Reviews

ArcTanGent Festival 2015 - a review

Posted on: 2015-08-24

Miri Teixeira reviews one of Bristol's best festivals and the pioneers of math-rock and post-rock festival creation.

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ArcTanGent took place between the 20th and 22nd of August 2015, in Compton Martin just outside Bristol, a festival dedicated to math rock, post rock, and anything in between. As a festival, they have won many awards, including Best Toilets… We sent Miri Teixeira down there to see what all the fuss was about. 

 

Thursday

 

First Impressions:

As one of the first people through the gate, I was allowed to truly appreciate the festival site as an untouched, unspoiled creation. And it really was beautiful. The site and its layout have changed subtly since last year, a noticeable step-up size-wise for the festival, but one that wouldn’t shake seasoned ArcTanGenters. As ever, meticulously organised and aesthetically spot on with its colourful tents, towering wooden tentacle sculptures, plethora of varied stalls, and rainbow striped hammocks for all. As soon as the festival goers began to pile in, it became apparent that this year’s ‘returning bands Thursday’ had really caught on, with its comprehensive list of successful acts from last year. There was also a few changes that signalled perhaps the start of something bigger. The previously unused-until-Friday PX3 stage became a BBC Introducing stage, showcasing bands such as Memory of Elephants, Iran Iran, and Oxygen Thief.

 

Band of the day:

Band of the day today was a tough one. Each of the Thursday Bands have been chosen due to their immense success at last year’s festival, and are therefore pretty damn good. So with this in mind I will have to go for my personal favourite act of the day, Mylets. Now, I love Mylets, much for the same reason I loved last year’s Thursday Band Of The Day (Check out THAT review here), Theo. I am always endlessly impressed by the presence of mind, dedication, and musical synergy that must exist within a person creating live looped music on their own. Despite a few technical setbacks and a slight delay, Mylets’ Henry Kohen was soon completely blasting everyone with his heavy loops, alternating musical styles, and screaming vocals. He was rather sweetly helped by Henry Tremain from ttng, a band who played at the previous two ArcTanGent Festivals but only came to watch this year, helping Kohen who is a close personal friend. The two band have also been touring together extensively this year. This performance far outstripped last year’s, and firmly planted Mylets in everyone’s head as an incredible act that is ALWAYS worth seeing.

 

Notable acts:

Pretty much every band that played today had some form of unique notoriety and talent about them, but my top three performers are chosen on the basis of audience reaction and overall performance. LITE wowed the crowd as always, returning with their ambient post-rock sentiments and churning the air into a swirling mass of sound. Their set seemed to overwhelm a few people, and the affection shown by the closed-eyes hand-clasping of the audience was testament to their extremely dedicated cult following. 65daysofstatic were also an incredible headliner. Their songs in themselves are on-point in every possible way, drawing out emotion and tension in equal measure, so to see them performed live with the intensity and genuine thrill that 65dos can provide was a real rollercoaster. Alpha Male Tea Party also deserve some mention for their uncanny ability to get an audience going, whatever the situation and wherever they are. A perfect choice to open the festival, they even dragged Cleft up on stage with them and proceeded to engage in a competitive mash-up that flipped both acts’ set into a brilliant fusing of styles.

 

Stall of the day:

Having a little look around, most of the stalls were still setting up and getting their ovens fired. One little clothes stall stood out to me, Bare Canvas, as each t shirt design was not only beautiful and funky, but also hand painted by the person running the stall. These quirky, one-of-a-kind designs are perfect for a festival that actively promoted individuality and exclusivity.

 

 

Friday

 

First impressions:

Some serious mud going on, but everyone seemed in good spirits, looking forward to arguably the biggest bands of the festival. Looking around as someone who can’t even throw a banana skin on the ground, I am massively impressed by the cleanliness of the festival. Those infamous horror story photos of the Glasto aftermath are a long way from the conscientious bin usage that seems to be pretty much exclusive to Arc. This literally excites me.

 

Band of the day:

Todays band of the day, despite some incredibly high-profile headliners, have to be maybeshewill. Their performance stood out, as ever, because of their impressive but subtle showmanship, and the fact that the whole festival seemed to turn out to see them. The band carry with them an infinite maturity and dignity that manifests in each song, somehow creating compelling, thought-provoking instrumental music. The live performance was emotional and full of stage leaps, and the stand-out song Red Paper Lanterns was performed perfectly. The set was finished off with an encore of Not For Want of Trying, which was met with rapturous applause from the crowd, and started up a huge pit in the centre. Their gracing of the Arc Stage was one of the top highlights of the festival for me, and no doubt many fingers are crossed regarding their return.

 

Notable acts:

American band CHON played extremely well and received a nicely sized turnout considering their clash with Helms Alee. Their proggy sound has come a long way in a short space of time, and their music was really well tailored to the nerdier music fans among us. Delta Sleep also played a high-quality set, with their emotional and extremely tight sound. Theirs is likely to be a set that is remembered for next year. The Dillinger Escape Plan initially seemed a slightly unusual choice for the line-up, but effectively pulled off a set tailored to a math-rock and post-rock audiences, more accustomed to the crowd after their recent tour performances with Three Trapped Tigers. Their performance drew a massive amount of people, and from what I managed to overhear they were the highlight of the festival for many.

 

Stall of the day:

Today was all about FOOD, and there was some truly incredible food on offer. Spud of the Earth and Churros R Us kept festival goers more than full up with their affordable and sizeable portions, and the many cafes and open air smokeries on site essentially acted as a delicious air freshener.

 

 

Saturday

 

First impressions:

The last day, and many people seemed to be clearing off early out of fear of yet more torrential rain and thunderstorms. For those that did stay, the weather was absolutely beautiful. The sun came out of hiding and the heat was intense, suddenly those shivering short-wearers from the past few days came into their own, and our jeans and jackets looked a bit silly. Ah, England.

 

Band of the day:

Band of the day today have to be Eschar. They cunningly placed fliers for their band time around the campsite… I’m not sure if this is playing by the rules or not, but I hope it worked out for them. Their audience seemed pretty big, and they played to a decidedly happy festival as the sun shone. Sounding as good as if they were in the studio, Eschar gave an incredibly hard-hitting performance that managed to no doubt garner a small number of new fans to their cause. Their songs were long and proggy, a little like Tool in essence, and it made for a great festival atmosphere. As a side note I saw lots of parents with their kids watching this band. Education.

 

Notable acts:

Deafheaven are obviously always worth a mention, and their headlining set went off without a hitch. They performed a detailed and comprehensive insight into their extensive catalogue of noise, and formed a perfect ending to a truly magnificent festival. Cult of Luna were also impressive, and seemed to have the most fans in band merch. Not sure whether that’s relevant. Alright The Captain were also definitely worth a look, but they never fail to disappoint, and math stalwarts 100 Onces got the day off to a good start with their 11am slot.

 

Stall of the day:

This year bought a little sweetshop to the heart of the festival. Set just off to the side of the Bixler stage, it was £3.50 for a cup and you could pick ‘n’ mix sweets with cute little scoops to your hearts content. Just what you need after a weekend of sweaty moshing, to feel adorable again.

 

 

Miri Says:

Once again, ArcTanGent have pulled it off. The incredible attention to detail possessed by the organisers, the sense of fun promoted by bands and festival goers alike, the quality of the stalls, the sheer genius of the line-up… this has to be the Number One small festival in the UK. As the festival slowly grows in size and picks up a sponsor or two, expect to see big things happening, and for goodness sake buy some tickets for 2016.

 

5/5

Review by Miri Teixeira for 365 Bristol, Photos by Miri Teixeira and Rahul Chawla.

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