Spotisfaction

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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

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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.

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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

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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!”

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

>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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.