Threadfest 2014, Bradford - Day One

Back for a third go Bradford's Threadfest sees 40+ acts play across ten venues in the city for free over the course of the bank holiday weekend. You read that correctly - free. That lack of entrance fee is achieved by the involvement of such promoters & organisations as Music At Bradford University, Sound Shack Records, the Topic Folk Club and a host more, allowing there to be a rich variety of music (and art installations) on the various stages without anyone being beholden to some mega-booze manufacturer, sports clothing brand or whatever. A wholesome way to begin things.

First stop tonight then was The Black Swan, a pub that fairly screams ROCK! at you and where you can imagine the likes of Napalm Death or similar starting out life on the stage at the end of the bar & everybody enjoying it immensely. Unfortunately no bands were seen on the stage tonight as the start time came and went with no obvious musicians making a move to play so a taxi was called (avoiding the rain would become as much a part of the weekend as the music) for the trip across the city centre to The New Bradford Playhouse, the only other venue in use today.

Weaving through the back stairs from the basement bar brought us into aural contact with the psychedelia of local trio Gurgles and it was the sort of meeting of minds that instantly put to rest all the stresses associated with attending this sort of event. With not a guitar in sight the threesome brought a bit of a heavy prog. edge to their material at times as they ranged from a Yes-like tune at one point to lighter fare employing "Google French" and the heartfelt shouts of "You're an idiot" in a later chorus. Purchasing their 'You Send Me Up' 7" was the only sane action to be taken at the close of their set.

Keeping it local the next band to come on were the particularly youthful indie/afro-beat quartet Koala. Despite the lack of an actual stage the group don't lack for that type of presence, with singer Jemimah gamely attempting to be in more places than one such was the energy she devoted to ranging around the space. With a set including the title track from their Molecules EP and 'Moments' (to which we were all encouraged to "bop") theirs was an enjoyable half hour or so to experience, further proving the worth of making the trip down for the weekend.

Third on tonight were Nottingham's Cantaloupe, another guitarless trio but of a different brand entirely than Gurgles. A band with a quite a few releases to their name there was never going to be a problem in coming up with a set-list. Both sides of the 'Splish'/'Wet Dog' 12" were included in their krautdisco performance, along with 'Hot Water Balloon', with its trippy and motorik start that slowly builds into something altogether different. A seriously good contemporary instrumental act who had their large following along as further proof if any were needed.

Finally tonight came Leeds' Galaxians. With their debut album coming out soon the drums & synth duo didn't mess about in laying down their disco-laced beats, although writing that belies the underlying more serious musical edge that their works contain. Theirs' is a sound that more people than would expect to could appreciate if they'd give themselves the chance. On the night it was bit of a shame that the performance space didn't quite do them justice (a stage of at least a little height and a bit more space for their sounds to fill would have been better) but the crowd were moved to dance to a degree by what was afforded them so that met the bottomline.  

Thanks to Bobbi Luo and Yvonne for the accommodation and hanging out over the weekend.