The SolarAid Buskers’ Stage
July 5th, 2010 by sparky
For Big Chill 2010 the SolarAid Buskers’ Stage has an array of Big Chill favourites, new music and undiscovered musical gems alongside writing and performing opportunities for Chillers. From humble beginnings the SolarAid Stage started as an eco-friendly acoustic stage, where musicians were invited to perform at ‘The Big Chill Welcome sessions’, delicately housed in a gazebo on the hill, entertaining the masses as they arrived. In 2009, and with the relationship with SolarAid in place, the SolarAid Buskers stage developed a momentum of its own and is the greenest stage at The Big Chill as it is powered entirely by the sun. After the festival Busking For SolarAid became a new music tour and then ‘The Busking For SolarAid’ download album which will be available online soon.
The SolarAid Sign-up
The SolarAid Stage has a unique spot high on the hill over looking the Big Chill Festival. The Sun Hut positioned next to the stage itself will be choc a bloc with info about SolarAid and will host The SolarAid Sign Up, where in return for joining the SolarAid mailing list, Big Chillers will be entered into an hourly raffle of Big Chill Label merchandise and other ethical goodies.
Charge Your Mobile in The Sun Hut!
You will be able to charge your phone in The Sun Hut too, so it’s a great place to visit. SolarAid works in rural areas across East and Southern Africa, helping people to set up solar businesses, building clean and sustainable solutions to their energy and income needs. The charity holds innovation and enterprise at the heart of its work – delivering practical solutions that address local needs. They also install solar systems on schools, community centres and clinics. SolarAid is literally bringing power to the people.
LINE-UP
Thursday 5th August
The Acoma hail from London & Dublin, they play an eclectic mix of all original blues/folk songs with reggae and rock undertones. Influenced by the Doors, Robert Johnson and the Kings of Convenience. Their set is full of intricate melodies, wailing lead guitar and funky rhythms. Currently recording their first album, The Acoma can also be found playing regular gigs inside and outside London.
Jane Bartholomew wrote, recorded and released her debut album ‘Morning Songs’ on a shoestring budget on her own label ‘Black eye recordings’. More recently she has released ‘Fiery Son’, a 7inch single only release on ‘Random Acts Of Vinyl’. Each record cover hand printed by Jane herself indicative of the beauty, care and attention she devotes to these delicately crafted songs. Jane is currently writing new material for her second album due for release at the end of the year.
Pokey Le Farge and The South City Three are from St Louis, Missouri, they have been taking America by storm since their Riverboat Soul album charted following coast-to-coast college and indie radio exposure. Here, Americana UK awarded it a 10-out-of-10 rating and said: “Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three are awesome and that’s a cotton-pickin’ fact.” Earlier this year, the band made a huge impact with sold-out shows in London, as well as a headline slot at Scotland’s big Celtic Connections Festival, leading to other big outdoor events in Europe, including the prestigious Tonder event in Denmark, Belfast’s Open House, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Genre-bending duo Pumajaw are one of the UK music scene’s most exotic animals. John Wills (formerly of psych-rockers Loop) uses live loops and samples to create a wall of sound that a full-blown band might struggle to craft. Pinkie Maclure’s glorious torch song voice ranges from the most delicate gasp to euphoric, spiritual improvisations, seducing her audience into a rich and haunting world – and the way she handles a concertina would make the knees of grown men tremble.
Friday 6th August
Iris & The Wolves write beguiling pop songs, imbued with a sense of drama, love and loss. Their music is an intoxicating blend of pop-noir with Fiona’s deeply sumptuous crystalline vocals at the forefront – like a twinkling star set amid a dark musical landscape of bleeding hearts. Originally from the Scottish Highlands, Fiona took on a variety of careers (“a rather colourful CV..”) before returning to her first love – making music. Now based in rural Sussex, Fiona hooked up with her current songwriting partner, pianist Dan Soanes and set to work writing the songs which will form the backbone of their first album as Iris And The Wolves.
Emily Portman is a singer, writer and concertina player based in the North East of England. With a BBC Folk Award nomination for her work with harmony trio The Devil’s Interval, Emily is already an established musician on the UK folk scene, commended by Shirley Collins and annually touring with Waterson:Carthy. Emily has recently appeared at The Southbank Centre as part of their ‘Folk Roots, New Routes’ series and debuted her new songs at The Sage Gateshead. She is also fast making waves beyond the folk scene, being featured as a soloist on the BBC’s adaptation of ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’ as well as appearing on alt-folk songwriter Alasdair Roberts’ forthcoming album.
Banish Misfortune create a heady musical mix, blending Irish and Scots céilí, Western Swing and a taste of Klezmer. The seven piece band was formed by mainly London-based musicians and singers, with roots as diverse as Cajun, R&B, rockabilly, African, and from bands as varied as Pigbag, Loop Guru, Lost in Austin, Diego Brown & the Good Fairy and the celtic-punk of Neck. Bring your dancing shoes!
Polly & The Billets Duex are touring the UK supporting their album ‘Fiction, Half-Truths & Downright Lies.’ Their first release, on Bleak Mouse Records, was the ‘Head of Steam’ EP, which charted at 17 on the Radio 1 Indie Chart. Featured in ‘The Word’ Magazine’s Best New Music, they have also been championed by Bob Harris & Terry Wogan on Radio 2 as well as live sessions with Cerys Matthews on Radio 6, ‘Loose Ends’ on Radio 4 and BBC regional stations throughout the UK. Generating quite a stir at Glastonbury and Loopallu Festival in Scotland and recently supporting The Fun loving Criminals, their reputation as a formidable force on the stage is spreading quickly.
Dr Butler’s Hatstand Medicine Band are a travelling troupe of musicological minstrels and aural apothecarists, peddling the good Doctor Butler’s unique good-time tonic to all four corners of the land. Formed from a secret combination of early blues and jazz forms, a sprinkle of ragtime, a dash of hot swing, the essence of sweet spiritual, a pinch of the oldest of old-timey melodies and a teaspoon of Vaudevillian and Music Hall show-offery. All whisked together with the most esoteric of folk rhythms. Dr Butler’s Hatstand Medicine Band, guarantee to cure whatever ails you and to bring back your vigour and vim.
Oystar are a London-based ska-rock-rap band with an occasional skiffle thrown in for luck. Their first single ‘I fought the Lloyds’ charted at number 25. Jeremy Paxman played it on Newsnight. It was a parody song protesting against bank charges. They thought that was the beginning of the end… …but then we supported Chas & Dave at the Amersham Arms and they knew everything was going to be ok. They play songs that will make you want to sing along even if you don’t know the words and they’ll keep you smiling and laughing with killer tunes like ‘Babies In Bikini’s’. They have also promised to be everyone’s friend at this years Big Chill so if you are feeling lonely come up the hill for a jovial Oystar hug.
The Woods is a haunting, atmospheric fairy tale written and performed by Linda Lee Welch with a live ambient soundtrack by Animat. Alone in a dark wood, a young woman fights to make her story heard over the voices of ghostly and mysterious creatures from her past and present. Linda Lee Welch is a prize-winning poet, novelist and musician, published in journals including Mslexia, The New Writer, Staple, and Ambit. Her novels ‘The Leader of the Swans’ and ‘The Artist of Eikando’ are published by Virago. Festival regulars and Big Chill Recordings artists Animat, best known for their innovative film re-scores, provide the musical backdrop for the story. Animat will also DJ for a few hours following the ambient story telling with Linda and take you on an atmospheric ambient journey.
Saturday 7th
Mike Newsham was originally from Yorkshire Originally from Yorkshire, Mike’s Americana, folk/rock-tinged songs are well-crafted and his dynamic guitar work is described as so fluid and textured, and so goddamn fast…it’s a show in itself. For just one man and a guitar, Mike’s live shows are like watching a young Ryan Adams on speed, playing as if it’s his last day on earth, wowing the crowd with a seamless blend of quiet brooding songs, to manic moments of furious acoustic playing. His beautifully crafted dynamic live show is a must-see for any acoustic fans.
The Woo!Worths bring a new form Playful electro synthesisers and grooving disco rhythms making any listener dance to the rhythms, harmonised with distinctive club vocals and Bedouin backing as the guitar defines the sounds with strong unforgettable melodies, jagged stabs and squealing solos. The Woo!worths have been likened to Daft Punk and Hot Chip although adding a new and fresh twist of happiness along the way. The Woo!worths create a organic experience and live they manage to achieve the rarest of things; namely, a band that makes the crowd dance; not nod, skank, mosh or rock out, but actually dance. Having already won ‘Rankin Live’, being chosen from the final line-up by legendary photographer Rankin himself, to being featured in Dazed & Confused as a hot tip for 2010, The Woo!worths are definitely not to be missed. With their new single out at the end of the summer Tyger Tyger these guys will be a regular on your playlists before long.
The duo making up Rayon Breed like breadcrumbs, leave a trail of charming quips and notes behind their songs whilst ever engrossing you further into their world. Playing the always haunting cello, and often an array of oddly yet innovatively used non-instruments, they can entice even the hardened-eared music lover with such romanticism. With harmonies so beautifully crisp and their whimsical mystique, you could easily fall in love with both of these girls.
The Magic Drum Orchestra is a Brazilian-style bateria or percussion group featuring around 15 drummers and two dancers and led by Glynn “Bigga” Bush (Rockers Hi Fi, Lightning Head) and Ralph Cree. Their set incorporates hip- hop, afrobeat, drum & bass and funk as well as throwing in more traditional batucada and maracatu flavours for the diehard samba fans. Their last appearance at Big Chill 2009 saw them in front of 20,000 revellers on the main stage at the climax of Hexstatic’s set – but they are just as likely to be seen playing around the site to smaller but equally appreciative crowds.
www.myspace.com/magicdrumorchestra
Sunday 8th August
The Quar4er play a unique, distinctive fusion of laid back cool jazz, African jives and grooves, folk influenced ballads. They take inspiration from the sax anthems of Courtney Pine, the landscapes Ofjan Garbarek and grooves of Miles Davis’ epic jams. They play combinations of saxes, trumpets, keyboards, synthesisers and percussion. Their fresh album Save the World; Eat Yourself was described as “Very accomplished, mellow and assured’ by John Hellings (Jazz on BBC Stoke) and as having “shades of Dizzy Gillespie in the 50′s”. After the Big Chill they will be playing at the Edinburgh Fringe at the close in the Lindisfarne Room.
Sunday With Communion
Communion is a Sunday Night acoustic club that grew out of the Chelsea Art’s Club and gave birth to Mumford & Sons. Here artists in the Communion family come together for 3 hours of acoustic delicateness to mellow you out on a Sunday afternoon…
Playing country for the city and old-timer for the modern, Holy Vessels assail sixties nostalgia with an original and feverish breed of Folk/ blues-grass rolin’ and tumblin’. The five-piece have made a name for themselves throughout a non-stop 2010 show schedule, having only formed in the summer of 2009 and now prepare for their first-release onto an ever growing fan base. To see this pack live is to see a true spectacle in ascension.
Plucking away for twenty-two years and a day, James Moss travels to tell all the stories he has. Playing shanty love and hate songs that capture the senses and hold the gaze of those in shot. These bellows and gentile utterances of a man born to wander the boardwalks are truly intoxicating. Live, his performances have become the stuff of alt-folk law, recently seeing him play the esteemed Communion nights both in London and Brighton on top of a plethora of other shows to which his ever gathering fan-base have swooned again and again.
The Agitator, AKA Derek Meins – previously of Eastern Lane and The Famous Poet – is The Agitator! Stead fast and wailing alongside the thunderous Robert Dylan Thomas (The Maccabees), this duo have spoken up for the angst of a youth, sparking furore in the wake of a countries indecision. Where he has seen treason hear the sounds of reason, oppress the oppressor, demonize and catalyze.
Black Diamond Bay make eclectic electro indie folk music with teeth and poetic bite. There debut single Worship The Sun was featured on the Mixmag new electro podcast and they have been given strong support from Tom Robinson on 6 Music. The band will be releasing their debut album ‘I Dreamt We Were Bank Robbers’ on uber cool record label Exceptional Records. The band hail from Leeds and are fronted by a Lithuanian pop siren and a singing Irish poet, this is their Big Chill debut and this is a set not to be missed.
Paul Diello started writing music and playing the keyboard in his bedroom when he was just 14 years old, by the time he was 17 he was singing with an acoustic trio, followed by a few years in rock bands ‘Porcelain’ and ‘Shiseido Red’ before arriving back to the keyboard as a solo artist. Paul now performs with a wide variation of musicians including violin, harp, saxophone, guitar, bass and drums and his debut album ‘The Last Green Bottle’ has won him many fans for it’s quirky and camp song writing style greatly enhanced by Paul’s velveteen vocals. Paul is currently working on his second album so expect new electronic sound from Paul in 2011.
Atalanta make beautiful lush electronica bundled up with Jazz, Soul and Funk. The project is the brainchild of DJ and producer Clive Mead, who some of you may be aware of through his brilliant remix of the Penguin Café Orchestra. Atalanta have also appeared on the prestigious Supper Club compilations. The new Atlanta album ‘1000 Days’ features Dan Rowe on vocals who also sang on the classic track ‘So Damn Beautiful’. Expect a blissful, sublime and soulful set from these South Coast Balearic Chillers.
Annie Mac has described Culprit 1 as “DJ Shadow of Wales”. James Hannam who is Culprit 1 is a classically trained production genius who has remixed John Hardy and The National Orchestra of Wales, Orbital’s Paul Hartnoll alongside indie pop wastrels Kaiser Chiefs and The Automatic. For Big Chill 2010 he will be bringing his symphonic electronic head along for a laptop and strings set, exploring material from his soon to be released second album “Theme 2″. The string section will be provided by The Bryden Strings who have toured with Kanye West.
Max Mezzowave has never been one to compromise. He has drawn from almost two decades of experience in the experimental electronic underground and combined it with a very human sense of musicianship. Alongside contemporaries from Mute Records and Renegade Soundwave he has helped shape the sound of a whole host of genres. His DJ Pathaan championed fusion project with Chaitanya Chandru was acclaimed within the Asian Underground movement. He has remixed Lamb and Lou Rhodes. His debut album “The Hub” took the ambient chill out scene by storm, and he has toured as musical director for Alison David (Red Snapper) Now, in collaboration with co-producer and bassist Suman Joshi, legendary singers Angie Brown (Fatboy Slim, Bizarre Inc) and Alison David plus a host of extraordinary musicians, he is ready to unleash his most ambitious project to date – MEZZOWAVE – see them live on the SolarAid stage for Big Chill 2010.
As well as…
CHILLERS OPEN BUSKING SESSIONS
Between 12 and 1pm Friday through to Sunday there will be an open performance slot for musicians and performers to do a brief turn. All you need to do to participate is register at The SolarAid stage and explain your performance to the SolarAid team. Names will be selected on a first come first served basis and participants will be allowed a few songs.
CHILLERS OPEN GHOST STORY TELLING
On the Thursday evening, Chillers who fancy themselves as writers or performance artists will have the opportunity to tell ghost stories read poems that either they love or have written (original ideas would be better but a few classics could also work, content with an environmental theme would be brilliant). The Ghostly ‘goings on’ will commence from midnight on Thursday to 2am beside a faux campfire, between two gypsy caravans. Please submit your Ghostly proposal to eugenie@bigchill.net placing SolarAid Ghostly Proposal in the subject field. We will inform you prior to the event that we would like you to participate.
