For editor Mary's coverage of SXSW 2013, go here.
For TGTF team coverage of Liverpool Sound City 2013, go here.
For TGTF team coverage of the Great Escape 2013, go here.
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The View‘s new video for new single ‘Standard’ should have been released as a special for Mother’s Day. See what we mean by watching the video below. A new compilation album called ‘Seven Year Setlist’ from the Scots will be released on Monday (17 June).
Scottish rock band The View have a new video for ‘Hold On Now’, which will appear on a digital bundle / Christmas double A-side to be released on the 2nd of December. The bundle release will also feature ‘Tacky Tattoo’ and a cover of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Addicted’ as the B-side.
I the promo, they play on the classically quintessential likely lads video. There’s football, some on stage rock and roll shenanigans and the entire video is shot in a kind Instagram pastiche. Not really for me, but the song more than makes up for the abundance of indie rocker clichés. Watch the video for ‘Hold On Now’ below.
The View have a video out, and it’s for their new single ‘The Clock’, from their top 10 album ‘Cheeky for a Reason’. It’s a lot simpler – and less salacious – than their last one for ‘How Long’. Watch it below.
The Queen has been on the throne for yet another year. This means we all get to go to festivals all weekend and no sooner had Bushstock, Field Day and the Applecart shut their dampened stalls had the Queen of Hoxton opened its doors for a day of frivolities in the name of breast cancer charity Coppafeel and Festifeel.
Dog is Dead: Image by Paul Hudson
The day starts early with a bright atmosphere in the dark basement as Dog is Dead take to the stage. It’s been a busy weekend for the group but they show no signs of fatigue and kick off the festival in winning style. Showing off both their sun-soaked tracks (fan favourite ‘Glockenspiel Song’ is a highlight) as well as their deeper side on set closer ‘Teenage Daughter’ shows they’re real contenders for act of the summer.
Following this come the disappointing ska meets indie Yes Sir Boss. TGTF hopes they have day jobs. In stark contrast to this however, one lady who we hope doesn’t is rising star Kyla La Grange. Exuding both grace and grunge at the same time, the stylish singer shows she’s far more than an image with a short set of dark pop tracks from her forthcoming debut record. Her set is over far too quickly though, so TGTF goes for a wander about site.
Newton Faulkner
Laid out across three floors, the Queen of Hoxton is a peculiar yet logical place to put a festival. Today there’s a photobooth, popcorn, a huge barbeque and roof garden added to the bar and club aesthetic. A ukulele band roams about playing poorly enacted covers of ’80s tracks. It’s basically a normal festival in a bar! As with all good festivals, Newton Faulkner is present and his set on the roof garden is an enjoyable one. Completely unplugged, Faulkner teaches the crowd surrounding him lines and the tracks build from there. As such, he doesn’t get time to play many, but it’s certainly something to behold whilst the weather holds out.
It’s then back into the darkness for Slow Club. Having two records and preparing a third should make for an interesting set, but when you weight your half hour with zero tracks from the widely celebrated debut and sound shaky on the three new tracks given an outing, it makes for little short of disappointment. Still, ‘Two Cousins’ is always a highlight, so at least it’s not all a letdown.
Slow Club: Image by Paul Hudson
You get used to adjustments after a while but Lianne La Havas’ set being moved into the main bar (in which everyone moves between upstairs and downstairs, also, to the bar) was baffling to say the least, but once those having conversations were shushed and a microphone was found for Havas, her gorgeous tones shone through. The endearing nature of the young singer-songwriter took those assembled into a hushed admiration and the 20minute set ends with smiles all round, none more than Lianne herself.
Then it’s back up into the daunting clouds of the rooftop for two completely unplugged sets. First Jamie N Commons mixes his own material with covers from the likes of Pink Floyd, creating an atmosphere that brings people from the outskirts to sitting on the Astroturf infront of the London troubadour. Second comes one of the strangest, yet most enjoyable few minutes of the weekend as Angus Stone and his band take to the benches and play in a half hushed, half stunned silence. It would have felt like a lullaby had everyone not been stood up. Whatever it was, it was appreciated.
The View, you remember the View right? The band that did that song about jeans. Yeah, the View; they’re next down in the basement. The lighthearted join the ‘lads’ in the crowded space as the Scottish rockers power through 45 minutes without blinking. It’s energetic, but they’ve long lost their appeal. They didn’t even do that one song that everyone knows about jeans! That said, hearing a few hundred singing “the one I love the most has turned into a junkie” brought back some nostalgia in ’5 Rebecca’.
Just like that, the weekend’s over. The Milk headline but fail to ignite as most people have already left. It’s been the strangest festival TGTF has ever been to, but that’s probably the appeal. Well done Coppafeel, Festifeel 2012 was a success.
There seems to be a lot of controversy surrounding the View‘s new video for ‘How Long’, the first single from their forthcoming album. NME has dubbed it “slightly NSFW and somewhat disturbing”, the Daily Record reports the band has been “blasted over music video showing scenes of abuse and rape” and the band themselves compared it to the Prodigy‘s ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ (a video that makes me shudder), so I expected the worst when I queued it up before preparing this copy.
While I can see this can bring up some definitely unsettling feelings, especially to anyone who has been objectified and/or a victim of rape or assault, I see this more like a Black Swan / ‘make you think’ kind of piece, where the images seen are from the man’s mind. Either these things we see from his point of view have happened before or things he has dreamt, are tormenting him. And I think you’ll see why I’m comparing this to the Natalie Portman film just from the last scene before the video ends.
Both this single and the album, entitled ‘Cheeky for a Reason’, will be released on the 9th of July.
Deep in the midst of the Peak District National Park, the sister festival to 2000 Trees is shaping up nicely. Winning the Grassroots Festival award and the coveted Best Toilets award at last year’s Festival Awards, Y-Not Festival is back to prove itself worthy of more trophies in its cabinet. Taking place on 3-5 August, there are six stages of the best British music from an array of scenes and sounds.
Headlining the Main Stage throughout the weekend are the UK indie mainstays the View (pictured above), the Wombats and We Are Scientists. With enough big radio hits under their cumulative belt to form the basis of a ‘Now That’s What I Call Mid-00s’ album, get your lungs ready for a sing-song. Backing them up are other indie stalwarts the Pigeon Detectives, British Sea Power and the Subways.
But it’s not just an indie festival, across all the stages are diverse acts from the hip-hop of Roots Manuva to the harder edged Pulled Apart By Horses. The Giant Squid stage is the haven of ‘heavier’ music over the weekend with big names Rolo Tomassi, Lower Than Atlantis, Turbowolf and Brontide gracing the Midlands.
If this sounds your thing – and if you’re a fan of UK music then surely it must be – then head on over to the official Web site to purchase tickets. Priced at just £75 for the weekend, there’s no reason not to visit the heart of Derbyshire for a weekend of summer music antics.
There Goes The Fear is where we tell you about the latest tours, gigs, and music we love and think you should too.
We love music that has its heart on its sleeve, tells a story, swims around our head all day or makes us dance like idiots.
The blog is edited by Mary Chang, who is based in Washington DC. She is joined by writers in the UK and America. It was started up by Phil Singer in Bristol, UK.
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