LIVE (Photos): The Great Escape Festival 2018

The Great Escape kicked off UK festival season in sun-soaked style last weekend, and it’s taken us a few days to gather our thoughts on the prolific 3-day event, renowned for championing new music. Spread across multiple venues in Brighton, we managed to catch some of the brightest talents in between sunbathing on the beach and consuming our body weight in fish & chips.

Irish beauts Pillow Queens kicked off proceedings with their packed set at The Prince Albert on Thursday afternoon, setting a high standard for the rest of the weekend, before Scottish alt-rockers The Ninth Wave blew us away at Horatios at the end of the Pier. They had three shows by the sea, so they definitely made waves.

Soccer Mommy

Gracing the brand new Beach House stage were Snail Mail and Soccer Mommy, and both performed to big crowds with their catchy slacker-pop anthems. We saw out Thursday in spectacular style at The Hope and Ruin with our favourites Queen Zee. Their packed set included a cover of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Bonkers’ and their usual crowd-pleasers ‘Boy’ and ‘Sass Or Die’.

Queen Zee

We partied a little too hard post Queen Zee, so Friday was pretty hazy until our favourite rock-pop duo REWS blew our hangovers away with their set at the Beach House. We caught this duo in 2016 at The Speigltent and since then they’ve signed to Marshall Records, released their debut album Pyro, and have started sharing their singles in America. These girls are exceptionally talented and always entertaining to see live.

REWS

We had high hopes of catching Bodega, but the queue outside The Haunt was longer than the equator, so we took off in search of venues supporting The Alternative Escape. We caught some of psych-rockers Strange Cages before calling it a night.

Saturday started off with Canada’s Partner, who were a complete joy to watch live at The Walrus. We caught some final rays of sunshine and had our last portion of chips before heading over to Sticky Mikes Frog Bar to catch Copenhagen’s Nelson Can, who were ultra-cool all clad in white. We spotted Brighton’s ARRX on the barrier watching them too. Electronic one-woman-wonder Elsa Hewitt was the last act we caught in Komedia before the festival was over. She hypnotised us with her well-crafted electronic sounds.

Our photographer Jon Mo was arguably the most productive man in Britain over The Great Escape weekend and he managed to catch all the bands we didn’t (aside from Dream Wife, who unsurprisingly packed out The Beach stage to capacity.) Check out his incredible shots below. Brighton, we’ll see you again in 2019!

Audiobooks

Brooke Bentham

Chroma

Hatchie

Jealous Of The Birds

Stella Donnelly

Photo Credit: Jon Mo

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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Track Of The Day: Ex-Vöid – ‘Boyfriend’

A mesh of melodic angst that explicitly champions self autonomy, Ex-Vöid have shared their debut single ‘Boyfriend’. Formed of ex-members of Joanna Gruesome Lan McArdle and Owen Williams, the pair embarked on this new musical venture after a chance meeting at a contemporary dance class.

Alongside Laurie Foster, Kester Davies and Jonny Coddington, McArdle and Williams have managed to quickly organise a three track record under the Ex-Vöid moniker, which they’ve released through Don Giovanni Records both digitally and on cassette.

Listen to ‘Boyfriend’ below.

Follow Ex-Vöid on Facebook for more updates

Photo Credit: Jender Anomie

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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WATCH: SKYND – ‘Elisa Lam’

Freakishly catchy, industrial duo SKYND‘s debut single ‘Elisa Lam’ is a mad medley of electronics and warped vocals. The track is named after the tragic death of Elisa Lam, whose demise at the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles in 2013 is still shrouded in mystery.

Writing about morbid, inexplicable and brutal criminal cases, SKYND use their warped sources of inspiration to create overwhelming industrial-electronic offerings. “Listening to these tracks, you should feel like you’re in a tiny room and the walls are closing in from all sides,” the duo explain, and that’s definitely the case with ‘Elisa Lam’.

The track is accompanied by a haunting video directed by TallyHo!, which depicts the mysterious events surrounding Elisa’s final moments.

Watch the video below and follow SKYND on Facebook for more updates.

@KCBobCut
Kate Crudgington

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Track Of The Day: Hilary Woods – ‘Prodigal Dog’

A mesmeric, gentle exploration of emotional claustrophobia, Hilary Woods‘ new single ‘Prodigal Dog’ is a disarming fusion of orchestral strings, understated synths and hushed vocals. It’s the second track she’s shared from her upcoming debut album Colt, which is set for release via Sacred Bones Records on 8th June.

Based in Dublin, the multi-talented artist has also shared a monochrome video to accompany ‘Prodigal Dog’. “I set out to make a video that was slightly claustrophobic,” Woods explains about the visuals. “Cyclical, predominantly black in colour, one that traced the internal feeling from where the song was written.” It’s this tender, yet uncomfortable context that makes the footage such a captivating watch.

Woods has described the songs on her debut album Colt as “a way to process and make sense of the everyday. A means to speak with inner voices, explore aloneness, and understand the complexities of desire.” With this in mind, we can’t wait to listen to the record and to hear her exquisite pain live at St. Pancras Church on 11th June.

Watch the video for ‘Prodigal Dog’ below and follow Hilary Woods on Facebook for more updates.

Pre-order your copy of Colt from Sacred Bones here.

Hilary Woods UK 2018 Live Dates 
11th June – St Pancras Church, London UK
20th June – Meltdown Festival, London UK w/ Moon Duo
14th Sept – The Sugar Club, Dublin IRL

Photo credit: Joshua Wright

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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