Latitude 2016: Part the Second

Estrons

Just as Protomartyr keep a clean stage (see previous post) Cultureberg can exclusively report that the band members in Aberystwyth's Estrons keep a tidy pitch, as they camped scant meters from the Cultureberg Marquee prior to their highly entertaining set on the Lake Stage Friday teatime.  Being of a respectful nature. I didn't , as maybe I should have, compliment them on their well-focused 1978ish punk pop.  Fronted by an outgoing  blonde female singer lesser critics would opt for obvious parallels (and they are there), though I was put to mind of a more Joplinesque comparison.  They went down the proverbial storm, a miniature mosh pit developing at a fairly early hour as blokes of various ages (fat lads in gold lame trousers, balding groovers and younger beardy types alike) pushed each other around.  I overheard comments like "My favourite new band" and one can see how they readily evoke positivity.  They belt out catchy numbers with just enough uniqueness to engender a Proustian rush in the audience and if this is any litmus test of future success  then Estrons will be on far bigger stages this time next year.


Wrangler

Stephen Mallinder is the ex front man of Sheffield electronic music pioneers Cabaret Voltaire, and back then they did head out into uncharted territory and returned with maps, templates that are still replicated (often more conservatively) today, indeed on most of the stages at Latitude.  Cultureberg assembled to see his new band Wrangler, with two other electro luminaries, in the Lavish Lounge.  This is, in fact, a clearing in the woods with a large screen and a dusty slope.  Despite this being an unlikely setting on paper, Wrangler gave one of the most enjoyable sets of the festival at midnight on Saturday.
With a sound halfway between the treated vocal menace of early Cabs and the studio funk-tionality of later Cabs, Mallinder has a vehicle that is commercial and yet still jagged.  He retains the ability to invest phrases like 'real life' with unease, and I caught the word 'interzone' so the same preoccupations -Burroughs ,control, conformity, you know the schtick - are still present and correct.  The casual passerby was drawn into the dust bowl by the dance ability of the music, a blend of kraftwerkian projections, up to date electro rhythm and enticing repetition.  If they had been on one of the bigger stages they'd have converted thousands.  As it was, in a cruel twist of fate, the only rain of the day cut the open air set short after 5or 6 numbers;either the kit would have been ruined or some unwanted sparks would have flown.  They retired leaving Cultureberg both heartened and disappointed but decidedly intrigued .