Stag & Dagger 22/5/10

Huge queuing problems plagued Stag & Dagger last year with the unfounded early set time for Frightened Rabbit in the ABC. This year the festival seems to have learnt its lesson and left the big crowd pullers until later in the day.

First on at the ABC are Brooklyn’s much hyped, but still relatively unknown, The Antlers, who deliver dream filled indie rock to a slowly growing crowd. The Antlers may have released a brilliant album in ‘Hospice’ but tonight they seem slightly out of their depth in the huge ABC1.

Frontman Peter Silberman’s vocals are drowned out in early part of the set, but as the band build in confidence and the more accessible songs enter the fray the problems fade into obscurity. Latest single ‘Two’ provides the tonight’s standout but we look forward to seeing them play in more suitable surroundings in the near future.

A quick skip across the way and you’re in the Nice n’ Sleazy’s basement in plenty of time for a powerful set from noise punk trio Male Bonding. The London based trio keep the fast, noisy hooks commonly associated with punk rock but drop the unneeded sleaze.

Tonight they deliver a short yet exhilarating set which leaves the audience eagerly awaiting their next visit north of the border. Male Bonding went under our radar when they supported Vivian Girls last May but with debut album ‘Nothing Hurts’ just out they’ll be turning more than our heads in 2010.

Staying on at Sleazy’s sees you catch Glasgow based, female fronted hardcore punk act Divorce, who pull out all the stops in keeping the crowd from dashing off to see the likes of We Were Promised Jetpacks and A Place to Bury Strangers. Even a broken string doesn’t get in the way too much as they entertain with bursts from Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ as the problem gets sorted.

A mad dash up the hill to the Art School catches the end of Titus Andronicus, the bearded punks are on usual top form. The band leader, Patrick Stickles, keeps up the energy ploughing through tracks from both their brilliant releases.

We’ve covered these guys a lot in the past and this certainly won’t be the last, recently released album ‘Monitor’ is more than deserving of the band returning for another headline visit to Glasgow.

Staying on at the Art School keeps your toes bouncing as we await our most eagerly anticipated set of the night and Sleigh Bells do not let down. The Brooklyn duo bombards us with waves of electronic attitude while Alexis Krauss’ infectious squeal drags the crowd into a mass of dancing.

Sleigh Bells have a lot of things on their side, despite not being everyone’s cup of tea, their music passes many genre barriers and some of their tracks would not look out of place in the charts. Album stand out ‘Crown on the Ground’ is possibly the best example of the duos cross over charms and is greeted with a joyous sing-along tonight.

Each track of a ridiculously energetic set is met with more and more enthusiasm by a crowd who may have just met their new favourite act of the moment. We certainly look forward to seeing them back in Glasgow, if you’ve not checked these guys out yet go get your hands on their debut album ‘Treats’, it’s bound to be up there in those end of year lists.

With something to offer for everyone S&D seems to have been a resounding success; each venue is buzzing with people whether it’s to see the pop charms of Wild Beasts or the booming dubstep of Joker. Treks to the Captain’s Rest or Stereo may be areas where question marks could be raised but I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of S&D.

Photograph: Alan Dunlop

Wolf Parade @ Oran Mor 19/5/10

The last time I saw Spencer Krug he was fronting his now established art rock side-project Sunset Rubdown at a half-full Stereo. This time the multi talented frontman brings what is widely regarded as his main project, Wolf Parade, for their first trip to Glasgow in a long time. The atmosphere has upped a notch from that show, the larger Oran Mor is almost full and as the band take to the stage bathed in red light excitement is brewing.

Opening with ‘You Are A Runner and I Am My Father’s Son’ under the flicker of pink neon Krug and co look just at home. The song taken from 2005 standout ‘Apologies to the Queen Mary’ forms a strong opener and indeed it is songs from this record that cause the biggest responses from the crowd.

‘Dear Sons and Daughters of Hungry Ghosts’ is easily one of the stand out songs of the set, lifting the crowd from its synth drenched daze to one of genuine clap along elation. The soaring ‘I’ll Believe in Anything’ quickly follows as the band builds up momentum.

Wolf Parade clearly know which songs will receive the best response but are also keen to air some of their new material. Upcoming album ‘Expo 86’ is due out at the end of June but early signs show promise, delicious electronic, almost space age promise. Still, Krug thanks the crowd for listening, calling us “sweethearts” before defending his drink: “This actually looks like piss but it’s just Scotch and water.”

It is important to note Wolf Parade is not just about Krug, in fact he shares vocals with guitarist Dan Boeckner also of Handsome Furs. It is Boeckner who brings the set to a brilliant end calling from ‘Apologies’ again for ‘Shine a Light’ before ending on the whimsical ‘Kissing a Beehive’.

Tonight’s set may have gone on a bit longer than many would have liked but how else are a band to showcase new material while cramming in the favourites. This Canadian four-piece certainly know what there are doing, so expect to hear a lot more about them when the new album hits shelves.

Photograph: Ingrid Mur

All Tomorrow’s Parties curated by Matt Groening @ Butlins, Minehead 7-9/5/10

All Tomorrow’s Parties may be one of the most unique and wondrous festivals you will ever have the privilege to attend. With it now passing a decade in existence the success of the event goes without saying.

This weekend sees the festival curated by The Simpsons creator, Matt Groening, who has put together a wide variety of different acts and other entertainment to keep us occupied all weekend.

The most bizarre thing about ATP is its location within a Butlins holiday camp, but these surroundings more than suit a festival. Chalets provide the comfort and cleanliness a tent never could and while all the regular Butlins entertainment is not valid, bowling, swimming and cinema are all welcome additions to a festival environment.

A short jaunt from the festival gates and you’re at the seaside. This would act as more of a delight on that sunny day we sadly never got this weekend. Still, delicious ice cream, seaside fish ‘n’ chips and arcades are all pleasant additions to the weekend.

On top of that there is the sheer delightful novelty of being able to travel part of the way to the festival via steam train.

After settling into your chalet and having a cooked meal, you’re just in time to dash up to the main arena and a quick jump up the stairs, to the ultra dark Centre Stage, to catch the end of the wonderfully atmospheric bliss of Broadcast.

Cold Cave quickly follow and treat us to a more upbeat electronic affair, blasting us with deliciously dark electronic gems.

It’s Friday evening and not even dark in the main Pavilion before many people’s act of weekend take the stage and Iggy & the Stooges don’t let down. That raw power of the original releases may have quelled, but the energy Iggy expels onstage is phenomenal, as the 63 year old singer springs around the stage longer and more exuberantly than people half his age would manage.

Old favourites ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ and ‘1969’ are present as ATP enjoys it’s most rowdy moment of the weekend.

A late night set from the excellent noise rock aficionados Liars rounds off the evening superbly as they showcase their superb new album ‘Sisterworld’ to a far travelled and now sleep fighting audience.

Everyone is wide awake and buzzing to go by Saturday and sight of Matt Groening signing posters at the merch stand has caught many a person’s attention. However, it is the Pavilion which forms the first port of call for today’s musical adventures.

Atalanta’s indie rock wonders Deerhunter are keen to impress early in the day. The band’s frontman probably the festival’s biggest fan boy, Bradford Cox, sings the praises of the mouth-watering line-up ahead between sweetly executed tracks, including single ‘Nothing Ever Happened’.

For many just the sight of Zooey Deschanel would leave them in a mystical daze, but her combination with M. Ward in She & Him shows a more adorable side to the singer/actress. The duo glides through a delightful set of country-tinged pop, including the wonderfully catchy ‘Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?’

Next up is the African blues of the mesmorising blind duo of Amadou & Mariam whose endearing personalities only emphasise the huge spectacle that is their music.

A late night trip to Centre Stage sees you catch the dream filled beauty that is a Panda Bear set. The Animal Collective’s ‘pop’ link delivers a sleepy set of beautiful soundscapes, lulling the entire audience into a hazy world of wonder.

Then it’s off to Butlins country themed club location Crazy Horse for a dance or a wander to find a chalet party, who knows, you may bump into The XX.

After a Sunday filled with Butlins and seaside delights soon comes to time to hit the stages again. Daniel Johnston provides the perfect start to the day’s musical offerings, as the lo-fi cult hero delivers his quiveringly beautiful heart-felt lyrics to an adoring audience.

There’s a bit of a wait until the next act but it’s more than worth it. It is questionable that you will find anyone as wonderful as Joanna Newsom in the world of music today let alone in this line-up, and this festival crowd clearly agree, as he queues for Centre Stage stems way past the Pavilion.

The Californian singer-songwriter does not let down, whether singing, playing the piano, plucking or even tuning her harp she does not sway from the enchanting.

After a jaunt over to the under used Reds venue to catch a rare set from The Raincoats, then drifting off to the electronic bliss of The XX at Centre Stage before CocoRosie end the festival on a kooky alternative pop high.

Then it’s off to more parties or back to the chalets for 3am for Evil Dead 2 on the Groening curated ATP TV.

Matt Groening has curated one of the most memorable and varied ATP line-ups seen, but the sheer childhood glee of the location makes for the ideal festival. Belle & Sebastian are curating the Bowlie 2 ATP in December if you’ve not yet got your chalet booked get on it right away.

65daysofstatic @ Oran Mor 3/5/10

Just a year ago 65daysofstatic would just be another post-rock act that melded into the scene like so many others, brilliant technically but no real reason why lyrics could not be added to improve the tracks as a whole. Now the Sheffield four-piece find themselves turning heads with a new more electronic, almost drum n’ bass style. New album ‘We Were Exploding Away’ has provided on record the exciting sound we had been hearing live since last summer.

Support tonight comes from London based electronic trio Nedry, who treat us to a delightful set branching across a variety of different electronic genres. The comparisons Nedry have received to acts such as Björk and Mogwai just go to demonstrate how diverse a sound these guys have and tonight certainly showed signs that they could be an attractive prospect for the future.

After the mellow wonder expelled by Nedry, 65dos provide a powerful alternative as all four members emerge full of energy and blast through a set comprised mainly from their new full length. Shrewbury, Wolinski and Wright throw themselves at the front of the stage almost the entire set whether playing with synths or slamming against guitars or bass. Even drummer Rob Jones adds to the band’s awesome presence appearing centre stage from time to time hammering down a beat.

While individual tracks prove hard to label, due to lack of lyrics, in your average 65dos set their songs still have solid structure and the new tracks carry enough strength that could see them inserted into the set of many a top DJ without anyone being left upset.

Tonight Oran Mor is buzzing with all varieties of people, over enthusiastic slam dancing and crowd surfing don’t seem fitting to some but throwing post rockers in the mixing pot with those looking for some hard electronic edge you are never going to keep everyone happy. Despite this mixed crowd the band successfully deliver managing to impress on all fronts. Even those who have been with them from the start are treated with ‘Radio Protector’ providing a delightful standout in an encore of post-rock gems prize picked from their previous three albums.

Bear in Heaven @ Captain’s Rest 23/4/10

Tonight saw Brooklyn’s Bear in Heaven take up Scottish soil for the first time in their seven years together opening to warm reception from an eager yet not entirely packed Captain’s Rest. The band’s first European tour had been struck by the volcanic ash scenario, which has restricted all travel in northern Europe, effectively leaving the guys stranded in Spain just last week. However, they have made it here tonight and after successful shows London and Manchester the band are buzzing as the UK leg of the tour runs without problem.

For myself tonight’s set took a little bit of a different context, before seeing the experiencing the brilliant experimental rock of Bear in Heaven I had been down at Stereo catching the first ever live appearance of Glasgow’s newest hardcore novelty Prolife in support of Take a Worm for a Walk Week. The four-piece, made up entirely of Nice n’ Sleazy’s staff, produce an explosively aggressive nine-minute set leaving the audience breathless. Take a Worm certainly had something to live up to but for me it was BiH who unknowingly had to live up this onslaught.

The moustachioed three-piece certainly do not disappoint as they break into the set and build and build without ever dropping pace. There are times in the set when you are drawn to thinking when is this momentum going to go off the rails but all credit the band as they cruise comfortably from track to track mostly taken from only recently UK released latest album ‘Beast Rest Forth Mouth’.

‘Ultimate Satisfaction’ builds slowly but Jon Philpot and co eventually brings the track to a superb crescendo as the crowd lap up every note. ‘Wholehearted Mess’ also proves a high point of the set as Philpot sways on spot in an assured almost camp manner powering out ‘dig out, dig out, dig out...’ while the rhythm section look cool and confident taking on the adoration from the crowd. Ending the set with crowd favourite ‘Lovesick Teenagers’ proves a fitting end to a nonstop set and while not displaying that violent hardcore pursuit which Prolife expelled BiH certainly stepped up to anything anyone was asking for them to terms of unbounded quality.

If you’re lucky enough to be hitting the Green Man Festival this summer be sure to pop along and catch them at their only UK festival appearance.

Photo: Ingrid Mur

The Twilight Sad @ ABC 2/4/10

Seeing The Twilight Sad live in quadraphonic sound is more than a mouth-watering prospect. The band’s sound can challenge most post rock on a room filling level but it is when coupled with the deep, ever-so Scottish words of James Graham that it approaches behemoth scales within the scene they frequent.

Tonight’s unique event has drawn huge excitement with the ABC jam-packed and forming a who’s who of the Glasgow music scene with Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks and even Tommy Reilly among others making up the numbers.

After a bit of pre-recorded banter demonstrating how the sound set up works tonight’s heroes emerge on stage. Opening with the slow brooding ‘Reflection of the Television’, the opener from impressive latest album ‘Forget the Night Ahead’, the band lurch into action with Graham seemingly spiralling through the emotions for undoubtedly one of the biggest crowd they have ever played to.

Working through a set of comprised pretty evenly from both full lengths The Twilight Sad certainly put an argument together for the label of one of Scotland’s best bands. The stand out tonight comes direct from their emphatic debut ‘Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters’ in the form of ‘I Am Taking the Train Home’ wooing the audience with an ever impressive wall of sound synonymous with The Twilight Sad.

Now when in comes to the quadraphonic experiment, being allowed to do this clearly means a lot to the band and here are truly mesmerising moments that strike awe. A slow has the sound experiment seeming to be almost lost but as the band edge through their set the sound become more and more noticeable and impressive. When Graham emotionally thanks the crowd, seeming quite overwhelmed with the event, sound rings beautifully around the entire room.

Ending the set on the wonderful ‘Cold Days From the Birdhouse’ The Twilight Sad are successful in showing just why they are so special to this scene and just in general. If you have not seen this band before, whether in quadraphonic or not, get yourself along the next time you can, you are missing out!

Photograph: Joshua Porter

Memory Tapes @ Stereo 12/3/10

A short but sweet set is the call of the evening tonight for New Jersey’s Memory Tapes only entertaining this small yet eager Stereo audience for just over half an hour. With only one full length to his name, in last year’s wonderful Seek Magic, it was unsurprising the latest act in uprising of the dream pop scene to hit Scottish shores would not be here for long on his first visit.

Dayve Hawk, the man behind Memory Tapes, cuts a much more laid back image on stage than other genre contemporaries as he stands calmly onstage in loose hanging trousers and plaid shirt. Despite this image the tunes have an even more uplifting feel than on the record as Hawk, along with his touring drummer, treat us to a selection of tracks from the album filled out with some charming pre recorded almost new wave beats.

Tracks like “Plain Material” and “Graphics” provide perfect examples of why this acts deserves a bigger crowd as some of these track would equally be at home at now sadly finishing Optimo as they would at half past nine on a Friday night in Stereo.

Hawk had been charming us all of last summer with various dreamy chilled out singles under this guise, as well as others Memory Cassette and Weird Tapes. Arguably the best of these singles came in tonight’s closer “Bicycle” which provides tonight’s highlight being drawn out perfectly to nearly three times its original 5:20 length. Memory Tapes may have only give us a glimpse but in that glimpse can be found the essence of this scene and why it has taken off in such a way.