Dot to Dot Festival Manchester May 30 2011

This indoor festival (not a bad thing given the weather in North West England) across a number of venues in Manchester's student quarter showcases mainly emerging indie bands, with a smattering of pop acts to make it financially viable. It lacked sufficient indie folk for my taste, and some of the early acts I saw were a little weak, but I had enormous fun, experiencing 6 hours of non stop live music, and it's a great way to experience new talent.

Nicki and the Dove 3/10
The first act I saw, from Sweden, was Nicki and the Dove. I'm afraid I didn't find them terribly engaging or original despite the tribal drumming and offbeat vocals from Malin Dahlstrom. Their first album is out in June on Sub Pop.

Foreign Office 5/10
This four piece band from Hackney, London has a clear 80's influence, with liberal use of synthesisers. A highlight was 'On the Beat' which is one of their singles, and the audience in Academy 2 seemed to enjoy the set. Paul Cousins, the front man, has a kind of geeky charisma, and if for me they lacked a spark of magic genius, they were eminently danceable. There's an informative interview here if you want to find out more.

Dom 5/10
Dom's Lo-fi  style didn't really excite me, but they were spoken of highly at SXSW this year and have received positive coverage from Pitchfork. There was acres of reverb for the falsetto vocals, and it was catchy, but just a little insubstantial for my taste. It may be unfair though to apply such high standards to a new band, when the sublime Arcade Fire act at Coachella is still fresh in my mind; this was all about discovering the unknown.

Braids 8/10
I've had good luck with Canadian music recently, following an amazing Rural Alberta Advantage gig last week. This was the most cerebral set of my Festival, with a really experimental and creative feel. They sounded different live to their album Native Speaker, almost surreal, with Raphaelle Standell-Preston voice waving a spell through long impressionistic songs. They are not gentle, quiet or polite throughout though; and whilst it's art music, it's not at all sterile or academic. I struggled to get into Animal Collective at Coachella, and whilst I wouldn't be surprised if this group admire their aesthetic, in this small indoor venue without pretentious video art, Braids made sense to me.

Wolf Gang 8/10
There was a real buzz around this band, but I saw all too little of the set as the venue was full and I had a long wait to get in. I was sufficiently impressed by what I heard to get a ticket to see them in more favourable circumstances very soon indeed: watch this space for my reaction. They previewed songs from their upcoming album 'Suego Faults' and vocalist Max McElligott from Scotland produced a feel good, optimistic vibe as the crowd went wild.

The Naked and Famous 8/10
This Australian band played the majority of their album 'Passive Me, Aggressive You'. The bass was truly shattering, standing directly underneath the speakers at the front, I can now imagine what it most be like to be in close proximity to a rocket launch. In fact, there were some issues with the balance, and for the first two or three songs the lead vocals were virtually inaudible. Once this was resolved, they really rocked the main Academy Stage and left a memorable impression: everyone danced.

Cults 9/10
This was possibly the most impressive set I saw, and I'd urge you to take a listen to their just released self titled album. Go Outside with glockenspiel is catchy and got the audience dancing. Cults is led by couple Brian Oblivon and Madeline Follin from San Diego, and is described as retro pop, but had expanded to a five piece band for this Festival. There's a 1960's psychedelic influence and one of their songs was introduced as for 'all the members of the audience who are on drugs'. They have dropped out of film school in New York to pursue their musical passions; they deserve to succeed on this evidence: it's fun, positive music without any claims to being great art. If there's a concern, having listened to their nearly released album, it's whether there's enough variety to sustain them: but they are very young and will develop.

The Joy Formidable 9/10
This Welsh trio lived up to their name with a charismatic performance, accompanied by some wild audience antics, including crowd surfing and out of control round dancing. More than any other set I saw, they really rocked, and had such energy. Along with Cults, this was the highlight of the festival for me and lead singer Ritzy Bryan really seized the attention of the audience. This is a band who really benefit from being seen live, but I'd recommend you check out their album The Big Roar, released in January this year. It's not subtle music, but they build up to amazing climaxes, with awesome crescendos and guitar riffs.

Hurts 7/10
Hurts were dramatic, operatic with impressive staging and a large backing group befitting their headline act status. At one stage, the lead singer Theo Hutchcraft threw down his mic stand: this was uncharacteristically rock and roll for a more pop / dance themed show with heavy use of synth. Their style is pretty formal, wearing suits, and a long way from a hippy aesthetic. I find this kind of music a little manipulative emotionally: superficially enjoyable but ultimately unsatisfying, but there's no doubt the audience loved it, and I had a lot of fun.

The Phoenix Foundation 6/10
I'd been impressed by this New Zealand group's album Buffalo album, but this show was a little bit of an anti climax. The audience in the Club Academy was thin on the ground, and the six piece band were enjoyable, but the set failed to really take off. There's interesting music, and I particularly loved the percussion, but perhaps this late night slot didn't serve them well.