Live at Leeds 2018 – my artists to watch
Music venues throughout Leeds are set to host over one hundred up and coming artists, as well as a few more established ones on the 5th of May.
I’ve not been able to listen to the entire lineup, but i’ve been trawling through a mass of artists on the spotify playlist. I’ve gone ahead and selected a few of my personal favourites.
Blaenavon
My first introduction to Blaenavon was courtesy of their song ‘Let’s pray’. A surprisingly uplifting tune which which echoes a heartwarming message – lets pray for death. Nothing particularly gripped me at first listen, but after giving debut album ‘That’s your lot’ a couple of goes, Blaenavon was introduced into my constant rotation. Through subsequent listens, I found every song in the album uniquely fascinating. Lavish, morose and occasionally somewhat jarring (Ode To Joe). The album gives an insightful look into a variety of themes from the bands adolescent years with an unexpected level of maturity. The self titled closer inadvertently relatable to my own teenage experience.
‘I’m an empathetic pipsqueak’
‘Orthodox man’ and ‘My bark is your bite’ offer a more accessible sound, lead singer Ben Gregory’s delivery and tone offering something a bit different to the indie standard. ‘Lonely side’ is ‘well funky’ as my good friend Kieran describes it, a certain highlight. Guitar riffs and Synths working in perfect unison.
“It’s probably about time that I admitted I am a young, ridiculous, romantic buffoon. I am in love with everyone at the same time: but in and out of love constantly. This is incredibly unhealthy, but also very fucking funny. I will continue to get absolutely everything wrong until I grow old, settle down and die. Until then, I walk the Lonely Side.”
‘Alice come home’ starts with a tantalising build up of subdued melodies before building into a crescendo of noise, a stark contrast to the beautifully stripped back ‘Let Me See What Happens Next’. ‘Prague’ and ‘Swans’ also get a mention, two of the bands earliest tracks have stood up to the test of time. The album’s indulgent 59 minute run time slots almost perfectly into my daily commute.
I could write many great things about each song on ‘That’s your lot’, but I doubt I could do many justice. I recommend people go have a listen for themselves and marvel at Ben’s luscious locks.
The Howl & The Hum
The Howl & The Hum were undoubtedly the biggest influence in my attendance of the Live at Leeds ‘Ones to watch’ event back in November. With only a few tracks on Soundcloud and Spotify to show, hearing a full live performance elevated the band to a whole new level in my eyes. Sam Griffith’s facial expressions and stage presence adds a totally new dynamic to what was already a fantastic selection of tracks. Atmospheric guitar effects combining with fantastic songwriting being the recipe for success.
The song ‘Godmanchester Chinese Bridge’ is a good place to introduce the Howl & The Hum, a middle ground in the bands dynamic range and arguably the best representation of their overall sound. ‘Manea’ starts softly before laying the bass on heavy. ‘Terrorforming’ strips instrumentation back, it carries a strong sentiment for starting anew, leaving your past life behind. I would love to hear them play it live, something they’ve not done during the couple of sets I’ve attended.
Most recent singles ‘portrait I’ and ‘I wish I was a shark’ are also worth a listen. Both build patiently, the former reaching a high energy conclusing. The latter an immersive song encapsulating life and marine motions. Here’s to hoping 2018 potentially brings a full length project and a wider of recognition of the band’s enormous talents.
Spring King
I love the idea of a drummer taking the role of lead vocalist. It was something I couldn’t manage myself as a very average drummer, requiring a certain ability to multitask that few posses. I saw Spring King supporting the Kaiser chiefs at Leeds arena a couple of years ago and felt intrigued to see what else they had to offer.
The band is driven forward by a number of singles, ‘The City’ gaining notoriety after featuring as the first song played on Beats 1 radio for Apple Music. ‘Detroit’, ‘Who Are You?’ and ‘Rectifier’ carry this momentum forward with high intensity. Lively guitar and saxophone solos punctuate the album, however, some filler tracks lack these more impactful moments. With a mixture of slower numbers (Take me away), to raucous punk sounds, to a more laid back surfer, sea and sand vibe (The summer). There’s raw, distorted instrumentation throughout, tying each track together and contributing to the cohesiveness of the overall project. Hopefully Spring King continue to develop on the current brand of noise they produce to such strong effect.
The Hubbards
I’m quite disappointed in myself for having overslept the day of the Live at Leeds ‘ones to watch’ event, missing one of the bands I was most excited to see. In the build up to the event November last year, The Hubbards were a band which drew my immediate attention. Single ‘Is It Me?’ hooked me straight away, followed by the rest of the tracks on their ‘Singles’ project. Tight guitars blended seamlessly with accompanying instrumentation and a twang of hazy northern drawl for good measure.
The four piece making a habit of producing indie bangers. Newly released and instantly catchy ‘Your Love, Your Love (Your Love)’ continues the trend.
Sea Girls
They aren’t girls, they aren’t even from the seaside. Still, the boys from Leicestershire have a knack for producing an ace chorus, one that wouldn’t go amiss at 2am in an indie-disco. A nice little hit of endorphins. Songs ‘Call Me Out’ and ‘Eat Me Whole’ are highly contagious, making you want to move around a bit and sing along. You may catch yourself absentmindedly muttering the lyrics to yourself while your friends ask you what the hell you’re on about.
‘Whats your favourite colour, I wanna be your lover?’
From the song ‘Favorite colour’ sounds like a awkward first date question which escalated far too quickly.
Lead singer Henry Camamile’s surname also sounds like a sort of tea, so that’s nice.
Anteros
Anteros’ style of woozy, dreamy pop msuic makes for some pretty groovy songs. Breakfast EP opener self titled ‘Anteros’ and next track ‘Fade To Grey’ a couple of the high points for me, this is in comparison to the more pop lead tracks in their discography (eg. The Beat). It will be interesting to see the direction they take on the release of their first full length venture.
Anteros are helping pave the way for more representation of female-led bands at festivals. I think the lack of female lead artists I currently listen too can be somewhat attributed to some of the mockery my music taste received during my teenage years. Subconsciously anything that could be seen as slightly emasculating I’ve decided to ignore for most of my life. However, the ears don’t lie, nowadays i’m listening to whatever sounds good and with certainty Laura Hayden and the lads are sounding very good.
Pale Waves
Pale Waves are turning a few heads with their glittery indie pop, drawing obvious influences from their Manchester contemporaries.
Despite the gothic edged outward appearance, Pale Waves’ music sometimes does feel a little too polished. They could perhaps benefit from more gritty instrumentation, maybe something a little more experimental. They do feel a lot like a female fronted The 1975 on many of the tracks I've heard. Regardless, just like the 75’ their tunes are rather catchy and I shouldn’t really begrudge singer Heather Baron-Gracie for making my significant other question her sexuality. Maybe i’m just slightly intimidated? After all I wrote this section to appease her.
There are many more bands playing I would love to hear from, but life moves quickly. I’ll hopefully get around to them in time. At the time of writing I still need to buy my tickets for the event, so if it’s somehow sold out tomorrow i’m going to look a right idiot. Check out some of the bands here and on the playlist, maybe i’ll see ya there.
