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Bantum is a Cork producer who is part of Dublin's most interesting collective
Eleven Eleven, who also manage Croupier and Alarmist and include the visual magicians, Le Tissier and Slipdraft.
I don't think I'm alone in having a funny relationship with electronic music. I almost exclusively listen to electronic music at home, but then when I go out to see these acts I always end up a little disappointed. Due to the nature of its creation, electronic music is all too often boring to watch live.
Bantum seems to have realised how dull a laptop performance can be and put together one of the most interesting, engaging and physical
performances of the festival. He recruited Ger from
Ten Past Seven
on drums and Eimear O'Donovan on vocals. The dynamic between all three
was perfect. It was clear that the tracks hadn't been practiced to death
and there was a level of spontaneity that one would expect in JJ
Smith's. I only hope other producers are inspired by what Bantum is doing live.
Come On Live Long have been perfecting their live show over the last year. Their performance at this year's Camden Crawl was outstanding and is not one that will be forgotten by those who managed to squeeze into Sweeney's basement. Rob Ardiff and Louise Gaffney took centre stage while the other musicians in the band gave an expected flawless performance. What makes their live show so interesting is the unconventional approach all the musicians have, David O'Connor playing everything from samplers to drums as well providing solid harmonies to both Rob and Louise. Steve Battle has incorporated all sorts of electronic sounds seamlessly into his already unique collection of beats and as you can see in picture above, Ken McCabe has a very experimental approach to the bass, not only expertly playing and bowing the bass but also using pedals to create a myriad of otherworldly sounds. Rob Ardiff used the small space to his advantage drawing the crowd right up to the stage, making his usual crazed performance even more impacting than normal. Hopefully next year it won't be such a tight squeeze and we'll get to see COLL on a bigger stage.

Overall the crowd at this years Camden Crawl were great and gave their full support to the artists playing, but often the enthusiasm led to the crowd talking over the quieter folky acts. This was not the case for
Slow Skies and Karen Sheridan's beautiful delicate vocal managed to hush the normally rambunctious crowd upstairs in Sweeney's.