Saturday 23rd May 2009 @ Various Venues, Bristol
Featuring Performances From: Chik Budo, Hjaltalín, Love Like Fire, Mumford & Sons, Cage The Elephant, Patrick Wolf, Naïve New Beaters, Pulled Apart By Horses

This year’s Dot To Dot festival was a hands down win with all those who came, surpassing previous years with its first-rate line-up.  Despite dropping down to one day per city - hitting Bristol on Saturday 23rd and Nottingham Sunday 24th May - the event packed in a wish-list of up-and-coming bands as well as some more established and lesser known acts. With so many great bands to see this year, in such close proximity, the only downer was not being able to see two bands at once.

My day started at The Cooler with beat-driven, synth and sax-fest, Chik Budo, who played a literally banging set of irresistibly danceable tunes. Their sound swung from Hot Chip-esque, to massive metallic riffs or super ska, while at other times jazz prevailed. Whichever turn they took, one thing remained; the audience enthusiasm! In fact, as the band finished up, I noted an irrepressible smile smothered across the guitarists’ face. He couldn’t believe his luck, and neither could we.

Next up were Hjaltalín, a multi-musicianed band from Iceland. While the web will tell you this is a nine-piece outfit, we were only graced with seven, playing drums, violin, bass, guitar, bassoon, keyboard and vocal chords. The unpronounceable troupe combined sugar sweet male/female harmonies with their various rock and classical influences resulting in some well crafted indie-pop melodies for the formally trained. Hjaltalín charmed with their music and banter alike and I left with the kind of warm feeling you might expect from a chick-flick.
Love Like Fire were my downer of the day, despite Thekla’s Top Deck being jam-packed. The female-fronted shoegazers from San Francisco simply failed to bring anything new to the table. Scientifically speaking, there are probably X number of new things any band can do before having to loop back round and copy something else, but for me this felt like any other indie-rock band of the last 10 years. They weren’t technically bad and I’d recommend LLF to fans of generic indie melancholia, but sadly they weren’t for me.

Over at the Academy Mumford & Sons were onstage and boy, what a difference! A wall of male harmonies, gruff and manly, carried you over a current of hammering drums and guitars. It’s bluegrass hoedown at its best and everyone’s joining in! The breath-taking, ‘Dust Bowl Dance’ was a definite must see with front-man Marcus Mumford pounding and smashing drums and cymbals like a man possessed by crazed fury. Heart pumping and pounding along with the song, this is what I’d call finishing on a high.

Kentucky kids, Cage The Elephant, were next to step on stage playing a mix of old and new material. It’s one thing to test new tunes on a crowd of fans but at such an eclectic festival, the audience seemed too indifferent to care. The new songs showed more of the band’s personal influences, with touches of Iggy Pop and more punk than American rock ‘n’ roll, but it was the singles that got the best reception ending in crowd-surfing by both fans and band.

Patrick Wolf was one of the big names of the day. Renowned on the alternative scene for exuberance and flair, he brought to the stage a perfect mix of peculiarity and pop. Dressed to impress in bright red with square shoulder pads, knee-high boots and glitter make-up, the Academy’s unsuspecting security guards didn’t know what to make of him. But Patrick was graceful and gracious, showing none of the elitist snobbery I confess I expected, and his rocking set-list was perfectly crafted to include early single Libertine; top pop-picks Magic Position and Accident & Emergency; through to his newest singles, Vulture and Damaris from new album, The Bachelor.

Wanting to secure a spot, I stumbled upon Naïve New Beaters when arriving early to the Thekla’s bar stage. Funky in the hair, sweater and sound departments, the NNBs mixed hip-hop-rap with pop-rock influences and a big tongue in cheek. Lively and animated on the tiny stage, this was proper party music and the eccentric Ameri-French three-piece quite literally scream fun times! I should hate this, yet somehow I don’t!

Finally my day concluded with Leeds smash rockers, Pulled Apart By Horses. Never ones to be held back by stages or crowds, the band embarked on one of their most rampantly energetic sets I’ve seen. Swinging, flailing and thrashing fans bayed for more as guitarist, James, clambered across the ceiling in the absence of a speaker stack to jump from. Along with their frantic live shows, 80s and 90s references, killer hooks and ferocious riffs, PABH are the most pointlessly addictive band I’ve seen this year. They might not change your life, but chances are they will.

Add to this then the list of bands I regrettably missed – Little Boots, Friendly Fires, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Dinosaur Pile Up, Future Of The Left and a host of local artists at The Louisiana – and you’ve got yourself one tasty festival!

www.dottodotfestival.co.uk

Clare Joslin
Photos: Clare Joslin