Get there early: Don’t want to miss anything? Well, you’d better make sure you dispense with any lingering grimness from Friday night, and head down to the Victoria Park site in good time. After all, Faust are opening the Quietus Village Mentality Stage at noon, and you wouldn’t want to deprive naked chainsaw wielding nutter Jean Herve of an audience, would you? Or Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, on at 15.00? All one-day festivals seem to suffer from complaints about queues to get in, especially from the ungrateful sods on the guestlist who AREN’T ACTUALLY PAYING. If you will all turn up at 15.00 on the dot, expect it to take a bit longer to get in. Pure ergonomics.
Come to our stage: Despite the unfortunate departure of Factory Floor (they’re busy entertaining Poland the night before so won’t be able to get back in time, though they are playing on the Lock Tavern stage later in the day) we are quite convinced that the Quietus Village Mentality Stage is the finest going at this year’s event. That’s because we have About Group, Anna Calvi, Gruff Rhys, Omar Souleyman, Faust, The Sea & Cake, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Mark Kozelek and Konono No.1 all on the bill. Plus John and Luke will be doing Gramophone Technician duties all day, with Mr Jon Hillcock of Xfm taking over when we’re off doing a show on Field Day radio.
Quietus Reading Opportunities: There’s plenty of Field Day content coming on the site this week, including an interview with the reunited Electrelane (their emissions free into the sunset motorik was wonderful at The Scala the other week), About Group on the incredible Fishing With John, and a special mix from The Sea & Cake. Here, though, are some choice archive features around Quietus Village Mentality artists: Jeremy Allen speaks to Anna Calvi about her Mercury-nominated debut album, Eno, Flamenco and film. An introduction to the work of Mark ‘not as grumpy as you think he is’ Kozelek. Keven E.G. Perry looks at the history of Konono No.1 and speaks to Vincent Kenis, the man who first brought them to the west. Then there’s a Rock’s Backpages archive feature on the early years of Faust and an interview with Gruff Rhys on writing songs for Britney and why Sly Stone should play him on the silver screen.
Omar Souleyman: It is of course no slight on any of the other artists playing on the Quietus Village Mentality Stage when we say that, more than anyone else, we’re looking forward to seeing Omar Souleyman play this Saturday. When we first saw him live, at the Tufnel Park Dome a couple of years back, it was a real revelation: Souleyman’s bandmate Razan tapping out rhythms on an overdriven shrieking keyboard and the electronic oud dissolving the run-down venue and having an indecent effect on all-comers. Although Souleyman is visually compelling live, with his moustache, dark glasses, and Arabic garb, don’t take this as in some way humorous. No room for irony here, just one of the most compelling, high NRG border crossing performances you’ll ever see. Read our Omar Souleyman interview, and live review here.
No moaning about hipsters: You’re at a music festival in East London that features a massively diverse range of artists, is headlined by Wild Beasts, and is notably free of Landfill Indie on one hand and a set by the Swedish House Maffia on the other. Lifestyle profiling dictates that this means there will be a lot of people around you who think they care more than most about their attire, but actually just manage to buy a pair of plastic Raybans, roll up their jeans a bit, and buy a pair of deck shoes. Oh, and maybe get a crap tattoo of something nautical. There will no doubt be many present complaining about hipsters, snapping away on their vintage iPhone apps. But, you know, the complainers are there too, perhaps people in glass houses &c. And what would you rather have? The reddened flesh of post GCSE home counties emo teens? Groups of lads on the lager lash? A massive hard bloke taking a piss down your leg (yes that did happen to Luke at a New Order gig in Finsbury Park). Wear linen, live in joy.
Go Hunting: By the Quietus Village Mentality stage there’s a traditional funfair where you can have a go on things like a coconut shy or a sack race. The latter gives us nightmares about sports day at school, so the Quietus always recommends a turn on the air rifle stall. At a recent Carter’s Steam Fair, Luke won John’s son a soft seal in on go: one pound, five lead pellets, five targets hit. Can you beat this eagle-eyed high score? A prize for anyone who can.
A Trio Of Blubstep Jims: If you fail to hit the air rifle jackpot, arrive too late to catch Ariel Pink on our stage thanks to spending too long getting brewed in the local pub, or see your partner giving lascivious eye to another, you might be feeling more than a little sad and decidedly un-festive. Handy, then, that Field Day is the first Festival this summer where the three Blubstep Jims – Blake, Woon and XX, are all on the bill. Especially for you, and a sad, sentimental moment.
Listen in: Some of The Quietus’ radio producer friends will be onsite putting together hour long shows throughout the day, and we’ll soon be able to point you in the direction of where you can listen to them. The Quietus will be on air between 14.00 and 15.00, and other show hosts include a special hour by Electrelane who, of course, are playing later in the day. You can also listen to the last Field Day-featuring Quietus radio via the embed below.
Listen II! We’ve made a Spotify Playlist of music from the Quietus Village Mentality Stage and beyond. You can go and dip in to music by Electrelane, Factory Floor, John Cale, Sun Ra, The Horrors, Wild Beasts, Oneohtrix and more here. We’ll see you Saturday, for more information and ticket details, visit the Field Day website.
