Saturday in Bradford initially promised a break in the weather but by Noon my pre-gig wander found me taking shelter and lunch in The Fighting Cock (a fortuitous discovery if ever there was one). Two hours and a couple of pints later it was still cats & dogs outside so the trusty taxi was resorted to once more for the trip to Al's Dime Bar.

Once seated in Al's it became clear that timings were again pretty fluid as initial act Rory Holl was yet to take to the stage despite it being nearer 3pm. Whether this was due to an act dropping out I've no idea. Had he though not been on the event programme you could have been forgiven for thinking Holl'd been drafted in at the last minute given his professed lack of a set-list. Maybe that's just how he rolls. His own songs 'Wires' and 'Bless This House' were good and displayed a wry wit along with his clear tones but he relied rather too much on cover versions, even if it's not often that you hear 'Rocky Raccoon' getting an airing.

From Al's it was a hike back to the Delius Art and Cultural Centre, with a pit-stop for dinner,to catch Canadian duo Nadja in action. The centre, having been a church in a previous life, has fantastic acoustics so the pair's massive, doom-heavy sound benefited greatly from that as they pounded away on the guitar & bass and twiddled the odd switch or two on their electronics package. Bringing to mind the likes of Godflesh this wasn't quite what you'd call industrial but certainly something closely associated with it. A towering performance that you felt had the audience holding its breath for the duration.

Now came the most frustrating period of the weekend in terms of that flexible attitude to stage times, although in fairness I should have opted to turn up at The Tavern In The Town late and gone to check out left-field jazz pianist Matthew Bourne at Glyde House on the way. As it was, a desire for something more rock-oriented took me back across the city centre to try to see local act Iron Rat. Astheir gear was still mostly on the hall floor when I arrived, however, it became clear no one on the bill here would be hitting their advertised start time. To cut a long story short I finally saw them play (in front of an unexpectedly small though loyal crowd) on my third return to the venue. Heavy, stoner riffs were unleashed as expected but whilst they had their moments, especially on 'Monument', there was an underlying pedestrianism about the performance. Whether they were just off their game, set back by tech issues or have played at home once too often wasn't clear but on the night they didn't bring their A game. I saw some of the Dawn Of Elysium set here too but can't I feel do them any justice other than to say they went down well with the crowd and looked to be having fun (other than their keyboardist during the soundcheck, who more than one punter noted looked glum).

From The Tavern In The Town it was time for a return to the Playhouse, but not before the strains of music in the night air detoured me to the City Vaults pub where local rock trio Francis were making quite a racket & going down well. Whether this was part of the official programme of events was unclear but the BTF14 poster was in the window. 'Living Stone' was a particularly enjoyable instrumental and I'd wager the group like to listen to a bit of Rush in their spare time. Once at the Playhouse there was time to take in the final couple of songs by London trio Snack Family, who on the strength of that were worth buying a t-shirt and EP by. Basically if you liked Morphine then these guys are right up your street. Finally tonight came the motorik Japanese trio Nisennenmondai, with their practically hypnotic, driving sound. Imagine Shonen Knife suddenly deciding to start covering Neu and you'll be in the right sort of area. Excellent stuff although to one Yorkshireman heard upon leaving the venue they were "just girls playing Tangerine Dream". That's as may be but they did it extremely well.   

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.