Sunday 23/07/06 Day 2 @ Truck Festival, Oxford

Sunday normally hurts. One giant collective hangover looms during the mass consumption of bacon and eggs courtesy of the burger stall. But a good nights sleep and the first couple of bands seen in the acoustic tent makes a dull day seem brighter. Especially when Josephine Oniyama turns out to be so very good. With such a pretty voice singing over country rhythms and a drummer who cracks out the slide guitar or xylophone occasionally, the whole tents' tapping their feet two songs in and are on the mailing list by the end of the gig. Emmy The Great lives up to her name. If you like the inanity of Joanna Newsome's lyrics but can't handle her voice this is the girl for you. She is sweet but by no means sappy, and she's quite simply bonkers. Everyday songs of everyday things full of bizarre little analogies that are still close enough to home to be moving, and a bit of Japanese. Lovely.

Do you remember Lightyear? A last minute addition to the festival, they've reformed for one brief tour and have been persuaded to play the barn before an evening show in Brighton and it's getting sweaty. Good clean ska-punk with brass and shouting, swapping instruments and jumping about, and leaving most of us reminiscing about the turn of the century and envious of the energy expended by the band and the mosh pit.

Back to the acoustic tent for a bit of Thomas Truax, another regular. He intrigues/freaks out the audience with his home-made instruments - Sister Spinster and 'The Hornicator' (you do have to see them to get the full impact), with his heavily atmospheric songs, his usual walkabout - emerging next to the lady selling bananas, and an overall smattering of insanity to make a great gig. Then to calculated strangeness with Youth Movie Soundtrack Strategies shaking the rafters of the barn, it's good to see them and their seven minute songs again after a quietish year, especially when they finish with '...Spooks The Horse'; but their post-rock shenanigans aren't as loud as 65daysofstatic. They've upped the drum 'n' bass samples, the volume, even their hair sticks out more today. They still play outstanding well crafted noise, with each instrument fighting for attention while complimenting each other on their ability to make the audiences ears bleed and frazzle their brains. Must buy earplugs.

This reviewer has wanted to see Chicks On Speed for a very long time. So we weren't best pleased when just two of them - Anat (the newish fourth member) and Melissa - turn up. With no proper explanation of Kiki and Alex's absence. And Anat seems to be the only one enjoying herself. Melissa must have taken the smattering of applause to her playing a pair of scissors to heart, she just doesn't seem bothered, there's a gaping hole where the other two should be and their shouty art music just seems wank without any real conviction behind it. At least there is the lovely, lovely cute people of The Research to look forward to. With a bassist, a little keyboard and a basic drum kit they dissect their love lives into three minute chunks that make you want to hold hands with someone.

Buck 65 meanwhile, has packed out the barn leaving a suprisingly orderly queue outside. Imparting his wit and wisdom on a receptive crowd begging for stories from the eternal traveller. His recent mix tapes have deviated from the folky hip-hop to challenging himself to put his words over everything from dub reggae to some classical music; successfully. He tells us to let the dang all hang out for Dang over the Incredible Bongo Band, gives us the Ol' Time Stuff over Gorecki's strings; and plays the beloved 'Stella' before finishing with a triumphant 'Wicked And Weird'.

Regina Spektor is a revelation. Her gentle, odd four-songs-in-one spanning several genres at the same time can sometimes be a bit hard to follow, but if you let yourself get swept along this dainty woman will take you Russian folk dancing one minute and to a hazy place of downbeat old school blues the next. She plays the piano like it's merely an extension to her fabulous voice, following every nuance and sudden change. The barn is enthralled by her, the perfect closing to to what has been a fairly random Truck.