East Oxford’s Old Bookbinders, a recently reclaimed cultural community space just off Cowley Road, makes for a fantastic gig venue after ending its days as a real-life bindery. Such a cultural space makes a welcome addition to the flourishing Oxford community scene together with the likes of the recently opened Truck/Rapture record store. It’s the guys at Truck, together with the Blessing Force collective of Oxford bands and artists that are behind this DIY weekend festival. Split over two days, the former warehouse space is decked out with installations from Oxford-based artists. It features atmospheric video projections and installations focussing on light and colour that add to the overall atmosphere of the venue, creating a great venue to stage two days’ worth of bands.

Saturday focuses on electronic acts, with Neon Pulse kicking off proceedings. This was the second time I’d seen their ambient, delay-drenched electronica, and whilst this style of music won’t please everyone, the subtle melodic progressions in this atmospheric synth-gaze performance evoked memories of Stars of the Lid and some of the more laid back tracks from Emeralds’ recently acclaimed LP, although perhaps with slightly less depth of instrumentation. But thoroughly enjoyable it was, with the set culminating in a heavily slowed and delayed vocal sample from Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Everywhere’. Whoever knew this would work so well in this context?

Following up were Coloureds, who have fast become one of my favourite bands to watch in Oxford. My continuing criticism, however, is that whoever’s putting them on always put them on too early in the night! Armed with a laptop, a MIDI controller and a host of electronic FX units, touchpad controllers, synths, and of course, the blue and yellow sculpted masks, Coloureds make supremely noisy, dirty, distorted techno. With massive beats and full-blooded synth lines chopped, mangled and spat back out, these guys make great dance music. Their remix of Kavinsky’s ‘Nightcall’ is a highlight, with its synth stabs and processed male/female call-and-response vocal samples. These guys are well versed in the art of the breakdown, and their set weaves in samples as they mix from one track to the next with little let up in pace. At times, a little let up may be a welcome addition (or should that be subtraction?) – if just to let you catch your breath (I’m getting old) – but nonetheless, Coloureds are great and have some fantastic tunes. Someone let them loose at the end of a night, please!

I’d not heard Young Athletes League before. They’re a groove and loops-based project with a sometimes not dissimilar feel to Chad Valley, but with a much more progressive feel in the slow development and building of tracks. Accompanying the loops from the laptop are synth parts and sparse vocals, together with looped and layered staccato guitar. It’s enjoyable to watch, but I can’t say I found the tunes especially memorable, in retrospect.

I’m not sure if even in my first ever music review I can get away with as lazy a comparison as likening Labyrinth Ear to a cross between Yazoo (Alison Moyet and the man from Depeche Mode, rather than the milkshake) and Ladytron, but I’ll claim ignorance and risk it. They definitely go for the 80s ‘synthpop revival’ sound, and do a pretty good job of it, if that’s your thing. They’re a two-piece, delivering sultry, moody female vocals, accompanied by synth pads, elastic bass and those synthetic chimes that were popular in the 80s (you know, like on the Band Aid record). They have a definite understated style, much like many sythpop bands of the era and more recently by the likes of The XX, who similarly bash out basslines on an MPC. Labyrinth Ear are unfortunate to suffer an early equipment failure, and once back underway, their nonchalant style – together with the slightly under-powered PA – doesn’t quite re-engage the audience after the re-start.

Pet Moon, even with their added stage energy, are also unfortunate to suffer from the quiet sound system, and an increasingly talkative audience, as the night draws on. This is a point not lost on the band who apologise for it being “oppressively quiet”. I look forward to catching them live again, as from where I was a lot of subtlety was lost simply through a lack of volume.

With this in mind, I headed down to the front to catch the headliner of the evening, Chad Valley. Hugo Manuel of Jonquil’s one-man electronica has been making waves of late, both locally and further afield, being championed by the likes of Huw Stephens and Pitchfork. The ‘chillwave’ label, seemingly ubiquitously applied to his music, seems a little misleading, since Chad Valley specialises in feel-good, danceable tunes, comprising of delicate arpeggios and blissful synth lines, Balearic house-meets-R&B beats and euphoric rises which accompany his brilliant vocals. ‘Up and Down’ and ‘Portuguese Solid Summer’ are highlights, with vintage funk samples increasingly making appearances in his sets. The attention to detail in the production is superb. Perhaps mindful of the limits of the PA system, Chad Valley’s set unusually takes a couple of tracks for him to really hit its stride and get the crowd going, but as it does, the dancing becomes infectious and it’s soon a party at the front of stage. Cruelly, at this point the PA gets pushed beyond its limits and the final few tracks of his set are played out on stage monitors turned to the audience. An unfortunate end for a great day of music.

At the end of the night, the organisers employ a novel strategy for getting people to leave, by finding life in the PA again and DJing some ridiculously good tunes – whilst simultaneously requesting for the venue to be cleared. Of course, people prefer to hang around for a bit of dance before later decamping to an after party where Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs DJs.

Day two sees the welcome addition of a more powerful PA, and first act King of Cats, ironically, doesn’t need it, inducing a respectful silence from the audience with his (mainly delicate), whimsical, anti-folk. A couple of songs are played out from in the audience itself, where a ukulele accompanies Max’s sorrowful, falsetto vocal. The occasional use of heavy distortion on the acoustic guitar and pitch-shifting on the vocals seem a little unnecessary to my ears, but it certainly doesn’t spoil an enjoyable performance.

Following up were Ute and this was the first time I’d seen the BBC Introducing favourites play live. A three-piece, playing folk-rock, Ute manage to be far more interesting than that description implies without the need to employ any unnecessary extravagance. The drummer plays a minimal, stripped down kit, but the rhythms remain interesting and inventive; and the guitar, bass and vocals could also equally be described in such a manner. More than the sum of their – here, poorly described – parts, Ute entertain with some good tunes. They finish the set on an almost Nick Cave & Grinderman-esque murder ballad about a suit tailor. Brilliant!

To say the next band, ODC [Drumline] ft. Kid Furry, was worth the £10 weekend ticket price alone is paradoxically both an understatement and unfairly does the rest of the weekend’s acts and artists a huge disservice. However, ODC were phenomenally good. Four drum kits were assembled in the middle of the floor whilst the DJ played Liquid Liquid’s ‘Optimo’ – this was surely no coincidence, and served as a good indicator of what was about to be unleashed in the form of a supremely cooperative percussion masterclass in danceable rhythms. Add in an MC, some atmospheric guitar and a laptop track of TR-909 drum hits and acid house synths (this was advertised as a warehouse party after all), and it made for a ridiculously enjoyable performance. A set of just 15 minutes left everyone wanting more. Amazingly, this set was apparently put together in four weeks prior to the festival. I hope we get to see more, if there’s a next time.

Sisterland had the unfortunate duty of following up ODC. They didn’t really do it for me, but then it’s not really the kind of thing I’d usually listen to, so no big deal. They provided a tight US 90’s rock-come-grunge kind of style, propelled by driving floor-tom riding beats.

Then, in what seems like no time since the start of the evening – and having so far disappointingly failed to break the no-more-than-three-pints-on-a-school-night rule (I’ve already mentioned that I’m getting old, right?) – Jonquil take to the stage. Jonquil are one of the few Oxford bands (aside from the obvious ones) that I was familiar with before I moved to Oxford, having seen and enjoyed them on their travels to Cardiff’s Swn festival. They’re a difficult band to describe; guitar based pop music with a funk influence and the addition of calypso guitar interplaying with electric piano and the occasional trumpet? No, that sounds like it’d be a bit shit, but it really isn’t, it’s really good, and with it, interesting, well crafted and good fun. I didn’t think they were quite as polished as when I saw them at the Jericho Tavern on their recent tour; it could have been the self-confessed hangovers, or my liberal interpretation of the three pint rule last time I saw them. Either way, by the mid point of their set, a disco/dance/funk interpretation of The XX’s ‘Infinity’, it’s all go, and there’s plenty of dancing going on in the audience. From here on, they play the hits and keep the crowd going. Hugo Manuel must be the unluckiest man of the weekend as the vocal PA cuts out on him for the second time is as many performances, but this doesn’t really curtail the enjoyment of the final few numbers.

Rounding the event off are the fabulous Rhosyn. They provide a delicate, and sometime not-so-delicate, mix of lush strings, harmonious vocals and sparse percussion, producing captivating and exceptionally good music. Lead singer and chief songwriter Rose Dagul has a great voice, and the other members provide excellent harmonies and melodic vocal rhythms. Their inventive use of traditional instrumentation is great, as is their borrowing of lyrics from familiar songs, recontextualising them in their own work. “Living is easy with eyes closed” is the opening refrain in ‘Glass’, over a chorus of a capella accompanying ba-bap-das and aye-y-aye-y-ayes before the introduction of a relaxed, half-time bassline on the cello, which, as a friend points out, wouldn’t sound out of place on a Hyperdub track.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend in a fantastic venue with some great music. A few teething problems with the sound, but hey, it was only £10, and I guess this was the first time the venue had had this number of people in it, with previous gigs being quieter, acoustic affairs with a largely seated audience. Apparently, plans are afoot for the second instalment of the festival, and with plenty of other great bands around Oxford too, it’s an exciting place to be at the moment. The biggest disappointment by far was learning that the Old Bookbinders will be gone in a few months’ time, to make way for the development of new flats. I hope that there are plenty more opportunities to enjoy this great venue before then.