Film #56: Isle of Dogs

Wes Anderson's latest film is a stop-motion animation about dogs and has a Japanese vibe to it despite it being filmed not too far from the real Isle of Dogs. The rulers of a Japanese city have a dislike of dogs and come up with a plan to have them removed to an island off the coast. When one of the leaders kids decides to head over to the island to find his dog, a group of them decide to escape the island and return to the mainland.

I enjoyed this. Wes has a knack for making good films that don't do anything remarkable and this is another of those, not bad, but not great. I think there's a pun in the title too. "Isle of Dogs" or "I love dogs"? 

Graffiti: Meeting of Styles

Gigs #24-33 : All Points East (Sunday)

Day 3 of the Festival and it was much of the same, another early start and chance to grab some lunch before the day started.

This was the X-Stage which allowed various DJs to play in the round. I didn't go to this stage once, clearly a sign that my music priorities have changed.

First up in the West Stage was Bones Garage. They were alright.

Again, most of the day was spent in Despacio but it was notably busier and therefore hotter than Friday. We didn't spend as long as Friday for that reason. 

Hot Chip front-man Alex Taylor is touring with his own album which was perfect for a sit down and relax set during the early afternoon. He does need to be careful he doesn't nail the Timmy Mallett look too much. 

After a brief stop at Django Django it was back into the Jagermeister stage for Reeps One, who's an incredible beat-boxer. He didn't disappoint.

On the North Stage we watched Friendly Fires who were OK

Mattiel did a good job on the small Firestone stage.

Shout out to these guys "Up In My Grill" for the best food of the Festival. 

Father John Misty is not my thing at all, just way too folky, but he did have a huge level of support today.

The one regret of the weekend was that we didn't get to see all of the Flying Lotus 3D set. This was incredible with bizarre visuals accompanying an excellent soundscape. It must be quite a challenge to coordinate 3D glasses for a festival crowd.

 Beck who headlined the North Stage suffered from having a poor volume on his singing and a short set time, a third of which was given to the band showing their musicality by playing covers of others songs; a little disappointing. But we did get Devil's Haircut and Loser, which I'm sure he must be sick of playing now. 

The headline on Sunday was Bjork who is incredible but not an act I'd have thought would do a festival. We had wanted to make an early escape so didn't press too forward for this one. It was the right decision. We weren't going to get Big Time Sensuality (my favourite track) instead we got something with flutes and harps that she later referred to on Twitter as "an experiment". It won the crowd over, just not us.

and a special shout out to the wonderful lightning storm that competed for the headliner. 

Overall we had a great time and the organisers should be proud of what they did for their first APE. I'm sure it'll be back next year.

Gigs #18-23 : All Points East (Friday)

Every year Victoria Park in Hackney has been home to Field Day and Lovebox, weekend festivals with a varied musical selection. In 2018, things changed however, when the organisers of Coachella and some other global festivals bidded for the site and won. The festival was called All Points East and a rather excellent line up was announced for the weekend festival and we agreed to give two of the days a go. This is day 1, Friday.

I arrived very early and got there before it opened, this was despite a fear of not getting there due to poor rail travel, which is hitting the London area currently. Security was fine, but they were doing handing out bags for our loose items as they do at airports. Supposedly to expedite the entry process, I was too early to see if it works; being one of the first in I had no queueing.

I was the first one into the Despacio room, and it was great to be reunited with the 7 audio overlords that are used by James Murphy and the Dewaele brothers to play excellent disco and slowed down dance remixes on one of the best sound systems in the world. It was clearly too early to take root in here, I'd be back later.

The first live act was Confidence Man who kicked off the music in the West Stage. Their set was better than when I saw them last year. Having their first album now out meant it was easier for them to fill their time slot, something the struggled to do on their last tour. They had a very good response but would have benefited from being on later. We were just a little too sober for their shenanigans. 

Hookworms were the first act we saw on the North Stage. Recommended by a friend, they were alright although the lead keyboard player looked like he'd cycled here with no time to change.

In the Jagermeister stage, a small intimate venue sponsored by the drink we saw Vessels. They were OK although the lead singer looked a bit like Death from Bill and Ted..."Best 3 out of 5". 

Also on the North Stage we caught Phoenix's set. They were pretty good, we mixed this set with the Young Fathers (good) who were on the East Stage (not photographed). The lineup was so strong we managed to miss Hot Chip Megamix and Chromeo. To be honest most of the afternoon was spent in the Despacio room where it was extremely dark and quite hot but an incredible clubbing experience. 

The headline on the Friday was the always excellent LCD Soundsystem. Super polished and always good but they're missing the "I was there" feeling that you should get from a band like this. Their show is the same show we saw at Ally Pally last year with a few song changes. It was incredible but is in danger of getting tired.