Live Review: Snakadaktal, Kilter, DD Dumbo

After a stellar 2013 for DD Dumbo, which included seeing him replace Vance Joy at Meredith Music Festival and performing plenty of shows across the country, his fashion sense hasn't improved. D.D presented himself in boots, a T-shirt and stubbies; if it weren't for his immense talent you'd pigeonhole him a bogan. With nothing but a 12-string guitar, a loop pedal, some drums and an amazing voice, Dumbo mesmerised the crowd with tunes he describes as African desert, Tanzanian ilimba and transcendental Tuvan melody; Tropical Oceans was one of the highlights of the night.

Kilter's set was tight but seemed out of place. Between two acts whose vocal talent and instrumentation stand out, an electronic artist remixing other people's songs just didn't feel right. To his credit Kilter doesn't use laptops, he performs live with a soundblock holding the body of his songs, a drum machine and a little synthesiser. He remixed everything from Ben Pearce to London Grammar admirably before closing with his own club smash it Hold Me. The set was solid but Kilter would probably draw a bigger reaction supporting Hermitude or Flight Facilities.

Snakadaktal had to endure a lot at the Oxford Art Factory: the sweltering heat, the dude who wouldn't stop yelling out “change your name”, and the guys who were having a 'who could woo/yiew the loudest?' competition (there were no winners, just losers.) Whether it was the band's choice or the sound production, there was way too much reverb on Phoebe Cockburn and Sean Heathcliff's vocals. Most bands would kill to have one singer as good as either one of them; Snakadaktal have two and their voices really need to be highlighted.

Aside from that it was a solid gig. They played their older favourites Air and Hung On Tight early. There was a slight lull and a bit of chatter when they played a few lesser known songs from their 2013 album Sleep In The Water, but they brought the room back up with Deep and finished strongly with Fall Underneath.