Music Blog

Never mind the big names, what about the bad names: We Were Promised Jetpacks, the band from Edinburgh, Scotland sent an early packed house at Dante's flying with a searing, passionate and chest blowing power, rarely seen or heard. All the while still measured and unusually convincing. If the festival has more of this on show it will be the best ever.

The night had started at Ash Street Saloon where Mbilly put in a tight set to illustrate why Weinland's Adam shearer keeps plugging them.

Next up at Berbati's Pan were the intricately woven talents of Ah Holly Fam'ly, a folk outfit with several classical string and wind instruments. Ah Holly Fam'ly's strength however seems to be woven around their two/three part harmonies.

Over at Dante's the Scottish showcase night was opened by Portland's own Archeology. The 3-piece, shown framed on one of the venues many video monitors, put in an intriguing set with unusual patterns on bass, acoustic guitar and drums. Shades, thin as they were, of XTC in there, a band to check out.

Then, of course, came We Were Promised Jetpacks, they were billed below the two Scottish bands that followed but they proved to be an act that was too hard to follow. The Twilight Sad sounded good, moodier British rock, but I'd been blown away by then...

FRIDAY Tips: After last night I'll be looking out for silly names, apart from that, Backspace 11:00 p.m. offers a chance to see Washington's obscure Mount Eerie whose upcoming album (to be reviewed here in the coming weeks) adds an Umma Gumma ('Pink Floyd') type crashing heaviness to their usual spacey Palace-ilk vocal panes.

Tagged: MFNW 2009