matt_organic

The time beckons once more for another mammoth entry that most of you will pointedly ignore. First off we'll cover the stuff that may be of interest to people who haven't heard of/don't care about InFest. I had my DJ trial at Fab and it went pretty well - from an empty floor I had people dancing to everything I played after the first track. I meant to write down a setlist so you could see the kind of stuff I'm planning on doing, but then promptly forgot amidst the nerves and adrenaline. But like I say, it went well. A little bird (well, Karen) has informed me that it's basically between me and Alicia, who also trialled that night. In addition, there may be several other spots opening up at Fab so my fingers are still firmly crossed. I really could use this one.

My house is now slightly more entertaining since CJ moved in last week, and well as considerably more full of random bits and pieces from his family's old house in Lytham! Still, it's cool to have him round (and therefore Kim also). We were also joined by our mutual friend Jenny last Wednesday, which was very cool since I haven't seen her in many months. Otherwise it's been work and various small tasks - that is, until the arrival of Mortimer on Thursday. We pointedly did nothing that night, knowing very well the next few days would be hectic. A review of InFest, you say? Very well then...

The Friday dawned pleasantly and we mooched around for a while before heading off to Bradford. We arrived and made our way to Arkwright Hall (where we had a room booked) without any trouble, and then I wrangled quite badly with the receptionist who took umbrage that two people dared share a room. Since last year I shared with 4 people and they didn't bat an eyelid, this came as something of a surprise. I got pissy, she got pissy and eventually I managed to drag the keys out of her with pure bloody-minded indignancy. I did inform her that she was in for a long and stressful day if she insisted on dressing down everyone for this matter, since I was fully confident that probably more than half of the people coming would have booked a room for more than one person. Next door, as it turns out, was taken by four young ladies and so I was proved right. Ha! The room turned out to be a significant improvement on last year, with a shower and toilet of our very own. This is VERY USEFUL at InFest.

We got glammed up and headed out to the first evening of festivities. We found good folk fairly swiftly and chatted some before I raped the Music Non-Stop CD stall. Then we went to catch the first band...

UNIVAQUE - I seem to be in the minority here, but for me they were one of the festival highlights. Extremely cheesy synthpop in an Echo Image style, which I'm kind of a sucker for. Always good to see a keyboardist in a cowboy hat, too.

POW[D]ERPUSSY - These guys were quite fun in a very poundy way. A little more variation would have been welcome, but for a two-men-behind-a-machine act they got me moving and curious to hear the recorded stuff (which I managed later that night after Mortimer bought their album). If nothing else, you should all go download 'Cryogenic Pussy Lover'.

FIXMER/MCCARTHY - I quite liked these fellows, which surprised me since I'm not a huge Nitzer Ebb fan. We were pretty tired already though, so we headed to the back and listened more than watched. The frontman was giving it some welly, which is always nice at these events. It did slightly irritate me that the vocals overpowered everything else, mind. This would in fact be a flaw behind a lot of the band's sound over the weekend.

Sometime during this we managed to link up with Asha and Wolf and catch up, then dance a little bit before we tumbled back down the hill and into bed. Bumped into jruske on the way, which was a cool sidetrack back to last year. We arose thoroughly knackered on Saturday morning and headed into Bradford town for some browsing and a nourishing Burger King. Passed the day in the company of the same people, but different bands. Funny, that.

TIN OMEN - Missed a significant portion of their set, in fact I'd go so far as to say all but about a minute of it. It sounded fair enough, and certainly the most guitar-driven band of the weekend. If I'd have had my wits about me I'd have caught more and thus gotten a brief injection of RAWK but it was not to be.

THE AZOIC - The Azoic are troopers, no doubt about it. A singer performing with a dislocated finger, struggling through sound problems and various tour woes. They sounded good though and made me want to grab an album sometime. It was quite samey stuff, although I get the feeling they may suit me more on record. Had the crowd in the palm of their hand, moreso than perhaps any other band of the weekend except for Saturday's headliners...

H.I.V.+ - Harsh Industrial Virus Positive, if you must know. A crazy man and a crazy woman wearing very little between them (the woman wore but three plasters, I believe), producing some crazy ambient noise and juddering around the stage in bizarre robot dances. Their projections were very cool and they enthralled me somewhat, although Mortimer was entranced. Certainly interesting. I thought the guy must be gay until someone pointed out he was French. That explains it then.

DECODED FEEDBACK - This made me feel like it was InFest 2004 again. Much more the typical sound of last year, throbbing EBM held up by raging vocals and bouncy rhythms. Enjoyed it quite a lot, and danced vigorously.

PUNCH INC. - Noisy, very noisy. Very VERY noisy. Too noisy for me. Walls of feedback and white noise amidst fervent beats that gave me bowel cancer. Cool stuff, but I found it a bit drab and monotonous. If they'd spiced it up a bit I might have been interested, but frankly it just made me want to leave before they transmitted a frequency matching the molecules in my bones and disintegrated me. So I did.

COVENANT - Oooh, yes. Band of the weekend for me, somewhat predictably. The watercooler gossip has it that they were mostly prerecorded, but I found it hard to care up front. The frontman was superb and his compatriot on the left was good also (his vocals coming through a gargled razorblade effect that was amazing, although overused) - the reject from Suede playing keys on the right and serenading the frontman in an off-key warble every chorus was less welcome. Would have liked less new material as well, but it's enough that the bridge to 'Call The Ships To Port' blew the roof off the place and wrapped everyone in a blissful euphoria that was perhaps only slightly related to the drugs in most peoples' systems.

Saturday evening also held brief meetings with folk. Sunday we woke even more tired and blearily stumbled into the town centre again for more browsing and Burger King. More stumbling was done back to the venue and the final bands of the weekend...

DEVIANT UK - Ok, so we missed them completely. Seen them twice before though so not too bothered, and the reports haven't been very complimentary.

FINAL SELECTION - More cheesy synthpop! Only without any charisma, or talent, or hooks, or melody. And the added bonus of a shite singer! Avoid.

IRIS - In two minds about these guys. They certainly had me tapping my toes and they were relatively entertaining to watch. On the other hand, they were very... nice. Now don't get me wrong - I may be a doom and gloom merchant, but I like a happy bouncy tune as much as the next guy. I love Jimmy Eat World, for crying out loud. But Iris are SO chirpy they may appear on the soundtrack to Hollyoaks some time soon. If they'd have sang a song about Jesus I wouldn't have blinked. Maybe one to catch up on in a recorded form.

KIEW - Another band that has divided all who saw them. What some other people saw was a highly influential noise/industrial band playing a storming set in front of their first UK audience. What I saw was some gimps leaping around on stage to no particular rhythm, making squealing noises and poorly synthesised beats creak out of their machines while the frontman occasionally shouted "Ich!" through unprocessed vocals at an incredibly loud volume over the top of the tune. And that's BEFORE the ZZ Top guitar started. If anyone out there loves me, make sure I never see this band again.

BLUTENGEL - Picture the scene if you will. The entirety of 'Ride Of The Valkyries' by Wagner is played. A projection screen starts showing images of flames and vampire girls drenched in blood. These words appear: "Something is coming... Are you ready? Prepare yourself for... BLUTENGEL!" A voice with an extremely heavy accent creaks over the mic with the words "Hello InVest. Ve are Blutengel. Ve are from Germany." Yeah. No shit. This was darkwave to the utmost, complete with writhing naked gothy girlies, men in priest robes, chalices of blood and leather gloves. It was like a Halloween special of Eurotrash. Fantastically amusing for all of about four tracks. Then we retreated to the bar.

As for the rest of Sunday, we had a ripping time. Lots of people to talk to and carouse with, plus I managed to put together an elaborate sculpture out of glowing things that seemed to gather a far large crowd than was strictly called for. Their cheers when I managed to get it to stay up brought a flush to my cheeks, let me tell you. We danced a lot more in the evening than previously, including a stretch where Mortimer, Asha and myself got our groove on rather spectacularly. My glowsticks threatened to self-destruct in an alarming fashion at one point, but despite their tendency to explode like an overloaded Buckaroo I got them back together successfully. I particularly enjoyed throwing shapes to 'Mindphaser' by Front Line Assembly, oh the memories.

And so the festival was over. We retreated a while before it officially wound down, then spent a pleasant time on the grass outside watching a couple of guys playing with fire - eating, poi, breathing, staffs, the lot - Tryste would have been squealing with delight, methinks. After crucifying me for slagging off Kiew, of course.

Then, the next morning, we went home. We had intended to attend the barbeque extravaganza of DJ Cheeky, but were paralysed by exhaustion. A great shame, since I really wanted to go to shoot the shit with all and see off Geth and Manda. To sum up, then. A good weekend, and although the music wasn't in the same league as last year (but then, last year had Assemblage 23 and Suicide Commando) it was great to see so many of my disparate friends in the same spot. Back again next year? Oh yes.

And since then what have I done? Fuck all, apart from seeing Mortimer off on Tuesday morning. And I'm STILL tired.