By Jase Walker
Despite a somewhat chaotic journey back to Guildford this morning, I’ve managed to make it back to the venue for early doors in time to catch the opening act, Phoxjaw.
After seeing these at Download but unfortunately missing them at 2000 Trees, I was not going to risk missing them a second time this year, they’re too good for that! Phoxjaw opens the main stage and their overwhelming wall of sound fills every corner of the room. Just as with Download, I find it so hard to pick someone that sounds anything like them other than maybe Black Peaks. Their bass player stands out as rolling with one of the fattest bass tones I’ve ever heard, which along with the guitarists and often laboured drums, gives them a crushing aura which assaults the senses for the entire set. Discordant at times, some quiet segments here and there, all wrapped up in an unstoppable force that sees the Sunday at Radar properly kicked off.
I popped outside for a moment to get some air as Thoughtcastle started on the second stage and I just had to drop everything to poke my head in. Djenty goodness with high, soaring cleans? Yep, sold already. Not in the slightest bit surprised that it’s a Dingwall bass either, their tone is unmistakable. A very similar vibe to the likes of Monuments and Valis Ablaze, tasty grooves with sustained notes on a backing track, love it. Really enjoying these, definitely going to be on my watchlist for other appearances going forward.
Next up is Siamese, another major draw for me here! Opening with the latest album opener and outright banger, ‘Heights Above’ with its massive chorus, the main stage room is packed already and the days barely started! Following straight up with ‘Home’ and its wonderful pop style chorus, I’m dangerously close to losing my voice! God I absolutely bloody adore this band, I can’t stop listening to their Home album. Following with ‘Holy’, they’re not messing about with playing the big bangers from Home. One of the guitarists switching to violin on certain tracks adds a lovely touch to this live performance too.
The crowd is going wild at this show too, they may only have 30 minutes but everyone here is going to get the most out of it without a doubt. I feel like I’m really riding this surge of metal that’s unashamedly pop from so many places of the world at the moment I cannot get enough of it, and Siamese are leading the way with this. I really hope they don’t stay away too long, I really want to see so much more than a 30 minute set. Towards the end of the set, smashing out ‘Sloboda’ and ‘Ocean Bed’, packed with emotion and feel, closes out a fantastic set from Siamese.
Slightly delayed but it’s time for Palm Reader on the main stage. With these guitars as part of the seven piece act, their sound is thick and heavy and even in the first song I’ve managed catching their singers attention screaming the words back at him. RESULT. ‘Stay Down’ goes down a treat and provokes the crowd into smashing into each other all the while screaming the chorus back at them. Looking around the crowd it looks like we’ve got a visible split between people who know Palm Reader very well and a lot that are most likely taking them in for the first time, the latter of which are completely fixated on Palm Reader.
Palm Reader are dynamic, overwhelming, and explosive. It’s only been a 30 minute set but I’m pretty sure they’ve converted a solid amount of new fans here.
A brief break and it’s time for The Dali Thundering Concept and their noisy and catastrophic sound. Barely passing the starting point and people are already grabbing the barriers to throw themselves around. These guys are all aggression and groove and the crowd at the front are going berserk, fuelled by the unbridled energy of the band. I’m not actually sure who I can hear more in terms of vocals, whether it’s their singer or the people at the front screaming every word! The grooves they’re kicking out are properly tasty, driven forward by the thunderous drums and I can feel it through the floor and in my chest.
It’s not all just grooves, chugs and unrestricted ferocity, some parts of their stuff is essentially full on Jazz, unusual chords, their subsequent progressions and syncopated time signatures. It all adds up to a fierce combination that Dali puts across in an immense fashion, there’s so many facets on show here, what an incredible show.
Next for me is P.U.L.S.E on the second stage. Spying two baritone guitars and a six-string bass, this is going to be a filthy one. Featuring the ex-Harbinger singer, they kick off and just as I thought, it’s fierce and low but there looks to be some issues with the bass as I can’t quite hear or feel them which is a shame but I can see the sound techs rushing to fix it. The moment it’s sorted you can feel the low end properly kick in and we are definitely rolling now. These guys have a vibe that is somewhat similar to Loathe in the way they love hitting those grooves with their baritones yet definitely seems to be more to it with TechDeath overtones but with choruses that come off as upbeat.
With the initial hiccups out of the way, P.U.L.S.E are storming ahead, jumping between melancholy, and almost sweet passages before tearing into disgusting heavy grooves with their singer unleashing disgusting gutturals. It’s actually quite hard to place where these guys sit, some bits are actually pretty tech/death but where do you put grooves against a drum and bass backing before a disgusting breakdown? Fuck knows. It’s all pretty interesting to say the least, I’m definitely keen on seeing more from them and I’ll be adding their catalogue to my to-listen list, they’ve got the right mix of light and shade for me to get into. Despite the earlier issues, they powered through and didn’t let it distract them from putting on a solid show.
We’re starting to see some delays across both stages now with times which is throwing off which bands I can and can’t see at the moment but it’s now time for Port Noir! You want sexy music? That’s Port Noir. Admittedly I’m more or less here for the songs from ‘The New Routine’, despite knowing they’ve moved on from there with ‘Cuts’, but I’ll take what I can get. The set unsurprisingly is extremely heavy on the material from ‘Cuts’, so I suppose the onus is on me to get more familiar with it.
It’s not all that though. We get a few numbers from ‘The New Routine’, which I’m quite happy about but given the set length, I really want another lengthy set from them at their own show because that synth heavy and sexy sound they’ve got really needs some time to properly show itself off.
Continuing the busy day, back down to stage two for Poly-Math and given how they’ve started, I’d say they’re arguably the loudest band that the second stage has seen this weekend. They’re a pretty interesting instrumental band to say the least, a five-piece sporting the usual core of drums, guitar and bass but also with keys and sax. I mean if you could select a band that’s a distilled version of the kind of music you’d find at ArcTanGent festival, Poly-Math are overwhelmingly it, you’ve got a band that’s prog from the ground up, with random bits of post-rock in there, some eclectic shoegaze parts with just a sprinkling of a bit of jazz for good measure.
They’ve got the second stage area absolutely rammed as well, probably not a rowdy lot in comparison with the more metal focused bands we’ve had on this weekend but visibly very focused on what Poly-Math are kicking out. Each member of the band absolutely nails each of their respective parts and the end result is far greater than the sum of it. Is ATG-core a genre yet? I feel like Poly-Math could definitely be the start of it, maybe pop Phoxjaw and Codices in there for good measure. An articulate demonstration of skilled musicianship, brilliant show.
After a break for some food and a chat with Poly-Math, it’s time for Plini and the main stage room is absolutely bloody heaving. Over the top of the people in front of me I can see Plini has brought Simon Groves with him as well who’s one of my favourite bass players! Plini is one of those musical artists that’s a bit hard to really talk about properly if you even have a passing knowledge of him. Technically brilliant, melodically fantastic, rhythmically incredible, Plini is a virtuoso in every sense of the word and tonight at Radar the whole band sounds spectacularly balanced. While not overly loud, each component of the band is easily audible which allows Plini’s playing to shine through over everything, which is kind of the point.
Whether he’s going hard with a ripping out a wailing solo, hitting grooves or just doing some mad jazzy stuff, Plini’s playing is just the tastiest licks. The fact that he’s managed to make it over given the amount of travel issues at the moment is mind blowing and yet here I am listening to him. Radar getting someone like Plini over is an incredible coup in itself. As a bass player myself though, despite the stuff Plini’s doing, I can’t stop myself from being distracted by Simon’s playing. Simon is a sublime bass player and seeing the sort of fills and licks he plays throughout this set is something I wish more people would pay attention to, the small accents he drops in here and there, tasty little fills all the while keeping the pulse of the song is artful bass playing.
It’s also notable how for this particular performance, how silent the crowd is, other than the applause between songs and maybe the cheers when a well known song is played. RADAR is patiently listening to each song with a level of reverence, I kind of wish this level of respect was there during Mike Dawes but oh well. We’ve also got some guest Sax on this set as well, and that is absolutely never a bad thing. I suppose the main thing I love about Plini is while the music is so technically complex, it’s easy for you to just get lost in the melody of it all. It’s pleasant to listen to, and the notion of a beautiful melody is never lost to the notion of over engineered complexity. Ever the most accessible virtuoso guitarist, seeing Plini do his thing live is something I will never take for granted.
For the final second stage band today it’s Our Hollow Our Home, it’s sad to see the sparse room but I suppose they are going up against the biggest band of the weekend so it’s not totally surprising. Our Hollow Our Home represents some of the best of ÜK’s metalcore and I am going to get my fill of it! Admittedly I’m here mainly for the ‘Hartsick’ tracks but they don’t miss much! These guys are thunderous. They’re up against stuff competition but it clearly hasn’t shook them much. Any band that writes a solid riff and a catchy chorus gets me going is just pure bait for me!
No sooner do I wish for a bit of ‘Hartsick’, I get my wish granted and I’m straight into that pit for a bounce. It’s pretty hard to get into a pit and take notes but I’ll absolutely try to keep track of what’s going on at least! They tell me to bounce in the pit? Done. They tell me to run around a bunch? Sorted. I am getting the most I can out of these if it kills me. And I did, so that’s that.
It’s time for the finale of the weekend, Dirty Loops. These along with Louis Cole are almost entirely the reason I’ve gotten into Jazz over the last year and what an absolute coup it is for Radar to have gotten these for their first ever UK show! The main stage area is packed beyond anything that’s been on this weekend, all the way back to both of the bar areas. I’m genuinely not sure what to get enamoured over more, whether it’s the keyboard playing, the vocals, the bass licks, or the drumming! At one point my mate Mike who plays bass for P.U.L.S.E goes off to watch them a bit closer just as they bust into an extended bass solo, and shortly walk back shaking his head like he’s about to quit.
It’s striking how effortlessly Dirty Loops play this sort of stuff, the vocal melodies soar as if they come naturally, the keys dance around throughout the set, the bass jumps between finger style, slap, tap, double thumb, with the drums playfully toeing the line of being out of time and tastefully executing fills that not only hold the rhythm but create a melody in its own right. They even tried to get a pit going because ‘it’s a metal festival right?’ But looking down at the center of the crowd, that’s exactly what’s happening! …are jazz pits a thing?
The crowd tonight for these is unchained, the whole lot from front to back is losing their fucking minds, we’ve got the entire audience bouncing along, crowd surfers, and an entire sea of waving arms and every song finish is met with a roar of applause; I mean I expected a rowdy crowd but this is quite something. As you’d expect with a jazz band, everyone gets their chance to shine with an extended solo, but there’s some serious kudos to be given to their drummer for his. Exceptional. Dirty Loops have brought an incredible weekend to a close, and to be here to witness their first ever UK show is an incredible privilege.
Same time next year?
- RADAR 2023 takes place over the weekend of 28 – 30 July at its new home, the BEC Arena in Manchester. Early bird tickets are on sale now.
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