At a festival like Bluedot where so much depends on the science talks, the workshops, the demonstrations, the projections, the light shows, the readings…you\u2019d expect the music programming to get left behind. Besides the set of fairly predictable crowd pleasing headliners (Pixies, Orbital, and alt-J) Bluedot did well to cram in some interesting artists and performers. Here\u2019s a round-up of the bands I saw on Saturday:<\/p>\n
First up was Caro, an indie three-piece from Leeds, who did well to open proceedings on the Orbit stage, playing to a crowd of festival early birds and day trippers like myself. For a few minutes I was pleasantly reminded of all those mid-2000s guitar bands I saw as a teenager, the first gigs I went to, and then I remembered precisely the problem with those (usually all male) guitar bands: they all sound the same. The same cheeky chappy vocals, the same jangly guitars, the same triumphant indie pop. And Caro prove that these bands still have so much to answer for. Adam Pardey\u2019s lead vocals sit somewhere between Joe Newman (alt-J) and Jack Steadman (Bombay Bicycle Club) \u2013 and though their song about the \u2018monster ghouly man who feeds on love\u2019 went down well with the kids, it was too saccharine for me. To be a bit fairer to them, on record ‘Cold Comfort’<\/a> is kind of catchy \u2013 the kind of thing that would go down well enough on Steve Lamacq\u2019s roundtable. These are polished, capable performers, playing build-a-kit songs: emotional open, slow build, quiet bridge, big climax. I guess it is what it is.<\/p>\n Horsebeach played a set of sunny, sad music \u2013 like you\u2019d forced Mac DeMarco or Real Estate to live in Manchester for a few years. Chorus ridden, vibrato guitars overset with no fuss lyrics about your shit life: I spent some time away, feel I\u2019m finally doing okay \/ But I fucked this up again, what can I say?<\/em> Ryan Kennedy sings on \u2018The Highest Place.\u2019 The title of their latest album, Beauty and Sadness<\/em><\/a> just about sums it up: driving, catchy, dream pop (you can\u2019t help but get behind it) mixed with an irresistible nostalgia: last summer, visiting home, that trip with your friends when you were 18, your ex. The music is best when it\u2019s at its most mournful, dredging up old relationship or thinking about your miserable day job. Go listen to \u2018I Must Work & I Must Die\u2019 at the end of the album: When you\u2019re lost like me \/ Nowhere to run \/ Stuck in a job \/ You must stop and think, there are better things outside<\/em>\u2026perfect for a rainy summer\u2019s day in Manchester.<\/p>\n An afternoon scheduling meant that AEVA (Dan Jacobs) had to battle with the inevitable buzzkill of the sun from outside the tent of the Nebula stage, and a recumbent crowd of afternoon drinkers. How do you pace a set for a crowd like this? No one seemed to be willing to make the first move to get up and dance (myself included). The one guy who came to the front so his friends could record a joke video of him dancing about summed up the vibe. Which is a shame, because AEVA\u2019s warm, driving techno was pretty captivating \u2013 at points the music syncing perfectly with a video loop moving through the clouds \u2013 the AEVA<\/em> logo emerging like we were watching a glossy space travel advert. It would have been good to see more made of these visuals \u2013 and a crowd like the one at Bluedot were probably desperate to see the controller Jacobs was trying to keep off screen. AEVA\u2019s set featured the title track of his first release Dramatic Sunset<\/em><\/a> (Don\u2019t Delay, 2017) \u2013 warm, easy, four-to-the-floor, powering its way to the end before you\u2019ve noticed (the kind of thing people would lose their minds in twelve hours time). The real highlight was \u2018Departure,\u2019 the final track on Dramatic Sunset<\/em> \u2013 an ambient, inviting piece that moved between thick cellos and buzzy synths \u2013 a great close to the set.<\/p>\n Two-piece Virginia Wing<\/a> seemed uncomfortable on the Nebula stage, with Alice Merida Richards\u2019 vocals dominating layers of synths, samples, and a soprano saxophone. At their best they were heavy and discordant, losing the vocals somewhere in the muddy mix, though at their worst Richards\u2019 performance seemed forced and too serious, taking on a dangerously close inflection to Karin Dreijer Andersson of Fever Ray. Christopher Duffin on saxophone deserves credit for working hard to push a few of the songs along however, and I found myself wishing that the saxophone was taking the lead.<\/p>\n At this point I\u2019m not sure whether musicians were intentionally double booked (two for the price of one?) or whether Bluedot had no idea that Duffin (Virginia Wing) would play with XAM Duo and later, Jacobs (AEVA) with Makeness…I\u2019m sure the booking policy was more invested and engaged than \u2018musicians in multiple bands.\u2019 Anyway, Duffin returned to play in XAM Duo with Matthew Benn, whose debut, XAM Duo<\/em><\/a> (Sonic Cathedral, 2016) was a fun meeting of saxophones, synthesisers, and drone loops (the opening song, \u201cProem\u201d and the twenty-three minute \u201cI Extend My Arms Pt I & II\u201d recalling the devotional synthesisers of Alice Coltrane). Live however, though they worked hard to build up some interesting melodies and set them off against each other \u2013 the set fell a bit flat. Like a few of the bands I\u2019d seen, I wondered if I\u2019d have thought differently if they\u2019d had a crowd to pull in and keep.<\/p>\n AEVA returned to play in Makeness (Kyle Molleson) on the Nebula stage, and though Molleson\u2019s great vocal effects brought me closer to the front, there seemed to be an awkward struggle to keep the live drums in time to the electronics. Molleson\u2019s latest release, Temple Works<\/em><\/a> is a purposeful, energetic record; however, in a live format \u2013 the dramatic thumping and pounding sounded a bit hollow.<\/p>\n Special mentions: The crowd seemed completely engrossed by TVAM (Joe Oxley\u2019s) one-man performance on the Orbit stage, which saw Oxley\u2019s driving, overdriven guitar over a drum track, alongside a synced Adam Curtis style cut up documentary (featuring Oxley\u2019s lyrics) on a lo-fi TV screen. Oxley\u2019s Porsche Majeure<\/em><\/a> (Static Caravan, 2015) was a great single: lo-fi, fuzzy, sassy,\u2013 but this show with the TV was a bit too didactic for me. W.H. Lung, whose first release Inspiration! \/ Nothing Is<\/em><\/a> in March of this year caused a stir (and a flurry of festival bookings) drew a huge crowd for their explorative, psychy songs \u2013 and they delivered a confident and accomplished performance. Finally, Juanita Stein<\/a> of the Howling Bells on the Roots stage (why was this stage so far away from the others?) was a welcome, unexpected dose of crooning Americana \u2013 and her melancholic renderings of American life and culture were composed and moody.<\/p>\n I wish I could have stayed around for the late night Mission Control bookings (which kicked off long after my last train) \u2013 starting with a three hour set from Space Afrika<\/a> (Joshua Reid & Joshua Inyang) whose ambient soundscapes are completely compelling. The last time I tried to see them in Salford the venue was so busy they wouldn\u2019t let anyone else in. Likewise I bet Belisha Beacon\u2019s intricate, complex electronics (her debut This is Fine<\/em><\/a> on Fractal Meat was created through live coding) was great to see live. Next time.<\/p>\n Bluedot, Jodrell Bank Observatory, Orbit stage, July 8 2017. At a festival like Bluedot where so much depends on the science talks, the workshops, the demonstrations, the projections, the light shows, the readings…you\u2019d expect the music programming to get left behind. Besides the set of fairly predictable crowd pleasing headliners (Pixies, Orbital, and alt-J) Bluedot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[15,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nLucy Burns<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"