A Brighton based music blog and radio series by a Philosophy student called Peter Lanceley. I broadcast every Saturday evening at 6.30pm on Resonance FM and document my writing here. I also release music with the Alcohol Label and make music with Kinnie The Explorer. If you'd like to contact me, for whatever reason, please do so on...
The Gaymers Camden Crawl Festival 2011 celebrated its tenth birthday this year; 2011 curated one of its strongest line-ups yet, and this coupled up with the sunshine, bank holiday weekend and abundance of great pubs and great music, made for an intensely enjoyable and worthwhile couple of days. Media highlights included the 12-man hip-hop collective Odd Future (OFWGKTA) stage invasion over at the Red Bull Outdoor Live Arena, a blissful return from the self-professed ‘new band’, Razorlight at the HMV Forum, and controversial sets from Giggs, who had his Electric Ballroom crowd jogging on the spot throughout his witty and inventive odes to sex and violence.
Personal highlights differed on a number of levels, I spent the first Saturday drinking with a set of newly acquired Northern acquaintances, before going separate ways so that I could catch Bear Driver, Spectrals and Becoming Real at various locales around Camden. Sunday was perhaps more eventful, at least musically - I caught sets from sprawling folk rock band Dry The River, Young Dreams, Marques Toliver, The Russian Futurists, Wolf Gang and Guillemots, before rounding off the night with Banjo Or Freakout at The Earl Of Camden. Catch my thoughts and their MP3s after the jump..
PRSF Presents Bear Driver @ The Monarch, Saturday 8pm.
Having recently been in contact with the PRSF myself, and hearing that their British Music Abroad Showcase at The Monarch would involve former This Music Wins interviewees and blissful twee folk band Bear Driver, I figured that their recipe was one worth following. Emerging actor and fellow musician Ed Westwick thought so too - he could be seen in the crowd, as could he be seen visibly congratulating Bear Driver on their performance. Bear Driver slotted in nicely to the erratic and quirky Dickensian pub setting, and their densely orchestrated, melded acoustic sound and excitable Arcade Fire-esque melodies kept a packed out pub more than adequately entertained.
Rough Trade Presents Spectrals @ The Earl Of Camden 9.25pm
Spectrals’ ‘Leave Me Be’ was actually the first 7” single I ever bought, following their support slot with Girls at Southampton’s Talking Heads last year. Their refreshingly simple and exhaustively slow-paced pre-hit parade jams make for some great singular records, even if live the sound didn’t translate quite so clearly on to the Earl’s speaker systems. The result was a little messy to say the least. They’re currently on tour with friend Best Coast, media-professed effigy of the lo-fi scene, to mixed reviews.
Summer Sundae Presents Dry The River @ The Roundhouse Terrace, Sunday 2pm
Sunday was much more efficient, and got off to a great start over at Summer Sundae Presents stage at The Roundhouse Terrace, with Dry The River. The East London five piece are currently residing in America, recording their debut album, making a trip via Heathrow especially for their multitude of Camden Crawl sessions. Certainly their US location is fitting - their music draws shamelessly from open-plained Americana and native folk, toying with the pastoral yet fearless of the electric, regularly driving forth their songs with a searingly over-driven bout of distorted tones. The lead singer oozes charisma when in role, and has a stunning live sound. His near-shriek is hauntingly executed and adds this wonderfully emotive colour to the music which I can’t quite put into words. ‘Family Tree’ was perhaps the highlight of Sunday afternoon’s set, the band really put their all into this one above others. Also, check out the band’s recent Yellow Bird Project Session, below there, and buy one of their charity tees.
Summer Sundae Presents Young Dreams @ The Roundhouse Terrace, Sunday 4pm
Later on Sunday afternoon came Norwegian band Young Dreams at The Roundhouse Terrace Stage, whose self-titled track ‘Young Dreams’ made its way on to one of our radio shows a couple of weeks back. Their well-mannered and JJ-like tropical balaeric pop never quite settles long enough to catch on to, its hyperactivity and youthful charm combining with an overwhelmingly Scandinavian vocal sound to create the kind of wet and slippery synth pop ambiguous enough to sleep or to dance to. Music is all subjective, and with Young Dreams this is demonstrated right down to a minute by minute level - there’s almost so much going on with their music that it washes over you, its overcrowded and disorientating bundle of notes, plethora of vocals and cutting guitar playing evoking such dreamy and indolent states of mind that there is little to do but listen, and enjoy.
Levis Presents Marques Toliver @ Proud Camden, Sunday 5pm
Marques Toliver might have just stolen the show - his recent Jools Holland performance and series of shows at SXSW Festival have won him a huge following, enough that Proud Camden was full to the brim by the time his performance had got underway. Toliver is refreshingly honest and expressive when on stage, remaining always calm and collected; his clear musical ability is absorbing, and the sparse and stripped down nature of his live show drew in even the back-chatters of Proud Camden’s corners. His style lies somewhere between classical, soul and R&B - parallels might be drawn to Bon Iver or James Blake, but as with the distance between those two - Toliver takes that skeleton of a lost, rural soul and manufactures something advanced and unique. Compared to his recorded material, the live show sounds markedly empty - when quizzed in a quick interview before the show, he detailed this decision: “I find it easier to play music with only myself”. Certainly it seems that in this case particularly, less is more. A video I took but cannot find a way to embed might have sufficed, but a recent much-talked about Jools Holland’s TV appearance perhaps will portray my descriptions in a more pleasant and professional manner.
British indie rock band Wolf Gang’s set was a lot louder and heavier than I expected, and introduced by XFM at the HMV Forum, he delivered his cutting vocals through the bassy mesh of indie rock in truly anthemic fashion. The crowd became heavily involved, peaking on the Wolf Gang classic ‘Lions In Cages’ which closed the night, and dropping slightly for the two new songs which made Sunday night’s set (neither of which I caught the name of). The album is due June 27th, and Wolf Gang has a packed touring schedule ahead of him - he rightly looks to Summer with heavy rotation in his mind, and with such high profile backers as XFM radio (which he fits, right in on) and the Camden Crawl and Great Escape Festival bills, he looks set to achieve success with flying colours.
Flowerpot Presents Banjo Or Freakout @ Earl Of Camden, Sunday 9.25
London’s finest shoegaze band, Alessio Natalizia’s Banjo Or Freakout, were another highlight, finishing off the night’s showings at The Earl Of Camden on Sunday night. The sound was spot on this time, and they proceeded to deliver their fuzzy and enticingly inaudible noise-folk from under the washy guise and streaming mist of reverb and delay. This music is effect-laden and driven, ghoulish in character and deceptively dark. The show flowed beautifully, with few stops, including a daunting and prolonged ending which culminated in an extended section, forceful and overwhelming with its relentless and overbearing builds. It was the dynamics which struck me the most - Banjo Or Freakout sound like a grungy version of The Antlers crossed with My Bloody Valentine, building from such gentle acoustic strums into onslaughts of sound. Their album ‘Banjo Or Freakout’ is out now.
Overall, a great weekend at the Camden Crawl 2011 - later this year you can look out for This Music Wins at Glastonbury and Latitude Festivals. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and the Hype Machine for regular updates! Feel free to comment below.
