Artful Dodging
A look at what’s going on in Dartmouth
by Max Brandt (Opinions expressed are those of the writer –
particularly when it comes to Music!)
to take a back-seat, awaiting their time to leap to the fore and entice audiences. One such event is happening in May: the magnificent Dart Music Festival on 11th, 12th & 13th. As ever, in the interests of all concerned, I have trawled the inter-web and had a look at the acts that have been posted on the Festival website. From those, I have selected the bands, solo musicians or companies that I thought were really worth a mention. Now, you may not agree with my choices but may I direct your attention to the disclaimer at the top of the page? OK? Good. I have restrained myself and limited my comments to the bands etc to which I have enjoyed listening…although, I have to confess that (entirely subjectively!) I think there are several artistes that are, quite frankly, shocking. But no names, no pack drill and the phrase concerning meat and poison comes to mind! Here we go then! As ever, the Festival website offers few clues as to the dates and venues for the various acts so, once again, I will point you in the direction of one of the many outlets in town where you can purchase the soon-to-be-released programme and thus help the Festival continue to bring all these amazing acts to the town to entertain us all! It’s a small price to pay! Plan ahead people, plan ahead. WARNING! There follows extreme use of superlatives – those of a delicate nature should either leave immediately or make themselves a nice, soothing cup of tea. Of the many excellent and exciting acts that graced the
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stages at last year’s Festival, there are a couple of returnees that really need mentioning, so that those of you who missed them can rectify their horrendous mistakes, and get along to the gigs! The Moscow Drug Club is (to quote their own blurb) ‘…a curious musical place where certain elements of 1930’s Berlin Cabaret, Hot Club de France, Nuevo Tango & Gypsy Campfire meet, have a few to drink and stagger arm in arm into the darkness of some eastern European cobbled street on a mission to find the bar where Django Reinhardt & Tom Waits are having an after hour’s jam with the local Tziganes.’ Make any sense? If not, go and check ‘em out, they are well worth the trip. Also making a truly welcome return are Kagemusha Taiko, a group of the most sublime Japanese drummers
e are, it would appear, in that strange period when there are things going on but they’re BIG things; so much so that other events tend
who are based in Exeter. Their enthusiasm and pure skill left last year’s audiences breathless and amazed. Really, really magical to watch – if ever there was an experience to be had at the Festival, then these guys are it. The Pauls Sartin and Hutchinson are a fiddle and accordion duo that glory in the name Belshazzars Feast. Mr Hutchinson twiddles the keys of the accordion whilst Mr Sartin plays the fiddle, oboe, whistle and stretches his vocal chords. They play a bit of folk music but they intersperse this with some virtuoso performances of various classical pieces – their rendering of the Rondo a la Turk is something to hear. A little comedic banter is thrown in for good measure. Worth an hour or so of anybody’s time! Art Deco conjure up images of elegance in 20s and 30s ballrooms; flappers with bob-cuts and strings of pearls, twirling in mad abandon; penguin-suited gents with elegant moustaches and foot-long cigarette holders; potted plants, Poirot and F. Scott Fitzgerald. They play brilliant, good- time swing, jazz and early blues tunes, the sort that the late, lamented Humphrey Littleton used to play frequently on his radio programme. You can almost hear the scratching hiss and click of the old 78rpm records and see Nipper staring into the horn of that ancient record player. I’m not sure if this next artist is coming armed with her band, or if she will be playing solo, but, whichever the combination might be, Rebecca Mayes is something a little different and, in these times of bland similarity, a little quirky and quite inspiring. Her inspiration comes from, believe it or not, video games. And you don’t have to play or even know the games to get something from these songs. Unique is not a word to use lightly in respect of any artist, musical or otherwise, but these songs really touched something in me that hasn’t been tweaked in quite a long while: probably the last time it happened was upon hearing Tom Waits for the first time – which tells you just how long it’s been! Not that this young lady has any similarity to the excellent Mr Waits. She is a treat…so treat yourselves to something new. Joy, joy, joy! Big smiley face and a warm fluffy feeling!
The Festival have got some Bhangra in. Yippeee. RSVP Bhangra…what can you say? I heartily dislike the word ‘fusion’ unless it relates to atomic energy but these guys really do fuse so many disparate styles, yet retain the bhangric (?) element so cleverly, you wouldn’t know that the music should sound any different. And perhaps it shouldn’t sound any different. What I do know is that I spent far too much time on their website, listening to whatever tracks they had there, smiling like a loon and – perhaps I shouldn’t tell you, but what the heck! – doing the push-away arm movements like I was an extra in Slumdog. Chair dancing – the new aerobics. One of the highlights for me over the last couple of years was the very excellent indie band from Teignmouth, The Quails. They aren’t coming this year, primarily because they are no more…at least, not as far as I could discover. However, the ex-Quail frontman, Dan Steer and his two buddies, Jonny Finns & Joe Sansome are going
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