Imagineu un festival en el qual per arribar al recinte s’ha d’agafar un tren de vapor. En què punks amb cresta profanen el cuiro de la jaqueta homenatjant grups de pop com Helen Love i Allo Darlin’. Un festival amb un taller per ballar Lindy Hop amb Pixies i Joy Division. En l’amplia oferta de festivals musicals europeus, una de les estratègies de supervivència d’un esdeveniment d’aquest tipus és l’especialització, proposar una oferta única. Potser no podem parlar d’èxit, o no d’èxit comercial, quan aquesta oferta es tan minoritària com la del festival indie-pop britànic Indietracks, que el cap de setmana passat va celebrar la sisena edició, com sempre al Midland Railway Centre, una mena de museu ferroviari a l’aire lliure una mica deixat de la mà de Déu. Si bé és difícil que aquest petit festival algun dia arribi a ser un bon negoci –de fet és benèfic: els guanys són en benefici de l’espai on se celebra–, el que és segur és que compta amb un públic fidel que s’hi desplaça cada d’any des de tot el Regne Unit i més enllà –amb una presència creixent de públic d’Espanya– sigui quin sigui el cartell.
IMPERMEABLES I ‘WELLIES’
Divendres, la primera jornada va comptar amb l’ex Hefner Darren Hayman, que va defensar el seu ampli catàleg en solitari en amb un luxós sextet que incloïa un violí d’aires celtes. Abans que ell, The School van recrear el seu pop inspirat en el Girl Group Sound, i després el graner que acollia els concerts es va convertir en una discoteca on hi cabien Siouxsie, Janelle Monáe i Nicola Roberts.
La d’aquest any ha estat una edició remullada. Avançat a principis de juliol –habitualment se celebra a finals de mes– per no coincidir amb els Jocs de Londres, l’Indietracks 2012 ha tingut la pluja i el fang d’actors secundaris, i ha convertit els impermeables i les botes d’aigua (o wellies, com els diuen els britànics) en l’uniforme del festival. Sota la pluja vam veure Tender Trap, el projecte actual de l’ex Talulah Gosh i ex Heavenly Amelia Fletcher, i el grup de noies suec Liechtenstein, deutor de Mo-Dettes. El cru pop patètic de The Just Joans, amb lletres que recreen el lumpen escocès des del punt de vista d’un sensible nerd indie pop, va confirmar-los com el millor grup sorgit de Glasgow en els últims anys, i Veronica Falls van exercir de caps de cartell amb el seu pop veloç, urgent i fosc. En l’apartat dels retorns, la segona jornada va acollir el retorn triomfal de les nord-americanes Go Sailor, amb Rose Melberg (The Softies, Tiger Trap) i Amy Linton (The Aislers Set), en el seu debut al Regne Unit, i el més discret retorn dels londinencs The Jasmine Minks.
L’ANY D’ALLO DARLIN’
L’última jornada va permetre descobrir els californians Sea Lions, un dels últims fitxatges de Slumberland Recors, el segell independent nord-americà que comissariava l’escenari principal; sentir en viu el projecte en solitari de Stevie Jackson, guitarra de Belle and Sebastian, que guanya en directe; gaudir de clàssics com The Vaselines, amb la seva mescla de punk-pop i bromes verdes, , mai prou a l’alçada del seu legat, i The June Brides, reformats per a la ocasió i que van brindar alguns dels millors moments del festival. Els grans triomfadors, però, van ser Allo Darlin’, grup de la casa que els fidels al festival hem vist convertir-se en estrelles d’aquest microunivers que és l’escena indie-pop, en què gent que té en la música el seu culte no acaba de fer-se mai gran del tot.
(Article publicat l’11 de juliol de 2012 al número 228 de Time Out Barcelona. Podeu escoltar totes les cançons a la playlist Pots sentir-me a Spotify)
Redactora de música de Time Out Barcelona, col·laboradora de la revista Rockdelux i iCat FM, a més de meitat del duo de punxadiscos Bonnie & Clyde.
Joey Mutant
11/07/2012 14:36
The punk is me above, I love indie pop aswell as punk rock!
- Joey
http://www.joeymutant.co.uk
Marta Salicrú
11/07/2012 14:45
Hey Joey! Thanks for popping up!
Caryne
11/07/2012 17:18
Pity the reviewer missed ‘The Monochrome Set’ on the Sunday night, far and away the best band at the event.
Marta Salicrú
11/07/2012 17:27
Lots of bands are missing from the review. It has been published on the paper edition of the magazine befor being online, and the space was necessary limited. In my opinion, though, The Monochrome Set are never as good live as their records are, and their show at Indietracks was not amongst the best we could see there.
Caryne
11/07/2012 19:15
You obviously have very little experience of The Monochrome Set as they are a brilliant live act and always have been. There were head and shoulders above any of the bands playing at Indietracks, just totally in a different league. The only other bands who came anywhere near in quality were The Vaselines and The June Brides – most of the other acts were just ‘copying’ a style from the 80′s in a rather boring way. Why listen to copies when you can have the original?
Joey Mutant
11/07/2012 19:21
I noticed the Smittens didn’t get a mention either, one of my favorite bands at the festival.
Caryne
11/07/2012 19:47
All I will add is that I just wonder how many of these ‘hip”, ‘young’ copyist bands will still be pulling an audience in 30 years? Not many I would hazard a guess – this weeks’ indie darlings’ will be forgotten within a couple of years, if not much sooner.
Marta Salicrú
12/07/2012 11:41
I think you are mixing thinks up. We are not talking here about the quality or the importance of the bands but of their live show. I have seen The Monchrome Set twice and both times I got a little bit bored, even though his music is magnificent and his legacy beyond doubt. What I do not enjoy very much is his live show, it’s my oppinion and you don’t have to share it. I think Bid does not try enough to connect with the audience, wich he did the time I saw him with Scarlet’s Well, for instance. The Monochrome Set are classics, are an important part of pop music history, and most of the bands that also played at Indietracks probably never will. But I don’t think his show there was great, I am sorry. Wish it was.
About The Smittens: my plane landed too late on Friday and I didn’t get the chance to see them this time. There are not so many planes between Barcelona and East Midlands everyday
Caryne
12/07/2012 14:29
I too am commenting on the quality of the live show and The Monochrome Set are easily the best live act that played at that festival. Clearly your experience of TMS gig is very limited and it is true that on Sunday Bid did not speak a lot to the audience but that is because it wasn’t really a TMS audience and there wasn’t any talk from them. If you went to a proper TMS gig you would find things very different as there is endless chat between the band and the audience throughout a gig. I have been going to live gigs for getting on for forty years and I know a good live act when I see one, sadly you seem to have a very different taste and all I can suggest is that, if you can, you see the next TMS gig in the UK and you will find no end of audience interaction and an outstanding live show. Many friends of mine, not even knowing the band, have gone to their live gigs in the UK over the last year and have come away saying they are easily one of the best live bands they have ever see. We all have different taste but if you are ‘bored’ by TMS I do feel sorry for you.
Marta Salicrú
13/07/2012 10:44
Well, it is true my experience seeing live The Monchrome set is very limited. I just have seen them the only time they have played in Barcelona (sadly I can not afford to take a plane a go to a show as often as I would like), which was not a very good gig, and at Indietracks 2012, which you admit it neither was one of their best concerts ever. So, I stand corrected: I cannot say that their live shows are not as good as their legacy, too general an oppinion based just on 2 shows. But I can have an oppinion about the Indietracks gig, and it is that it was not a great one. And reading your last comment, well, it seems that, we kind of agree.
Caryne
13/07/2012 14:05
So you have only ever seen the band at two festivals (the only time the band ever played in Barcelona was at Primavera Sound Festival in 2011)? As anyone who EVER attends gigs will tell you very few bands will ever sound at their best at a festival or really be able to communicate well with their audience, they are simply too far away for a start and the sound is never mixed well enough either, Saying that the videos I have seen of the band at Primavera and the Indietracks gig last Sunday were still excellent live shows and they were far more entertaining (and better musicians etc) than anyone else at the festival. I’m not sure what you were expecting but I would recommend, if you ever get the chance, that you see the band at a proper gig as you can not (as you now admit) make a sweeping statement about the quality of a live act when your experience is two festival appearances.
Marta Salicrú
16/07/2012 8:45
Hadn’t I already admit that? As you have already admit The Monochrome Set gig at Indietracks was not very good. I mean, we can keep with this forever, if you want…