Album Review: Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

I first saw Sharon Van Etten in May of last year at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds (pictures above) and was really blown away by the raw sincerity and emotion that she put into her songs. Wanting to know if any of this translated into the recorded version of the album she was touring, I got her album from the merch stall at the back and waited to see if she'd come to the stall and sign it, sadly to no avail. However on the upside her album did very much mirror what I'd heard live, and I always feel the true test of how good an album is, is how well it is translated or changed for the road. This album also topped my albums of 2012 and this review should just about highlight why.



This is Sharon's third album and is far more accomplished and assured than either 'Because I was in Love' or 'Epic' and most people would agree its a step forward. This album is also heavy on collaborations  first and foremost is Aaron Dessner from The National who features on the album and also produced it at his garage studio, giving the album a semi-low-fi feel that suits it far more than any glossy over-production ever could. Other features include Beirut's Zach Condon, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and the drummer form The Walkmen. Far from giving the album a disjointed feel, all the collaborations not only add something different to every song and almost give the songs some assurance, a bit like friends helping Sharon through the process.

The album starts with three relatively rocky songs by this album's standards, Warsaw, Serpents and Give Out. All three are very solid songs, 'Serpents' providing a good lead single while 'Give Out' is one of my personal favourites from the album, however afterwards the album looses this assurity. It meanders, drifts and looses the structure and convictions of the earlier songs, but this is what makes the album great, the lack of the conviction and rigid structure, reliance on riffs or big choruses show how genuine some of the songs are. On the subject of how genuine the songs are, Sharon seems to tread the thin line between bluntness and artistic licence in her songs very well, songs such as  'Leonard' 'I'm Wrong' and 'Joke Or Lie' are obviously very dear to her, and it shows in the lyrics. The song 'We Are Fine' is particularly strong as it talks about a panic attack that she had, someone who can put so much of her soul into an album and then call it 'Tramp' is someone with guts, and someone to be respected. Each song on this album paints the picture of a destructive relationship, all the subtleties of the emotions perfectly documented, a whole album dedicated to one break up really shows the power of human emotions, and makes the subject matter unable to be dismissed as trivial in any way.

Musically, the album is a different story. It can be sparse at times, almost in danger of staying into blandness  but in my opinion, being just on the right side. This almost hollow feeling to some songs doesn't ruin it, the vocals and lyrics are the focal point and rightly so and more than carry the album. This album isn't perfect, nothing really is, but I don't think it's meant to be, this album is self-help, the chance to let someone lick their wounds and voice their grief and anger to the world, that deserves credit to bare your soul this openly to critical scrutiny, I doubt this, or any other review will change how Sharon Van Etten feels about her music.

9/10

Mason

2012/2013 Crossover

I thought with it being a new year and all this'd be a great time to do a nice end of year review of how last year was for music and for the band, as well as looking ahead to what the next year holds both for the band and in terms of new releases and bands to watch. (right-click and 'save target as' for mp3)

2012

Last year for the band was a little tough, line-up changes, cancelled shows and a forever delayed EP seemed to be the list of never ending woe that nearly all new young bands experience when starting out. But towards the latter half of the year with a new drummer in tow, new songs, a new drive to make the most of the coming year and now under the wing of a mentoring scheme by MAS records has given us a lot to be grinning about. And to top off the year nicely, our return to live performances after far too long - see here

As for music in general, it was a solid year, nothing amazing, a few good albums and some duff ones but on the whole nothing to sniff too much at. Here's some of my highlights and low points of the musical year:

My Top 5 Albums of 2012

1) Sharon Van Etten - Tramp - (review soon)

The third album from the American singer-songwriter and by far her boldest and most assured yet finding her worldwide acclaim. The album is somewhat of an acquired taste, with stripped-down soul-bearing honesty teetering on the edge blandness musically. Its a kind of genius that isn't immediately obvious, but its there. 

Sharon Van Etten - Serpents (mp3) - The lead single from the album.

2) Alt-J - An Awesome Wave

The début album from the local boys from Leeds, something different, interesting and most importantly, very, very good. Worthy winner of the Mercury Prize, lets hope they don't suffer from its curse and we never hear from them again...

Alt-J - Fitzpleasure (mp3) - wob wob wob

3) Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!

Post-rock masters return with this stunning epic and also my first listen to GYBE (as they shall hence be know) but very very impressive. Its grand, sweeping, dynamically brilliant and a marvel of music and archetypal of the genre.

BYBE - Mladic (mp3) - the 20 minute opener, you're best listening to the whole album though, its not really an album for picking tracks.


4) Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (III)

I must admit a bit of a change of heart here, after what was one of my favourite albums of all time (CC II) I expected more of the same, especially after 'Plague' was announced. It was different and has taken a lot of time to appreciate fully, but in retrospect it is a much grittier and mature sound, but still brilliant.

Crystal Castles - Insulin (mp3) - Massive, glitchy and destructive.

5) Tall Ships - Everything Touching

I reviewed this album a short while ago and was mightily impressed and is only one of two débuts in my top 5. To see the review in full see here

Tall Ships - Gallop (mp3) - The lead single from the album and a thumper of a tune.






Honourable mention: Plan B - Ill Manors: A brilliant protest album accompanying a gritty and visceral début film from Ben Drew. Its brilliant to see musicians airing the issues that people see around them with the new found voice and stage they have been given - BBC 1XTRA Interview

Track Of The Year: Grimes - Genesis (mp3): Bloody brilliant ethereal indie synth pop.

Worst Album of the Year: Mumford & Sons - Babel: Shite.

2013

For a new band a new year is always a good time to think 'fresh start'. Not for us, its pretty much business as usual in order to get our EP out (we're sure it'll happen one day..). We've only come to the conclusion that it can only get better, more gigs, more songs, more people.

New albums to look out for in 2013

Next year looks to be a good year for music, with some big names releasing new material. Here are some of my anticipated releases:

Foals - Holy Fire: Third album from Foals and it sounds great so far, only three songs are out in the public domain but they are sounding very promising. Check out 'My Number (Live On Jools Holland)'

Atoms For Peace - Amok: Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich, Red Hot Chilli Pepper's Flea and REM's Joey Waronker release their début effort. Atoms For Peace - Default

Hurts - Exile: Hurts return with a follow-up to last years 'Happiness'. They say it will be darker than the first which is exciting and worrying at the same time. I really love a band that takes them selves too seriously, and Hurts do just that.

The National - TBC: My favourite band have a new album coming out this may, the live songs previewed from 'All Tomorrows Parties' event sound brilliant. I for one cannot wait.

Empire Of The Sun - TBC: A dodgy wait after 2008's breathtaking 'Walking on a Dream' left many wondering if there would ever be a follow-up. Thankfully everything seems to be on track for the next album to be released this year.

New bands to look out for in 2013

As ever, new bands are breaking and exiting a lot of people and as ever NME calls it a 'music revolution'... indeed. Anyway, here are the bands getting me exited this year, 'viva la revolution':

1) Chvrches: Ignoring the groovy 'V' and 'U' switch, Chvrches are a exciting new Glaswegian indie synth-pop trio that sound somewhere between 'M83' and 'Little Boots'. They also found their way in at 5th on BBC's 'Sound Of 2013' poll, in which better acts were in the long-list than short-list, odd. Chvrches - The Mother That We Share (mp3)

2) Palma Violets: NME's bitch at the moment but that does not stop them being one of the most exciting new bands around with a belter of a track that unsurprisingly won NME's track of the year: Palma Violets - Best of Friends (mp3)

3) Savages: Punk rock that's a throwback to Siouxsie and the Banshees and the brilliant music scene of the time. Nostalgia has always been a big plus points for some bands and this all-female group certainly have it. Savages - Husbands (mp3)

Mason.

Review: Tall Ships EP & Everything Touching LP

Apologies that the blogging has been rather barren recently, school work and band work towards our upcoming EP and a return to playing live after far too long (pictures are below) have kept us busy for the most part. But I thought I'd get back into the swing of things by giving a double album review of Tall Ships, a band I saw down at Latitude Festival (see my post of Saturday at Latitude) and have been really been getting into their material.

As I've said, I first saw Tall Ships at Latitude festival but only caught the end of their set, even so, what I saw made me wish I'd made the effort to get there much earlier. There was a lot of on-stage energy and obvious passion for their music, something which you would have thought may dull with time and playing the same songs again and again, but it was clear to the see enthusiasm was there throughout. This probably deserved them a much later slot than they were playing, but hey, even the best bands start at the bottom to get to the top. After the festival I started looking at their material and thought I should have a go at reviewing both their self-titled EP and their début full-length album 'Everything Touching'.

Also, for anyone local (Leeds etc) wanting to see them live, they're playing at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds next year on 3rd March for a dirt cheap price, not to be missed!: Buy Tickets. and their website here.

For fans of: Foals,The Vaccines, Mumford & Sons, Battles.

Tall Ships EP - (Buy here)

This is their début 4-track EP, something that nearly all bands produce and sometimes can tend to be better than most bands whole albums. It was clear from the start that this EP was a cut above the rest, it is what I would describe as 'clever rock', music that takes care with everything that it does but still sounds raw and fresh at the same time. I liked the use of other sampled media on the tracks such as 'Words Are Pegs On Which We Hang Ideas', something I want to experiment with in the future with Figurehead, which I feel adds an extra dimension to an already rich and complex sound. One thing that I very much admire in this band is the massive atmospheric sound with brilliant sweeping dynamics, almost approaching post rock, that they make with only 3 guys, my band struggles to even match it with 5 people in the band... They also show a lot of versatility in this EP with the inclusion of the brilliant phat synth arp on 'Books' which then drops back down effortlessly. The vocals and lyrics on this album, something that interests me a lot as a vocalist, are very good. The vocals are very solid throughout, whether singularly or in the choir-like harmonies, whist having a very good knack for decent and catchy vocal hooks and melodies. The lyrics, while nothing ground breaking, are still very, very good, whist still being provocative they have interesting themes, nautical as you would imagine, and having something that I feel my own lyrics really lack, substance. The drums also deserve a mention as I particularly enjoyed the 'running' drums in 'Vessels', having the kind of almost 'dancy' feel at times that reminds me so much of Foals. The EP is largely instrumental, letting the the music do the talking, and when the music is this good, you'll find it hard to complain.

Song Highlight: Tall Ships - Vessels. This song is by far the highlight of the EP, and probably is my favourite song by Tall Ships. It showcases everything that they can do, and they do it all so well, such as the provocative vocal harmonies, the brilliant build-up and an ending that lends itself to live sing-a-longs.

Rating: 7/10

Tall Ships - Everything Touching LP - (Buy here)

This is Tall Ships' début full length album and I have to say it starts in style with the belter of an opener 'T=0' Its clear that much has remained from the EP but they have also developed and refined what they had into something in my opinion, a bit more well-rounded. This album does get at times a bit heavier than the EP but dynamically the songs swap tempo, dynamics and intensity very fluidly. Vocals come slightly more to the fore in this album, but instrumentally it remains very strongly rooted in the complex melodies of the EP. Once again the massed vocals and tuneful singular vocals complement how melodic the music is very well. This album has a lot of diversity in it musically, from the grand sweeping tracks such as 'Best Ever', to the funkier tracks such as 'Oscar'. This is something that I'm looking to do in my band, particularly for our upcoming EP, which is creating a release which has the individuality and diversity of all the songs but is still a cohesive piece of art. There is a lot more minimalism in this release with toned-down and stripped-down songs such as 'Ode To Ancestors' and 'Send News' songs which sound almost like The Antlers, not a bad thing at all! 'Gallop' provides a brilliant lead single for the album, interesting, catchy and with a good rhythm behind it which is sure to go down well live. To finish off the album there is the 9 minute long epic 'Murmurations' once again showing that Tall Ships have a talent for longer songs which lend themselves perfectly to the end of albums or to end a set live, such as Vessels (see above)

Song Highlight: Tall Ships - T=0. One of the best album openers I've heard in a while, it grabs you right from the start and doesn't let go. It also shows the heavier side of Tall Ships' repertoire, seeing them advance from what they did with their EP to a more well balanced and diverse début album.

Rating: 8/10

Rewind Presents: The End of The World

Friday 19th December saw us return to live performances after the setbacks that seemed to have plagued us for the last 6 months. We gave a 40 minute set to a small but seemingly enthusiastic crowd and seemed to be well received, even the two new songs that were given their first live airing, 'Tainted' and 'Republic Of Heaven'. We also played a cover of 'There There' by Radiohead, always wary to take on a cover from Radiohead as some songs can be so damn difficult...

Radiohead - There There

All the other bands who played were brilliant especially Tweak and Explicit Symphonies - who performed admirably without a bassist or permanent vocalist. Tweak also have a festive new EP to get everyone in the mood for Christmas - http://tweaktheband.bandcamp.com/album/tweaks-christmas-present

Tom Hardie also provided excellent photographs of all the bands (see below), such professional photography at his age has also got him a good following - TH Photography (Facebook)

The last few months also saw us get to a few milestones in the band, some more worth shouting about than others:

• We reached the six month anniversary of our last gig (O Shame!)
• We managed to reach over 1000 accumulated plays on Soundcloud, for which we're very grateful!
• Possibly most importantly we got ourselves onto a mentoring scheme with MAS records which provides free structure, industry advice, practising and recording to young bands on the scheme. So in short, big things lie ahead, keep posted!

So here's to a good Christmas! And if you can spare the time a free download of Comfortable Prison:

Cheers, Mason.

My Latitude 2012 - Sunday

Sunday was probably my favourite day over the whole weekend, the music started late which meant I could have a lie in, it was less busy which meant I could get much nearer the front to see bands and there were a lot more bands I wanted to see, without as many clashes. I went to see so many in fact that I'm only going to include the best few and the ones I was gutted to miss. This was my last day: (links are in blue)


One of the first bands that I saw that day were Francois and the Atlas Mountains in the picturesque I Arena in the woods. The band were very, very French. Arty, daft and at times slightly pretentious but always brilliant. They had something very special, a unique sound and onstage presence that transcended the language barrier as it didn't matter if they sang in French or English, the music was always good. They were obviously loved very much by the crowd as although they had been given a shorter set due to administerial cock-ups, they were given the biggest cheer I'd heard from a small crowd and everyone stayed for another 10/15 minutes shouting at the staff to let them back on, but alas to no avail.

Francois and the Atlas Mountains - City Kiss (live from latitude)

I'd only heard a little of St Vincent before Latitude and I almost didn't go to see her due to my own idleness. Thankfully I got off my arse and went and was really blown away. It was nothing like I expected, all the songs were much rockier than anything I'd heard and Annie Clark was dressed all all in black, dishevelled hair and threw herself around the stage like a rag doll. This contrasted with her hauntingly beautiful and innocent vocals which cut right through the amazing fuzz tones on her guitar. At first listen, some of the songs seemed a bit jaunty as if they didn't fit, but after a few more listens this feeling goes away and is replaced by the simple appreciation of how very, very good her songs actually are.

St Vincent - Dilettante

I was very excited to see M83 at Latitude and I had a feeling it was going to be something a bit special, so I regrettably left Bat For Lashes a bit early so I could get a good spot. The set was drenched in atmosphere and drama as through the opening music, the signature alien of M83 came onstage, shooting lasers from its fingers (picture left taken by me). 'How fucking cool', I thought. The sound was even more epically scaled than that on the albums and the crowd loved it, especially when they played 'Midnight City'. A touch of genius, I felt, was when they got a live saxophonist to run on at the end of 'Midnight City' to play the solo. I'm a bit mystified as to why they didn't get Zola Jesus to sing on 'Intro' like she had on the album as she was also at the festival, but that's a small niggle in the scheme of things.

M83 - Reunion

Wild Beasts were the highlight of my festival, they were the band I was probably most exited to see and they were headlining my favourite stage, The Word Arena. There's not much to say apart from how amazing it was, obviously as they're one of my favourite bands I'm bound to be like that but it was clear many people shared my opinion. The crowd was massive and many people had wandered in after being disappointed by Paul Weller on the main stage and instantly got into the electric atmosphere in the tent. They played songs from all 3 of their albums and everyone around me knew the words, showing a surprising number of fans were there, such as one guy who screamed "I love you more than anything in the world" whenever it went quiet. (picture left taken by me - also the only really decent one I took over the whole festival)

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers I  

I didn't see as much of Bat For Lashes as I wanted to but that which I did see was top class. What I like about Bat For Lashes is the combination of visual art and music. Some people would say it's just 'pretencious-arty-wanker-bullshit' but I think it just gives another dimension to what music is, another art form. Its this kind of over the top showmanship and stage presence that just adds immeasurably to the live experience. They played material off both their albums and I even caught a bit of some new material, which seemed a bit more simplistic and piano-based, which I do like, but I must say I prefer the more guitar and synth laden songs. Bat For Lashes had been out of the public eye for a long time so it was a good return in my eyes.

Bat For Lashes - Sleep Alone

Although this isn't exactly music, I thought I'd include it anyway because John Cooper Clarke was really one of the highlights of my festival. I've never delved into poetry much but I went to see two poets at Latitude, Tim Key and JCC and both of them were funnier than most of the comedians in the comedy tent. JCC's humour was really my thing, dry, witty and utterly brilliant. He did some brilliant poems such as 'Things Are Gonna Get Worse' and 'Beasly Street' and I even managed to get a recording of the crowd favourite 'Evidently Chickentown'. JCC had been working with Plan B for the rapper's debut film 'Ill Manors' which was screened at Latitude. I took particular delight at, having this pointed out to me by my mate, the fifteen year old middle class kids rapping "You bloody rich kidz never listen", whilst sat with their 'mamma and pappa' sipping Pimms and snacking on artichoke hearts. (Well, maybe I made that last bit up...)



Evidently Chickentown (Live at Latitude Festival 2012) by Masonsoundcloud


Other Lives: Absolutely gutted to miss these, but hey, you win some... Other Lives - Tamer Animals

Perfume Genius: People were raving about this band after I missed them, luckily I went to see them a week ago in Leeds to make that right. Perfume Genius - Hood

Battles: I had only vaguely heard of them so I wasn't really tempted to venture in and see them, how foolish... Battles - Tonto

On the whole I think that weekend was the best edition of Latitude I'd been to, to date. Some of the moments watching some of the bands, I will take with me for a long time to come and look back on with much fondness. Apart from the usual overpriced food and shite British weather, there was nothing to complain about. Except for possibly being woken up in the early hours of the morning by the middle-class alarm clock of a man talking to his child "MONTY PUT THAT HAMMER DOWN!"

Mason.

My Latitude 2012 - Saturday

Saturday had to be very good indeed to surpass the day before, but the day's line up looked brilliant. The only problem was nearly every band I wanted to see was clashing with another, so as a result I only managed to see 6 bands that day, though I did nip into the comedy tent at some point. Here's what I made of the bands that I saw, and a bit about some of the bands I missed. (links to youtube videos are in blue)


Saturday

I only caught the latter part of Tall Ships' set but what I heard was very good. It was the first band I'd seen on the outdoor Lake Stage and so the feel of it was very different. For a comparatively unknown band they had a very good following in the audience and everyone seemed to enjoy the set. The sound that they made was surprisingly big and complex for only a 3 man band, with some members playing multiple instruments in their set and even within songs. Every part of their songs was strong, not mind-blowing but a darn sight better than a lot of other more established bands' sets that I'd seen.

Tall Ships - Vessels 

I'd seen Sharon Van Etten once before at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds and it was a really revelation and I bought the album from the merch stall straight after the show. Her newest album, 'Tramp', of which she played a lot of in her set, is in my opinion her best and what has got her a lot of recognition recently, having worked with members of The National on that record. Her and her band's performance was brilliant, really musically complex, very compelling and genuine and a lot rockier than on the album, which I felt was an improvement. I think her performance definitely deserved a much higher billing, after all she's had 3 albums and gave a much better performance that say Ben Howard who's only on his debut. But I guess that is the nature of the running order at festivals, the bands of the moment get much better slots.

Sharon Van Etten - Give Out 

My mate had been really looking forward to seeing Josh T. Pearson and beforehand, as I'm not that much of a regular listener of folk and country music, I wasn't exactly blown away. Seeing him live however I was left speechless. His songs were amazing and the combination of his guitar style and his singing helped make a set of effortless, heartfelt class in the Word Arena tent. It was certainly a set of quality over quantity as in his set of about 40 minutes he did only 4 or 5 songs, but each one was better than most singer/songwriters' sets that I'd seen live.

Josh T. Pearson - Woman When I've Raised Hell 

SBTRKT was one of the highlights of my festival. There was a real buzz in the Word Arena when I got there and for good reason. He came on to cheers wearing his customary tribal mask and delivered a great set to a great crowd that was mercifully bereft of any dickheads for a change... The sound was very impressive, particularly the bass which really went right through you and when your ears are used to headphone or stereo level bass, it was a welcome change! I was particularly impressed when I read that he only uses live instruments and live triggers for his songs, which I liked as if it's all programmed there really is no soul or even point to the music live if all you do is stand there and press 'play'. He also worked on a track with another band I like, 'Little Dragon'.

SBTRKT - Wildfire (ft. Little Dragon)

I was only sat near the back of the arena for Laura Marling, but I doubt there would have been a seething crowd of mosh pits if I'd have ventured forward. Try as I might, I've never been able to like her music. I think what my problem is with her is that there are so many other folk artists that do exactly what she does but so much better in my opinion, but hey if she's your thing then by all means ignore me. She does also seem to be quite odd, even among musicians, which may have something to do with the exposure she had at such a young age. Also I find some of her earlier songs a bit in genuine, which is something that my own lyrics have the issue of, which is: What does a 16/17 year old know of things like the darker and more adult sides of life? Admittedly some people have very hard periods of life at that age but I know I haven't and from what she seems to say in interviews neither as she. But maybe I'm being unfair.

Laura Marling - New Romantic 

Elbow had never been a favourite band of mine, mainly due to the fact that every time I heard them, I'd be reminded of 'One Day Like This' being played over an advert raising awareness for starving Ethiopian children, hence why I never play Elbow when I'm eating out of a sense of white European middle class guilt. But anyway, when I saw them live, I was a man converted! It was sweeping, grand, classy music, showing them to be more than worthy of the headline slot. The child within me particularly loved the firework displays in the set, fireworks which were missing from Bon Iver's set the night before. Guy Garvey held the crowd in the palm of his hand and was everything the frontman of a band should be.

Elbow - Lippy Kids 

Bands I wanted to see 

Deap Vally: Two hot women playing rock music, what's not to like? Deap Vally - Gonna Make My Own Money

Of Monsters And Men: I heard a couple of songs of theirs a few years ago and was really happy to see them on the line up, sadly there was a clash and I didn't make it... Of Monsters Ans Men - From Finner

Django Django: Saw them on Jools Holland, wasn't that impressed but everyone who I asked loved them at Latitude, seems I missed out... Django Django - Default 

Zola Jesus: Heard of her through seeing her name on a track by M83 (playing Sunday) Zola Jesus - Night 

The Horrors: They had won a lot of critical acclaim recently and I was really up for seeing if it they were all they were cracked up to be, sadly when clashing with Elbow I probably made the right choice. The Horrors - Sea Within A Sea

Tomorrow was the last day of music so I was ready to make the most of it.

Mason.

My Latitude 2012 - Friday

Despite Latitude Festival being many weeks gone now, I thought I'd recap my Latitude experience of the bands that I saw (and some I wanted to see but didn't quite manage to). The post would be too long if I listed all 3 days worth so I'm going to write up each day individually. Here goes... (links to youtube videos are in blue)

Friday 

This was my 3rd Latitude festival and I think probably the first year I was mature enough to fully appreciate it. I got there on the Thursday morning without trouble, the tent was pitched, the cider was ready and I had my list of bands I wanted to see. These are the bands I saw on the 1st day:

The first band of the festival that I saw was a Scandinavian punk-rock band called 'Ice Age'. There had been a lot of hype about the band and their 'onstage energy', and someone even telling me they had been compared to Joy Division, an interesting prospect. As it turns out I had a right to be sceptical, as for me, and for a lot of people there it didn't live up to the hype. There was some energy onstage but no more than you'd expect from a punk band. The music itself was heavier than I would listen to out of choice but I stuck around for the full set non the less. But, for me it just sounded like noise, loud, critically acclaimed noise. However one thing in the program about them which amused me, was the anecdote that their debut album was 24 minutes long in 12 tracks.

Ice Age - Total Drench

'The Silver Seas' were a band that I just happened to stumble across on my wanderings around the main arena. The atmosphere inside the tent of the Word arena was very welcoming and the band themselves gave a nice set of listenable songs that the whole tent seemed to enjoy, and as it was not very full, there was plenty of space to get in. The band for me were the definition of easy listening but at the side of many of the other bands I saw, not gripping or compelling enough to inspire me to go home and download/buy an album.

The Silver Seas - Dream Of Love

This is one of my dad's favourite bands and out of a sense of duty I went along to watch the set with him. I've never had much time for Destroyer even with numerous tries and I've always found listening to it a challenge, one that I haven't yet thrown myself into, so I was a bit approaches going into it. The songs didn't grab me, no fault of the band, but it just wasn't my thing. However I could clearly see that they were a SERIOUSLY good band and had a very good following of dedicated fans. Sadly I left early to go and see another band but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. I gained a lot of respect for the band later after learning that they were in the crowd to see both Kurt Vile and Dexys, nice to see even musicians of their level still goes to watch bands with us 'mere mortals'.

Destroyer - Leave Me Alone (New Order cover)

Before Latitude I had only given The Antlers a brief listen, in hindsight I should have payed so much more attention. Their set at latitude was one of the best live experiences I've ever had, the sound was massive, expansive reverbed guitars, floating and captivating vocals, deep bass tones and an overall effect that left me speechless. After the festival I went home and bought 2 albums immediately and found that their live sound was so different to that on the albums, in my opinion better live but still very, very good on the albums. This was one of the highlights of my weekend and provided a lot of musical inspiration for the band.

The Antlers - Putting The Dog To Sleep

I'd been told about Punch Brothers by a mate before I came down to Latitude and they seemed an interesting one to watch, by no means your conventional folk band or even your 'indie trash folk' such as Noah and the Whale, they did some far more avant-garde stuff such as a brilliant and inspired acoustic version of Kid A by Radiohead. I was amazed by the electronic and incredibly unconventional and un-acoustic sounds they got out of their instruments. They also did some very good feel-good folk songs, akin to 'Bellowhead' at times.

Punch Brothers - Kid A (Radiohead cover)

I watched Glen Hansard with my tea that day, before I went of in search of bands I'd made plans to watch, and only really chose to stay and watch because of  the convenient chairs nearby. I was initially a bit hesitant as at first he seemed like a typical dreamy-eyed, dreamy-voiced Irishman who was a bit like Ed Sheeran. Thankfully he had much more to him than that and gave a very compelling performance, single-handedly knackering his guitar and his hand in his cover of 'Astral Weeks' by Van Morrison. I particularly enjoyed his more rocky, band-orientated songs, such as those he played when he was part a big Irish folk-rock band 'The Frames' and another band 'The Swell Season'

The Swell Season - High Horses

When I initially heard Metronomy I thought they were a bit dull, more like better than average elevator/lift music than a good indie band. However after a bit of persistence I started to enjoy parts of their album 'The English Riviera". They had were only behind Bon Iver on the bill for the main stage so I had high hopes. I think what happened next was the most disappointing performance I'd ever seen. Firstly they started off with a slightly bad-taste "Its nice to play to a crowd who can understand you", but for me worst of all was that they turned up pissed, not just pissed but absolutely mashed and gave an awful performance. And this pissed me off, as someone in a band I'd like to think I'd give my audience the common decency to give a half decent show and not turn up off my tits, yes I know it's a very 'rock 'n roll' thing to do, but let's face it, they're not a rock band, they're a little indie band from Torquay that sound like their music should be on 'The Sims'.

Metronomy - The Look

Bon Iver: Probably THE reason I was exited to come to Latitude this year, and as it was their only UK festival date this year, it was likely to be very very special. I'd always thought they seemed an odd headliner for the main stage, possibly more suited to the Word arena tent, but any doubts I had went immediately. The crowd were brilliant, nearly everyone knew all the words and sang along, even glares to stop singing and embarrassing myself and him didn't stop me. The sound was beautiful, the songs were so expansive and epic it was hard not to be moved. Even songs from his more lo-fi debut album had been given a reworking into (in my opinion) even better songs. That had a great contrast to when Justin came to the front with his guitar and sang 'Skinny Love' and 'Flume' to an ecstatic crowd. I think this will be one of the gig experiences that I'll always look back on with a lot of fond memories as by the rate their ascension is going at the moment, they'll be too big for me to see again.

Bon Iver - Blindsided

Bands that I missed

White Lies: I was so annoyed to find out probably my two favourite the bands of the festival were on the same billing, but in the end I wasn't going to turn down the chance to see Bon Iver.
White Lies - Holy Ghost

Alt-J: Luca showed me some Alt-J a couple of days ago and I remember seeing them on the program for Latitude. Sadly I was somewhere else, I can't remember where but I'm sure it was something important....
Alt-J - Tessellate

So that was my Friday, a brilliant start to the weekend and it only got better...

Mason.