[Festival Season] Constellations

23 November 2011

Constellations Festival 2011 - GIVERS

The weekend’s proceedings began on Friday with a pre-party at the Brudenell Social Club which boasted a particularly brilliant line-up of local, national and international talent. Leeds based ethereal and epic Heart-Ships were first on stage. Their music is best described as a mix of post-rock and new folk and many in on the local music scene have hailed the band as the new Wild Beasts. Their track ‘Heart of a Wrestler’ was particularly memorable and is certainly worth a listen to get a clear idea of the band’s sound. The second band on were Shark Teeth, an act I have written about before on The Blue Walrus, back when they were known as Blood Oranges. They played a standard, if not a little rushed set of indie pop, while apologising throughout for their speedy performance. It was a shame to see the band unable to apply their usual crowd pleasing banter, nevertheless, their set was good but perhaps a tad predictable. We should all be glad to hear the band has a new release coming in the near future.

The French Word For Love by Shark Teeth

While JEFF and the Brotherhood played an impressive set of Ramones-like guitar heavy indie-punk, it was the fourth act, Alt-J, that I was really looking forward to. A lot of hype has surrounded this band (formally known as FILMS) and many have them down as being one of the big breakthrough acts of 2012. They play genre defying music, infusing a heavy presence of keys with guitar, bass and scattered tinny drums. Front man Joe Newman vocals were really refreshing, with an engaging mix of subtle and harsh tones which added something to the bands already impressive vocal harmonising, particularly noticeable in ‘Breezeblock’. You are best to listen to this group to really get to grips with them; they have the musical sensibilities of Bombay Bicycle Club but offer something very different and conceivably unique.

Breezeblocks (demo) by alt-j

London based Theme Park were up next, playing their fun-loving funk rock to the largest of the fluctuating audiences of the evening. I originally had my aversions about the act as I struggled to overcome their remarkable similarity to Talking Heads. Yet, after this impressive and bouncy live set I was fully converted. They do offer something very special to audiences, and their best known track ‘Wax’, which has had a serious amount of radio airplay, left everyone feeling very pleased with themselves. It seemed almost a shame to end such an amazing evening of new music by plonking Trophy Wife on the end of it. They managed to get on stage around midnight to a smaller and very tired looking audience, many of us had arrived over four hours previously. Their set felt average and a little dull especially after the energy of their predecessors Theme Park.

Milk by Theme Park

Saturday saw the city of Leeds fill with new music fans, ready to sample some of the most exciting upcoming acts for 2012. This was my second Constellations Festival, and my second review of it. Unfortunately, this year really struggled to live up to the brilliance of last year’s event, which in fairness would have been difficult, with Dog Is Dead, Sky Larkin and Local Natives being some my favourites. Yet, we cannot say that the festival didn’t pick up some of the most talked about new bands in Britain.

My first act of the day was the dreary Big Deal. Unfortunately Constellations had opted for the Riley Smith Hall rather than The Refectory which they had last year, a fantastic venue with a real music history. The former, was too wide and dark; it was beyond a joke. The two performers of Big Deal played a dull set of tracks from their debut album ‘Lights Out’ to a relatively outsized and disappointed audience. The band was so limited by their set up, an electric and an acoustic guitar, and this really came through with tracks blending into one another with ease. Most seemed to have come for ‘Talk’ or ‘Chair’ as the crowd shuffled out at the end of these tracks.

After the disappointment of Big Deal I really needed a band to change things round. Thankfully, that Summer Camp was playing in Stylus. We turned up to a packed crowd of hard-core fans and those just generally interested in seeing a greatly talked about act. I loved the band’s mix of styles and genres with the dreamy nostalgic feel that runs through them all. They played the majority of their debut album ‘Welcome to Condale’ as well as adding in few old ones including ‘Round the Moon’. The band opened with ‘Better Off Without You’ and I was immediately reminded of Elizabeth Sankey’s exceptional voice, even though she was complaining of a sore throat. To the right of the stage was a large projector screen which played scenes of dancing and singing from famous films throughout the enjoyable set, suggesting something of the band’s influences.

Summer Camp – Better Off Without You

Next up were hype band Spector, who played in the small venue of Mine in the depths of the University Union. The guitar heavy but essentially indie band has become known for their exciting live shows and they did not disappoint. I liked the band’s appearance and attitude, all dressed in suits and rebuking those who wandered out at the back of the room. Frontman Frederick Macpherson, formerly of Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man vocal was imperious on their delivery, really grabbing your attention. They seem to write fantastic sing along choruses, with the track ‘Not What You Wanted’ playing over in my head for the rest of the day.

Spector – Never Fade Away

We headed back to the Riley Smith for American indie folk/pop band Givers. If anyone has been obsessed with FIFA 2012 they certainly will have heard their fantastic song ‘Up, Up, Up’, while anther track ‘Meantime’ has had a fair amount of radio airplay. Although we waited a good fifteen minutes for the band to set up, it was certainly worth the wait. Each track was long but brilliantly performed and crafted. The duel vocals were perfectly combined and their set was greatly appreciated by the small crowd that had gathered to see them.

GIVERS Up Up Up

After catching the end of an enjoyable set by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks we found a good place to stand and waited for Yuck. By the time the band came on stage the crowd had swelled considerably; it seemed that many had to come to check a band that has had an impressive year at the festivals. They played a tight and impressive set of tracks from their low-fi self–titled debut album including the fantastic ‘Suicide Policeman’.

Suicide Policeman by Yuck

After catching a little of 2:54 in Mine we headed back to the main venue for the day’s headliners Wild Beasts. They managed to pack Stylus to the rafters and we just managed to find somewhere to actually stand. You cannot fault the vocal of frontman Hyden Thorpe’s voice; it added something quite special to groups already impressive vocal harmonies. They played a striking set of enjoyable ambient and echoing alternative, you cannot deny thus band’s ability to write and a produce an amazing song.

Wild Beasts – Albatross

This year’s Constellations Festival was a great opportunity to catch the rising stars of alternative music of 2012. I have to say that the pre-party at the Brudenell was easily as enjoyable as the main day of the festival, with Alt-J and Theme Park really impressing the audience. For £30 the festival seemed a little steep, particular as billed acts such as Spectrals didn’t appear.

[Photograph courtesy of Jamie Boynton]

Festival Season: Bestival

By: will

20 September 2011

In: News & Leaks, Reviews

3 comments

Bestival 2011

Getting to Bestival this year seemed like an epic journey to some far flung corner of the planet, well at least for the time and effort it took to get there. A long train journey was followed by an agonising wait of three hours for a ferry at Southampton, and once the other side of the Solent we endured another two hour wait for a shuttle bus. Yet despite this, it is to the music that we should turn.

Perhaps having left my home at seven and arriving at the campsite eleven hours later soured my opinion of the first night, and I came to the conclusion that festival had an odd feel. It has the organisation and layout of a Glastonbury or Latitude style festival, but none of their relaxed attitude and atmosphere. It was certainly a trend and appearance based festival, with many of the crowd perhaps more interested in what they were wearing rather than what they heard. The weekend’s line up was also puzzling, with acts dotted about the place, with no real sense of structure. I didn’t attend the festival for the dance music – that’s not my thing – so it was clear early on that I would find myself dodging a lot of the acts to find the gems in the rough.

The festival can almost claim to be a four day event, with a pretty good line up on the Thursday – there was a particularly enjoyable set from Santigold, despite the rather cramped crowd. Musically, Friday was diverse but superb; the ability to see a set from Public Enemy and then turn round and see Patrick Wolf was a little bizarre, yet demonstrated the festivals’ impressively broad appeal.

Santigold – Starstruck by diplo

An amazing set from Brian Wilson on Friday afternoon, which was essentially the Beach Boys greatest hits played in glorious sunshine, finally got me into the festival mood. Caitlin Rose was another highlight, she seems to add a new twist to traditional American country, and her last track, the brilliant ‘Sinful Wishing Well’ had an almost emotional feel to it. Around nine we moved over to the Red Bull stage catching the end of The Selecter, enjoying an old fashioned slice of ska, and positioned ourselves front of stage for Ghostpoet. After waiting an hour for the staff to deal with technical difficulties, we watched a muffled yet impressive set from the act. Ghostpoet’s music is genre defying, and I honestly didn’t expect to enjoy their electro/lo-fi/trip-hop cross over, but I was converted.

Ghostpoet – Garden Path by ghostpoet

I made an early choice to give headliners Pendulum a miss, instead heading to the Sailor Jerry stage, a marvellous little stage which had one of the best indie line-ups of the festival. We went to see Frank Turner, added as a special guest last minute, and he didn’t disappoint, playing with his usual crowd-pleasing vigour and enjoying his last festival performance of the year. The evening ended by catching one of my favourite acts, Los Campesinos! play tracks from their new album as well as a mix of some of their classics including the cracking You! Me! Dancing!.

Los Campesinos! – You! Me! Dancing!

Early Saturday afternoon we turned up at the main stage to watch a little of Claire Maguire and then enjoyed a little reggae with Toots and the Maytals. Both Danish electro band Oh Land and London based Dry the River (who looked like Biffy Clyro and sounded like Local Natives) put on impressive sets in the Pyschedelic Worm tent, placed directly in the middle of the campsite. It was essential that we saw PJ Harvey after her Mercury Prize success, yet we were surprised to see that the crowd was small; it was clear that many had not even heard of the Mercury Prize winner.

Dry the River – “New Ceremony” by Dry the River

The Cure were of course the band of the day, playing a two and a half hour set of 32 classic tracks. It would have been a marathon to have watched the entire set, so after catching Friday I’m In Love and In-between Days we headed up the Sailor Jerry, to catch some of buzz band Tribes. I wasn’t convinced by the act, which seemed to have stolen other’s sounds rather than be influenced by them. I gladly headed back to catch the second half of The Cure’s amazing set. Primal Scream were the other headliners that evening and I was surprised and somewhat disappointed to hear that the band would perform in the Big Top tent rather than on the Main Stage. At one in the morning – a ridiculous time for a main act – they played a simply brilliant set from beginning to end. I was desperate to see Screamadelica live after missing it at Glastonbury, making the fateful decision to see U2 instead, so Primal Scream were an extra special treat.

The Cure – Killing An Arab

Sunday’s line-up was an odd relay of dance and rock acts on the main stage, with Kelis, The Drums, Professor Green and The Maccabees perhaps haphazardly, thrown into some kind of line up. Sunday afternoon we headed to the bandstand, a lovely little stage towards the entrance of the festival. Here we watched Keston Cobblers Club, a London based band with great vocal harmonies and engaging lyrics who played a highly enjoyable set of foot-tapping indie-folk. I am a massive fan of The Drums’ namby-pamby indie pop and think highly of the new album Portomento, yet their set was a little disappointing and worst of all, they didn’t play the crowd pleasing ‘Lets go Surfing’, opting for the more downbeat ‘Down by the Water’ to finish the set. Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip performed an engaging dancey set in the Big Top in the afternoon, and later played new tracks in the gazebo of the Sunday Best Record Store. The Maccabees performed brilliantly to a large crowd, able to entertain the audience with their new unheard tracks as well as their classics, including First Love and No Kind Words.

The Maccabees – Toothpaste Kisses

As the festival came to a close, Bjork felt like an odd choice of headliner for the Sunday night, although as amazing as she is, her set didn’t feel in keeping with the festival’s atmosphere. The fact she also only played for an hour and twenty minutes, of which at least an hour was of her new unheard album Biophilia was a little disappointing. My last highlight of Bestival was Niki and the Dove, who played an exciting electro set with a distinctly eighties Kate Bush feel.

A fun weekend of a variety of music, with some cracking acts, but also a lot of rubbish. A disgruntling amount of clashes also made seeing some of the smaller and up-and-coming acts difficult, but this is the same for all festivals. Till next time Bestival!

[Photograph by Louise Roberts]

[Festival Season] Glastonbury

By: will

2 July 2011

In: Reviews

2 comments

Despite the somewhat rebellious weather, Glastonbury pulled off another great year of live music and contemporary arts. As many can appreciate, the sheer size of the event makes it difficult to really review, so I feel it’s best just to suggest some of the weekend’s highlights.

Despite the site coming alive from Wednesday evening, the real music begins on Friday morning. We headed straight to the Pyramid stage and caught a surprisingly engaging set from London electro band Metronomy. I was stunned that the organisers decided to put the band on the main stage, as I had imagined that they would have been better suited to the dark covered area of the John Peel tent, yet their set was good and the crowd were greatly entertained. Metronomy – Radio Ladio

It was clear though that many had gathered for the following set by Two Door Cinema Club, I think a band deserving of the hype and radio play they have finally received. Their performance matched the plaudits, with the large crowd chanting along to their singles such as the dancey ‘I can Talk’ (watch on 6Music). I Can Talk by Two Door Cinema Club

Our main decision to head to the Pyramid stage so early came from one friend’s obsession with the legend that is B.B. King. The 85 year old, rated third in Rolling Stone’s greatest guitarists of all time ranking, put on an enjoyable set of classic blues with his large support band (watch on 6Music).

Friday afternoon led to an unfortunate dilemma- to see the special guest already known amongst the crowds as Radiohead or head over to the Other Stage for Fleet Foxes and Mumford and Sons. My curiosity got the better of me, and the decision to head to The Park for Radiohead was consequently a bad one.. The crowd had already swollen to an unbearable level, and in an attempt to even get a glimpse of the stage we headed up the hill that overlooks The Park. From there we could see very little, let alone hear anything, but thousands of others seemed to have followed the same route. Watching others attempt to climb the muddy hill and the increasing fear of the eventual trip down became the real entertainment.

As many have said, there’s no doubt that the set will become legendary, but it lacked the crowd pleasers, focussing on the band’s new material. Disappointed, we pushed through the mud to the Pyramid for U2, who despite catastrophic sound issues were pretty good. We managed to cheekily catch ‘Rocks’ by Primal Scream as we headed back that evening (watch on 6Music)

Personally, I found that Saturday was the best day of music. My first highlight of the afternoon was Yuck. Following an energetic set from Fight Like Apes, they managed to create their own unique atmosphere, as well as performing an absolutely brilliant set of lo-fi indie. Suicide Policeman by Yuck

The Walkmen performed as the sun came out on the Park in the late afternoon. ‘Lisbon’, their most recent release is a fantastic mix of slower summery tracks and other more rousing and heavy songs on similar lines to their earlier work, such as ‘The Rat’. The album which made up the bulk of the set came across well live, and their sound certainly suited the better weather. The Walkmen – Woe Is Me

Just as on the previous day, I had to make the decision whether to commit to the Special guests PULP on The Park Stage. I chose to avoid the crowds (some 30,000 revellers) and went to relive my angsty early teenage years with a stellar set from Jimmy Eat World. Elbow, as expected, created one of the best festival moments of the weekend, performing their atmospheric ‘One Day Like This’ to a massive crowd just as the sun began to sink (watch on 6Music). I have always been a shy Coldplay fan, not always willing to admit my love of the band’s earlier work, yet their set on the main stage was epic and enjoyable, with fireworks, lights and every festival gadget mentionable (watch their set at 6Music).

Sunday was a day of heat and sunburn which few had really prepared for after the previous struggles through mud and rain. We decided to enjoy the sun on the grass in front of the Pyramid stage and just survived a disappointing and rather dull set from Laura Marling. Laura Marling – Blackberry Stone

Paul Simon followed, and cheered up the audience with his definitive style ending with the classic ‘You Can Call Me Al’ (watch on BBC2). Our group split to enjoy both Plan B and TV on the Radio, who were both fantastic; Plan B Providing his usual attitude, and TV on the Radio performing a fantastic set featuring a rousing ‘Dancing Choose’ and an inspired ‘Ghostbusters’ cover to close (watch on 6Music). TV On The Radio – “Will Do”

I had to catch a little of the Kaiser Chiefs, who have been out of the picture for a while, but seemed to return back on form opening with the stirring ‘Every day I love You less and Less’. Frankly, we were happy as long as we didn’t have to endure Pendulum. Disappointed not to be able to catch a little of Lykke Li, the surprising desire to watch Beyoncé was burning and we headed back over to the Pyramid. I could have been trendy and said I saw Queens of the Stone Age, but Beyoncé seemed too much of a one off opportunity and her performance is a justification in itself (watch her set on BBC3).