To the fourth End of the Road Festival at Larmer Tree Gardens on the Dorset/Wilts borders. A lovely pit-stop in glorious sunshine amongst the fruit & veg at the nearby Pythouse Kitchen Garden augered well and, weather-wise at least, EotR IV proved to be the best one yet. Sold out some time in advance but capacity still excellently (and, methinks, crucially) held at 5,000, there were few musical surprises and the usual over-representation of Americana earnestness but still offered way more interest than your average festival (and certainly more than, say, Bestival barely 50 miles away which was ran over the same weekend)...

Favourite act of the weekend turned out to be one of the last to perform, boy-girl guitar & drums combo Wye Oak from Baltimore. Sitting down front in the Tipitent on Sunday night, their brand of driving shoegaze proved a distinctly more compelling proposition live than on disc. Andy drums with three limbs and plays a little synth with the other while Jenn churns out delicious cascades of shimmering guitar noise beneath her proto-indie girl vocal. Necessarily focussed and to-the-point, this set was a treat and highlighted the relative lack of choice indie pop on offer...
[wye oak]

Apparently, like quite a few other hot tickets playing the Tipitent, plently of folks could only hear Wye Oak, not see them. The feel and look of this space was superior to its predecessor but its layout and points of entry need rethinking. Still, if you were smart and determined you generally didn't have to miss out - get there early enough and there was always plenty of space down the front, just don't look back. Young Swedish sisters First Aid Kit were another act many couldn't get in to see but this blog had Position A for their pristine harmonic folkisms:

But it was another, way more American-flavoured, Swedish country-folkster who proved probably the biggest 'break out' act of the weekend, The Tallest Man on Earth's confident demeanour and super-vibrant picking coupled with a voice that simply obligated a singing career holding a huge crowd's attention in the Big Top. Didn't ask 'em but reallyrather suspects the nearby Rough Trade shop's supplies of Kristian Matsson's CDs were entirely hoovered up within minutes of his set ending...
[the tallest man on earth]

Other notebook entries: ..excellent post-Saxondale comedy courtesty of Shane Meadows and Paddy Considine in upcoming shoestring movie Le Donk ... fantastic pizza tent - great grub, great vibe thingy ... Shearwater again showing their swelling substance, brand new material easily holding a goodly Garden Stage crowd rapt ... those way, way too moorish Shepherd's ice creams ... Loney, Dear still crap at ending songs live, undermining willing ovations time and again ...

So, should you snap up an early bird discounted ticket for the EotR 2010? Even though there's not nearly enough optimistic indiepop pleasures and the plaid shirts 'n' beards brigade does predominate, reallyrather is voting 'yes'. Magazines-wise, the festival is equal parts Uncut, Plan B and, perhaps mostly equally of all, the late-lamented Comes With A Smile. Take the contents of any back issue of the latter and you could easily read it as an EotR programme (rr is amazed never to have spotted Matt Dornan at Larmer Tree over the years). Of course, if founders Simon and Sofia have taken inspiration from that publication they'll know that there's one glaring omission from their programming thus far...

...matt pond PA! Come on, guys, and save me the trouble of having to put on my own fest. mpPA's next album The dark leaves is slated for early 2010 with producer Louis Lino (Emblems, Several arrows later) back in the saddle and another bold showing is more confidently expected than the prospect of some UK shows...
[matt pond pa]