Beachdown Festival 2008

Beachdown is brand spanking new 4 day festival up on the Sussex Downs. The line up consisted of a lot of brighton bands, lots of obscure bands no-one had ever heard of, some shitty "Big Names" and De La Soul. I arrived on friday evening due to having worked at a One Night Only gig the night before (lets not even go there..). Spent the first night drinking red wine in the dance tent watching in no particular order, Utah Saints, Krafty Kuts, and A-Skillz. It was enjoyable enough. Woke up on saturday and pissed around for a few hours until The Kleptones came on and did their mash-up ting, which had a nice festival viiiibe. Caught the last half of RestlessList which was nothing new then headed over to see The Maccabees. They were dope as usual, and the new songs sound better every time i hear them which is good news! Had to miss Kissy Sell Out after this because De La Soul were coming on. For some spastic reason, they'd been put on the second stage even though they blatantly pulled the biggest crowd of the weekend, so it was a bit squashed. They fuckin killed it though, well good show. EVEN THOUGH they didnt play "3 Is the Magic Number". wankers. Walked past the Magic Numbers and shouted general abuse, then headed to the dance tent to see Pat Mahoney from LCD Soundsystem. Id been looking forward to this for a while, but was so fuckin disappointed it was untrue. It was just the most monotomous house music ive ever heard in my life and some wanker with dreadlocks (not newton faulkner unfortunately) was bloody BREAKDANCING in front of me. If i hadnt been gurning out, i wouldve slapped the cunt.
Sunday consisted of a horrible feeling in my head for most of the day. Saw the last half of Heels Catch Fire who i think are one of brightons best live bands. Pissed around for quite a few hours until Bonobo, which i really enjoyed. Was perfect "lets roll an afghan zoot" music. So after that chill sesh, went to go and drink tequila slush-puppies (yes really) and wait for The Beat to come on. The Beat were also pretty disappointing. Well i say pretty disappointing, i thought they were shit, so we fucked off and saw some of Maths Class who ive seen far too many times to really comment on, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. After this we went to see Fun Lovin' Criminals who are basically just a fuckin easy listening band with swearing and references to cocaine and weed. So after they'd played Scooby Snacks, we fucked off. Caught a bit of Mr Scruff but i wasnt really in the mood so only stayed for about half an hour.
Monday i got up and felt so shit i had to go see some music to try and cure my hangover. Saw Left Hand Red on the brighton stage who despite their terrible name, were actually alright. After that it was Horace Andy which was good without being great. Fuckin legend though that bloke. Fucked off seeing Jose Gonzalez 'cos im not a fanny, and waited for Nouvelle Vague who were really fuckin fit and a lot better than i thought they'd be, cos i really dont like them on record that much. Gogol Bordello finished the festival but my days intake of ketamine started to creep up on me, and all i remember is i kept forgetting i was watching a band. Music finished at 9 on monday so after that, got the 15 minute bus ride home (what a fuckin luxury that is) and passed the fuck out.
In conclusion ladies and jellyspoons, Beachdown has the potential to be a good inclusion into Brightons summer line up, but as of yet isnt really there. The line up was pretty shoddy and the location has plenty of room for a much bigger capacity, but seeing as it was the first year, i hope this will all be sorted out in time for next year. BRAP.


Picture by Kenny Street

Loop Festival 2008

Loop is a one day festival in the middle on Brighton that apparently "celebrates digital culture" and it does this by having a varied mix of (mostly electronic) bands, lots of animation and keraZy visuals.
I started off the day in the sallis benney theatre, watching some animation that started lecturing me about climate change too much for my liking. Then we saw some jazz drummer bloke which i just thought was wanky bollocks. After this we went into the real arena for an over priced beer and a sit down. The first proper band we saw were The Bays, who were some half-improv live synth fest - they were alright but nothing too special. After that Caribou came on who were brilliant. Im not the biggest fan on record but it really was a great gig. The lead vocalist had his own drum kit that he would switch between playing and singing, and the use of two drum kits really gave them what i feel is missing from the records. Next up we saw Fourtet i think? I found him really boring actually, which was a big disappointment. Then we rolled around the floor for a while until Holy Fuck came on. Having missed both brighton gigs they've played recently, i was really looking forward to them. Unfortunately i can only remember about 5 minutes of the gig, but remember it being proper sick. After that we walked around in a K'd state for a while, then left. I did go to the Komedia for Loop Late which Bonobo amongst others were playing, but i was too drunk and couldnt handle it so left pretty sharpish. All in all a bloody good day. Roll on 2009..

Caribou - After Hours (Live)



Holy Fuck - Lovely Allen (Live)

Newton Falkner

I think the thing i want to happen most in the world is for me to see this bloke in the street, and for me to start strangling him to death with his stupid fucking ginger dreadlocks while i forced him to sing this cover version, slowly going faint until the falsetto part proves to be too much and he ends up dying in my arms with a look of "why?" in his eyes.

The Raveonettes - Whip it On (2002)

The Raveonettes are a danish duo who were a real "Hype band" when this album came out in 2002. I remember dismissing them as some Kills cover band and havent really bothered listening to them since. HOWEVER, i decided to the other day, and its actually really good. Its simple, distorted smacked out rock and every song on the album is under 3 minutes long and in the key of B flat minor. fascinating stuff. Basically every song sounds pretty much exactly the same and has the exact same structure, but this doesnt seem to matter. The lyrics are pretty dark (when you can make them out) and the simplicity of it all makes the easiest riff sound amazing. If that makes sense? The best tune is either Beat City or Cops on our Tail, but its not the kind of album where you can just listen to one track, you need to listen to the whole album to get a real feel for it. I havent checked out any of the more recent stuff, anyone know if its any good? i dont really care enough to fill up my harddrive with it..

Pendulum

Now i know that they probably think they're really pushing DNB boundaries and bringing it to a new audience, but do they really have to make it sound like two songs that dont go together being played at the same time while you have your throat slit? It truly is fucking awful. All its gunna achieve is little pussy indie kids goin to drum and bass nights and getting fuckin battered. hmm actually, maybe Pendulum are cleverer than i thought...



VampirateFangs08 (1 day ago) Show Hide
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My cousin plays this at full volume in his car. Its kewlness =]