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Halloween was this saturday and i went to BRAINWASH FESTIVAL. I've stolen carries scoring system for this review.

Shoeface

Very new band (apparently this was their second gig) doing interesting instrumental noise stuff, kind of like health but without the well structured melodic parts and vox. They played on the floor, in the middle of the brudenell, taking up a lot of room thanks to the 3 drummers (drums were pretty ace though). Not many people came to see them too. Guitars had lots of reverb, feedback and effects, noticeably very loud.
They played a relentless wall of noise for 15 minutes straight... got a bit boring though. They were a bit loose (seriously sometimes it looked like the guitarist didnt have a clue what he was doing and just tried out new stuff) Interesting to watch though.

6/10

Talons

Was pretty early in the day and the brudenell was still pretty empty as talons started, so we sat at the back with pints to soak them in while relaxed.
Pretty stupid becuase it packed out REAL FAST and i wanted to be bobbing my head at the front. As you can see they were spookily dressed as MUMMIFIED ANIMALS. Really amazing atmosphere as always (heres my previous post for what they sound like) and the new single "Bethlehem" (out soon on a split with And So I Watch You From Afar) is so immense it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Less overwhelming than seeing them previous times: shame it wasnt a smaller/ darker space /later in the day (suits them better). They were incredibly tight though and I'm sure impressed everyone watching.


Bought a pretty cool t shirt with bears on that Ollie from the band designed. Forgot to ask them who the fuck "buff orpington" is though.

8.5/10

wonderswan
Ok strangely ended up seeing this band twice yesterday (i will explain later). Having just released their single this band have a lot to prove. To be honest I think they let themselves down at brainwash, with a serious lack of energy and stage presence they just seemed a bit dull. And when the band seems dull the songs seem dull too. They do have good sludgy pop sound, similar to peers dinosaur pile-up, playing kind grime-y indie. Its like copy haho doing pavement covers. The vocals are a bit distant and less audible than in most bands and a bit lack luster (I think perhaps too detached from the instrumental mix). They have written some good catchy songs but its all a bit repetative and got a bit boring towards the end. The bassist played in the crowd (out of sight from me) which if I could have seen might have made it more interesting. Wish i new more songs, seem like that kind of band.

5/10 (*8/10 at subculture though)

due to timing mix ups realised we'd missed holy state... bad times

The Old Romantic Killer Band
"Folk, blues and punk" in one band. Odd mix, and yeah maybe its not my thing but i caught the last few songs. Really entertaining live spectacle. They played their hardest and were pretty mental. Last song was really good and much more on the punk end of the spectrum (which they deliver bloody well). Highlight was the "changing rooms" stunt where the lead singer swaps with the audience so they are all on stage then rushes them off to the back wall. Crowd didnt seem too enthusiastic but was still fun and a damn good attempt.

im all cross armed in this picture, but i was enjoying it, promise.
7/10

Tubelord
Since when did tubelord get big? The venue was pretty packed again for them. Starting off with a new song with a more "serious" tone to it than previous songs, with less vocals and of a "pop" feel. However they soon got back to playing hits off the album. Set was good if a little short and could have done with more "old" stuff, I think a lot of the album doesn't sound as fresh as the real early stuff. A static crowd didn't really help things either, a few guys seemed to know the words and shouted along and jumped up and down, they seemed like annoying idiots. In fact it feels like they're fast becoming another "indie pop" band which all the kids jump up and down and scream for. Last but not least the new bassist (however silly his hair might be) can't replace Sean. A lot of these faults were probably because the new member wasn't as tight and didn't know all the songs. Still pretty fun to watch (I think they set the bar too high at previous gigs though).

8/10


The guy showing his goats is actually a twat, thanks for runing ttng for me scrote and co.

This Town Needs Guns
They started their set with a few songs off the album like chinchilla and baboon which are nice songs, not very exciting stuff though. Fast songs with pretty maths guitar lines and soft oxford vocals. About halfway through the set they played a new song, was bit more "dancy" than the album or even previous works, with more repetative vocals and a stick in your head melody (can't help thinking they're losing the overwhelming beauty their songs had and becoming another "foals-esque" band).
I hate to sound pretentious and elitist but since when did all the kids hear the old songs and decide to be annoying idiots jumping up and down to "if i sit here...". They then promised "belle and sebastian" (brilliant old song) but ditched it discovering they only had time for one more and played (the fan hit) 26 is dancier than 4 (more jumping up and down from annoying tweens and dicks).

Could do with being a bit more subdued live, i like the more "beautifully delicate" side to their songs, whereas some people seem to treat them like pigeon detectives. Sucks they got big and are now a mainstream "indie" band with annoying fans to boot.

7/10


Bougth a pulled apart t shirt. its rad.

Overall - suffered from static po faced crowds for some bands and over enthusiastic 16 year old boys excited to be out of the house for others. Wish we had stayed longer (we missed blakfish and PABH) but it was my friends' birthday and he'd come from york to see us so i thought I'd do what he wanted.
Idioteque was a real let down apart from seeing wonderswan again (by accident) who were ace second time round, they played way better, sub culture suited them better, the sound was better ect.ect.

A lot of people seem to be doing these at the minute so heres mine. Its likely you won't agree with it. I probably won't agree with it in the next 10 minutes. Ah well...


100 Interpol - Our Love To Admire


99 Burial - Untrue

98 We Are Scientists - Brain Thrust Mastery

97 Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future

96 The Sunshine Underground - Raise the Alarm

95 James Yuill - Turning Down Water for Air


94 Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Fever To Tell

93 The Cribs - The New Fellas

92 MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

91 Cold War Kids - Robbers And Cowards

90 Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster...


89 Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager

88 The White Stripes - White Blood Cells

87 Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

86 Röyksopp - Melody AM

85 Feeder - Echo Park


84 Slipknot - Iowa

83 M83 - M83

82 Amusement Parks on Fire - Amusement Parks on Fire

81 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

80 Feeder - Picture Of Perfect Youth


79 Kings of Convenience - Quiet Is The New Loud

78 Air - Talkie Walkie

77 The Horrors - Strange House

76 Good Shoes - Think Before You Speak

75 Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning


74 Bloc Party - Intimacy

73 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

72 Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles

71 Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

70 Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion


69 The Strokes - Room on Fire

68 Brand New - Your Favourite Weapon

67 Radiohead - In Rainbows

66 Explosions in the Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone

65 Editors - An End Has a Start


64 Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

63 Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell

62 Amusement Parks on Fire - Out Of Angeles

61 Foo Fighters - One by One

60 The Young Knives - Voices of Animals and Men


59 Iron And Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days

58 The Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams

57 Snowden - Anti-Anti

56 Sound Team - Movie Monster

55 Blood Red Shoes - Box of Secrets


54 Foals - Antidotes

53 The Shins - Oh, Inverted World

52 The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

51 Kings of Convenience - Riot On An Empty Street

50 Sigur Rós - Ágætis byrjun


49 Blue Roses - Blue Roses

48 M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts

47 Arcade Fire - Funeral

46 Taking Back Sunday - Where You Want to Be

45 Elle Milano - Acres Of Dead Space Cadets


44 Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke

43 Feeder - Pushing the Senses

42 DARTZ! - This Is My Ship

41 Radiohead - Amnesiac

40 This Town Needs Guns - Animals


39 Muse - Black Holes and Revelations

38 Nine Black Alps - Everything Is

37 Dntel - Life Is Full of Possibilities

36 The Horrors - Primary Colours

35 Kubichek! - Not Enough Night


34 Air - 10,000 Hz Legend

33 Helios - Eingya

32 TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain

31 Grammatics - Grammatics

30 Muse - Origin Of Symmetry


29 Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

28 The Cribs - Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever

27 Death In Public - Failures

26 We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor

25 Sky Larkin - The Golden Spike


24 Radiohead - Hail To The Thief

23 Brand New - Deja Entendu

22 worriedaboutsatan - Arrivals

21 Interpol - Antics

20 Sigur Rós - ( )


19 Death From Above 1979 - You're A Woman, I'm A Machine

18 Explosions in the Sky - How Strange, Innocence

17 Placebo - Meds

16 M83 - Saturdays=Youth

15 The Postal Service - Give Up


14 Crackout - This Is Really Neat

13 Muse - Absolution

12 Wintermute - Robot Works

11 Walking Concert - Run to Be Born

10 Editors - The Back Room


9 Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights


8 Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me


7 Explosions in the Sky - Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever


6 Crackout - Oh No!


5 Feeder - Comfort in Sound


4 Rival Schools - United by Fate


3 Sigur Rós - Takk...


2 Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City


1 Radiohead - Kid A

1. Irepress - Sol Eye Sea I (388) 2. Comadre - Burn Your Bones (241) 3. This Town Needs Guns - Animals (226) 4. The Ocean - Precambrian (217) 5. Down I Go - Tyrant (186) 6. Ghostlimb - Bearing And Distance (179) 7. 65daysofstatic - The Fall of Math (169) 8. 3 - Wake Pig (168) 9. Incubus - A Crow Left of the Murder... (152) 10. Between the Buried and Me - Alaska (152) 11. Irepress - Samus Octology (152) 12. Baroness - Red Album (143) 13. The Ocean - Aeolian (141) 14. Between the Buried and Me - Colors (134) 15. Torche - Meanderthal (130) 16. Incubus - Light Grenades (128) 17. Acid Bath - When the Kite String Pops (128) 18. Saetia - A Retrospective (128) 19. Maps & Atlases - Tree, Swallows, Houses (128) 20. A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms (127) 21. Animals as Leaders - Animals As Leaders (124) 22. Cynic - Focus (120) 23. Cynic - Traced in Air (119) 24. The Mars Volta - Frances the Mute (119) 25. Atheist - Elements (112) 26. Café Tacuba - Tiempo Trascurrido (109) 27. Dax Riggs - We Sing of Only Blood or Love (107) 28. Molotov - Eternamiente (105) 29. Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist (103) 30. Incubus - S.C.I.E.N.C.E. (102) 31. Café Tacuba - Re (99) 32. Mastodon - Blood Mountain (96) 33. Babasónicos - Anoche (95) 34. Mastodon - Crack The Skye (93) 35. Hypatia Lake - ...and We Shall Call Him Joseph (91) 36. Fair to Midland - Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True (90) 37. Pixies - Doolittle (90) 38. Loom - Selva Molhada (90) 39. Fair to Midland - The Carbon Copy Silver Lining (88) 40. 65daysofstatic - One Time for All Time (88) 41. Torche - Torche (87) 42. !T.O.O.H.! - Rád A Trest (86) 43. Incubus - Morning View (86) 44. dredg - Leitmotif (85) 45. Café Tacuba - Si No (84) 46. Alexisonfire - Crisis (83) 47. Maybeshewill - Not For Want Of Trying (82) 48. Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (82) 49. Pixies - Bossanova (82) 50. At the Drive-In - Acrobatic Tenement (82)

1. What's your favorite song by 15?
Foals
Balloons

2. How did you get into 20?
The Who
By my father's advice

3. Who is your favorite member in 1?
The Beatles
Paul, of course

4. What’s your favorite lyric bit by 31?
Tom Jones
Mm.. "Hee, hah, come on!" in Land of 1000 Dances )))

5. Have you ever seen 22 live?
The Rakes
Yeah, not so good as I wondered

6. What's your favorite album from 10?
Dinosaur Jr.
Dinosaur. so authentic

7. Do you own any merchandise from 3?
James Hunter
Does it exist? o_O

8. What is a good memory you have of 7?
This Town Needs Guns
Dancing in the street in May

9. Is there a member of the same age as you in 2?
Minus the Bear
Nope!

10. When did you first get into 8?
Bloc Party
About two years ago, my friend played Flux a lot, and I never really paid attention. Then one day I was actually listening when Hunting For Witches was playing and I thought, "This is really cool. I should listen to this more." and I almost instantly fell in love with that album.

11. Who likes 4 along with you?
Pavement
Frontman from my band. Thats all. It's so pity(

12. Which song did you first hear from 16?
Johnny Foreigner
Yes! You Talk Too Fast

13. What song made you fall in love with 5?
The Rolling Stones
It was the album England's Newest Hitmakers, now one of my all time favourite albums.

14. Which song do you not like by 18?
Tubelord
The Death of a Digital Alarm Clock

15. Why do you like 14's songs?
Maxïmo Park
Because they help me to feel better

16. Where did you first hear 6?
Tired Irie
Oh, It was fortuitousness. Last Fm. recomendations, you know))

17. How long was 19 a singer before you liked them?
Sonic Youth
I first heard these guys about a year and a half ago, but I didn't even really start to listen to them until a few months ago. Shit, almost 29 years. Gods.

18. Does 13 have a song that gives you a bad memory?
The Twang
Nope.

19. When did you get into 17?
Beastie Boys
In school in the age of 13. I guess

20. How long have you been into 9?
Coldplay
4 or 5 years

21. If 11 had a concert 300 miles away, would you drive there to see them?
Biffy Clyro
Honestly, probably not. I'd love to see them live, but I probably wouldn't go. Especially since I'd have no one to go with.

22. How many CDs do you own of 12?
The Young Knives
I only own Superabundance, but I plan to buy Voices Of Animals And Men as well if I find it.

23. Does 21 have a song that makes you cry?
The Last Shadow Puppets
No. But no one does, really.

24. Does 27 have a song that makes you happy?
Secret Affair
Time For Action.

25. Does 23 have a song that makes you smile?
Placebo
Haha, good joke.

26. What's the last song you've listened to from 28?
The Age of Rockets
H. Soft Escape, probably my favourite song by them.

27. Is there a song by 32 that you've listened to more than 30 times?
The Makes Nice
Not according to last.fm, but I've definitely listened to Take Over and Candy Wrapper over 30 times.

28. What is a song from 50 that you've only listened to once?
The Wombats
A lot of them.

29. Is there a song you are sick of hearing by 24?
The Jam
Nope!

30. What song got you into 40?
Franz Ferdinand
This Fire

31. What is your favorite single by 25?
The Zombies
She's Not There, with Time of the Season in second. If I could say that they are singles, of course

32. If 49 hated you, what would you do?
Mew
Be very confused, but slightly honoured that they care enough to hate me.

33. What would you say if 43 or one of the members from 43 asked you out?
The Kinks
I don't know...

34. Would you care if 41 had a boyfriend/girlfriend?
Arcade Fire
As long as they keep making music, it makes no difference to me!

35. Who has the best voice in 46?
BlakFish
mmm...mmmm...mmmm...

36. Do you think 26 is/are good looking?
Q and Not U
Could hipsters be good looking? maybe... yes...

37. How many times have you listened to your favorite song by 36?
The Dismemberment Plan
Gyroscope currently has 25 plays. I feel like I've listened to it more times than that though.

38. How many CDs do you own of 30?
For the Mathematics
Sadly, none. I'm a university student, I can't afford CDs!)))

39. Is there a song from 38 that makes you mad?
Shoes and socks off
Nope!

40. Which member from 39 do you want to see go solo? If 31 is only one artist, what would you do if they joined a group?
Cobra Starship
They should just stay as they are. It would be better for all of us.

41. What does your favorite song from 48 remind you of?
Data.select.party
The White Bear - this summer!

42. Did you hate 29 at first?
Adebisi Shank
Loved 'em at first listen.

43. Does your best friend also listen to 33?
Les Savy Fav
My best friend?

44. Do you think your parents would like 37?
Mutiny on the Bounty
I don't think so.

45. Does 47 have a song that makes you want to dance?
VETO
You Need Paths To Draw Maps .

46. Have you ever seen 34 in person?
I Am Kloot
All of them. Good guys.

47. Do you like 44's name?
Tokyo Police Club
I don't dislike it.

48. Is there someone in 45 that you want to go out with?
Maps & Atlases
I realy don't think that I'm gay. Definitely. But Dave Davison is so cool :D

49. Do you know anyone that hates 42?
Louis Armstrong
Impossible.

50. Have you ever danced to a song from 35?
Delays
Stay Where You Are

1. Noah and the Whale - Peaceful, The World Lays Me Down
2. Johnny Flynn - A Larum
3. Eugene McGuinness - s/t
4. Jeremy Warmsley - How We Became
5. The Futureheads - This Is Not The World
6. Vincent Vincent and the Villains - Gospel Bombs
7. Johnny Foreigner - Waited Up Til It Was Light
8. Jay Jay Pistolet - Happy Birthday You EP
9. Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
10. Late of the Pier - Fantasy Black Channel
11. Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim
12. Mumford & Sons - The Sun Always Sets on The Cool Kids EP
13. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
14. Cajun Dance Party - The Colourful Life
15. This Town Needs Guns - Animals
16. Hot Club de Paris - Live at Dead Lake
17. I Was a Cub Scout - I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope
18. Look See Proof - Between Here And There
19. Pete and The Pirates - Little Death
20. The Pigeon Detectives - Emergency
21. Fleet Foxes - s/t
22. The Dodos - Visiter
23. Vampire Weekend - s/t
24. The Decemberists - Always the Bridesmaid single collection
25. The 88- Not Only...But Also
26. Q-Tip - The Renaissance
27. Kid Harpoon - The Second EP
28. Joe Lean & The Jing Jang Jong - s/t
29. J-Live - What Happened Next
30. Cut Off Your Hands - You And I

[event=]Southsea Fest[/event]
Southsea Fest was a day of new bands in the venues dotted around super-hip Albert Road, Southsea.

For me, the music started with BlakFish in the "Edge of the Wedge". Essentially, this is a sweaty corner of the massive Wedgewood Rooms. In spite of being given a very peripheral time and space, Blakfish gave a good account of themselves. I was surprised at how many of the crowd knew the (shouted) words to their songs and even more surprised when we got a full-on moshpit at 5 o'clock! The encore, in which the lead shouter bought the mic into the crowd, was great.

We then removed to the Southsea Social Club, easily the most convivial of the 12 venues. Here we caught The Rubicon, who were floppy-haired and inoffensive rock'n'roll.

After this I caught a hidden gem in the form of Livers & Lungs in the Wine Vaults. Although only one of the band seemed to be Irish, the fivesome put out some great celtic jangle-folk. I was in rapture. See them if you can.

This Town Needs Guns were one band I was keen to see, and they did not disappoint. Lots of elegant guitars and rousing choruses, particularly on the songs from Animals. They seemed much too big for the "Edge of the Wedge". My only criticism was that they gave in to the crowds yells of "Belle and Sebastian" and played a cover as their encore, when they could easily have done something else from Animals instead. The Tupelov Ghost were on beforehand and were pretty good, though they continued the disturbing trend of men shouting rather than even trying to sing.


Southsea Fest posed me a frustrating choice of Tubelord and Band Of Skulls as the de-facto headliner - James Yuill came on too late for my train, sadly. I chose Tubelord and was a little disappointed. Sure, songs like i am azerrad and Night Of The Pencils were great, but the band seemed a bit too precious. I'd have thought that veterans of small clubs could cope with a bit of mic static, but instead we had long periods of silence while technical wrangling occurred. BlakFish would just have got on with it.

What did you think?

Each band gets at least an hour set, and the stages are right close to each other so as one finishes, you can just run to the other stage while that stage takes an hour to set up. Ah, in an ideal world...

Extra Stage Now Added!

Main Stage Friday:
Cats In Paris
Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
Metronomy
Cut Copy
Patrick Wolf

Alternate Stage Friday:
Grammatics
O Fracas
The KBC
Kubichek!
Foals

Saturday:
Youthmovies
This Town Needs Guns
Johnny Foreigner
Maxïmo Park
Arcade Fire

Alternate Stage Saturday:
Dananananaykroyd
Errors
Holy Fuck
Los Campesinos!
Late of the Pier

Sunday:
You Say Party! We Say Die!
The Dykeenies
Tokyo Police Club
We Are Scientists
Franz Ferdinand

Alternate Stage Sunday:
Bleached Wail
The Answering Machine
The Blood Arm
The Sunshine Underground
¡Forward, Russia!

TRUCK 12: LET IT IN!
After glastonbury being mildly disappointing i wasn't about to hype Truck Festival. TUrned out to be truely amazing: Small enough to seem very personal, sunny enough to give me a healthy glow, smelling of cows enough to be authentic and cheap enough to leave me with change.
It's meant to be about finding your new favourite band, but a stupid amount of my favourites favourites were already playing. Seeing as i loved pretty much every band i saw this post will be very boring and mostly for my benefit.


saturday

Tubelord
filling colour's (rip) giant shoes, tubelord didnt disappoint. Their hideously fun and upbeat set the tone for the whole weekend and although they only played 6 songs the atmosphere was lightning and the crowd all seemed to dig it. THe lighting for tubelord was really well done and gave the show another element along side Dave's "pig mask and jump around in the crowd" thing, (the mask didnt appear to be washed when i wore it in nottingham...xcore). As for songs the newer stuff sounded really immense and the old choons tighter than ever as they get more confident. Night of the pencils was so good it sent shivers down my spine and Azerrad was amazing as a sing along end.
The Scholars
Turned out to be some terribly stereotypical oxford "indie rock" band. Not Scholars (without the "The") who are brilliant rocking powerpop. Needless to say we left quickly.
Fanfarlo
Amazing band we were barrier for. This five piece was the perfect folk band; easy to listen to and beautifully crafter anthems with clap along beats and tear worthy lyrics. Jeremy Warmsley on guitar and bashing some percussion occasionally was pretty special too.
Data Select Party
DSP have some of the best pop music around right now and were as always immensely fun live. Playing a few new songs was probably a bad idea for a festival in my opinion (maybe just because i wanted the sing along anthems) I was pretty drunk for them and danced my socks off with sara and georgia. good times. Also dan has the best jumper and smile of any person i ve ever met.
Jeremy Warmsley
Jeremy is a very talented and funny guy. I'm not a huge fan of his indie/folk rock/pop/whatever but live he was really special and had a great energy for just one man. HE came across quite affable, asking the crowd to sit down and then taking cover requests. His 6th verse and one armed scissor cover were definately highlights of the festival.
Errors
plagued by some early technical errors (see what i did there) as cables were pulled out on the cramped beathive stage errors still pulled through to put on probably the best performance of the festival. On hindsight it wasnt the best time i've seen them but the set was amazing and they sounded great. They bring something different to the whole "math" thing with their electronica and acid elements. Beautifully worked layers of intelligent guitars and electronics building to dancable breakdowns. Incredible. Toes was great to end on aswell
Wild Beasts
Due to an arduous queue there was a long wait to get into wild beasts, meaning i missed some of the best of their new album. However the latter songs were just as brilliant, they sound much more erie and atmospheric live and the low lit barn set echoed this beautifully. THey were really beautifully deep and a pleasure to watch, the crowd seemed awe struck and the air still. Hooting and Howling blew me away and penultimate song We Still Got The Taste Dancing On Our Tongues slowed down and more atmospheric live was just incredible (the album version doesnt do it justice)... probably my favourite song of the festival.

After then becoming quite a bit more drunk at the tents we headed back to see some djs at the barn...
DJ Food
THis attempt at "visual turntabling" was pretty poor, the need to find videos that could be easily mixed seemed to diminish the quality of mixing for the music and although they played quite a fun set it seemed quite lazy and uninspired.
Lee Mortimer & Foamo
This was a huge contrast to the previous set in terms of originality and quality. They really produced some awesome mixes and i couldn't stop dancing. Perfect mix of electro, house, dubstep and huge bassline tunes with an odd dash of indie. Good stuff, recomend anyone who likes good dance music to seek foamo out and watch him.
Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
managing to bypass alot of the queue by talking to tim from ttng these guys were playing fairly good indie and dance floor fillers with mixed success. Dwarfed by foamo they were a little underwhelming.

sunday

Talons
Recently signed to bsm i wasnt sure what to expect from this young 6 piece. I hardly ever fall in love with bands just from seeing them live. THe xcerts and errors are two that it has happened with before, and now Talons join their ranks as one of the most interesting and exciting bands to have come along in years. Their brilliant instrumental blend of post hardcore with mathcore and indie exploded on stage: Battered drums and awesome riffs intersperced by 2 violin parts which creates a big sound. They really gave the performance a lot, very energetic in contract to the static crowd, i dont think its possible to do more than drop your jaw at a band like this though. Like grammatics meets 65dos, but its a good thing trust me.
Calories
THe sound for calories wasn't great if i'm honest, and it was hard to distinguish some of their poppy guitar lines as they were overpowered by the drums and bass, but knowing the songs made it good to enjoy and new songs like even steven sounded awesome. Terrible crowd aswell, they didnt seem to get it. Not one of the best performances but still good.
And So I Watch You From Afar
Really good live, thought it lacked diversity and all the songs sounded very similar and with only 3 members perhaps lacking the big sound to make them special. Still very good tight post rock that was thoroughly enjoyable.
The Xcerts
The first time i saw the xcerts was roughly a year ago at dot to dot when i stumbled upon them. Since then they lost none of the energy in their performance. They prove theirs still life left in the indie rock 3 piece band format. The lyrics and sweet scottish vocals clashing with their edgy rock sound to form sing along alternate anthems. Good atmosphere and stage presence too.
The Joy Formidable
Although the barn was pretty packed for them as we turned up, i really was underwhelmed by the joy formidable. Porbably the most disapointing band of the festival, they seemed to be the same uninspired indie that metric was producing years ago. Dull droning guitars and wishy washy vocals at times trying to imitate shoe gaze. Really not my thing.
This Town Needs Guns
We waited a while for this town to come on, well worth it to see 26isdancier as an opener from the front. However the quality of sound and performance was really lacking from the home grown maths boys. The set wasn't helped by the countless 14 year olds dancing/moshing. I can't understand how you can go mental for what is essentially subtley beautiful twiddly guitar music. We stayed for about 4 songs including chinchilla and lemur and if i sit here. Good but we chose to rush off to see if PABH was any better.
Pulled Apart By Horses
Amazing live in any capacity, and although the barns crowd was too thinly spread to make for your average sweaty, jumpy pulled apart gig they put on a great performance. Sporting 2 rolo t shirts (interesting trivia?) their hardcore riffs and shouty/screamy vocals sounded great as we came in on HIGH FIVE (although the hipster crowd wasn't going mental as i would have liked to see), it was still really good to watch the performance. Universal talk box followed by Punched a lion was amazing to finish on.
The Ghost of a Thousand
Now i don't know a lot about hardcore music but my friend do, and they tell me to go see these guys for an awesome show. RIght they were, even the mic check was hardcore (CHEEEEECK!!!!). The crowd disappated very quickly as the band started thrashing out their punk guitars and dark screaming. THe crowd was really the best thing about this band though as those scene kids know how to party. Although the crowd was small and rather tame by the end, (the wall of death more like a wall of slight bruising) they were really fun. Closing on Black Art Number One it was an intense set.

The final musical instalment of the festival was Jack and Paul's dirty dub voiced over orange bioler suit guy's spits. Amazing.
Intervening time was spent annoying band members, abusing joey, finding the monster, dancing to shit dj's, GETTING BEVVED and eating pasta. Good times
Sadly i missed some bands due to laziness and overcrowding like We Were Promised Jet Packs, Sam Isaac avec band (gutted it was too packed), Yacht and Maybeshewill. But really the fact there were so many good bands that i couldnt be arsed with a 5 minute walk to others is a testiment to how brilliant the lineup was (and how drunk i got). CANT WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR