by
On Sunday May 27, Nottingham plays host to the third - and biggest yet - Dot To Dot Festival. We say biggest with good reason: as well as there being over 80 artists confirmed to appear at this year's event, there will also be a couple of new venues - Nottingham Trent University and Lee Rosy's Tea Rooms - hosting performances alongside the more established venues such as Rock City, the Rescue Rooms, Stealth and the Social.
Additionally, this year the festival spreads its wings to accommodate a whole separate city: a day earlier (Saturday 26, then), Dot To Dot will be down the M5 in Bristol, where at least 40 artists are confirmed to play across three of the city's main venues: the Thekla Social, Louisiana, Fiddler's. For details on the Bristol line-up/s, click to here (and here for the Dot To Dot website).
DiS’s Nottingham contingent has been excited about the festival for many a month now, so without further ado, here's Dom Gourlay’s guide on who he’s literally busting a gut to see…
Yo! Chomsky
Initially formed for a laugh by a bunch of media students at Nottingham University, their recent show with Hadouken! proved that their Beastie Boys via the Human League electro grime is here to shake things up. Anyone not taking them seriously does so at their own risk.
Yo! Chomsky play the Rescue Rooms at 2:30pm
MySpace
Blonde Redhead
Possibly the oldest band playing at this year's festival, Blonde Redhead have been around for almost fifteen years now without ever really gaining the commercial recognition their complex and critically acclaimed noise-saturated arrangements merit. Thankfully, all that seems set to change if reviews of their most recent record 23 (See DiS’s review here) are anything to go by, and with their visits to the UK becoming more and more sporadic, don't let this opportunity pass you by. They are one of the most genuinely intriguing bands in the world right now.
Blonde Redhead play the main room of Nottingham Trent University at 10pm
MySpace
We Are The Physics
Hailing from Glasgow and mixing Devo-style jerkiness with Albini-esque polemics, We Are The Physics are one of those bands who demand to be seen by as many people as possible, and to date, unless you hail from north of the border, chances are you won't be one of the lucky few to have caught them thus far. Not to worry, as this is as good an opportunity as any...
We Are The Physics play the upstairs room of Nottingham Trent University at 9:30pm
MySpace
Catweasels
DiS has been raving about Chester-Le-Street-based five-piece Catweasels for a good few years now. Formerly prefixed by (The), Catweasels mix old and new wave sensibilities with a melee of sounds that occasionally winds up echoing the moan of Mansun being inappropriately manhandled by Interpol. Other times they just go for the jugular by composing grandiose pop a la XTC, the sort that you wouldn't expect anyone with a DIY aesthetic to pull off. They manage it in pretty spectacular style. Again, this is their first show in this part of the world. Are we excited? You bet we are...
Catweasels play Lee Rosy's Tea Rooms at 5:30pm
MySpace
You Slut!
You Slut! might be the possessors of the best name at this year's festival by a long shot, but that only tells half the story. One listen to their "Rifftastic-post-progressive-indie-power-rock-math-disco-pop warfare" - their words, not ours - should be enough to convince anyone that the East Midlands is alive and well and simply bursting with creativity, and is about to explode any time now. Go see, then tell all your friends how great You Slut! are.
You Slut! play Lee Rosy's Tea Rooms at 3:30pm
MySpace
The full (provisional) timetable for Nottingham reads as follows:
Rock City Basement (14+ venue)
1:15-1:45 The Recovery
2:15-2:45 Furthest Drive Home
3:15-3:45 Sunset Cinema Club
4:15-4:45 Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man
5:15-5:45 Brigade
6:15-6:45 The Scare
7:15-7:45 Drive By Argument
8:15-8:45 The Dykeenies
9:15-9:45 Lethal Bizzle
10:15-11:00 Gallows
Rock City Main Hall (14+ venue)
2:15-2:45 I Was A Cub Scout
3:15-3:45 Help She Can't Swim
4:15-4:45 Pull Tiger Tail
5:15-5:45 Foals
6:15-6:45 Kate Nash
7:15-7:45 New Young Pony Club
8:30-9:15 Kano
10:00-11:30 The Cribs
Nottingham Trent University Main Room (14+ venue)
2:45-3:15 Six By Seven
3:45-4:15 Absentee
4:45-5:15 Maps
5:45-6:15 Annuals
7:00-7:45 Architecture In Helsinki
8:30-9:15 Broken Family Band
10:00-11:00 Blonde Redhead
Nottingham Trent University Upstairs (14+ venue)
2:30-3:00 Love Ends Disaster!
3:30-4:00 Radar
4:30-5:00 Nova Saints
5:30-6:00 Olympus Mons
6:30-7:00 Candi Payne
7:30-8:00 Draytones
8:30-9:00 Goodbooks
9:30-10:00 We Are The Physics
10:30-11:00 The Thermals
11:30-12am Bearsuit
Lee Rosy's Tea Rooms (14+ venue)
3:30-4:00 You Slut!
4:30-5:00 Talibam!
5:30-6:00 Catweasels
6:30-7:00 Fanfarlo
7:30-8:00 Karima Francis
8:30-9:00 Tom Mansi
The Social (18+ venue)
1:15-1:45 Grave Architects
2:00-2:30 House Of Brothers
3:00-3:30 Blood Red Shoes
4:00-4:30 Bobby Cook
5:00-5:30 The Changes
6:00-6:30 Sky Larkin
6:45-7:15 Emmy The Great
7:45-8:15 Emma Pollock
8:45-9:45 Moon Music Orchestra / Findlay Brown
10:15-11:00 Scout Niblett
11:30-3am Grimewatch with Boy Better Know and more TBA
Rescue Rooms (18+ venue)
2:30-3:00 Yo! Chomsky
3:30-4:00 Ratty Rat Rat
4:30-5:00 Mighty Roars
5:30-6:00 These New Puritans
6:30-7:00 Pete And The Pirates
7:30-8:00 Fear Of Flying
8:30-9:00 Laura Marling
9:30-10:00 Kid Harpoon
10:30-11:00 Late Of The Pier
11:30-12am Datarock
12:45-1:30am Hot Club De Paris
Stealth live room (downstairs) (18+ venue)
4:00-4:30 The Whip
5:00-5:30 Holy Hail
5:30-6:00 Metronomy (DJ set)
6:00-6:30 Thieves Like Us
6:30-7:00 Metronomy (DJ set)
7:00-7:30 La La Lepus
7:30-8:00 Mum (DJ set)
8:00-8:30 We Smoke Fags
8:30-9:00 Mum (DJ set)
9:00-9:30 Kap Bambino
9:30-10:00 Opticks (DJ set)
10:00-10:30 SMK
10:30-11:00 Opticks (DJ set)
11:00-11:30 Dolby Anol
11:30-00:15 TAPEDECK (DJ set)
00:15-1am Bonde Do Role
1-1:30am TAPEDECK (DJ set)
1:30-2:30 Chromeo
Stealth DJ room (upstairs) (18+ venue)
4:00-6:00 Paul Thomson (Franz Ferdinand)
6:00-8:00 Nightmoves
8:00-10:00 Riotous Rockers
10:00-12am Surkin
12-2am Para One
2-4am Erol Alkan
Tickets are still available, priced at £20 (14+ venues only) and £22.50 (covering all venues) HERE.
For more information on the festival, visit the Dot To Dot MySpace.
