This August, we’re bringing you one of our most diverse, high-octane and party ready bills to date! Make sure you’ve got your dancing shoes ready for this one…
PLAYING LIVE:
Galaxians
Hailing from Leeds, Galaxians have been busy wowing crowds at festivals like Beacons and Bluedot with their dynamic, lively mixture of funk, house and space disco. Since the addition of vocalist Emma Mason, their live show has become even more immersive, and with new studio material on the way, we’re delighted to be bringing Galaxians back to Newcastle after a three year gap for this special summer headline slot.
Kay Greyson
One of the most in-demand names in north-east hip-hop, Kay Greyson had built a formidable reputation on the back of shows with the likes of Pharoahe Monch as well as last year’s Morning After Music mixtape. Get excited for this one!
Jennifer Walton
Having amazed us (and plenty of others) at Evolution Emerging this year, Jennifer Walton’s opening set is not one to be missed. Although relatively new to live performance, her intricate and dazzling productions have already been making waves nationally. The future is now.
PLUS: Endless Window DJ after the live acts until late, playing…
BROADCAST / THE FALL / MY BLOODY VALENTINE / ST VINCENT / THEE OH SEES / GHOSTPOET / EAST INDIA YOUTH / STEREOLAB / FKA TWIGS / THE CRAMPS / CHROMATICS / WIRE / NICK CAVE / PJ HARVEY / SLEATER-KINNEY / CAPTAIN BEEFHEART / THE AVALANCHES / DEATH GRIPS / TALKING HEADS / RUN THE JEWELS / ROBYN / MAGAZINE / MELT YOURSELF DOWN / JANELLE MONAE / WILD BEASTS / CATE LE BON / OMD / FACTORY FLOOR / D’ANGELO / SIOUXIE AND THE BANSHEES / DAVID BOWIE / EMA / SLEAFORD MODS / ROXY MUSIC / SAVAGES / PIXIES / THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS / DEVO / KATE BUSH / THE MONKS / DEERHUNTER / PREOCCUPATIONS / PANDA BEAR / GANG OF FOUR / CHVRCHES / SONIC YOUTH / LONELADY / GALLON DRUNK / HEALTH / XTC / JOY DIVISION / BATTLES / THE GUN CLUB / KRAFTWERK / LIARS / RAMONES / DEERHOOF / THE VELVET UNDERGROUND / CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS / M.I.A. / DJANGO DJANGO / GALLON DRUNK / THE SONICS / DAN DEACON / OUTFIT / LUKE HAINES / CLINIC / PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED / THE SLITS / ANOHNI / YEAH YEAH YEAHS / AND SO MUCH MORE…
AMOR
(Night School // Glasgow)
GALAXIANS
(Dither Down // Leeds)
1 more tbc
AMOR
Amor is a new quartet based largely in Glasgow, consisting of Richard Youngs, Luke Fowler, Michael Francis Duch and Paul Thomson (Franz Ferdinand / Yummy Fur). AMOR is a master-class in blissful, searching, avant-disco fuelled by telepathic ensemble playing and an untouchable, higher joy.
Recorded predominantly at Glasgow’s Green Door and mixed by Golden Teacher/The Modern Institute-member Richard McMaster, both tracks edge the 14 minute mark, slices of ecstasy seemingly hewn from a band deep in the Zone. Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy Studios, the balance between hefty, bass-thick kicks and crisp percussion, an elastic double bass that lends a bounce to proceedings and floating piano chords recalls a warped take on Philadelphia International Records, a version of Can decimating the disco charts of late 70s USA. Paradisebegins with a proto-house kick drum and Paul Thomson’s inescapably funky percussion, inviting Duch’s bass into the mix. Fowler’s subtle electronic touches set up some of the most open-hearted, love-infected vocals Richard Youngs has ever set to tape. Guided through various drops and ecstatic highs by ceaselessly inventive rhythm composition, the listener is elevated to several plains, to different levels and spirits. In Love An Arc, arguably goes deeper. Jane Sayer’s guest violin scrapes us in, with formless shapes polluting the stereo field until a plaintive piano chord pattern brings us into the groove. Sounding like a lost spirit looking through the glass darkly, Youngs’ vocal is melancholic and truthful. Fowler’s synth playing evolves upward, duetting with the stringed instruments’ deep excursions into the night.
While these are only the first recordings by AMOR, the members have separate exceptional histories in modern music. Richard Youngs has a 140+ long discography covering any number of musics often invented by Youngs himself, while Luke Fowler is an award winning film-maker and visual artist, as well as an electronic musician in his own right. Paul Thomson is a drummer and percussionist with Franz Ferdinand and The Yummy Fur and Michael Francis Duch is a double bassist based in Norway with deep roots in the world of improvisation and minimalist composition. Most importantly, however, is that this is the sound of a band, as one.
“a gorgeous and deadly pop music manifesto” – Pitchfork
“a formidable contender in contemporary electronic music.” – Spin 8/10
“upended R&B beamed down from outer space” – NME ****
“there could be a bona fide pop star in Jessy Lanza yet.” – The Guardian ****
#4 2016 Album Of The Year – The Quietus
#11 2016 Album Of The Year – Resident Advisor
Jessy Lanza is a producer and singer who comes from Hamilton Ontario, but studied music at Concordia in Montreal. Her debut album which she recorded with partner Jeremy Greenspan from Junior Boys ‘Pull My Hair Back’, came out in 2013 to almost universal praise, she was featured in Guardian, Times, Dazed and Confused, Wonderland, Pitchfork, Fader and more, and performed on KCRW, arte.tv in Europe and Channel 4 in the UK.
She has toured with Cut Copy and toured the world with Caribou, as well as contributing a song to his 2015 album.
In 2015 she also recorded singles with DJ Spinn and Morgan Geist as well as being short listed for the Polaris prize 2014 and performed on Canadian TV.
The first single from her album ‘Oh No’ ;’It Means I Love You’ was released in January 2016 to an excited audience and was immediately picked up for ‘Best New Music’ at Pitchfork, and was featured on ‘New Music Friday’ with Apple. Spotify and Tidal.
GALAXIANS
GALAXIANS are Jed Skinner (synths // programming) and Matt Woodward (acoustic drums // programming). The pair met in Leeds and played their first show as Galaxians in 2012. Their rise to prominence as an exciting live dance act has been swift.
In 2016, vocalist Emma Mason joined Galaxians. Emma’s stunning vocal delivery – reminiscent of Gwen Guthrie and other powerful female soul singers – appears on on four new songs, ‘Street Level’, ‘Subway Dancers’, ‘How Do U Feel?’ and ‘Worldwide Experience’.
Taking their cues from classic labels such as SAM, TRAX, Sleeping Bag, and Street Sounds, and producers such as Leroy Burgess and John Morales, Galaxians fuse 80s drum machine sounds with acoustic drums and analog synthesizers played live. Their live shows have earned them a reputation as an exciting and joyous spectacle, with the soulful energy of both the human hand and heart always at the forefront of their live sets.
Galaxians have shared stages with acts such as Tom Tom Club, The Juan Maclean, Golden Teacher, Zombie Zombie, Discodeine, Horse Meat Disco, Auntie Flo, Bodybeat, Marklion, You Man, Ultramagnetic MCs and Ital. They have toured the UK and Europe extensively since 2012.
NME Magazine
“The spirit of disco is alive and well in Yorkshire. A two-piece consisting of Matt Woodward (drums) and Jed Skinner (synths), the house-influenced duo tear up every show they play, regardless of who they’re billed with. A room full of indie kids, a room full of disco lovers, a room full of punks – they all fall hard for the Galaxians party.”
The new outfit formed by Matthew Benn of Hookworms and Christopher Duffin of Deadwall. Their recent release on Sonic Cathedral brings tracks of improvised ambient beauty are both meditative and peaceful. It is astral jazz with an experimental kosmische undercurrent; modular synths meet saxophones; Cluster meets Terry Riley; Laurie Spiegel meets Pharoah Sanders; Ohr meets Impulse!.
XAM was originally Matthew’s solo project, the name borrowed from the closing song of latter-day Dusseldorf-via-Detroit cult classic ‘Subway II’. He recorded a number of tracks at home between Hookworms albums in 2014 which were released last year as the ‘Tone Systems’ EP on Deep Distance. Following the EP’s release, there were offers to play live, solo, for the first time.
Christopher says he approaches each song as a “mini-soundtrack to an imaginary film that doesn’t exist yet” and reveals that, while he was practising at home, he played along to clips of ‘There Will Be Blood’, ‘Mulholland Drive’ and ‘Synecdoche, New York’ to get the requisite atmosphere. Live sets are also completely improvised, meaning no two shows are ever the same.
Manchester’s “night of live electronic music and ritual dancing” Space Cassette welcomes Galaxians to their first party of 2017.
The event takes place at Manchester’s Mantra Warehouse on 10 February and features Toulouse resident Julien Chastagnol aka Ruby My Dear, and SC residents Age of Glass.
Along with Manchester’s Hidden – also something of a cult amongst it’s attendees – the organisers of Space Cassette are reshaping Manchester’s long established club and party culture by fashioning a genuine alternative and reforming the template for rave culture in the city.
“Space Cassette combines live electronic music, theatrical happenings, conceptual elements and warehouse raving to bring a new hybrid party to Manchester”
We’re extremely excited to be able to announce our involvement in Bluedot festival which takes place at Jodrell Bank Observatory in July.
We’re thrilled to be included on a line up that features some of our favourite current acts such as Stealing Sheep, Lonelady, Floating Points, and Cowtown.
MR TC (Optimo / Glasgow)
DIE WILDE JAGD (Dusseldorf)
GALAXIANS
XAM
GAME_PROGRAM
Wharf Chambers
23-25 Wharf Street
LEEDS
07.05.16
£6.00
9pm til 3am
MR TC
MR TC aka Thomas Clarke is a DJ and musician based in Glasgow. Another affiliate of the city’s prolific Green Door studio, he has immersed himself in the city’s electronic music scene since arriving 6 years ago, running the Night of the Jaguar parties out of The Art School and DJing around the city.
His music and DJ sets encompass Left-field Disco, Tropical Oddity, House and Techno whilst channelling the spirit of a youth spent playing in psychedelic rock bands in Luxembourg, listening to krautrock and worshipping Lou Reed and David Bowie.
His debut EP ‘Soundtrack For Strangers’ was released on JD Twitch’s Optimo Music Imprint in November 2015, receiving support from the likes of Red Axes, Rebolledo, Ivan Smagghe, Trevor Jackson, Christian S, Hugo Capablanca, and Manfredas and proceeded to sell out all 300 copies of the initial pressing within three weeks. There is a repress on the way.
DIE WILDE JAGD
Ralf Beck and Sebastian Lee Philipp first met in 2006 in Düsseldorf’s Salon des Amateurs, a meeting place for new and established experimental musicians and artists, also known as Germany’s “postpunk Hacienda”.
It seems no coincidence that Düsseldorf is the duo’s founding city: their music is full of subtle references to local acts, such as Kraftwerk, NEU!, DAF, Liaisons Dangereuses, Pyrolator, the Krupps and Propaganda.
GALAXIANS
Fresh, future-boogie duo Galaxians are equal parts Hacienda and Paradise Garage, and, having already released two records on Brooklyn New York’s Dither Down imprint and Atlanta’s Rotating Souls Records respectively, they will present their debut album in 2016. Now a trio, having recruited singer Emma Mason as a result of recent studio collaborations.
XAM
XAM is the solo project of Matt Benn, one Hookworm, whose move to this kind of generative and rigid electronica is not too surprising, given the well-patterned psychedelia of his band. Comprised of three longforms, he stretches out warm tones and lets generous beats synchronise with the gliding atmosphere. Think Jonas Munk’s polished ambient tunes given Harmonia’s meandering but maintained drum machines and you’ve got “Werk & Play”, which does just as its title tells it to: it’s mechanical but wide-eyed.
“Coke Float”, which is easily the best named song of all time no contest (to quote JME, don’t @ me), goes a bit harder, shuffling in with a grittier beat that skitters over a forever kind of melody. The tune’s simplicity doesn’t stop it from being big on the detail, with effects pouring in, creating the feeling of crickets chirping on the moon. Finally we’re left with “Lifer”, whose patiently growling drone becomes both transcendent and loopy, climaxing with the twinkliest of synth sounds, content to wander forever beatless. You’ve had a dance — now be raptured to a place where dancing is sleeping.
GAME_PROGRAM
Jon Nash is primarily known as a talented multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from bands like Hookworms, Cowtown, and Nope. But he also does Game_Program, a one-man electronic soundtracker of imaginary 80s high school coming-of-age dramas. GP evokes sun-drenched Miami beaches, palm trees, and teen dreams and evokes sounds reminiscent of College, Giorgio Moroder, and Mr Fingers.
*** Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club is a members’ club, and you need to be a member, or a guest of a member, in order to attend. To join, please visit wharfchambers.org. Membership costs £1 and requires a minimum of 48 hours to take effect ***
Galaxians have been announced, along with acts Gang Of Four, Los Campesinos, Field Music and more, for Wakefield’s Long Division festival in June 2016.
Long Division is a weekend music and culture festival that takes place in Wakefield City Centre each year in June.
“It was the existence of Long Division that gave me the confidence to bring back Unity Hall as a music venue.” – Chris Hill (Unity Works Developer).
Since its formation in 2011, Long Division has led the way in develping Wakefield as a respected and revered musical and cultural destination. It is run by a very small but dedicated group of people who wanted to showcase Wakefield’s often overlooked musical talents to a wider audience.
“Absolutely invaluable to us, the biggest showcase of the year for bands and venues in the city. Makes me proud to tears every year.” – Rob Dee (Philophobia Music, Wakefield).
Using a range of city centre venues, it now attracts 3000 people each year, showcasing local talent by placing them alongside national artists. It has consistently produced line-ups amongst the strongest and most value for money across the whole country.
“Made by Music fans, for Music fans.” – Louder Than War.
Galaxians have been included in the first wave of acts announced for Dimensions festival, which takes place in a Roman amphitheater in the centre of Pula in Croatia between the 24th and 28th of August 2016.
Dimensions 2016 – Initial Line-up release:Book tickets now: bit.ly/DF16fe4 – See you in the sun!
Matt spoke with Leeds-List and Independent Leeds about JUX festival, which takes place at the Brudenell Social Club on 20th February.
LEEDS-LIST
Matt spoke to Joseph Sheerin…..
“Brudenell Social Club is set to host a day of the best and brightest musical talent from the North as Jux Festival comes to Leeds.
Leeds’ newest all-dayer, Jux Festival is all about, believe it or not, juxtapositions. They like contrasts, placing musical brilliance side by side, just because they can – and with a line up like theirs, they’re doing a pretty bang-up job of making it a must-see.
It’s curated by two Yorkshire musicians, Matt Woodward of Galaxians, Azores, and the renowned Release Yourself parties, and Michael Ainsley of Yard Wars and The Ainsley Band. They’ll be taking over Brudenell Social Club on Saturday 20th February 2016, bringing some of the North’s finest musical talents under one roof.
Woodward told us just why they’re doing Jux Festival, “A festival is a good way to bring together bands who might never share the same stage, perhaps as a result of not being part of the same genre sphere, belonging to a different creative or communal ideology, or simply having stylistic differences. I think that in very simple terms we’d like to use the festival as a platform for bringing communities together, helping people to make new friends and creating awareness of different cultural movements.”
Topping the bill at Jux Festival is electronic duo Shift Work, who get their mitts on all kinds of weird and wonderful equipment to create addictive jams such as ‘Abandoned Hands’ and ‘SBFM. Having released on both Optimo Music and Houndstooth, their stock is strong, and they’re definitely a group you have to see live.
They’ll be joined by Woodward’s Galaxians at Brudenell Social Club, a local group that’s played nearly every venue in the city with their infectious brand of live dance, and Sheffield’s finest Blood Sport, who blend punk and afro-beat in a delicious manner you’ve probably not come across before.
Coming across from the other side of the Pennines, in Wigan and Chorley, Cactus Knife will deliver some heavy psychedelia at Jux Festival while Makanitza offer the chance to catch some vibrant Romani and Eastern European tunes, something that likely doesn’t crop up too often.
Milk Crimes is another Leeds band that’s played all over the city, and their irresistible punk hooks will make them a blast at Brudenell Social Club, playing alongside the inimitable Joanne, a live coder, who creates live music using computer software.
Michael Ainsley’s Yard Wars offer up some indie goodness at Jux Festival, Wakefield’s Mi Mye promise flashes of their remarkable alternative tunes, emerging Leeds group Take Turns show off their burgeoning talent and Jonathan Nash returns to the city with eclectic solo project Game_Project.
It’s easy to see why it’s called Jux Festival. There’s so much going on here that you’re sure to fancy something from what is without doubt an incredible line up of diverse musical talent, from all over the North – here’s hoping it’s the first of many.
INDEPENDENT LEEDS
Matt spoke to Jed Skinner…
“This February will see the launch of JUX, Leeds’ newest festival of music, bringing together active participants of some of the vibrant musical communities across the North and London.
Taking place all day on Saturday 20 February at the Brudenell Social Club, JUX will create a broad palette of music by juxtaposing artists who would be unlikely to play together on the same bill.
Cactus Knife – one of the acts making up JUX’s bill
Co-organiser Matt Woodward explains the reasons behind putting in the hard work to create a festival which brings such a mix match of artists together;
“We felt tired of generic and unchallenging festival programming: many of the same bands play the same festivals, and only artists who share a common sound are suitable to share a stage or a festival billing.
“We decided to create JUX to juxtapose bands who are musically diverse; to bring together acts that exist in separate communities, but might share some ethics or philosophies about creating art and producing music.
“Also, the word ‘Jux’ is sometimes used as a slang word meaning to rob or steal! We thought that might serve well as a double meaning, as a cheeky dig at festivals that don’t leave you feeling that they’re worth the ticket price”.
Shift Works- one of the acts making up JUX’s bill
Just a few of the bands which will be taking to the iconic stage on the day are, Game_Program, Galaxians, Blood Sport and Shift Work – two guys from London, working on analogue gear out of a studio built in a former stable. They’ll be bringing hypnotic, looped vocal oddities, spiralled drum machines, strained key stabs and deftly arranged percussion. It’s a line up which definitely requires you to bring your dancing shoes!
Galaxians will join a host of acts from Glasgow and Leeds at co-operative-run space CHUNK in Leeds on 12 February. Expect lots of sweat and dancing ——>
CHUNK – A night of FUNK
Happy Meals (Night School Records, Glasgow) Apostille (Night School Records, Glasgow) Galaxians XAM Girl Sweat
8pm – late
£6 adv/ £8 OTD
18+
BYOB
Independent House, Meanwood Rd, LS7 2JD
————————–——————-
HAPPY MEALS
“Happy Meals is the Glasgow-based duo of Suzanne Rodden and Lewis Cook, life-partners since high school finding expression in cosmic form. Originally from the Scottish borders, Rodden and Cook (also of The Cosmic Dead) began Happy Meals in a flurry of experimentation at Glasgow’s creative hub The Green Door Studio. Both artists operate machines and sing but it’s the dominating Franco-Scottish lingua-franca of Suzanne Rodden that imbues a sense of seductive fun.”
APOSTILLE
“Apostille is the solo musical guise of Glaswegian DIY protagonist Michael Kasparis. Initially a creative harbour from his groups Please and The Lowest Form, Apostille has grown into an explosive synth-punk project unafraid of both physicality and emotional leakage. Fiercely independent in practice and execution, Apostille’s stated purpose is to bridge the gap between audience and performer, to connect through the fog of power structures and post-modernism; to ferment a direct pop music unconcerned with control.”
GALAXIANS
“Galaxians are Jed Skinner (synths // programming) and Matt Woodward (drum kit // programming). The pair met in Leeds and played their first show as Galaxians in 2012. Their rise to prominence as an exciting live dance act has been swift. In 2014 the band’s vinyl EPs – ‘Personal Disco Component’ and ‘Galaxians’ – released on US dance labels Dither Down (Brooklyn, NYC) and Rotating Souls (Atlanta, GA) respectively, sold out quickly in both Europe and the US. They have also featured on both vinyl releases on upcoming DIY dance label Stargaze (Leeds, UK).”
XAM
“XAM is the solo project of Matt Benn, one Hookworm, whose move to this kind of generative and rigid electronica is not too surprising, given the well-patterned psychedelia of his band. He stretches out warm tones and lets generous beats synchronise with the gliding atmosphere. Think Jonas Munk’s polished ambient tunes given Harmonia’s meandering but maintained drum machines and you’ve got “Werk & Play”, which does just as its title tells it to: it’s mechanical but wide-eyed.”
“Like the bastard lovechild of Mark E Smith & Jon Spencer fronting peak era Cramps after being remixed by early Cabaret Voltaire but with the brutality of early Swans.” Happenin’ sounds from Sweat himself, bringing you noise, swirling through the garage spectrum. Don’t play it well- play it cool.
CHUNK has a safe space policy and does not tolerate any sexism, homophobia, racism, transphobia and other behaviours that may exclude people from wanting to get involved. So play nice, we all love it.
Galaxians have been announced for JUX, a new music festival in Leeds which takes place at the Brudenell Social Club on Saturday 20 February. Joining them will be Houndstooth / Optimo Music act Shift Work and a host of established and emerging acts from around the UK including Joanne Armitage, Blood Sport, Yard Wars, Game_Program, Milk Crimes, Cactus Knife, and Makanitza.
Festival co-host Matt Woodward (Galaxians // Azores // Stargaze Records) spoke to Joseph Sheerin from Leeds-List about the event….
How did JUX festival come about?
The initial idea came about because my pal and work colleague Michael Ainsley and I (we both work at Leeds Music & Performing Arts Library at the Central Library in Leeds) were talking about a number of things – our own bands, music festivals, different musical communities which exist in Yorkshire, Lancashire etc. We struck upon the idea of organising something which might bring together people of different communties and bands who normally might never appear on the same bill. Neither of us had ever organised a festival, though we have both been hosting gigs in Yorkshire for a number of years. Michael does a couple of bands – Yard Wars and The Ainsley Band – and I play in the bands Azores and Galaxians and run Stargaze Records with Jon Nash (Hookworms / Cowtown etc).
A festival is a good way to bring together bands who might never share the same stage perhaps as a result of not being part of the same genre sphere, belonging to a different creative or communal ideology, or simply having stylistic differences. I think that in very simple terms we’d like to use the festival as a platform for bringing communities together, helping people to make new friends and creating awareness of different cultural movements.
Can you talk us through some of the bands on the bill, and why you’ve asked them to play?
SHIFT WORK – are a duo, Mark and Johnny, who originally come from down south. They had a record out on Optimo (Glasgow) last year which is how I first heard them. I’m a big Optimo Records fan so I always check out new records on the label. SW do a kind of experimental, organic techno, though putting them in a genre box doesn’t do them justice. They make exciting, soulful modern dance music with character and without pretentions. I put them on last year at a party I co-host in Leeds called Release Yourself and at the time Johnny had his leg in plaster so it made for an interesting live spectacle too. Nice gentlemen and good facilitators of electronic dance music.
JOANNE – I heard about Joanne (Armitage) recently because I read an interview with her online. I wanted Joanne to play because what she does intrigues me in that I don’t understand quite what it is! Joanne is a live coding artist and is part of the ‘Algorave’ community in Leeds, I think. I might be wrong about that last bit, but either way I just thought what she does sounds really interesting and because I don’t know what it means I want to see it for myself. Plus, it’s another thing that is happening here that is important and is an art form and when Michael and myself were programming the lineup we wanted as much totally different stuff as possible.
MAKANITZA – are a trio from Leeds who I first saw a few months ago when one of my own bands, Azores, played with them. They were a bit of a revelation for us really. One of those rare bands that combine a really high, obviously very schooled, level of musicianship with really good, really fun music. My first reaction to seeing them for the first and only time so far was “Wow, where has this band been hiding?” but then you just realise that you’ve not seen them because as people playing music in Leeds you just exist in different communities. It’s one of the great things about this city. Even after almost 20 years of living here I’m still being surprised by stuff like this. In terms of their style they do Eastern European and Roma Gypsy folk music which is wild and hypnotic. The kind of thing that whips people into an actual frenzy and is impossible to sit still to. Again, asking them to play was a no-brainer because we want as much different music as possible, and they’re just really good.
MILK CRIMES – is Ellie, Peter and Simon. I have met them all but haven’t yet seen them play yet. I’m looking forward to that immensely. They are one of a new group of DIY bands coming through in Leeds at the moment, along with bands like Molars and Crumbs. People have described them as “catchy, fun, anti-social queer punk-pop in the same vein as bands like Martha, Trust Fund, and The Spook School etc. I’ve heard only universal praise for them so far and I wanted to invite them on because another thing that is important to me is having a mix of both older and younger bands playing.
There are lots of other really good bands playing – BLOOD SPORT (Sheffield), Michael’s band YARD WARS, MI MYE (Wakefield), GAME_PROGRAM (Leeds), CACTUS KNIFE (Chorley/Wigan), and TAKE TURNS (Leeds). My own band GALAXIANS are playing, too.
Will there be more in the future?
We would definitely like to do more, and as these things often go, you have an idea to do a festival and then you’re already thinking about who you’d like to play the second festival / year. But it depends on one thing really: dollars. I hate that but it’s a fact. If we lose a lot of money on the first one then it’s gonna create reservations and stress attached to any future JUX events. I read somewhere that all music festivals lose money in their first three years so it doesn’t bode well, hah! But y’know, it’s a DIY festival, we’re low-key and we’re not going to lose like £250,000 on it, so it’s okay.
“By putting local boys Galaxians on your bill, you’re almost guaranteeing a party that shimmers and glitters like a roller disco ramped up to 11. Warbling synths, wobbling bass and beats that’d make even the most resistant of bodies shake, Galaxians are something of a secret weapon. No matter who they’re billed with, from Tom Tom Club to Horse Meat Disco, their modern disco-house vibes are enough to enrapture any and every audience put in front of them.” The 405 // Garden Party preview: 5 Bands We Want To See
“I’m personally looking forward to Roisin Murphy, as well as Little Dragon and Todd Terje. On the DJ front it has to be Craig Charles, Joy Orbison and finally having Kerri Chandler play for us. Special shout to Bambooman and Galaxians, two local outfits who will be performing on The Skinny stage.”Matt Long // festival organiser // About To Blow
“At the Skinny Stage, Galaxians succeed more-so than Craig Charles to counter the mid-day festival blues. As soon as the two-piece Leeds-based outfit takes to the stage, those sitting down take to their feet. Jed Skinner somehow coolly manages to replicate the sound of a four-layer melody section using two synthesisers. Matt Woodward on drums keeps the manic synth output locked to a sleazy groove. The pair’s most recent four track EP, Personal Disco Component, is much appreciated. One or two sporadic rays of sun even get involved in the party.”Review: Sunday At The Garden Party // Skiddle
Stargaze Records Presents…..
