September 2023: A Pilgrimage to the Dream House
The big ArcTanGent Festival review!
Arctangent(2023) = 1.57030201 rad
On arriving at ArcTanGent Festival, seeing the stage tents and hearing the unmistakeable booming of a kick drum undergoing soundcheck, my friend turned to me and said “Ah, yes, we’re home”.
Judging from the witnessed experiences of roughly 10,000 other festival goers, we weren’t the only ones to share that sentiment. ArcTanGent Festival (or ATG), established ten years ago, has become a Mecca of sorts for those into heavier, weird, experimental, and yes, post- genres of music. This was our second year and we were once again treated to an impeccably curated global line-up, with genres as wide-ranging as doom metal, math rock, jazz fusion and pagan folk.
It’s a highly compact, no-frills festival - you have your five stage tents with a constant rotation of bands playing over 12 hours each day, merch tent, a bunch of food trucks and bars, some silent disco shenanigans after hours, and that’s basically it - no fairgrounds, cinemas, or on-site dentists here. If your idea of fun doesn’t involve seeing a ton of bands each day, hanging out with some beers at your tent, or late-night Mars Volta silent disco, then there’s not much else to keep you entertained. I remain amused and impressed by the patience of the small number of children and their parents attending what I imagine would have been hell for me at that age (as a kid who was terrified of everything, but especially loud noise).
Even if those are your things, you could imagine such a setup trying your patience after the second or third day. (Certainly my lower back was rebelling quite hard by Friday night after 12 hours of standing and a faulty air mattress). And yet - there’s so much here that is wonderful, engrossing, powerful. Not least the fantastic line-up, where your biggest concern is less how to fill blank time, but which bands will you sacrifice in order to grab a bite or to resolve a nasty three-way clash. But also the attendees themselves - a community in the truest sense of like-minded and highly respectful individuals. I’ve never seen a festival site so clear of rubbish, or as impressive (and often hilarious) an array of metal T-shirts and campsite flags; everyone we spoke to was unfailingly friendly, even when quite drunk, and always willing to lend a hand if needed.
As last year, I came away having checked off a bunch of bands I’ve followed, often for years, and having discovered a ton of new and interesting music. My mega band review this month comes with a playlist of the 30+ bands I did see - do check out anything you like the sound of, and please consider subscribing below if you like reading this kind of stuff. Scroll to the end for the embed, or load directly here for Spotify (or alternatively for Tidal).
From the Pit: ArcTanGent Festival 2023
Fernhill Farm, 16-19th August 2023
Thursday
Our festival began with a surfeit of energetic post-rock tropes from Din of Celestial Birds - the five-piece successfully balancing delicate clean sections with heavy riff-outs and sampled dialogue à la Maybeshewill. A lot of fun to start the festival, and their recently-released debut record is already on heavy rotation for me. We followed up with the indie-rock stylings of Mt. Yonder and enjoyed some lunch relaxing outside the Yokhai tent watching Belgian doom-metallers Pothamus, who put together a pummeling & intense wall of sound - perfectly accompanied by some bunnychow.
The knowingly-named Chinese Football travelled all the way from Wuhan, their first time in the UK, to play this year, and did not disappoint. This is glistening math-rock in the best traditions of their US namesake, but it never comes across as derivative - the melodic harmony, particularly in the vocals and guitars, shows real talent and songwriting expertise. It’s fun stuff too, with one band member encouraging the most gentle wall of death during recent album cut The World Is Splitting In Two. They were clearly overjoyed and perhaps a little awed to be playing here, but it didn't compromise their sound and highly endeared them to the large main stage crowd.
Svalbard are a band I’ve looked forward to seeing for a long time - mixing the popular blackgaze sound of Deafheaven with post-hardcore drums and a strong feminist message. The twin screams of frontwoman Serena Cherry and guitarist Liam Phelan rarely relent, and the energy of the drumming is infectious in the best ways. The crowd need little prompting to join in the “Fuck Off” chorus of Click Bait, both during the song and in an ensuing call to arms from the delighted band. Very excited to hear the new album based on what we heard of the new singles here too.
Svalbard live (Twitter video)
Having a band at ATG whose guitarist apparently has a Ph.D in post-rock is almost self-parodic, but Parachute for Gordo defy the cliches with a fun and varied set of creative and experimental songs. Lots of different pedals and effects, driving bass lines, and a menagerie of entertaining songs whose titles are all animal puns and references - what’s not to like?
There was a fair amount of buzz for Empire State Bastard, the new extreme metal supergroup from Mike Vennart with Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil and Dave Lombardo from Slayer (albeit no Dave on this tour). There’s not much let-up here from the maximum velocity drums and the high-pitched raspy screams that are far heavier than anything Biffy have done - obviously talent and entertainment to be found here if this is your bag but I bounced off this one a little. Not helped by the intrusive thought that I’m more than twice the age I was when I last saw Simon Neil perform live.
My favourite set of the day was undoubtedly Brutus - what began as a Belgian two-piece doing Refused covers and looking for a vocalist and drummer, only to land the incredible Stefanie Mannaerts, has evolved into something quite special. Stefanie’s voice is a delight throughout, handling screams and melodies with glorious ethereality regardless of how busy she was behind the kit. Lead single War from their second album had me emotional, with two minutes of goosebump-inducing soaring melody giving way to a stomping riff and blast beats before that huge chorus.
Russian Circles are probably peerless in the domain of instrumental post-metal, with an incredibly tight sound and expert handling of crushing heaviness. Their set here showcased the heavier cuts off their recent albums, with the relentless triplet kick drums and palm mutes of the likes of Arluck and Conduit. The setlist lacks a little variety but is still wholly immersive with this level of technical execution.
The mightily named Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, clearly indebted to the heavy metal stylings of Black Sabbath, put on a high-octane show of aggression in closing the second stage. Their previous album Viscerals was a bit of a crossover hit, leading to, in the frontman’s own words, “playing festivals with… fucking Stereophonics”. Their third time here and this is clearly their preferred spiritual home as they tear up the crowd with big shouts, thumping drums and blazing riffs that get slower, heavier and sludgier as the set goes on.
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs live (Twitter video)
Headliners can be a tricky thing at festivals. Which acts have sufficient pull and fanbase size that they’ll not only sell a load of tickets by dint of being on the bill, but also have enough spectacle and cross-over appeal to win over those who weren’t fans or never really got into them before? And as a headliner, how do you up the ante to match - do you put on a massive spectacle, light show, choreography (c.f. Cult of Luna and Tesseract at ATG last year) - or do you just rely on sheer musicianship and the quality of the material (like, say, Opeth). I’ve never really gotten into Converge despite their titanic contribution to metalcore (their Bloodmoon collaboration with Chelsea Wolfe notwithstanding). Here they definitely went for the latter option - straight onto stage, a quick hello, and smash-cut into a flurry of songs from across their extensive back catalogue. For long-time fans I’m sure this was a joy, and from a technical perspective this was an impeccable performance - incredibly tight, full of virtuosic flourishes and fiddly bits amidst the relentless speed and fury of the drums and vocals. It was, however, a little exhausting, and I doubt the easiest way to get into the band coming in fresh. Such are the limits of the heavier genres sometimes.
So we exited after the first hour to catch Sugar Horse closing out the smaller PX3 stage. Long-time ATG staples (they played twice last year), they balance more of those crushing heavies with lighter, denser and often beautiful shoegaze fare, backed up by a dizzying array of guitar pedals, an amusing self-deprecating attitude and versatile, powerhouse vocals from Ashley Tubb. They closed their set with upcoming single/EP Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, an epic 18 minute performance which silenced the tent during its opening a capella vocal, before hitting grand monotonic riffs which evolved into a remarkable experience. It’s easily their most ambitious and best work to date and worth checking out on release in a couple months’ time.
Friday
I dunno about you but I can never sleep properly at the first night of a festival, and woke up on Friday feeling thoroughly awful. Still, downed some tea, fried some sausages and roused ourselves to whet our musical appetite briefly with the classic prog rock stylings of Haast, who definitely know how to go big even at 11.30am.
Then to the main stage for a real treat from Curse These Metal Hands. A side project/collaboration between Conjurer and Pijn, named for a Peep Show joke, and responsible for the glut of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Baroness!” shirts everywhere marking their clear point of reference, this could easily be slight and unoriginal fare. Weirdly enough, the combination of the two bands’ respective strengths in heaviness and soundscaping yields some of their best and most accessible work, and the indulgences make for fantastic live spectacle, with a parade of guest musicians showing up to rock out on banjo, assorted percussion, and *checks notes*… otamatone? Sure! Add in the wonderful guitar work, all complementary clean textures and occasional ridiculous overdriven harmonies to make Thin Lizzy blush, and this was a real highlight.
Decided to split ways with my friend seeing ‘68 (see my Portals review of their set here) in favour of Blanket, who came in as a late replacement. Their recent single Blue Eyes caught my attention and led last month’s playlist - this is clearly a modern take on the early Swervedriver school of shoegaze, driving guitar riffs amidst the reverb and with the occasional bits of background scream for atmosphere. My kind of combination. They put on a solid show and are definitely one I need to spend more time getting acquainted with their back catalogue.
Next up was Holy Fawn, who took to the main stage with their expansive, post-gaze soundscapes. There’s clear similarities to recent tour mates Caspian in the complex compositions, but with more extensive use of both reverb-drenched clean vocals and screams over the wash of guitars.
I don’t think I’ve ever been to a festival that The St. Pierre Snake Invasion weren’t playing (they show up everywhere) - but this was my first time actually checking them out. There’s punk and hardcore spirit here, but all driven through the oddball machine to create an angular, weird and entertaining sound, all snarling energy and verve.
Last month I mentioned my failing travails trying to get into jazz fusion. Turns out the answer may have been to go see it done properly in a live setting? Jaga Jazzist provided a calming, beard-scratching technicolour experience of creative jazz, with a nine-piece band including xylophonist and horn section keeping the rapt attention of the crowd throughout. Well I think they did, I was too engrossed to really notice if everyone else was enjoying it as much as me. Whilst ATG does cover a plethora of experimental genres, it does lean very much into the heavier, guitar driven end of things - so this was a delightful palate cleanser. More of this next year!
Jaga Jazzist live (Twitter video)
I did see And So I Watch You From Afar headline Portals this year, and their set at ATG followed pretty much the same template - big pogo-ing party math-rock riffs. Math rock is not the easiest genre to generate audience interaction for; all those angular riffs, odd and changing time signatures, and furrowed brows of concentration might be 100% my thing but there’s a reason it doesn’t have broad crossover appeal. ASIWYFA confound that expectation in making a version of that music that you truly want to dance to (and can!) whilst being no less complex - it’s quite the feat.
I was very excited to see The Ocean play live this year after repeated listening to their last three albums - all post-metal grandeur, intense German vocals and creative song structure and elements. They did not disappoint, from the visceral chord changes of opener Preboreal, through the tension and escalation of Atlantic to the wig-out heavies of Jurassic | Cretaceous. They even played a surreal second set over the Silent Disco headphones on the Saturday night to cover for the absent Tokky Horror.
The Ocean live (Twitter video)
Enslaved have been around forever, with big heavy metal hits dating back to the 90s, and look like your typical Scandi heavy metal band. Their modern sound has evolved a pronounced prog edge to it, with synths, clean vocals and big solos breaking up the double-kick assaults on the material from their latest album Heimdal. I’ve never really listened to them before but this was definitely a fun experience from the talented veterans.
Time for some weird shit. Heilung were a divisive choice for headliner for the uninitiated - a quick Spotify search presents you with a few albums of thumping percussion, chants and throat singing which, frankly, won’t fit well in to your typical playlist. This fully misses the point of Heilung, which is to be full-on pagan folk spectacle, almost a choreographed theatre show. A twenty-strong troupe of singers and percussionists, pounding on drums and other instruments dating back to much earlier epochs of human existence - marching with spears and shields raised as if to war, or choreographing a human sacrifice to the gods, or cavorting with naked abandon in festive celebration with spinning flame torches on an intricately ornamented stage. It’s the sort of thing you become fully engrossed in, absorbed by the weird but utterly compelling scenes on stage, and come out of into the driving rain and mud trying to work out what you just experienced. It really shouldn’t work at a festival either - I can’t imagine many others having a crowd with the patience to tolerate it, and a few around us did check out, not least because sight lines to the stage were hard to come by (even I had to crane my neck to see, and I’m over six feet). It’s a hard recommend from me - if you get a chance to see Heilung live, don’t skip it.
Saturday
A better night’s sleep and more tea got us up and sorted to start our day with Copse. And how we loved Copse - this is a band that knows how to grab your attention with huge screams and blast beats, but also soaring reverb-drenched lead lines and real emotional heft. No better way to start your morning, count me a huge fan. (Though as great as the “All Copse Are Bastards” tie-dye T-shirt looked, it’s not exactly one I could wear to the office…)
Didn’t get enough math rock in the first two days, so off to see Land Wars, who do the standard odd time signatures two-piece instrumental act. Both clearly delighted to be playing and a little overawed by the occasion, and also having the specific energy of guitarist and drummer trying to trip each other up with the changes throughout, which was bizarre but quite fun.
My brain mostly blocks out memories of the early stages of the pandemic, but seeing Cultdreams live reminded me just how important their 2019 album Things That Hurt was to getting me through that early period of near-total isolation. Fronted by Nervus bassist Lucinda Livingston, who swaps the bass for gauze-y guitar underneath punk energy and raw, open lyrics of grief, anger and anxiety that hit just as hard live as on that record.
A bit of an extended break before a marathon session of must-see bands, starting with Standards, who win this year’s Best Guitarist award. Another guitar/drums math rock two-piece (plus occasional chiptune elements), their sound is relentlessly joyous, intricate and evocative of their bright, fruit-flavoured pastel colour image. I’m a sucker for intricate guitar tapping over syncopated drums and frankly few other acts do it better than Standards. Take me to Fruit Town, baby!
Standards live (Twitter video)
After the festival had concluded, it was clear that the band I had most slept on checking out beforehand was Rolo Tomassi. Female-fronted, post-hardcore with electronic elements - well, actually, far more nuanced than that. Think the experimental range of Wolf Alice, but willing to dive fully into double-kick metal breakdown territory. Thoroughly entertaining and clearly beloved by their fellow musicians (I counted no less than four separate shoutouts to them from other bands at the festival), they’re deserving of their reputation and I will definitely invest more time checking them out.
For me the festival’s worst clash - big poppy prog/emo The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die were put up against arch memelords The Callous Daoboys. Couldn’t not go for the Daoboys though. A constant stream of crowdsurfers keeping the festival security team busy as the vast seven-piece band (there’s a violin in this band, just go with it) played their attention-deficit mathcore with occasional big singalongs and surreally amusing mosh pit callouts. Definitely not for everyone but if you can vibe the style this is quite the spectacle. Also purveyors of some of the most entertaining merch I’ve ever seen from a band.
Deafheaven playing Sunbather in full? Go on then. My third time seeing them live and right up at the front for it, only to be greeted with a faulty microphone and screensaver-interrupted visuals for the first few songs. Painfully frustrating technical difficulties aside, this was a reminder of just how great this album is - it may not be my favourite Deafheaven album, but it’s obvious why it was such an immense breakout hit at the time, even with my friends that can’t stand most forms of metal. Also, turns out the best remedy for festival back pain is to get involved in the mosh pit.
More math rock two pieces? Maybe with a side of Guitar Hero 3 nostalgia? 17 year old me would have been delighted to see The Fall of Troy live, with their signature high-pitched vocals, frenetic tempos, and fretboard mastery. Present day me also loved it, particularly the nostalgia blast of F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. Still not quite sure how it’s possible to sing whilst playing fretboard runs at that speed.
The Fall Of Troy live (Twitter video)
I’m in two minds over Haken - big Dream Theater-esque prog metal with 8-string Strandberg guitars certainly ticks a bunch of boxes, but I’ve found many of their albums hard to get into (though this year’s Fauna was pretty excellent). The band take the visual identity of the new album fully into their show with a bright forest watercolour backdrop and matching floral/jungle shirts of the same design. The songcraft and virtuosity is beyond doubt but it’s all beneath a big layer of cheese, particularly with the arch high-pitched vocals, which left me a little cold.
Before he was announced as a headliner I had never listened to Devin Townsend. I had a good crack at his back catalogue beforehand (see my Twitter thread reviewing a few of his albums), of which the conclusion was - yeah, this is great, clearly very talented, could do without the puerile jokes and I probably missed the window of properly getting into this by about ten years (c.f. not reading Catcher In The Rye in your teens). It’s another pared-down headline act with only three backing musicians and little in the way of stagecraft spectacle - but this really does work to bring aboard new fans. This is in no small part due to Devin’s incredible charisma and stage presence - his awkward self-deprecating shtick flows freely and never fails to entertain, whether inspiring a crowd to over-react to the warps of a Theremin, or in the exuberant joy prompted by the audience-led spectacle of balloons batted around the tent. The music holds up as well - I found the Ziltoid album mildly annoying when I tried to listen to it, but hearing By Your Command live genuinely got a big grin out of me for its sheer silliness and spectacle. It helps when you have incredibly talented backing musicians that can simultaneously arpeggiate one hand on piano and the other on guitar. I still think I missed my window for Devin Townsend super fandom, but this was a worthy headline act to close a brilliant festival.
No album review this month as it’s a pretty long feature this time around. The links to a playlist of the bands reviewed can be found at the bottom of the page. Thank you to all those of you who’ve subscribed and are reading regularly - I hope you’re enjoying it! To any new readers, if you’ve enjoyed this and want to read more, you can check out last month’s post on generative AI in music below (quite proud of that one) and do consider subscribing if you like this kind of stuff.
