My favourite acts at Supersonic couldn’t be more different from each other, really. Zu are a frenetic squall of free jazz and death metal, enervating like a cold bucket of water in the face at midnight. Or maybe just a bucket being flung in your face at midnight. Thorr’s Hammer remind one of when Electric Wizard were primarily a doom band and encapsulate several of the contradictions at the heart of metal. Arbouretum, on paper, I should hate really: they’re authentic, virtuoso, stoner and classicist. But the sheer intelligence of how their source material (Fred Neil, The Band, Neil Young, Martin Carthy, Mudhoney) is referenced, their intense but warm-hearted clarity and their killer riffs have snared me for life. John Doran
Below, we’ve a Quietus podcast by Christina McDermott talking to some of the bands playing, audience members, and the peculiar art of simultaneous vomiting and defecation.
Download The Quietus Supersonic Podcast
And as you listen, why not click the image below for a gallery of reviews from the Festival by John Doran, Petra Davis, James Holloway, Noel Gardner and Andrzej Lukowski. All photos from Shot2bits.net.
