From the moment I first heard about Flit, a new project from Martin Green the accordionist and electronic experimenter with folk trio Lau, I was immediately intrigued. For not only was the subject material, that of social migration, something a little bit different from the norm, but the list of collaborators on the record included a number of people that at one point or other in my life have created music that has moved me in some way. These names include Adrian Utley of Portishead, a band that created two of my favourite studio albums of all time, as well as a fantastic live album and were responsible for one of my most memorable performances at Glastonbury Festival (which you can read about here). There’s also Becky Unthank, from folk sisters The Unthanks, whose records have cropped up regularly on my end of year lists including one at the very top (see here). Then there’s sometimes sordid Scottish wordsmith Aidan Moffat from Arab Strap, who besides creating The First Big Weekend (one of my favourite singles of 1996) and the rather excellent Philophobia LP) also once received a review by the NME of a gig at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms which made reference to some tribal style dancing by a small section of the audience. I was one of those dancers. Add in the likes of Karine Polwart, Anaïs Mitchell and Mogwai’s Dominic Aitchison and you have a very interesting project. With Green and Flit going on the road this week with their multi-media show (sadly I can’t make my local date in Brighton) it seems a good time to feature the song The Suitcase from the record. Starting with a spoken word piece by Aidan Moffat the track then moves into a darkly claustrophobic electronic soundtrack with Becky’s voice bringing a traditional purity and human beauty and Dominic Aitchison providing the lower sounds. It’s one of my favourite pieces on the album, which features songs that range from tragically sad to heart-warming.
The seventh record on our Albums of 2015 list is Mount The Air by The Unthanks. They’re another act (like Chvrches and Charli XCX - already featured on this list) who have had other long-players on past Breaking More Waves Albums of the Year lists, and like Chvrches have also topped it with the breathtaking Last in 2011. Mount The Air is another remarkable body of work – and the emphasis is on the words body of work. For this is a weighty collection of songs, clocking in at over an hour, that finds the band expanding their repertoire way beyond their original folk roots to encompass jazz and orchestral sounds; it is dare we say it a progressive album. Brought together in The Unthanks’ own studio this record contains the band’s most ambitious and uncompromising song ever - the title track - which is an extraordinary thing of power and beauty that takes an arrow from the bow of the band Elbow and fires it high and soaring way beyond anything else they’ve done. It’s worth buying the record for that track itself. It’s not all grand and sweeping though, elsewhere there’s ghostly piano balladry (which sometimes harks back to a sound found on their third record, the Mercury nominated The Bairns, recorded as Rachel Unthank & The Winterset) vocal eerie minimalism (on the spectral Magpie), waltzes (The Poor Stranger) and tasteful twilight cinematic folk ambience on songs such as Last Lullaby. Mount The Air adds to The Unthanks ever growing ever impressive back catalogue and suggests that with their next recording they really could go anywhere. The Unthanks - Mount The Air (Short Single Version)
Trying to write a preview of Glastonbury Festival (or to give it its full title – The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts) is as impossible as trying to stifle a yawn. Not that there’s anything remotely yawnsome about the festival itself – except the punishing tiredness that may kick in after it’s all over. For Glastonbury is huge – you probably know that much. In fact the way we like to think of Glastonbury isn’t one gigantic festival, it’s like many festivals within one festival; and because of that every person who goes will have a very different experience as they search for pleasure. Some will just watch the big stars on the Pyramid and the Other Stage (the ones the media tend to focus on, giving in our opinion a rather sanitised and unrealistic view of the festival) some will take in a little bit of everything, whilst others will see very little live music all weekend, instead exploring the many other weird and wonderful attractions the festival has, from cabaret to circus to political debate to craft and so much more. We’d need to write a novel to cover everything and the internet is already full of stuff about the event. However, if you’re going this year and are a Glastonbury virgin we recommend you read our tips from last year (here) which still all hold true. What we would like to tell you about, if you’re at all interested, is our own personal history with the festival. Breaking More Waves first trip to Glastonbury was in 1994. It was the year that the Pyramid Stage burnt down just a few days before the start date and had to be replaced with an alternative structure. In those days there wasn’t the massive internet scrum there is now for tickets. In fact the internet didn’t even exist. We purchased our tickets by sending a cheque (£59 for a ticket) to a PO Box number and picked them up from a lady sitting in a caravan on the site when we arrived. There used to be a phrase that ran something along the lines of “if you can remember Glastonbury you probably weren’t actually there,” and it’s true that we remember very little of that year. Not because of some hedonistic attempt to get off our faces on drugs, but just that we’ve been to so many festivals since that they all blur into each other. Things that we do recall are that it was blazing hot, that we saw Pulp, Blur and Oasis (who were virtually bottom of the bill at that point) all perform stunning sets on the second stage as Brit Pop began to accelerate towards 90’s domination, that Bjork was an incredible bundle of dancing prancing energy and vocal brilliance, that M People captured a polished joy that demonstrated that Glastonbury was no longer a festival for just crusties and hippies, that on Sunday morning part of the site was shut off as there had been a shooting incident, that elsewhere we heard that someone died of a drugs overdose (the first ever death on site) and most importantly that whilst we were there the first cracks in the relationship with the person we were living with and thought was going to be our life partner appeared. By Christmas that year we had separated. Since that time, we’ve been back to Glastonbury a number of times – not every year, but on average about once every three years. We’ve experienced some of the most apocalyptic weather and conditions we’ve experienced in a tent at Glastonbury. The mud of 1997 and 1998 in particular was horrendous. After Glastonbury 1997 the first ever Breaking Waves fanzine was published. It was 38 pages long and contained a 19 page review of the mud bath event in diary form. Reading back now it seems that our highlights were Daft Punk, Radiohead and Dennis Pennis having to fill for the The Prodigy when something went wrong with their equipment and they had to leave the stage. In 1998 we went with our new girlfriend, her first Glastonbury, and had to endure a river running through the middle of our tent. The fact that she didn’t complain once and just got on with things probably explains why she’s still our partner (and mother of our 2 children) now. In 2003 we took our children to their first Glastonbury and had a very different experience – spending the mornings relaxing in the sun in the kid’s field, with ‘headliners’ such as Bodger & Badger before catching the likes of REM, Radiohead (again) and the Flaming Lips on the Pyramid stage at night with our children drifting off to sleep in pushchairs. Everything about it was glorious and it was probably the first time ever that we really didn’t want to come home afterwards. That was the year we really found that ‘Glastonbury spirit’ that people talk about; a spirit of humanity coming together, co-operating and appreciating each other, whatever their views on the world outside. 12 years on and with the children now teenagers we’re beginning to believe they are charmed – they’ve now been to over 20 festivals and have yet to experience any sort of major mud bath – in fact they’ve only had to wear wellies (because of wet grass more than anything) for just 1 of those festivals they have attended. They also seem to have found a little bit of that Glastonbury spirit themselves, being pretty empathetic kids who seem to be far more tolerant of differences than many people from generations above them. They give hope for the future. More recently, Breaking More Waves was invited to become one of the music writer judges for the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, for which we receive a complimentary ticket for the festival as thanks for helping filter through some of the thousands of entries that are submitted for the competition every year. The last two years this ticket has been a press ticket meaning that we’ve been able to camp in the reserved hospitality campsite on site giving us privileges such as showers, ‘real’ flushing toilets and a hospitality car park that is close to the site. It’s something we’re extremely grateful for, getting that bit older and having slummed it in some pretty horrendous conditions at other points of our Glastonbury history. We feel like we’ve grown up with the festival. We’re guessing that this is not uncommon for those who have been going for many years. We’ve watched it get bigger and cater for the mainstream masses , and its undoubtedly become safer in many respects (not only in some of its main stage music selections but the actual site itself – the installation of the super fence may have alienated some, but when lives were being put at risk without it, it needed to happen), but at its heart the old fashioned alternative hippy spirit still resides there, or at least as close as you can get to it in these days of corporate greed, social media that’s often anti-social and lifestyles that in the main seem to be all about the individual rather than society. Glastonbury (in the main) brings us back to a concept of society – albeit one that is drunk, wasted and hungover. If you’re going this year, have a fantastic time however you choose to experience the festival. Look after those you’re going with, and make friends with / keep an eye out for strangers there as well. Musical tips? Oh go on then. The Unthanks with an orchestra to wash away your hangover at 11am on Saturday opening the Pyramid Stage (streaming below), Kate Tempest (various stages) delivering her optimistic words and beats and of course, Lionel Richie if only to see if he starts with Hello. If he does, we'll probably cry and laugh at the same time. The Unthanks - Flutter
As The Unthanks new album Mount The Air draws ever nearer to being with us, the band has released Flutter, a new single. Flutter drifts from the group's original template of covering traditional Northumbrian folk songs to something that we’d very loosely term as soothing orchestral jazz pop. Co-written by Becky Unthank and Adrian McNally of the band it not only marks a shift in sound but demonstrates how the ownership of The Unthanks has changed from when it appeared from the outside to be very much Rachel Unthank’s project, even taking the name Rachel Unthank & The Winterset. Whilst Rachel is still key to what The Unthanks do, here she takes a backseat and passes over all of the vocals to her sister. We’re not sure how many singers could leave their egos at the door and do something like this for a lead single off an album, but maybe the family bonds between the two sisters (and Adrian being Rachel’s husband) make these things easier. Or maybe (as we suspect is the case) they're all just a really nice and ego free bunch of people. The Unthanks - Flutter (Video)
It gives us great pleasure today to feature a new song from a band that we’ve only featured a tiny handful of times on the blog, who certainly don’t fit in with much of the poppier side of the music spectrum that we seem to spend a lot of time getting excited and writing about, or indeed the next big thing culture that music blogging almost inevitably leads to. They are without a shadow of doubt one of our favourite bands of the last ten years; the only band to make us shed a tear twice at their shows, the only band that every time we’ve seen them (and it’s in to double figures now) have offered something different every single gig. This is The Unthanks and this is their new song Mount The Air. Released on their own label RabbleRouser, despite offers from major labels, Mount The Air is the title track from the band’s new LP due for release next year, although the single version is half the length of the full ten minute version that will be found on the long-player. Recorded in old granary building that has become their own makeshift studio it is the first studio release from the band since their 2011 LP Last which we named as our favourite LP of the year (see why here), a record that we described as having a real purity to it that we haven’t heard on any other record that year. Mount The Air finds The Unthanks taking bold steps forward, exploring new territories, seemingly not content to just be seen as folk band. The song, which was written by Adrian McNully (husband of Rachel Unthank) with some lyrics by Rachel’s sister Becky, features trumpet courtesy of Tom Arthurs, a former BBC New Generation Artist and Elysian Quartet collaborator. The instrumentation gives the song an initially wintery feel before it develops into something loose and jazzy. It’s The Unthanks at their most free sounding. Then just when you think you’ve got the picture it heads further skywards as if the band have been listening to the more uplifting moments of Elbow. We can’t wait to hear it on their UK tour next year, we’ve got a feeling we’re going to blub again. The Unthanks just ooze real quality. The Unthanks - Mount The Air
This time twelve months ago The Unthanks record Last was declared Breaking More Waves favourite album of the year. Since then the band has defied the industry norm and released three more LP’s and toured with different shows. They’ve managed all of this despite singer Rachel having a baby with pianist and husband Adrian McNally. This is a group that have a massively strong work ethic; and it’s work, or rather industry, that our ninth favourite album of 2012 deals with.
Diversions Vol.3 Songs from the Shipyards contains songs The Unthanks were commissioned to create and perform as a live soundtrack to the film of the same name by Richard Fenwick. It’s a moving and emotionally complex work that manages to beautifully capture the spirit and human side of a dying but once colossal industry.
Like anything The Unthanks do, the haunting voices of Rachel and Becky Unthank elegantly shine through as they sing of jetties, dirty swearing welders, riggers, coppersmiths, metal workers and big ships carrying their loads against wonderfully sparse music arranged by McNally combining with the evocative sounds of the shipyards themselves.
Considering this album is only a ‘diversion’ we can only imagine what The Unthanks will accomplish next time when they’re less distracted, but ‘diversion’ or not, Songs from the Shipyards is still a record the band can be immensely proud of.
One sign of a successful festival is expansion. Reading took its ‘bands and not a lot else’ chaos to Leeds, Bestival took its visual aesthetic and made it more family friendly with Camp Bestival and now End Of The Road with its organic vibe, attention to detail and non-hype band musical ethos is about to do the same. The result is No Direction Home, a smaller (5,000 capacity) version of its bigger brother with a similar musical output (much of it folk / rock based) but a more northerly location on Welbeck Estate near Sheffield.
The festival promises three stages; The Lake Stage, The Electric Dustbowl and The Flying Boat Society and headlining acts are The Low Anthem, Andrew Bird and Richard Hawley.
Besides music there will be comedy, literature, the lost picture show cinema, food workshops (including brewery, baking, butchery and dairy) and possibly our favourite idea - the secret post office. The concept is that in the age of twitter, email, text and facebook there is something extra special about receiving a post card, so attendees are being encouraged to take some time out and write to friends and loved ones. The festivals postmen and women will be doing their rounds all day in the distinctive uniform with bicycle and megaphone. The idea is to provide an address as specific as possible (campsite, tent colour etc) or offer a clear description of the recipient and their likely whereabouts. If a letter cannot be delivered it will be returned to the post office where the sender can visit and arrange a redelivery.
There will also be (like End of the Road festival) a range of quality festival food and drink providers including Welbeck Farm Shop, Pizza Tabun, Wide Awake Cafe, Barnaby Sykes Pie Maker, Moorish, The Tea Stop, Le Grande Bouffe, Anni's Breakfasts, The Sea Cow, Luardos & Bhatti Wraps plus a real ale bar and the famous Somerset Cider Bus, who’s hot spiced cider is a treat and a half.
We’ll be reporting back from No Direction Home Festival shortly after it finishes (and the blog will also be taking a few days off before and during the festival), but in the meantime you can catch up with many of the artists playing an excellent Spotify playlist (linked below) as well as listen to and / or watch 4 bands that we recommend watching.
The last time we came across quirky indie popsters Django Django and their Beta Band influenced style of oddball pop on the blog was back at the start of 2010 when they were halfway up an alldayer bill in a Camden pub. With critical acclaim behind their new album now the band find themselves as serious main stage contenders.
The sweeping panoramic musical vistas of Other Lives found us proclaiming their album Tamer Animals as ‘so immaculately crafted that once your ears have heard it once, they’ll want to be treated to its elegance many, many times more,’ as we put it at number 6 in our top ten albums of the year list for 2011.
Sunday’s Lake Stage line up is pretty special. Besides the likes of Cold Specks, Richard Hawley and our next recommendation The Unthanks, there is also the wonderful Slow Club. This is a band who we’ve watched gradually develop over the last few years from a shambolic but charming mess, into a rather exhilarating and enamouring act.
Going 5 better than Other Lives, The Unthanks album Last was our favourite album of 2011. Therefore this recommendation should come as absolutely no surprise to Breaking More Waves regulars. The beauty of The Unthanks live, besides their incredible talent is that for every tour they play they do something different. For No Direction Home The Unthanks will be playing with the Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band rather than their traditional piano and strings line up. Bring your hankies, so beautifully sad are their songs they’re likely to have you in tears.
So this is it. Our favourite album of the year is Last by Northumbrian folk group The Unthanks. It’s an album that sadly hasn't cropped up on many end of year lists, yet by quite some way Last is the recording that we’ve been most affected by in 2012.
Last is certainly not an album you’d put on at a party. Its sparse arrangements, constructed out of intense piano and haunting strings, accompanied by the tear-jerking and tender vocals of sisters Rachel and Becky Unthank, are incredibly beautiful. There’s a stillness and sadness in much of Last that demands a solitary quiet winter afternoon to listen to it properly, in one sitting with no distractions – as all best albums are. Last is by no means an instant album, there’s no big pop singles, no hype and its critical praise has been reasonably under the radar. Yet let’s be absolutely clear about this, Last is the most exquisite, emotional and uniquely beautiful recorded music we’ve heard all year.
As you slowly weave your way through this enchanting but melancholy repertoire of songs it’s easy to forget that most of the tunes are not originals – so deftly do The Unthanks make them sound like their own. There’s a consistently mournful sound, Becky's breathy sultry vocals in particular giving it this quality. Irrespective of if the band are interpreting prog-rockers King Crimson’s Starless or the Alex Glasgow penned Close the Coalhouse Door, which deals with the tragedy of a mining disaster. “Close the coalhouse door, there’s blood inside,” its compelling in nature. With no artificial reverb on any of the voices and the majority of the album being recorded at home there’s a real purity to Last that we haven’t heard on any other record in 2011.
With a new baby for two members of The Unthanks, a second album The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons, Live From The Union Chapel released at the end of November and shows that have included performances with brass bands it’s been a busy year for The Unthanks.
In 2009 we named their album Here’s The Tender Coming as our eighth favourite album of the year, in 2011 Last goes seven better. As unsettling as it is beautiful, it proves without doubt, that often sad songs are the best songs. Album of the year.
When it comes to end of year best of lists there are certain albums that will be so ubiquitous that cynics will begin to challenge the idea that every pundit, journalist and music fan who produces such a list could actually like that album. Surely not everyone thinks the same? Or is it a case that certain more prominent lists influence other lists - to not feature particular critically acclaimed albums would be seen by some as not being on-the-case-enough?
When those lists are produced we’d love to see Last, the fourth LP from The Unthanks crop up on some of them. We fear however that it may be overlooked, partly because the bands traditional folk roots mean that they’re not a group that are seen as ‘cool’ or ‘trendy’ and partly because despite playing many sell out UK shows and Last having dented the UK Top 40 album chart, many people still haven’t heard of them.
If you’re one of those people who still hasn’t the fortune to hear their music, then today is a good time to start. The Unthanks timeless, sad and poignant songs are so stirring, that unless you have a very cold heart you cannot help feel anything but powerful emotions well up inside of you.
With today being remembrance Sunday The Unthanks have uploaded this new animated video for the title track of the album, directed by Nick Murray Willis, which draws on the themes of the day. In true Unthanks style, despite featuring cartoon animals, it’s really quite sad.
“Simple and moving – another Unthanks tearjerker,” someone has written in the comments section on You Tube. How true, how very true.
The Unthanks will release their second album of the year The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony and the Johnsons – Live From the Union Chapel (Diversions Vol. 1) on the 28 November and tour to support the record this winter.
“They could sing the songs of Las Ketchup and make them sound impossibly sad and beautiful,” someone once said of The Unthanks. I couldn’t agree more.
The Unthanks play folk music. Not the sort of rousing, chest-thumping, arena filling folk music that the likes of Mumford & Sons play, nor the whisky punched stomp of the likes of The Pogues from the 1980’s. No, The Unthanks play downbeat, mournful, utterly bewitching traditional folk music, much of it handed down from generation to generation.
When I was younger I always thought of folk music as being something that old men with beards and aran knitwear exclusively listened to. The closest I got to this form of music as I was growing up was probably The Waterboys album Fisherman’s Blues and much of The Pogues output, but by and large my ears weren’t open enough, my experiences not broad enough and my prejudices too strong to really give this music a chance. Yet slowly as the years have gone on folk music has become an integral part of my life. I still don’t have the aran jumper or the beard, but at least now I’m old; or older I prefer to say - although my children delight in telling me how ancient I am.
I first encountered The Unthanks when they were still known as Rachel Unthank & The Winterset, before various line-up changes and Rachel Unthank''s sister Becky committing firmly to the band after university. The moment of discovery was, like any hugely passionate music fan, at a live show. The Unthanks had just been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for their haunting second album The Bairns and so inevitably a large crowd of onlookers had gathered to watch them play at Summer Sundae Festival in Leicester in 2008, myself and my family included. The group played in the De Montford Hall, a traditional civic theatre style venue and so to ensure we got a good view (my children being only relatively small and the audience in the stalls being standing) we sat on the side balcony to watch them play. From the moments the lights went down and The Unthanks stepped on stage I fell utterly in love. The pristine spacious mix of spectral piano, lush violins and achingly beautiful Geordie accented vocals created a moment of ghost like stillness in the hall. It was captivating. Dry eyes didn’t last very long. It really felt like I’d witnessed something very special indeed.
From this moment on I became a huge fan of The Unthanks. They have now released four albums, three of which are so timeless, so tense and so bewitching that if I was naming my Top 100 albums of all time, they would all appear in the list. It’s almost impossible to pick just one song for them for this series, so exquisite are so many of them, but I’ve chosen The Testimony of Patience Kershaw from their album Here’s The Tender Coming. The lyrics are based on the real spoken testament of Patience Kershaw, aged 17, to the Royal Commission on Children’s Employment in 1842 about her life working down the mine. The words are sweetly polite but also horribly sad.
Even now as I listen to this exceptional song again, a shiver runs down my spine. In the fast world of the internet and where music bloggers forget artists that they were claiming to be the next big thing every second, the music of The Unthanks will, I’m sure, stand the test of time. The video below shows the band playing the song live.
There are 2 major music festivals on the Isle of Wight. The first, is referred to by locals or 'caulkheads' as they are sometimes known as simply 'The Festival.' The second as 'The Bestival.' There's a big observational hint in the names as to which one is superior.
Exciting, eclectic, eccentric, Bestival (to give it its proper name - there is no 'The') is undoubtedly Breaking More Waves favourite festival in the UK. Rob Da Bank’s crazy village fete / rave / gig on the Isle of Wight is a ‘must do’ date on our calendar. From the first sparsely attended event in 2004 where we watched reggae band Ori-Jah-Nal battle with wind, cold and rain to a crowd of no more than 30 people on the main stage to the 2011 spectacular where 50,000 people will descend on Robin Hill Country Park and its surroundings to witness the likes of The Cure, Public Enemy, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Mogwai and Fatboy Slim (who incidentally appeared at the 2004 event), Bestival has come a long long way.
Bestival has demonstrated how it’s possible for an independent festival other than Glastonbury to increase its capacity, sell-out and still maintain plenty of character - an endearingly madcap music show – against the corporate behemoths such as Reading and V Festival. We mention Glastonbury because there’s no doubt that Glastonbury has inspired many aspects of Bestival. In fact if we were pushed for a succinct description of Bestival we’d describe it as a smaller, less mainstream version of Glastonbury. For example this year you can, like the previous two years, witness Glastonbury stalwarts Arcadia and their stunning arena – an industrial looking 360 degree DJ stage which shoots giant 30ft flame balls from its spire and is surrounded by 12 fire breathing lamppost tree sculptures, this time located in the far reaches of the campsite.
New for 2011 there’s also the Swamp Shack, which organisers describe as “a ramshackle Louisiana bayou juke joint, topsy turvy on rickety stilt-legs and wreathed in dry ice populated by an interactive cast of True Blood-style Deep South vampires, fading Southern Belles and a host of other unwholesome night-crawlers. The venue will also play host to some of the best bands and DJ sets from the UK underground, headline appearances from some very special big-name acts and late-night live drumming old skool Jungle sessions.” It’s created as collaboration between Glastonbury Trash City co-creative director Ruby Blues and Block 9, the set-design pioneers behind the legendary NYC Downlow Gay bar.
Add to this the new roller disco area ,the Rizlab arena where Friendly Fires will experiment and collaborate with artists that have influenced them both past and present, the Psychedelic Worm and Sailor Jerry’s Ink City hosting some of the best new bands (some of whom have appeared on this blog), and many more stages (we haven’t even mentioned the Main Stage or the Big Top the two biggest arenas) and it’s easy to understand why so many people are now choosing Bestival as their festival of choice.
As always with our festival previews, we’ve posted a few musical recommendations below in audio and visual form – all the choices are some of the smaller acts that may not be so well known.
If music isn’t your thing there are plenty of other attractions to keep you busy. From crazy golf, chilled treats in the ambient forest, a freesports park, comedy and cabaret, the tomorrows world area, the W.I Tea tent, heavenly healing areas and free tea for all (subject to picking up some litter) the list is endless. Even though it’s much smaller than Glastonbury, it’s simply not possible to do and see everything on offer in the four days that it runs.
Oh and we haven’t mentioned the now traditional fancy dress on Saturday which brings a stupidly happy vibe to every Bestival. This year the theme is pop stars, rock stars and divas – it’s going to be rather strange watching The Cure play to a field of Freddie Mercury, Lady Gaga, Elvis Presley, David Bowie and Robert Smith lookalikes.
Until you’ve been to Bestival it’s difficult to appreciate the sheer chaotic brilliance of it all. If you’re not going this year, we highly recommend you grab yourself a ticket as soon as they go on sale for next year. You’ll have the time of your life.
We recommend….
The Sunday Best Forum Allstars (Big Top – Thursday)
OK, we’ll admit this is a bit of a cheat. The Sunday Best Forum Allstars is a DJ ‘crew’ in which the author of Breaking More Waves is a major participant. Formed by a bunch of reprobates from Austin - Texas, Scotland, London, The Isle of Wight and Portsmouth, the Allstars were created on the forum of the Bestival website and opened the festival in 2010 with a joyously shambolic set that possessed no ‘proper’ DJ skills, but plenty of big tunes that got the party started (see below). Our aim for 2011 is simple – to do it all again.
Lucky Elephant (Polka Dot Tent – Friday)
Back in 2009 we named Starsign Trampoline by Lucky Elephant as one of our top ten albums of the year. Now with a new album on its way there’s a chance to see this very special and unique group in the intimacy of the Polka Dot tent on Friday night. Charming, beautifully crafted songs they’re a treat for your ears.
The third of our recommendations, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis like Lucky Elephant are signed to Sunday Best records, the label arm of Rob Da Bank’s musical output. Taking 50’s rock ‘n’ roll, swing, ska, Hawaiian styles and even disco on Messing With My Life this young brother-sister-sister trio keep it in their family with mum and dad on bass and backing guitar. Their sound is so authentic that if you close your eyes you really will believe that you’ve been transported back 60 years.
Whilst essentially a pop act, former Danish ballet dancer Oh Land’s live performances carry a punchy grit and energy that has endeared her to audiences across the globe, receiving rave reviews for her shows. If you haven’t seen her yet here’s your chance.
There are 3 bands on the Bestival line up that we would kill to see. The first two are the Saturday and Sunday headliners – The Cure and Bjork, the third is The Unthanks. If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know that the sad miserablism of their gorgeous folk music is some of the most bewitching we’ve ever heard. A complete contrast to the hi-energy vibe of much of the rest of the festival, expect clog dancing, songs about babies dying and the most beautiful Geordie voices you’ll ever hear.
Bestival runs between the 8-11th September and is completely sold out. Stages and day information for the recommended acts are correct at time of publication.
Check back here shortly after the event for a review of all the important bits that make a festival, and the music as well!
End of the Road Festival is one of the success stories in another year that has seen many smaller UK festivals cancelled or run at large loses due to poor ticket sales. It has managed to buck the trend, keeping to a modest capacity and selling out several months in advance. It takes place on the 2-4 Septrember and if you're going you can find a handy clashfinder to determine what bands to see using this link.
The reasons? Probably because the festival has grown a dedicated niche fan base who return year after year knowing that End of the Road will supply the type of music they like (folk, country, indie and rock are heavy on the line up – there’s only a small amount of electronic music and the likes of hip hop or dubstep don't get a look in), in a setting they like (the lovely Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset – complete with roaming peacocks and pretty woodland), with an audience of a similar mind set to themselves, with plenty of attention to detail in the festivals design – there are little surprises round every corner that delight and enthral. End of the Road is the antithesis of the likes of V Festival in every respect and is all the better for it.
The festival sets out some of its key objectives on its website, namely that:
*You won't get all the over hyped bands headlining.
*Most bands play longer sets than usual.
*You can eat a range of quality food.
*You can drink a range of quality beers.
*The staff and security care about everyone and show respect.
*The festival takes pride in being an independent festival.
*The crowd will be there for the MUSIC.
It is this last point that is the most important. Breaking More Waves has been attending festivals for nearly 20 years and in that time one of the most noticeable changes as more and more festivals appear on the market is the behaviour of people who go. With a few exceptions, in the past people chose to go to festivals because of the music. These days an increasing number go because of the ‘experience’, ‘their friends are going’, ‘it will be a laugh’ or ‘to get wasted’. Sure these things have always happened at festivals, but in the past they’ve been secondary to the music. In the last few years there have been times when bands have played at festivals whilst a small but significant proportion of the audience stand there chatting, completely ignoring the performers, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they’re even playing. One suggestion for these changes in behaviour is the mass media coverage that festivals now get – these days it seems that as part of your summer routine it is imperative that you go to a festival – it’s as much about ‘being there’ than the music for some. Thankfully you won’t see Zane Lowe or Jo Whiley sitting in a commentary box proclaiming how amazing everything is at End of the Road Festival, which maintains a low mass media profile.
So, to the music. For this is the most important thing. End of the Road is very much a serious music lovers festival. 'Serious music lovers' is a phrase which can sound rather stuck-up and worthy, suggesting that such people are chin-stroking disdainful intellectuals who look-down on anything that isn't full of deep complexity. This isn't what we mean. Serious music lovers, real serious music lovers, will appreciate all forms of music and understand that music can be full of fun and a great source of entertainment - it doesn't all have to be weighty or have heavier connotations. One of the characteristics of serious music lovers is that they will always give a performer their full attention and respect - irrespective of if they like it or not. Thankfully End of the Road's audience is full of serious music lovers.
If you’re going here are Breaking More Waves 6 recommendations of acts to see in both audio and audio / visual form (2 for each day), although frankly we could have chosen at least 20 for this list with ease, and besides if you’re the sort of person that’s going to End of the Road you probably know all the bands on the bill anyway.
Dry The River (Friday 14.15-15.15 Woods Stage)
Fresh from slots at Reading and Leeds festivals expect edgy and rousing alt. folk rock from this London based band who are blessed with melodies, energy, delicate violins and growling walls of noise.
tUnE-yArDs is the inventive and quirky musical project of Merrill Garbus - an absolute must see at End of the Road as she hasn't bombarded the UK festival scene this summer. Mixing tribal afro-pop, funk-folk and a bold chaos of ideas to create something utterly unique her second album Whokill has been one of Breaking More Waves highlights of the year so far and we fully expect it to appear on a lot of end of year lists.
Austra (Saturday 16.00-16.45 Big Top)
Pulsing beaty synths, operatic vocals and songs that get under your skin. Like tUnE-yArDs, Austra is effectively a one woman project - that of Katie Stelmanis, but the songs are fleshed out in the live arena by an ensemble of other musicians.
We make no apology for stating that The Unthanks are one of our favourite bands of the last few years, possibly with all things considered our absolute favourite. They have now managed to produce not one, not two, but three of our most listened to albums, the latest of which - Last is an incredibly downbeat yet gorgeous folk album. Probably the only time you'll ever get to hear a band sing songs about children being buried in a mining slag heap burial disaster and enjoy it and even if you don't it will probably still be the only time you get to hear a band sing about children being buried in a mining slag heap burial disaster. The Unthanks make sadness sound utterly beautiful, but watch out for their in between song banter is often surprisingly humorous.
Lanterns On The Lake (Sunday 13.30-14.15 Big Top)
The words 'eagerly anticipated' are often used with no real justification. Eagerly anticipated by who we wonder ? Well let's be clear, the debut album by Lanterns On The Lake, released through Bella Union next month is eagerly anticipated by Breaking More Waves. The live experience of Lanterns On The Lake is like having all of your emotions crushed into a tiny box and then exploding it with everything that is life affirming.
In between two further must see acts - Laura Marling and closing headliner Joanna Newsom why not get a little bit of fuzzy C-86 indie guitar pop into your life with Jack Tatum aka Wild Nothing. His music may pay hommage to 80's bedsit indie in bucketfuls, but its well executed and has more than a sprinkling of melody.
The term new folk is now so overused that it has almost lost its meaning; any young musician with an acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle or ukulele is inevitably branded as belonging to the genre. Yet the beguiling music of The Unthanks is irrefutably not part of new folk. Rachel and Becky Unthank, the two sisters who front the group may have youth on their side, but their bewitching songs and stories have been handed down through the generations, forming part of a Northumbrian tradition. More old folk than new folk it would seem.
The Unthanks are an extraordinary talent - a group to be treasured. The heady summer warmth and stillness of the space at Brighton’s St George’s Church amplifies just how beautifully important this 10 piece’s music is. From the opening exacting piano and strings of Annachie Gordon, Becky’s voice wraps around the songs in a way that is sensuous and velvety; Rachel’s voice complimenting by being girlish, charming and full of clarity. Their tandem harmonies are knee-weakening in their loveliness. The tunes performed are often downbeat and melancholic, every instrument - a mix of violins, ukulele, trumpet, piano and percussion – perfectly played. It gets even better when the band exits the stage and the two sisters take to the floor of the church to sing without amplification – the only sound you can hear besides their spellbinding Geordie harmonies is that of hairs standing up on the backs of necks. The songs may be heavy in their subject material - the incredibly poignant The Testimony Of Patience Kershaw for example deals with the plight of a young woman working in the coal mines in the 19th century - but the music is so exquisite and evocative that the audience can only be left with the most uplifting of feelings.
Rachel and Becky have warm personalities made from amiable and often comical stage banter. Becky tells of purchasing gold shoes last time they were in Brighton – a fashion that is completely out of place in their homeland of Northumbria where their nearest neighbour is a shepherd. Shoe themes are continued with snatches of clog dancing during some of the songs, including the upbeat end-of-pier-music-hall jig of Betsy Belle which adds a whoop ’n’ hollerin’ stampede of energy to the end of the set. However, the moments of fun never trivialise the subject matter of the songs or the bands ability to deliver superbly emotive pieces - not in a false X factor ‘big moment’ way, but through meticulous instrumentation awash with subtlety. It is an exceptional live performance by an exceptional band.
As Jesus looks down from a cross above the stage, he must be thinking that he can hear heaven. And if he could speak he would probably be whispering that The Unthanks are the best live folk band in Britain.
With line up changes and sister Becky Unthank committing full time to the Northumbrian group, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset changed their name to just The Unthanks for their third album Here’s The Tender Coming. The follow up to their Mercury Prize nominated album The Bairns, Here’s The Tender Coming represents a warmer calmer feel compared to The Bairns, but is equally as good, and often as sad. As with previous recordings The Unthanks continued to tap into their local areas traditions, taking Northumbrian folk songs and tales passed down from previous generations, adding their own mark on the tunes.
The voices of Becky and Rachel remain the centrepiece of the music. Becky with a deeper breathy intonation, Rachel with a more girlish lighter pitch, their tones matching perfectly. The musicianship on every song is also exemplary, a rewarding mix of strings, piano, and guitars. The tunes the group have chosen for this album are fascinating. For example, the lyrics to The Testimony Of Patience Kershaw are the real words spoken by a 17 year old girl to the Royal Commission on Children’s Employment in 1842; the girl worked in the mines. The songs may initially not have the immediacy of the standout tracks from The Bairns, but as their steady sadness envelopes you they draw you back time and time again. One suspects this will be an album that we still listen to in twenty years time.
The Unthanks may be a relatively young band, but because of their traditional roots have not found themselves grouped in with the currently fashionable sounds of the new folk scene with groups such as Mumford and Sons, Noah and the Whale or Laura Marling. Having now recorded three albums of the highest quality The Unthanks can be proud to have created music that exists outside of any type of fashion. Here’s The Tender Coming is a timeless and captivating recording and deserves to hold a place in any folk music fans collection, old or young.
In 2008 the Mercury Music Prize nominations elevated Rachel Unthank and the Winterset from relative obscurity to a broader music audience. Their album The Bairns was included on a strong list that featured albums from Elbow, Laura Marling, Radiohead and Burial, all of which we hold in high regard. The Bairns was worthy of inclusion on the list, being a bewitching yet lyrically bleak update on traditional English folk music and in particular Northumbrian folk music. Their live show was also one of the highlights of that particular musical year.
Step forward to 2009 and a few changes have taken place for the groups third album Here’s The Tender Coming. First the band have changed their name to just The Unthanks. This change represents the long standing reality that Rachel Unthank’s sister Becky is a co-vocalist in the band, and is now fully committed to the group, whereas when the band started Becky was just about to set sail to university and her future was less clear. Secondly the line up of the group has changed with Adrian, husband of Rachel replacing pianist Stef who has left to finish her PHD. Another new member Chris Price has joined to play bass, guitar and ukulele. Niopha Keegan, violinist also remains.
So for Here’s The Tender Coming there has been a band reshuffle, but the music remains as good as ever. It may not be quite as mesmerising as The Bairns, but it is still a recording of very high quality.
Following the same pattern as The Bairns, the majority of the songs on Here’s The Tender Coming are traditional folk songs, with the addition of one self penned number Lucky Gilchrist - a track about a friend of Rachel’s that sadly died last year. Formed around a repetitive piano outpouring and accompanying strings it is one of the songs that sounds least like anything on The Bairns - with a multi layered choral backing and Rachel singing “Lucky G was full of glee, a bit like Freddie Mercury, camp and yet angry, except you had a lady.”
Elsewhere the remainder of Here’s The Tender Coming brings the groups ability to sing specific stories of the trails, tribulations and hardships of working class people from times past and make them seem emotionally engaging to a modern audience into sharp focus. The arrangements on the album are in many places bigger and warmer than The Bairns, even if many of the songs are doleful in their nature. Nobody Knew She Was There describes the lonely unnoticed life of a cleaner and her “Bent backed homage.” The sorrowful Annachie Gordon sung softly and beautifully by Becky tells the tale of a woman forced to marry a man she doesn’t love for monetary gain rather than her true love. Then on The Testimony Of Patience Kershaw chamber violins provide a powerful backing for a song based on the spoken testament of a seventeen year old female coalmine worker given to the Royal Commission on Children’s Employment in 1842. “The naked men will batter me, they can’t be blamed for if I’m slow, their families will starve you see,” the narrator adds with a sense of tragic acceptance of her situation.
The combination of Rachel and Becky’s rootsy harmonies and subtle traditional instrumentation makes for a richly rewarding delivery of the songs, without ever falling into folk cliché. So, for those who treasured The Bairns and for those who just love good music irrespective of genre or style, Here’s The Tender Coming is certainly worthy of your purchase and repeated listening.
Footnote : *This review of Here’s The Tender Coming by The Unthanks was meant to be published several weeks ago. However, we held back, waiting for a video of one of the songs from the album to go up on line as we like to do, wherever possible. However, as yet nothing has been published. The only footage from the album seems to be a version of The Testimony Of Patience Kershaw recorded live for the Guardian which we can only link to rather than embed, through clicking here
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