THE DREADED CENTRE STAGE QUEUE - The biggest pisser of them all this, although it only happened the once this time, as we dutifully filed in line to be allowed into the presence of some harp playing Kate Bush tribute act currently milking critical acclaim. The DSCQ occurs when for whatever reason it is decided to clear that venue in readiness for the next act to set up. For the most part they don’t bother doing this, most acts will set up and sound check with an audience out front and some even dispense with the formality of leaving the stage for a brief period before making their official entrance. Not so Joanna Queuesome. A line started forming a good half hour before the end of Spiritualised main stage set on the Sunday night and by the time I’d joined it stretched the length of the Pavilion and out the back door and eventually to the end of the fun fair. And you couldn’t even get a go on the dodgems. By the time we were let in to the Centre Stage area and Joanna simpered and plinky-plonked her way into the first number she was almost half-an hour behind schedule, I was not kindly disposed and even less so when it meant the Raincoats playing over on Reds also had to be held back until the end of her set because “Joanna plays so quietly”. GrrrrrrAw, c'mon. With music this good how can you stay pissed off with the heaven sent harpist? And latest Have One On Me is her best yet: 3 discs and not a smidgeon of padding. Kate Bush comparison increasingly bang on...in a good way. Though the smart-arse comparsion to make is with Roy Harper.
Dreyblatt's ensemble, consisting of altered, adapted, and prepared instruments are in just intonation and play drones or repeated tones, setting up heady resonances with a continually changing and complex matrix of overtones. By adding drums and other percussion, and by writing fast, sometimes furious tempos, Dreyblatt avoids the dreamy and sometimes stultifying effect that is a part of so much drone music. The entire six-part title track is lively and vibrant. High Life is similar in spirit to La Monte Young and Alvin Lucier, with its nonstop drone and lavish array of overtones to inspect and exult in. –OptionOddi wrth y brawd
Come, Arrow, Come! is terminally precious in its mix of modern folk and psychedelic tropes with a thin veneer of what the Festival seem to think music sounded like in the days of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. [The] affected delivery… and the slapdash arrangements sound like the work of musicians with only the vaguest sense of what the records which inspired the Festival actually sounded like.Thus proving the fallibility of allmusic.com, this incredibly mean-spirited review of Festival’s debut ignores the guts and gusto of a thoroughly charming first outing: a bit of breath and friends are sometimes all you need. Band’s name consists of one word, and still the reviewer gets it wrong – go figure. Even better, go listen and make up your own mind.
