DV8 Festival 2011

What’s red-hot and black all over? York is that's what. Well, at least it is after Artrocker has taken the DV8 Festival by storm.

Pop-punk icons Blondie are about to entertain the masses down the road at the racecourse but in the bowels of the city’s gloomy Duchess, something quite different is going down.

Newcomers Partly Faithful rip into a vitriolic set like the bastard offspring of Bauhaus and the Bad Seeds, featuring John And Jehn’s live guitarist Gemma Thompson (also ex-Hindley).

The out-spoken Cold In Berlin continue the theme as they kick off with the lipstick lesbian riot of ‘God I Love You’ and frontwoman Maya transforms herself into the tousled, raucous daughter of post-punk goddess Siouxsie Sioux in 0.2 seconds flat.

Their funereal anthems end on a frenzied high just in time for The Chapman Family to send things in a more avant-garde direction with the discordant opener ‘Kids’. There’s something wonderfully indefinable about the Stockton-on-Tees band’s sound with their layers of fuzz, nihilism and jangly noises even if this particular audience seem to need some more convincing. ‘This English Life’ and new song ‘Red White Black And Blue’ transform them into a hi-octane version of The Strokes, suggesting the best is yet to come from these lads.

After some minor technical delays, O.Children bring their new dark brand to the basement venue. Tobi O’Kandi’s smooth baritone steers a tried-and-tested selection of songs from their eponymous debut towards the climatic ‘Ruins’ and there’s even a sneaky rendition of the danceable ‘My PT Cruiser Is’ from their forthcoming second album, which apparently sounds “wicked good”.

‘Malo’, ‘Radio Waves’ and ‘Dead Disco Dancer’ all come across as larger-than-life with the band’s slick playing and they even squeeze in an unexpected, although slightly ubiquitous encore of ‘Ace Breasts’. Less ‘Atomic’ and more reactive – they came, they saw and they definitely conquered.