Kelburn Garden Party, 3-4 Jul
Despite its relatively young age - only three years and counting - the Kelburn Garden Party is fast becoming a worthy pilgrimage on Scotland's small festivals calendar, competing alongside the likes of Knockengorroch and Homegame in the ranks of quality homespun weekenders.
The festival, set amid the woodland and waters of Kelburn estate near Largs, began life as a few cosy parties held to toast the success of Kelburn's Graffiti Project in 2007, when Brazilian street artists Os Gêmeos were flown over to paint a side of the estate's 13th century castle. The visual feast of the castle is one of KGP's major boons. You could argue that until you've danced your ass off in the presence of its technicolour glory, you've never really lived.
The parties soon blossomed into full scale weekenders such as KGP 2010, which relied almost entirely on indigenous talent to fill its four stages with everything from folk and samba to techno. Besides that there were performance poets, homebrew ale, hammocks, cassette installations in trees, and everything you'd conceivably want from a weekend trip to the woods.
SATURDAY:
Ordinary Allstars play a mid-afternoon set of intentionally-corny hip-hop with a full backing band. Sporting golf vests and dodgy '80s tracksuits, they may look like a Goldie Lookin Chain spin-off act, but their funk inflected grooves and tongue in cheek rhymes make them perfect sunny day festival fodder.
On the Ten Tracks stage, five-piece folk outfit Daccordiana start several hours later than scheduled due to technical problems, but their Celtic gypsy folk, which comes with heady doses of banjo and accordian, is lapped up a small but appreciative crowd.
Due to said technical hitches, Fife folkie Panda Su's set is shunted to the Acoustic Tent, where she appears without her trademark black and white make-up, but wearing a homemade crown of ferns instead. Backed by her accomplice Adam Phillips on bits of percussion, glockenspiel, synthesiser and melodica, she works through a tuneful stream of antifolky acoustic pieces, which culminates in a mesmerising version of Eric Is Dead.
As ever, the main weapon in Meursault's arsenal is singer Neil Pennycook's almighty howl, and its potency doesn't go unnoticed during a blistering evening set at the Viewpoint Stage. Material from their latest album, All Creatures Make Merry, translates brilliantly to a live setting, with brooding barnstormers like Weather and Crank Resolutions proving that the Edinburgh indie septet have become a serious tour de force on the contemporary Scottish landscape.
Edinburgh's Hidden Orchestra (formerly The Joe Acheson Quartet) recently snagged a record deal with Brighton's Tru Thoughts label, and it's easy to see why. The band blend jazz, electronica and folk into something which sounds not unlike a darker version of Bonobo, and their sublime sundown set at the Viewpoint Stage proves to be one of the best of the weekend. Oh and they also play with two drum kits!
SUNDAY:
The first thing that hits us on Sunday is the rain, by the bucketload. It crashes around the festival site courtesy of gale force winds, causing minor havoc, including the complete closure of the weather-exposed Ten Tracks stage, whose acts are moved along to the smaller Acoustic Tent.
The Dark Jokes are a young rock three-piece whose midday appearance produced one of those wonderful, impromptu, festival moments. As the band whisk through a reggae number, a full brass ensemble - who hang around waiting for their slot on stage - suddenly join in, and soon the two are locked in an intense and uplifting jam, even as winds threaten to blow the tent roof clean off. It's an excellent show of spirits, proving that even the ghastly weather can't dampen an otherwise fine occasion.
On the less weather-afflicted Viewpoint Stage, Anchorsong - a one man electronica project from Tokyo, Japan - takes to the stage, creating a beguiling, on-the-fly mix of classically-minded beats, which skirt between piano playing, drum machines and samplers, with great effect.
Edinburgh resident Alex Cornish's rousing set also proves to be a real delight. Performing in the Acoustic Tent, Cornish and his band work a set of effortlessly laid-back folkish pop songs, and even pull off some skilled trickery using a violin and a loop pedal.
Stanley Odd have been rumbling the underground lately with their exuberant hip-hop stylings, which go down a storm on the Viewpoint Stage early in the evening. Backed by a tight rhythm section, rapper Solareye's rhymes offer a healthy balance of humour and politics, and thankfully they have some decent tunes in there too. Electric Sleep stands out as the set highlight.
Despite having to compete with some wild bass sounds coming from the Electrikal Tent, The John Langan Band's upbeat gypsy folk meanderings quickly get the people a'steppin' in the Acoustic Tent, where floorfillers like Pumpkin Pie and Mary Mac show the band's dexterity on fiddle, guitar and bass.
At around midnight, seasoned hip-hopper DJ Vadim brings his new live project, The Electric, to the Viewpoint Stage as the final live act of the weekend. Mixing hip-hop, dubstep and soul, with lashes of party rhymes and hooks (courtesy of MC Pugs Atomz and singer Sabira Jade), their show proves a worthy festival closer, even if the crowd numbers seem slightly depleted from the night before. Ultimately, our verdict of a slightly soggy but ultimately rather mindblowing weekend is pretty simple: roll on the next.