I love Psych Fest. It's one of my favourite days of the year. A whole day travelling to various venues on or around Manchester's Oxford Road watching as many bands as you can. It's incredible value for money, especially if you buy an early bird ticket. It's also an amazing way of discovering a number of great obscure bands who otherwise wouldn't appear on my radar, and this year is no exception. It will be hard pressed to top last years Psych Fest though which is probably the best festival I've ever been to as every band was excellent, including my live set of the year (Slift, which was also my album of the year too).
Fuzz Lightyear are the first band I catch at the Deaf Institute, and it is a really healthy turnout for a fairly unknown band, They open with a rock solid groove topped with shouty vocals. It reminds me of Italia 90's form of post-punk and is a great way to start the set. The second track is built upon a driving beat and is a bit more intense. The third track is Gurriers style post-punk with some inventive guitar work. 'My Body' is thrilling, with an infectious chorus and some exhilarating guitar playing although guitarist/vocalist Ben Parry gets a bit carried away and briefly sabotages his pedals. The equally memorable 'Visual Effect' is amazing too. 'The sludgy, industrial throb of 'Berlin, 1885' is excellent. All the band are great but the bassist Varun truly looks like he doesn't give a fuck and at the end he lobs his bass into the crowd. It's a really good showing. Psych Fest is a great place to see bands on their way up (Fat Dog, Gurriers, Lambrini Girls and Royel Otis all played last year) and it wouldn't surprise me if Fuzz Lightyear were much more popular this time next year.
It's a quick trip across the road to The Bread Shed next for the husband and wife drone duo, Skloss. They open with a guitar riff which sounds a bit like Status Quo's 'Pictures Of Matchstick Men' but it is twisted and distorted into something heavy and hypnotic. Earth (both early period and the later material) are a pretty obvious influence. The effects laden vocals really draw you into their universe. If anything, their songs aren't long enough, stopping abruptly when I'd happily have them continue for another five minutes. It's heavy, mesmeric and is the kind of music where you close your eyes and see where your mind takes you. The monstrously heavy groove they create often reminds me of Kyuss' spacier moments too. Skloss are definitely right up my street.
Next it's over to YES for LA's Cryogeyser. They play shoegazey alt rock which has hints of Belly about it. It's pretty decent but is nothing I haven't heard before. The singer Shawn sings mainly on one level. She sounds much better when she opens up and it is much more affecting. It's mildly hypnotic and mildly affecting but they never seem to fully get there and that isn't enough I'm afraid.
I take the long walk to Projekts Skatepark, right under the Mancunian Way, to watch The Moonlandingz. Frontman Lias Saoudi enters on to the stage bare chested and wearing a bright yellow mac. He also has a large photo of Corrie's Bev and Jim McDonald clingflimed to him which is both hilarious and guaranteed to endear him to a Manc audience. They open with the mightily funky 'The Insects Have Been Shat On' and both Lias and his co-vocalist are going for it straight away. 'Black Hanz' is dance heavy party music. They have a chaotic rave era Happy Mondays feel about them. '...I.D.S' is joyous indie rave which inhabits the same space as Fat Dog but, to be fair, every song is a goddamn party. Other genre splicing bands such as 'Screamadelica' era Primal Scream are also brought to mind. Lias gets down onto the barrier for a euphoric 'The Sign Of A Man'. There's an anarchic punk quality to The Moonlandingz even though the music is eminently danceable.
The logistics of an event like Psych Fest with multiple bands playing one after another means that after one band finishes, the next band sets up, and soundchecks and line checks often happen while the crowd are waiting for them to play. Kit Sebastian overrun with their soundcheck and they don't seem entirely happy when they start their set. They open with the '60s style funky psych pop of 'Faust'. It has a French feel (think Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg) whilst the addition of the eastern style guitar make it an exotic mix. 'Bul Bul Bul' features twinkling keys and sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a cool club scene in movies like 'Blow Up' or 'Get Carter'. The middle eastern psych pop of 'Metropolis' is great whilst the tropical middle section takes us to the beaches of Brazil. Their cover of Turkish diva Sezen Aksu's 'Şinanay' is dripping with attitude and the singer Merve sounds great on it. 'Göç/Me' has a deliciously sleazy, funky groove and features some terrific guitar work. Kit Martin's guitar playing is very distinctive and gives them a pretty unique style. Merve's vocals always provide a contrast, providing a Franco flavour when the instrumentation has a heavier middle eastern feel and bringing the Turkish vocal style when the music is more western psych pop, but it's a lovely, well balanced mix.
The key to a good Psych Fest for myself is research and judgement. In the the months leading up to Psych Fest. I listen to every single band to discover the gems I might not have heard of and to work out who I want to see the most. Once I've done that and the clashfinder has come out then it's a matter of judgement. How can I best see the bands I want to see the most? Some venues are tiny and you often have to gauge how popular a band might be and for the smaller venues, it's usually a good idea to get to there ten to fifteen minutes before the set time. It's for this reason that I leave Kit Sebastian early so I can get to my most anticipated set, Mojo & The Kitchen Brothers in the YES basement.
Mojo & The Kitchen Brothers open with a jammed intro to 'Titan Arum' which sounds like a proggier take on Sabbath's 'War Pigs'. The track itself is gentle prog which builds until it transforms into something extremely heavy. From here they go straight into the blazing space rock of '...Trail Of The Space Sasquatch' It's incendiary, it's intense and the crowd love it. 'Mr. Goblin Found The Electric Sugar' has a motorik groove which is punctuated by moments of sheer heaviness. It's fucking ridiculous but it is incredible too. Both vocalists are good, particularly the drummer who does the higher pitched parts. I can't believe how much heavier they are than the records. Fucking superb. Unfortunately, I forgo the opportunity to buy some merch so that I can run over to The Bread Shed to catch C.O.F.F.I.N. When I get there, it is nowhere near as busy as I thought it would be so maybe I could have bought a Mojo t-shirt after all.
It's a high octane start for C.O.F.F.I.N. (that's Children Of Finland Fighting In Norway) with the Hellacopters style balls out rock of 'Cut You Off'. I'm immediately taken with the bassist who gets massive props for his Rest In Power Riley Gale shirt. The second track 'Lover's Leash' is even faster, with the steamrolling rock and roll bringing Zeke to mind. The drummer is playing so hard he knocks his cymbal clean off it's stand. He carries on playing which is impressive enough, doubly so when he has to sing lead vocals too. 'Cum In The Street', like most of the tracks, is turbo powered, punk fuelled rock 'n' roll built on rock solid riffs and topped with a rough yet catchy chorus. Everything is dynamic and filled with hot, sweaty energy which is all you need from rock really. The UFO flavoured 'Give Me A Bite' is incendiary. Being Australian, there is a punked up AC/DC feel to them so it is no surprise when they rip out a red hot cover of 'Riff Raff'. 'Beasts', which is described as their song for dancing, is slow and dirty blues which climaxes in a turbo charged thrashabout. 'Fast Love' is fantastic, with it's yobbish chorus. The singer gives an impassioned speech about genocide before launching into a killer 'White Dog'. The closing 'Through The Sewer' is a high energy blast. Awesome.
I intended to stay out longer and watch Formal Sppeedwear and then later on Adult DVD and Silverwingkiller but my phone is on the verge of dying and seeing the queue outside the Deaf Institute when Formal Sppeedwear should be playing solidifies my decision to call it a night.
Another fantastic Psych Fest. It's still cracking value for money. Was it better than last year? Probably not, but it wasn't far behind.
C.O.F.F.I.N. *****
Mojo & The Kitchen Brothers *****
Kit Sebastian ****
The Moonlandingz ****
Cryogeyser ***
Skloss ****
Fuzz Lightyear ****
No comments:
Post a Comment