Festival Preview: T in the Park

Preview: T in the Park

This year, Scotland’s premier music festival has moved to a new location. That location is Strathallan Castle deep in the heart of Perthshire. And after lots of court hearings, the festival will go ahead and thank god that it has as this year’s T in the Park is not one to be missed.

This year the festival has a vast range of acts from The Libertines to Avicii and from The Prodigy to Paloma Faith. Multiple NME award winning band Kasabian headline on Friday night fresh from their headline set at Glastonbury last year. It’s also the Leicester-based band’s first appearance at the festival for three years so expect them to show off their latest album 48:13 to the crowd. Elsewhere after the release of their first album in four years – Glitterbug-, The Wombats are hitting up T in the Park with their brand of indie-pop along with The Cribs and newcomers Blossoms and Coasts. David Guetta also makes an appearance. If he remembers to pack his USB stick.

Saturday see’s the return of The Libertines to T in the Park who last played in 2004. And with a new album fully written in Thailand of all places, the four-piece will bring their raucous indie to the ears of the crowd hopefully with a few surprises in store too. Saturday also sees a rare festival appearance this summer from The Courteeners who will no doubt get the crowd pumped up. Intricate electro-indie three piece Alt-J also grace the stage on Saturday which will be an interesting and unique experience for all involved. The year’s sensation (thus far) George Ezra will also appear on Saturday along with The Vaccines, Palma Violets, Enter Shikari and St Vincent making Saturday a day of big names across the stages.

If I said the following bands are all playing at a festival, you might think they would be the three headliners over a weekend. Wrong. Noel Gallagher, The Prodigy and Stereophonics are all playing on the same day at T in the Park this year. Two of the three (The Prodigy and Noel Gallagher) have released albums this year already, Stereophonics are set to release their ninth album in September so the crowd can expect lots of new music and spectacular live performances. After Jamie T’s success at the NME awards in 2015 he also plays on Sunday which also see’s Peace, Modest Mouse and much talked-about indie band Wolf Alice.

T in the Park is always a unique experience, set in the rolling hills of Scotland, and now after the move to Strathallan Castle the festival opens a new chapter in its life and this line-up is a perfect way to start this new era. 

Palma Violets: Danger in the Club

Palma Violets: Danger in the Club

It’s about time Palma Violets had a new album out. Especially after touring debut 180 for the past three years and now 2015 see’s the release of the new album Danger in the Club.

180 was a rough and ragged album, but it was full of emotion, like flicking through drunk photos ten years after they were taken. Danger in the Club follows suit, but everything feels more together yet it still has that sense of pandemonium which might be down to two factors. The first being that Palma Violets have recorded the new albums at the infamous rockfeild studios in Wales which has abled them to achieve a much cleaner sound, the other factor could simply be that they have improved as musicians since their debut release. Opening track ‘Hollywood (I got it)’ harks back to 180 with its gritty riffs and bassist Chilli Jessons screams in the background. The energy generated by Palma Violets throughout the album is incredible, the title track exemplifies this. There are chants of “ooh ahh” throughout the chorus which sounds like rampaging pirates sharing a glass of rum after looting a ship. Somewhere on the Palma Violets tour bus there must be a scrapbook of icons, they seem to have taken elements from bands like The Jam, The Clash and T.Rex and put a modern twist on them. Track ‘Girl You Couldn't Do Much Better’ with its reckless sound combined with the subtle, and faint organ whine exemplifies these influences.

You would be fooled for thinking that the album just focuses on guitar riffs and pounding drum beats. Track ‘The Jacket Song’ see’s the band stripped down to an acoustic guitar. Its minimalist approach and position on the album strikes a perfect balance between “in your face” rock and subtle emotive tracks. Palma Violets have achieved a youthful and joyful sound on their second album, which has the power to make you reminisce. It feels like a proper moment, and when a band have hit the dizzying heights that their first album promised you feel a huge sense of achievement even though you didn’t write the album. ‘Gout Gang Go’ is a fresh blast which starts with a slightly funky bass intro but then explodes as all the elements combine. Danger in the Club still has those typical chaotic elements which will mean that these songs will have a huge impact when they are played live.

9/10