overview

Nothing could be further from the truth when The Guardian recently described the Venn Festival as a dance festival. Once of the most eclectic line-ups you will ever see were brought together in Bristol this year with a majority of the entertainment being based around the Bristol waterfront venues of the Arnolfini, Thekla and Louisiana.

The proceedings began on Thursday with a low-key audio-visual show by Murcof and the talented Bristol-based French visual artist Joanie Lemercier at the Explore Planetarium. Friday night saw things heat up with performances from the experimental electronica powerhouse that is Matmos, preceded by German minimalist dubstar Stefan Betke, a.k.a. Pole.



Saturday brought the first full day of assorted treats and our day kicked off at The Louisiana for a set from the frankly bizarre Katapulto. The very amiable Polish musician had a few technical problems with his laptop (but none with his more dependable whistle!) and explained that he was stressed due to his soundcard breaking on Friday. He didn't show any signs of stress, but his slight nervousness in-between tracks only added to his engaging nature. Humour ran through his mostly computer-based songs, especially during track 'Striptease' with his Polish-accented English lyrics "...Your unfortunate dance at the funeral, your accidental striptease at a family party...". The only disappointment for me was that Katapulto didn't play his Phil Collins tribute 'Phil Collins Takes Your Hand' which would have fitted in perfectly with his fine and funny set that endeared himself to the Bristol public.

Next, over in The Thekla, was one of Bristol's unsigned bright young hopes - Munch Munch. More technical problems hampered the multi-keyboarded foursome but they battled on through an entertaining, if unmemorable, set. Performing ramshackled indie-pop reminiscent of a messed-up Mystery Jets we still probably had the sanest 45 minutes of the weekend.

A short stroll over to the Dark Studio at the Arnolfini gave us a chance to catch the last few songs by the interesting sounding Corey Orbison. A sign outside warned us to allow a few minutes after entering for our eyes to adjust to the extremely low-level light, but it took more than a few minutes to adjust to the screaming vocals and jittery new wave soundings of the band. I would definitely have liked to catch a lot more of the set to have been able to decide if I liked them or not. They did, however, leave us with a great recommendation. "Go and see Bucky at The Louisiana at 6.15" which we duly did...

Madcap skiffle-pop band Bucky are local legends from Glastonbury. Their song writing is both witty and talented and drummer Joff is possibly the funniest man in British music, if not the oddest. They stormed through their set including songs about local areas like their hometown Glastonbury and Street and songs about libraries interrupted only by Joff's random thoughts and tributes to Bo Diddley. Hilarious and brilliant.



We moved back to the Arnolfini, and into the Auditorium for something completely different. Northumbrian lasses Rachel Unthank and The Winterset brought their interpretations of traditional folk songs to the hushed gathering. The BBC Folk Award winners made each member of the audience feel as if they were having their own personal gig until they invited us all for a sing-along on the 'Blue's Gaen Oot O'the Fashion'. Rachel and co flirted beautifully between a haunting intimacy and a magnificently grand revelry, but did both to perfection. Rachel's voice is incredibly well suited to the style of music that the band play, but it is when her younger sister Becky takes over the reigns when they really come into their own. Becky's softer, huskier tones are enough to bring a room of fully grown men close to tears, and none more so than on a cover of Robert Wyatt's 'Sea Song' and on 'Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk'.

The diversity of the weekend was never more evident than when comparing Rachel Unthank and The Winterset with the night's headlining act Fuck Buttons. Gone are the four sweet girls singing folk songs and instead we have two hooded men leant over their laptops. Fuck Buttons clearly love their noise, but it is a noise with no little substance - as displayed by the hypnotic 'Sweet Love For Planet Earth' complete with buzzing synths and shouty distorted vocals through a toy microphone. These boys are making a real stir in the States, and despite their un-radio friendly name and sound they could really build on their cult status over the summer back here in their native UK. A large crowd was kept outside the crammed Auditorium tonight, so in their hometown Bristol it seems they are already well on their way.

Saturday night, or should that be Sunday morning, was brought to a close over at the Motion Skate Park where revellers were able to take the party up a notch with a set from, amongst others, Black Devil Disco Club.

A more sedate start to Sunday was guaranteed with Phil Minton's Century FC. Especially commissioned for Venn 2008, vocalist Phil Minton gathered together '100 feral voices' from the communities of Bristol for a completely unique chorus of sound that, at times, reminded me of the choir in the Honda Civic advert. This was exactly the kind of event for which Venn is getting such a strong reputation and is also the only festival in the country you will find something quite so extraordinary.



Our weekend came to an end with a couple more of artists at the Thekla. First up was Flying Lotus, who provided my first taste of the weekend of electro-hip-hop. Admittedly I'm not a huge fan of mainstream hip-hop but Flying Lotus, signed to mega-trendy label Warp, delivered something different. No clichés here, just one man from LA having great fun whilst making a massive sound that kept everyone bouncing along. He loved his reception, his crowd loved him. Booked on Massive Attack's Meltdown shows Flying Lotus could be keeping crowds happy this side of the Atlantic for some time.

Last up was The Heliocentrics, the only band that can claim to have performed as DJ Shadow's backing band and were a great funky way to end our weekend. They easily won the award for most band members with different instruments on stage at ay one time. Venn Festival continues to go from strength to strength, repeatedly finding new and varying ways of amazing the Bristol audience. The only downside? The start of my festival season kicked off in glorious sunshine, and all of the performances at Venn were inside!

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