needs digging out from the shadow cast by the Delgados' catalogue and at the first gig of asking The Birthday Kiss are showing plenty of promise. Also we have it first hand that Darwin Deez seems to really like Napoleon IIIrd, even if the sound mix on the vocals didn't.
Plus, as press, we got given a lanyard.
And then there was the coming glory of hometown heroes Runaround Kids. They played Reading & Leeds at BBC Introducing's insistence last year and on this occasion they left the 200 capacity The Hop as packed as just about humanly possible, or at least such as it can under fire safety regulations. Even with all the windows and doors open it still felt like the oxygen was being fast sucked out of the room. Their power trio set-up takes its cues from the same well of American college rock fuzziness as Copy Haho and Tubelord (not unreasonably they supported Johnny Foreigner in April in that same place, and we think all of LC! were watching - half of them were standing next to us), slamming riffs and hooks into each other, taking longer time over songs to deviate at quieter hue from the straight ahead punchy path. We are going to have to watch these very closely because they could turn into something enthralling. In the meantime this is their single from last September, No Dreams.
No Dreams by Runaround Kids
Musically there was, of course, a great Los Campesinos! set, very much one from a band doing the summer circuit knowing they have a whole new set of songs ready to launch, but little the worse for that. It occurred to us as the floorboards became spring loaded that LC! gigs are, when you stop and think about it, becoming pretty weird. A room full of well lubricated kids, all with arms aloft, at least a couple of whom are trying to crowdsurf, indulging in a collective shoutalong to a heavy treatise on the death of love replete with imagery about being dropped from a plane and "given the option of dying painlessly in peace at 45". Elsewhere what we saw of the Wind-Up Birds confirmed their cynical outsider greatness (new single to be Tracklisted very soon) and that national cult status is overdue, Emma Pollock's command of offbeat melody really needs digging out from the shadow cast by the Delgados' catalogue and at the first gig of asking The Birthday Kiss are showing plenty of promise. Also we have it first hand that Darwin Deez seems to really like Napoleon IIIrd, even if the sound mix on the vocals didn't.
Plus, as press, we got given a lanyard.
And then there was the coming glory of hometown heroes Runaround Kids. They played Reading & Leeds at BBC Introducing's insistence last year and on this occasion they left the 200 capacity The Hop as packed as just about humanly possible, or at least such as it can under fire safety regulations. Even with all the windows and doors open it still felt like the oxygen was being fast sucked out of the room. Their power trio set-up takes its cues from the same well of American college rock fuzziness as Copy Haho and Tubelord (not unreasonably they supported Johnny Foreigner in April in that same place, and we think all of LC! were watching - half of them were standing next to us), slamming riffs and hooks into each other, taking longer time over songs to deviate at quieter hue from the straight ahead punchy path. We are going to have to watch these very closely because they could turn into something enthralling. In the meantime this is their single from last September, No Dreams.
No Dreams by Runaround Kids
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
A grand day out: Bushstock
The Communion club nights have been operational in London since 2006. Run by Ben Lovett (one of the & Sons) and Kev Jones, the international network has now expanded to nine monthly nights over three continents and a label that has just issued The Flowerpot Sessions, 23 tracks recorded live over a week in the now defunct Kentish Town venue. To celebrate Communion are taking over four Shepherds Bush venues - St Stephen's Church, Shepherds Bar, The Goldhawk and Ginglik - for a Saturday and putting on thirty or so of their favourite people, including...
Guillemots
Having been at the back of quite a long queue outside Nottingham Rescue Rooms on Sunday, we can confirm that Guillemots, for as far as they've drifted from a mainstream that was only ever tentative towards them until Fyfe did that advert cover, are still hugely popular. No wonder, they've always been an inventive live act, the layered opulence and power ripped into by MC Lord Magrao's guitar white noise.
Peggy Sue
As you'd expect from the backgrounds of the people behind Communion there's a pop-folksy tinge to a lot of this bill, full of the sort of people who a couple of years ago were touted to become big by people who didn't really know what pop kids wanted any more. Peggy Sue's album Fossils And Other Phantoms was too fragile for mainstream acceptance, too much excoriation of tangled love. Highly promising, it was, and they break off from preparing a second full-length to join in here.
Marques Toliver
The Toliver backstory, a hugely talented New York busker thrust into the Brooklynite limelight and from there allowed to deliver his classically trained abilities to the world, features some strange and unexplained diversions - Kyp Malone booked him into a studio immediately upon seeing him? He was given the money to move to London by Daisy Lowe? Whatever, it's the music, stupid, and Toliver's richly soulful voice, cracked writing and mastery of the violin and loop pedal make him stand out some distance.
Kill It Kid
Just shy of their second album, Kill It Kid are a heck of a live force. Their delta blues stomp and Chris Turpin's almighty grit-hewn voice are imperious enough on record, but in person the raucous, crashing dramatics take on no end of edge and passion.
Daughter
Things are taking off for Elena Tonra; with support from Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and Tom Robinson behind it Landfill, the lead track from her His Young Heart EP, got playlisted by 6 Music and she has a track on the Communion CD on the front of the current Mojo. Seems her emotionally raw and intimately haunting tales are striking all sorts of chords. She's on first in the church at 2pm, far too much down the bill for where she's heading.
ALSO: Australian psych-folk fast risers Cloud Control, odd bod psych-electro-quirk-folkie-MC King Charles, Anglo-American harmonisers Treetop Flyers, Lamacq raves Tom Williams and the Boat, rousing Dananananaykroyd support Flashguns. Is there really a band called Cattle And Cane?
Calendar: 4th June
Tickets: £27.50 from MusicGlue
Guillemots
Having been at the back of quite a long queue outside Nottingham Rescue Rooms on Sunday, we can confirm that Guillemots, for as far as they've drifted from a mainstream that was only ever tentative towards them until Fyfe did that advert cover, are still hugely popular. No wonder, they've always been an inventive live act, the layered opulence and power ripped into by MC Lord Magrao's guitar white noise.
Peggy Sue
As you'd expect from the backgrounds of the people behind Communion there's a pop-folksy tinge to a lot of this bill, full of the sort of people who a couple of years ago were touted to become big by people who didn't really know what pop kids wanted any more. Peggy Sue's album Fossils And Other Phantoms was too fragile for mainstream acceptance, too much excoriation of tangled love. Highly promising, it was, and they break off from preparing a second full-length to join in here.
Marques Toliver
The Toliver backstory, a hugely talented New York busker thrust into the Brooklynite limelight and from there allowed to deliver his classically trained abilities to the world, features some strange and unexplained diversions - Kyp Malone booked him into a studio immediately upon seeing him? He was given the money to move to London by Daisy Lowe? Whatever, it's the music, stupid, and Toliver's richly soulful voice, cracked writing and mastery of the violin and loop pedal make him stand out some distance.
Kill It Kid
Just shy of their second album, Kill It Kid are a heck of a live force. Their delta blues stomp and Chris Turpin's almighty grit-hewn voice are imperious enough on record, but in person the raucous, crashing dramatics take on no end of edge and passion.
Daughter
Things are taking off for Elena Tonra; with support from Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and Tom Robinson behind it Landfill, the lead track from her His Young Heart EP, got playlisted by 6 Music and she has a track on the Communion CD on the front of the current Mojo. Seems her emotionally raw and intimately haunting tales are striking all sorts of chords. She's on first in the church at 2pm, far too much down the bill for where she's heading.
ALSO: Australian psych-folk fast risers Cloud Control, odd bod psych-electro-quirk-folkie-MC King Charles, Anglo-American harmonisers Treetop Flyers, Lamacq raves Tom Williams and the Boat, rousing Dananananaykroyd support Flashguns. Is there really a band called Cattle And Cane?
Calendar: 4th June
Tickets: £27.50 from MusicGlue
Monday, May 30, 2011
Ten things we learnt from Dot To Dot Nottingham at the weekend
1. Walking across the town hall square in Nottingham to get to the Bodega on a Bank Holiday Sunday after 9pm is taking fate into your own hands
Not strictly for the famed violence, but oh, the depravity.
2. However flabby, bloated and 'experimental' their albums get, live And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead are a noisy riot
Cherrypicking from a decent sized back catalogue there was little flab and plenty of roaring borderline controlled insanity. As if the one-two shouty punch of Fake Fake Eyes and A Perfect Teenhood wasn't enough, they then had to go and play the biggest release of energy on and off stage that is Mistakes And Regrets.
3. Fixers have it going on
A set that in its opening two songs takes on West Coast harmonies, tribal digital beats and positive vibe psych-sci-fi gang appeals is quite something. Many tried to dance.
4. Paul Carlin smacks the hell out of a bass drum
Someone eventually had to find a slab of concrete, or so it appeared, to hold the kit in place when a bass amp proved insufficient. They may be down to just the one tub-thumper, John Baillie Jnr now taking on Blood Brothers-style co-vocal duties, but Dananananaykroyd are forging ahead into a new realm of positive post-hardcore with their usual boundless energy and love of crowd invading - The Greater Than Symbol And The Hash culminated in a dual scream-off encircled by baffled audience members - and hugging. No Wall Of Cuddles, but both started by embracing everyone on the barrier in turn. Shame the vocal mix was often too low.
5. Stagecoach are the most fun
We like to think the woman who got saddled with an unexpected mandolin at the end of the set is still trying to work out what to do with it.
6. Colourmusic believe in noise
And it was only a small area too. Lots of head nodding and general seratonin excitement by the closing Yes!
7. Hot Horizons are better live than on record
So far, at least. More spaciousness and wooziness, some parts edging towards an analogue keys Grizzly Bear.
8. You can be a lo-fi bedroom surf-pop auteur and be any good live
All Dom had to do, it turns out, is rub away the fuzz and the desire to be MGMT. He's got the hooks, the razor-tipped summer pop and the sense of humour.
9. Despite what Simon Reynolds is telling you, maybe taking retrospective leads isn't always a bad thing
Spotlight Kid, as discussed on here before, are very much an attempt to make three minute pop songs from the My Bloody Valentine raw materials - two songs in their set have mini-holocaust sections - but they make something of it with plenty to go at. At an opposing end of the spectrum Ronika could easily be taken for a Little Boots/Ellie Goulding faux-real synthpop type except, prodding away at a Macbook, her reference points are more based in New York's disco-not-disco scene, more Cristina than Baby D.
10. ...but far from always
You know something, you bands taking up big anthemic choruses, Killers synths, landfill solos and general "influences: Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Sigur Ros" fare? You won't get signed.
Not strictly for the famed violence, but oh, the depravity.
2. However flabby, bloated and 'experimental' their albums get, live And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead are a noisy riot
Cherrypicking from a decent sized back catalogue there was little flab and plenty of roaring borderline controlled insanity. As if the one-two shouty punch of Fake Fake Eyes and A Perfect Teenhood wasn't enough, they then had to go and play the biggest release of energy on and off stage that is Mistakes And Regrets.
3. Fixers have it going on
A set that in its opening two songs takes on West Coast harmonies, tribal digital beats and positive vibe psych-sci-fi gang appeals is quite something. Many tried to dance.
4. Paul Carlin smacks the hell out of a bass drum
Someone eventually had to find a slab of concrete, or so it appeared, to hold the kit in place when a bass amp proved insufficient. They may be down to just the one tub-thumper, John Baillie Jnr now taking on Blood Brothers-style co-vocal duties, but Dananananaykroyd are forging ahead into a new realm of positive post-hardcore with their usual boundless energy and love of crowd invading - The Greater Than Symbol And The Hash culminated in a dual scream-off encircled by baffled audience members - and hugging. No Wall Of Cuddles, but both started by embracing everyone on the barrier in turn. Shame the vocal mix was often too low.
5. Stagecoach are the most fun
We like to think the woman who got saddled with an unexpected mandolin at the end of the set is still trying to work out what to do with it.
6. Colourmusic believe in noise
And it was only a small area too. Lots of head nodding and general seratonin excitement by the closing Yes!
7. Hot Horizons are better live than on record
So far, at least. More spaciousness and wooziness, some parts edging towards an analogue keys Grizzly Bear.
8. You can be a lo-fi bedroom surf-pop auteur and be any good live
All Dom had to do, it turns out, is rub away the fuzz and the desire to be MGMT. He's got the hooks, the razor-tipped summer pop and the sense of humour.
9. Despite what Simon Reynolds is telling you, maybe taking retrospective leads isn't always a bad thing
Spotlight Kid, as discussed on here before, are very much an attempt to make three minute pop songs from the My Bloody Valentine raw materials - two songs in their set have mini-holocaust sections - but they make something of it with plenty to go at. At an opposing end of the spectrum Ronika could easily be taken for a Little Boots/Ellie Goulding faux-real synthpop type except, prodding away at a Macbook, her reference points are more based in New York's disco-not-disco scene, more Cristina than Baby D.
10. ...but far from always
You know something, you bands taking up big anthemic choruses, Killers synths, landfill solos and general "influences: Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Sigur Ros" fare? You won't get signed.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
A grand day out: Long Division
Spread over six locations in Wakefield, Long Division is the brainchild of ambitious promoters and fanzineists Rhubarb Bomb, whose raison d'etre is simple enough - get a load of bands they love, set up in a few gig spaces (including the cathedral) and set up a day's worth of discerning entertainment on a low-key basis so the place doesn't get flooded with day trippers. It looks like the best of the year's newcomers, and as they've tempted us up north with the power of the bill alone all credit to them.
Los Campesinos!
You know, off the advert. And so phase four of the LC! experience is underway, the band having spent last month with reliable old John Goodmanson in Catalunya recording a new album, their first in the octet line-up, as well as working further on their snail's pace but excellent Heat Rash project. Says Gareth of his new set of lyrics "I’ve been in a fairly ‘dark place’ of late... It’s great to have this new album to channel ‘my shit’ into, but in turn it’s also often difficult to want to address these things when really they’re the sort of things you’d rather move on from and deal with." Business as usual, then. Here's one of the new songs played live, just muffled enough to keep its subtleties secret for now.
The Wedding Present
As seen on Gareth's T-shirt occasionally. No new material as known about yet from David Gedge and this year's colleagues, but it marks a summer of decently busy touring after last year's 21st anniversary tours for Bizarro. Whatever, a Wedding Present gig is still a buzzing affair as large men bash into each other in front of a man who still recognises the power of a jangly guitar and a sardonic lyric.
The Wave Pictures
There's on the surface very little bother about a Wave Pictures gig - the three of them get up on stage, dip liberally into David Tattersall's ever growing back catalogue and enjoy themselves bruising everyone's hearts. Except, of course, what would be a post-Hefner literate bedsit band are lifted into something else whenever a solo settles in, particularly some of Tattersall's coruscating Neil Young-like extemporising. Also on the bill are longtime friends, recording partners and sometime backing band actors Stanley Brinks and Freschard, so they're going to have a day as busy as the 100 capacity room they're playing in. Maybe if we're fortunate they'll get Jonny to sing one.
Emmy The Great
Generally Emmy The Great gigs progress thus: a clutch of fine, astute songs, a moan about the quality of her guitar, the odd cover version, some mocking of some member of her backing band and a lot of little girl lost in her emotions. With her second album Virtue out two days later this is a good time to be catching up with an understated talent.
The Lovely Eggs
Who knows what goes on in Holly Ross and David Blackwell's collective minds. This year's second album Cob Dominos is as wide-eyed and wayward as they come, finding its metier in the conflicting areas of distorted guitar screes, twee DIY accroutrements, celebrating the mundane, swearing and a whole new dimension of quiet-loud. Imaginative, individual and completely ridiculous.
ALSO: We'd put Napoleon IIIrd among the top five without any hesitation too, except we covered him when we previewed Brainlove Festival. Darwin Deez plays, but there's plenty of good stuff. Having said that, Kate Jackson's demos so far have hovered around the ropey end, but this will be her third solo gig so we should get a better idea of whether working with Bernard Butler has turned her individual style completely to mush. Emma Pollock made a good go of going solo, maybe tips could be shared. Other picks: the now plainly named I Like Trains, The Birthday Kiss's first gig, The Wind Up Birds' satirical ire, Spectrals' surf noir, Fonda 500's oddness, noisy new wave locals Runaround Kids and toured indiepop Leodensians Just Handshakes (We're British).
Calendar: 11th June, though there are events on the 10th (free gig at The Hop headlined by Shrag) and 12th (free local bands across town)
Tickets: £12 - see website
EDIT: Quasi-review here
Los Campesinos!
You know, off the advert. And so phase four of the LC! experience is underway, the band having spent last month with reliable old John Goodmanson in Catalunya recording a new album, their first in the octet line-up, as well as working further on their snail's pace but excellent Heat Rash project. Says Gareth of his new set of lyrics "I’ve been in a fairly ‘dark place’ of late... It’s great to have this new album to channel ‘my shit’ into, but in turn it’s also often difficult to want to address these things when really they’re the sort of things you’d rather move on from and deal with." Business as usual, then. Here's one of the new songs played live, just muffled enough to keep its subtleties secret for now.
The Wedding Present
As seen on Gareth's T-shirt occasionally. No new material as known about yet from David Gedge and this year's colleagues, but it marks a summer of decently busy touring after last year's 21st anniversary tours for Bizarro. Whatever, a Wedding Present gig is still a buzzing affair as large men bash into each other in front of a man who still recognises the power of a jangly guitar and a sardonic lyric.
The Wave Pictures
There's on the surface very little bother about a Wave Pictures gig - the three of them get up on stage, dip liberally into David Tattersall's ever growing back catalogue and enjoy themselves bruising everyone's hearts. Except, of course, what would be a post-Hefner literate bedsit band are lifted into something else whenever a solo settles in, particularly some of Tattersall's coruscating Neil Young-like extemporising. Also on the bill are longtime friends, recording partners and sometime backing band actors Stanley Brinks and Freschard, so they're going to have a day as busy as the 100 capacity room they're playing in. Maybe if we're fortunate they'll get Jonny to sing one.
Emmy The Great
Generally Emmy The Great gigs progress thus: a clutch of fine, astute songs, a moan about the quality of her guitar, the odd cover version, some mocking of some member of her backing band and a lot of little girl lost in her emotions. With her second album Virtue out two days later this is a good time to be catching up with an understated talent.
The Lovely Eggs
Who knows what goes on in Holly Ross and David Blackwell's collective minds. This year's second album Cob Dominos is as wide-eyed and wayward as they come, finding its metier in the conflicting areas of distorted guitar screes, twee DIY accroutrements, celebrating the mundane, swearing and a whole new dimension of quiet-loud. Imaginative, individual and completely ridiculous.
ALSO: We'd put Napoleon IIIrd among the top five without any hesitation too, except we covered him when we previewed Brainlove Festival. Darwin Deez plays, but there's plenty of good stuff. Having said that, Kate Jackson's demos so far have hovered around the ropey end, but this will be her third solo gig so we should get a better idea of whether working with Bernard Butler has turned her individual style completely to mush. Emma Pollock made a good go of going solo, maybe tips could be shared. Other picks: the now plainly named I Like Trains, The Birthday Kiss's first gig, The Wind Up Birds' satirical ire, Spectrals' surf noir, Fonda 500's oddness, noisy new wave locals Runaround Kids and toured indiepop Leodensians Just Handshakes (We're British).
Calendar: 11th June, though there are events on the 10th (free gig at The Hop headlined by Shrag) and 12th (free local bands across town)
Tickets: £12 - see website
EDIT: Quasi-review here
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)