The Oxford music scene has long been one of the jewels in the UK music crown, punching far above its weight in terms of geographical size, not least for the nurturing and development of Radiohead in their early days.

Radiohead - a band who have gone on to be one of the biggest guitar bands of all time, a band who have single-handedly rewritten the rule book; that a globally massive rock band can explore and incorporate avant-garde jazz, contemporary classical and IDM electronica into an album as brilliantly original as Kid A and score a number one album in the US with no singles or radio promotion is alone testament to their sheer force of creative will. Emerging around the same time were genre defining, Creation records signed shoegaze legends Ride, tragically nearly-massive indie pop almost-stars The Candyskins, and one of the most consistently excellent Britpop bands of the day, Supergrass. This particular period of Oxford Music is well documented and explored in great detail in local film maker Jon Spira’s excellent Anyone Can Play Guitar rockumentary, which is well worth a watch..

What is a true testament to the continued excellence of the scene is that fact that the film still barely scratches the surface of what makes Oxford so fascinating. Missing from the film is any mention of Nick Olivieri-collaborating, world-touring hardcore duo Winnebago Deal and the whole scene of post hardcore bands that they rose from, many of whom had links to the village of Eynsham out in north west Oxfordshire.

Also, the two latter day giants of Oxford music (Foals and Stornoway) have but a cursory mention in ACPG, when they are both following on the coat-tails of some of the aforementioned greats towards worldwide renown. Foals and Stornoway both released their new albums within a week of each other earlier this year (March 2013), and both secured respectable chart positions (Foals going in at number 2, pipped by the Les Mis soundtrack), both selling out massive London shows in the same week too - the future has never looked brighter for Oxford music. In terms of understanding the scene it can be viewed via the mini scenes that spawned the 2 bands.

There has been much in the national press/blogosphere particularly THAT NME piece by Laura Snapes that caused so much hoo-ha around Oxford’s Blessing Force collective. Involving bands such as Pet Moon (Andrew Mears – ex Youthmovies), Sam Scott’s Solid Gold Dragons, Trophy Wife, Jonquil, and Chad Valley, as well as artists Seb Thomas, Valeska Hykel and many more, BF has flourished with the continued support and patronage of Foals. Following Foals singer Yannis plugging Trophy Wife to NME in their very early days it led to TW being at the heart of a bidding war which saw them release their debut singles via Moshi Moshi and have just a few weeks ago unveiled a brand new track:

Chad Valley has toured with Friendly Fires and built himself a respectable following across Europe and in the US and BF champion Laura Snapes has continued to support the collective via her new post for Pitchfork which saw Pet Moon get a glowing track review ahead of their new tape release Trashnicolour.

Musically the acts involved in Blessing Force have a common theme of edgy, lush, electronica-infused neo R&B , perfect for their captive, post-Pitchfork target market.

On the other side of the coin Stornoway appeared in Oxford at a time I was running my monthly sit down PinDrop shows in the room above the rustic haven The Port Mahon. They played formative gigs for me and other promoters of acoustica as well as very early appearances at legendary folk/performance art club Catweazle. The band gigged regularly with other alt folk bands about town such as the now signed to PIAS in Europe The Epstein, casio pop band Foxes!(now located in Brighton and running Big Salad Records) and indie folk pop band Family Machine (of other Oxford based label/promotions collective Beard Museum) amongst others.

Aside from the hipster pop of Blessing Force and alt country vibes of The Epstein et al Oxford has long had an electronica scene worth mentioning. Current leading lights include kraut/cosmic duo Space Heroes of The People, banging, analogue techno geezer Manacles of Acid and After The Thought to name but a few.

Promoters

A good word needs to be said on the subject of Oxford based promoters, who have done an awful lot to make Oxford’s scene what it is. As mentioned my own PinDrop Performances have brought a wide variety of major league acts to relatively intimate locations - our biggest coup to date was bringing Patti Smith to play an acoustic set in the 200 capacity venue the Holywell Music Room. We’ve also had Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy at the 280 capacity pub venue Bullingdon Arms and CocoRosie and Silver Mt Zion at the (now sadly passed) art deco cinema The Regal. We’ve booked many ace acts on the way up too, including very early gigs with Stornoway and Pet Moon’s first live show.

Current promoters worth a shout are Irregular Folk, Beard Museum, Daisy Rodgers, Upstairs Oxford crew, TMD Music and Tertium Quid who are all giving new bands a leg up as well as helping to bring some ace national and international acts to the City. Beard Museum in particular have been doing an ace job of late - they recently hosted a rare acoustic show with Patrick Wolf at St John The Evangelist church. OCM (Oxford Contemporary Music) have long since programmed a brilliantly esoteric mix of world music, contemporary classical and leftfield pop shows. And although I know nothing about it I’m led to believe that Buried In Smoke and Skeletor are 2 ace metal promoters worth following if you like that type of thing.

On the line of venues, as well as having an o2 Academy that is run by people who want to engage the local scene as much as they can by running regular Upstairs Oxford nights and giving local bands opening slots of touring bands as much as they can, we also have longstanding pub/club venues with a rich history of live music – The Wheatsheaf, The Cellar, The Jericho Tavern and Port Mahon all continue to do what pub venues do best. Special mention needs to go to buzz venue SJE Arts (St John The Evangelist). SJE has only really opened up for band gigs in the last few months, but is a spectacular, 450 capacity church space right in the heart of the scene in east Oxford.

Ones to Watch

As for acts that are worth investigating at the moment, two of the bands getting the most hype nationally and beyond are mathy, indie doom mongers Spring Offensive who were playlisted on Radio 1 with 2012’s single 'Worry Fill My Heart', and have been touring with Gaz Coombes and getting a steady flow of press adulation from across the board.

Wild Swim, managed by the same team as Stornoway, are also riding a crest of hype that could take them a long way. It’s great that a band of such cosmic, spaced out leanings is getting some press attention…

Pixel Fix seem to be getting hella blog love for their lush, post dream-wave electronica/post rock ting, and on that side of things Salvation Bill and Limbo Kids both get honorable mentions as well as blissed out chill poppers Grudle Bay and much hyped Oxford super group Kill Murray:

On the alt folk/Americana side of the fence I have to give a shout out to porch folk, married couple duo The August List, roots collective Swindlestock, a one man embodiment of trad country Ags Connolly and long time faves of mine The Yarns who mix up a rustic, Bright Eyes influenced edge with a resolutely british flavor in Tom Hodgson’s excellent trumpet work and singer John Mcmanus’s rich, baritone, literary lyricism - .

Hot on the alt folk scene at the moment is singer Jess Hall who has a truly affecting way with a simple melody.

On the subject of affecting folk acts Until the Bird are worth a click through, think Richard Thompson via A Hawk and A Hacksaw - and honorary Oxfordian folk troubadour Marcus Corbett, who divides his time between Oxford, Marlborough and Pune in western India, has allowed his globetrotting to rub off on his exotic, esoteric new folk fusion album Strung Deep.

Skirting a line between the city’s alt Americana/country rock scene and a harder, early emo/hardcore influence are Empty White Circles and ToLiesel. Getting some serious radio airtime and press are The Dreaming Spires who continually gain plaudits a-plenty for their Gram Parsons/Tom Petty/Big Star indie pop.

Also part of this Oxfor-cana clique are The Epstein and Winchester/Oxon located close harmony/alt-country group Co-pilgrim who’s album title track ‘A Fairer Sea’ is never far from my must listen to list at the moment.

American ex-pat oddball singer Rainbow Reservoir tows a great line in Magnetic Fields-esque piano pop - h and, although Angela doesn’t play much country music, she’s a part of the Oxfor-cana scene by virtue of being an actual American.

I won’t give any critical judgment on my own band – Flights of Helios - but I will say that we are the only Oxford band playing Artrocker’s New Blood festival in June this year and have been praised here on Drowned in Sound by Dom Gourlay in his round up of UK psychedelia/shoe-gaze.

Not fitting into an easy pigeon hole but still excellent are post ska party pop band Marvellous Medicine, who, along with The Yarns and Wild Swim are a university band but, while the others have distanced themselves from the tag, Marvellous Medicine have created a rather impressive following off the back of a series of balls and town gigs. Their recordings perfectly encapsulate the pure, unselfconscious joy of their live show. In a similar musical vein of unashamed pop joy are Alphabet Backwards, these guys should definitely gig together -

Local Broken Social Scene meets Belle and Sebastian type alt folk arkestra We Aeronauts are gearing up to release their 2nd EP via Beard Museum, a label who also currently release Family Machine and Bernard Butler collaborating singer songwriter Richard Walters, a formidably talented crooner who has a following across Europe and in the States.

On the heavier side of the indie/rock ting my personal highlights are Melvins gone prog behemoth Komrad, angular, post Mclusky rockers Dallas Don’t. Sky scraping anthemic troop Deer Chicago and instrumental, nautically themed post kraut/rock trio Listing Ships

Deserving of a paragraph all of their own is legendary dub/dancehall band Dubwiser. In their time they’ve supported Lee Perry, The Wailers, The Beat and many of the biggest names of the ska/reggae world. The band’s drummer and producer Spider Johnson is a genuine musical hero in his own right. Having led Lee Perry’s live band for many years Spider was part of production duo UK Apache who produced the first commercially successful Jungle track Original Nutter, since then he’s produced Killa Kela and worked with Mad Professor, Horace Andy and a whole swathe of the UK’s urban talent. Oxford has long had a niche but flourishing roots scene with promoters such as SNSBL DNCHLL, Destination and Skylarkin nurturing local talent and bringing many big names to town. On the urban tip BG Records have been building on the ever present rap scene in Oxford, hip/hop acts I’ve particularly enjoyed over the years include Asher Dust and Mr ShaoDow.

A curio that’s sums up the fluidity and creative thinking in Oxford is a theatre/music piece that we (PinDrop) are currently producing entitled Alexander The Great. Written by howling bluesman about town Huck (bassist in The Epstein and former bassist with ferociously heavy doom metallers Sextodecimo) the Operetta is a mix of live musical performance by Huck and his band and live acted, dramatic scenes. As well as the thriving music bustle historically the theatre scene has long flourished, it’s nice to be working on something to bridge the gap…

Oxford certainly wouldn’t be what it is musically speaking without a local, independent record store and we are lucky to have one as open minded and engaged as Truck Store on Cowley Road. Matt and Carl regularly host instores, recently for record store day they pulled a coup of epic proportions and booked The Wedding Present to play alongside Wild Swim et al… They have an extensive catalogue of local releases and it continues to be a central hub of Oxford Music. Another active hub of creativity and progressive thinking has been Modern Art Oxford. Home to some epic, cross art/music events curated by Blessing Force and a regular haunt for PinDrop events it’s a beautiful, sanguine environment for taking in ART of all forms. And talking of ART local arts community charity ARTISJUSTAWORD is deserving of a mention for all that they do to put on and support interesting cross artform events and talks -

Forthcoming...

In terms of local music festivals there are plenty to mention but the two that have been cornerstones of the music calendar for as long as I can remember are Truck Festival and The Punt. Set up by the Krays of the Oxfor-cana scene the Bennett brothers in their native Steventon, just south of Oxford near Abingdon and Didcot, Truck has long been the first shot many Oxfordshire bands have had at playing an established festival alongside many of their heroes. Having gone bankrupt 2 years ago and then coming back under new management (YNot Festivals) and selling out last year, this year it’s selling well and boasts one of the best line ups of the summer (The Horrors/Spiritualized and a plethora of ace bands, local and national). The Punt, however, is a purely Oxfordshire music affair. Curated by Oxford music bible, the long running Nightshift zine, The Punt is a Camden Crawl style multi venue one night affair in mid May, with many of the hippest, most buzzy bands all on the bill. We also have Wilderness just down the road and Charlbury Riverside, Cornbury, Wychwood, Wood, and many more across Oxfordshire: we are indeed spoilt for open air shindigs. Along the Thames, a short bike ride from the centre of town, there’s the Isis and Perch pubs who will both be hosting live events outdoors by the riverside.

On Friday 20th June at the Bullingdon Arms, we are co promoting a show by legendary electronica/shoegaze drone-wave producer Ulrich Schnauss, with support from local talent After The Thought and DJ Ollie Castell. Saturday 21st June it's an Upstairs Oxford night at the Academy with many of our fave acts including Empty White Circles, Co-pilgrim and The August List, and The Epstein are launching the new Murmurations album in style at St Alban's Church in Cowley, with support from The Dreaming Spires and Jordan O'Shea on Thursday 27th June.

What is a REAL testament to the brilliance of the Oxford scene is that, over the course of 2600+ words here I’ve still only scratched the surface of what’s going on in Oxford, have a look at Nightshift some time and pop up when there’s something cool going on… You can also keep up with the musical comings and goings in Oxford by following the excellent BBC Introducing in Oxford show, run by Liz Green and Dave Gilyeat.

In short, the making of this record sounds utterly chaotic, which was conceivably part of Kanye's plan all along. In what other conditions could he have produced an album as rash, dramatic and hot blooded? Or even, who else operating at this level in popular music could have made something so simultaneously provocative and vital sounding? Only Kanye; barking out orders in his leather skirt, as his crack team of producers scrambles around desperately trying to pull the zeitgeist out of their MacBooks. 'Reverse that snare drum!' he shrieks, 'This synth needs to sound, like, 200 per cent more now.'

It’s easy to poke fun at Kanye, but Yeezus is his way of prodding at hip hop’s flabby belly, then running behind it and yelling 'Look what I can do!' in its ear. This is an album that’s got Daft Punk producing no less than three songs, a sample clearance of ‘Strange Fruit’, and Chief Keef singing a hook alongside Justin Vernon. He’s surprised us before, of course; just look at the dance/rap fusion of Graduation’s ‘Stronger’, the icy sadness of 808s and Heartbreaks, or the sheer enormity of vision on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. But even in a career of left turns, Yeezus is shocking. At times, it’s dense to the point that it’s rendered intentionally difficult to listen to. Kanye has spent his last few records cuddling up to us with sonics, just so enough people care about him that this one will make an impact.

Make no mistake, Kanye’s gravitation towards the brutalist, industrial arrangements of ‘Black Skinhead’ and ‘New Slaves’ is him demanding to be listened to. The consumer and race politics tied up in both of these songs are not the radical departure they’ve been described as, that goes as far back in Kanye’s career as The College Dropout (‘All Falls Down’) and Late Registration (‘Crack Music’), and as recent as Watch the Throne (‘Murder to Excellence’). But by removing the joyful samples and head-nodding beats of old, Kanye elevates the power of his message. ‘New Slaves’ is strongest of all; teeming with anger and self-hatred, it says that society’s culture of aspiration is rewardless and manipulative - and that’s from a man who knows it better than most. Yes, Kanye might be the living embodiment of what he’s rallying against, but what better spokesperson could anti-consumerism possibly have?

Kanye’s anger and self-loathing doesn’t stop there; it’s infused in so much of this often extremely ugly record. For starters, he’s ejaculating all over Yeezus – on mink fur, naked flesh and Hampton spouses – running desperately away from monogamy and adulthood with his pants around his ankles. Crucially, he's fusing the political with these personal conquests, playing up to racist stereotypes of the animalistic black male by using violent, uncomfortable imagery. He’s fucking us in the eyes and he’s eating our asses.

To the black girl drinking white wine - "I put my fist in her with the civil rights sign". He invites us to come and ogle at the freak show, just as he described earlier with the vivid King Kong imagery of ‘Black Skinhead'.

It wasn’t so long ago that he was crying out for the comforts of parenthood and a meaningful relationship, but people have short memories when it comes to Kanye. He’s calling us out on our prejudices, and in the process he’s deflecting attention away from the woman he loves and his newly born child. Just like he told the New York Times last week, 'I just don’t want to talk to America about my family. Like, this is my baby. This isn’t America’s baby.'

Unfortunately, despite the shock and awe surrounding the SNL performances, the absence of a radio campaign and the bare album art - Yeezus does sag in places. Sure, there are arrangements here to get excited about and that have the potential to move people - but songs like ‘Guilt Trip’ and the King L-featuring ‘Send it Up’ just feel severely underwritten. Then there’s ‘Blood on the Leaves’; a track that mashes up TNGHT, C-Murder and Nina Simone’s cover of Billie Holliday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ – and for what? Kanye managed to authorize a sample of one of the most beautiful and sacred gestures in the history of civil rights, and used it so he could take a shot at groupies and alimony payments? That’s enough to distract me from however hard this beat bangs. The thing is, Kanye is almost definitely trying to say something else with this sample choice – he’s too conscious of the song’s weight, re-iterating fragments of it much more appropriately on ‘New Slaves’ – but whatever point he’s trying to make has been garbled.

His other sample choices and guests are much more rewarding. ‘Hold My Liquor’ plucks Chief Keef out of Chicago’s Englewood area – one of the most helplessly fucked up communities in all America – and has him singing on its desperately sombre hook. “I can’t control my niggas,” he drones through the autotune, “And my niggas they can’t control me” – he’s singing from a place that has been left to rot by his government, and Kanye is purposefully aligning himself with Keef as a way of telling us he feels that it’s not just George Bush that doesn’t care about black people. Meanwhile he’s cranking up the record’s pressure through samples of other traditional forms of black protest music – from Jamaican dancehall to Chicago house.

Funnily enough, the headline grabbing ‘I Am A God’ feels like light relief by comparison; a hysterical bit of wind-up fun that sees Yeezus meeting with Jesus (“He said whaddup Yeezus?”), and getting impatient over delayed croissants. It might not have any proper rap beat to speak of, but this is the most fun Kanye is having on the record – trolling the public and sitting back to watch the memes being created.

So, where does this leave Yeezus in the pantheon of Kanye West albums? It’s certainly his boldest, most provocative record in a career as a bold and provocative musician. Its political backbone will gradually become appreciated and with time and it may even become canonised as Kanye’s most important record. A great deal of its power comes from the height of his platform, giving this album a significance that better, more articulate records will never get close to. Under closer scrutiny, a three song lull holds it back from being as powerful as it might have been, but I’m happier listening to this flawed, fumbled and underdeveloped Kanye record than I am a thousand other records that came out this year and didn’t even try to change the world.

If the band’s self-titled debut and breakthrough LP Dye It Blonde had more in common with the rougher, proto-punk sounds of the Seventies, then Soft Will is that decade's extended keyboard solos, the ‘conceptual’ outlook and the gratuitous wizard-wear. But this is only by comparison, as largely the record is very listenable; some Smith Westerns purists may have a problem with this change of direction - the reverb, the jangle, the harmonies - but for everyone else, this is a beautifully laid back, summery record and one that doesn’t wholly lose the youthful cynicism of the band: even if it initially sounds like it does.

And, in terms of production and instrumentation alone, things are optimistic, almost blissful. Each track is awash with shimmering, soaring guitars and an almost uniformly ‘pop’ outlook, polished to a sheen. Whereas earlier material occasionally felt simplistic and lo-fi, Soft Will is more innovative and experimental, with tracks taking new, unexpected turns that never seem ostentatious or pointless.

Sunny production aside, there is sadness to this record that can be felt throughout. Whereas initial listens often feel optimistic, further examination yields a feel of introspection, possibly regret, on the part of the young three piece. “I thought I was a loner until I went out on my own” sings Cullen Omori on ‘Varsity’; a revelation one can’t help but feel may be a linked with the end of a four year-bender which the band have undertaken. Indeed, there is a certain ‘the party’s over’ feeling throughout the record: something mature and reflective that only hindsight can bring. Elsewhere, the lush instrumental soundscapes of ‘XXIII’ evoke a ‘The Great Gig In The Sly’ level of reflective and grand sentiments, and ‘Idol’ waxes sadly on childhood idolisations.

The past tense is used here to excellent effect, with the majority of songs contemplative and poignant: this record is an excellent evolution for the band and is a long way away from the good times that were seen on tracks such as ‘Weekend’. However, it feels somewhat premature for a band of Smith Westerns’ age group to be lamenting, or even looking back towards, their past- even if they did start recoding in their teens. Even so, as a closing chapter to the early days of Smith Westerns' careers, Soft Will is an excellent record - there is just a lingering feeling that their unique sense of fun and abandon, is all but over.

At a certain stage, though, I think I got bored of bemoaning his innate goofiness on the mic, and just started embracing Kanye. Whom, all things considered, is one of the most important artists in my life as a hip hop fan. Not only that, but whether we embrace him or not, Kanye is one of the most vital and boundary-breaking stars we have; a musician who will actually use his considerable platform to challenge our expectations and prejudices, regardless of whether he comes out of it smelling of roses. By way of celebrating the release of Yeezus then, it seems as good a time as any to run through some of my personal favourite Kanye moments – as a solo artist, producer, and always hilarious interviewee.

Ten album tracks

Home (Get Well Soon)
The pick of the bunch from Kanye’s pre-College Dropout material, ‘Home’ ended up on one of his very few official mixtapes - Get Well Soon. It’s the kind of big, rousing production that typified his early career and in this case Kanye matched it with what are still some of his most emotive lyrics. It’s mystifying that this didn’t make the cut for his debut, but Ye revived his words on the Chris Martin-featuring Graduation single ‘Homecoming’.

Spaceship (The College Dropout)
While Kanye was far from a nobody when he released The College Dropout, that record is unique in his discography as the one on which he can have any claim to normality. ‘Spaceship’ is a song that neatly expresses the frustrations of working a minimum wage job balanced with trying to build a rap career. That struggle is very cleverly reflected in the beat, which lumbers in the background as Ye sings about working the grave shift at Gap, then flutters away in hi-hats as he imagines his ticket out.

Crack Music (Late Registration)
Kanye’s career as a political musician is often bizarrely overlooked, or perhaps deflected by his celebrity and award ceremony infamy. ‘Crack music’ is one of many significant statements he’s made in the name of equality; putting his black power fist somewhere much more useful than on Yeezus cut ‘I’m in It’.

Gone (Late Registration)
One of my favourite Kanye productions, I love the way he cuts through this song with those massive string stabs. This might have easily been a simple composition based around the Otis Redding sample, but Ye was really at the peak of his production power at this time (in a pop format, anyway) and managed to elevate it to a whole new level. The Late Orchestration version of this is just as terrific.

Self Conscious (Freshmen Adjustment 2)
Kanye's Freshmen Adjustment mixtapes might not have been an official series, but they felt like it to me – they even sold them in HMV. The poetry-styled performance of ‘Self Conscious’ is what makes this so special, offering a rare example of Kanye’s sense of humour on what is lyrically one of his best songs. This of course went on to become ‘All Falls Down’, which for very good reason remains a constant in his live performances.

Bring Me Down (Late Orchestration)
Kanye’s live album dropped at an appropriate time in his career, when the grand string arrangements of Late Orchestration perfectly supplemented the scale of his music at the time. This would hardly work with his songs as they sound now, but the Abbey Road version of ‘Bring Me Down’ still sends shivers down my spine. If I could choose any stage of his career to watch Kanye perform, it would be this.

Welcome to Heartbreak (808s and Heartbreaks)
Before Kanye started getting really angry, he spent a good period of his career just being fucking sad – I think I liked that period best of all. ‘Welcome to Heartbreak’ is one of roughly a million songs he’s written about how empty his life is, but at this stage he’d never made it quite so obvious. He spends three verses placing himself hopelessly outside of the experiences of normal people, before attending his god sister’s wedding – but he had to leave before they even cut the cake. Awww.

See You in My Nightmares (808s and Heartbreaks)
This song is all about Lil Wayne’s performance, but it’s in Kanye’s sombre, synth landscape that Wayne delivers one of the verses of his career. The contrast of numb auto-tuned hooks and unsettling outbursts of human emotion is what makes 808s and Heartbreaks so incredibly affecting, but getting that balance right is difficult to do. This album has a lot to answer for with regards to some of the rap it inspired, but this is an example of Kanye getting it very right.

So Appalled (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)
Like a lot of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, ‘So Appalled’ does a good job of taking pretty standard rap themes but reframing them. I just love how thoroughly unhappy everybody sounds on this song, rapping about sums of money we can’t even begin to understand to a dystopian soundtrack of empty extravagance. That’s why when RZA finally shows up to shout the house down, it feels nothing other than appropriate – “You know this shit is, fucking ridiculous!”

Murder to Excellence (Watch the Throne)
The standout moment of Jay and Kanye’s Watch the Throne, ‘Murder to Excellence’ finds Ye surveying the devastation in Chicago’s poorest black neighbourhoods. It’s Kanye at his most powerful and direct, even stopping to break down the numbers for us so that it’s impossible to ignore – “I feel the pain in my city wherever I go / 314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago”.

Ten interview quotes

"If you're driving a car and you're trying to get in another lane, you're looking for your opportunity to get in this lane, right? My goal is to be on the freeway in a fucking plane. In all lanes at all times.” Complex, 2007

“The Bible had, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 characters in it. You don’t think I would be one of the characters of today’s modern Bible?” Tim Westwood, 2007

“Whatever we as black people are the best at, I'ma go get that. Like, on Christmas I don't want any food that tastes white. And when I go to purchase a house, I don't want my credit to look black." Spin, 2007

“I don’t even listen to rap. My apartment is too nice to listen to rap in.” DJ Semtex, 2008

"There's nothing more to be said about music. I'm the fucking end-all, be-all of music [...] Man, we talked about music for God knows how long! Now let's talk about how my fucking sweater didn't come back right from Korea. That's what's interesting to me." Details, 2009

"I got into doing beats for the video games I used to try to make. My game was very sexual. The main character was, like, a giant penis. It was like Mario Brothers, but the ghosts were, like, vaginas. Mind you, I'm 12 years old, and this is stuff 30-year-olds are programming. You'd have to draw in and program every little step — it literally took me all night to do a step, 'cause the penis, y'know, had little feet and eyes." Details, 2009

“My greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live.” VH1 Storytellers, 2009

“I promised I wouldn’t tear up… but have you heard of a little thing called Lindsay Lohan’s Ungaro collection? That was like the 9/11 of fashion. It was game over for me after that as no one would take a celebrity trying to do fashion seriously.” Daily Mirror 2010

“When I visited Wayne at Rikers Island, I had a suit on with some slippers, and the guard said, “Man, those shoes are amazing.” And I said, “Yes, they are. I’m Kanye West.” XXL, 2010

"I will be the leader of a company that ends up being worth billions of dollars, because I got the answers. I understand culture. I am the nucleus." New York Times, 2013

Ten beats for other people

Common – Intro (Be, 2005)
Talib Kweli – Get By (Quality, 2002)
Cam’ron – Down and Out ft. Kanye West (Purple Haze, 2004)
Jay Z – Izzo (H.O.V.A) (The Blueprint, 2001)
Jay Z – Heart of a City (Ain’t No Love) (The Blueprint, 2001)
Trina - B R Right ft. Ludacris (Diamond Princess, 2002)
Twista – Overnight Celebrity ft. Kanye West (Kamikaze, 2004)
Scarface - In Cold Blood (The Fix, 2002)
Scarface – Guess Who’s Back ft. Jay Z, Beanie Sigel, Kanye West (The Fix, 2002)
Jay Z – Lucifer (The Black Album, 2003)

In part two of this column Kyle will be taking a closer look at Kanye’s relationship with Chicago, and picking out ten newer rappers from the city to get excited about. You can find him on Twitter

Saturday

Trojan Sound System get things moving before we’re off wandering and considering a go on the log flume, instead heading back down for Crazy P, who prove superb fun with their electronic disco-funk. They’re lacking a couple of genuine standout singles to balance the set but it’s generally excellent party fare. Following them are Delphic, who considering the initial clamour that greeted their debut in 2010 and the homecoming nature of today’s set, it’s surprising to see take the stage in the midst of the afternoon. They work it to their advantage however as they garner a good crowd, and though there’s still clearly a warmer welcome for the likes of ‘Acolyte’ and ‘Halcyon’, the tracks from Collections actually stand much prouder in the live surroundings, with ‘Baiya’ and ‘Atlas’ being particularly storming. They’ll clearly never get to the promised heights suggested by their early singles but it shouldn’t be forgotten that when on form, they’re a quite superb live band. We stick around for twenty minutes of Rudimental but nothing catches fire: they’re not dreadful and they do have occasional moments of head-spinning sound collision but they're decidedly unremarkable as a live act and are lacking in any true spark from a band with two Number One singles behind them. Jaguar Skills on the other hand is much better. It’s difficult to get anywhere near the inside of the tent as he gives an excellent lesson in turntablism as he splices pop songs, jazz samples and assorted breaks and beats together – like a dirtier Mr Scruff who isn’t quite as keen on delving into his tea bags.

With the ever-impressive Four Tet, things continue to grow more weird and more wonderful as he builds layer upon layer of beautiful floating melody and subtle rhythmic nuances. A crowd of beach balloons appears from the stage and are gently passed across the ecstatic crowd – the atmosphere building throughout the course of the set. As we come out of the tent, we get to see The Maccabees close out their main stage set by absolutely tearing ‘Grew Up At Midnight’ up – you can’t help but admire the way they’ve honed themselves as a live band over the years. As a climax to the day, we choose to snub Plan B for a trip towards the Tuneful Trees stage for a riot of ska, folk and bawdy tales with the excellent mutant folk of Gorgeous George, as we dance around swigging vodka with circus and burlesque performers to end the day. Frankly, I’ll take that kind of life…

Sunday

Sunday arrives with even more persistent sun and searing heat, to the point where liberal application of hats and sunscreen proves essential for Riot Jazz at the main stage. It’s a slow start, as despite the combination of skanking horns, tuba bass-lines and ska-karaoke versions of classic pop songs being a winning one, it’s too stop/start to really make things click. But then, right at the end, they throw in a sublime horn recreation of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’ before finishing with a marvelous version of Bon Jovi’s ‘Living on a Prayer’. It’s daft, silly, and probably makes very little sense on a freezing cold and rainy day but here, with thousands jumping for joy, it was one of those festival moments where the whole world just seemed to sit perfectly right on its axis.

Dusting ourselves off, we’re over early to grab a decent space for Toro y Moi, whose live show is perfectly balanced between exploring their more subtle chillwave bloodflow and playing up to their more excitable, free-limbed excursions. We then stroll to the top of the hill near the large white Parklife sign where we spend some time with The Hooping Harlots – a troupe of hula-hooping dancers performing remarkably impressive routines between themselves, as well as the occasional passer-by. I’m somehow roped in. The results are less than amazing, to say the least. I’ll stick to the day job and leave the rest to them...

Iggy Azalea is refreshingly vibrant and sassy as she works the crowd through a sweat-flecked version of ‘Working on my Shit’ but we’re really only on a bar detour in time to see Liars. Who absolutely steal the show today. Phenomenally taut, vacillating between claustrophobic pressure and lysergic release, they comprehensively own the Now Wave tent. Brimming with ideas and stunning twists and bridges between songs, it’s a 30 minute exercise in how to put on an outstanding live dance-rock hybrid that is almost impossible not to get lost in. The only downside is how they’re suddenly ushered off the stage prior to commencing their final song, clearly having passed some sort of curfew. A shame, as I could have listened for hours – intensely special.

There’s then a frustrating clash between Jurassic 5, Hudson Mohawke and Johnny Marr. Although the latter’s slightly later start time means we see twenty minutes of J5, proving it’s entirely possible to do an elastic and tight live hip-hop show, even despite their six years apart. But then it’s off to Johnny Marr, with a slight scepticism in my mind after mixed reports from his Stone Roses support slot the evening before. I needn’t have worried. Whether it’s the return to local soil or an urge to prove, he’s on stunning and blistering form – rose in teeth and Fender Jaguar in hand. It’s true, he’s not Morrissey, and hearing such songs coming out in his own voice is certainly unusual. And yes, I’m sure there’s few – if any – who wouldn’t wish to see Steven Patrick Morrissey stood next to him. But this is Johnny Marr – one of the greatest and most influential guitarists, composers and arrangers in modern British music. Playing some of the greatest and most influential songs of all time. And along with his band, playing them brilliantly. His solo tracks actually grow teeth in the live environment as he tears into them, and The Smiths tracks are sung to the highest rafters of the tent. As everyone sings along to ‘There is a Light that Never Goes Out’ and I’m arm in arm with a crowd of people as the hula-hooping girls spin fluorescent loops around us, it’s a quite sublime and wonderful communal moment of joy and celebration. And Marr looks like he loves every bloody minute of it.

There’s one final treat as the sun finally goes down behind the surrounding hills, and it’s definitely not Example, who is doing something unfathomable on the main stage. The Horrors are our destination in the Now Wave tent as their reputation as a live band continues to be fortified. Faris apologises for it being their first show in ages but you really wouldn’t have known – they’re as tightly wound-up and sweeping as they’ve ever been. ‘Endless Blue’ and ‘Still Life’ soar, but it’s a gloriously rich and sweeping version of ‘Sea Within a Sea’ that truly shines tonight. We’re all hoping for at least one new song but they don’t oblige us tonight, instead promising to return soon. With album number four not too far away now, we’re anxious and eagerly waiting. For now, they’re as brilliant as they’ve been since the start of the Skying tour. Anything to come is a richly awaited bonus.

Though some will still scorn, Parklife 2013 surpassed expectations, and in my eyes, much of that can be traced directly to its location. There are certainly still issues with Heaton Park as an accessible venue – despite the best efforts of the organisers, the queues for the Metrolink and the buses on the Saturday and Sunday night were still uncomfortably busy. But you’re always going to have problems dealing with 60,000 people getting in and out of what is basically a suburban park (getting in and out of The Stone Roses and Oasis were far more unpleasant experiences in comparison). What the new venue did was to create an atmosphere wherein there was space for people to relax, dance and easily reach the stages (Platt Fields, in contrast, felt like everybody was piled in on top of each other in the mud and rain, creating a tense powder-keg atmosphere) In contrast, as continual glorious sunshine baked down, a celebratory party unfolded, and despite the main stage proving hit-and-miss, some wonderful and unexpected treats were to be found on the smaller ones. We’ll have to wait and see whether Parklife can sustain the trick on a weekend where the weather proves to be somewhat more typically Mancunian. But for now, it managed to pull off its graduation with aplomb and unabashed enjoyment.

All images by Daniel Watson

BLUE ORCHIDS

Classic melodic post punk band lead by the founding guitarist of The Fall, Martin Bramah.

CAVERN OF ANTI-MATTER

Tim Gane of Stereolab's new, motorik derived project.

MICHAEL HURLEY

Wryly lovely folk, beloved of Cat Power, Devendra Banhart and Calexico. Hopefully on early on Sunday to restore any ravaged souls.

BLUES CONTROL WITH LARAAJI

Laraaji, famed for his stunning 70s electronic zither collaborations with Brian Eno, teaming up with Blues Control for densely atmospheric long form improv.

LONNIE HOLLEY

Improvised soulful crooning over abstract avant garde twitches and drones. could be utterly spellbinding.

And for good measure, here's Deerhunter leader Bradford Cox's mix tape for the event:

*literally the only good drink served on site

In any case, I know a couple of people who seem really angry about Deap Vally; maybe it's just them and it's actually not that big a deal. But for what it's worth, singer/guitarist Lindsey Troy and drummer Julie Edwards strike me as alright – they’ve addressed the objections reasonably thoughtfully in interviews and their debut album Sistrionix has a sort of spiritedly pro-sisterhood, pro-doing-what-the-fuck-you-want vibe to it that’s fairly crude but palpably genuine. If they’re guilty of anything, I suspect it’s being excessively Californian.

Whatever the case, it would all surely matter a lot more if either a) Deap Vally made brilliant music or b) Deap Vally were hugely popular. Conceivably those are both things that may happen at some point in the future, but Sistrionix is a long way from greatness, a plodding blues rock album that’s crafted with great vigour but little invention.

In some ways the duo fall into the exact sonic trap that fellow guitarist/drummer duo the White Stripes avoided a decade or so ago. It’s not that Deap Vally's music needs bass, it’s that it needs nuance – Sistrionix has a very limited sonic palette, Troy’s guitar playing efficient but devoid of the sort of spirit of adventure that might have given the whole thing some much needed colour.

Opener ‘End of the World’ sets the tone – it’s nearly five minutes long, ploddingly paced, and almost resolutely monotonous – for most of it Troy plays a single fuzzed chord, occasionally unleashing a low, sludgy solo. It’s the lengthiest song on the record, but the trouble is that with little variation in tone or tempo, all the rest blur into it. ‘Baby I Call Hell’ lumbers in on a plodding, brutally basic riff; ‘Walk of Shame’ again indulges in a staccato chug; ‘Make My Own Money’ is livelier but essentially sounds like a dimmer cousin to the White Stripes’ ‘Blue Orchid’; and so on and so forth. The riffs are big, forceful and no frills, kind of Tesco Value hard rock. And there’s something to be said for that, but a whole album’s worth of it is like having the same plain, heavy meal every night for a week.

It’s a shame because under the chugging there’s something enjoyably punk rock about the pair. Troy has a battering ram of a voice that maybe lacks total distinctness, but is, nonetheless, pretty cool – she’s clearly modelled her impassioned yelp on Robert Plant, but there’s some Karen O, some Jack White, some Carrie Brownstein in there too, a certain sense of slightly unhinged abandon that’s unfortunately suppressed by the molasses slow music. And eye-rolling as some of the lyrics are, one gets the impression they’re being rather tongue in cheek about it all (how else to take lines like “I got rhymes they’re so catchy they’re venereal”?).

In the end, though, Sistrioinix is simply harder work than it should be. Some songs are more fun than others – ‘Lies’ really isn’t miles away from sounding like Fever To Tell-era Yeah Yeah Yeah - but the only real moment of respite is an untitled a capella number at the end. It’s raw and uncontrived and just something a bit different, a hint that there could be a more to this band’s music than plodding primary riffola. But it’s not enough, really – after all the naysaying I honestly think Troy and Edwards come across as musicians of integrity, but that’s not the same as being any good.

Sistrionix could be a foundation for something much better or something infinitely worse, but for now Deap Vally don’t particularly deserve your hate or your love.

Here's what they snapped, including the stunning album opener 'Plastic Cup', which we held back until now, to coincide with the announcement of some new tour dates (below):

August 2013
17 - Glansuk, Wales - Green Man Festival
19 - Cork, Ireland - Cyprus Avenue
20 - Dublin, Ireland - Whelan’s
21 - Belfast, Ireland - Empire Music Hall

November 2013
14 - Cambridge - Junction
15 - Nottingham - Rescue Rooms
16 - Sheffield- Queens Social Club
18 - Liverpool - Anglican Cathedral
19 - Edinburgh - Queens Hall
20 - Leeds - Brudenell Social Club
21 - Norwich - Arts Centre
22-24 - Camber Sands, - ATP Festival

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