AUGUST PREVIEW
SATURDAY’S KIDS / JOANNA GRUESOME / STRANGE NEWS FROM ANOTHER STAR, Undertone, 1st
Great way to start the month. We’ve written about Saturday’s Kids as much as any other band over the last few years, and with good reason. The Abergavenny foursome have stacked up a string of furious, moody, stylistically varied and uniformly brilliant releases, taking in coiled-spring post-hardcore, sludgy, bass-heavy AmRep/Melvins brutishness and passages of teasing, controlled Daydream Nation drone-rock. Recent 7” ‘Grey On White’ is as fierce a statement of intent as they’ve served yet, the early demo repurposed with both Trail Of Dead brattishness and shoegazey yearning. They’ve chosen two fine supports too. Joanna Gruesome’s copy of Our Band Could Be Your Life is folded down at different corners; scuffed-up Beat Happening indiepop and gooey Dinosaur Jr melodies. Strange News, of course, need no introduction, their dick-kicking garage punk, hysterical vocals and nut-tight Hot Snakes ferocity as vital today as it was when they first buttoned up the denim.
FELIX / SOEZA / MOTES, Café Kino, 3rd
Offhand, intimate and wryly confessional, Lucinda Chua’s writing possesses a disarming ability to hold your attention. Her cut-glass vocals are the perfect vehicle for them, lending the words a cool detachment reminiscent of Black Box Recorder or Woodbine when calm, or Scout Niblett when a harsher register is required. Chris Summerlin has a fine history in semi-improvised, knotty art-rock (Lords, Wolves! Of Greece), and while here his arrangements are often spare and sympathetic, there’s some beautifully interwoven time changes and intricacy which makes the whole feel like a more emotionally direct take on Rachel’s-esque chamber pop. Summerlin’s old Gringo Records labelmates Soe’za offer a more professorial, academic take on the sort of clamorous art-rock found elsewhere in this preview, offsetting prog/Beefheart song structures and twin drummers with swoonsome female vocals and some fruity French horn. Controlled chaos, trad folk and post-rock rubbing up against bona fide English art-rock.
BARDO POND / ANTA / PIRATE SHIP QUINTET / SQUEEZE ME MACARONI, Croft, 5th
This August, Bristol is basically the loudness capital of the UK. Aside from those listed here, you can find Flemish freestyle mantra-folk troupe Sylvester Anfang II, Glaswegian kosmiche krautrockers The Cosmic Dead and the epic atmospheric black metal of Wodensthrone. Too much to mention, as ever, but this line-up sits right at the peak. Bardo Pond have been a space-rock mainstay for nigh-on twenty years, gradually tempering the dense roar and rippling, textural psych-drone epics in favour of a more central role for Isobel Sollenberger’s flute, viola and heavy-lidded vocals. Given the slow burn and fried, fuzzed-out intensity of the recordings, theirs is a suitably sprawling, foreboding back catalogue for the uninitiated, but as with spiritual sons Comets On Fire or (at a push) Dead Meadow it’s best to just dive in and wallow in its sun-baked goodness. Massively impressive supporting cast here; ANTA, Bristol’s bracingly loud prog monster, all shuddering low-end and swirling psych organ, and the Pirate Ship Quintet, lesser-spotted purveyors of utterly storming post-rock with raw emotional heft and some nice black metal vocal undertones. You’re spoilt for choice this month, but this one shouldn’t be overlooked.
KYLESA / HARK / DEATH OF ORION, Fleece, 6th
BARONESS, Fleece, 14th
Nurse your volume-wracked eardrums the following night with the first of these little beauties. Southern riffmonsters Kylesa have evolved irresistibly without ever leaving the genre purists behind. Ostensibly a sludgy metal band with trace elements of crust punk and Southern boogie, their latter-day output – particularly 2010’s awesome Spiral Shadow – is ambitious, complex and accessible all at once. Two drummers and increased use of Laura Pleasants’ vocal give them a heavier punch and a more direct melodic impact, and the results owe as much to trippy krautrock or psych at times as they do full-tilt metal. It’s massively effective and should be immense live. Some quick crib notes on the supports; Hark are a power trio include ex-Taint members, so will rock seven shades out of you, and Death Of Orion are a new Bristol stoner/doom outfit of some promise. Kylesa’s Philip Cope produced Red Album, the first of three colour-themed LPs from their Savannah brethren Baroness, and the latter’s sound has evolved in a similar way, albeit even more striking; never shy of cranking out stadium-sized Mastodon riffs with the sludgy power of a Harvey Milk, the new Yellow & Green goes full-on anthemic, crisp and poppy. Its double-LP length means they retain the tricksy solos, the psychedelic and instrumental interludes and the occasional moment of plangent balladry, but it all sounds huge in a way that’s not been to every fan’s taste. Such chiding is misguided, though; edging bands like these two, or Mastodon, or Torche, into the metal mainstream, can only be a good thing. Listen to ‘Little Things’, airlocked and punchy riffs meeting nimble-footed rhythmic shifts recalling bloody Radiohead, and the potential seems endless.
OLO WORMS / SWEET BABOO / FALLING STACKS / ICHI / TOM O.C. WILSON / BLACK PALACE ORCHESTRA, Louisiana, 10th
Evolving from a Bristolian artistic collective with musical, visual and publishing tendrils, a home-made, cut & paste house style and a wide-eyed sound dabbling in rickety psychedelic pop, DIY electronica and pastoral folk, it was probably only a matter of time before OLO Worms met the good folk of Fence Records. Dabbling in primary-coloured electronica, wide-eyed indie pop and folky melodies, they can recall the Beta Band, Hot Chip or Animal Collective – names dropped so frequently and so, so, unjustly that you never want to hear them again – the joy of their approach is in spotting the joins, the way they arrive at hints of familiar bands quite by accident. In doing so they fit in with a Bristolian tradition of genre-hopping unpop explorers like SJ Esau or even Safetyword. After a few teasers, their debut full-length Yard Is Open is on the starting grid, and launches here with help from our own Sweet Baboo, twitchy post-hardcore trio Falling Stacks and Bristol-via-Japan one man band Ichi, a kind of Fisher Price Cornelius warping tape loops, percussion, found sound and vocal snippets into something strange and unique. No map here, then, and all the better for it.
ELZHI / METABEATS / DJ JAFFA, Moon Club, 16th
As far as I knew at the time, first time I’d heard Elzhi was last year’s Elmatic. The sort of release guaranteed to turn heads and provoke reactions, it was (as name suggests) a homage to Nas’ classic Illmatic, but with a crucial, important twist. Hiring a full live band to recreate Nas’ beats, the Detroit MC kept the titles but spun his own intricate, dynamic verses on top, simultaneously tipping the cap to his inimitable forbear and clearing a path through the chaff for himself. This was no rookie fluke; turns out Elzhi has a decade plus of form, not least a three-album stint with the sporadically brilliant Slum Village. A reputation as a ‘rapper’s rapper’ and spotty, stop-start solo career left him something of an underdog – 2008’s the Preface, with genius MC/producer and Slum Village alumnus Black Milk remains his only ‘true’ solo effort to date – but he’s a fiercely intelligent, serious-minded storyteller, a spry wordsmith and a compelling raconteur, and spirit like his endures. The Moon’s er, intimate surroundings are just right for this sort of thing. Don’t miss out.
SCRITTI POLITTI, Thekla, 17th
Scritti played Newport’s ‘Busk On The Usk’ at the end of June, an alldayer whose details emerged too late for inclusion in our monthly preview. Also, I overlooked it because I am an idiot. So here’s a belated nod to Green’s enduring, ever-changing mastery of pop, soul and the experimental margins, and a heads up to those attending Green Man, where they play on Saturday 18th. Scritti’s history is well known enough to summarise blithely as though it were an everyday career progression; Marxist avant-garde post-punk, R&B and reggae-influenced pop, blue-eyed soul-funk, a good ooh, decade in semi-retirement, a hip-hop and electro-influenced return lauded by critics and awards panels. Standard. Still an irregular live performer at best, sightings of Green and band live should be required viewing; his sweet, inimitable falsetto and hyper-confident assimilation of the political and philosophical into accessible pop forms has made a fan of this writer since ’85’s ‘The Word “Girl”’, and any set that can fit such still-fresh gems into it is always welcome.
H. HAWKLINE / R. SEILIOG / DJ CATE LE BON, The Louis Restaurant, 20th
YES! It’s Joy Collective gig time. We’re deeply, sweatily proud to present the launch event for Mr Huw Evans’ latest offering, the 5-track Black Domino Box EP on Trash Aesthetics, a simultaneous sidestep and stride forward from the tangled psych and distressed garage, home-brewed folk and fluttering tape-loops of his previous LPs. The sweet pastoral pop found bent and refracted therein steps to the fore here, reflecting the frenzied freakbeat wig-outs of his full-band live shows with a dollop of the misshapen krautrock weirdness of Run Zatopek Run for good measure. HH drummer Robin’s excellent R. Seiliog alter-ego supports, taking the DIY drone-folk and warped Caribou bliss-outs of his Shuffles EP and twisting it into vibrant, euphoric motorik pop. Naturally, Huw’s chosen to hold the launch gig in his favourite restaurant (that one near the casino on St Mary St that looks like it should be in Thunderball or something). You know this is going to be brilliant.
THAT FUCKING TANK / SHIELD YOUR EYES / POHL, Croft, 24th
‘Stephen Hawkwind’. ‘John Faheyshanu’. Reason enough to love any band, the comedy song titles on 2009’s Tanknology are no red herring. A two-piece in the classic Lightning Bolt formation (minimal clothing, powerhouse drumming, sweaty intensity) with one novel twist (guitar played through bass and guitar amps simultaneously), TFT are the Action Beat you can fit in a Mini, or a less prankster Oxes; gonzo math-rock pyrotechnics, maddeningly hooky and crushingly powerful at the same time. Virtuoso, proggy and giddily fun. Friends and sometime collaborators Shield Your Eyes employ ADHD tempo switches, math/prog noodling and gatling-gun drumming in broadly similar ways, but Stef Ketteringham’s hoarse, impassioned vocals and their predilection for detours into warped blues-rock set them apart from the post-hardcore hordes; a curious real-ale kind of art-rock where Bilge Pump and the Groundhogs meet. Puts hairs on your chest.
ÅRABROT / THE DEATH OF HER MONEY, Undertone, 24th
Full disclosure: I saw this listed on Undertone’s website last week, asked Noel Lesson No. 1 if it was an actual genuine happening, and I think it still is. I hope so, because Årabrot were nasty, brutish and magnificent at Swn in 2010 and it would be pretty sweet to see them do their two-piece doomy Norwegian clang-metal again. They make a ridiculous amount of noise for a guitar-drum duo, huge sheets of creepy Melvins dirge with tortured, declamatory vocals and chest-punching kick drum action. The Birthday Party reborn as a black metal band, if you need yet another bullshit comparison. Kaskie out of The Death Of Her Money has (hopefully) set this gig up, at short notice, and TDOHM it is who support. I hadn’t realised until recently that You Are Loved, their much-delayed second album, had come out; it has, and it’s brilliant. A refinement rather than any great sea change in sound, the shoegazey atmospherics are reined in slightly with greater focus placed on the monolithic post-metal wall of guitars. Check press for details, etc. Don’t blame us.
POINO / BIG JOAN / ROCK IN YOUR POCKET, Croft, 24th
More splenetic, itchy and belligerent treats afoot here. Beefheart/MES/Cows bad-guy vocals, explosive dynamics and muscular, flailing noise rock are South Londoners Poino’s thing, and a very fine thing it is too. Ex-Giddy Motors personnel are involved, which goes some way to explaining the car alarm guitars and ADHD convulsions of ‘Widow’s Cube’; Part Chimp, Kong or a particularly furious Oneida are also not unreasonable reference points. Big Joan will go toe-to-toe with anyone, and we’re delighted to have them play for us next month; Annette Berlin’s ice-cool Teutonic delivery, prowling across the lunging, bass-heavy grooves of The Long Slow Death Of… like a 50ft Queenie stomping on cities, is a thrilling thing to hear. Nasty, edgy and highly likely to climax in a deafening percussive assault on a metal bin. We’ll revisit this next month, be warned.
EUROS CHILDS / THE WELLGREEN / ADAM STERNS, County Sports Club, 31st
Leaving your label isn’t such a bad thing; for Euros Childs, parting ways with Wichita to go it alone in after 2008’s introspective Nashville-recorded beauty Cheer Gone and relocating to West Wales seems to have given him free rein to indulge pretty much every creative whim he fancies. And there are a lot. In the four years since he’s turned out fantastic clearing-house collections of jumble-sale krautrock, beatific Wilson harmonies and genuinely hilarious lyrical declarations (Son Of Euro Child and the Meilyr Jones collaboration as Cousins), downtempo piano balladry by turns deeply beautiful and wryly funny (Ends), the lovable moptop/glam/west coast pop hybrids of the Jonny album and some deeply unsettling mutterings from the darkness (Face Dripping‘s bad-acid keyboard curios and gumby chantalongs). He’s never released a bad record, and is never likely to; funny, touching, affecting and life-affirming by turn, his ear for melody undiminished, he remains a joy to listen to and a fantastically self-effacing, restless presence live. He’s about to release his big summer pop album, backed by Steve Baboo, Meilyr Racehorses and the drummer from Scotpop support turn the Wellgreen. The single ‘That’s Better’ is the most resilient and welcome earworm of the year. He’s at the County Sports Club on the 31st and Clwb on September 1st. Do pop along.
PERFUME GENIUS, Globe, 31st
Easy signifiers are plentiful when conveying the power of Mike Hadreas’ quivering, troubled voice; Sufjan Stevens, Elliott Smith, Antony Hegarty. The bare-bones intimacy and unflinching exploration of some fairly harrowing subject matter gave Learning’s devastatingly pretty vignettes a Xiu Xiu or Casiotone air, music as cathartic release, but the directness of the emotional impact and Hadreas’ gift for conjuring unsettling, poetic imagery remind me most of Sufjan’s Seven Swans or John Grant’s Queen Of Denmark. The same is true of this year’s Put Your Back N 2 It, another scarred, unflinching and beautiful record essaying third-person tales of suffering and redemption. The talk of Swn when he played a sold-out Chapter show in 2010, this gig – a rarity for the Globe these days, not being a tribute band – has the potential to be as memorable as it is emotional.
