Southampton's legendary Joiners will host a Brighton band double-header in April, welcoming art-pop-rock ensemble LibraLibra and electro-punk noise merchants CLT DRP to its compact and bijou stage.
Having encountered LibraLibra at Dials last year I can guarantee that they're a live act you have to catch; raucous beats, arresting hooks and lead singer Beth Cannon's frankly jaw-dropping vocals, a stylised performance that lingers long in the memory. Recent release Skin and Bone is a prime example of the aural onslaught that awaits the discerning gig-goer (the AK/DK remix is pretty damn good too).
CLT DRP, three disparate travellers whose paths crossed on the South Coast, are a live unknown to me but on the strength of the tracks available online they bode well to deliver a raw set packed with pumping drums, feed-backed guitars, industrial beats and angry vocals.
Oh yes, this gig promises to be very much my bag of doughnuts; if it tickles your fancy then mark Wednesday 3rd April on your calendar. Tickets are available via the venue, priced at £5, with additional acts set to be added to the bill presently.
UPDATE: 19/06 - Unfortunately, owing to poor ticket sales and the financial risk this has incurred, the organisers of the Twisted Village Festival have made the sad decision not to proceed with year's event. A full statement on the event's cancellation can be found on the festival's website and Facebook page.
UPDATE: 25/06 - The Portsmouth News is reporting that the festival's production company has gone into liquidation; the festival's website is still active, however its social media presence has been shuttered.
The tiny hamlet of Woodmancott, nestled roughly midway between Winchester and Basingstoke, might seem an unlikely destination for a new festival to pitch up. Yet here, at Vicarage Farm, is where the Twisted Village Festival will pitch tents for its inaugural outing.
Billed as a "festival of performing arts, music and curiosities" Twisted Village promises to be a compact and bijou affair, hosting 4999 souls on-site (a number which also includes both crew and artists), offering the seasoned festival-goer something more than big stages, huge crowds and annoyingly long queues for the amenities. If you didn't get Glastonbury tickets, or find that walking a festival site the size of Coventry isn't your bag any more, then this might be just what you're looking for.
Personally I'm a fan of a smaller festival; as much fun as a large sprawling site is to explore there is always something (or several) that gets missed. Limiting the number of attendees should hopefully make for a more comfortable stroll around the site, stumbling across promised curiosities, helping to create the "village vibe" that the organisers are striving for.
The organisers have set out their ethos on the website, which includes their vision for a festival that includes dance, spoken word performance, theatre and street theatre as well as, obviously , music. The festival also boasts excellent environmental credentials, effecting a no plastic policy on the main site, asking festival-goers to bring reusable bottles to enjoy free refills at various water stations. If that wasn't enough the festival will also employ solar power & biodiesel-powered generators to lessen its carbon emissions.
So far so very right-on, but what's to see and enjoy at this shindig you may wonder. Well, the line-up announced so far includes Beans On Toast, LibraLibra, Yassassin, Alabama 3, Curl, Oh My God! It's The Church, Shoot The Duke, Megan Linford and the truly brilliant (and quite possibly worth the ticket price alone) joy that is The Lovely Eggs. With more acts TBA it's refreshing to note that the festival is also aiming to ensure female artists represent 50% of the final line-up (other, larger, festivals should take note).
Twisted Village Festival runs from Friday 16th to Sunday 18th August and Tier 1 (Early Bird) tickets are available now, priced at £90 for adults, via the festival website. Prices are scheduled to increase in Tier 2 (£105) and Tier 3 (£120), full pricing information and more can be found on the festival's FAQ page.
