It was the seventh Pow To The People at the Camden Barfly yesterday. The event was a mix of Swedish, reformed, American and other bands associated with the Track & Field Label. The event was marred by below average sound and over-running but was still entertaining none the less especially with the performance of Dressy Bessy.

Firstly the bands who I missed due to seeing before or that I was not interested in were The Chemistry Experiment, The Keys and Ferry from Semifinalists. During this time I headed to a nearby pub to watch the football or food as not even I can stomach the Barfly for 8 hours plus without a break despite the excellent Track & Field merchandise stall!

The first band I caught were the Swedish outfit Speedmarket Avenue who seemed to have aquired a female joint vocalist somewhere down the line. Their shimmering brand of indie pop sat nicely with what is currently coming out of Sweden as well as my ears! Nice pop tunes, friendly banter and smiles all round. Isn't that what pop music is supposed to be about?

Next up were the reformed (or out of hiberanation) Beatnik Filmstars whose lead singer seemed to spend most of the set complaining about the sound which was overtly apparent in the practically empty Barfly at this stage. The band, who have links with The Groove Farm, sounded quite dated even on the latest material and were certainly not as good as when I caught them at The Water Rats supporting Darren Hayman a couple of months back.

El Perro Del Mar was pretty dreary and gave more than one of us a downer. I like some of her songs which can be beautiful at times but this was a bit too much and I can only think someone ran over her cat that morning. A time and a place for this sort of music and slap bang in the middle of the day wasn't it.

I was looking forward to seeing The Loft having missed them the first time around before their acrimonious split in 1985 which was the year I started going to gigs. They played a great set with Winter being a highlight and finished with Why Does The Rain and Up The Hill And Down The Slope. I'm not sure how long this phase of the band is going to last so catch them why you can.

However Dressy Bessy were the band of the night. A strong performance from the band, particulary singer Tammy who was dominant on stage throughout. Most of the songs were from the latest, rockier Electrified album so much so that the keyboards have disappeared. However they still managed to play a track or two from their finest hour Pink Hearts Yellow Moon. The crowd were at their most animated during their set with friendly moshing taking place but it was Tammy's stage prescence that caught most peoples eye especially as the others in the band seemingly taking a step out of the limelight. Fantastic stuff.

Final band was Mazarin who did nothing for me during the couple of songs I caught which a droning psychedelic sound which sounded out of place with what had come before before. Yawning, I headed for home with my 7" singles and a couple of freebies and reflected if that Dressy Bessy hadn't played how average a Pow To The People it would have been.

Some tunes:

Speedmarket Avenue - He's A Rebel
El Perro Del Mar - Loneliness

Stream tracks from the My Space pages for Beatnik Filmstars, Speedmarket Avenue, El Perro Del Mar, Dressy Bessy and Mazarin.

Bob from Underexposed catching my appreciation of Dressy Bessy along with more of the Sounds XP erm, posse. Pretty bunch eh?