MUSIC PREMIERES
We catch up with The National’s Matt Berninger backstage a few hours before their Sunday night closing headline set at The Other Stage. Despite facing what could and should be another in a series of real ‘Glasto moments’ for the band, the frontman hasn’t much of a clue of what even he himself can expect. “I don’t like to know what’s going to be on the setlist, because every time is like a new flavoured gum ball,” he tells NME. “I get to take that little red pill and go to that song in a new way every time. If I knew what all the songs were then I wouldn’t be able to let go as much.”
There’s a sleepy vibe over Glastonbury tonight, with revellers seeming a little more reserved than usual after five days of music and hedonism. What better cure than indie statesmen The National – both a soothing balm and a rousing kick in the shins. When ‘Don’t Swallow The Cap’ kicks in and Berninger pulls a Jarvis Cocker-esque svelte silhouette, you know he’s ready to give Worthy Farm a sloppy kiss goodbye. It’s the shot in the arm we need. As he puts it himself on the spritely ‘Tropic Morning News’, “something has now rapidly improved”.
If you like this band, you love this band. The affection is palpable and reciprocated – both through the generosity of what you’d call “bangers” if you’re part of the cult of these self-proclaimed “sad dads”, and through Berninger getting as physical as he can with as many people as possible. During their “creepiest song” ‘Conversation 16’, he enacts the lyric “I was afraid I’d eat your brains, because I’m evil” when he attempts to devour a really rather delighted chap on the front row. For ‘Terrible Love’, he bolts past the safety barrier to play Pied Piper to the devotees who follow him with their phones.
There’s the glorious early outing of indie classic ‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’, and well-landed cuts from 2023’s double album treat of ‘The First Two Pages Of Frankenstein‘ and ‘Laugh Track‘. Kate Stables of This Is The Kit assists ‘Rylan’, while the band tackle the bleak state of politics in the US with ‘The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness’ and ‘Fake Empire’ (“This song keeps getting more and more appropriate – that is really depressing”). This is a performance of tension and release. The Dessner twins hold their axes aloft as a mirror to one another and shred into the night as Berninger loses himself again and again.
He really is taking that little red pill with each track. It’s one thing to have artfully crafted the perfect setlist for such an occasion, but it’s another to have the ability to play each and every song like it could be the last one. When the finale does come with Berninger and the crowd all choked up for the devastating ‘About Today’, we leave knowing that they couldn’t have done more.
‘Don’t Swallow the Cap’
‘Eucalyptus’
‘Tropic Morning News’
‘Bloodbuzz Ohio’
‘The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness’
‘I Need My Girl’
‘Conversation 16’
‘Abel’
‘Alien’
‘Space Invader’
‘Day I Die’
‘Light Years’
‘Rylan’
‘England’
‘Graceless’
‘Fake Empire’
‘Mr. November’
‘Terrible Love’
‘About Today’
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MUSIC PREMIERES
Four years on from the ‘Actual Life’ series lifting him into the mainstream spotlight, Fred Again.. continues to feel unavoidable. The London producer and DJ born Fred Gibson has moved at a relentless pace, bouncing between sold out stadium dates in New York and surprise appearances at Sheffield’s 1,000 capacity Forge, while also making history as the first electronic artist to top the bill at Reading and Leeds in 2024.
Where the ‘Actual Life’ releases and his fourth album, 2024’s ‘Ten Days’, leaned into warmth and joy pulled from ordinary moments, Gibson has also sharpened his instinct for high impact club weapons rooted in garage, dubstep and jungle. That side of his output lives on ‘USB’, an “infinite album” first imagined in 2022 as a home for tracks that exist outside any fixed universe, including defining moments like ‘Rumble’ and ‘Jungle’.
‘USB002’, the second vinyl only chapter of the ‘USB’ project, brings together 16 recent tracks, many of which surfaced gradually on streaming services over a ten week stretch. The music was shaped live, in step with ten unannounced DJ appearances across the world from Dublin to Mexico City. Even with a Glastonbury style registration system in place, The Times reported that 100,000 people tried to secure tickets for the opening night in Glasgow.
Appropriately, ‘USB002’ feels alive and constantly in motion, helped along by contributions from close collaborators such as Floating Points and Sammy Virji. The rigid, techno driven pressure of ‘Ambery’ echoes elements of Floating Points’ 2019 album ‘Crush’, while Gibson’s take on ‘The Floor’ builds like the slow climb of a rollercoaster before dropping back to earth without warning.
The guest list stretches beyond the usual dance circles, with two Australian guitar bands popping up in unexpected ways. ‘You’re A Star’ reworks Amyl and The Sniffers’ ‘Big Dreams’ into a breakbeat driven rush, while ‘Hardstyle 2’ pulls the experimental post punk edge of Shady Nasty into an Underworld adjacent space alongside Kettama. Gibson’s real trick is his ability to connect with anyone. These tracks are not reinterpretations but full takeovers.
The visual world wrapped around the ‘USB002’ rollout reinforces the instinct behind the music. Phones were prohibited at shows staged in vast warehouse spaces under sweeping light rigs, while Gibson’s team shared striking black and white footage and created artwork for each single on site. Bottling that sense of urgency, the project is rooted in the thrill of the present moment, something Gibson seems able to summon simply by turning up.
If the ‘Actual Life’ series and ‘Ten Days’ captured passing snapshots of experience, ‘USB’ is defined by constant movement, a space where boundaries are removed entirely. Sitting somewhere between an album and a playlist, ‘USB002’ underlines why Fred Again.. feels so dominant right now, and suggests that his current run may only be the beginning of something much bigger.
