Caught Live: Constellations Festival 2010 @ Leeds University

Pitched as "a brand new music and arts festival taking place against the backdrop of one of the UK’s most creative cities", the inaugural Constellations Festival certainly delivered on its promise of bringing a diverse range of top-notch musical offerings to Leeds University. Michael James Hall had a great time trekking across campus between the three stages on offer - here's what he made of the acts he caught on the day:

After a few merry turns around the impenetrable one-way system the city of Leeds has so generously provided for our navigational pleasure, we manage to make it into the bar just in time to catch BRETON on the Stylus Stage. As the room fills with a combination of curious punters and diehard fanatics, the four hooded multi-instrumentalists proffer a minimalist take on cold, urban Germanica. Their sound is pinpricked with dreaming, distant, almost desperate vocal lines and the occasional spine-tingling sojourn into post-rock build-and-collapse fretwork. Aided by striking self-made background visulas – some suitably obtuse, others strangely moving – the London collective subtly controls a steadily growing crowd, never quite unleashing the full-scale violence that bubbles so near the surface of their sound; always tempered, always at one remove, today they are completely, inarguably brilliant.

Soon afterwards, DOG IS DEAD take to the Mine Stage and unleash a pleasantly warm and fuzzy blend of ‘90s-tinged grunge-pop that suits the band's mid-afternoon slot just fine. They lurch, they scream, they four-part-harmonise - the sax solos even add an element of ‘70s BeBop Deluxe nostalgia - and their triumphal mining of the alt-pop template is a minor joy in itself.

Meanwhile, over in The Refectory, SKY LARKIN are just too straightforward a take on female-fronted alt-rock to coax much in the way of excitement or interest. Despite widespread acclaim and a swelling crowd, and although the guitar crunches emphatically and the check-shirted bassist throws no shortage of geek chic shapes, we’re never quite so convinced by the songs themselves.

Back at Stylus, GOLD PANDA baffles and amazes in equal measure as he drops his often-oppressive take on glitch beat head-first onto a largely unsuspecting audience. There is rhythmic confusion on the dancefloor as Panda’s existential electronica offers transcendent transportation for those willing to let themselves go to his remarkably textured, squirly ‘tunes’. He’s pure, off-kilter class as per usual.

This is followed by the ever-terrifying, intense brutalism of LIARS. A terrific clash of naivety and mindwarped psychosis, their physical brand of minimalist electro is both hard as granite and twisted as barbed wire. Showcasing tracks from their most recent Sisterworld LP, the aloof Brooklynites' ever-evolving palette of musical strokes seems to be at its bleakest and most powerful right now. Unfortunately every festival is bound to have a few lulls, and LOCAL NATIVES set in The Refectory is just plain boring, especially after Liars' unhinged carnal rock. The L.A. five-piece purvey yet more Fleet Foxes/Midlake retro-Cali-harmony lite – something that's not exactly in short supply these days. Alas, even the hits sound fairly flaccid this evening, and so it’s with a heavy heart that we flee in time to catch THE VACCINES back at Mine.

Put simply, they are awesome. Blending the most obvious reference points of The Ramones, The Strokes and The Smiths into a set of two-and-a-half minute hyperpop songs may seem like a big dumb idea - and it probably is - but when music of such wild joy is delivered with such dour intensity you can’t help but be uplifted. This band feels good; great in fact. Like a brilliant and fast-acting drug with no foreseeable comedown, the only fault to be found with them is the fact that they’ll swiftly become so omnipresent as to become annoying. Also, they don’t have any kind of identifiable ‘image’. But this is another plus.

LES SAVY FAV dominate proceedings here today. Their show - never far from anarchic - hits some brilliant musical and physical highs as the Zach Galifianakis of alt-rock, Tim Harrington, dominates the whole room with his ebullient personality, vast frame and penchant for enacting sexual congress with teenage indie boys. Shuddering through the most abrasive portions of their back catalogue, occasionally interspersed with a straight-up sexual pop tune like ‘Patty Lee’, Harrington is a force to be reckoned with – manhandling a mass of stagedivers, riling the nervous security and ripping his throat with ear-splitting screams. LSF are clearly as vital and vibrant as ever, and their live show (as proven tonight) is a genuine experience – it’s where hardcore meets comedy, passion meets playfulness and math rock meets manlove. In a word: Aces.

Finally we’re into the trio of headliners: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE continue to sound a bit like U2, and a bit like an indie band – as ever, it’s all songs that go nowhere and notes that just don’t register on any emotional level; it’s still tough to understand how a band this bland engenders such dedication. Oh, and apparently we missed Johnny Marr guesting with them, as they were too boring for him to stay that long. FOUR TET breaks out the usual festival set over at Stylus: eloquent, dreamlike electro with some danceable beats and strange intentions - and there’s nowt wrong with that - while SLEIGH BELLS are a not-very-good electroclash thingy, with plenty of shrieking and not a lot to say.

Still, headliners aside it’s been a grand day of music overall, with Breton, The Vaccines and Les Savy Fav taking home the biggest and bestest plaudits.