Dot
to Dot 2006
Nottingham’s
inner-city, multi-venue, music extravaganza returns for a second
year now encompassing the Rock City venue bringing more bands
to perform and more of the indie-hoards to the party.
Considering
the exciting potential of today’s line-up standing in the
Social to watch Not In This Town’s
lack-lustre no-wave/alt-rock schtick doesn’t offer much
more than background music to ease the crowd into the days proceedings
which shortly are about to really kick off in style.
Boy……this band don’t half have a pretentious
name. A band called From The Shards of Comets
obviously think far to much of themselves and will almost undoubtedly
fail to reach the grandiose scale of intense musical beauty that
they aspire to. Their performance in The Social shows just why
making such assumptions are a bad idea.
Taking the post-rock template of surging walls of guitar noise,
slowly building mind-blowing crescendos and adding subtle mesmerising
pianos parts, Shards add some modern indie-pop song structuring
to provide a grand accessibility. Sex-symbols aren’t a usual
part of the post-rock set up but in vocalist/keyboardist Heather
they have a definite contender to fill the position.
Her performance is mesmerising as she plays brilliant piano parts
and vocalises some of the intense emotions the music suggests,
all the time looking serene and stunning in a Mary Quant style
dress.
From The Shards of Comets have the unique position of making experimental
music that, in the live arena at least, is packaged to be accessed
by everyone.
Starting proceedings in the Rock City main hall are those polka-dotted,
retro-pop-princesses The Pipettes.
Backed by The Cassettes, the all-girl trio bang through an addictive
set of Spector-esque pop that is punctuated by hand-claps and
ridiculously kitsch dance-moves.
The pure irony of what they are doing is not lost on The Pipettes,
they understand that what they are doing is ‘uncool’
and ‘old-hat’ but it is this understanding that makes
their music such brilliant pop. In an era when pop is over-produced
to lifeless perfection it is the slightly out-of-time dance moves
and vocal imperfections that make them so perfect – plus
they look great and incredibly sexy, in a classic way rather than
an air-brushed lad-mag parody of womanhood.
The tunes ultimately rip-off the innocence late 50s/early 60s
girl-pop but add a modern twist to their tales of love. On hearing
‘Dirty Mind’ a cautionary tale of the perverted nature
of ‘overly-clean’ boys I defy anyone not to smile.
Loving The Pipettes is possibly the easiest thing to achieve all-day.
Some of the ultra-hip indie fashionista crowd look bewildered
but secretly they love it – it’s impossible not too.
From the bizarrely kitsch to the just plain bizarre - The
Hellset Orchestra are not your average band. Part classical
orchestra, part rock-act and part Tim Burton movie these guys
have a unique sound, not unlike that of the Arcade Fire but tinged
with b-movie madness. The vocalist/organist runs the show like
a macabre ring-master – conducting the band, climbing on
the barriers, preaching to and goading the crowd to join in the
twisted musical fun.
The sounds coming from the seven-piece may be built mainly on
organ and strings but at times it is so heavy it could make some
metal bands quake, whilst the drums and bass make the tunes totally
danceable through the moments of experimental free-jazz noise.
The Hellset Orchestra’s crazy musical circus is a spectacle
worth indulging in.
After all this musical eclecticism a nice dose of in-your-face
rock n roll wouldn’t go astray and Australia’s The
Grates are the perfect band to provide it. They peddle
a worn garage-punk sound, that whilst being infectious isn’t
exactly world-changing. The Grates would be just another rock
band if wasn’t for the bouncing ball of rock n roll energy
that is front-woman Patience Hodgson. She bounces round the stage
grinning manically, clearly loving the entertainment she is providing
– it is near impossible not to get off on someone having
that much fun.
Despite the obvious fact that she can sing, her vocal performance
is more about energy than perfect delivery and it works brilliantly,
making it the most soulful performance all day. The Grates deserve
to sit above many of the ‘in’ rock bands currently
in favour, because put simply - they rock.
Dan Sartain steps back to the 50s
with his two-man, guitar and drums psychobilly schtick. It’s
good enough to tap your feet too, but you can’t help notice
that with his sound and look he’s four decades too late.
Chris Martin on the back patio of
the Rescue Rooms is not the do-good, front-man of world-beaters
Coldplay, but is, in fact Chris and Martin (see what they did
there?) from Derby alt-rockers Younogodie providing a rather good
blast of instru-metal – all pounding drums and guitar madness.
It’s good.
Local boys Amusement Parks On Fire
should really be amazing in the live arena, they are a post-rock/indie
group signed to a major label and in theory have all the credentials
to be mind-blowing. Their repetitive keyboard loops and rhythmical
guitar waves mould into a lifeless whole. There’s no progression,
no devastating cresendos and nothing to excite – the bar
is about the most exciting place to be while they play.
The Mystery Jets really want to be
exciting – they have an array of instruments and some pretty
cool added percussion but they are bloody dull. Maybe it’s
too much cider setting in, or maybe it is just that if they are
going to update prog-rock for a modern audience they should try
adding something new. Who really cares?
After standing through that dullness a dance to Klaxons
might be nice, but the hype-machine must have gone into overdrive
because Stealth is full and no one can get in through the front-gate
that leads to Stealth and the Rescue Rooms. From the street round
the corner I can hear That Fucking Tank
– they sound immense, I consider climbing a wall, but the
cider says no.
British Sea Power, as always are
fucking ace – they are one of the best live bands in the
country. I remember having this thought – the rest is a
blur. Bring on next years event.
by
Chris Marks
