Albums of the year... Part 1

Good evening one and all,

It looks like that time of year is upon us again. It's easy to look back on 2013 and recite the old, 'music aint what it used to be, I wish I lived in the 60s, kill me now', kind-of mantra but when attempting to compile this list, this being the Ball and Biscuit's second albums of the year post, I found narrowing down my ten ten LPs from 2013 a deviously tricky task. Therefore, below is a list of what may not necessarily be my absolute favourite ten albums of the year as to be frank my opinion on that manner of list changes daily but more a breakdown of what I believe this year has had to offer us music-wise. As with last year, they are not in any particular order and I have semi-tried but pretty much failed to not write about albums which haven't at some point this year featured on this blog. So without further ado I present to you an album which featured on this very blog back in March when I referred to them as 'the best new band I've heard this calendar year' (although it seems March is slightly early to be making these sorts of claims). First five coming right up!

To Kill A King - Cannibals With Cutlery

While 2013 has indeed been a good year for music, it hasn't been such a great year for emerging new bands - this becoming most apparent when considering the lack of debuts on this list. Cannibals With Cutlery  is one of those 'how didn't it make the mercury list? Those judges are all fucking twats' sort of albums. While not being particularly alternative or 'out-there', the whole LP listened to as a collective communicates the feeling that lead man Ralph Pelleymounter and co have written an album for themselves, not particularly seeking massive fame but one that people can sit back, relax and enjoy, and in this idea is transmitted a radiant beauty which shines throughout each of the thirteen tracks. Opener 'I Work Nights and You Work Days' is an ode to a busy lover while follow up 'Cold Skin' relates to brotherly love and friendship (the repetition of outstanding lyric 'Place your head on my own' is pertinent in all the right ways) and is responsible for the admittedly minuscule amount of mainstream success the album has achieved. As 'Cannibals With Cutlery' gathers pace these radiant occurrences only grow in their frequency. 'Choices' is probably the pick, Pelleymounter's voice noticeably quivering when he reaches the emotional crescendo before belting out repeatedly, 'She's at our doorstep/ laden with flowers/ his garden is freezing, teasing you leaving me for hours', the most strangely memorable lyrics of the album only rivalled by 'Letter to my lover (the Dylan fan)'s closing proclamation, 'You can have your balcony by the sea, watch the waves come crashing down, each one erasing me'. It's all beautiful, it's all memorable and it's all worth a listen. There isn't a bad track on it and while something would halt me from considering this my album of the year, it was indeed the first to pop into my head when compiling this list. As an afterthought, finding a fellow TKAK fan, while not the easiest of tasks, is a source of immense enjoyment and one which has led me to one or two memorable conversations in the past twelve months, .It would seem they are already in the mould of reaching that often enviously sought-after 'cult' status.

Arctic Monkeys - AM

Well it was obviously going to turn up on this list somewhere so I may as well get it out the way. Smooth, sexy and reflective of yet another twist in their sound, the fifth offering from South Yorkshire's finest could in some respects be considered their best. When the Monkeys dropped 'R U Mine' in February 2012, over 18 months before AM reached our ears, we knew that the tweaks this formidable four-piece were making to their sound were going to eventually boil up into something special. 'R U Mine' is a peach of a tune, one which intertwines golden riffs with Alex Turner's lolling, lackadaisical LA-inspired vocals to phenomenal effect and even leaves us with the added bonus of Matt Helder's falsetto (lovely jubbly). The rest of the album may have come a lot later but it followed suit. Each of the singles have followed in 'R U Mine's vein, Turner oozing out sensational lyrics like there's no tomorrow - 'Why Do you Only Call Me When You're High, 'Arabella's got some interstellar-gator skin boots' and 'like the beginning of mean streets you can be my baby' reverberate round the mind just as the writer intended and with huge dollops of panache. While no one is accusing them of losing any of that stunningly northern grit which made them such 'rebels without a cause' in the first instance, the development of the now somewhat Anglo-American Monkeys has been greeted with a firm cheer and rave reviews and long may it continue, losing even a remote section of their fan-base appears an impossible task. We wait with baited breath for number six and at the rate Turner's moving at the moment (five Monkeys LPs, one Last Shadow Puppets release and a cult film soundtrack since 2006) we may not have to wait too long.

Mount Kimbie - Cold Spring Fault Less Youth

This is an excellent release. London duo Dominic Maker and Kai Campos are fast becoming amongst the elite of Britain's electronic artists with 2010s debut Crooks and Lovers garnering critical acclaim and placing the two Kimbieans on the map. May saw the release of Cold Spring Fault Less Youth, an album gleefully pleasing critics similarly to that of its predecessor and for good reason. Mount Kimbie know exactly what they're about, they stay relatively bound within the walls of their tried and tested method of genre-defining ambient dub and post-dubstep but it's the subtle variations which most catch the ear. This time round, they employed the services of one of 2013's breakthrough acts, the unmistakably ginger King Krule. I raved about the collaboration between the two on 'You Took Your Time' in a blog on Krule a few weeks back but the album also includes, 'Meter, Pale Tone' a second collab between the two and one which runs at a faster more engineered pace, a raunchy drum beat driving it the entire way. Krule's semi-contribution in a third tune and personal album highlight 'Break Well' proves to probably be the most important. As the track slows to what appears to be a floaty outro, Krule's voice suddenly flutters sharply and cuttingly into life with a simple wail and is followed up by one of the most scintillating bass lines I've ever heard - a minute of pure bliss reflecting just what these two do best. The album doesn't falter here, other standout tracks include' Made To Stray' which has come to feature in many 'top singles of 2013' lists in the world of the alternative music press and also 'Home Recording'. All in all, this is an album full to the brim with layer upon layer of innovation and is well worth its place on this here list.

Peace - In Love

2013 saw a semi-revival of the Birmingham indie-rock scene. Now there's a sentence which I certainly imagined I wouldn't be writing at this point twelve months ago. At the helm were four slightly odd-looking blokes who's music displays influence from the very very best - Oasis, Stone Roses, Kasabian, The Smiths, Blur and Nirvana are thrown in there for good measure and have led  to the production of what I consider to be one of the most important albums of the year. We can always take a given calendar year and pinpoint those who led the supposed 'rock 'n' roll revival (The Vaccines, White Lies, Palma Violets and even Alt-J in recent times) but these breakthroughs have become less and less frequent and more and more underwhelming it seems in past years (the fact that I've even considered Alt-J is worrying, they're brilliant but certainly not rock 'n' roll), not something that can be said of our good friends Peace. I may not be the biggest fan of the name and it's lengthy disambiguation in Wikipedia but these guys do a job and they do it bloody well. 'Follow Baby' is a punch to the gut of an anthem and displays the quartet's love for grunge but it's the softer moments of the album that I feel have granted In Love its joie de vivre. The glistening oriental solo during opener 'Higher than the Sun', the dreamy Beach Boys 60s vibe of fan favourite 'California Daze' and the metronomic ambience of 'Float Forever' and its rousingly hippy instruction to 'Swim down through the fathoms of your soul/ If you don't try and get your feet wet/ You're a liar and a troll' making it an absolute banger. Peace may evaporate into thin air like so many others before them but at least they can say they tried bloody hard and at least put a smile of a number of adoring fans faces for a good year.

 Jon Hopkins - Immunity

I think if there was a gun being held to my head and I simply had to pick one of these to be my album of the year it may well have to be this one, mainly considering the basis that I could literally have it on repeat all day without either tiring or at any point feeling the necessity to switch it off. Immunity is an emotional roller coaster of an album, told in beats and in tempo-change rather than vocal prowess but with devastating affect. There's no point describing each song as a separate entity (although I will say that the linked track 'Open Eye Signal' below is an absolute thrill ride and not one for the faint-hearted), the entire thing must be listened to as a whole in order to be properly understood but if you do, and once you have reached the closing title track, then and only then will the true genius of this work be properly established in your mind. Next up for Hopkins is a collaboration with Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes, a match-made in heaven if you ask me and one which I look forward to hearing. For now, this masterpiece remains firmly embedded in top-ten 2013 album lists across the globe, it is the shit.

The next batch of five albums coming soon to a Facebook or twitter page near you... (probably at the latest Thursday, I do always like to place a timeframe on these things).

Peace out.

The Rise and Rise of Arctic Monkeys

Afternoon to everyone,

As promised in Thursday's post I've taken great pleasure this afternoon in writing a few words on the new Arctic Monkey's album AM. Had to wait five days for the darn CD to arrive and then immediately uploaded it on to my laptop making me truly appreciate just why no one buys CDs anymore, if I'd downloaded it I could have done the exact same thing for free and got it on the day it came out with absolutely no drop in sound quality - the album picture might still have even popped up on my iTunes. Instead I spent 9 quid to twiddle my thumbs for five days.

Anyway the problem subsisted and now I'm here with Alex Turner crooning 'Do I wanna Know' in my ear and I'm bloody loving it. If I could compare the Arctic Monkeys to any band of a past generation then listening to this, their fifth LP in just seven years, I would probably have to shout the Rolling Stones. The Stones started out as a protest band but it wasn't much time before they developed into an outfit developing records which were far more sexy than they were angry. Having a little listen to the masterpiece that is the Monkey's debut Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not, the development draws many a similarity. While once upon a time Turner was penning lyrics about being thrown out of grotty Sheffield dive bars, the boys are now based in LA, sporting teddy boy haircuts and producing songs with titles like 'No1 Party Anthem' and 'Why Do You Only Call Me When You're High'. Does it matter? Course it fucking doesn't because the music remains simply fantastic.

We knew exactly what to expect having already been treated to opener 'Do I wanna Know' and singles 'R U Mine' and the aforementioned 'Why Do You Only Call Me...' but each of the other new tracks delivers its own little piece of happiness, be it with a cheeky lyric, a riff of pure originality or one of Matt Helder's trademark drum solos (plus way way more of his beloved falsetto). And the brains behind it all... Mr Turner. If You didn't know it already, Alex Turner is an absolute lyrical genius. I read and strongly agreed with a review of the album the other day which claimed he has an unfounded ability to find rhyme in the middle of a sentence where other songwriters simply wouldn't have a clue, 'I'm sorry to interrupt it's just I'm constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you' is a prime example. This gives each melody it's own unique Monkeys feel and sets a tone for something new in every crevice of his work. For me, he leaves his best lyrical prowess for last, producing scintillating metaphor after metaphor in perfect closer 'I Wanna Be Yours' - 'If you like your coffee hot/Let me be your coffee pot' etc.etc. These lyrics challenge my previous favourite Monkey's metaphor - 'Your rarer than a can of dandelion and burdock/and those other girls are just post-mix lemonade'.

Lyrics aside, 'Mad Sounds' finds the Monkeys at their most touching and is probably the most anthemic of the tunes, alongside the wonderfully titled 'No.1 Party Anthem' of course, both of which sound like they were ripped straight off Turner's EP for the Richard Ayoade directed Submarine (another work of absolute genius from the Sheffielder, where does he get his time from). 'Knee Socks' features vocals and production from Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme and a riff to die for alongside a slightly fresher poppier feel while earlier on in the LP there's Arabella' and FUCK ME IT'S A TUNE. Each instrumental addition is bathed with funk and the chorus has to be one of the best these guys have ever produced, moment of the album for me has to be the pre-chorus in which two sliding chords cut across Turner's claim that 'My days end best when this sunset gets itself' before launching into 'As Arabellllaaaaaaaa'.

What this album has confirmed is that the Monkeys can really do what the fuck they want and keep on and on producing LPs of better and better quality. Some are saying that this is only the beginning and connecting this record with the first in terms of its importance for the band but on this point I strongly disagree and point to the strength and success of the three albums which came in between. There is however a layer of fresh maturity on top of AM which has guaranteed the critical acclaim along with the mass album and single sales ('Why Do You Only Call Me...' reached no.8 in the UK charts, no mean feat for a guitar band in 2013).The  hope and moreover the assumption is that the Monkeys continue to release LPs of this calibre and as prolifically as they have been over the past few years. I don't doubt it, and what I also don't doubt is that if this is to be the case then there's no reason why in thirty years time we can't be talking about them in the same terms as we're talking about the Stones in 2013... we can certainly begin to compare Turner with Jagger. And who wouldn't love to see the Arctic Monkeys headlining Glastonbury 2043?

Many thanks as always for reading as I've certainly enjoyed writing.

Max

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Updates and Mercury Musings

Evening all,

As I familiarly say because I publish this blog so damn rarely... it's been a while. In terms of my life, University is now done and dusted, I spent a month having the trip of lifetime in the US of A and have now had reality give me a massive slap in the nuts as I return to my parent's home in London and a relatively dead-end 9 to 5 job. The two things I learnt in America:

1) EVERYONE  loves Disclosure.

2) NO ONE and I repeat NO ONE in the US has heard of Jimmy Saville.

Anywho... to keep me going I thought I'd try and carry on publishing the stuff I'm listening to and promoting new bands whenever I see fit, along with the odd thought of the week. The focus of the posts will probably shift away from Yorkshire a bit and spread around the country but no one think for a second that Sheffield doesn't still occupy a really quite hefty place in my heart.

Yesterday was mercury prize nomination day. A yearly event which pretty much everyone forgets about and very few people care about but is always a good indicator of the state of the UK music industry at any given time. If this year's nomination pool is anything to go by then this hasn't been the freshest year for new musical talent, every band on the shortlist who has released more than one album has been nominated before, leaving debutants Jake Bugg, Disclosure, Rudimental, Laura Mvula and Savages (so in all fairness quite a few). Last year Alt-J scooped the prize and were touted by a number of bookies as the most highly-backed band in history to win the gong in its fledgling 20-odd year run. This year things look a little bit tighter. While art-rock trio London Grammar were favourites to win the prize before the nominations were announced, it came as a shock to many a fan, me definitely included, to see them not even make the shortlist. Their airy floaty new-xx vibe seemed exactly the kind of sound the judges would be looking for and the fact they released debut offering If You Wait precisely on the final day that albums could be considered for the listing made perfect sense (have a gander at my review of the new LP right over here, shameless plugging I know and for that I'm majorly apologetic).

Instead of the Grammar, the new favourite to emerge is David Bowie of all people. I must admit at this juncture that his is the only album on the list I'm yet to get round to listening to and to be frank I somehow can't see it happening very soon but I hear great things. Would it be a major step backwards however to issue the main prize to a man who was at the height of his talents over 40 years ago? Maybe I'm being a tad cynical I don't know. Other front runners include Arctic Monkeys who's new showing AM was released last Monday and will be a certain topic for my next blog (I'm still waiting for the fucking CD in the post and feel a right mug for pledging not to listen to a single track before it arrived, hurry the fuck up Amazon!) is leaving critics speechless and could stand the Monkeys in good stead to become  the second act in history to win the Mercury twice (PJ Harvey did it in 2001 and 2011 but to be fair she's really fucking strange so I may consider them the first).

Post-punk trio Savages have drawn praise from all quarters of the musical critiquing world for their angry raunchy debut Silence Yourself and could be considered an outside bet while if this was only a few months ago and everyone wasn't so fed up of his unbelievably moody teeanger-going-through-puberty-like-scowl (see below) I'd have given Jake Bugg a real shout. James Blake's Overgrown is his second consecutive nomination and deservedly so but I somehow struggle to see him quite making that final final cut and can't really see him giving too much of a shit about the whole ordeal.

But the really seriously important part is my opinion and for me it's got to be a two-way scrap between Disclosure and Jon Hopkins. These are the two that have really pushed the boundaries this year and if that's what the Mercuries are all about then they really can't be ignored. Guy and Howard Lawrence of Dislclosure, both under the age of 21 demonstrated that house music can have strong pop elements while still being lauded by critics and set loose a fresh array of young British electronic talent into the limelight while Jon Hopkins demonstrated just how far-reaching and emotive a  techno record can be, his nomination Immunity is an absolute masterpiece and should be heard by all.

It's a strange list... some serious talent but nothing truly breathtakingly exciting with the possible exception of the two mentioned in the above paragraph. This more than anything could possibly be down to the fact I discovered yesterday that bands have to pay a fee in order to even be considered for nomination. There must be some serious gems out there that didn't have the funds or simply couldn't be bothered to submit to this tiring process which is a bit of a shame. Quite why you have to pay to probably not win a prize is a bit puzzling but there you go, that's capitalism for you (only joking, I'm really not that guy).

Until early next week, when AM will have dropped swiftly through my letterbox and I'll be bumming it out to my heart's content. I've linked a few of the better tunes off the nominees records at the bottom if anyone fancies a cheeky listen.

Cheers as always for taking  the time to have a read and if anyone's got any music to recommend hit me up at @goldbart1 on twitter or on facebook.

And oh shit I didn't even mention Foals, another big name to throw into the mix, bloody fantastic album.

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Glastoblog!

Top of the afternoon to ya!

As anyone who has in any way crossed my path in the past week you may know that last weekend I attended a mass gathering in the middle of a gigantic farm in Somerset to watch a load of musicians frolick around varyingly-sized fields and enjoy some well-earned merriment. This was Glasto Effing Bury and here's a little run-down of the bands I saw and the general highs and lows (there weren't actually any lows but you can't just say general highs) over the weekend.

Friday 

After a Thursday night in the dance area, experiencing sets from the 2 Bears and T.Williams along with Glastonbury's own answer to Propaganda, the morning promised our first experience of the Pyramid Stage and all it had to offer - kicking off with three Jewish sisters and a random drummer who no one really cares about, all harbouring bags and bags of sass.

HAIM - The weekend couldn't have gone off with more of a bang if you'd set off a shit load of dynamite. Haim were the BBC's sound of 2012 and this performance made it easy to understand why. Their presence is constant and uplifting and they interlink their more well-known hits with the jams and periods of hard-ass drumming which give their live shows a real standout feel. An absolute treat.

JAKE BUGG - A disappointment from start to finish. Jake was clearly nervous which is utterly fair enough from someone who consistently has the complexion of a moody teenager on the way up to his bedroom but he approached the nerves in the totally wrong way. While other evidently-nervous acts I viewed over the weekend (see Jagwar Ma) were more willing to acceept them, Jake's attempts to hide the nerves made him appear sullen and almost rude. Undoubtable tunes like 'Seen It All' and 'Lightning Bolt' prompted big sing a longs but lil' Jakey has much to learn about big performances. My advice - don't hide the nerves, embrace them.

THE LUMINEERS - I absolutely love these guys and they didn't disappoint. By no means one hit wonders livng off the proceeds of a popular E-On advert, their debut self-titled album boasts tune after tune and these were replicated beautifully on this sunny Friday afternoon as I sat at the Other Stage munching on a six pound falafel. A band perfect for festivals, the performance was replete with energy and emotion and before I knew it it was being closed off perfectly with 'Stubborn Love', my personal album highlight. There was also the chance to hear some new stuff.

TAME IMPALA - I had the pleasure of watching the Australian trip-rockers in Sheffield back at the end of 2012 and the night ranks highly in my top ten gigs list. This particular performance had all the technical capability of that night in South Yorkshire but was ever so slightly self-indulgent. Lead singer Kevin Parker took the jamming part of the set a bit too far and appeared to be almost wasting time when he could have been exhibiting one of the many many tunes the Impalas have to offer from 2010's Innerspeaker or NME's number one album of 2012 Lonerism. However closer and fan favourite 'Half Full Glass of Wine' will never disappoint for as long as I live and the intro chords are still echoing round my head as I type.

ALT-J - Attracting one of the biggest crowds the Other Stage saw all weekend, the most pretentious band in the history of pretense looked brimming with confidence and were highly impressive. Their sets remain a bit wooden and they should really start experimenting with some of their live songs in terms of both order and tempo but not too much to complain about really.

FOALS - These guys are fucking mental. My most looked forward to band of the weekend, they set their intentions out from start to finish and didn't quieten for a second. New-album highlight 'Late Night' was an especial treat but the balance of the set was perfect and highly uplifting and reaffirmed Foals status as an essentially 'live band'. Watch out for the manner in which lead singer Yannis Phillipakis nods his head forward while lost in a solo, he takes the duck walk to whole new levels. While me and my crew missed the closing couple of tracks , closer 'Two Steps Twice' (as watched by moi the day after I got home on iPlayer) looked like it had all the capabilities to bring the house down... had there been a house present.

ARCTIC MONKEYS - Not too much to say on the Monkeys that hasn't been said already. This was my fourth time seeing them (fifth coming up in October) but it never ceases to amaze me just how tight they remain as a band. They opened with a teaser of how album number five may well end up sounding in the form of  'Did I wanna Know'. Bar that, the set included one more teaser and tunes from their recent and more distant back catalogue. A symphonic version of 'Mardy Bum' was as compelling as it was unexpected and a particularly touching moment came when Alex ordered his adoring fans to sing happy birthday to his mum (who's name continues to escape me). The perfect end to a first day of what I hope will be many.

Saturday

The weather came out to play in earnest on Saturday as thousands of slightly tubby middle-aged men and women set out their deck chairs in the front rows of the Pyramid Stage as early as midday to prepare for the coming of one of the biggest bands of the century. The Excitement was rippling through Worthy Farm.

JAGWAR MA - My day began with an Australian band in the John Peel tent who I've been keeping tabs on for a while. The lead singer looked incredibly overrawed but he worked with it, lost himself in the music and fast became a source of adulation for the crowd. This is an up and coming psych-rock duo who's music has already been touted by Noel Gallagher as 'more important than an Oasis reunion' and as I left the tent the phrase 'that was fucking fantastic' echoed round the crowd , making me feel a little as if I'd just been viewing an early set by the Gallaghers myself.

AZAELIA BANKS - I've never been a huge fan but boy does she put on a show. After the initial shock of seeing her weird contact lenses, Banks showed off a variety of tracks from her records of which I'm told she has many but there was also a certain recognition that she needed to break the performance up, allowing her sassy dancers time to strut their stuff and giving her DJ a slice of the limelight while she was taking breaks. Clad in brown spandex and a spiky green suit, Azaelia was one of the surprises of the weekend.

PRIMAL SCREAM - We had a bit of a break between Azaelia and the evenings entertainment (some in my camp took it too far and partook in a mass three and a half hour nap which spanned the entirety of the Stones set) and next up was Primal Scream. I only caught the back-end of this performance which was rich with energy and served up a slice of the album which put these moody Scotsmen on the map but what was clearer than anything was that lead singer Bobby Gillespie was utterly wankered. As the crowd moved less and less, his frustration grew more and more ending with a pleading wail of 'come on you fuckers!' Enjoyable nonetheless.

ROLLING STONES - The main event was here and boy was it worth it. All the angst of a two hour wait melted away when Jagger and co rolled on stage and launched into 'Jumping Jack Flash'. What followed was a lengthy set replete with variety and technical innovation. All the tunes were there, 'Gimme Shelter' was magnificent, 'Sympathy with the Devil' came accompanied with a fire-shooting bird and 'You can't always get what you want' proved to be a real tear-jerker. I don't confess to be anywhere near the world's biggest Stones fan but to enjoy this performance you really didn't have to be, you just had to love music.

Sunday

I awoke with a start Sunday morning in a tiny crevice of a tent pod that should fit two but was at that point harbouring four. We'd spent the evening before at Glastonbury's clubbing 'district' Shangri-La and to anyone who's been to Glasto but hasn't made it there then you need to sort yourselves out. My immediate thought was that the blister I'd slowly been developing on my small left toe was now covered in blood and somehow a small trace of urine but I put this out my mind and focused on a final day which had come around all too fast. First port of call was the reggae tent.

BLUE KING BROWNS - Whenever you get a spare couple of hours and the weather is nice, the reggae area is always a shout. At around 4 in the afternoon I happened upon this multi-insturmental Australian reggae troop and spent the next hour staring in awe. For a start the lead singer is a babe but beyond that their  blend of politically driven music and chilled-out reggae beats made for perfect listening and they were also there on a slight ulterior motive. Towards the back-end of the set a freedom fighter from a province of Indonesia called West Papua which is under autocratic rule was brought on stage and told to regale his experiences. It was a moving moment and the crowd loved it as the troupe promoted a cause incredibly close to their hearts.I hadn't heard of West Papua before the performance and so it was proof in itself that music can really bring people together and make a difference.

OF MONSTERS AND MEN - The perfect festival band on the late afternoon Other Stage slot. Plenty of hey-hey-heys and la-la-las got a tad samey near the end but thoroughly enjoyable and the female singer is an absolute darling while the male one is chubby, bearded and adorable.

EDITORS - Had wanted to see these guys for absolutely ages. While new album The Weight of Your Love is coming in for an unnecessary ton of stick, they dug into their back catalogue a la Arctic Monkeys and pulled out some absolute bangers. Lead singer Tom Smith is as erratic as he is baritoned with his self-hugging dance move one to definitely look out for. Another ultimate festival band, this was the fifth time they had played Glastonbury!

THE xx - We made the ever-so-slightly controversial decision to give baffled pyramid headliners Mumford and Sons a miss and instead opted for something a bit softer. What followed was anything but soft. The xx's live performances are an absolute spectacle. Each song is given its own mini-makeover by head DJ Jamie xx and the resulting creations are both soulful and ambient. Not one member of the crowd wasn't having a good time and the joy which the band were so obviously gaining from their own performance was great to watch. Couldn't have chosen a better way to end.




That's it then, we returned to the campsite, lit a fire and made a toast to the end of our first Glastonbury in as clicheed a style as we possibly could. I leave you with the man who makes all the shit happen.

Till next time,

Max