Crónicas de Summer Sundae Weekender en De Montfort Hall

Hello,

This is a test journal for testing some new stuff (If you're sick of seeing them, just imagine how I feel). But I genuinely do like these artists, and think they should be listened to more. So there.

Frightened Rabbit - I saw them at Summer Sundae and was right at the front thanks to a girl who didn't have earplugs. I love my earplugs. She was right up against the barriers, but as soon as they hit the first note she clutched her ears and ran away. Anyway, check out The Midnight Organ Fight, it's great.

Chris Thile is now producing stuff as part of Punch Brothers, and plays some quite lovely bluegrass stuff. The Guardian described their latest as folk-classical or art-bluegrass, and you should definitely listen to It'll Happen. But before that he was producing some neat stuff on his own - cf. How To Grow A Woman From The Ground.

My love affair with The Dodos continues apace. Listen to Walking followed by

Red and Purple, taken from [album artist=The Dodos[/album]Visiter[/album]. I have seen them live 3 times now; the support acts at the most recent event were both really good too. Euros Childs reminded me of a Welsh Beach House, but better. Rokhsan Heydari was also very good. Her track

Maria is available as a free download (yay!), and you can also hear

You Look at Me and

Lately in full from her upcoming [album artist=Rokhsan Heydari]You Look at Me Single[/album].

This concludes the test.

Fri 8 Aug – Summer Sundae Weekender

As no-one else at Lambastfm has bothered, I thought I'd give you my personal take on this year's do.

FRIDAY:
The Heroes were rather derivative, Love Ends Disaster! promising, but things really got going with a lively set from Fight Like Apes on the main stage, quickly followed by The Mae Shi in the Rising tent. The latter are brilliant live, climbing all over every available piece of equipment and throwing themselves around like there's no tomorrow.
I found Emma Pollock and Kenny Anderson a bit too quiet when they played the Phrased and Confused tent, so I gave them a miss later on, but caught the end of Tullis Rennie and Bella Ford who are well worth hearing if you get the chance.
Nina Nastasia was at her enchanting best on the main stage, although she could have done with a bit more enthusiasm from us lot.
I was working for Complete Wasters from 8 til 10, so I heard most of the Coral and some of Supergrass while going round emptying bins. I'm not a big fan of either, but they both seemed to go down well.

SATURDAY:
After a sleepless night in Victoria Campsite, I went home for a cooked breakfast in Hinckley and tried to chill. So I missed The Chairmen (from Hinckley) but got back in time to see the wonderful Project Notion, who come from Melton Mowbray!
I was on duty from 2 til 4, but saw the end of Danny and the Champions of the World who sounded great on the main stage. I should add that it rained quite heavily on Saturday morning, so the site was churning up a bit by 4 o'clock. Dengue Fever were great, in spite of losing their luggage on the way. Camera Obscura went down well with the faithful (at least we all got to see them this year) and then I had a difficult choice. Rachel Unthank or Frightened Rabbit? I chose the Scots, who were good fun on the Rising stage, then caught the end of Rachel and co. and wished I'd arrived earlier. I hadn't realised she shared the vocals with her sultry-voiced sister, they were great live and I got to see their Hub set for 6music too.
Saw the end of crowd-pleasers Dodgy on the Main Stage, then waited to hear Roísín Murphy who did a brilliant dance set with about three hundred costume changes. Had a quick look at El Mahico who were playing to a packed Musician stage, but I don't like crowds, so got a beer and waited for Macy Gray. She has a wonderful band, all in sharp suits and pink wigs, and two backing singers of contrasting sizes who seemed to share the limelight, at least for the first half of the set. Macy herself looks considerably more mature than when she played Glasto a few years ago, and really came to the fore towards the end with a totally believable 'Creep', a rousing 'Oblivion' and euphoric 'I Try'. Best of all I was shifting wheelie bins a few minutes later and had the opportunity to ask her to mind her bottom.

SUNDAY:
Aftyer a reasonable night's sleep in a bed, arrived about 1pm and was drawn to the Rising Stage where a pretty girl was singing catchy, self-penned pop songs and stumming a guitar. It was some time later that MC Tizzee Rascal informed me this was Charlie Jones, exactly what it said on the programme! Wandered towards the beer tent, but was distracted by some lively stuff from the main stage. Who should I find there, but only The Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir, filling in for the absent Mystery Jets. And they were brilliant. Authentic rockin' blues, with slide guitar and harmonica, and the world's funniest drummer.
I finally got my beer, saw a bit of another local band on the Rising, had something to eat, then had another tricky decision: Alela Diane or Jeffrey Lewis? I watched a couple of Alela's songs, then dived indoors to hear Jeffrey's droll take on modern life. He could have done stand-up, no problem.
After that the Indoor stage was the place to be: Danish weirdos Efterklang, a kind of cross between Arcade Fire and Explosions in the sky; Of Montreal, who put on a show as well as finishing with The Past is a Grotesque animal and Heimdalsgate like a Promethean Curse; and the eversexy Joan as Policewoman who ended my festival with her sublime Eternal Flame.

For me, the best SSW ever - great music, happy atmosphere despite the weather, and really nice people to work with at Complete Wasters. Hope you had as much fun as I did.

Crónicas

Test journal: Artists I like 6

Summer Sundae - A Very British Festival