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Brainlove Festival London part 2:
So, after a trip to the nearest shop that would provide them with chips (in this case liberally soaked in curry sauce, mmmmm) our intrepid band of audiophiles return to the castle of wonders that is the Brainlove Festival London…

Our heroes were then confronted by the tail end of Tim Ten Yen’s set. Throughout this I have been using the word pop with absolutely no justification or qualification to mean ‘sort of light hearted, jolly, not rock’ etc but Tim Ten Yen is closest of all the artists I saw to the genre description of ‘pop’ as I see it. (the genre normal people can enjoy, rather than anything that you might actually have seen on top of the pops). His lyrics were all about love and girls, and mostly upbeat and light hearted. Back this up with simple, happy, fully recorded backing tracks (his live performance was mostly him and a mic) and fantastic dancing routines, combined with a very dapper suit, and you have Tim Ten Yen, a modern day pop success. Possibly a little too lightweight to interest me in the long term, but great listening for that sunny day. Check out ‘When The Song Applies To You’

Next up was Pagan Wanderer Lu, the reason I know who Brainlove Records are and my personal favourite of all their artists. I was excited to see him for the 4th time, but this excitement was tempered with the fact that due to the laptop driven nature of his live work PWL shows can often be quite similar both to his records and his other live performances. Not so today however, as PWL took to the stage armed only with acoustic guitar and two backing artists, a violinist and a girl on melodica/ backing vocal duties. This was to be a Pagan Wanderer Lu and the Volunteers gig, his occasional backing band, who I had never seen live. The sound was so different (and I think possibly the sound man had got the levels wrong a bit at first) that I’m not sure I even enjoyed the opening song The Gentleman’s Game, because I so love the electronic laptop version… However the set rapidly improved as I settled in to this different style, which showcases even further PWL’s lyrical skills, and I was especially happy to hear many less common and older songs which would have been out of place in a more electronic set, all of which I had never heard live. This included some acoustic songs from the now recorded new album, which sounded great too. Then came a 15 minute section of PWL on his own with his acoustic guitar. At this point occurred my best moment of the day, when PWL asked for acoustic requests and I asked for a song he’d forgotten he’d written. Nonetheless, it was one he said he was glad I’d requested because he’d been trying to think of acoustic songs he’d written earlier to fill the slot and hadn’t come up with many… With a friendly ‘if I forget the chords, it’s his fault’ he played it through perfectly. The Volunteers returned to the stage for a finale of The Memorial Hall (the best version I have ever heard of this oft recorded song) and Knight-King 4, which was also incredible due to the brilliant harmonised round added to the end of the song. A brilliant, unusual PWL set.

Following PWL was Brainlove star Napoleon IIIrd who had also equipped himself with a band for the occasion. As with my previous encounter I was distracted by PWL’s set, but Napoleon IIIrd in this new, rockier and more lively configuration really was very good. He is similar to but less political than PWL, and has a much less acoustic sound. As before, great, anthemic music, (especially Hit Schmooze For Me, check out the video!) but not quite great enough to make me want to buy albums from him.

Rudely interrupting the theme of good songwriting and tunes was the hilariously outfitted drunken rabble with a drum machine of Le Couteau Jaune. Less a musical performance, more a theatrical affair, the band leapt, screamed, gyrated and fell on the floor to weird noises, synths and rapid drumbeats. No idea what they sound like normally, but it was fun to watch (and indeed occasionally become a participant in) the band’s random attacks on members of the audience, culminating with about 5 of us in a pile on the floor on top of members of the band…

And so, after much waffle I come to the evening’s headliners, gay against you. Having been primed by my previous experience of them I was not disappointed, and once again their performance was a masterful combination of silly clothing, amusing on-stage banter and absolutely brilliant drum machine, synth and guitar led musical mayhem, providing ample opportunity for band directed dancing, gesturing and general hyperactive moshing and jumping. It is in the nature of a GvsY set that I don’t really remember a single song but just an overwhelming sensation of fun and crazy dancing. And sweat too. A GvsY live experience will blow away your cobwebs and leave you with a massive grin, even if you’re not sure why. The only song I ever remember by name is the brilliantly titled ‘Gay Unicorn’, but search for youtube clips of it as the recorded versions sound often tame in comparison.

All in all an utterly fantastic time was had, the festival was full of great music with hardly a moment’s gap, in a cool venue on a very fine day. And only £8 too! Brainlove Records, long may you continue finding new and exciting things for my ears and feet.