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I’ve missed far too much music in the past year to make a proper best of list, so instead, here’s a list of 22 songs that I’ve loved from 2009. Listed in alphabetical order, not preference. Even though all of them are bloody good.
4 or 5 Magicians – Preaching to the Converted
So 2009 didn’t turn out to be the year that 4 or 5 Magicians finally “made it”. They did manage to put out their first proper album though, and despite a few missteps, it’s an excellent start. Dan Ormsby’s great talent as a songwriter shine through throughout, perfectly chronicling both a struggling band and the state of the country side by side.
Obama is your new Che Guevara / Scouting for Girls are your new Nirvana / You’ve written ‘Free Tibet’ on the back of your hand / But you figure Tibet is a part of Iran
Youtube
Allo Darlin’ – Henry Rollins Don’t Dance
Pretty much the song of the year for me, although The Polaroid Song put in another strong effort for Allo Darlin’ Seemingly going from strength to strength at the moment, I’m half expecting them to be everywhere this year.
But in my head you’re Patrick Swayze / You drag me from the corner and call me ‘baby’ / But baby you don’t even wanna see Dirty Dancing
Youtube
The Answering Machine – Another City, Another Sorry
The album as a whole never quite lived up to the promise, but The Answering Machine did manage to deliver some superb individual songs. Kind of what the Arctic Monkeys might be sounding like now if they hadn’t turned to shit.
I’m sort of lacking certainty / Situations tease the drunk out of me
mp3
Art Brut – Demons Out!
Three albums in and Art Brut seem to be stuck in a holding pattern. No real advancement in terms of songs or abilities. A set of decent songs that are a hell of a lot better when performed live due to the natural charisma of Eddie Argos. I suspect Art Brut are about as a popular as they are ever going to be at this point. Which is why we can expect plenty more songs like Demons Out! in the future.
How am I supposed to sleep at night when no one likes the music we write / Record buying public, we hate them / This is Art Brut vs. Satan
Youtube
Camera Obscura – French Navy
2009 seemed to be the year that Camera Obscura finally came into their own, to the extent that after 13 years, the band were finally able to give up their day jobs. Each album has seen the band grow considerably, with more complex and elaborate arrangements making their way in. It might have taken a while, but they certainly aren’t the “female Belle & Sebastian” any longer.
Spent a week in a dusty library / Waiting for some words to jump at me
Youtube
Cats on Fire – Horoscope
The album was a little patchy, but Horoscope is an excellent little song. Mattias Björkas’s voice is the standout attraction here. He may sound like a Euro-Morrissey, but it’s incredibly easy to drift away in his voice.
I don’t believe in happy ever after / A pyramid scheme, I keep telling you
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Dananananaykroyd – Pink Sabbath
A band that creates such a ruckus that they require a whole new genre has to be created for them (fight pop). Dananananaykroyd’s album was an assault on the ears from start to finish, but in a good way. If such a thing is possible.
Buy it, run it, kick it, fuck it, yeah
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Emmy the Great – First Love
It took her the best part of five years, but Emmy the Great’s debut album just about lived up the high expectations. Boldly leaving off a number of “old favourites” in favour of a more structured collection, the album is a grower, but worth investing the time in.
You said I have a room / At the top of the stairs / I have a room with a view
Youtube
Fight Like Apes – Something Global
Possibly the most exciting band that I came across this year, I can’t think of album that has anywhere near as much play on my car stereo. And boy does it sound superb when bombing along at speed. Wonderfully unhinged.
So give me my hook / I know it might sound lame / Do you like my new look? / Waistcoats are so today
Youtube
Go Away Birds – The Year of Letting You Down
The first of two songs on this list to feature Catherine Ireton, who quickly became one of my favourite voices. A small start for someone who deserves to be huge.
I met with a little success in my work / You wouldn’t call it taking off / But you wouldn’t call it starving
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God Help the Girl – God Help the Girl
..and here’s the second. For some reason that’s baffling to me, the Gold Help the Girl album didn’t seem to get the acclaim I expected it to. The fact it’s not showing up on many end of year lists is deeply confusing to me, but I suppose you can’t win them all. The song choice here is pretty arbitrary, as it could have just as easily been I’ll Have To Dance With Cassie, Musician Please Take Heed or a handful more.
The dawn will touch me in a way a boy could never touch / Their promise never meant so much to me
Youtube
Johnny Foreigner – Choose Yr Side and Shut Up!
An excellent song from what was an ultimately disappointing second album. Don’t get me wrong, I do like it and all, but it doesn’t even come close to Waited Up Til It Was Light. This album opener hints at the bigger things in store though. Short and to the point, it has anthem written all over it.
So we scattered pretty / Arcs across the city / Turned pockets of doubt / Into blankets of hope
Youtube
Let’s Wrestle – We Are The Men You’ll Grow To Love Soon
A slightly disjointed debut album from Let’s Wrestle still brought us a bunch of excellent little songs, if nothing incredibly exciting. Still, a band very much of their time. Few others can so perfectly articulate life in modern Britain.
We’re going down the job centre / And soon we’ll come out with a job
Youtube
Loney, Dear – Airport Surroundings
Typically late to the party with stuff like this, I never got into Loney, Dear (is there a comma or not?) much when the critically loved Loney, Noir came out. I absolutely love Airport Surroundings though. You’d think that would inspire me to check out the rest of the album, but I still haven’t got around to it. One day.
The last pain got away when I gave up myself / I bought a ticket to hell when I met up with you
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Los Campesinos! – The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future
Utterly, utterly perfect. The album is quite good too. So I’m told.
I ask her to speak French and then I need her to translate / I get the feeling she makes the meaning more significant
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Pocketbooks – Footsteps
The debut album from Pocketbooks delivered on all of the promise of the past few years. One indie pop gem after another, it makes me very excited for the future. From their adoration soaked performance at Indietracks to high profile support slot of God Help the Girl, bigger things are almost certainly in their future.
From the supermarket aisles to the dance floors of provincial towns / I’d occupy my vacant hours just waiting for something
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Projekt A-ko – Molten Hearts
It always great when you discover a great band that is still rocking as if it’s 1994, and that’s exactly what Projekt A-ko do. Distortion, lazy vocals and even the odd “woo”. More like this in 2010 please.
I’ve got no fashion sense / I haven’t got any sense / I’ll never make any sense
Lastfm
Stagecoach – Break
Another band unashamedly influenced by the 90s US indie rock scene, Stagecoach bring the sound of Seattle to Brighton. Break is three minutes of song perfection, from a band we’ll be hearing a lot more of in the near future.
It’s not like her to cross the line / But she crossed it before and she’s gonna cross it one more time / Shit breaks / I kick in her face
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Superman Revenge Squad – Super Sad Morgan
Pretty much any song from the supremely talented Ben Parker could have made it onto the list. I actually debated placing a Nosferatu D2 song on here, but it seemed to be pushing things a little. His songs are a masterclass in the writing of lyrics. Quite why a label hasn’t snapped him up is completely beyond me.
If someone mentions Woolworths again I think I’m gonna combust / We stole all of the Pic ‘n’ Mix from out her hearts
Lastfm
Tigers That Talked – Black Heart Blue Eyes
One of the most beautiful songs of the year from a band I really need to listen to more of. Black Heart Blue Eyes has such a wonderfully theatrical sound to it, topped off with some perfectly snappy wordplay.
Bigotry’s obligatory around here / There’s nothing for me to defend / Just got to go
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Voxtrot – Berlin, Without Return…
Everything that the debut album should have been but never managed. Ramesh Srivastava’s vocal is as pitch perfect as ever, once again with a song worthy of his talents.
Do you spend your whole life trying to get back home? / Where do you go?
Youtube
The Young Republic – The Wolf
Now a fully formed band, The Young Republic may not be the same band they were a few years ago, but they know exactly what they want to be. Shifting from orchestral indie pop to Americana isn’t the easiest leap, but they’ve pulled it off with style. Incredibly self assured.
It hasn’t been this bad since my grandpa was a kid / He made it through, he never told us what he did
Youtube
When I was first approached by BBC Music to put together a list of albums I think should be nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, I was initially hesitant. First of all because I don’t much care for awards, and if I’m honest, have never paid attention to the Mercury Prize. Secondly, because I hardly ever listen to complete albums these days. I want to be an elitist snob and pretend that I do, but most of my music is absorbed via an iPod on shuffle.
Throwing around the year’s music in my head though, I realised that it’s actually been a bloody good year for British music. I initially came up with a couple of albums, then a couple more, and it kept going from there. In the interests of brevity, I’ve limited the final tally to seven exceptional albums and a handful of honourable mentions at the end. I don’t expect a single one of these to actually be nominated for the prize, but hey, I’m happy to be proved wrong.
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God Help The Girl – God Help The Girl
Okay, so it’s not a radical departure for the Belle & Sebastian mould for Stuart Murdoch’s solo/side/whatever project, but that’s no bad thing. It’s not often these days that albums tend to tell a complete story, and that is what we have here. Ably held together by Catherine Ireton and an array of guests, it’s not absolutely perfect – the Funny Little Frog cover is especially misguided – but it unashamedly embraces the album format when everyone else seems to be fleeing from it.
MP3 God Help The Girl – Come Monday Night
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Dananananaykroyd – Hey Everyone!
I’m under no illusions that the prize would ever get near an album like this, but that doesn’t make it any less deserving. To find a band with this much energy on stage is rare enough in itself, but to get the same urgency on record is near impossible. Dananananaykroyd manage it, giving us one of the finest debut albums in years. It’s loud, it’s messy, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
MP3 Dananananaykroyd – Pink Sabbath
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Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
Camera Obscura give us three out of three so far for the Scots. It felt like Camera Obscura had reached their peak with their previous album Let’s Get Out Of This Country. Then My Maudlin Career pops up and blows it out of the water with it’s beautifully textured songs. It’s taken more than a decade, but this is the album Camera Obscura were destined to make.
MP3 Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
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Emmy the Great – First Love
Out of all of the albums on this list, I’d imagine First Love is the one most likely to turn up on any Mercury lists if any of them do. I can’t quite pinpoint why, but Emmy does seem to fit the slightly left of the centre singer-songwriter style that seems to have made the lists in previous years. The album is a grower for sure, but there is some stunning songwriting on display here. Emmy has only barely scratched the surface of what she is capable of.
MP3 Emmy the Great – We Almost Had A Baby
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Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
Los Campesinos! remain the most posted band on this blog, and rightly so. Coming out with a good first album and then following it up with one of the best albums of the year within six months is no mean feat. Evolving beyond the “tweexcore” fun of the first, this is an album that actually has emotional depth and philosophy added to the proceedings. All while still continuing to sound like quite nothing else that’s around at the moment.
MP3 Los Campesinos! – We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed
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Thomas Tantrum – Thomas Tantrum
Thomas Tantrum pick up right where the dearly missed Life Without Buildings left off. Rough, random songs jump all over the place, but the appeal here is in the voice of Megan Thomas. Breezily floating between gentle and slightly unhinged, she gives the songs an unpredictable air. That their debut album is so strong is all the more impressive given they were a pretty mediocre live band only a year earlier.
Video Thomas Tantrum – Work It
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Aidan Moffat & The Best Ofs – How To Get To Heaven From Scotland
Seems only fitting that we end with yet another Scottish album, resulting in them making up more than half of the list. It’s taken Aidan Moffat a little while to find the project that suits him after Arab Strap split, but The Best Ofs seems to be it. Allowing his songwriting and voice to be front and centre plays right into his strengths and results in an album more consistent than anything he and Middleton put out.
MP3 Aidan Moffat & The Best Ofs – Big Blonde
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Honourable mentions
Fanfarlo – Reservoir
It Hugs Back – Inside Your Guitar
Ballboy – I Worked On The Ships
Sky Larkin – The Golden Spike
This past weekend brought the second festival of 2009 for Another Form of Relief. It was a local festival, but one that I never intended on going to given it’s ludicrous £125 ticket cost. Seemingly others thought the same, given ticket sales struggled to such a degree that they were giving £250 of tickets away with £10 items via a clothing store. So, one Kangaroo Poo beach towel later and I had guestlist access to two days of live music. Not too shabby.
Arriving on site at around noon, the car parking was fairly well organised and it wasn’t a long walk (in festival terms) to the box office entrance. Where, of course, we weren’t on the guest list where we should have been. Joining a second queue of people all in the same boat, it took a bit of hassle with customer services, but eventually we got our wristbands and got in.
To be presented with one of the most deserted festival sites known to man.
After exploring the site for a bit and getting our bearings, we headed over to the main stage and caught a bit of Howling Bells. They are a band that I’ve been vaguely aware of but never heard much of it, and I’m happy to say that relationship is perfectly intact after their set. They were fine I suppose, but nothing grabbed me to a degree that I had to rush home and find some of their songs.
Next up were Noah and the Whale, a band I rather like, if not entirely. I love 5 Years Time and a few others, and thankfully they played all of the ones I knew. They weren’t exactly what I expected, the sound of four of them live without the voice of Laura Marling was a little bit odd. Not too bad, but 5 Years Time certainly lost some of it’s shine. The newer songs they played were fine, if not as immediate. I suspect they will be growers though.
After that it was a quick dash over to the stupidly small Third Stage, which had some of the best bands of the weekend. We arrived to find Let’s Wrestle about halfway through their set. They sounded good, replicating their recorded sound incredibly well. The only downside was that they ran out of songs 20 minutes before their set was due to end. It was salvaged my audience participation, an extra long jam session and a boisterous rendition of their signature “let’s fucking wrestle!” that certain members of the audience seemed to take to heart.
The mighty Johnny Foreigner followed them and provided the highlight of the weekend. Their set was littered with new songs, and new renditions of old favourites. The band flirted with some new arrangements too, including one song where Kelly took to the drums and Junior picked up a bass and a couple more songs that made use of a fourth member. Alexei seemed to be having a good time throughout, correcting the MC when taking the stage with “we’re actually Editors” and calling a Twang cover of Bran Van 3000’s Drinking in LA “the worst fucking thing I’ve ever heard” when they were playing the same festival.
Back to the main stage afterwards for Ash, a band where I know the singles and that’s about it. Which is fine given that is mostly what they stuck with, just littering in the odd new song while constantly assuring us they would get back to the hits. All of the usual suspects made it into the set: Burn, Baby Burn and Shining Light, with the superb Girl From Mars providing the first almighty audience sing along of the day.
Off to the Third Stage once again for The Joy Formidable, who to my surprise had completely packed out the tent. I must have missed the point between Reading last year and now where they became massive, but it certainly felt like they had made it. It was a loud, messy set that went over incredibly well and if they aren’t playing headline slots by the end of the year I’ll be amazed.
That was where day one ended for us. The festival itself went on for a few more hours, with The Fratellis and The Pigeon Detectives being the highest acts on the main stage. But given they are shit, why bother staying?
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We returned for day two and had a much longer walk from a much further car park. Which was at the very least good exercise.
Ladyhawke is someone I only know via one song that I’ve heard in someone’s car over and over again. I wasn’t expecting anything more than generic dance nonsense, so I was pleasantly surprised by her set. She seemed rather awkward on stage (apparently she has Asperger’s) and was plagued by technical difficulties throughout, but her performance was rather good. Not spectacular by any means, but an enjoyable way to spend 40 minutes.
The Super Furry Animals were up next, a band I’ve never been much of a fan of short of one or two songs. Neither of which they actually played. They were rather fun though, bringing their own “Woah!” and “Applause” audience cue cards. We actually left about halfway through their set to get to the Third Stage, so maybe they did play the songs I like after all.
 I’ve read so many things about Dananananaykroyd’s “legendary” live performances, but nothing quite prepared me for what I walked into. Arriving in the tent, the band were just having the audience perform the Wall of Cuddles. They followed this by storming through a song with such ferocity that they immediately blew out an amp. While this was being fixed, the band killed time by telling jokes (“What has eight legs and is harmless to kids?” “The Jackson Four”) and playing a television theme tune quiz. We got through Eastenders, Hollyoaks (“that show sucks balls”) and another before everything was good to go again. The band launched into their second wind even more manically than the first, security trying to drag Callum back on stage from crowdsurfing while singing repeatedly. It was an insane, but utterly fitting show for the band, and I hope to see them playing outside of a festival environment in the future.
If it’s possible to go to sleep while standing in a crowd of people enjoying themselves at a festival, I could have managed it during Doves. Nothing particularly wrong with them at all, just all very uninteresting.
Speaking of uninteresting, Editors were on next. The crowd seemed to enjoy them, so maybe it was just me, but they bored me to tears on the most part. I just spent the time watching the lead singer flail around like a lunatic for seemingly no apparent reason. Never have I so randomly and intently hated a man as much as that guy. Thankfully we left about halfway through and I didn’t have to suffer any more of his twattery.
The last band of the weekend for me were the rather pleasant Rumble Strips. I missed most of their set, but I enjoyed what I saw. The band seemed to be very much on form, even managing to get the brass instruments sounding good in a live setting, which isn’t always an easy feat. I felt kind of bad that I only caught about three of their songs after the event.
And that was it.
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Some random observations:
- The security guards were fine at times, dickish at others.
- The bar had nice, cheaply priced drinks.
- The food stalls had crappy, expensive food.
- The toilets (in the bar at least) were excellent by festival standards.
- The Grilled Chicken & Bacon Salad in the Brookers Oast next door to the site is lovely.
- The ridiculously long walk to get in and out of the site (and thus to the pub) was a bit of a git.
- For a festival that prides itself on “no VIP areas” so “everyone has the same experience”, it seems odd to have a VIP bar.
Pretty damn good for the price of a towel though.
Photos from Day One can be found here.
The second day of the Hop Farm Festival was a bit busier, presumably due to the headline appearance by Paul Weller. Still fairly well organised, although security seemed a bit more regimented. Everything ran more or less to time, and the music wasn’t too bad, if a little close to middle of the road blandness for me at times.
Highlights today:
- Ladyhawke was surprisingly enjoyable, given I didn’t expect her to be very good at all.
- Dananananaykroyd had an insane set on the Third Stage, including the “wall of cuddles”, band crowdsurfing and technical difficulties masked by a tv theme tune quiz and jokes.
- The grilled chicken and bacon salad I had in the pub next to the site.
Photos below of course. You can still click through to Flickr for the full size versions. Next up on the Another Form of Relief festival tour: Indietracks!
As part as our ongoing attempts to cover what little exists of a Kent music scene, it seemed only prudent to put together a brief guide to the major music festivals taking place in the county over the next couple of months. A few years ago such a thing would have been impossible due to a lack of said events, but now new festivals seem to be popping up each year. Obviously not all of them work (like Electric Gardens) and some will probably have their organisers lynched if they ever come back (Zoo8) but it’s good to see a varied selection appearing.
When June 4-6
Where Hope Farm, Ashford
How much £55 weekend / £35 daily
Lineup (AFOR endorsements in bold)
Supergrass, The Holloways, Emmy the Great, Ben’s Brother, Red Light Company, Alessi’s Ark, Cut La Roc, Hoxton Whores, Thomas Tantrum, The Answering Machine, Karima Francis, The Young Knives, Tubelord, Marina and the Diamonds, Alex Cornish, Oh, Atoms, Royal Treatment Plant, Bender, The Rosie Taylor Project, William, 4 or 5 Magicians, motion picture soundtrack, Video Nasties, Bobby Long, The Domino State, The Ryes, Micky Slim, Silvery, Hungry Ghosts, Los Salvadores, Minnaars, Lucy and the Caterpillar, Kids Love Lies, Barefoot Confessor, Right Turn Left, Tin Soldiers, Far From The Dance, Seven Story Down, Ten Bears, Tom Williams & The Boat, The Suggestions, Elephants, The Dirty Disco, Junkstar, Brandon Block, Mr Basista, Monday Street, Romanov, Polka Party, HANDSHAKE, Greg McDonald, The Quirk Burglars, The SheBeats, Alma Mahler, Floors & Walls, Eddy Temple-Morris, Rob Cockerton, Adam Bloom, Haunted Stereo, Small Fry, Joe Mac, The Streetlight Conspiracy, The Little Philistines, Illegitimate Sons of the King, AEF, Shadow Aspect, Vagner Love, Peter Andrews, Twisted DJs, Rhys morgan, Krissy and the Jackdaws, The Hidden Revolution, Bruised Beauties, Groove Monkey, Cocos Lovers, Everybody Be cool, Waterhorse, Lotte Mullan, Lucy Holliday, Circle of Rage, Kouncilhouse, Amoriste, Sean Mooney, Steve Day, Spooka, Jamie Abbott, Robbie Styles, Nic Bennett, Hal Cruttenden, Jamie Ley, Nathan Caton, Outa City Committee, Lester Clayton, Jeff Barker, Kev Harris, Lizzy Spit, Jarmean?, Pete Jonas, Delta Connection, danny reject, Matt Rudge, Adam Crow, Sally-Anne Hayward, Christian Reilly and 3 Parts DJ
In 2007, Sellindge was populated by bands you’ve never heard of. Last year, they managed to nab Idlewild to headline more bands you’ve never heard of. This year, there are a few solid bands at the top of the bill, a handful of decent ones underneath, and of course, a whole slew that you’ve never heard of. Still, for the money you can’t really go wrong.
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When July 5-6
Where The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood
How much £125 weekend / £65 daily
Lineup (AFOR endorsements in bold)
The Fratellis, Editors, Doves, Echo & The Bunnymen, Ash, The Pigeon Detectives, The View, Mystery Jets, Super Furry Animals, Paul Weller, Ladyhawke, 65daysofstatic, British Sea Power, The Rifles, Alex Gopher, Noah and the Whale, Bell X1, Cage the Elephant, The Twang, The Twilight Sad, Howling Bells, Florence and The Machine, Johnny Foreigner, Eight Legs, Dananananaykroyd, Jape, Fight Like Apes, Etienne De Crecy, That Petrol Emotion, Let’s Wrestle, Dr. Lektroluv, D.I.M, The Chapman Family, Burn The Negative, The Good the Bad, R.S.A.G, and 2Manydj’s
The Hop Farm Festival has jumped from being a one-day event last year to a two day festival this year. It’s gimmick is that it has no sponsorship (yay!) and no VIP areas (boo!). Of course, such things come at a price, which results in the excessive £125 cost for the weekend. Which is a shame as I actually quite like the lineup. The main stage doesn’t do much for me, but the creatively named “third stage” with the likes of Johnny Foreigner, Let’s Wrestle and Dananananaykroyd looks like the place to be.
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When July 10-12
Where Merton Farm, Canterbury
How much £85 weekend / £35 daily
Lineup (AFOR endorsements in bold)
Dub Pistols, Bent, DJ Food, The Horrors, Nostalgia 77, Cage the Elephant, Edwyn Collins, The James Taylor Quartet, Horse Feathers, DJ Format, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, The Aliens, Krafty Kuts, Jeremy Warmsley, Lights, DJ Food & DK, Zomby, Wild Beasts, The King Blues, Chris Murray, Kid Harpoon, Mr Scruff, Ipso Facto, Solid Steel, Golden Silvers, Portico Quartet, Jonquil, Son Of Dave, Chris Difford, It Hugs Back, The Temper Trap, Jay Jay Pistolet, Flamboyant Bella, The Invisible, Sargasso Trio, Trost, 6 Day Riot, DK, Mumford & Sons, James Taylor Quartet, Baddies, Chris T-T, Toddla T, Greg Wilson, Pete Molinari, Casiokids, The XX, Drums Of Death, Cha Cha, The Pan I Am, The Congregation, Peggy sue, Congregation, Greco Roman, Rae, S.C.U.M, Joe Gideon & The Shark, Josh Weller, Skeleton, cherbourg, Wave Pictures, Tom Allalone, Elephants, Black Market Karma, Psychotic Reaction, Onlookers, Ghost of a thousand, Tom Williams and The Boat, Monday Street, The Simonsound, Syd Arthur, Hobo Jones & the Junkyard Dogs, Wheeler Street, The Goodtimes, Moon Music Orchestra, Zombie Met Girl, The 18 Carat Love Affair, Amber Room, J*Star, Zoo for you, The Lovedays, Cocos Lovers, The Startover, The Wild Wolves, Trevor Moss, Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou, Samondi, Mr Lovebucket, Mc Serocee, MC Honeybrown, djbunjy, Ukulele Gangstas, The Chihuahuas, The Mind Without Maths, The Steve Hillage Band, calico street riots, Greco Roman Soundsystem w/ Ross Allen, Raf Daddy & Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, VJ LSDave, Comfy Porn DJs, Hannah Lou and Boxing Octopus
Lounge on the Farm is the almost the little festival that could. Growing from strength to strength over since the first in 2006, the event now boasts over 100 acts including a decent mix between minor recognisable bands and a ton of local talent. Operated by the same team that run the delightful Farmhouse in Canterbury, they really do seem to be doing everything they can to foster a local scene.
I’m usually reluctant to write about the same band twice in a very short period, but when a second Dananananaykroyd track fell into my inbox, how could I resist? I’ll save you the blurb from my Great British Hopes piece a couple of weeks back, and just encourage you to listen to Chrome Rainbow below. Somehow it manages to be louder, more shouty and faster than the song I posted last time. Something that is no mean feat given just how abrasive that last song was. God knows what their live shows must be like, but I’d hazard a guess that they are a hell of a lot of fun.
Hey Everyone! will be released on April 6 via Best Before.
Talk about your unwieldy band names. Getting the right amount of anananana is bad enough, but then there’s the double header of Aykroyd not being the simplest name to spell either. The funny thing is that the music fits the name. If you’d asked me beforehand what I’d think a band called Dananananaykroyd would sound like, I’d go with loud and fast. And that’s exactly what we have.
The thing that takes one aback about Glasgow’s Dananananaykroyd is just how loud and fast it is. The vocals jump straight in, not sung, but fucking shouted. A dual assault of two drummers quickly follows. None of this is an opening gambit, nor is it limited to the song. This is the sound of desperate for you to hear them. This is the sound of a band that makes even labelmates Johnny Foreigner sound relaxed.
The risk with music like this is whether or not it can work in a full album setting. It’s easy to run dry when you use up this much fuel in just three minutes. A bunch of singles and an EP show they are on the right track. We’ll find out in a month if their ability matches their ambition, but they certainly seem willing to try.
Hey Everyone! will be released on April 8 by Best Before. The band is also participating in new WTFblog Awesome Pals, alongside Los Campesinos!, Sky Larkin, Johnny Foreigner, Favours for Sailors and a bunch of others. In other words, the entire good end of the British music scene.
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