Oh gosh, oh gosh, only a few days left now. Check out PART ONE if you missed it!
Mat Palatano - Trains, Sunday
The Specific Heats are a crazy surf rock band from New York who have played Indietracks for two years now. To spice up the artists, they’ve imposed a rule that you can’t play if you played last year.. but the lead singer has found his way around it to play an acoustic set on the trains (a trick MJ Hibbett has also got around by appearin with A Little Orchestra). Yes, he wears a poncho, and they blew up a guitar amp two years ago during their set. The trains are always my No amps on the trains, so I’m interested to see whether he does any Specific Heats stuff, or whether he’s got some solo acoustic work. Doing an acoustic version of the former would be my preference.
Crystal Stilts – Indoor Stage, Sunday
I have no idea why, but I keep acting like they’re not playing at Indietracks. Crystal Stilts are a shoegaze band heavily influenced by coldwave. Coldwave - to most people – pretty much means it sounds like Joy Division. Aside from the fact the lead singer sounds atiny bit like Ian Curtis, the direct comparisons really end there. But there’s a definite dark feeling in their music, and a capacity for some very catchy songs. Shake the Shacklesmade me sit up and listen when I first heard it – I could barely believe it was them. I enjoyed their first album Alight of Night, but it lacked a certain confidence, the music sounded claustrophobic, and the production quality isn’t the greatest. Claustrophobic I can deal with artistically, but when compared to their new album, it just doesn’t cut it. I’m nervous about seeing them live (as I never have before), because depending on how they set the sound up, it could end up being brilliant, or fall completely flat. Still, I’ve passed up too many opportunities to see them, and this one won’t be missed.
Jonny – Outdoor stage, Friday
Jonny, like Pocketbooks (mentioned in part 1), are playing the first night. It’s actually a great lineup for the first night – every single band playing are great. Jonny are a new supergroup partnership between Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub, and Euros Childs of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Despite the album apparently mostly written by Euros, Teenage Fanclub side seems more emphasised, with subtle melodies and harmonic vocals, and little to no synths. The album is pure bubblegum pop, and easy to digest, which makes for perfect Friday viewing. This should be a better choice than the frankly disastrous Everybody Was in the French Revolution… now!, who headlined friday last year – an inspired concept by Eddie Argos of Art Brut, with very mediocre songs.