Leeds' premier math/post/etc-rock festival returns for its 9th outing, seeing the return of some old favourites and introducing some new ones.
VENUE: BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB, LEEDS
Line-up:
LOVE RARELY: Local mathy alt-rock. Energetic and good fun.
DIN OF CELESTIAL BIRDS: Hefty post-rock lads from Leeds. I've been hassling Stewart at BAD OWL to get these onto the StrangeForms bill for ages, and here they are. How much influence I had on that I can't say, but I choose to believe that they're only here because of me. Because I'm important. Yes.
PLEIADES: Another chance to see these post-everything chaps from Manchester after last week's appearance at the RED CRUST fest in Edinburgh, and another chance to get a decent sounding video. Success, I think, on both counts.
DEMCATS: 'Experimental' duo, difficult to define. Intricate, and a bit jazzy, perhaps. I have the impression that they hadn't played together for some time, but they seemed to manage. Mostly.
OTHER HALF: Spiky and good fun, indie-punks from Norwich. I might have been tempted to dance to this, if I weren't an old fat bloke who dances like a collapsing sack of potatoes.
FALL OF MESSIAH: French screamo/post-rock veterans, they were at StrangeForms in 2016, 2017 and 2019, and still look exactly the same as they ever did. Guitarist on the left, white t-shirt, was apparently playing with a broken neck, which seems inadvisable at best.
FALSE ADVERTISING: From SF regulars to SF newbies - boisterous indie-math popsters from Manchester are enormous fun.
CLT DRP: Uncompromising Brighton electro-punks. They sound a bit angry.
EMPLOYED TO SERVE: No nonsense heavy metal from exotic Woking. Not standard StrangeForms fare, to be sure, but very popular with the punters in the room, many of whom are, I think, here just to see them.
Day 1 over, and it's time to bugger off. Been a mixed bag of a day, but there's been nothing I hated, which is always nice. It's started to rain, so it's a 15 minute sprint-walk down the hill to the overheated hotel to try and get some rest for tomorrow.
