So day #2 has arrived and I've awoken with a head that feels like it is having a balloon inflated inside it. But, that's mostly my own, partly Brewdog's fault and there is no fucking way I'm missing Carefully Planned today.
Okay I admit that I did miss a couple of bands but I got roped into helping cut down a tree. What can you do. Still we caught an impressive 15 bands, THOUGHTS;
So it was 15:00 when I arrived and back in Soup Kitchen for the very lovely Sparrowhawks, there was a great crowd in there, especially for a Sunday afternoon. Sparrowhawks wooed the audience with their spritely tunes and rousing, harmonious choruses. I grabbed one of their CD's as soon as they were done. That's a sure fire sign of satisfaction right there.
Okay I admit that I did miss a couple of bands but I got roped into helping cut down a tree. What can you do. Still we caught an impressive 15 bands, THOUGHTS;
So it was 15:00 when I arrived and back in Soup Kitchen for the very lovely Sparrowhawks, there was a great crowd in there, especially for a Sunday afternoon. Sparrowhawks wooed the audience with their spritely tunes and rousing, harmonious choruses. I grabbed one of their CD's as soon as they were done. That's a sure fire sign of satisfaction right there.
Band 2 came in the form of many membered, mega equipped Oh Man, The Mountain, performing at Gullivers. There was a bulging crowd lapping up their stylised folk-pop. Parts of the vocals were given an intriguing edge and sang through an old-style telephone, I've seen this before but it is still engrossing and most importantly gives the vocals a catchy twist. OM,TM's live show heavily encourages further listening, I will definitely be delving deeper.
The Old Dance School were next. In The Mint Lounge, they cleansed the place of a no doubt filthy Saturday night of inebriated debauchery. Another crowd of a band playing quirky folk with perky energy. Having been roundly impressed by the last 3 acts I've decided to label them 'post-folk', that either means I'm cool or a twat. Anyway my thought process is that it is a contemporary, highly developed form of folk music, I think post-folk is gonna be big.
Changing things up a bit, we went to catch some more 'post', this time though it is a fat slice of post-rock from YB! faves Kusanagi who were performing their gracious apocalyptica at Kraak. This 4-piece are a well oiled ship and their performance is a tight as a Tazzmission. Post and Math-rock fans out there, this is a band for you.
Following Kusanagi, I went to grab a coffee and I was very relieved that I did as things began to take a drastic turn into the realm of turbulent madness.
Firstly Space Blood warped The Castle into a surrealist, international relations address. Coming from Chicago, this was a brand new experience for everyone in the room and it was a dangerous concoction of baffling, boggling and bewildering but also bloody brilliant. They were the most entertaining act of the weekend for me, musically brilliant with heavy, meandering riffs and nigh on free fall jazz drums offset with hilariously performed interludes from the zany duo. Grabbed myself a cassette and Space Blood merch rewards card from one of them after the set, a merch rewards card. Great idea.
Firstly Space Blood warped The Castle into a surrealist, international relations address. Coming from Chicago, this was a brand new experience for everyone in the room and it was a dangerous concoction of baffling, boggling and bewildering but also bloody brilliant. They were the most entertaining act of the weekend for me, musically brilliant with heavy, meandering riffs and nigh on free fall jazz drums offset with hilariously performed interludes from the zany duo. Grabbed myself a cassette and Space Blood merch rewards card from one of them after the set, a merch rewards card. Great idea.
Falls, not to be outdone, then went off on a different tangent of madness. Shirtless before they even hit the stage, the four of them literally fucked The Castle up, raising the bar to almost unreachable levels of performance. They ain't just a rabid pack of mentals though, their songs are actually very catchy, not that you can take that in when you have 4 sweaty hairy animals running amok all over the place. Each Falls show is like a "beat that" statement to any would be fuck rockers that follow.
After a much needed break in which I indulged in some of Leo's fish bars finest, we then returned to The Castle to catch Flesh. Dressed as if they had spent their day driving a van round Moss Side, knocking on, asking people for their scrap metal, they played a high voltage brand of Brit-rock that I could see the indie music media swooning over. It was very enjoyable as was their interaction with the audience, no confidence is lacked by these youngsters. I bought my third physical of the day from these lads.
Huge love was poured upon Spring Offensive, who revelled in it and returned the love in the form of perfectly written pop. Gracing Soup Kitchen the onlookers were like an overbearing child with a small pet, they had a lot of love for this band and there was an audible sigh when Spring Offensive announced that they were on their last run of shows. I can see why the disappointment as this was a set to cherish.
Claw The Thin Ice were my favourite band of the weekend, I'd heard the name in passing but that is all, so I was delighted when they swept through a set of alt, noise-rock that the likes of Bob Mould, Andy Hull and J Mascis would be proud of. I can't wait to gobble up what they have to offer on record. They had CD's so I was devo'd to find a sum total of 30p in my pocket. OH HORSESHIT! This shall be rectified.
Dad Rocks!, perhaps one of Carefully Planned's biggest booking coups kept the post-Spring Offensive love flowing merrily around the room. They have the bow of a thousand strings at their disposal and they use it generously. They can take on many forms in any given song and their cavalier pace changing keeps the audience on their toes.
As we returned to Gullivers it seemed as if we had wandered onto Elm St. as we witnessed Nitkowski, switch on the lights but darken the mood with some B-movie, horror sounds. Lots of guttural roars and imaginative effects took this to a heaviness that was angular and remarkable.
Thought Forms kept the mood dimmed but brought it over to Soup Kitchen. Not an easy task to follow up the cheer-bringing duo of Spring Offensive and Dad Rocks! with a more sullen approach to making noise. TF pulled it off well, bombarding the crowd with a thick, stifling and relentless journey into their dark expansive world where guitars are slaves and pedals are torture devices.
Experimental pop-duo Deaf kid, could be found in Kraak and my attention was caught by them and their finely crafted tunes. At this point I was flagging heavily so I am thankful to Deafkid for keeping me on track. It seems they've had their fair share of big name plaudits which is understandable as their songs have a quirky charm with a wide-scale appeal.
Bad Grammar, took to the Soup Kitchen stage next, one of YB!'s most anticipated bands of the day. Off the stage they are a charming, friendly and polite pair, on it they are an animalistic, super-charged duo of demons, rampaging tirelessly through each track. They cover every inch of the stage and even a large portion of it, mainly though, Bad Grammar are doing so well due to their bright, rough and catchy songs such as 'Temper Temper' that got a great reaction out of the crowd.
Capping off a wonderful weekend are the quite brilliant Alpha Male Tea Party, before they go on though, we get some intoxicated yet very thankful words from festival organiser Matthew Boycott-Garnett. He shows his appreciation for the bands, the venues and the attendees and gets it all straight back for putting on a fantastical event.
AMTP then finish things off with the most fitting climax, surging, interweaving riffs, thunderous drums and a baying, swelled audience. AMTP show why they are heading this bill as every song is crisp, polished and gleaming.
Having nailed 2 days of Carefully Planned I find myself still in awe at the many facets of awesome that it provided. A vast array of styles and genres that provided something for everyone, great venues, great moments and quite spectacular planning. Major kudos to Matthew and the team for putting all this on, we're sure that Carefully Planned will remain the bastion of the D.I.Y scene that it has become.
Words; Krystian Hudson with support from Liam Blackburn (of Springbok and SuperSprite fame)
Having nailed 2 days of Carefully Planned I find myself still in awe at the many facets of awesome that it provided. A vast array of styles and genres that provided something for everyone, great venues, great moments and quite spectacular planning. Major kudos to Matthew and the team for putting all this on, we're sure that Carefully Planned will remain the bastion of the D.I.Y scene that it has become.
Words; Krystian Hudson with support from Liam Blackburn (of Springbok and SuperSprite fame)