Stag and Dagger 2011

I may as well begin the same way I begin most of my posts, by apologising for taking so long to actually write one.  This time blame the exciting world of Corporate Pensions i.e. my job which has taken up most of my time over the past few weeks.  However last Saturday I got myself through to Glasgow for Stag and Dagger, which has been an annual fixture in the city for the last few years.  The concept is simple; collect your wrist band and you then have access to a smattering of venues spread across the city centre to see as many bands as you want/can.  Despite this freedom, I went completely against the whole spirit of the thing by staying in one venue all night, terrible I know.  However anyone that was in the West of Scotland on Saturday night will perhaps empathise with this decision.  It was the sort of night that Scotland does best; rainy, windy and just generally utterly miserable.

So I decided I’d set up camp in The Art School to avoid the elements.  First up in the downstairs Vic Bar were the wonderful Conquering Animal Sound.  Who, despite starting pretty much before the doors even opened were, brilliant.  I’ve seen them three times now and every time I’m amazed at how they mange to create such beautiful and haunting music from such a weird selection of loops and samples.  Mesmerising.

CONQUERING ANIMAL SOUND - Maschine by Gizeh

I then made the short journey up the stairs to the main stage in the building to catch a bit of Ghostpoet.  I was going in blind to this one, but left rather impressed by Obaro Ejimiwe.  His sound is tricky to pin down but chuck Mike Skinner, Roots Manuva, Gil Scott Heron and Maxi Jazz from Faithless in a blender and you’re probably nearly there.  His delivery on Saturday was versatile and accomplished, his lyrics and wordplay razor sharp and the live guitar and drums added a bit of extra oomph to proceedings as well.

Ghostpoet - Cash & Carry Me Home (feat. Kano) by ghostpoet

Up next was Toro y Moi.  Chaz Bundick and co’s spaced out, summery, lush synth-pop could not be more far removed from the dark and dreich setting that was Glasgow on Saturday night. However tracks like ‘New Beat’ were rapturously received by the crowd. and reminded us Scots what Summer is meant to sound like.

Toro Y Moi - New Beat by thesubs-blog

Prior to headliners Sons And Daughters, Edinburgh’s Broken Records take the stage to a criminally small crowd.  They take no notice, and storm through a typically epic set.  Jamie Sutherland’s vocals soaring over the raw, powerful and exuberant instrumentation the band are renowned for.  Every time I see Broken Records I come away confused as to why the band aren’t a great deal bigger and more popular than they actually are and as last track Slow Parade reaches it’s glorious crescendo a similar feeling washes over me.  They really are a brilliant band and deserve the mainstream success that many were tipping for them years ago.  Keep plugging away please lads.  For my sake and everyone else with a half decent taste in music.
  

The venue filled up quickly for Sons And Daughters and after a sweaty wait, the quartet emerged and launched into material from new record Mirror Mirror.  Personally I have never quite understood why some bands insist on playing mostly unheard new material at gigs, especially festival shows and this was my feeling towards Sons And Daughters set on Saturday.  As intense and stylish as the tracks were I felt they lacked some of the substance that previous Sons And Daughters material has had.  However I feel unable to pass too much judgment as I had to leave after only a few tracks to catch my bus back through to the Edinburgh and with that Stag and Dagger was over for another year.  Due to my early departure I've no idea if they played this or not, but it's once of my favourite songs of all time, so any excuse.

While I did enjoy it, the shocking weather really didn’t help and constricted me and I presume a lot of others to the one venue, giving it the feeling of an average gig as opposed to a festival.  Elsewhere apparently Yuck, Kurt Vile, Warpaint and presumably countless other artists treated the soaking citizens of Glasgow to some cracking sets.