2000trees Festival: The Lowdown

The fields of Upcote Farm, near Cheltenham, have now been left to recover as the campers, bands, vendors and organisers finally left this year’s 2000trees festival yesterday to go home and recover too. Music was played, drink was drunk, but most importantly, discoveries were made:

1. I am rubbish at erecting tents. A big thank you to nearby campers that helped a collapsed mess of rods and flowery material into a decent place to sleep.
2. The director of the next big comic book film adaptation needs to listen to Vessels. The epic and dramatic nature of their brand of instrumental post-rock is expertly executed and is something to really get lost in. They were definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.
   

   Zun Zun Egui. Photo courtesy of Craig Boney.

3. Zun Zun Egui. I have no idea how to pronounce their name, but it is what this Bristol-based four piece band go by, producing what they call ‘free range rock music’ made from a pretty big collection of instruments. It is energetic, quirky and was the perfect soundtrack to a Saturday afternoon in the sun.
4. Kong are one of the most disturbing bands I have ever seen. Skulking on stage with shiny, grotesque masks that still let you see their mouths and eyes moving – as much as you want to look away, you are compelled to stay. The same goes for their music, it’s rough, aggressive, and dark, but undoubtedly good.
5. Robbie Williams has a place at music festivals. In this case, at the end of Tall Ships set list when they broke out of their art-rock mould into a surprise rendition of Angels, when everyone showed that they unashamedly knew all the words. It wasn’t just Robbie that had the crowd singing – the packed out Leaf Lounge stage was filled with fans who knew the words to all of the Tall Ships tracks, demonstrating that the band really are on their way up.
6. Pieminister Pies. Ok, so I’m a little slow off the mark as Pieminister are a well-known brand, but as I was expecting to be surviving off of limp, soggy burgers for the weekend, the discovery that a hearty pie, with mash and gravy, all packed into a cute little box of tastiness was on offer was AMAZING!
   

   Frightened Rabbit. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Olarte.

7. Frightened Rabbit should headline more often. It was down to Frightened Rabbit to round-up the festival as they headlined the Main Stage on Saturday night; their first time headlining a festival. And what a great job they made of it. A band that could be described as a Scottish Elbow, or a mellow Biffy Clyro, they have a charm all of their own. Their performance was polished, passionate, and they just seemed to be genuinely grateful to be there. A lot more of their tracks have made it into my collection as a result.

Judging by the haggard state of everyone as they dragged their sodden belongings back out of the field, a ruddy good time was had by all. Well done 2000trees.

Preview: 2000trees Festival

2000trees Festival in 2009. Photo courtesy of Tortipede.

The usually sleepy Upcote Farm in Gloucestershire will be the home, for the fifth time, of 2000trees Festival this weekend. Dedicated to providing a platform to new and underground British music, other main draws are the cheap tickets, green agenda, and the fact that it is in possession of the ’2nd Best Toilets at a UK Festival’. I shit you not.

There are four stages to choose from, all featuring acts for your aural amusement; the Main Stage – with the likes of Dan Le Sac v Scroobius Pip, Los Campesinos!, Three Trapped Tigers, and Islet, The Cave – with ASIWYFA, Talons and Vessels, The Leaf Lounge – with Tellison, Tall Ships and Stagecoach, and finally, The Greenhouse – featuring DJ Primer, Esse B and Midnight Mile. I’ve only cherry-picked a couple of examples, but here is the full line up.

There is also a handful of extra-musical activities going on too; a fancy dress competition under the theme Cowboys! vs Robots! vs Ninjas!, the opportunity to watch sheep dog trials, a nature walk, and a massive bonfire.

Why am I telling you all this? Well, not only because it’s an awesome festival that deserves more awareness, but also, I’M GOING! Reviews and festival tales to follow…

Brand Spanking New – Burning Buildings

Burning Buildings, taking a brief pause to re-enact a lightsaber battle

If you haven’t yet heard of Burning Buildings, well you can be forgiven as they’ve only been together since late 2010.

Describing themselves as a hybrid of all of their favourite bands, including Tall Ships, Weezer, Radiohead, Reuben, Bon Iver and a little bit of Slayer, they are named after a nearby house burned to the ground when the band first came to life.

With two EPs to their name, the newest of which is The Sleep Tapes, consisting of three tracks; Part A: Great Circular O, or A Dream Of Leaving A Train Station As Your Lover Jumps To Their Death, Everyone Knows, The Heart Beats Backwards and Drowning Dogs. The guys are going to add more songs to this over the next few weeks, and when complete will be releasing a limited edition cassette with all of the tracks as well as specially commissioned artwork.

What you are offered here is some interesting Art Rock elements in Part A, which certainly has some Tall Ships-esque moments with repeated synths and group vocals which break down into a playful mix of tempos, but then the track seems to finish before it really gets started; when it starts off so promisingly you want more.

Everyone Knows, The Heart Beats Backwards is a more mellow affair, with some nice lyrics that seem to avoid the cliché traps, and stripped back vocals that show they have a softer edge.

Drowning Dogs is a Terrorist Associate Remix, that gives a faint dubstep edge to another calm set of vocals, with ghostly echoes and a guitar build that could be even better if it could culminate in something bigger rather than just fading away.

Some promising stuff from a band that are just starting out, to listen for yourself check out their SoundCloud page, where there’s a bunch more songs to choose from.

Oh, and last but not least, here’s the band’s mascot drinking a cup of tea. She’s kind of a big deal. 

Burning Buildings canine mascot. I don't know if the mug was her choice.

Live Music – Effort, Tall Ships, Three Trapped Tigers – Buffalo Bar, 19/3/11

Shiny new record label, Pink Mist, which combines indie labels Big Scary Monsters, Blood and Biscuits and Holy Roar Records is responsible for this latest exciting UK tour.

First on in Cardiff’s Buffalo Bar is Effort, a newly hatched arrangement consisting of BBC Wales’ DJ Jen Long and James Frost of The Automatic. Informing the crowd it was only their fifth gig ever, I was pleasantly surprised that, while still fairly raw, their catchy indie rock brand was a pleasure to listen to.

From Jen’s point of view, it’s a brave move for anyone to step out from being the critic to the critiqued, but Effort seems to have the potential to do so very successfully.

Tall Ships. Photo courtesy of Jay Springett

Next on were Falmouth trio, Tall Ships (who have appeared on this blog many a time.) Rick, Matt and Jamie lean towards the art-rock side of things, with an emphasis on instrumentals and subverting the usual song formula.

As well as playing crowd favourites like Plate Tectonics and Books, they also mixed it up a bit by playing Ode to Ancestors off of the last EP, There is Nothing But Chemistry Here. Or, they tried at least. A succession of technical difficulties meant that some of the songs couldn’t be finished.

The guys dealt with it  as professionally and quickly as possible, but did still leave the audience waiting around for a while. There wasn’t any bad feeling, I think everyone just felt sorry for them as they were so good when the instruments were working! A finale of their newest single, Hit the Floor, which cranks it up a notch on the energy scale, definitely finished the shaky set with a high.

Three Trapped Tigers. Photo courtesy of Vince Kmeron

Finally, Three Trapped Tigers took to the stage. Promoting their new record Route One or Die, released on Blood and Biscuits Records, the guys gave a consuming performance that veered between sounds of dance, dubstep, post rock and a little bit of hardcore.

Such a mixture sounds like it shouldn’t work, especially not within the same record, but it combines together to make something new and unpredictable. It’s refreshing to see a band who are trying to consistently come up with something different, rather than just something that will sell. Each track takes you on a journey of cleverly executed peaks and troughs in tension, through flavours of different genres, and all with an unfathomable ability to get inside your head to the point where you’re no longer really aware of what is going on around you.

An innovative and compulsive performance to finish on, and a tour well worth seeing if you’re after something a bit different.

Live Music: Pink Mist launch party, 16/4/11

Notting Hill, on a weekend during the Easter holidays, and on Record Store Day, when you’re trying to pinpoint an unassuming door that leads to Notting Hill Arts Club is a logistical nightmare. But well worth it, once you’ve descended the stairs and got yourself a well deserved beer.

Some Record Store Day bargains. Courtesy of Mike Fabio

The event was a celebration of many things; the triumph of ‘keeping it old school’ for Record Store Day, which saw droves of music fans queueing at record stores to take advantage of special offers and ensure that the humble record store stays alive in its fight against the MP3. It was a celebration of the newly formed Pink Mist record label; an amalgamation of existing labels Big Scary Monsters, Holy Roar and Blood and Biscuits. And it was a celebration of the exciting collection of bands they have signed, namely Teej, Rosa Valle, Hymns and Tall Ships. Finally, it was a celebration for my purse, because it was all FREE!

The dimly lit Notting Hill Arts Club, a delightful underground hole, made it easy to forget that it was still daylight outside, as everything kicked off early in the afternoon. With short, snappy sets there was also no fear of missing a song when necessity called for toilet runs.

Teej made for an energetic opener, with a mix of synthy electronica that has a hint of post rock that really lets you get lost in it. Finishing on a huge applause from an unusually enthusiastic audience so early into the gig, the guys looked a little embarrassed at the gusto. They shouldn’t, when you’re lucky enough to get it, accolade is to be lapped up.

Rosa Valle followed with their mix of progressive rock with a hardcore edge. They describe themselves as a ‘four piece math-mosh band’, which sums it up pretty well. They owned the stage and their loud confidence made it impossible to look away.

Hymns, fronted by Jason Willcock, whose vocals you might recognise from past project Blakfish, the two-piece maintain a dark, serious edge, and are fiercely passionate in their performance. So fierce that, at times, it made you wonder if they would make it to the end of the set or they were all screamed and sweated out.

Matt and Jamie of Tall Ships. Courtesy of Kasper Vogelzang

And finally, Tall Ships. I’ve already banged on about how awesome these guys are, both their performance at Swn Festival last October, and the release of their EP There is Nothing But Chemistry Here. They’re still awesome, and tried a few new things during this performance, with a bit of climbing and backing into the crowd, as well as showcasing a new single that had only been recorded the week before. It was full of energy and suggests promising things for their new releases.

Great bands, great music, great day. Long live Pink Mist.

Review: Tall Ships, ‘There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here’

Matt from Tall Ships playing at Swn Festival 2010

Whilst listening to Tall Ships‘ new EP, There Is Nothing But Chemistry Here for the umpteenth time, I decided that more people should know about how achingly good it is.

I go on about this band quite a lot, having seen them play live three times in the past couple of months (…yes, ok, bit of a stalker) but it turns out that their new EP is almost as compelling to listen to out of my shoddy laptop speakers.

Comprised of Matt, Rich and Jamie, Tall Ships have been touring like crazy recently around the UK and Europe supporting the likes of Tubelord and 65daysofstatic.

The EP, released through Big Scary Monsters records is comprised of five new tracks, each exhibiting the band’s capacity to vary tension, tone and experiment with a range of instruments and effects that gives them a really distinctive sound.

Here’s a bit of a track breakdown…

Plate Tectonics – Starting with some upbeat, catchy guitar riffs, the track suddenly morphs into a gradually building onslaught of instrumental wizardry that’s got more layers than an onion.

Chemistry – After a fairly electro instrumental introduction, interspersed with heavier guitars, the sombre vocals kick in and help build up to a satisfying finish.

Ode To Ancestors – Showing their fun, quirky side, like in past record Vessels, this track jumps around between tempos, with some choral singing and what could be a Super Mario theme thrown in for good measure.

Snow – This song has a delicious instrumental build up nestled about 3 minutes in, combined with some impossibly catchy guitar riffs and a big finish that makes it very difficult not to go for a bit of crazed air drumming. Big thumbs up.

Bearandblitz – And finally, as a way to round off the EP you’re treated to a more downbeat, slightly menacing offering, some parts are almost like a funeral march…but cooler, obviously.

If any of that sounds intriguing, you can order the EP from the Big Scary Monsters shop.

Swn Festival. 21-23 October.

The third annual Swn Festival descended on Cardiff for three days of alternative musical offerings at venues across the city. Thursday and Friday night, and all day on Saturday saw over 150 bands play. They are all up-and-coming acts, having been hand picked by the festival’s organisers, Radio 1 DJ Huw Stephens and Cardiff promoter John Rostron.

One of the reasons why Swn Festival works so well is Cardiff’s range of small, quirky venues positioned conveniently close together. They can be seen on the map below:

View Larger Map

Several of the venues are quite small, which is great as they tend to house bands that are really new and have smaller followings, meaning you can wander into a pub like Dempsey’s and witness a really intimate performance with an amazing new band. There is also quite a high possibility that the band is local, as part of the Swn philosophy is to give a platform to Welsh acts that might not get the chance to play to an audience much bigger than their local village pub.

There was a lot of music over the three days, so I shall only delve into some of my personal festival highlights which would definitely be worth having a listen to or keeping a lookout for next time they are on tour.

The first of these is the Big Scary Monsters record label showcase at Y Fwuch Goch on Thursday night. This featured Dad Rocks, Stagecoach, Mimas, Tall Ships and Talons.

Unfortunately a traffic malfunction meant we missed Dad Rocks, which is a shame as his photo in the Swn leaflet wearing a silver shiny astronaut’s costume made him more than a little bit intriguing.

Stagecoach had a lot of fun in their set, which culminated in the band having a wander around in the audience/on the bar, giving away a guitar to one lucky fellow in the front row, and generally infecting everyone with their shouty brand of pop-rock.

Mimas, clad in their matching purple and yellow hoodies, gave us an offering of quirky tunes, with a particular highlight being the band dissembling the drum kit and basically bashing the hell out of it, creating some great tension – not least because it meant a lot of underwear was put on show.

Tall Ships doing some instrument swapping

Tall Ships, a favourite of mine, never fail to deliver a varied and absorbing set, from soft synths to all out growling guitars and pounding drums, the band swapping instruments between them throughout. A technical fault meant they couldn’t play to their best, but it happens, and the guys coped with it well.

Lastly at Y Fwuch Goch, Talons ended the night with an atmospheric and explosive set of their instrumental math-rock, complete with violins. It was a shame that the venue was so brightly lit, as some murky, brooding darkness would have complemented the music much better.

Young Legionnaire rocking out

Young Legionnaire at Chapter Arts Centre on Friday night was another great experience. It’s a personal preference point, but I really like it when bands have a bit of a chat to the audience – only if they’re funny, mind. Young Legionnaire were though, even sharing their secret song formula with us, “NOISE, stop, NOISE, stop. Do you get the idea?” Their brand of post-hardcore rock is incredibly loud, yet melodic, and had my ears ringing for hours afterwards for all the right reasons.

Cate Le Bon

Lastly, highlights from Saturday would have to be Calories with their solid performance of catchy indie rock, starting their set all wearing some interesting sunglasses because they’d heard Swn Festival was cool…

My First Tooth was only announced to play a couple of days before the festival, and were a real hit with their energetic folk-rock (‘fock’?) Plus, they had a harmonica, you can’t argue with that.

I don’t even know how to describe Cate Le Bon, but I do know that I would like to be her. Her totally individual style that seems to blend ghostly folk and pop with melancholic vocals with a thick Welsh accent, and a little bit of synth thrown in for good measure is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.

Finally there was the legendary Welsh band Islet. Everyone was hyped to see them, and they reciprocated the excitement, bounding around the stage, in the crowd, climbing on speakers, drumming on the ceiling, anything they could to produce their percussion-heavy sound that has to be seen to be believed.

All in all it was an exhilarating, exhausting and educational few days. Swn turns five years old next year, now that will have some special stuff in store…

I also took some photos, of varying quality.