The Sandcastles Festival was quite a mouth watering prospect on paper. A high quality, diverse lineup, beachside location and equally amazing weather acting as the key ingredients for what had the potential to be an early highlight on the 2010 calendar of indie kids all over Melbourne.

The minimalist sounds of My Disco were met with 30-plus degree temperatures early in the day, with only a meagre audience braving the elements while many took shelter under the large umbrellas. Fairly quiet of late as album number three is concocted, My Disco build each track piece by piece, often taking a barely pulsating note into a beat that readily gets the feet tapping and head bobbing. This is helped largely by Rohan Rebeiro whose work on the drums is precise and confident, acting as a superglue for the Andrews brothers on guitars and vocals.

The crowd and anticipation swelled for one of the international acts Neon Indian from Austin, Texas, the critically acclaimed brainchild of Alan Palomo. With everything seemingly in readiness suddenly a range of people including the sound tech were on stage looking a little distressed, before the gear was parted to make way for the DJ decks. Palomo announced that due to some ‘American-Australian translation problems’ (also using his hands two indicate two power plugs joining together) they would be on a bit later in the day.

This bumped Architecture in Helsinki DJs into an earlier slot, and as you would correctly assume they brought Sandcastles an array of happy 80s pop such as Orange Juice’s 1983 tune Rip It Up. The nostalgia also brought out the cheese in some, with some equally vintage dance moves breaking out.

Gameboy/Gamegirl prop behind the microphones and move straight into the following set with Go To School. The now trio proclaim this as their first show in about a year while leading man Tranter followed with the on-stage clichéd banter of ‘I’m so drunk’. With lyrics that you’d probably expect from an African American version of the Wiggles, their easily danceable beats are well received by a slowly increasing crowd. As if he needed an excuse, the heat gave Tranter even more reason to be down to his jocks come the conclusion of the set.

Technical difficulties aside, Neon Indian cancelled the formality of an introduction and opened with Local Joke. Palomo moved back and forth between his slew of effects and vocal duties throughout the set, the vocal kept mix fairly low to great effect as the focus became the breezy electronic sounds which combined effortlessly with Ronald Gierhart’s jagged guitar. Sighs of recognition filled the air as the day’s most appropriate track, Deadbeat Summer, provided a soundtrack for the day of many in attendance.

Micachu and The Shapes follow, bringing yet another unique flavour to the day with their bizarre edgy art-pop. Mica Levi stands out as the creative driving force behind the band, switching between her homemade guitar to even singing while twiddling an effects pedal in her hand. Raisa Khan’s keyboard efforts are also of note, with strong basslines often being delivered in this unorthodox fashion given the absence of a bass guitar.

To the slight annoyance of the east Londoners, the two stages used for the day faced each other with little distance between them, and they were very loudly interrupted by the wild commencement of Rat vs Possum. This drew not only the attention of the main stage act, but also a large chunk of the punters who crossed enemy lines for a look. RvP, who have quickly risen into a must-see local act, again impressed and didn’t allow the small stage to get in the way of an energetic performance.

The ping-pong between stages recommenced as people prepared themselves at the main for the viral, internet extravaganza artist that is Bangs. Despite how seriously it may appear the Sudanese rapper out of the western suburbs takes himself, he possesses a very likeable personality that has the crowd laughing one minute and getting their gangster groove on the next. While he was outdone for talent by his on-stage partner on the day, Bangs left Sandcastles a hero after dropping Take U To Da Movies, the 1.6 million views and growing YouTube phenomenon.

The intermission at this point of the day came at beer o’clock for this reviewer, highlighting a great money-grabbing effort by the promoters. Drinks were predominantly limited to Carlsberg ($8) and Bacardi products ($11) which could be purchased using only $20 drink cards from which you could get no change, a very poor tinge to an otherwise enjoyable day thus far.

The Scientists of Modern Music brought a set bursting with new material from their upcoming new LP, the synth heavy tunes an ideal piece of timetabling as the day grew old and the crowd grew increasingly loose. While fragments of TSOMM set were identical to past performances, such as the almost choreographed dance moves, the Tasmanian’s are improving as a band and appear to have fine-tuned both their song-writing and live show with experience. Easy could well have been the best received track of the day while Nightmares gave all a preview of what to expect from these Tasmanians in 2010.

After Naysayer and Gilsun provided the most party-friendly DJ set of the day, Miami Horror brought Sandcastles to a close. This presented another great choice in timetabling as Benjamin Plant’s electro-pop gems, spliced with the odd cover, were just the right tonic as the sun set down into Port Phillip Bay. While the absence of their fitting light show was a bit of a letdown, the festival setting provided Plant with the opportunity to unleash some special guest vocalists, including Neon Indian’s Palomo for Make You Mine.

In hindsight, Sandcastles really lacked a bit of atmosphere, the large grassy area a great setting but left largely empty for the entirety of the day. Additionally, changes to the stage layout and drinks system would also have eliminated the biggest downers of all. But the aforementioned indie kids certainly got their money’s worth in terms of the musical talent on offer, not to mention that new found tan.

CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS OF THE FESTIVAL HERE