Reading/Leeds Festival Line-up reaction UPDATE! Part 3

NME/RADIO ONE STAGE ADDITIONS
READING SUNDAY
THE MUSIC
Hey remember us, you guys? When sounding like Kasabian was still cool? What do you mean that never happened?

HADOUKEN!
I would be tempted if I didn't feel as if I'd be woefully out of place here. I really didn't like "That Boy, That Girl", was only mildly interested in "Liquid Lives", and not been turned by anything I've heard since, but they are named after a move from Street Fighter. Hmm, decisions.

LIGHTSPEED CHAMPION
Test Icicles were arses, really. With songs like "Weezer vs. Foo Fighters" and "Boa vs. Python", their only release For Screening Purposes Only, was pretty shocking, only made up for the fact that their label signed them because they though they were going be like Franz Ferdinand. Anyway, regardless, they were amazing fun live, so much so that hearing them play actual songs was a great dissapointment. Lets hope that this, Dev Hynes' solo project, is a bit better musically.
CAJUN DANCE PARTY
They were one of my "bands to drop everything and see" last year but they turned out to be a bit wank in the "playing live" department. With an album newly released and another (apparently) on the way, lets hope their show has improved a little bit.

ADAM GREEN
Former member of the Moldy Peaches, Adam is touring his new album Sixes and Sevens.

YEASAYER
One of a clutch of a new wave of "experimental" American Indie bands alongside MGMT and Grizzly Bear, continuing the good work of their predecessors. Should be fun.

THE METROS
Sub-razorlight, sub-kooks, sub-kings cross rent boys all over cack, unfortunately from my neck of the woods, Saaarff Laandan.

I will not be covering the Lock-Up stage because I don't anything about it. It's unlikely that I will venture in there, but this does not mean I think it is all rubbish, just that I'm not that bothered. Or something.

DANCE STAGE
READING SUNDAY
CSS
Looks like I have someone to see instead of Metallica and The Cribs. CSS will have released their second album "Donkey" by then, which reportedly has a much more serious and rocky sound. The song "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" is availiable from their website now.
Can't wait to Hear: Their brilliant cover of L7's "Pretend We're Dead"

DIGITALISM
The German duo return to Reading to play another blistering set. I'd heartily recommend their album "Idealism" for any Daft Punk fans, or anyone who think Simian Mobile Disco are better than Justice.
Can't Wait to Hear: "Anything New"

SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO
So, the album was a bit weak, and the above mentioned Idealism was far better, but apparently these guys do a really good show and may well be a bit of a laugh. Their remixes are certainly better than their original stuff, anyway.
Can't Wait to Hear: Any of their remixes.

CHROMEO
These guys are a bit odd, and after two albums of their electrofunk stylings, they are still going strong. Fancy Footwork is the more recent, and the better of the two.
Can't Wait To Hear: "Fancy Footwork"

CRYSTAL CASTLES
The Canadian duo of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass return to the Dance stage with the new album under their belt. Apparently they are awesome live.
Can't Wait To Hear: "Knights"

LETHAL BIZZLE
Funfact: I saw Lethal Bizzle the other day having a waterfight outside the Wedgewood Rooms ahead of his gig later that night.

HOLY FUCK
These improvising electronic Canadians are said to put on an amazing live show, and having missed them twice already, I really want to see what they can do.

THE WHIP
After a string of singles, the Manchester electro-poppers released their debut album "X Marks Destination" not long ago. It's alright, but is a bit too much White Rose Movement and not enough Rapture.

ROBOTS IN DISGUISE
This trio of Mighty Boosh extras (Dee Plume is dating Noel Fielding and the entire band have appeared in both the series and the Live tour) are apparently in a band. And have released 3 albums. Who knew?

THE SHOES
Not a clue + laziness = end of post!

Nick's Favourite 10 Albums of 2007 (10-6)

10:

UNKLE - War Stories
UNKLE (AKA James Lavelle and friends)'s, third album, with collaborations with The Cult's Ian Astbury, Clayhill's Gavin Clark, Massive Attack's 3D (who also designed the cover art) and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, As well as with bands The Duke Spirit and Autolux, is an absolute stormer. While others are still lamenting the absence of DJ Shadow two albums down from Psyence Fiction, this album is clearly a step towards a live band setting as opposed to the massive amount of sampling used in their previous work. That isn't to say, that Lavelle doesn't use his own extensive studio skills on this album, however. Bringing in the best of both Psyence Fiction and Never, Never Land in an album that's arguably the best of the three.
Release Date: 09/07/2007
Favourite Track: "Keys to the Kingdom"

9:


Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity
Despite this being their seventh album in ten years, Deerhoof were very new to me personally. Nevertheless this album has lead to a veritable deluge of their music onto my computer. But thats for another time. Although I admit first impressions were not great, and my initial thoughts when listening to opener "The Perfect Me", were some sort of terrible Horrors-esque "gawfic rock", by the end of the song, the insane juxtaposition of the hammer-horror organ and cute-bordering-on-creepy-vocals of Satomi Matsuzaki had me intrigued, to say the least.
This album, featuring artwork by David "Worried Noodles" Shrigley served as a fantastic introduction to a band whose cult status has long been assured thanks to their mixture of pop sensibility alongside pure experimental silliness. Just listen to them now.
Release Date: 23/01/2007
Favourite Track: "Kidz are so small"

8:


Chemical Brothers - We Are The Night
Their sixth, and my favourite since 1997's amazing Dig Your Own Hole, this album features the usual plethora of talent, and, erm, a Salmon. And while the aforementioned "Salmon Dance" is its one bum note, its less awful, more misplaced on an album that more heavily relies on more traditional house rather than hip-hop. The rest of the album ranges from the stomping dancefloor beat of "Do It Again" (feat. Ali Love) that appears a better remnant of the dissapointing Push the Button, to Klaxons-featuring, "All Rights Reversed", to the simple retro stylings of "Battle Scars" featuring Willy Mason.
Release Date: 02/07/2007
Favourite Track: "The Pills Wont Help You Now"

7:

Digitalism - Idealism
In my mind, this is easily the best of the big three Indie-Dance albums released this year. Not as repetitive as Justice, less boring than Simian Mobile Disco, and both dancier and rockier than the two combined. I mean, they've even got a Cure remix on their album ("Digitalism in Cairo" is a re-edit of The Cure's "Fire In Cairo"). With a better live show, and 15 track album compared to Justice's 12 and SMD's 10, they're even better value-for-money. But despite these relative differences, the fundamental still rings true - Idealism is a great album. Even some songs have their own intro songs. What's not to like?
Release Date: 21/05/2007
Favourite Track: "Anything New"

6:


Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
Once again, a band who I should have been listening for a while, and almost as soon as first track "Peacebone" begins, its clear that Animal Collective have been a massive, massive oversight on my part, having given up the chance to see them at a festival a few years ago to see no one in particular. And I was keen to give them a try. I was not dissapointed. Their disjointed folktronica featured on this apparently more accesible album (their first for "super-indie" label Domino) is exactly what I had been looking for and I personally cannot wait until they release their new EP in April.
Release Date: 10/09/2007
Favourite Track: "Fireworks"

Digitalism, Brighton Concorde 2, 14/11/2007

Firstly, a word about the venue. I’ve never been here before, heck, I’d never even been to a gig in Brighton (I know, I know, what you must be thinking of me now), but I would have to say it’s pretty awesome. Its right on the seafront. Literally walk a hundred yards in the wrong direction and not just your feet will be wet close to the seafront. And plus it seems that the only way to get to it is to walk across the seafront for a couple of hundred yards. And seems like just the right size for a band like Digitalism.

But of course, first up, at least after the obvious, but still pleasant, playing of the legendary Daft Punk album Discovery, were Australian band Midnight Juggernauts, taking to the stage under a veil of smoke and the beating of the drums. Unfortunately plagued by the seemingly almost inevitable support band pandemic, of having their mics (or even perhaps, their voices) turned down so that everything they say becomes as incoherent, or even less so, than they guy next to you trying to tell you the name of the band.

Incidentally, however, their live stuff worked fairly well, reminescent perhaps of a more upbeat Maps, even with the overall aura of melancholy. Except that for these guys it wasn't just the songs just that they don't need to smile or express emotion because they are that fucking cool. Ironically, their most memorable songs were those were the keyboardist and bassist swapped round. I would love to give you their song names, but the combination of the mic problems and that just the plain coolness of these guys means that I didn’t hear any names even if they did have some.

So after another bout of One More Time to Too Long, and the setting up of the fairly cool equipment (pictured at another gig above*) Digitalism start the show. At first, songs are easily recognisable as separate entities, with them kicking straight into my personal favourite "Anything New" right up until their biggest hit, "Pogo", placed beautifully mid-set, and everything else afterwards blurs into one, even Digitalism in Cairo is almost lost in the noise but for an egyptian hierpglyphics light show. But why should that matter?

Fair enough that their album (Idealism, which is very good) could be criticised for being quite derivative of their obvious inspiration in Daft Punk, live they completely come into their own. From drum machines to samplers, the equipment that litters what appears to be two tables nicked from an old school cafeteria, is all used to massive effect on every song. Everything comes together and theres barely a pause for breath. Singing into a retro fifty's microphone, over rising drums and all sorts of beeps and noises. Simply whacking electronic drums and samplers, they simply look like they're having amazing fun, and that feeling is soon shared by the crowd.

It's one thing to make an album that is pretty much instantly listenable to turning into what can only be described as a four course feast of noise ten times greater than what was recorded.

*Photos very uncunningly stolen from here.