Field Day 2009 Announced: Mogwai, Fennesz, Four Tet, Skream...

The initial lineup for Field Day 2009 has been announced, booked in for the 1st August at London's Victoria Park, and it's already shaping up to be a good 'un. I attended last year's event and it wasn't anywhere near as bad as some of the internet naysayers would have you believe, a good time was had despite the AWFUL weather.

Anyways, here's the announced lineup so far with Scottish post-rock legends Mogwai headlining:

Mogwai
Four Tet
James Yorkston
Apes and Androids
Malcolm Middleton
Fennesz
Errors
DJ Skream

Particularly excited about the godly ethereal drone bubblings of Fennesz (who I stupidly managed to miss at ATP in December) and dubstep king Skream, along with hopefully some new material from Four Tet. Mogwai have been a bit of a mixed bag when I've caught them before, but if the atmosphere's right they're spellbinding.

Reports are that Victoria Park's rather measly sound restrictions have been raised too, so the 'gwai should be able to play at their fabled face-meltingly high volumes. As well as the music, as with previous years, you can enjoy all the fun of the fete with sack-races, whack-a-mole and the like.

Many more acts & DJs to be announced with further info at the official website and buy tickets at Seetickets or TicketWeb.

Some music from the bands involved to get you in the mood:

Four Tet - Joy (feat Percee P) (MP3)

The rhyme inspector Percee P rapping over some chunky Four Tet beats, love this.


Skream - Oskilatah (the drop at 2.45, holy shiiiiiiiit)


Fennesz - Endless Summer


Mogwai - Glasgow Mega-Snake

Takin' A Break

The Mark Out will be on hiatus for a bit, hopefully it won't be too long.

In the meantime, watch some Wire DVDs:

Bodies Of Water - A Certain Feeling

There's a hugeness to Bodies of Water's second album, A Certain Feeling, that I find irresistible. I've always been fascinated by lavish production; layered music with rich instrumentation - and this has it cracked completely, overflowing with vibrancy and a sense of wonder. If you liked early Polyphonic Spree, Arcade Fire or the majesty of Sufjan Steven's pomp you should be all over this release.

The album's eclecticism is certainly 21st Century, where seemingly anything goes, with genres flickering between (to name but a few) quick-step tropicalia bursts of energy, show-like choruses, Spaghetti Western soundtracks, loose percussive funk, and a real penchant for (my personal favourite) doom-laden, VU-ish stoner chugs but there's none of the slightly knowing, hipsterish undercurrent you sometimes get with such releases - the songs flow and ebb together, and there feels as if there's a deep pulse that goes through the entire record, keeping it all hanging together as styles change and instruments burst through. No two songs really sound alike, but there's a definite vibe throughout that sounds completely unique to the band.

Think anthemic pop, with a psychedelic/krautrock/progressive sensibility - it's everywhere but knows exactly where it's going (I really need to start listening to more sensible music that's easier to describe!)

Download: Bodies of Water - Under the Pines (MP3)

All over an urgent rhythm, Under The Pines has extended instrumental grooves, shimmering feedback, loose solos and doomy bass whilst all being tied up with a catchy chorus. It's hard to pick a sample track, due to the variance, but this'll put you on the right path.

Buy from Secretly Canadian and Emusic.

The band are also on tour in the UK in October, I have no idea how they'll pull off these songs live, but would love to see them try (and succeed I'm sure):

October 2 London, Concrete And Glass
October 3 Glasgow, Captains Rest
October 4 Middlesbrough, Westgarth Social Club
October 5 Belfast, Speakeasy
October 6 Dublin, Whelans
October 7 Galway, Roisin Dubh
October 11 London, Forum w/Calexico
October 13 Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
October 14 London, Cargo

Myspace

The Fiery Furnaces - Remember

I'm still not sure that I've fully got my head around Remember, a live double-album from avant-indie rocksters The Fiery Furnaces, featuring performances from between 2005-2007. To put it bluntly, the album is bonkers. Completely and utterly hatstand, but it's good - excellent at times.

It's certainly not your typical live album featuring the usual songs verbatim to the album versions. There's barely any crowd chatter or applause, introductions can occur midway through tracks and there's nary a pause between each song - giving the impression of one huge medley. Although the band are well-known for their free and easy approach to playing live, with songs often having a very different sound to recorded, the album takes it even further by editing together the same song with verses, lines, choruses etc from completely different shows. Sweet pop can turn into thrash into funk into prog into...well you get the picture, only Eleanor Friedberger's sweet vocals provide some kind of constant throughout - something to cling onto. It's a dizzying experience, almost overwhelmingly so over the course of 130 minutes and 51 tracks (the band even warn not to listen to the whole album in one go - sage advice!).

I'm no great expert on the band, so it can be bewildering at times with fragmented songs flying through and shifting styles at lightning pace, but for fans I'm sure it'll be frequently revelatory - with reimagined and reworked songs changing at the drop of a hat, reprises appearing, lines from other songs working their way in. Single Again is a good example, reappearing a couple of songs after it's initial airing in the middle of Don't Dance Her Down, then again for an official reprise. Don't expect it to sound like the radio edit either!

Even if you're not too familiar with the music, expect one of the most unique and at times, thrilling, live albums you'll ever hear.

The Fiery Furnaces - Navy Nurse (Live) (MP3)

Buy Remember from Play or Amazon.

More info at Myspace

Metallica - Death Magnetic

Everyone has heard some of the new Metallica material now, surely? Rather than trying to sue everyone on the internet, the thrash titans have decided to embrace modern culture and provide streaming tracks, behind the scenes videos and early access to songs through their Mission:Metallica site which as an exercise in PR after the entire Napster debacle is a truly sterling effort so rather than the veil of secrecy that has surrounded previous releases they're openly sharing the wealth.

I'm still not entirely convinced with Death Magnetic; despite listening to it a number of times it feels like all surface at the moment - no riff or solo really leaves an impression in my mind, and it's almost completely forgotten after playing through. Saying that, whilst it's on I'm flicking devil signs and air guitaring like the closet metalhead that I am and I genuinely enjoy listening to it - but will I still be doing so a year or even a month from now? I'm not sure at all.

It does feel like the release that the "fans" have been craving since The Black Album with the precision-drilled guitar, (mostly) relentless pace and at times appears to be a real throwback to the early years - My Apocalypse even picking up a Kill 'Em All'ish chug to the riffery. Sadly, even with Rick Rubin behind the boards, the drums still sound like someone slapping a bin lid, but we can't have everything I guess.

Stream Death Magnetic in full. Buy from Friday everywhere.

Terrible ballads, embarrassing lyrics, riffs that are built for armageddon. You know what you're getting.

The Mole - As High As The Sky

I've just recently stumbled across As High As The Sky the debut album from Canada's The Mole (out on Wagon Repair) after reading this excellent Resident Advisor review. It doesn't seem to have crossed over beyond the specialist press, which is a real shame, as it's one of the strongest, varied and most accessible dance albums I've heard all year. I'm not really sure where to start with the highlights - the seemingly never-ending subtle build of Ain't It The Way It's Supposed To Be, a deep nagging bassline rising from the looped vocals and cowbell; Hey Girl (I Feel So Good)'s Revolution 909 meets disco breaks funk, the muted, almost minimalism of Like the way you move, sparking electronics patter over the sampled drums and sparse atmospherics. A distinctly varied listen - think French House reworked for the disco re-edit generation with a minimal and tech-house sideroom; clearly in love with the endless grooves from the past but with slinky 21st Century production. A perfectly sequenced album that's as strong when choosing individual tracks as listening as a whole, I can't recommend it highly enough.

The Mole - Ain't The Way It's Supposed To Be (MP3)
The Mole - Baby, You're The One (Edit) (MP3)

Baby, You're The One is a true dancefloor destroyer; no huge electro breakdowns just Chicago House repetition, deep rolling basslines and a constant synth sting.

Buy As High As The Sky from Boomkat (only £6.95 on CD!) or Emusic.

You've Got Mail: Young Sensation! and Jong Pang

Another dip into The Mark Out's mailbag reveals two rather spiffing new bands itching to get their music heard.

First up; Young Sensation!, another band who like their punctuation, and have a sleek line in sharp, indie pop but with a tasty jagged edge to it. Amongst their influences they list Arcade Fire, Interpol, Comet Gain and Wolf Parade which are all pretty much dead-on musical comparisons.

Download their excellent new single, Kitty Magic:

Young Sensation! - Kitty Magic (MP3)

The lead singer reminds me a fair amount of Bryan Ferry on this with all the sass and vocal inflections required, but the band can back up the swagger (also, Kitty Magic brings to mind Do the Strand - but that may just be me). Anyway more info and tracks at Myspace, all good stuff.

Next up, Jong Pang, by way of the nu-pop powerhouse that appears to be Scandinavia (or more precisely, Denmark). Their music (the brainchild of producer Anders Rhedin) is gorgeous pop layered with swathes of ethereal shoegaze effects whilst the tempo levels are kept high with almost tribal percussion - an interesting mix for sure, but it works a definite lush magic.

Jong Pang - Small Cut Sensations (MP3)

Swoonsome. More tracks streaming at Myspace of a similar quality, check the Steve Reich-gone-pop of A House In Heartbeats!