End of the Road Festival: Saturday
Yo La Tengo, Black Mountain, Phosphorescent, Brakes, Caitlin Rose, The Unthanks and more
Larmer Tree Gardens, Dorset
Article written by
Various Writers - Sep 29, 2010
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Forest Fires
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Day two and the sun has arrived; which should mean tee-shirts and smiles all round. Alas, it also signifies the time for hardcore dairy porn in the guise of festival Ice-Cream. Surely there’s no other product on site that can generate such verbal debauchery from its consumers, nor should there be, for once a tongue’s immersed in a chocolate and strawberry two-scoop it could recite a phone sex compendium.
From the inappropriately erotic to the slightly weird, Snowman are a four-piece who until recently were based in Australia and, two albums in, have been receiving high-praise from the likes of Pitchfork. The Festival programme accurately describes their sound as “primitive and distorted” though Experimental & Industrial might also suit them (one song isn’t a million miles from These New Puritans). Visually, they’d certainly be less striking if it wasn’t for the deranged antics of their sharply-dressed, pint-sized Keyboardist Andy Citawarman who keeps leaping out from behind the instrument either to stomp around or just literally snarl at the audience. It’s entertaining, very loud and not in the least bit dull, but unfortunately it’s difficult for any discernible tunes to materialise from of all the noise and wackiness.
We’re back down on Planet Folk at the Garden Stage, albeit for a different band than the one listed. Timber Timbre have pulled out so Woodpigeon instead treat us to a collection of fine, harmony-packed songs that fit the summery afternoon conditions perfectly. The crowd swells towards the end, though this could be in preparation for the next artist.
Matthew Houck, Phosphorescent
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Phosphorescent arrives to a packed garden and whether it’s devoted fans or just eager newcomers, the masses warm immediately to frontman (and previous sole band member) Matthew Houck and his recently beefed up outfit. Boasting his usual ragged and often endearing tales, only now with extra noise, the rockier direction of this year’s ‘Here’s to Taking it Easy’ hasn’t diluted Houck’s personal charm and alt-country appeal. It’s initially very entertaining but there are a few failed attempts to adopt a Springsteen-esque sound and this curtails the enjoyment somewhat. Whereas the tunes of the Boss warrant the epic live treatment, here the arrangements are just needlessly bloated and sit awkwardly alongside the gentler, or more straightforward, numbers. Unfortunate "stadiumisations" aside, it’s a successful performance by the Athens (Georgia) man and his band.
Having played every EOTR festival so far, it’s only right that Brakes make an appearance at this 5th birthday celebration. Having been AWOL for the best part of twelve months though, this could’ve always been a rusty gig from Eamon & Co. Yeah right! Brighton’s finest have always performed like a bunch of drunken rioters finding themselves on stage and deciding to have a party instead, and they’re just as ridiculous and brilliant tonight in The Big Top, with 'Cease and Desist' being a wild, rocking highlight. It’s been too long. Can’t wait for album #4.
Headliner time and the Garden Stage is filling up nicely for Yo La Tengo, but after they decide to open up with the epic ‘Nuclear War’ those that have settled here after escaping the racket of Black Mountain probably feel they’re being attacked from both sides. Never a band known for simply churning out a ‘Greatest Hits’ routine, the New Jersey trio seem to be in a particularly uncompromising mood tonight. Less than a third of the way through and they were already dividing opinion, but the 11-minute bass stomp and distorted guitars of ‘Pass the Hatchet’ had detractors running to the bar or running their disgruntled mouths off (yes, you know who you are). Fair enough, the band have certainly played friendlier sets in the past but a Yo La Tengo gig will always enthral their fans, frustrate some, and just repel others.
Day two draws to a close; it’s time for one last pint and a debate on bass-led wigouts. (by Pete W)
Caitlin Rose
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Every year at EOTR, someone ends the festival with a lot more exposure than they started it with. Last year the Low Anthem were everyone’s favourite and this year Caitlin Rose emerges from leftfield into the spotlight. In the Local tent this evening, she’s absolutely brilliant, as she has been every time I’ve seen her (and which gets her elevated to the Big Top the following night when Steve Mason pulls out at the eleventh hour). If you start with her live show you won’t be disappointed, as you may be with her album, which has been given too much of a Nashville sheen rather than capturing the risk-taking, smart-talking, fast-rocking performance you see on stage. By turns melancholic, sassy and explosive, she wins over the tent and, when the lights fuse, she returns solo to perform an encore of Gene Clark’s 'She Darked The Sun'. Even in the dusk, her talent shines brightly.
Saturday actually begins with light rain which isn’t enough to mash up the ground (there are much improved measures for avoiding a swamp this year anyway) and the sun soon comes out to evaporate any moisture. So we’re shedding damp outer garments to cope with the rapidly rising mercury as Forest Fires kick off events on the Garden Stage. Their songs are rootsy but with a flintier strain of punk-rock so they smoulder and suddenly explode (such metaphors are inevitable with a name like that). There's something of the Velvet Underground and Television in this Brooklyn band, particularly in the guitar of Nathan Delffs, who accompanies his guitar pyrotechnics with some terrifying gurning, but for all the face-pulling, 'Fortune Teller' is still a terrific song and the Survival album holds some hidden gems.
Rachel Unthank
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Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell are a traditional music duo from the North East who were discovered by the Unthanks (and Rachel and her sisters are sat just in front of us to hear them). Technically they’re excellent, their voices gliding sweetly together but, musically, their songs don’t have a lingering effect on us and we sneak out of the hushed tent a little unmoved. But not before we hear the one that we remember longest, about offering to hold back your partner’s hair while they honk. We’ve all been there! The Unthanks themselves are brilliant, one of their talents being to present traditional music from the North East in ways that don't make you feel as if you've wandered into a heritage museum. The singing of Rachel and Becky is amazing and their tap dancing almost as good (I've never seen a lass change from strappy shoes to clogs with such grace). The band creates a sweeping orchestral-pop backing for their Northumbrian tales and the combination of these elements blow away distinctions like ancient and modern, pop and folk, North and South - the sense that predominates is just quality.
Monotonix provide a needed blast of punk energy but their music – heavy Stoogey rock - quickly loses our interest. Thankfully, their performance – moving to different locations in the Big Top and outside the tent during songs, performing in their pants, and the singer crowd-surfing in a camping chair – is more entertaining but I wouldn’t listen to it without the visuals. Sam Beam of Iron and Wine has some of the best lines; when thanking the Low Anthem for the loan of their pump organ, he mutters "and we'll show ‘em how to use it". His music is very intimate and often quiet - it's just him and his pump organist - but it works perfectly in the Garden Stage, stilling any audience chatter when he's not making them laugh. It was an impressive performance, cut short only by the lure of Caitlin Rose in the Local tent.
Sam Beam, Iron & Wine
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I encounter a strange musician outside the Big Top who, on being told to bring appropriate footwear because the rain has softened the ground, had declared "I don’t do Wellingtons" and so turns up in a pair of football boots at the end of his pinstripe trousers instead. Buffoon! My Saturday evening ends with Black Mountain in the Big Top tent. I’d never go and see a regular metal act (I had the misfortune of catching the preposterous Wolfmother once) but Black Mountain seem to synthesise the better bits of stoner rock, psychedelia and acid folk to produce something that works on the mind as much as your viscera. Set against a hallucinogenic lighting system, the power of massive Sabbath-style riffs like ‘Rollercoaster’ is magnified, though there’s as much Spacemen 3 drone-rock in the mix too. Like other Canadian groups, it seems a very Socialist sort of enterprise, Amber Webber and Stephen McBean singing at the front but just part of the collective. That slightly dulls the spectacle but the set, which regularly tacks between riffs and drones, heavy and pastoral moments, noise and ambience, more than satisfies those with an aversion to traditional heavy rock. (by Ged M)
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