Live review & pictures: Visions Festival, London 8th August 2015

The sun always seems to shine on East London for Visions Festival, and so it was yesterday for the third edition of this annual event. This is a blessing in disguise as although it makes for pleasant strolls between the venues, it makes the venues themselves incredibly hot (especially the Brewhouse which was so hot and humid that it managed to turn the bar of chocolate in my bag from a solid to liquid state in about 30 minutes).

Oscar at The Laundry 8/8/15

First on my agenda was Oscar at The Laundry. This was an upbeat way to start the day - Oscar Scheller has a deep, rich voice and some great, melodic hooks to go with it. I was surprised at the quality of his songwriting and although it might be hard to pigeonhole him into a genre or market I hope he makes it.

Girl Band on stage at The Laundry

Next at the same venue were one of the current buzz acts, Girl Band. This four-piece from Dublin are loud and intense and definitely bring something fresh to the scene. It's hard to make out what he's singing but that's never been a barrier to success in the past and they definitely seem to be the sort of band they will inspire a rabid following.

Loyle Carner on stage at The Brewhouse 8/8/15

Just over the road from The Laundry is the aforementioned boiling hot Brewhouse, where the heat was matched with the talent. Loyle Carner is the future of British hip-hop. He writes brilliantly aware, emotional and heartfelt lyrics, and is a great performer to match. As well as his raps he did 3 poems which were well received, especially the one about his mum who was in the front of the audience. If you get a chance to see him then grab it, you won't be disappointed.

Torn Hawk

Next in the Brewhouse (after one of their excellent homemade pizzas) was Torn Hawk, who matches video images with experimental music. I couldn't see all of his performance though as I had to head down to The Oval Space to see one of my picks of the day, Son Lux.

Son Lux on stage at The Oval Space 8/8/15

I've loved this band for a while so it was great to get the chance to see Ryan and the boys live. They played mostly tracks from the latest but with a couple of older ones for good measure. It was a really powerful performance, Ryan definitely puts his heart and soul into the performance and his emotion was matched with a rapturous reception.

Ryan Lott (Son Lux) 8/8/15

Next it was time for a double bill back at the Brewhouse. Norfolk's finest Luke Abbott twiddled his modular knobs to perfection, building up to an electronic crescendo.

Luke Abbott

He was followed by California's Peaking Lights, who played a set of electro-pop-dub with some thunderous bass lines that got everyone dancing (including one or two of the guys from Merchandise who'd played The Laundry earlier.

Aaron Coyes (Peaking Lights) 8/8/15

Finally it was back up the road to The Oval Space for Holy Fuck, Having been away for some 5 years they treated us to a shitload of new tunes and their performance got better and better as they went on. No photos for this one as they were on a darkly-lit stage (and I was too busy dancing anyway).

Overall it was another great day, although I have a couple of (connected) gripes. St. John's Church in Hackney is a pretty long way from The Oval space, and led to people basically deciding whether to stay in Hackney or Bethnal Green for the evening as it wasn't feasible to move between the two. Also the organisers seemed to be trying to brand it as a 'Hackney' festival, no doubt for the hipster value, but most of the venues were still in Bethnal Green. So let's have the venues a bit closer together or if not, maybe a shuttle bus between the two?

Live review and pictures: Visions Festival, London 2/8/14

Now in it's second year, Visions Festival is a diverse musical festival with added food, art and various other activities (including an arm-wrestling competition refereed by Andrew WK!). Set in various locations around London Fields, it's almost like a mini SXSW, with punters changing venues between bands, popping into the local shops, bars and markets, or just hanging out on the sun-drenched rooftops at The Oval Soace and Netil 360.

Cheatahs rocking The Laundry basement 2/8/14

First up for me was a trip to The Laundry (no prizes for guessing what it used to be) to see Cheatahs. They played with loads of energy despite their early afternoon spot, filling the basement venue with reverberating guitars and melodic hooks.

Jaakko Eino Kalevi at the Oval Space 2/8/14

Emerging blinking into the sunlight it was time for a brisk walk round to The Oval Space to see Finland's Jaakko Eino Kalevi. His brand of minimal electro-dance-pop perhaps deserved a darker, more intimate setting but I'm sure he gained some new fans.

Songhoy Blues live in London 2/8/14

Next it was time to hotfoot it round to the New Empowering Church to see Songhoy Blues from Mali. Having seen them at last year's Africa Express I was keen to catch them again, and they didn't disappoint. With the temperature inside the venue matching the African vibe they played a fantastically energetic set. If you can get a crowd to dance wildly to songs they've mostly never heard before in the middle of a Saturday afternoon then you must be doing something right. They've got heart and soul in abundance, not to mention a fantastically gifted guitar player - make sure you see them next time they're in town.

Dirty Beaches, The Oval Space, London 2/8/14

Back to the Oval next for 2 acts in a row. First up a man I've admired for some time but never seen live before - Dirty Beaches. A thoroughly engrossing set saw Alex Zhang Huntai hitting bits of metal, playing the saxophone, singing distorted vocals and finally donning leather gloves to punch the air during a closing song that wouldn't have sounded out of place at a Factory Floor gig. Two other things about Alex - he's taller than you might think, and he's a very nice man (I had a bit of a fanboy moment later in the day when I spotted him outside & went over to tell him how good he was).

Sun streaming into the Oval Space

Between acts everyone made a beeline for the Oval's terraces and staircase (who'd have thought that pale-skinned hipsters liked the sun so much?) causing a bit of a log-jam in the doorway but the vibe at the festival was so laid-back that no-one got heated  and everyone just went with the flow.

Young Fathers at The Oval Space, London 2/8/14

Young Fathers are a band that are just getting better and better at the moment. I saw them at Glastonbury a few weeks ago, but this was another step up in terms of performance and crowd appreciation. Their live show is a sweltering, intense, seething mix of spoken, shouted and sung vocals, writhing, dancing bodies and pounding beats that you really have to abandon yourself to. Definitely one of the highlights of the day, and one of the best bands of the year (possible Mercury Prize winners perhaps?).

Jacco Gardner, live in London 2/8/14

The New Empowering Church beckoned me again to worship at its altar of musical loveliness, this time in the form of Dutchman Jacco Gardner. His at his best when things get a bit loose and he trips over into some Syd Barrett-esque psychedelia, but he's also got some good melodies that are a bit more mainstream.

Perfume Genius, London 2/8/14

Headlining the stage was Perfume Genius, who currently seems to be everyone's darling (including me) due to his fantastic new single 'Queen'. Despite this I'm not sure he completely connected with the audience. Maybe it was the wrong venue, or the fact that there were (annoyingly) lots of people talking throughout, but I wasn't really feeling it, so after about half his set I headed round to the London Fields Brewhouse to finish off the evening with Nathan Fake.

To summarise: 4 venues, 8 acts from almost as many countries, sunshine, good vibes, good organisation, and all for £25. Visions Festival, I salute you. See you next year

Video of the Day: 'Heaven, How Long' by East India Youth

Regular readers will know of my love for East India Youth's album 'Total Strife Forever', which is one of my favourites of the year so far. This track is taken from it and has now got a great video directed by Joe Spray. It's good to see that this video came about through some funding by the PRS Foundation Momentum Fund, which supports the development of talented artists that are making music their main source of income.

Remix of the Day #1: 'A Simple Beautiful Truth (East India Youth Remix) by Wild Beasts

I wanted to post this yesterday but I was nowhere my laptop, which is why you'll get two for the price of one today. Building on his current support slot on the Wild Beasts tour, the marvellous Will Doyle a.k.a. East India Youth has crafted a mix that starts of sounding very muck luck it's one of his own tracks. Once the distinctive vocals start up then it sounds a lot more like a Wild Beasts song, but it still retains something of his own style throughout. I'm pretty sure it should now be compulsory for acts to remix each other when they tour together if this is the result - I look forward to Wild Beasts returning the favour - maybe a remix of 'Dripping Down' is in order?

Track of the Day: 'Lay Claim To My Grub' by Karen Gwyer

Not so much a track as half an album for some people, this 16 minute instrumental epic never tires or loses its way as it ebbs and flows. The mechanical, insistent rhythms are matched with a swooning, swamping set of keyboards that create dark layers of sound. It  pretty much brings together all of Gwyer's influences and sounds in one track, and comes highly recommended.

The track is pert of the 'New Roof' EP which is out on Feb 17th on No Pain In Pop - you can pre-order the limited edition 12" from them here.

Recommended music: 'Total Strife Forever' by East India Youth

I can be as guilty as anyone of rushing out reviews just to be head of the pack. So for a change I've lived with this album for a week, played it every day and even watched Will Doyle perform most of it live at Rough Trade East last Monday. So after seven days in its presence what's my verdict on the record?

It's highly possible that you'll struggle to hearing anything as good as this all year. Doyle has crafted a wonderfully diverse album that mixes wistful pop songs with euphoric dance moments and atmospheric, almost chilling instrumentals. It's like a concoction of Daniel Avery, Pet Shop Boys and Tim Hecker served up, in appearance anyway, by a recently-graduated teacher. By his own admittance there were some pretty low points in Will's life while he was putting this together, but while you can feel these in the music there is sufficient light and shade for the feelings not to become overpowering. Doyle has a good ear for a melody, particularly on the more straightforward tracks like 'Heaven, How Long', 'Dripping Down' and 'Looking For Someone', and his lyrics also exude quality.

Overall this is the first essential purchase for 2014, a record that good well be in with a good chance of a Mercury Prize nomination, and one that deserves to be in your collection.

East India Youth at Rough Trade East, London 13/1/14

PS It's worth mentioning that if you're going to buy the cd you should get it from an indie record store such as Rise Music or Rough Trade, as initial copies come with a bonus cd featuring a score that Will Doyle's written for the 1916 film of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea that he originally performed at Bestival last year.

Independent Label Market - London, 30/12/13

The Independent Label Market started a couple of years ago in response to Record Store Day, as a chance for labels to gather together and sell their own wares direct to their customers - a bit like a hipsters' farmers market but without the mud and faint whiff of cow shit. It's now settled in at Spitalfields Old Market in London where twice a year you can find enthusiastic label bosses old and young emerging from dank offices and dark venues to engage with enthusiastic punters.

On balance I think I probably preferred this to Record Store Day this year - you don't have to get up ridiculously early, it's less busy, there's not as many pointless re-issues to buy, and it's great to get a chance to talk to the label owners and even some of the acts themselves. This year it had the added bonus of a brewers market as well, so you could sample the brews of various London breweries as you wandered round - I had a nice Christmassy ale from the Windsor & Eton Brewery to quench my thirst.

So who did I visit and what did I buy? Here's are the highlights:

• First stop was Stolen Records where I bought the new East India Youth 10" from the man himself
• Then round to Modular for Erol Alkan's Rework of Tame Impala's 'Be Above It'
• To Bella Union for the 'Peace Sword' EP by The Flaming Lips
• A chat with Darren Hayman before handing him a fiver for his 'Blue House' EP
• A brilliant sales job by the guy on the Because / Phantasy stall, who talked me into buying 'Cosmic Machine - A voyage across French cosmic & electronic avantgarde (1970-1980)', which meant that I got a free copy of the handprinted new Metronomy 12"
• 3 cds for £20 from Late Night Tales, including the new Bonobo mix and Late Night Tales At The Movies, which is the first cd for a long time that Mrs Cull has asked me to turn up rather than down. These came with a free mix cd of most of the cover versions that have appeared on the Late Night Tales cds.

So overall it was a great trip - put it in your diaries for next year!

Live - in pictures: Sinkane & Young Dreams - Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, London 3/4/13

There were lots of uplifting, upbeat, warm vibes in the air in Hoxton Square tonight.

Young Dreams - Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, London 3/4/13

First on the bill were Young Dreams from Norway (London's chill must seem positively balmy to them). With classic 3-part harmonies underpinned by a tinge of African rhythms they played a polished set that really engaged the audience. Definitely a band that I'd go and see again next time they're in town.

Young Dreams 3/4/13

Headliners for the night were Sinkane - currently residents of Brooklyn, NY but with roots from around the globe.

Sinkane, London 3/4/13

Ahmed Gallab, Sinkane 3/4/13

Despite a rather patchy sound mix and intermittent problems with Ahmed Gallab's keyboard they put on a good, if rather truncated, show.













With the wind in their sails and maybe some sunshine outdoors at a festival I imagine that they'll be unstoppable.

Sinkane - Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, London 3/4/13

Video of the Day: 'Long Forgotten Boy' by Night Works

The final part in a quadrilogy of videos by Night Works and director Daniel Brereton, which brings together the storylines from the three tracks released so far - ' I Tried So Hard', 'The Eveningtime' and 'Modern European'. Who'd have thought that a man walking from Bethnal Green to Dagenham Docks via Beckton Alps could be so illuminating?

'Long Forgotten Boy' will be coming out next month on Loose Lips Records accompanied by an Erol Alkan rework.