Brainlove Festival 2011: Meursault
With spine-tingling vocals, stuttering electronic beats and unforgettable melodies, Scottish ensemble Meursault will headline Brainlove Festival on Saturday. Get tickets here.
1. Hello! We’re really happy you’re playing Brainlove Festival. Could you introduce yourself?
I/we are a person/band called Meursault. We have existed in various guises since Spring 1936. We play a blend of rock, folk, electronic, country and more or less anything else we take an interest in at any given time.
2. Tell us a bit about the song you’ve given us.
William Henry Miller died in 1848, at the age of 60, after a short illness at his estate at Craigentinny. He was not buried until six weeks after his death and this resulted in speculation about the method of his internment. Events were reported in the newspapers under the heading ‘Singular Internment’. It was reported that eighty laborers had been hired to excavate a stone lined pit 40 feet deep as his grave and that a large stone slab was positioned at the bottom of the grave to secure the coffin.
Rumours soon developed around the reason for the elaborate burial arrangements. It was said that Miller was ‘notable for his spare figure, thin treble voice and total absence of beard’, and it was suggested that Miller, who had never married, had been an adopted female orphan who had masqueraded as a man all his life.
Meursault – William Henry Miller Pt2 by snipelondon
3. Do you have a favourite festival performance? Both from a festival you’ve played, and a show by another artist…
Our favourite was an acoustic performance in the Hew Scott Hall in Anstruther, at the Fence Collective’s Homegame festival a few years ago. There was a piano.
The best performance we’ve seen at a festival will be Josh T. Pearson at Homegame next week.
4. How about a few words for curious readers wondering what to expect from your performance at BRNLV Festival this year?
Loud guitars, banjos, beepy things, drums, some highly questionable facial hair, and fun.
23 May 2011
Brainlove Festival 2011: Special Guest Revealed
Brainlove Festival’s special guest will be David Thomas Broughton, coming fresh from a UK tour, a sold out show at Kings Place, and an four star review in NME, who said his forthcoming album Outbreeding “bleeds excellence from every pore”. Get tickets here.
1. Hello! We’re really happy you’re playing Brainlove Festival. Could you introduce yourself?
Hi, I’m David Thomas Broughton. I make sounds and sing over them.
2. Tell us a bit about the song you’ve given us.
I gave you a song, I don’t remember agreeing to that. If it is my song then it must be about being awkward, annoying and a bad boyfriend. Unless it is Ain’t Got No Sole, which is about being awkward, annoying and a bad person in general… or perhaps losing a shoe in the river.
David Thomas Broughton – Ain’t Got No Sole by brainlove
3. Do you have a favourite festival performance? Both from a festival you’ve played, and a show by another artist…
I saw Geese recently at Homegame in cosy little Anstruther, and it was probably the best thing I saw at the festival. I also played that festival but I think the show I did at SXSW was better, had Josh T Pearson and the rest of the audience join in as my chorus.
4. How about a few words for curious readers wondering what to expect from your performance at BRNLV Festival this year?
Expect predictable indie rock like I’m doing a kind of Britpop circa 1997 and you’ll be blown away. Expect harsh noise like you just stepped into a basement in Tokyo and you’ll be disappointed. Expect fleeting joy and a tinge of sadness and the feeling that you’re being hit by an invisible fist then you are my kind of audience.
21 May 2011
Brainlove Festival 2011: Pagan Wanderer Lu
1. Hello! We’re really happy you’re playing Brainlove Festival. Could you introduce yourself?
Hi I’m Andy. I’ve been Pagan Wanderer Lu for over ten years. Five of which I’ve been involved with Brainlove Records. I like to think I have very good brand awareness amongst Brainlove Festival consumers, who associate my product with freshness, empowerment, and misanthropy. I’ll be launching my next album and am hoping to get some strong tie-ins with footwear companies, soft drinks manufacturers, and out of town fitness facilities off the back of this appearance. Hopefully Dora the Explorer will be there.
2. Tell us a bit about the song you’ve given us.
The song is ‘Even the Cacti’ which was the b-side to a single I released last year. It’s become a bit of a live favourite and it missed being on the album by a hair’s breadth. Napoleon IIIrd says it’s my ‘Ibiza Anthem’. It’s about doing a deal with adulthood so you get to keep the bits of you that like being young and stupid. Sadly the victims of this deal are your luckless houseplants who die from neglect. :(
Pagan Wanderer Lu – Even The Cacti by snipelondon
3. Do you have a favourite festival performance? Both from a festival you’ve played, and a show by another artist…
Hands down my favourite festival show I did was at Iceland Airwaves last year. I’d warmed up over a few fringe shows in hostels and other places and then just went all out with a set of my ‘hits’. The atmosphere was just incredible as the place was full of friends and friendly Icelanders, including a guy who started doing the Rasputin dance. It was just great.
By someone else… Pavement at Primavera last year was pretty ace. ‘Gold Soundz’ in the spanish sunshine, bliss… Sadly it meant I missed Brainlove Festival due to downright stupid double booking on my part. I was so tempted to go this year and see Pulp, but that would’ve involved missing it again.
4. How about a few words for curious readers wondering what to expect from your performance at BRNLV Festival this year?
Well it’ll be mostly new songs from the new record which I’ve just finished literally days ago. Only a handful of people have heard any of it so that’s quite exciting and daunting at the same time. It’s the usual mix of electronic and indie/pop elements in various combinations. I’ve not reinvented the wheel. I’ve just made a really good new wheel which people will hopefully admire as it spins elegantly on its axis, rather than laughing as it digs itself deep into the dirt, flinging mud into the audience’s faces as they attempt to push me offstage.
If all else fails I’ll play some requests.
Tickets for Brainlove Festival: Musicglue.
18 May 2011
Brainlove Festival 2011: Bear Driver
1. Hello! We’re really happy you’re playing Brainlove Festival. Could you introduce yourself?
Yup, we’re Bear Driver. Ol and Harry play guitar and sing, Cassie sings too, Jon plays bass, Rich hits drums and Joseph is very tall and has keyboards.
2. Tell us a bit about the song you’ve given us.
This is a brand new demo of a song we added to the set for sxsw earlier this year. We’ve been giving away a series of free downloads since January and this is the latest – it’s called Colours Run.
Bear Driver – Colours Run by snipelondon
3. Do you have a favourite festival performance? Both from a festival you’ve played, and a show by another artist…
Favourite that we’ve played… We played Reading & Leeds when we’d just started out so that was awesome, although I think our set at SXSW this year was my favourite to date.
Favourite that we’ve seen… Yo La Tengo at End Of The Road last year was amazing. Raised the bar by a long way.
4. How about a few words for curious readers wondering what to expect from your performance at BRNLV Festival this year?
Well we there’s 6 of us so we’ll be squeezed onto the stage and be bumping into each other a lot, Harry will probably fall off altogether as he usually does sooner or later. But I’m not going to guarantee that – you’ll just have to wait and see. We love playing shows, hopefully that comes across!
Brainlove Festival is on May 28th at Brixton Windmill. Get your tickets for here.
14 May 2011
Brainlove Festival 2011: Tom Milsom
Snipe’s series of interviews with the artists playing the annual Brainlove Festival continues . Discover musician, poet and YouTube celeb Tom Milsom below, and get your tickets here.
1. Hello! We’re really happy you’re playing Brainlove Festival. Could you introduce yourself?
I’m Tom, a 21 year old musician from London. I spend time making videos online and drawing comic books, and I’m currently working on a series of mini-albums called ‘Explorers’.
2. Tell us a bit about the song you’ve given us.
Porphyrophobia’s a song about meeting someone exciting and new and feeling magical inside despite all the evidence lodged in the back of your brain telling you that you’re basically making a huge mistake. I don’t tend to write love songs, so when I do I try to dose them with some cheery pathological introspection. You know, for levity.
Tom Milsom – Porphyrophobia by snipelondon
3. Do you have a favourite festival performance? Both from a festival you’ve played, and a show by another artist…
When I was at the Matt Groening ATP I witnessed Spiritualized playing Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space with a full orchestra. It’s the only time I’ve ever cried tears of joy at a show apart from seeing Dan Deacon at Lollapalooza in 2009.
4. How about a few words for curious readers wondering what to expect from your performance at BRNLV Festival this year?
Noise and laughs and things going wrong and then somehow being better than they were meant to be. The new stuff uses a lot of instruments, so trying to squeeze that into a few instruments and a loop pedal can be almost acrobatic at times :D
07 May 2011
Brainlove Festival 2011 - Snorri Helgason
Our second interview in the Brainlove Festival 2011 series is with Icelandic singer Snorri Helgason, a former Snipe diarist who recently relocated to London.
1. Hello Snorri! We’re really happy you’re playing Brainlove Festival. Could you introduce yourself?
My name is Snorri Helgason and I’m an Icelandic musician. I recently moved to London. I’ve been touring and playing a lot for the last couple of years and I’m about to finish recording my sophomore solo album, that I hope to release later this year.
2. Tell us a bit about the song you’ve given us.
“Ólán” is a song I recorded in early 2010 live in a studio in Reykjavík, Iceland. It’s in Icelandic and the title translates to somethig like “misfourtune” or “bad luck”.
3. Do you have a favourite festival performance? Both from a festival you’ve played, and a show by another artist…
A few performances come to mind…. I saw Beck on the Midnite Vultures tour play at Roskilde festival in 2001. That was a fantastic show. Daniel Johnston at SXSW. And a lot of shows from Iceland Airwaves over the years. Fm Belfast and Retro Stefson’s joint slot at Airwaves 2008 was fantastic. The most fun show I’ve played at a festival is probably with my old band Sprengjuhöllin at Canadian Music Week 2009 at the Rivoli in Toronto. That was crazy stuff.
4. How about a few words for curious readers wondering what to expect from your performance at BRNLV Festival this May 28th?
Well as I said earlier I’m just about to finish recording my sophomore album so I will probably debut a lot of new songs at the BRNLV festival. I’m really looking forward to it but I’m also kind of nervous because I have no idea how the new songs will go down with the audience because they are quite different from my older stuff. It’s going to be interesting to see how people will respond to them. But you know, most of all I’m just going to have fun and try to catch some of the other bands playing there.
Get Your Tickets Now.
02 May 2011
Brainlove Festival 2011: Multiphonic Rodent
Snipe will be partnering Brainlove Festival 2011 over the coming month and publishing tracks, pictures and Q&As with each of the performing bands and artists, culminating in a free download compilation and a festival guide.
First up, and all the way from Estonia, comes Multiphonic Rodent. A one-man-band using loops, guitar, drums, clarinet, and whatever else he can lay his hands on, Erkki Höbe makes lo-fi pop compositions with an exciting edge of improvisation. Read the Q&A after the jump.
Multiphonic Rodent – Princess & Page by snipelondon
29 Apr 2011
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