Ten Artists You Dare Not Miss at Beacons

Ten Artists You Dare Not Miss at Beacons

With an amazing line-up that includes acts like Wild Beasts, Toots & The Maytals, Roots Manuva,  Patrick Wolf and GhostPoet – you always knew that you were in for a surfeit of musical deliciousness at this splendid boutique festival set in the stunning Yorkshire Dales.  But with such a huge variety of music to choose from, what else should you be looking out for?  Well, here is our list of 10 artists you dare not miss !


Wachs Lyrical
Greendales Stage – Friday

Wachs Lyrica (Liam Wachs) is a producer and DJ of underground dance music. Based in Leeds -  he is a resident at Vagabondz and Disrupt:on.

He also composes bespoke music for adverts, corporate videos, television and films.
Wachs Lyrical mixes the ground shaking sounds of Dubstep along with  Drum & Bass & Electronica to eager audiences all around the country.

Track ‘Feral’ whimpers and sighs. Percussion irritably itches and scratches. The elements of the keypad will start gnawing at your skirt. You will feel conscious of the fact that the deep bass sounds are lurking. And amidst all this there are yawning, cavernous gaps in the floorboards. You can slip at any moment. Then slide into the sleaze.

Link:
http://www.facebook.com/wachslyricalmusic


 
Pins
Noisey / Vice Stage – Friday


PINS is an all female four piece from Manchester consisting of Faith Holgate (vocals, guitar), Lois McDonald (guitar), Anna Donigan (bass), and Lara Williams (drums). Their deep basslines and jangly guitars make for noisy pop mixed with sultry vocals. Your be hearing a lot more about these over the next twelve months, so get on board now.

Track ‘You Don’t Need To Be’ is ghostly. Wind howls through the bare limbed trees. Cool moon-beams flicker on a wintry night. You can hear an anxious clomp-clomp sound coming towards you through the fallen leaves. Frosty branches of sound gradually loom into view. And the abstract, almost illuminous, spectral vision of Faith’s cool voice wisps around in the darkness. Cymbals stir as the last leaves that cling stubbornly to icy branches, are left dancing in the cold night air. Crisp and magical.

Link:
http://www.wearepins.co.uk/



 
Splashh
Noisey / Vice Stage – Saturday


This Hackney, London based Garage / Dream Pop outfit is already causing a big – er …  splashh… on the circuit down South

‘Headspins’ has a gorgeous corset-twanging bass vibe and some rousing chords that create textured layers of sound. The clean shimmering vocals from Toto Vivian (vocals), are an inviting revelation. This whole work is a passionately drawn artifact, it may well remind you of the skills and qualities of ‘Blur’ and the nostalgic peculiarity of the ‘Smith Westerns.’ Take in. And enjoy !


 
Secret Sirens
ELFM Caravan of Love – Saturday

‘Secret Sirens’ is a Pop/Indie music project created and fronted by singer/songwriter/musician Narelle Frances alongside multi-instrumentalist and music visionary Andrew Siron and a bunch of other collaborating ‘secret’ musicians to create a full live band line up.
Based in Leeds, Secret Sirens produce their music to capture images of fantasy, mythology, love and hate, to create grandiose catchy pop songs with an emotive feel and large sweeping soundscapes.  Northern for sure, but their roots are not just set in the beautiful sweeping landscapes of Yorkshire. Their music takes you on an imaginary exploration around the world and deep within your mind and heart…
‘Black Heart’ has a weighty nature- a heart of stone. Waves of rhythm are launched at you. The power-vocals of Narelle shine brightly in the darkness. That voice anoints the stonework, like so much sacrificial blood.  This song is romantic in the truest meaning of the word. Gothic, natural, shocking and dark. Earthy love.

Links:
http://www.facebook.com/secretsirens
http://youtu.be/2ZvfzTytYDQ


Goodnight Lenin
Stool Pigeon Stage – Sunday

Formed in the autumn of 2009, Goodnight Lenin’s songs are reminiscent of the singer songwriters of the 1960s & 1970s, whilst still being relevant to the modern day listener. Inspired by Dylan, Young and Simon & Garfunkel, they constantly strive to deliver honest, experience based lyrics that flow along into their carefully crafted sound that seamlessly crosses genres.

‘Wenceslas Square’ has a simplified form. But, like work from ‘Simon & Garfunkel’, the lack of obvious complexity should not put you off. This song soon grows into an enormously expansive piece-  embracing ambition and wild space. Luxuriant vocals are perfectly suited to the lofty and grand arrangements.

Link:
http://www.goodnightlenin.com/

 
Frankie & The Heartstrings
Stool Pigeon Stage – Sunday

This Sunderland band are idealist and romantic about pop. Embracing 50′s glamour and 60′s sounds, they are a living, breathing rock ‘n’ roll artwork in their own right.

‘Everybody Looks Better (In The Right Light)’ has a racy rock ‘n’ roll pace. The vocals from Frankie Francis may remind you of  a light  ‘Gene Pitney’,  but this is a fun, wise-cracking band so don’t a expect serious lament. This is a singalong, feelgood toe-tapper.  What a cracker !

Link:
http://www.facebook.com/frankieandtheheartstrings


 
Admiral Fallow
Stool Pigeon Stage – Sunday

You should have heard Admiral Fallow by now.  If you haven’t, then you are in for a treat !
Admiral Fallow is a Scottish musical group formed in 2007 by singer/song-writer Louis Abbott and based in Glasgow. They write and perform folk/pop.

New album “Tree Bursts In Snow” is out now on Nettwerk.  Q Magazine gave it four stars in June 2012.
‘The Paper Trench’ has that rolling rhythm we expect from Admiral Fallow. Vocals are shared and dispersed amongst the rustling folk sounds. The chorus is a holy thing.  Held up like a candle, it will enchant you.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/AdmiralFallow
http://youtu.be/v9Hj8bVqcig



XXXY
Greendales Stage – Sunday

Hailing from Manchester, Rupert Taylor, aka xxxy, is one of bass music’s most forward thinking producers.
Having spent his youth in various bands xxxy finally decided to hang up his guitar and mic and began producing electronic music fuelled by his love at the time of drum and bass and techno.
‘Bash’ overlaps and undulates. Booms blossom in the magical air. Grasp the handrail, because this is gonna be a long, hard night. Chirrups of sound flicker into view. And all the time that feverish beat clamours and haunts. Addictive.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/triplexy

 
The Wave Pictures
Noisey / Vice Stage – Sunday

The Wave Pictures are an indie rock band consisting of David Tattersall (vocals and guitar), Franic Rozycki (bass guitar) and Jonny Helm (drums). Their homespun byronic ditties have been delighting fans since 1998 (The Blind Summit days.)

Track ‘If You Leave It Alone’  is a wavering, quavering lament.  Lightly accompanied by tatty drums and an elegant bass. It’s the vocals from David Tattersall that will entice you. Half ‘Morrissey’ and half ‘Anderson’ – the voice daintily sprites about like a lost foal. This song is whimsically lyrical and, at it’s core,  broken-hearted.  Sad, long-faced and moody.

‘Sugar Maple Charcoal‘  is more hoppy. It is still as naively cute and as squeaky clean as Sunday school may-polers,  and it has that trademark rubbery bass that doesn’t so much thump along – as stumble along.  This is stripped-down pop and the clean lines and the clear vision are almost hypnotic.

Link:
http://www.facebook.com/thewavepictures

 
seas-of-green
ELFM Caravan of Love – Saturday

Seas of Green are a lo-fi Indie Pop four piece from Leeds.A young DIY musical collective formed in 2009 with the current incarnation of the band playing together since September 2011. Seas-Of-Green are positively genre schizophrenic, an ever changing, mutating, disbanding, reforming band who pride themselves on their pop hooks and being a little odd.

‘Bearpit‘ – This is joyously jangly.  Percussion is flamboyant and driven. Waves of gorgeous paper-thin chords are strewn into the air. The voice is emotional and picturesque.  The pace changes to a softer rhythm. Then tiny sparks of guitar create a party of fireflies – it is then that the foot-tapping chorus starts to really sink in. Invigorating and clever.

Link: http://www.facebook.com/seasofgreen
http://youtu.be/_otarAyXxgo

Juffage Will Play Live at Beacons

 
Juffage aka Jeff  T. Smith (based in Leeds)  is a solo sound artist and multi-instrumentalist.

A recording enthusiast at heart, Jeff has spent time in Chicago’s finest studios such as the Engine Studios (w/ Brian Deck), and Electrical Audio (w/ Steve Albini).

His compelling live performances bring these multi layered recordings to the stage, utilizing drums, basses, cassettes, guitars, synths, seamless live-looping, and super-colossal multitasking to construct complex, yet surprising catchy pop songs.

In June of 2011, his album ‘Semicircle’ was released on Function Records to critical acclaim. After the release, he played 90 + shows in the United Kingdom and Europe.

Now fans can enjoy the extraordinary vision and exciting performance of Juffage live at the Beacons Festival – Skipton – on Saturday 18 August 2012. ( On the Noisey  / Vice Stage.)

Title track ‘Semi Circle’ from last year’s album begins with a ghostly chorus that shines like burning coals. Some jarring rasps of guitar displace the unctuous organ sound found beneath the lip of the verse. The limping vocals tread carefully amongst the strewn debris created by the instruments. An intrusion of chromium sounds, gleaming protrusions and angular hooks, spray up. These evolve imperceptibly into something generous and equally gorgeous.

‘120/240’  gurgles as it runs in rivulets down a steep canyon. This is the essence of creation envolted.  And the track ‘Small Fires’ is joyous and blessed.  A blanched vocal sits atop a dusty structure. Although windswept by the turmoil, the lyric maintains its dominance and achieves ascendancy.

‘Stop Making Music’ is even ‘counted in’ like a ‘real’  rock ‘n’ roll standard. But the rhythms lazily limp along. And a lightly etched vocal is slightly offset against a higher positioned descant vision. The beauty of this structure is found in the iced walls of percussion and the paper thin instrumentality.

‘My Weakness’ is like being hit hard in the face by a handful of feathers. Not entirely pleasant nor comfortable. But harmless. Bubbling keyboards wobble around the place precariously, like newborn fawns. And all the while the big verses clomp along in a folksy fashion.

– © Neil_Mach August 2012 –
Link:

http://juffage.com

Visions of Trees Album Review

East London male-female duo ‘Visions of Trees’, ( Sara Atalar and Joni Juden) create moody electro-pop.

Sometimes gloomy, always unexpected. Their music is inspirational and can never be taken for granted.
Festival goers can see the duo perform live at this year’s Beacons Festival on the Greendales Stage (on Friday).

Beacons is a fresh art & music boutique festival for the North, set upon the stunning Yorkshire Dales.

The band have now released their first album on the Something In Constuction label entitled ‘Visions of Trees’.

Here we take a listen:

The ‘Visions of Trees’ self titled album begins with ‘Isolates’ -  a cheeky hoisin. A spicy, peppery soup of chip-chop beats and slices of fried and flipperty fragments. Sizzling.

‘Turn 2U’ is more spatial. Eddies of flickering colour gather around the central motif – a sweet breathy voice that is as light as a feather and as clingy as a cobweb. A distant rhythm begins to form, and this starts to become stronger with the progression of the song.  It is then that the dainty fragments of sensitive keys start to flit and fly  up – like loose chippings  – to pin-prick your face.

‘Ocean Floor’ has a mouthful of throbbing, heaving sounds. Drawing in and out painfully. The eerie voice shines like the moon in a sterling mist. The gloops tide and bubble – and the world  remains silvery firm, and proudly steadfast, above the deep blue.

‘With You’ is esoteric and private. A voice whispers to you confidentially. Charming and crystal clear. A windfall of pleasurable sound rushes in to swamp you. But by then it is secret love.

‘Everything Awaits’ is a brilliant pick ‘n’ mix bag of nuggets. The angelic voices rise and fall gently,  like the breath of a lover in recovery. The pace grows ever more urgent – and glass towers pop up randomly-   at intersecting intervals. These cause small fissures within the dense mesh-like woven structures created by the sound.

– © Neil_Mach August 2012 –

Link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Visions-of-Trees/159352548268

Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North

“When someone comes to you in a dream and tells you to make an album about your homeland – the Orkney islands- would you disregard it?“

Especially when,  it seems, the the figure who invaded your dreams was none other than the ghost of Betty Corrigall, an Orcadian girl who killed herself in the 1770’s -  having been cast out by her village.

Last year this haunting dream inspired singer-songwriter Erland Cooper to gather together his Erland & The Carnival band mate Simon Tong and singer/orchestral arranger Hannah Peel (of last year’s solo ‘The Broken Wave’ album) to form a new group called The Magnetic North, with a distinct purpose – to write and record an ‘Orkney’ based Symphony -  Of  ‘The Magnetic North’.

The Magnetic North can be experienced live on Saturday at the Stool Pigeon Stage at the wonderful BEACONS festival.

Beacons is a fresh art & music boutique festival for the North. Set upon the stunning Yorkshire Dales.

We took a listen to Orkney: Symphony of the Magnetic North and here’s what we thought:

The album starts with the simple piece ‘Stromness’. The word Straum refers to strong currents that rip past the Point of Ness through Hoy Sound – and this introduces us to the sound experiences developed during this whole project.

Tidy and haunting drums start off  the track ‘Bay of Skaill’  together with downwards spiraling guitar chords. Somnolently tender vocals drift, like empty clouds, across the bleached landscape.  Tenderness is found in the spray-like sweetness of the vocals from Hannah. Sprinkles of frosty delicacy flitter around. Like a spring tempest, things busily build up, and the birds flutter back to shelter as the lanterns flicker on.

‘Hi Life’ has a whirlwind pace and a sickly churning rhythm. The tunes loop like coils of rope on a beach of crystal salt. Softly whispered lyrics shine. Spirals of voice hoop and flume in ever increasing circles. And all the time, the wind moans softly through the tides.

‘Betty Corrigal’ – In the 1770’s, in a remote cottage in Hoy, lived a young woman named Betty Corrigall. At the age of 27 years, Betty’s life was left in ruins. The man she had loved, and who had made her pregnant, abandoned her and ran to the call of the sea. The condemnation of the locals, and the trauma and shame of the situation, were too much for the poor girl. Betty decided to take her own life. An attempt to drown herself in the briny sea was foiled when she was rescued and brought back ashore by neighbours. But the respite was brief. Some days later she hanged herself. This song evokes the nature of pain and anxiety of  a woman who finds herself at the mercy of those ever-present,  vindictive tides. The call of the sea was strong, too strong, for both Betty and her lover. The haunting melody leeches into your soul.

‘Radwick’ sounds like the beginning of a sombre service in a stony chapel. Wind plays against the frames of the locked down windows. Moss drips from the alcoves. Damp and fragile vocals linger. This is a world hidden by moisture and regret.

‘The Black Craig’ is acidic, flinty and coarse. Isolated paths worm their way to the darkening summit. Each step is such brutal agony. But the wind and the rain are your fateful companions on this journey to the end.

‘Yesnaby’ is renowned for its sea-stacks and other alarming geological features. Similarly, this piece evokes real emotions of fear and trembling – the feeling of being at the mercy of the full brutality of nature at her most powerful. A power that is so dominant and so ageless that you may never escape it.

This is a distinctly emotional and a somewhat lonely album. But consolation can be found within it’s tranquil seclusion and the serene gracefulness that it offers.

– © Neil_Mach August 2012 –
Link:
http://www.facebook.com/themagneticnorth