[Glice]

Originally Posted by Genteel Death

Gnod were unbelievably rocking. Even if you'd take away all the costumes and stage antics(which were great), they'd still bring the house down.

They were definitely band of the weekend for me. I was always going to think Faust were amazing, but Gnod really felt like a far bigger band than they are (and hopefully they'll get there sooner rather than later).

A slightly more expansive appraisal, as I'm waiting for some pork to cook. I'm now unsure of the order, so going on the pre-festival line-up on the website. I'll leave out the stuff I didn't see or thought was shite:

Friday

Maria and the Mirrors - AMAZING, great openers, and a real sense of malice to them. I'll always fall for female drummers, but there was some really tidy rhythms going on there.

IMBOGODOM - I'm not normally a fan of pedal processing (except when Team Brick or Little Creature do it) but these had a really nice noisy ambience to them that sort of suited a polite field of deck chairs.

Eviltones - well-placed in the line-up; ideal festival stuff really, not the sort of thing I'd normally see, but worked pretty well as a background to nattering.

Hákarl - clearly the most awesome thing any human has ever done, and a sexy fucker to boot.

El Toro - I remember enjoying them, but I can't remember what they actually sounded like. Garagey rockabilly, it seems - I think they were the last 'standard' band that I enjoyed.

Proxy Music - Crowd really enjoyed it. I was horrifically pissed by that point, so I was sort of watching more than listening. They did a nice narrative of Roxy Music, rather than just the hits.

Saturday

Rex Nemo and the Psychick Self-Defenders - Great 'art-school' theatrics, funny and brilliantly confusing. Watching Paddy from Gnod scaring the kids watching was brilliant.

Listening Mirror - Lush ambience and a really peculiar sense of internal logic to the songs. Amazingly accomplished, especially given the stress of getting the show and that it was their first show. Lush people as well.

Polly and the Billets Doux - Very much not the sort of thing I'd usually enjoy, but very charming performers. Again, good background to nattering/ drinking.

Hyrst - A nice appearance from the sort of rockism that SYG likes a lot (I think, my memory is hazy. A bit Wire, a bit 80s alt-rock, a bit post-rock.

Bong - A lot better than I was expecting. Really nice injection of some drifting.

Thought Forms - I actually managed to fall asleep after their first song (boo to me). Their first song was simply brilliant, a really nice spacey weird-out thing with a weird instrument that I couldn't get a tune out of for toffee. They're a band I've seen quite a few times now, and they really do get better and better. I did see them the week before (while awake) and they're definitely someone to check out for any reason.

Missed some bands then, I think I was off getting food/ booze/ nattering.

Gnod - Fucking astonishingly brilliant. Really quite special indeed, well worth seeing. I know that doesn't really describe anything, but fuck you, this is my review.

Faust - one of the world's greatest bands. It was pretty much the same set as the one I saw last time they played, but I could happily watch their angle-grinder utter fuckstation cover of Dylan every night for the rest of my days. And doing that song with the French bits (I forget what it's called) was a fantastic headwreck of cross-rhythms.

Sunday

Fuck Knuckles - Brilliant wake-up, fantastic racket, great use of the 'has he stopped yet?' technique of seeming to finish 20 times. Nice chaps as well.

VVSR - I was quite pleased to see them be really interesting, theatrically. And probably the best-looking band of the weekend. Loads of fun and carrying of the rag-taggle band thing well. Le Dentiste is a preposterous song to be so catchy.

Sunday Mourning - great, though arguably went on too long. Listened to their tape on the way back, and it's a really, really good one.

Big Naturals - Some nice high-octane* stoner fuzz, really tight and unrelenting. Minimum of between-song banter, just got down and got on with it.

*apologies for stock phrase bullshit

I went into town to find cash at this point, so missed another load of bands (some of whom may have been terrible).

A-Band - I was wandering to my tent to put on a jumper or something, and one of the A-Band collared me and asked me to play with them. Couldn't hear a bloody thing on-stage, did a bit of running around with a whirly thing, had a great time. I've no idea what it sounded like, but it was the most fun I've had on stage in absolutely ages.

And then I disappeared into dancing and being the most drunk person imaginable. Ended up drinking free booze in the caravan with Deej Thought Forms and others. Brilliant, and I was so incredibly pissed it was ridiculous.

Yeah. Good times.