I went along to the Shhh! one-day festival in Camden last weekend and was lucky to enjoy a solo performance by Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai. He played songs by Spacemen 3 and Blind Willie Johnson as well as some of his own Mogwai songs.

I also discovered some new bands and artists.

Bleeding Heart Narrative created a soaring, cinematic sound with vocals, guitars, percussion and strings. I only caught their last two songs but was very much fixated by them and wish I’d heard more.

Conquering Animal Sound combined female vocals with guitar loops, laptop beats and samples to great effect and they went down really well with the afternoon crowd. Reminded me of MÚM, Björk and Styrofoam.

Ten played a set without pause and completely entranced me with their electro-acoustic guitar soundscapes. I’d been aware of them since their split release on Heat Death Records last year and I was quite inspired by their seamless performance. Made me want to start playing live.

Geese were totally mental. I didn’t realise they had a drummer. Then after about five minutes, a clattering of toms and cymbals burst in and added the sort of primal experimentalism you’d normally hear from an band like Boredoms. Unexpectedly noisy and brilliant.

Still Corners turned down the lights and had some esoteric projections for their set, and pretty good it was too. Whispery vocals, reverb guitars and 60s organ sounds underpinned by insistent drums. Sounded cool and made the atmosphere more gig-like.

Dean McPhee played in a small room downstairs at 10pm. I was looking forward to seeing him play as I’m a fan of his Brown Bear 12″ from last year. He’s a solo guitarist with an extremely pure tone and a sound that seems improvised but is in fact very precise. Playing a Telecaster through valve amps and effects, his guitar sound is so clean it almost sounds like chiming bells. I’m looking forward to hearing his forthcoming album this year.

A good day.

Albums

1. Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here?
2. Mogwai – Special Moves (Deluxe Vinyl Edition)
3. Forest Swords – Dagger Paths
4. Mark McGuire – Living With Yourself
5. Four Tet – There Is Love In You
6. The National – High Violet
7. Avey Tare – Down There
8. Salem – King Night
9. Dustin Wong – Infinite Love
10. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Love Is A Stream

Tracks

1. Arcade Fire – We Used To Wait
2. Four Tet – Love Cry
3. Deerhunter – Desire Lines
4. Caribou – Leave House
5. Yeasayer – O.N.E.
6. Peter Broderick – Human Eyeballs On Toast
7. Oneohtrix Point Never ft. Antony Hegarty – Returnal
8. Big Troubles – Freudian Slips
9. Liars – Scarecrows On A Killer Slant
10. Panda Bear – Alsatian Darn

Gigs

1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor @ The Troxy
2. Liars @ ATP Matt Groening Watch video
3. Flight Of The Conchords @ Wembley Arena
4. Thee Oh Sees @ ATP Matt Groening Watch video
5. Peter Broderick @ South Street

I’m sitting on the train back to Reading having just seen Godspeed You! Black Emperor play an outstanding set at The Troxy in East London.

Like many people, I had been waiting 10 years to see Godspeed play live so right now it’s quite difficult to take it all in.

The set must have been two hours long and included ‘Gathering Storm’, ‘Rockets Fall On Rocket Falls’, ‘BBF3′ and so many others that I lost track of time and was completely blown away by the end.

Put simply, they had a monumental sound, heightened further by their humble stage presence and grainy hypnotic projections that portrayed the desolate landscapes in which the group finds so much beauty.

Setlist

1. Hope Drone
2. Gathering Storm
3. Monheim
4. Albanian
5. Chart #3
6. World Police and Friendly Fire
7. Dead Metheny
8. Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls
9. BBF3

The stage was dark, the volume was low and the crowd was a bit too lively. But at the end we all wandered out in a daze after the band’s brooding, minimal set.

Hazy Heat and Common Cold always stood out on their own in terms of sound and style as both tracks are one-take recordings with little post-production. So I was pleased to discover Harry’s tea-break inspired label and add to its growing collection of short musical stories.

Download Hazy Heat/Common Cold here

Rural Colours issued a 3″ CD edition of 10 which has sold out, but it is available to stream here and download from Rural Colours.