(SWN) Festival - Cardiff - 9-11/11/07
5/5
By: Sofie Jenkinson
(SWN) festival was born kicking and screaming and covered in fresh new talent in Cardiff this last November. It was a perfect snapshot of the city and its diverse, tight-knit musical community; ably showcasing the supportive network of passionate individuals, array of fantastic venues and promoters scattered from the bay and beyond.
Over the three days of the festival I fell back in love with music; madly and passionately in love. It's very easy in the current climate to become jaded by everything that floats to the top; money, Hard-Fi, a bunch of idiots, Peaches Geldof etc. But when everything is stripped back and scattered all over the fine city of Cardiff, it's the perfect place to rekindle such a life-long relationship. Messy and mixed up, the festival opened its arms wide to all manner of styles, people and differences, creating the most wonderful tapestry of mind-expanding sonic magic.
It was an accumulation of the last very exciting year in Cardiff and so much more. What follows can be described as notes from a festival, scribbled inbetween heart stopping moments of excitement and long lost love.
Kicking off (SWN) in a way only they know how, Gindrinker took over the oldest record shop in the world, Spillers, for an instore session, initially cranking up the volume on their almost-hit 'Elton', an unfortunate and brilliant story about a wrestler. With the bass guitar out of the window, Gindrinker strike a more pop shaped chord, with 'DC Gates' showcasing long lost deep dark harmonies. This band are quite simply one of the most pleasurable experiences Cardiff has to offer, taking you somewhere you've never been before with mini megaphones and sticky trumpet keys.
Elsewhere, Cheeky Cheeky and the Nosebleeds bring their neatly-boxed playful pop to the stage, all trimmed with a beautifully nostalgic tinge seeping in around the edges, '90s indie and shambolic pop-punk to name but a few of the weapons contained in their arsenal. These cheeky smirks could certainly justify their current 'ones to watch' status in the near future.
Lyrics float overheard like a bird elegantly circling its prey as Those Dancing Days ascend to the stage, all punctuated by Linnea Jonsson's honey coated vocals, sharpened with theuncertainty of youth. Add to this the simple structure and unusual organ riffs and it's spine tingling. There are, unsurprisingly, no brightly coloured Fisher Price instruments at play here this time, only a group of girls whose talents outweighs the sum of their parts, something which, once they grow into it, will make them an unstoppable force. Jonsson looks unimpressed by the situation, the music of the effortlessly beautiful notes falling out of her mouth, but this takes little away from the majesty of their sound.
Space In The 50s are the rattling sound of today's Cardiff, as exciting and timeless as ever. Ripping through the ear drums of the kids taking a break from the Wichita stage, showing them what music is supposed to sound like, what it is supposed to make you feel. They are a classic combination of vibrant pop nuggets and riled punked up guts. The spirit of Cardiff based punk reaches far and wide, from Mclusky onwards and was most definitely present in the room on this evening.
If you could tin The Cribs, they'd live up to what it would say on the label - a solid British talent with traditional rock 'n' roll flair. The infectious nature of a winning combination of vicious temperament and masterful sing-a-long moments knows no bounds and leaves you remembering exactly how much you loved them in the first place. Moment after moment of clear-cut unadulterated pop rock circles The Cribs out as one of the most effective indie acts in the UK today.
The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club next wheeled out their luxurious circling riffs, dripping with an attitude that sways perpetually from side to side. Sporadically glorious moments rip right through you, as with 'Ban The Gin', and show the depths of this talented band - yet another based in the host city of Cardiff.
Steve Lamacq is a living legend, no arguments here. Draped in a Forward Russia! t-shirt he sidled across to his record box and begins. Classics only, so very Lamacq to ignore all the self-righteous nubile indie-pop that believes it automatically deserves a place in his box. Lamacq's demon spinning turns the latter stages of the successful Rockfeedback / Quench / Uberalles stage into what can only be described as a miniature celebrity party. And man do those who are left know how to move.
To be perfectly honest with you Rockfeedback was a little worse for ware at this point. One beer too far turned the amazing dub step luminary Bass Clef into a far distant thumping - but we could still tell that it was damn good, highly masterful thumping.
New York's Jaymay stands still and strong centre stage to open our Saturday's entertainment, and man has this kid got a pair of lungs on her. Carving out beautiful spiralling storybook songs about love lost and everything before it, Jaymay sounds like crisp orange leaves falling from a frozen New York sky as she takes us meandering through her life dancing on the notes of such a classic vocal style.
As fragile as Edwyn Collins still appears, it does not once affect his ability to hit every note out of the park and back into the hearts of so many. His swagger, intact and stronger than ever, arms each harmony with an attitude all of its own, and this is no clearer than on his extremely impressive and seemingly perfectly formed rendition of international mega hit'A Girl Like You.'
The evening finds I Was a Cub Scout in danger of making the audience feel like they are actually in an episode of the O.C. Luckily the odd moment of perfectly formed pop saves them from leaving this taste in the mouth.
Sweat pours down the walls of Cardiff University's Great Hall as Dave Mills swaps headphones with the electrifying Annie Mac and fingers reach for the sky as she drops the first bar of her magnificent load. She twists knobs and scratches discs into the wee hours and packs a room full of ears with list after list of pumping, room flattening tunes. Lifting the seething masses below up and providing the ammunition for enough dancing to make every foot in the place beg for mercy, until every heart, head and ear-drum bursts with clean, pure musical pleasure.
Sunday is mellower and downbeat, an altogether more fragile affair, soaked in glorious lazy afternoon sun that brings out the multifaceted shades of late autumn. Lines of grey faced, bleary eyed people litter the streets with ears pricked at the promise of yet more fascinating music.
Before music got a chance on this lazy Sunday morning a little hop skip and jump found us in Chapter Arts Centre watching some of the many music videos from local Welsh artists, which came in all kinds of shape and sizes and were both surprising and breath taking in equal measure.
Commanding a barrage of playful pop with an intense sense of adventure Kotki Dwa are the post-bacon sandwich band of the day. This Casio tinged three some are intrigued by all things Polish, hence their name (meaning 'two cats'), and are as odd as they are brilliant. Songs packed skywards with lyrics being washed down river by hectic, layered sounds. The band of '08.
Yeasayer beat the drum and all those within reach flocked to the skinny upper room of Cardiff's Buffalo Bar, shaking and convulsing like Southern American preachers. Their completely unusual sound is both soul rattling and bone crushing, twisting and contorting all musical conceptions and creating colourful, intoxicating sound pillars - the plumes whisping through the stagnant bodies left motionless in awe.
(SWN) certainly proved that music is the glue of the world this weekend, joining all kinds of musical styles, art, theatre, people and worlds together and creating something truly fantastic. The festival saved me from musical stagnation and excited me again, and next year, they can save you too. Here at Rockfeedback were are privileged that we could be a part of it in its first fantastic year and both hope and predict an even more fabulous three day stint in '08. We suggest you watch this space, with hawk-like precision.
All photographs copyright Luke Pavey 2007
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