24
Bido Lito! June 2015 Reviews
The Atlantic Stage (Luke Avery / luke-avery.com)
FRIDAY
The first day of SOUND CITY 2015 has a
bit of a house warming atmosphere to it.
Attendees tentatively enter the festival’s
new location fully intent on judging the
drastic change of direction, but equally
intent on having a good time.
Kicking off the festival, Scottish
diviners of shimmering songcraft NEON
WALTZ pull a fairly impressive crowd,
their jangling folk-indie easily shining
through. Whipping through their half
album’s worth of material, the crowd at
the Waltzers’ tea-time slot are treated
to the workings of their debut LP. It’s a
promising start, as the sunny melodies
are more than a match for the thick grey
cloud above.
Despite a somewhat disparate start
over on The Baltic Stage, YAK are more
than capable of proving their public
sponsors – including Peace’s main
man Harry Koisser – to have been right
all along. Lead man Oliver Burslem is
as the music demands: detached and
indulged on the band’s more psychedelic
moments; thrashing and impassioned
on the detours into the abrasive. Smile is
a notable highlight, indicative of the
varying influences the band absorb into
their soundscape, yet it is undoubtedly
the savagery of their attack which proves
the most inspiring.
Continuing the doom mongering,
ICEAGE have always walked that fine line
between sedate and volatile. Embodied
by frontman Elias Bender Rønnenfelt,
the band are as fascinating as they
are repellent. Flagship track Glassy
Eyes, Dormant And Veiled sees the
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
bidolito.co.uk
Swans (Keith Ainsworth / arkimages.co.uk)