Categories
Reviews

Review: Converge, The Underworld London

Thrash Hits - Converge
Image courtesy of Thrash Hits.

The Underworld is the best name they could ever have given this grimey little hole in central Camden. It has established itself at the heart of alternative rock, metal and hardcore in England, and continues to attract the best the scene has ever had to offer. In the basement of the Worlds End, several pillars obscuring your view, and a stage so small that bands practically fall off it into the crowd, gigs are always intense. Only two days before, a good friend of mine had the pleasure of witnessing the bloodbath that was Enter Shikari – every song interrupted by a stage invasion, mass stage-diving, and reports of blood and broken noses all over the shop.

You can understand, then, a slight sense of trepidation about what injuries I”™m likely to sustain when I go to see the seminal hardcore act Converge during their European tour for Axe To Fall (Epitaph, 2009).

Categories
News

News: Cage Against The Machine

Last year, a Facebook group got Rage Against The Machine to Christmas UK number 1. It even got Rage themselves to put on a free gig for us all.

This year, it’s Cage Against The Machine. A new Facebook campaign has been started to get John Cage’s famous avant-garde work 4’33” – notable for it’s 4-and-a-half minutes of pure silence – to Christmas number one this year.

Feel free to make as many ”˜Silent Night” puns as you see fit, and make sure you sign up for your email reminder to buy the single in 6 months time!

We like this one; lets hear silence at the top spot this Christmas.

Categories
Reviews

Review: Captain Horizon – Captain Horizon


Following our interview with these guys earlier this week, we review their eponymous four-track debut EP Captain Horizon.

Listening to Captain Horizon, I get it.  I feel like the band are introducing themselves to us, shaking our hands, and loosely highlighting their surface ideals – a handful of steady, light influences to engratiate themselves and spark some dialogue, without really getting into the nitty gritty of their deeper, more thoughtful, individual abberations.

The EP starts with Poker, a barn-storming alt-rock showpiece.  The intro appears reminiscent of Oasis”™ The Shock Of The Lightning, but any allusions to the indie plebs are shot out of the water as soon as the main grunge-tinted riff kicks in, driven by the furious bass work of the consistently compelling Alex Thomson.  The opening gambit from singer Steve Whittington – a gutteral screech pitched somewhere between Chris Cornell and Steven Tyler – tells us where we are: this is classic, stadium rock, and you”™re going to feel every drop of Whitty”™s blood, sweat and lyrical spit.

It”™s not until the final 20 seconds of the song that we notice the band have a drummer at all.  For the preceding 3 minutes the beats have been simple 2/4 measure; sure, the occassional fills were air-tight, but there”™s a niggling question as to why rhythm is being avoided altogether.  It”™s not until Whitty raises the roof on the final rendition of the chorus that drummer James Merrix takes control, stretching us over an aching triplet fill that drops into half time, brilliantly drawing out the pulse and bringing a taut ending to an upliftingly tense conclusion.

Next up is riff-laden Fall Like That, a nod to Audioslave that never quite matches the distinction set by Poker.  Thomson continues to power the band, his bass runs during the chorus focussing our attention, and later holding together an otherwise disappointing solo section.

By far the EPs highlight is third track What”™s Going On?.  The four-piece dove-tail each other to marvellous effect, blending their influences and talents into one fantastic composition.  Merrix and Thomson provide suitably understated backing for guitarist Joshua Watson”™s exquisite guitar lines.  While the solo on Fall Like That seemed restrained and by-the-book, it”™s on What”™s Going On? that the melodic flow of Watson”™s legatto style comes to real fruition.  Watson and Thomson trade riffs until, on 3 minutes, the chorus comes back and Watson”™s musical voice is given some airtime – and when the chorus comes back with the band in full swing, we”™ve been treated to the best 30 second of the EP.  Watson and Thomson also provide great vocal support to Whittington, who shows his fantastic vocal capabilities the most here – honest but restrained in the verses, angry but dignified in the chorus.

Tears From The Eye is the bands attempt at a bluesy ballad, and it”™s here that I appreciated what the aim was for this EP – each song is a standard of some sort, aimed at showing the various nuances the band are capable of.  In this respect, each of the songs are successful.  Tears From The Eye is well paced and well balanced.  Where it falls down, perhaps, is that it”™s a little too standard – in trying to avoid calling a song ”˜Tears”™, it”™s called Tears From The Eye, leading to the question.. where else do tears come from?  The outro riff brings a nice change of pace to the song and a definitive end to the EP, but the riff just isn”™t all that fun”¦

Now these boys have fleshed out all these ideas and they know what works, I think the next release will provide a better indication of the direction Captain Horizon is going in.  Here”™s a group of 4 talented and ambitious guys, now we want to hear them have a little fun.  The band are currently working on a new EP, and we look forward to a full-length in good time, where they”™ll have room to showcase their range of talents without the worry of squeezing it all into 4 tracks.  Garnering praise for their live show as well, we also recommend you see Captain Horizon at a gig soon.

The EP is available to listen to on Spotify now.

6.7/10

Categories
News Reviews

News: Foals


Image courtesy of Amazon.co.uk
Following their Mercury Prize Nomination, Foals”™ Total Life Forever is now available to listen to on Spotify.

The Spotify release includes a 23 minute interview with Yannis, speaking about the new album, his childhood, his growing interest in subversive culture and music, and a revealing commentary on the growth of the band since the first album. Listen to this, now!

Taken from my Foals Glastonbury review:

“The new album, Total Life Forever (Transgressive, 2010), was a realisation of the growing maturity in the band. The songs are louder, deeper (take a bow, Mr Sitek), more balanced, more energetic. It”™s still definitely downtempo, but you sense, when you see Foals live, that they”™ve got their craft exactly right now – explore songs and dynamics on record, but see them live to truly understand the band.”

Categories
Features

Interview: Captain Horizon

Spotify is, as we”™ve said before, a great tool for sharing music. It”™s affordable, it”™s legal, the artists are recognised, and millions of people all over the world are using it. As a tool to spread music, it”™s unmatched, and up-and-coming artists are recognising it as so. We spoke to Captain Horizon, an unsigned band who are using Spotify and other digital media tools to promote their music, alongside successful festival appearances at Glastonbudget and Sonic Rock Solstice this summer, about their approach to digital promotion.



Spotisfaction: Hey guys, hope you”™re all well. How”™s life?

Captain Horizon: It”™s good thanks, we just won a battle of the bands last night so we”™re all in a pretty good mood today :D – though we”™re also helping Alex move house so we”™re sitting in an empty room, on the floor, huddled round the laptop!

SF: You won! Fantastic. To introduce you guys to the readership, who are you, where are you from, and what are you up to? Tell us about the gigs you”™re doing atm and the competition you won yesterday.

CH: Big question! We”™re Captain Horizon, a four piece alt-rock band from Birmingham consisting of front man Steve “Whitty” Whittington, Guitarist Joshua Watson, Bassist Alex Thomson & Drummer James “Mez” Merrix. We”™re gigging around, just trying to get our songs out there and build up a bit of interest and excitement. At the moment we”™re mainly gigging in the Midlands – Brum, Nottingham etc. We did a couple of festivals this summer, Glastonbudget and Sonic Rock Solstice, both were awesome and we”™ve been having a blast playing to new people.

The competition we won yesterday was the Evesham battle of the bands, it”™s been a really awesome competition because it”™s judged on the music, stage presence and performance rather than how many of your mates you can clobber into coming down to support you. It”™s been really refreshing and the crowd down there are all awesome and really warm and supportive. The prize was £750 quid which really helps us with rehearsal space costs and all that.

SF: Have you been able to use the competition, and your other gigs, to promote your digital space? By that I mean, you have a visible presence on MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, and your EP is on Spotify, so do you find yourself just giving out CDs, or do you make more of an effort to advertise your Spotify/MySpace content? Is there a strategy to combine the two?

CH: Well, [we] try and use a combination of both really. Simply because we don”™t want to alienate the older generation of music lovers who won”™t tend to use these services as much as the younger generation. We have the usual presence on the various social sites, such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. We”™ve found that most of our fans tend to follow us and communicate with us on our Facebook fan page, which we tend to channel more effort into that particular area than some of the other sites.

During gigs we always hand out flyers which always point people to our website, which is the central hub for everything that we have online. We”™ve got plans to extend this further – to integrate the experience of these social sites into ours and to allow us to connect all of our fans together. It will be something which when implemented will be a benchmark for other band websites to follow.

But something to remember is that it”™s not just about promoting the digital space – the web is an awesome tool for promoting our music and gigs, and that”™s the focus!

SF: Well exactly. As mentioned, your EP is on Spotify, which is great tool to get your music heard. How has that been?

CH: It”™s been great to get new people to listen to the music – you can just send them a playlist link or people just using the search often come across us. Oh and the royalties help too!

SF: Could you tell us more about the process? How did you decide Spotify was right for you, how did you go about doing it, and has it proven worth it? Will you be using it for your forthcoming material, and would you recommend other unsigned bands follow your suit?

CH: Well, when the EP was finished, making it available online was going to be an essential part of getting our music out there to anywhere in the world through anyones preferred retailer. We found a digital distribution service called Ditto Music – who were able to help us get our music onto a number of websites (and make it chart elligible!) and fortunately enough, Spotify was one of the places they were able to distribute our music to.

We”™ll definitely be using it for the next EP which should be coming out later in the year if all goes well. And for sure it”™s a great service for unsigned bands, if only because it makes it so easy for new people to hear the music, which is what you want at the end of the day. The other thing is that it”™s extremely affordable for unsigned bands.

SF: Tell us more about your self-titled EP. How long were you working on it?

CH: Well the songs were worked [on] over a few months – when we started the band we only had three or four originals so it was really fun working up the material for a decent EP as quickly as possible. When it came to recording, we decided to use a studio rather than record it ourselves, as we had been for our demos. We wanted to go to a cool place where we could focus on the performances without having to keep our engineer hats on at the same time. The place we chose was Vale Studios in Evesham (we love that place!). It”™s in a big 14th century country mansion which was incredible to stay in, and the studio is all fitted out with vintage gear – old valve equipment and a huge mixing desk.

Once we”™d got the tracks recorded we took it back to our practice studio for mixing and Josh worked on it for about a month while mez designed the artwork and got the website geared up for promoting the finished CD. The finishing touches were added by mastering engineer Andy Jackson, who got a grammy for Pink Floyd”™s “Division Bell” so that was pretty cool!

SF: How did you find working with such an influential engineer? Was he receptive to your vision for the sound of the EP, or did you defer to him a lot (hell, I would have done!)?

CH: Well as the mastering engineer he kind of had to work with the mixes we gave him, which was pretty nerve racking for Josh! But the whole point of a mastering engineer is a fresh set of ears and a fresh room, so you”™ve kinda got to trust their opinions. We did say we didn”™t want it to be too over-compressed and loud because that crushes a lot of the life out of the music, and he was more than happy to listen to that! The recording engineer was called Chris D”™adda, he was really excited about the band from day one – he”™s so into rock music it”™s almost silly, when you start playing and see this big grin from the other side of the glass you know you”™re in good hands, especially when you listen to the playback and know he”™s captured what you wanted to put across as you played the song.

We didn”™t want an overproduced record and there”™s nothing on the EP we can”™t pull off live. We felt that was important for a debut EP – show people what the band is about, rather than how well we can polish ourselves.

SF I think you”™ve done that, the EP sounds earthy and like a band, rather than in-your-face production for the sake of it. And you”™ve hinted at more material later this year, what can we look forward to?

CH: Well we”™ve had more time to refine our sound and explore what we”™re about, so I think the new material is going to be a bit more defining for us – the songs are different but you can hear they”™ve been written by the same four guys. We”™re possibly moving towards something a bit more modern – fast tempos, atmosphere and cool riffs and a little less “classic rock” than the likes of “Fall Like That” from the debut EP. We also think it”™s important to keep evolving. Most of the big name bands that we enjoy have done that, exploring new ground and trying new things. It keeps it interesting and it keeps you on the edge which is where the excitement is! We”™ve got this new song, “Stop”, and it”™s so much fun to play, it”™s a bit like a roller coaster for us. There”™s a slide solo in the middle. Josh loves slide. We”™re also going for more big dynamic changes – the kind of stuff that makes listeners go “what was that!?”

SF: We look forward to that! Where can we see you guys next, and where can our readers find out more about you?

CH: Well, we”™re at a place called the Tap and Tumbler in Nottingham on 23rd July and heading to another venue called the Actress & Bishop in Birmingham on the 20th August. We”™re also going to be doing a couple of charity gigs for ”˜Help for Heroes”™.

People can find us by going to http://www.captainhorizon.co.uk. They can also find us by searching for ”˜captainhorizon”™ / ”˜Captain Horizon”™ on various social networks or other band related websites.

SF: Great stuff, we look forward to hearing the new material and congratulations again on winning the Evesham Battle of the Bands. Thanks for taking the time with us today!

CH: No problem, it”™s been great talking to you! Now we have to go back to helping Alex move house. Save us.

Captain Horizon are available on Spotify, Facebook, Twitter and all the latest information is available on their website. Look out for a review of their EP later this week.

Categories
Reviews

AtmospherePhoto courtesy of gigwise.com The final instalment of my Glastonbury coverage, I look at some of the acts from the Sunday of the Festival. We focus on Everything Everything, These New Puritans, Gang of Four and LCD Soundsystem. Everything Everything Manchester-based Everything Everything blend a heady mix of Foals, Battles and pop sensibility to create a mind-twistingly catchy set of songs. They drew a good crowd to the John Peel Stage early on in the day, and did not disappoint, with a short but impressive set of their best-known tunes to date. Their debut album Man Alive is scheduled for August 2010, so see these guys touring in the near future. 8/10 Everything EvertythingPhoto courtesy of nme.com These New Puritans These New Puritans have always been ambitious – songwriter Jack Barnett reportedly learnt music notation in order to write the parts for the 3-part brass/woodwind ensemble heard on 2010 album Hidden (Angular/Domino, 2010). Multi-textured, ambiguously structured songs, cryptic lyrics and drums pounding louder than a 1000-strong Roman Army. And Glastonbury was to be no different. These New PuritansPhoto courtesy of nme.com The aforementioned brass ensemble joined them on stage to play a reworking of Hidden”™s closer 5, before launching into the pounding We Want War. The pace from there never abated, a constant drum-cacophony pushing the band through a set containing songs mainly from Hidden, apart from penultimate track Infinity. Rarely addressing the crowd, These New Puritans allow their music to confound the listener, presenting us with a backdrop of dense beats and leaving us to get on with the job of working it out for ourselves. In the seering weekend sun, though, we just don”™t have the energy. 6/10 Gang of Four Post-punk legends Gang Of Four were given a late afternoon slot following up-and-coming post-punk newboys The Drums. It was strange to see 56-year-old singer Jon King take to the stage following the sprightly boys of 20 minutes earlier, but they delivered an energetic, sneering set of their greatest hits. In particular, angry run-throughs of I Love a Man In Uniform and Damaged Goods were weekend highlights, eclipsed only by the appearance of a microwave oven on stage, and watching Jon King destroy it with a baseball bat in rhythm to the music. Fantastic. 8/10 Gang of FourPhoto courtesy of nme.com LCD Soundsystem Does James Murphy put any effort into being cool? Taking to the stage all in white, he addresses the crowd regarding the bands”™ mass-use of sunglasses: “Hi, it”™s very sunny, we”™ve not turned into LA arseholes, so sorry about this”¦not that I”™ve got anything against LA!” LCD SoundsystemPhoto courtesy of DrownedinSound.com Having to content with a deflated crowd following England”™s World Cup knock-out earlier in the day was not a problem, as classics Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, Tribulations and Yeah get the crowd jumping. With the sun setting on the final day of Glastonbury, high-energy disco-indie freakouts were just what the doctor ordered”¦ and if you were watching Orbital, who followed LCD on the Other Stage, the doctor is just what you got. The headliner on Sunday was Stevie Wonder, catch my review of his set, along with the other headliners and a Glasto review overall, here.

AtmospherePhoto courtesy of gigwise.com

The final instalment of my Glastonbury coverage, I look at some of the acts from the Sunday of the Festival. We focus on Everything Everything, These New Puritans, Gang of Four and LCD Soundsystem.


Everything Everything

Manchester-based Everything Everything blend a heady mix of Foals, Battles and pop sensibility to create a mind-twistingly catchy set of songs. They drew a good crowd to the John Peel Stage early on in the day, and did not disappoint, with a short but impressive set of their best-known tunes to date. Their debut album Man Alive is scheduled for August 2010, so see these guys touring in the near future. 8/10

Everything Evertything
Photo courtesy of nme.com

These New Puritans

These New Puritans have always been ambitious – songwriter Jack Barnett reportedly learnt music notation in order to write the parts for the 3-part brass/woodwind ensemble heard on 2010 album Hidden (Angular/Domino, 2010). Multi-textured, ambiguously structured songs, cryptic lyrics and drums pounding louder than a 1000-strong Roman Army. And Glastonbury was to be no different.

These New Puritans
Photo courtesy of nme.com

The aforementioned brass ensemble joined them on stage to play a reworking of Hidden”™s closer 5, before launching into the pounding We Want War. The pace from there never abated, a constant drum-cacophony pushing the band through a set containing songs mainly from Hidden, apart from penultimate track Infinity. Rarely addressing the crowd, These New Puritans allow their music to confound the listener, presenting us with a backdrop of dense beats and leaving us to get on with the job of working it out for ourselves. In the seering weekend sun, though, we just don”™t have the energy. 6/10

Gang of Four

Post-punk legends Gang Of Four were given a late afternoon slot following up-and-coming post-punk newboys The Drums. It was strange to see 56-year-old singer Jon King take to the stage following the sprightly boys of 20 minutes earlier, but they delivered an energetic, sneering set of their greatest hits. In particular, angry run-throughs of I Love a Man In Uniform and Damaged Goods were weekend highlights, eclipsed only by the appearance of a microwave oven on stage, and watching Jon King destroy it with a baseball bat in rhythm to the music. Fantastic. 8/10

Gang of Four
Photo courtesy of nme.com

LCD Soundsystem

Does James Murphy put any effort into being cool? Taking to the stage all in white, he addresses the crowd regarding the bands”™ mass-use of sunglasses: “Hi, it”™s very sunny, we”™ve not turned into LA arseholes, so sorry about this”¦not that I”™ve got anything against LA!”

LCD Soundsystem
Photo courtesy of DrownedinSound.com

Having to content with a deflated crowd following England”™s World Cup knock-out earlier in the day was not a problem, as classics Daft Punk Is Playing At My House, Tribulations and Yeah get the crowd jumping. With the sun setting on the final day of Glastonbury, high-energy disco-indie freakouts were just what the doctor ordered”¦ and if you were watching Orbital, who followed LCD on the Other Stage, the doctor is just what you got.

The headliner on Sunday was Stevie Wonder, catch my review of his set, along with the other headliners and a Glasto review overall, here.

Categories
Reviews

FlorencePhoto courtesy of www.citypages.com Focussing now on the Saturday of this years Glastonbury Festival, I review DJ Parker, Nero, The National, Biffy Clyro, Foals and The xx. Parker DJ Parker was a tip from Spotisfaction contributor Craig Haynes. A DJ Yoda styled dubtronica DJ, who gained some recent exposure with Where”™s My Monkey, a humourous retake on TC”™s Where”™s My Money, he was too low down the bill to attract the crowd his upbeat set deserved. This was a little gem of a DJ set, and he should be looked out for in future. 7.5/10 Nero Nero played twice over the weekend, once in the saloon style bar known as the Pussy Parlour late on Thursday, and once in the Glade, early on Saturday. There was little to get excited about on Saturday – especially when old timer Adrian Sherwood, due on after them, crashed their final song during his set up. Thursday, though, found Nero at the top of their game. NeroPhoto courtesy of www.wma.com Dubstep is maturing. The initial burst of dubstep a few years ago – fronted by Benga, Skream and others – stagnated somewhat, as these pioneers offered somewhat surprisingly downtempo releases. It”™s taken a few years for their influence to build, but there are now a new crop of dubstep artists who, having found a way to add textural influences from euphoric trance and techno along side the dub, heavy bass, and supermassive glitch two-step beats, are now drawing crowds and delivering electrifying sets. This weekend, along with Rusko, Nero showed that they are at the absolute pinnacle of the new breed of dubstep. 9/10 The National When the year is out and the aficionados are making their Album Of The Year lists, The National”™s brilliant High Violet (4AD, 2010) will be finding itself on most of them. Following on from their triumphant Royal Albert Hall gig in May, they return to the UK for Glastonbury, a festival they headlined, on the John Peel Stage, 2 years previously. In the dark, enclosed spaces of their own gigs, their downbeat, crooning songs squeeze touching melancholy into all four corners of the space; this time, though, they were appearing on the large open space of The Other Stage in the bright early evening of Saturday. The NationalPhoto courtesy of DrownedinSound.com Due to a combination of poor sound quality and the less-than-intimate space with which they had to try and communicate their sound to a festival crowd, their set did not hit the ground running. Fortunately, there seemed enough genuine fans to keep the set going, and the natural professionalism of the band was put into practice only 4 songs in when lead singer Matt Berninger jumped off the stage, microphone in hand, and furrowed deep into the crowd as far as his mic lead would carry him – a trick usually kept for much later in their performances, which became obvious when he jumped into the crowd for a second time later on (a fact this reviewer missed, having to leave slightly early to make it for the Special Guests) -  but one that enlivened the audience enough that the strength of their fantastic songs could carry them to the end of the set. 7/10 Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro were the not-so-secret special guests on The Park Stage on Saturday, and they had a lot to live up to following Thom Yorke”™s exceptional set the day before. The crowd had swelled to gargantuan proportions by the time their set was due to start, an army of Biffy fans turning up with customary “”˜mon the Biffy” flags. Biffy The Biffy indeed take to the Park stage in the late afternoon and jump into a thumping rendition of That Golden Rule, the start of a rousing set of Biffy Clyro”™s most successful tracks. In particular, the melancholy Many A Horror and easy sing-along The Captain, used to close disappointingly short set – the only mark on an otherwise flawless set – were met with rapturous ovation from the huge crowd. While not quite the surprise of yesterday, but an excellent set. 8/10 At the end of the set, frontman Simon Neil climbed on his speaker one final time, and I had flashes of him landing awkwardly and falling over. Turns out I was quite the prophetic. Foals Hot-footing it straight from Biffy Clyro, I needed to catch Foals. Foals on record are somewhat of an enigma, their live shows expounding energy and musicianship. But their first record Antidotes (Transgressive, 2008) was surprisingly downbeat. Firstly, they got a little ahead of themselves in hiring Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio to produce it, only to reject his copy and remix it themselves, complaining that he”™d made it sound like it was “recorded in the Grand Canyon” (have you HEARD TVOTR, boys?). They also decided to eschew popular pre-release tracks Hummer and Mathletics, and these two things combined left an album that lulled a suprising amount, by building up tension in slower songs that had a dearth of upbeat songs to release the tension. Live, though, Foals continued to triumph, delivering adrenaline-rush, 1000-mph funk-punk. Foals The new album, Total Life Forever (Transgressive, 2010), was a realisation of the growing maturity in the band. The songs are louder, deeper (take a bow, Mr Sitek), more balanced, more energetic. It”™s still definitely downtempo, but you sense, when you see Foals live, that they”™ve got their craft exactly right now – explore songs and dynamics on record, but see them live to truly understand the band. Here at Glastonbury, Foals were in full swing, performing the new album impressively, transmitting their energy through their music and into the crowd, tighter-than-tight renditions of their growing catalogue of tunes, and the standard ”˜climb on the rigging and then jump into the crowd”™, a thrilling end to a fantastic party. See this band live, at all costs. 9/10 The xx The xx build atmosphere from sparse arrangements. It was going to be interesting to see how they coped with the loss of guitarist/keyboardist Baria Qureshi, and whether they would replace her minimal arrangements, or attempt to work out arrangements as a 3 piece. They chose the later, almost totally ignoring the parts of their former band member. The xx >Unfortunately, the gig suffered from a number of avoidable issues. Following the electrifying Foals set was going to be a real change of pace for a band so high up the bill, and with only one 40 minute album behind them, they were always going to be padding their set out. Which didn”™t match up well when they, conversely, chose not to replace the arrangements missing following Qureshi”™s departure. This had the result of reducing their already downbeat songs into something so empty it was half asleep. There”™s no doubting the strength of some of their songs, and the crowd did their best to keep the momentum of the gig going, but ultimately the set merely was a sluggish run through of the album. Not until Florence Welch joined them on stage to do a live version of their cover of You”™ve Got The Love did the stage come alive; indeed, Welch”™s take on the stutter-cut vocals heard in the remix was the most impressive things heard that night. 5/10 The headliner on Saturday was Muse, catch my review of their set, along with the other headliners and a Glasto review overall, here.

FlorencePhoto courtesy of www.citypages.com

Focussing now on the Saturday of this years Glastonbury Festival, I review DJ Parker, Nero, The National, Biffy Clyro, Foals and The xx.


Parker

DJ Parker was a tip from Spotisfaction contributor Craig Haynes. A DJ Yoda styled dubtronica DJ, who gained some recent exposure with Where”™s My Monkey, a humourous retake on TC”™s Where”™s My Money, he was too low down the bill to attract the crowd his upbeat set deserved. This was a little gem of a DJ set, and he should be looked out for in future. 7.5/10

Nero

Nero played twice over the weekend, once in the saloon style bar known as the Pussy Parlour late on Thursday, and once in the Glade, early on Saturday. There was little to get excited about on Saturday – especially when old timer Adrian Sherwood, due on after them, crashed their final song during his set up. Thursday, though, found Nero at the top of their game.

NeroPhoto courtesy of www.wma.com

Dubstep is maturing. The initial burst of dubstep a few years ago – fronted by Benga, Skream and others – stagnated somewhat, as these pioneers offered somewhat surprisingly downtempo releases. It”™s taken a few years for their influence to build, but there are now a new crop of dubstep artists who, having found a way to add textural influences from euphoric trance and techno along side the dub, heavy bass, and supermassive glitch two-step beats, are now drawing crowds and delivering electrifying sets. This weekend, along with Rusko, Nero showed that they are at the absolute pinnacle of the new breed of dubstep. 9/10

The National

When the year is out and the aficionados are making their Album Of The Year lists, The National”™s brilliant High Violet (4AD, 2010) will be finding itself on most of them. Following on from their triumphant Royal Albert Hall gig in May, they return to the UK for Glastonbury, a festival they headlined, on the John Peel Stage, 2 years previously. In the dark, enclosed spaces of their own gigs, their downbeat, crooning songs squeeze touching melancholy into all four corners of the space; this time, though, they were appearing on the large open space of The Other Stage in the bright early evening of Saturday.

The NationalPhoto courtesy of DrownedinSound.com

Due to a combination of poor sound quality and the less-than-intimate space with which they had to try and communicate their sound to a festival crowd, their set did not hit the ground running. Fortunately, there seemed enough genuine fans to keep the set going, and the natural professionalism of the band was put into practice only 4 songs in when lead singer Matt Berninger jumped off the stage, microphone in hand, and furrowed deep into the crowd as far as his mic lead would carry him – a trick usually kept for much later in their performances, which became obvious when he jumped into the crowd for a second time later on (a fact this reviewer missed, having to leave slightly early to make it for the Special Guests) -  but one that enlivened the audience enough that the strength of their fantastic songs could carry them to the end of the set. 7/10

Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro were the not-so-secret special guests on The Park Stage on Saturday, and they had a lot to live up to following Thom Yorke”™s exceptional set the day before. The crowd had swelled to gargantuan proportions by the time their set was due to start, an army of Biffy fans turning up with customary “”˜mon the Biffy” flags.

Biffy
The Biffy indeed take to the Park stage in the late afternoon and jump into a thumping rendition of That Golden Rule, the start of a rousing set of Biffy Clyro”™s most successful tracks. In particular, the melancholy Many A Horror and easy sing-along The Captain, used to close disappointingly short set – the only mark on an otherwise flawless set – were met with rapturous ovation from the huge crowd. While not quite the surprise of yesterday, but an excellent set. 8/10

At the end of the set, frontman Simon Neil climbed on his speaker one final time, and I had flashes of him landing awkwardly and falling over. Turns out I was quite the prophetic.

Foals

Hot-footing it straight from Biffy Clyro, I needed to catch Foals. Foals on record are somewhat of an enigma, their live shows expounding energy and musicianship. But their first record Antidotes (Transgressive, 2008) was surprisingly downbeat. Firstly, they got a little ahead of themselves in hiring Dave Sitek of TV On The Radio to produce it, only to reject his copy and remix it themselves, complaining that he”™d made it sound like it was “recorded in the Grand Canyon” (have you HEARD TVOTR, boys?). They also decided to eschew popular pre-release tracks Hummer and Mathletics, and these two things combined left an album that lulled a suprising amount, by building up tension in slower songs that had a dearth of upbeat songs to release the tension. Live, though, Foals continued to triumph, delivering adrenaline-rush, 1000-mph funk-punk.

Foals
The new album, Total Life Forever (Transgressive, 2010), was a realisation of the growing maturity in the band. The songs are louder, deeper (take a bow, Mr Sitek), more balanced, more energetic. It”™s still definitely downtempo, but you sense, when you see Foals live, that they”™ve got their craft exactly right now – explore songs and dynamics on record, but see them live to truly understand the band. Here at Glastonbury, Foals were in full swing, performing the new album impressively, transmitting their energy through their music and into the crowd, tighter-than-tight renditions of their growing catalogue of tunes, and the standard ”˜climb on the rigging and then jump into the crowd”™, a thrilling end to a fantastic party. See this band live, at all costs. 9/10

The xx

The xx build atmosphere from sparse arrangements. It was going to be interesting to see how they coped with the loss of guitarist/keyboardist Baria Qureshi, and whether they would replace her minimal arrangements, or attempt to work out arrangements as a 3 piece. They chose the later, almost totally ignoring the parts of their former band member.

The xx

>Unfortunately, the gig suffered from a number of avoidable issues. Following the electrifying Foals set was going to be a real change of pace for a band so high up the bill, and with only one 40 minute album behind them, they were always going to be padding their set out. Which didn”™t match up well when they, conversely, chose not to replace the arrangements missing following Qureshi”™s departure. This had the result of reducing their already downbeat songs into something so empty it was half asleep. There”™s no doubting the strength of some of their songs, and the crowd did their best to keep the momentum of the gig going, but ultimately the set merely was a sluggish run through of the album. Not until Florence Welch joined them on stage to do a live version of their cover of You”™ve Got The Love did the stage come alive; indeed, Welch”™s take on the stutter-cut vocals heard in the remix was the most impressive things heard that night. 5/10

The headliner on Saturday was Muse, catch my review of their set, along with the other headliners and a Glasto review overall, here.

Categories
Reviews

Photo courtesy of DrownedinSound.com For the second part of my Glastonbury review, I”™m focussing on day 2; the acts dotted around the festival on the Friday. This section features live reviews of Miike Snow, Mariachi El Bronx, Bonobo, Rusko and the amazing Thom Yorke. Miike Snow Miike Snow were not expecting success, but the exposure brought to them through remix-friendly material reworked by hype artists like Mark Ronson, Tiga and Fake Blood, a feature on massive American teen drama Gossip Girl and a bunch of simply great tracks, the success isn”™t a surprise. And this success was in evidence here at Glastonbury. Low down the bill, one of the first acts to play on the John Peel Stage at this years festival, you could be forgiven for thinking they were one of the headliners, such was the size of crowd they attracted. Photo courtesy of DrownedinSound.com The eponymous debut album is a fantastic listen, and tracks like Silvia and Burial all translate to Miike Snow”™s live show with incomparable ease. Unfortunately, the slower tracks, particularly Sans Soleil, which was chosen as the penultimate track to set closer Animal, served only to cede all the energy and momentum built up through the set. Animal was still a fantastic set closer, but you couldn”™t help but wonder how euphoric the set may have been had they not sent things into a lull only a few seconds before. 7/10 Mariachi El Bronx LA hardcore punk band The Bronx released three eponymous albums before taking on the pseudonym Mariachi El Bronx and quite literally writing a fully-embraced Mariachi record. On a blistering Friday afternoon they walk on in full black Mariachi attire (and LA sun-glasses, but directly facing the sun, we can let them off that as being function-before-style) and took us through a set that took us back to Mexico. Photo courtesy of Rock Sound Through their performance, they showed that they”™re enjoying their music, that the record is truly honest, and that their style of mariachi has been perfectly realised. It was truly odd to introduce that a song is about sexual perverts, only for it to break into bouncy, happy-go-lucky 3/4 waltz, but this helped to take the entire affair with the pinch of salt it deserved. Thoroughly recommended. 8/10 Bonobo Simon Green, otherwise known as Bonobo, has been an underground pioneer of chilled out beat electro for over a decade. Current album Black Sands (Ninja Tune, 2010) is a blissed out mix of trip-hop, soul and electro, but with textures so fleshed and layered that to label it ”˜chill out”™ does the musicianship a disservice. This was emphatically highlighted by the full band setup that took to the West Holts (previously Jazz World) stage on a still-glorious Friday afternoon. Vocalist Andreya Triana is a fantastic front for the band, her voice, pitched somewhere between Lauren Hill and Beth Gibbons, brings focus to an eclectic line-up – live drummer, bassist (Simon Green himself), acoustic guitarist, three-piece brass section and scratch DJ – and together they bring Bonobo”™s records to life in vibrant, stirring fashion. 8.5/10 Rusko Rusko is unashamedly a party DJ. Big basslines, big beats, and the most energetic DJ performance you will ever see. Though recent album OMG has a lot of garage influence and pop sensibilities, he chose here, backed by the Bezz-dancing of Skream, to drop a heavy, rave noisy dubstep set, and it took off. Perhaps the most hyped crowd seen all weekend, Glastonbury rocked as Rusko skreamed. 8.5/10 Thom Yorke / Johnny Greenwood Rumours abounded that Radiohead were to be the special guests on The Park Stage. Arriving at the stage suitable early, I was surprised to find the place less than full but as the time approached, the crowd unsurprisingly swelled. The sound technicians did their best not to give anything away, but even in the half-second of electronic samples we were given, it became increasingly obvious that, at the very least, we were about to get a set from The Eraser. Photo courtesy of Rock Sound We were not disappointed, as on stepped Thom Yorke, who treated us to a solo performance of some of the memorable moments of his solo work. A few song in, Johnny Greenwood took to the stage and between them worked on a medley of Radiohead and Eraser classics. Awe-inspiring moments included a guitar duet of Weird Fishes, a spine-tingling rendition of Pyramid Song, and the highlight of the festival: Karma Police. Incredible. 10/10 The headliner on Friday was Gorillaz, catch my review of their set, along with the other headliners and a Glasto review overall, here.

Photo courtesy of DrownedinSound.com

For the second part of my Glastonbury review, I”™m focussing on day 2; the acts dotted around the festival on the Friday. This section features live reviews of Miike Snow, Mariachi El Bronx, Bonobo, Rusko and the amazing Thom Yorke.

Miike Snow


Miike Snow were not expecting success, but the exposure brought to them through remix-friendly material reworked by hype artists like Mark Ronson, Tiga and Fake Blood, a feature on massive American teen drama Gossip Girl and a bunch of simply great tracks, the success isn”™t a surprise. And this success was in evidence here at Glastonbury. Low down the bill, one of the first acts to play on the John Peel Stage at this years festival, you could be forgiven for thinking they were one of the headliners, such was the size of crowd they attracted.

Photo courtesy of DrownedinSound.com

The eponymous debut album is a fantastic listen, and tracks like Silvia and Burial all translate to Miike Snow”™s live show with incomparable ease. Unfortunately, the slower tracks, particularly Sans Soleil, which was chosen as the penultimate track to set closer Animal, served only to cede all the energy and momentum built up through the set. Animal was still a fantastic set closer, but you couldn”™t help but wonder how euphoric the set may have been had they not sent things into a lull only a few seconds before. 7/10

Mariachi El Bronx

LA hardcore punk band The Bronx released three eponymous albums before taking on the pseudonym Mariachi El Bronx and quite literally writing a fully-embraced Mariachi record. On a blistering Friday afternoon they walk on in full black Mariachi attire (and LA sun-glasses, but directly facing the sun, we can let them off that as being function-before-style) and took us through a set that took us back to Mexico.

Photo courtesy of Rock Sound

Through their performance, they showed that they”™re enjoying their music, that the record is truly honest, and that their style of mariachi has been perfectly realised. It was truly odd to introduce that a song is about sexual perverts, only for it to break into bouncy, happy-go-lucky 3/4 waltz, but this helped to take the entire affair with the pinch of salt it deserved. Thoroughly recommended. 8/10

Bonobo

Simon Green, otherwise known as Bonobo, has been an underground pioneer of chilled out beat electro for over a decade. Current album Black Sands (Ninja Tune, 2010) is a blissed out mix of trip-hop, soul and electro, but with textures so fleshed and layered that to label it ”˜chill out”™ does the musicianship a disservice. This was emphatically highlighted by the full band setup that took to the West Holts (previously Jazz World) stage on a still-glorious Friday afternoon. Vocalist Andreya Triana is a fantastic front for the band, her voice, pitched somewhere between Lauren Hill and Beth Gibbons, brings focus to an eclectic line-up – live drummer, bassist (Simon Green himself), acoustic guitarist, three-piece brass section and scratch DJ – and together they bring Bonobo”™s records to life in vibrant, stirring fashion. 8.5/10

Rusko

Rusko is unashamedly a party DJ. Big basslines, big beats, and the most energetic DJ performance you will ever see. Though recent album OMG has a lot of garage influence and pop sensibilities, he chose here, backed by the Bezz-dancing of Skream, to drop a heavy, rave noisy dubstep set, and it took off. Perhaps the most hyped crowd seen all weekend, Glastonbury rocked as Rusko skreamed. 8.5/10

Thom Yorke / Johnny Greenwood

Rumours abounded that Radiohead were to be the special guests on The Park Stage. Arriving at the stage suitable early, I was surprised to find the place less than full but as the time approached, the crowd unsurprisingly swelled. The sound technicians did their best not to give anything away, but even in the half-second of electronic samples we were given, it became increasingly obvious that, at the very least, we were about to get a set from The Eraser.

Photo courtesy of Rock Sound

We were not disappointed, as on stepped Thom Yorke, who treated us to a solo performance of some of the memorable moments of his solo work. A few song in, Johnny Greenwood took to the stage and between them worked on a medley of Radiohead and Eraser classics. Awe-inspiring moments included a guitar duet of Weird Fishes, a spine-tingling rendition of Pyramid Song, and the highlight of the festival: Karma Police. Incredible. 10/10

The headliner on Friday was Gorillaz, catch my review of their set, along with the other headliners and a Glasto review overall, here.

Categories
Reviews

Photo courtesy of Gigwise.com Glastonbury 2010 saw the celebration of 40 years of the seminal festival, and following the highly successful 2009 festival – which in some quarters had been the best to date following a number of slower years – this year had a lot to live up to. I arrived on site extremely early – the Saturday before, to be precise – to be a part of the festival as a volunteer steward with Oxfam. The site was bustling with event staff, other stewards, riggers, sound men, traders, all getting ready for the big event when the doors opened on Wednesday morning. The fields, though, were eerily empty. The weather forecast got better by the day, and indeed between Saturday and Wednesday the skies remained clear and baked us with blistering sunshine. Our hopes were that it would remain this way a few days longer. And it did. Glastonbury”™s 40th anniversary was a dry, hot, dusty, sun-kissed party; a bustling, noisy myriad of culture, creativity, colour, vibrancy. Shangri-La, accompanied by Kode 9, The Uncommon Ground and Arcadia, are areas of their own distinct culture. Glastonbury is not just about the Pyramid Stage acts, and it would be almost as true, when you experience these pockets of creativity and become acclimatized to the patchwork nature of the festival, to say that Glastonbury is not necessarily about music at all. This is why Jay-Z was not the surprise inclusion 2 years ago billed by some and why Snoop Dogg was accepted this year without the hysterical backlash that accompanied the Jay-Z announcement. This year, Gorillaz were a late replacement for a crocked U2 on the Friday night. Given the unabated success of Blur last year, Damon Albarn was no doubt brimming with confidence that a no-holds barred Gorillaz set, with a band made up of half of The Clash and an infinite number of possible cameo appearances at his finger tips, would give Glastonbury an opening night to remember. Photo courtesy of Dancenova.com To Albarn”™s, and admittedly my own, surprise and dismay, the set did not translate to the crowd. A host of weaker album tracks from the more commercially successful Demon Days (Parlophone, 2005) and Plastic Beach (Parlophone, 2010) were chosen over the stronger tracks from the eponymous debut album. Only Clint Eastwood made the cut, with the lively 19-2000, the anthemic Sound Check [Gravity] and fantastic Tomorrow Comes Today missing, while less-than-upbeat tracks like To Binge and Superfast Jellyfish from Plastic Beach were on show and trespassing on set closer/encore territory. Indeed, Albarn”™s attempt to get the crowd to sing along to set-closer Pirate Jet“It”™s all good news now / Because we left the taps / Running / For a hundred years / So drink into the drink / A plastic cup of drink / Drink with the purple / the people / the plastic eating people / still connected to the moment it began” – fell on its face, much to Albarn”™s exasperation, despite the well-intended consciousness-raising sentiment – due to its verbose and distinctly anti-anthemic nature. Photo courtesy of The Guardian/Yui Mok/AP Muse, on the other hand, could not have proven a greater antithesis to the night before. Muse fell out of favour with this reviewer a long time ago; their music becoming ever-shamelessly bombastic, and self-awareness dropping to zero in favour of louder-than-loud riff derivatives and vaguer-than-vague political incitement. But there”™s no doubting that at whatever level you want to take Muse – the pinnacle of 21st century rock, uber space-opera gods or shameless glam-rock indulgence – it doesn”™t fail to entertain. And when The Edge joined them on stage for a cover of Where The Streets Have No Name, the highlight of Glastonbury 2010 was secured. Photo courtesy of Gigwise.com By far the largest crowd-draw of them all was Stevie Wonder”™s Sunday night headline set, and the funk legend showed the young upstarts of the two nights before just why he can still draw a crowd of 100,000 people after nearly half a century in the business. The set was full of classics, without having to rely on guest appearances or stage-bombast to generate emotions in the audience. He made reference to Michael Jackson to great cheer, uttered an indulgence-free anti-war sentiment in two sentences – “I believe God is about the perpetuation of life, not the destroying of it; If could see, I could really kick some ass!” – and closed the 40th anniversary by serenading the audience and Michael Eavis with a rendition of his own Happy Birthday To You. Wonderous.

Photo courtesy of Gigwise.com

Glastonbury 2010 saw the celebration of 40 years of the seminal festival, and following the highly successful 2009 festival – which in some quarters had been the best to date following a number of slower years – this year had a lot to live up to.

I arrived on site extremely early – the Saturday before, to be precise – to be a part of the festival as a volunteer steward with Oxfam. The site was bustling with event staff, other stewards, riggers, sound men, traders, all getting ready for the big event when the doors opened on Wednesday morning. The fields, though, were eerily empty.

The weather forecast got better by the day, and indeed between Saturday and Wednesday the skies remained clear and baked us with blistering sunshine. Our hopes were that it would remain this way a few days longer. And it did. Glastonbury”™s 40th anniversary was a dry, hot, dusty, sun-kissed party; a bustling, noisy myriad of culture, creativity, colour, vibrancy.

Shangri-La, accompanied by Kode 9, The Uncommon Ground and Arcadia, are areas of their own distinct culture. Glastonbury is not just about the Pyramid Stage acts, and it would be almost as true, when you experience these pockets of creativity and become acclimatized to the patchwork nature of the festival, to say that Glastonbury is not necessarily about music at all. This is why Jay-Z was not the surprise inclusion 2 years ago billed by some and why Snoop Dogg was accepted this year without the hysterical backlash that accompanied the Jay-Z announcement.

This year, Gorillaz were a late replacement for a crocked U2 on the Friday night. Given the unabated success of Blur last year, Damon Albarn was no doubt brimming with confidence that a no-holds barred Gorillaz set, with a band made up of half of The Clash and an infinite number of possible cameo appearances at his finger tips, would give Glastonbury an opening night to remember.

Photo courtesy of Dancenova.com

To Albarn”™s, and admittedly my own, surprise and dismay, the set did not translate to the crowd. A host of weaker album tracks from the more commercially successful Demon Days (Parlophone, 2005) and Plastic Beach (Parlophone, 2010) were chosen over the stronger tracks from the eponymous debut album. Only Clint Eastwood made the cut, with the lively 19-2000, the anthemic Sound Check [Gravity] and fantastic Tomorrow Comes Today missing, while less-than-upbeat tracks like To Binge and Superfast Jellyfish from Plastic Beach were on show and trespassing on set closer/encore territory. Indeed, Albarn”™s attempt to get the crowd to sing along to set-closer Pirate Jet“It”™s all good news now / Because we left the taps / Running / For a hundred years / So drink into the drink / A plastic cup of drink / Drink with the purple / the people / the plastic eating people / still connected to the moment it began” – fell on its face, much to Albarn”™s exasperation, despite the well-intended consciousness-raising sentiment – due to its verbose and distinctly anti-anthemic nature.

Photo courtesy of The Guardian/Yui Mok/AP

Muse, on the other hand, could not have proven a greater antithesis to the night before. Muse fell out of favour with this reviewer a long time ago; their music becoming ever-shamelessly bombastic, and self-awareness dropping to zero in favour of louder-than-loud riff derivatives and vaguer-than-vague political incitement. But there”™s no doubting that at whatever level you want to take Muse – the pinnacle of 21st century rock, uber space-opera gods or shameless glam-rock indulgence – it doesn”™t fail to entertain. And when The Edge joined them on stage for a cover of Where The Streets Have No Name, the highlight of Glastonbury 2010 was secured.

Photo courtesy of Gigwise.com

By far the largest crowd-draw of them all was Stevie Wonder”™s Sunday night headline set, and the funk legend showed the young upstarts of the two nights before just why he can still draw a crowd of 100,000 people after nearly half a century in the business. The set was full of classics, without having to rely on guest appearances or stage-bombast to generate emotions in the audience. He made reference to Michael Jackson to great cheer, uttered an indulgence-free anti-war sentiment in two sentences – “I believe God is about the perpetuation of life, not the destroying of it; If could see, I could really kick some ass!” – and closed the 40th anniversary by serenading the audience and Michael Eavis with a rendition of his own Happy Birthday To You. Wonderous.