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Festival Preview: Y-Not 2015 - Top Ten Ones To Watch

  • Published in Live

 

Though it may not have the same bank balance as the country's bigger festivals, for its size Y-Not can still pack a pretty big punch in terms of line-up. Previous acts over the years have been the likes of Jake Bugg, Maximo Park, Feeder and Miles Kane have all graced the various stages on offer, but with this year marking the festival's tenth anniversary, organisers have pulled out all the stops to bring Y-Not regulars something really special. And though we can't highlight every band on offer, below are a few Muso's Guide will be making sure we see.

 

Snoop Dogg: Someone who needs no introduction, Snoop will be headlining the main on stage on Friday, and with a career that spans three decades, you can guarantee he'll drop some absolute classics in to his set list. From gangster rap to his bizarre sojourn in to reggae as Snoop Lion, even the occasional foray in to pop, there's not much Snoop hasn't touched on over that time. Thankfully it's been a good few years since his visa ban, so we can rest safe knowing that those of us at the main stage come the Friday evening, will definitely be in for something special.

 

Honeyblood: Another of Friday's Main Stage band's, Honeyblood are a Scottish duo, whose fuzz-soaked indie-pop is sure to brighten up anyone's afternoon. With their debut self-titled LP released last summer to much critical acclaim, their sun-bleached fuzz-pop is the perfect antithesis to the Peak District's often grey weather. And if, above all expectations, the sun does make an appearance, it'll go down even better.

 

Less Than Jake: Anyone who has seen Less Than Jake before can attest to how good they are live. Upbeat and somewhat anarchic, the Gainsville ska-punks will headline the Quarry stage on Friday. A definite difference to Snoop over on the Big Gin, but for those who prefer their music to include a less bass and a lot more brass, Less Than Jake would be the ideal ending to the first day.

 

Alright The Captain: Fans of crazy time signatures and noisy post-rock could do far worse than spending an hour with Derby's Alright the Captain. From the abrasively discordant to puzzlingly harmonious, for just a trio the band make a noise that's as uncompromising as it technically proficient. Leave any preconceptions as to how songs should be structured behind and go and kick off Saturday by losing yourself at The Giant Squid stage.

 

Allusondrugs: Arguably one of last year's break-out bands, Leeds grungers Allusondrugs have been tearing the UK a new one since the summer of 2012. Tipped by the likes of Kerrang! and NME amongst others, you can almost be certain it won't be long before the band are gracing the main stage at the likes of Reading & Leeds or Download. Catch them on Saturday afternoon on the Giant Squid stage to see for yourself what the buzz is about.

 

Summer Camp: Influenced by both '60s girl groups and '80s synthpop, husband and wife duo Summer Camp will be bringing their own brand of indie pop to The Quarry Stage on Saturday afternoon, offering festival goers a break from the weight of The acts on the Giant Squid stage. With the band's somewhat downtrodden lyricism juxtaposed by their sunny exterior, it's sure to be a set you don't have to feel guilty dancing to.

 

Ocean Colour Scene: '90s legends in their own right, Ocean Colour Scene take to the main stage on Saturday before headliners Basement Jaxx. Much like last year's Shed Seven, OCS offer those old enough to remember them a chance to relive the '90s in a much purer sense than hearing 'Common People' played for the fiftieth time at your local indie club. Also, having given us the soundtrack to TFI Friday as well, it's easy to imagine the band enjoying a pending surge in popularity.

 

Johnny Marr: Perhaps one of the most prolific artists on the line-up this year, former-Smiths man gone solo (by way of Modest Mouse and The Cribs, amongst others) Johnny Marr is Sunday's penultimate main stage act (Primal Scream will close out the festival). Easily one of the country's most loved indie musicians, his set promises to blend tracks from his days in The Smiths with his more recent solo material, making for a memorable final evening.

 

Augustines: Before Johnny Marr however, Augustines are on the main stage, making for a clear choice of where we'll spending our last few hours. Known for their intense live shows and fraught lyricism, the Brooklyn-based trio will set the bar fairly high even for the headliners. Having lost the 'We Are' prefix from their name last year's self-titled Augustines, and segued in to the realms of stadium rock, there's no doubt that, even for a three-piece, they'll make a huge impression.

 

Rolo Tomassi: More noisy math-rock on Sunday courtesy of Sheffield's Rolo Tomassi. Taking their name from the fantastic LA Confidential, the band were making big waves on the underground before breaking through in the mid-00s. Now on their fourth album (as well as more than a handful of splits and EPs, Rolo Tomassi are proof that being a little bit different works. You can catch them on The Giant Squid stage on Sunday afternoon.

 

King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys: A count-down of some of the best acts of the weekend wouldn't be complete without the bonus inclusion of Y-Not staples, King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys. Having become a regular feature of the Y-Not line-up it wouldn't feel like the festival without getting to hear some swing. Taking to the main stage on Sunday afternoon, they're sure to inject a little silliness in to the weekend's timetable.

 

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Best Coast w/ Honeyblood, Electric Ballroom, Camden

  • Published in Live

Tonight at London’s Electric Ballroom, Californian lo-fi pop duo Best Coast are supported by fellow Hole-enthusiasts Honeyblood (the name being a description of the sugary fake blood mixture lead singer Stina Tweeddale once spat over an audience at a Halloween gig). Much like Best Coast, Honeyblood like their songs primarily in a four-chord format, and as Cat Myers literally kicks the shit out of her drums and Stina smacks her guitar to the refrain of Bloody Chamber homage, ‘Choker’, in contrast with the headliners it quickly becomes clear that Glasgow produces a rather different kind of band to Los Angeles. By the time Honeyblood arrive at crowd-pleasing, sing-a-long earworm, ‘Super Rat’ (sample lyric: “I. WILL. HATE. YOU. FOREVER.”), most members of the fist-pumping audience look about ready to take their tops off and do laps around the building. The set meta-climaxes with ‘Biro’ - a paean to songwriting (“all the pain you’ve been through, will be the making of you”) - and a very appropriate introduction to California’s Best Coast.

On 2010’s Crazy For You, Best Coast adopted that aesthetic wielded so deftly by girl bands in the sixties, of writing upbeat songs about downbeat subjects. They sounded like a lithograph sunset, washed lightness over something dark, lush guitars painted over sadness. Three albums deep and although Best Coast still inhabit that space between light and dark, they have long since evolved from lo-fi echo-chamber pop band into a chugging riff factory, wailing solos and punchy four-chord choruses littering new material like beer cups on the ground. Their new album is a homage to their hometown, the Lynchian oneirism of walking around in the warm dark of the LA hills. In yet another break from form, California Nights is more pop-punk than pop, more ‘rock’ than before, even at times verging on the psychedelic. The title track for example is five minutes long, which for a band who like to stick generally around the two minute mark means it’s basically War and Peace.

Tonight Bethany Cosentino bobs up and down, eyes closed, singing about everything from the California sun to 'frenemies', to waiting by the telephone to get a call. Quite apart from the fact that Best Coast can really kick out the jams when it comes to rock songs, it could be said that the intimate songs and Bethany’s lyrics are the reason Best Coast continue to be so popular. At times things become so personal it feels as if she’s confiding something, rather than singing a song. In an interview in 2012 she admitted to the Guardian that a young woman once approached her and said, “You write my life. You write songs about the things that I go through, that I can't talk to people about because I'm embarrassed or I'm shy or whatever.” As she rips her guitar apart and yells into her microphone in the Electric Ballroom, in the audience there are spontaneous outbreaks of women hugging. I would say that’s a successful evening.

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