Primavera Sound: One liners

The thing about the Primavera Sound is that it’s not even just the nine gigantic and wee stages on the actual festival site. A number of smaller showcase gigs featuring homegrown and international artists pop up all over the city in the week surrounding the mainstream fest.

Wanting to squeeze out all the goodness available in that one wristband I turned up to as many of these as possible but, as you might imagine, this means an obscene number of bands. In terms of writing it up, you’re looking at one heck of an essay, and my shtick is verbose enough as it is.

Thus this review will give each band witnessed for a decent length of time (20 minutes plus) a line to call their own. No more, no less; equality writ, err, small.

To break it up into bite-size chunks, you can find the various days linked here:

Days 1 & 2
(covers Atleta, First Aid Kit, Los Campesinos, Montañas, Nacho Umbert, Peggy Sue, Pelea, Toundra and Two Dead Cats)

Day 3
(covers Bis, Biscuit, Broken Social Scene, Chrome Hoof, Edredón, The Fall, Fuck Buttons, Macaco Bong, Mission of Burma, Pavement, Superchunk, Surfer Blood, Tortoise, Ui and The XX)

Day 4
(covers Beach House, Cuerpos, Forzudo, Fuel Fangando, Les Savy Fav, Low, Shellac, Wilco and Wire)

Days 5 and 6
(covers The Antlers, A Sunny Day In Glasgow, The Big Headed Trouble Boy, The Bundles, Circulatory System, The Clean, Dum Dum Girls, Florence & The Machine, Ganglians, The King Khan & BBQ Show, Matt & Kim, McEnroe, Mujeres, Pet Shop Boys, Rother/Shelley/Mullan, Thee Oh Sees and Thelematicos)

…and now to sleep for a week!

Primavera Sound 2010: days 5 & 6

One-line reviews of bands seen on my fifth and sixth days in Barcelona.

Introductory posting here. Catalan and Spanish acts denoted red.

Parc Joan Miró, 29may10 (12:30 to 16:20)

Big Headed Trouble Boy: Light acoustic pop with a Gabrielle Cilmi-with-an-edge thing going on.

Thelematicos: Rock n’ roll with a slacker’s unkempt swagger.

Circulatory System: Cello and violin further enliven Gang Of Four like guitars and stubborn bass.

Thee Oh Sees: A terrific band absolutely made for this outdoor palm tree’d setting, as they strut through a set of grimy rock n’ roll that takes in all points between The Stones and Suicide; stops like The Monks, Phil Spector, “Have Love Will Travel” and surf.

A Sunny Day In Glasgow: If they didnt have me at the song intro of theirs that sounded a lot like the one for Killing Joke’s ‘Love Like Blood’, then they certainly did upon their fairly straight cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’.

Ganglians: Wispy post-country psyche, not nearly as engaging as I had expected.
 

Parc del Forum, 29may10 (19:00 to 02:45)

Michael Rother and Friends play Neu! music: That billing makes it all a bit sound ‘An Audience With…’, which is not a concept one might readily associate with motorik-fuelled krautrock, although being heavily infectious certainly is. 

The Clean: That I have made sure I see this lot again despite having seen them only a fortnight ago in Brighton and yet never heard a record by them, should tell you all you need to know with regards to whether these Flying Nun era Kiwi heroes can still cut a vibrant brand of mustard.

Mujeres: Garage rock, The Beatles and a whole lot of pep upside it all.

The Bundles: With Kimya Dawson absent owing to flight fear in these volcanic ash days, and Karl Blau never scheduled to appear, Jeff and Jack Lewis and Anders Griffen plug on gamely and brilliantly regardless.

Florence & The Machine: I know it’s all about Flo rather than her Mo, but by christ can her voice beat the life out of her songs sometimes, although it must be said they she can work up a pretty entertaining show.

The Antlers: Some might not think that songs from a concept album dealing with a terminally ill bone cancer patient would be ideal festi fodder and they, therefore, would be mistaken as Antlers were euphoric here.

Matt & Kim: On this energetic evidence, it would appear that the world needs drum n’ Korg duos, but in a marketplace that is hardly saturated, Matt & Kim are clearly far from complacent.

Dum Dum Girls: The ideal antidote for those experiencing withdrawal symptoms for a lack of The Bangles and Go-Go’s in their life.

Pet Shop Boys: Never mind the undoubtedly brilliant spectacle of their live show and feel the breadth of hit after hit after hit.

Parc Joan Miró, 30may10 (16:00 to 17:30)

McEnroe: even with the wear and tear of a long few days, that I should nod off during their earnest hard rock doesn’t speak well for them being an enlivening outfit.

The King Khan & BBQ Show: Rickety and grizzly rock n’ roll as well as drag outifts are a plus, the relentless abuse of the soundman a major minus.

King Khan & The BBQ Show @ Parc Joan Miro

The Clean @ Vice Stage

Matt & Kim @ Vice Stage

Primavera Sound 2010: day 4

One-line reviews of bands seen on my fourth day in Barcelona.

Introductory posting here. Catalan and Spanish acts denoted red.

FNAC Diagonal Mar, 28may10 (16:30-17:00)

Forzudo: Duo making swirling electro psychedelia, along Animal Collective lines, and bound for bigger stages than this I’d warrant. 

venue: A small gallery space in what is essentially a Spanish HMV equivalent, only with more tellies and that.

Parc del Forum, 28may10 (17:30 to 01:15)

Cuerpos: Shadowy Siouxie-esque and at the join of punk and post-punk, the keyboard stabs not unlike Eleni Poulou’s work with The Fall.  

Low (performing ‘The Great Destroyer’): By the end my long held scepticism towards this particular long-player (despite being a fan of the band generally) had been won over, and the unanimous standing ovation from the seated Auditori crowd was richly deserved, Low having reminded us all just how incredible they can be.

Fuel Fandango: Perhaps a little too much of the soul diva gymnastics but the ratlling funk delivered by the guitars and drums make them quite infectious.

Beach House: Ideal really to closely-ish follow Low, being similarly downbeat and prone to spartan arrangements, however Beach House’s melodies take a more Brian Wilson-esque approach.

Wire: A great deal punchier than I’ve found them on record, they work up and down the gears with seeming effortlessness without, it must be said, reaching 5th.

Wilco: One imagines all eyes turn to Jeff Tweedy when something needs doing in the world of Wilco so thankfully there is a twinkle in his tonight, as he cuts quite the genial figure.

Les Savy Fav: With lights smashed and a mic lead snapped during a deep wade out into the heavy throng, Les Savy Fav are purveyors of chaos and mayhem and amidst it all an equally energetic live music performance sometimes breaks out.

Shellac: As opening remarks go, “Fuckin’ kill him, fuckin’ kill him already” must rank up amongst the weekend’s very best particular as they shine an early spotlight on the spiteful sound to come.

**Further scribblings 28may10

>Early out tonight, dancing to them Buttons until 0345 before returning to site at 1700 with only 2 hours kip in between (body working against me once more) and some battery recharge required. Apologies to The Pixies and Yeasayer, who I had planned to see but while the mind was willing, the flesh was weak.

Forzudo @ FNAC Diagonal Mar

Shellac @ ATP Stage

Primavera Sound 2010: day 3

One-line reviews of bands seen on my third day in Barcelona.

Introductory posting here. Catalan and Spanish acts denoted red.

Parc del Forum, 27may10 (17:00 to 03:45)

Macaco Bong: Instrumental head-jutting rock that sounds in need of a vocal or at least a solid groove, although happilly they eventually come upon the latter.

Biscuit: The Who and Beatles t-shirts are the giveaway, as beefy pop-rock plays out.

Bis: That, despite time marching them into their mid-30′s and pattern baldness attacking two of the original trio without mercy, they can still play ‘Teen C Power’ and ‘Icky Poo Air Raid’ with a straight face merely endears them to me even more than was ever thus.

Surfer Blood: With the Drums also occupying this Smiths-to-Strokes middle ground, can we expect a bare knuckle battle royale at a festival later this summer?

The Fall: At the end of 50 mins and a rigorous ‘Wolf Kidult Man’, Mark E. Smith slips back on his black jacket and departs, triumphant; as do I, knowing that so early in the proceedings, I have already had my money’s worth.

The XX: The splicing in of ATB’s ’9pm (Til I Come)’ is a masterstroke (I frugged massive to that at my Grad Ball in 1999) but one can’t help wondering if this set had played out in the pitch black of night rather than the creeping lightly precipitative dusk, it would have been raised from very good to very special.

Ui: Laying the bass on thick, the drums take a musical, as well as geographical, back seat, while the guitars have licence to make the whole pot bubble.

Superchunk: Been around the block a few times but the energy’s not deserted them, and guesting Tim Les Savy Fav is clearly overexcited at his task this evening, screaming “this is the best thing ever!”

Tortoise: Why I don’t own more records by these titans of jazz-tinged post-rock becomes an even greater mystery with each note.

Broken Social Scene: Any number of musicians littering the stage but not cluttering the sound, showing out a breezy Americana that breathes the same air as Gram Parsons without being in many respects ‘country’.

Edredón: Overcoming a myriad of lengthy technical issues, they eventually unleash a blanket of comforting electro which them morphs into chiming post-rock then back again.

Mission Of Burma: Chunky college rock meets post-punk pizzazz.

Pavement: Consider myself well ‘eared’ musically, and yet these headlining kings of indie rock have remained off my radar all these years, something which on this evidence needs rectifying.

Chrome Hoof: Glam rock walks into a bar and says “hey fella, my mates funk, doom metal, soul and disco in?” to which the barman replies, “oh don’t you worry, they’re all here too”

Fuck Buttons: Saw them three years ago in a Brixton boozer, but it is for exactly this kind of massive outdoor ampitheatre for which their beautiful noise was made.

**further scribbles from 27may10

>I have been on the festival site for five minutes. Not one band has struck an opening chord and yet I am already mentally booking my ticket for next year.

>The rolls and baguettes stall has sandwiches named after some of the major acts. Naturally I opt for The Fall one. I imagined this to be a sandwich that would refuse to go stale and constanly refresh it’s ingredients. Turns out it was cheese and ham, which doesn’t seem quite as apt.

Get your Wilco baguette here. Roll up! Roll up!

 

Macaco Bong @ Adidas Originals Stage (pretty much the first band on stage at the festival proper)

 

Chrome Hoof @ Vice Stage

 

"Good evening, we are The Fall" @ San Miguel Stage

Primavera Sound 2010: days 1 & 2

One-line reviews of bands seen on my first and second days in Barcelona.

Introductory posting here.  Catalan and Spanish acts denoted red.

Fantasticos Club, 25may10 (18:30 to 20:00)

Pelea: Short but uproariously peppy vignettes.

Montañas: Sharing personnel with Pelea, without being nearly as breezy.

venue: Back room of bar with chalk  tributes to The B52s, The XX and Lucky Strike cigarettes amongst others littering the walls, and the toilets an awkward stage invasion away.

LA2, 25may10 (21:00 to 23:45)

Atleta: Post-rock, muscular to the point of thick veins appearing across the front of the stage, and giving the remaining two acts much to follow.

Toundra: Begin more ponderously, but come alive once the cellist and keyboardist clear off after whats seems about three minutes.

Two Dead Cats: Not in keeping with previous, strident post-punk yelping peppers rolling guitars and prodding bass.

venue: Black box with a long bar dog-legging towards the bogs, tonight hosting a showcase for the Aloud label. 

Fantasticos Club, 26may10 (18:00 to 19:00)

Nacho Umbert: Oakey acoustic guitar folk punctuated with guesting cello to a cross-legged and attentive crowd.

Sala Apolo, 26may10 (20:30 to 23:30)

Peggy Sue: Pointing a harmonic pop-gun up the hoop of rusticism within folk.

First Aid Kit: Naif-types from Sweden playing indie-pop with such a pastoral, bluegrass tinge, one might be tempted to rest an Amish bonnet upon each of their heads mid-performance.

Los Campesinos: Despite being a good deal more lively than at Rough Trade East earlier this year now that the new songs have bedded in, I still find them, despite my best efforts, rather unenchanting.

venue: Ornate ballroom basked in red light with wooden booths lining the dancefloor.

Peggy Sue @ Sala Apolo

 

Nacho Umbert @ Fantasticos