Festival Preview - Latitude

For those of you still bitter about Glastonbury’s obligatory year off, Suffolk’s Latitude festival might just be your best bet.

Now in its sixth year, Latitude has rightly made a name for itself in the festival calendar. This year the line-up includes headliners Bon Iver, Paul Weller and Elbow, among other favourites like M83, The Horrors, The War on Drugs, Battles, SBTRKT and Wild Beasts.

Music not your thing? Well, probably don’t go. But if music is your thing and you’re in the mood for something different, Latitude’ll probably have it covered. Their comedy tent this year will house Tim Minchin, Jack Dee and Reginald D. Hunter, and apart from that there’s the poetry, cabaret, dance and film tents, as well as art exhibitions and late-night DJ sets in the woods.

Since it’s pretty family-friendly, you might need to be prepared to act sober on cue, but don’t let it put you off. Complete with neon sheep and extensive arts events across the site, there’s more than a weekend’s worth to get involved with.

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Laura Marling & Timber Timbre - Manchester Apollo (9th March)

★★★★

“You guys ready to rock n’ roll tonight?” Timber Timbre’s Taylor Kirk asks the steady collective murmuring of a restless support crowd. “…yeah I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Kirk’s extraordinary brand of spooky swamp folk, sounding like a cross between age-old delta blues and the ghost of M. Ward, unfortunately failed to really capture the imaginations of the seated Apollo crowd. As a big fan, I spent most of the set sulking to myself about this, but the 3500-capacity hall was admittedly a strange environment for a sound that relies so heavily on its own macabre atmosphere and intimate boneyard charm.

Regardless, he kept up the enthusiasm and crooned his heart out, from the wonderful ‘Demon Host’ to a stomping stripped-down version of ‘Bad Ritual’.

Unsurprisingly, the mood was transformed at the entrance of headliner Laura Marling, who peppered new tracks and fan favourites in with songs from her latest album, A Creature I Don’t Know. Demonstrating a guitar-playing fluency well beyond her years, her on-stage presence is made all the more remarkable by her endearingly reserved and minimal on-stage banter. She seems comfortable, but predominantly humble about her clear success, and from asking each member of the band to provide a “fact for the day” to telling the unlikely story behind the name of her debut album, the atmosphere stayed relaxed and inclusive.

She demonstrates an impressive skill, as a musician as well as a songwriter, and the songs are personal, honest and at times, genuinely affecting. 

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Breton - Other People's Problems

Though south Londoners Breton take a lot of their sonic cues from the late 90s electronica of Mezzanine-era Massive Attack, it’s fans of the Rapture, Foals and the Maccabees that will be the most pleasantly surprised. It’s dark, pulsing electronica for established fans of indie rock, but there’s more to Breton than being the next NME poster boys.

In fact, there’s a lot more. They’ve already built up quite a name for themselves with their talent as filmmakers (based in disused-bank-turned-studio BretonLABS), which now translates itself perfectly to meandering, enigmatic music videos and a reportedly stunning live show. After starting to make and perform music to accompany short films, the band’s reputation grew from their notoriety on the south London squat party scene.

Named after the father of surrealism, Andre Breton, and with frontman Roman Rappak’s compulsive recording and mixing of anything and everything that grabs his attention, the band have set their compositional targets pretty high. That’s not to mention the recording of the album in Sigur Ros’ own studio in Rekyavik, and subsequent full orchestration by German composer Haushka.

So far, it’s all pretty impressive, and gratifyingly, Other People’s Problems pays up. It’s deceptively complex, and the ubiquitous thick, cinematic strings add a rare tension and depth to what could all too easily be dismissed as plain old indie electronica. In fact, the albums weakest points are those in which this influence is over-indulged. There’s always a danger to a band like this taking themselves too seriously, but Breton get away with it through sheer talent and artistic sensibility. Overall, it’s expansive and rewarding, and whatever your initial reaction, will be well worth your while.

Out March 26th on FatCat Records

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The Twilight Sad - Ruby Lounge (10th February)

★★★★★

Having just kicked off the tour with a frenzied show in their native Glasgow, frontman James Graham reminisces: “…we came back to Scotland, and we played in a place called Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, and it was my Mum and Dad, and four of our friends that were at the gig, yet we were in New York the week before, playing to about a hundred-and-something people in a packed out venue”. The journey thus far has not been meteoric, but with steadfast honesty and a clear dedication, The Twilight Sad have gradually built up a die-hard and adoring fanbase.

Despite ditching the accordion because “it broke”, the new album does little to build on their trademark melancholy shoegaze, but this has never been a problem for Twilight Sad fans. In fact their consistency is their most impressive achievement, showcased in an ear-splitting and intensely heartfelt set. “One thing I’ve liked about what people have said about the new album is that it’s pretty much unmistakably a Twilight Sad album… I’m glad that it came across that way” says Graham. “People go through ups and downs, and you need to go through them to appreciate the ups, and I think dark music can be uplifting as well”.

Crowd-pleasers ‘And She Would Darken the Memory’ and ‘Cold Days from the Birdhouse’ from their stunning debut Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters blended sweet vocals and solid drums with a fiercely distorted and amorphous guitar that surprisingly loses nothing in their reduced instrumentation onstage. The set is fraught and monumental, though judging by the crowd’s reaction it seems like they’re preaching to the choir.

On the band’s growing popularity, Graham says “I thought that was quite a cool thing, that people wanted to know who the fuck we were. Worse thing is they still don’t know who the fuck we are.”


http://www.student-direct.co.uk/2012/02/21/live-the-twilight-sad-ruby-lounge/

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James Blake - James Blake (Mancunion #7 Album of the Year)

Of all the things to have come out of the explosion of dubstep over the past few years, James Blake’s eponymous debut has to be the most unlikely. At the start of 2011, Blake was a 21-year-old popular music student from Enfield, releasing EPs of glitchy futuristic dubstep to a community of loyal fans. Despite alienating some dubstep purists, James Blake is an album of unexpected beauty and textural brilliance. His voice is fragile and soulful, carefully manipulated and seamlessly integrated into each track. From the earth-shattering drop of ‘I Never Learnt To Share’ to the delicate piano arrangement of ‘Give Me My Month’, it’s powerful, important, and sounds like nothing else in the world.

Listen: To Care (Like You), I Never Learnt To Share

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Marcus Foster @ Deaf Institute (25th November) - Mancunion

★★★★

“I guess I became a hunter quite young, I just for some reason became obsessed with it,” explains Marcus Foster of his love for discovering music. A lifelong fan of Tom Waits and John Martyn, Foster’s music belongs to a different time, and his on-stage presence borrows from an age of vocal theatricality and brutally honest performance.

When I caught up with Foster before the show, he described how his sound came about. “A few years ago I thought I wanted to make a kind of folky record, then Mumford came out and this whole folk thing started happening and I guess I naturally kind of found the electric guitar again.”

“I guess the kind of music I like listening to is primarily about the voice. The voice kind of carries everything, whether or not you play different characters... like the sense of someone just feeling it, the ability to tell a story.”

“I like honesty, people that just go for it. Music that just smacks you in the face, I like that.”

And go for it he does. Undeterred by an unfortunately sparse Deaf Institute crowd, and accompanied only by his own guitar, Marcus Foster holds no punches. His confidence is admirable, and certainly refreshing, but his insistence in pushing every song to its emotional limit makes for a slightly confusing experience.

Of his wide-ranging influences, Foster says “It’s dangerous to be so wide sometimes, it can be like you’re just trying to bring too many ingredients to a recipe, I mean ‘we’re just going to make beans on toast, put the pineapple away...’”, but he’s got nothing to worry about. His weather-beaten voice convincingly lends itself to the old Folk, Rock and Blues he channels, and for those of you still rifling through Oxfam for Alan Lomax compilations; Marcus Foster is well worth a visit.

http://www.student-direct.co.uk/2011/12/05/feature-marcus-foster-deaf-institute/

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Sonic Boom Six @ Moho Live (15th October)

★★

Teenage ska-punk gets a bad rap. Unfortunately, through all their pseudo-political rallying, and 'give yourselves a massive cheer' hyping, Sonic Boom Six didn't do much to dispel its reputation. The night was kicked off with an unexpectedly anarchic and brilliant support set from local hardcore ska-punk hooligans Stand Out Riot, who made good Moho Live's reputation for intense and intimate local gigs. The contagious enthusiasm and brutal confidence of lead singer and trombonist Francis Hunt translated to sheer hedonism in the crowd. In terms of a live experience, especially for a support band, it doesn't get much better.

After such an intense warm-up act, it felt strange to be apparently the only one let down by SB6, who played an enthusiastic but unconvincing hour of angsty, forced and pretty unremarkable tunes in uniform 'I Heart MCR' t-shirts and trucker caps. As a quick look at the crowd makes clear, it is music made for teenagers, designed to be frustrated over at home, then cathartically screamed and fist-bumped to live.

Between distinctly average songs, their on-stage presence consisted of repeated and shameless self-promotion, lazy crowd-pleasing soundbites (there's only so many times you can chant "sound of da police" without wanting to set fire to someone), and the odd manageably political outcry to get everyone all good and angry.

Despite all this, there is something to be said for the show. The introduction of each song sparked huge cheers of recognition, and letting the crowd choose from their back-catalogue was pretty well received. They're not changing the world, but anything that gets a crowd as enthusiastic and damn-near reverent as this Moho Live crowd seemed to be must be doing something right.

In their final song 'Back 2 Skool', lead singer Laila K preaches "...soon I know you never leave the playground", which was pretty unfortunately appropriate to a disappointing set.

http://www.student-direct.co.uk/2011/11/15/live-sonic-boom-six-moho-live/

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Clock Opera @ Sound Control (10th October)

★★★★
Playing an inexplicable second fiddle to Chapel Club’s flat-out uninteresting headline set, those who managed to arrive early enough were rewarded with a fierce and genuinely exciting half hour from experimental synth-rock titans Clock Opera.

Apart from a quick introduction, the band didn’t seem to be too interested in crowd interaction, but the all-too-short set contained enough diversity and raw power to draw their admittedly sparse audience in.
Frontman and songwriter Guy Connelly’s delicate voice bears a definite resemblance to Elbow’s Guy Garvey, but the thunder behind him points at something a hell of a lot more elemental. At times the painstaking sound manipulation on the pre-made samples brought to mind the wavy psychedelia of Feels-era Animal Collective, which only serves as a testament to their songcraft. Their over-reliance on these samples may have put some purists off, but the pot-bashing, crazy-dancing stage presence was more than enough to keep the audience hooked.

Samples aside, Clock Opera can also boast a pretty impressive musical proficiency. The drums were sprawling but thoroughly grounded, and Connelly’s voice was haunting and powerful in equal measure, expertly backed by precise and deep harmonies.

Closer and most recent single ‘Lesson No.7’ started off a with a spooky, chiming manipulated guitar loop and gradually built to a furious bass-heavy hurricane that drew the set to a pretty colossal conclusion.



http://www.student-direct.co.uk/2011/11/11/live-clock-opera-sound-control/

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Bert Jansch, 1943-2011

Up there with the most respected guitarists of his generation, Bert Jansch will be sorely missed. Influencing everyone from Jimmy Page to Johnny Marr to Devendra Banhart, his virtuosic style and intricate songwriting helped him lead the 60s folk revival, both as a solo artist and as part of folk-rock troubadours Pentagle. After fighting a two-year battle with cancer, Jansch died earlier this week at a hospice in north London, aged 67. In an interview with the Guardian last year, he said, "I'm not one for showing off. But I guess my guitar-playing sticks out", and as his legacy will testify, that’s more than an understatement.

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Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

When Girls' debut Album was released in 2009, it was embraced for all its lo-fi tortured optimism and let's-get-fucked-up-and-love-each-other balladry. The story that led to its conception was pretty damn unbelievable (abandoned son of god-fearing cult members moves to San Francisco, is taken in by local millionaire, starts band with neighbourhood punks), and bandleader Christopher Owens' voice had apparently been tailor-made to break hearts, falling somewhere between Elvis Costello and Ryan Adams' end-of-the-road romanticism.

On Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Owens continues to channel the 60's sunshine pop of Roy Orbison and the Beach Boys, but in an altogether more ambitious, rounded and ultimately satisfying piece of work. Just like on the first album, there's a fresh batch of bouncy anthems about love that immediately sound like songs you've loved all your life, but they're tossed in with the Deep-Purple inspired, riff-heavy 'Die', the heartbreaking 'Vomit', and the world-weary despair of 'Myma' (a contraction of the last lines of the refrain 'so far away from home, and you my Ma'). It's an emotionality that borders on cliché, but lines that could appear over-sentimental and tacky elsewhere are so earnestly and desperately delivered that you can’t help but lend it the same sympathy and understanding that you would a close friend.

As is clear from the offset, the album borrows heavily from the past, but it's hard to imagine Owens' songs delivered in any other way. These are pop songs as they used to be, with all the raw emotion and attention to musical detail intact. Of course, it's got its weaker moments, but all in all Father, Son is anthemic, joyous, genuinely affecting and impossibly endearing in equal measure.



http://www.student-direct.co.uk/2011/10/28/album-girls-father-son-holy-ghost/

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