Portishead to head down under

For the first time in 14 years UK electronic visionaries, Portishead, are heading down under for a string of shows this November, headlining inaugural east coast festival, Harvest.  The festival will be held in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with the seminal band also tipped to perform sideshows in Perth and Adelaide.

The excitement doesn’t just end there.  The touring promoters behind succesful Australian rock festivals Soundwave and Soundwave Revolution, have created a stellar line-up for their new music extravaganza.  Joining Portishead for what is surely one of the best line-ups ever assembled will be:

The Flaming Lips 
Bright Eyes
The National
Mercury Rev
Hypnotic Brass
Family Stone
Holy Fuck
Death In Vegas
The Walkmen
Dappled Cities
This Town Needs Guns
Foxy Shazam
PVT
The Holidays
Phosphorescent
Kormac’s Big Band

Harvest will offer the discernible Australian music fan a world-class line-up in beautiful park surroundings, all with a limited capacity. It doesn’t get much better than that! 

VILLAGERS SHOW THEIR POTENTIAL AT BUSH HALL

Recently signed to Domino records, Irish group Villagers – led by singer songwriter, Conor O’Brien, have seen their stock rise considerably since their appearance on Jools Holland two months ago.   With a recently released debut album and a long summer of festival appearances ahead, the intimate and ornate surrounds of Bush Hall in London gave them a chance to show off their talents in a venue that they will soon out grow. The set was made up almost entirely from their new album which harnesses a sound that is honest, emotionally wrought and comparable to the folk musings of Bright Eyes.  The two Conors share a similar sense of truth concealed within baroque imagery, though where Oberst displays a cracked and vulnerable voice, O’Brien’s is majestic, pained yet precise.   ‘In Pieces‘ – his personal opus, could reduce grown men to tears with its brutally honest mantra.

Although the name suggests a shared and collective dwelling, this is really the Conor O’Brien show, much like Bright Eyes is merely a foil for Oberst.  It’s his unbridled intensity and striking voice that is most captivating. The arrangements are varied enough to allow the band to express themselves and show proficiency, although it’s O’Brien that casts the spell, whether strumming the upbeat ‘The pact (I’ll be your fever)’ or wistfully pining on the piano driven, ‘home’ he conveys a sense of drama and poignancy that belies his youthful age. Expect to see much more of O’Brien and his villagers.