KRAFTWERK CONSOLATION NIGHT, Chapter, 1st
Cracking idea, this; part comment on the clunky and frustrating exercise of trying to get tickets for Kraftwerk’s recent eight-night residency at Tate Modern, part celebration of the legendary electronic pioneers’ work and part opportunity for Cardiff bands and musicians to play dress-up and cover the group’s music in the style of their choosing. Exact details of participants are being kept tantalisingly under wraps, though the diversity in approach suggested by the self-confirmed likes of Jemma Roper, Pen Pastwn and Local Sports Team indicates it’ll be great fun. The irony is that this event itself is pretty much sold out as I type, so you’d better be prepared to queue for returns if you want to get in. At least it’ll be warmer in Chapter’s foyer than on the wintry streets of South London.
POINO / BRANDYMAN / BRATAN, Buffalo, 4th
The first of two killer line-ups this month brought to you by the hot stuff tag team of FYB and Lesson No. 1, this one’s all pounding angular menace and twitchy, belligerent frontmen. That’s with the notable exception of Mancunian openers Bratan, a guitar/drum duo who eke out a remarkable range of sound from so basic a set up. With the force of their playing it would be good enough as a straight-ahead noise-rock assault – and when they drop their guard and swing big, it is – but the build-ups, moving through swarming drones and metallic This Heat clanking, are powerfully effective. There’s a claustrophobic Slint/Rodan air to them too. Repping for a different strand of early 90s US noise are headliners Poino, making it over the bridge for the first time (they also return to Bristol this month with excellent Lightning Bolt-via-Beefheart Norweigans Stær in tow). It’s muscular, itchy stuff, seizure-inducing guitars and an absurdly tight rhythm section holding it down behind the splenetic, gruff vocal convulsions of ex-Giddy Motors dude Gaverick de Vis. Think classic Skin Graft / AmRep label oddballs – Cows, Jesus Lizard, Dazzling Killmen, US Maple – and you won’t go far wrong. Brandyman, settling in to their further enhanced five-piece line-up, will clearly be right at home here.
ISLET / WRONGS / JOY COLLECTIVE DJs, Gwdihw, 6th
Their last UK date before a trip to SXSW, this is an opportunity to explore the latest work-in-progress missives from the Islet hive mind in unusually intimate surroundings, supported by one of Cardiff’s least assuming yet most promising dark horses and while ignoring and/or belittling the chumps playing wilfully obscure records between bands. Hi! Islet, of course, need no introduction here, short of a reminder that their dense, kinetic collision of massed percussion, ecstatic whoops and chants and shuddering, danceable afrobeat/krautrock/psych jams is one of the very finest, most inclusive things you can witness live. They’ve been in the studio with Steve Baboo of late, trying out new ideas on the fly, and you should rightly be very excited to hear them. Get there early. Wrongs’ recently published tracks widen their scope to take in prowling, malevolent psych-pop with actual audible vocals and monstrous bass riffs; if the title of ‘Hjide In Your Homes’ is the doff of the cap to Wooden Shjips I think it is, then the track itself has a focus and directness that band could utilise more often.
RICHARD DAWSON / TOM O.C. WILSON / TWO WHITE CRANES, Cube, 6th
Did you miss this? Don’t worry, we’re not angry, or even disappointed. It’s OK. Just make sure you go and see Richard Dawson here instead. Awesome cathartic folk shredding, warm, genuine humour and raw-throated acapella beauty. The loveliest man. Y’know, our bill was better, but – look, it’s fine. Just didn’t want you to miss out completely.
JOHN PARISH’S SCREENPLAY / NIVE NIELSEN AND THEIR DEER CHILDREN, St George’s, 14th
WILL GREGORY MOOG ENSEMBLE / DROKK, St George’s, 21st
In a spirit similar to that of Cardiff’s Soundtrack festival, Filmic – a collaboration between St George’s and the Watershed theatre – presents a full three-month programme of concerts, talks and films linked to three individual composers. May’s programme celebrates the work of Philip Glass, with a rare and unmissable performance by the man himself. Before that, Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory is April’s focus, although confusingly his Moog Ensemble play this month. Either way, it sounds fantastic; a ten-strong group of moog operatives recreate electronic classics and original compositions, saluting the inimitable, pioneering scores of Wendy Carlos among others. Appearing with them under their Drokk alias are Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury, bringing alive their expertly tooled-up homage to Judge Dredd with banks of vintage synths and ominous low-end rumble redolent of classic Moroder, John Carpenter and Vangelis scores. First up, though, is March’s resident John Parish, best known for a long association with PJ Harvey which has taken in two full collaborative LPs, production duties and spells in her live band. He’s also worked closely with Giant Sand, Eels and Sparklehorse, and perhaps more pointedly scored widely for film and TV over a 25-year plus career. He’ll perform selected works with support from the blossoming alt-folk of Greenlandic musician Nive Nielsen. Check out the Filmic programme for full details.
DISABILITY / ZINC BUKOWSKI / HOMOH / THINK PRETTY, Buffalo, 15th
Another top line-up care of FYB and Lesson No. 1, led by the welcome return of some of Leicester’s creeping sludge monsters Diet Pills. Disability take up where DP left off and drag that genre’s good name through a crackling, oppressive noise-rock/pigfuck mire, oppressively slow and despairingly heavy, by way of the Jesus Lizard, Melvins’ treacly stop-start dynamics and Harvey Milk. Horribly great. Zinc Bukowski’s murky, pounding noise-punk – Mudhoney, Big Black, Sister-era Sonic Youth – delivers in spades across their Nature Finds A Way In The Face Of Woe LP, a trebly, ugly, grin-inducing clamour. The supporting cast are a mere handful of gigs old but already promising; HOMOH do impeccably sludgy heaviness incorporating a kind of grungy metallic classicism befitting a band with one of The Witches Drum on board, while Think Pretty are a very different but no less impressive proposition, a no-bullshit guitar/drum duo with Laura’s powerful Kathleen Hanna-meets-Carrie Brownstein vocals lifting their direct, stripped-down grunge/punk a few crucial steps up.
HALO HALO / EXPENSIVE, Café Kino, 15th
Café Kino are putting on gigs again! Or, at least, they are telling you, the public about them. Either way, good work dudes. Following shows with Mike & Solveig (Trembling Bells/Lucky Luke alumni doing psych-folk in the String Band tradition) and Rae Spoon there’s this corker of a double bill. Halo Halo contain one of the members of Trash Kit who aren’t also in Golden Grrrls and are just as great, in a different way, as both of those bands; chiming, excitable DIY dance-pop which nods to Electrelane and the Raincoats and other such wonderful things. Debut single ‘Manananggal’ is a twice sold-out gem, all skittering drums, twanging banjo and haunted, beckoning vocals. EXPENSIVE (note caps, please) are a hugely charming Bristol trio who do glitchy, swooping Rn’B-inflected electro-pop which keeps the confidential, heartworn openness of big hitters like the xx but has a defiant tenderness reminiscent of similarly lovelorn 80s indie pop of a Field Mice or Marine Girls kind. Vocalist Grace is also in lo-fi popsters and former Café Kino artists in residence The Middle Ones, who play Wales Goes Pop this month; among about a million other arts, publishing and music enterprises she’s also in a band called Lynx Africa, which is just a fucking great name. Isn’t it?
Kollaps #3: QUEER’D SCIENCE / ANTONI MAIOVVI (DJ set) / THE HYSTERICAL INJURY / THE DIVIDED CIRCLE, Cavern Club, 16th
Unmissable sexdeathnoise bliss here, coming care of one set of Joy pals (Big Joan, who run the excellent Kollaps nights) and headlined by another. Queer’d Science, for it is they, utterly slayed for us in Buffalo a few months back and will doubtless do so again. White-hot no wave disco catharsis recalling Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, Ex Models and the relentless, giddy ferocity of prime Lightning Bolt, their shuddering bare-wire strobe-effect attack is showcased perfectly on the staggeringly great five tracks they contribute to a split LP with Year Of Birds for the One label. It contains some of the finest song titles of this or any other recent time (‘America’s Next Top Modem’, ‘Denbigh Menstrual’) and will destroy you. Amazing band. Only slightly more controlled is the chaos unleashed by freewheeling dervish siblings Hysterical Injury, whose epileptic drumming and wildcat bass fuzz are backed up by unabashed, gleeful posturing and jubilant pop hooks. It’s disquieting to hear something and be reminded of the year 2002, but The Divided Circle do, albeit refracted through Disco Inferno dreampop and the parched drum machines of early Human League; their debut recalls the dusty electronica of Hood and even Kings Of Convenience’s hushed folk at its two extreme points, and it’s no bad thing at all.
Shape presents RHODRI DAVIES / GINKO, Four Bars, 22nd
Aberystwyth-born, Gateshead-based harpist Rhodri Davies has been a leading name in classical and avant-garde composition for over a decade now, collaborating widely (Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, David Toop and Richard Dawson, for example) and relishing in the sometimes literal deconstruction of his chosen instrument (Room Harp, his 2010 installation, had a dismembered harp ‘played’ by its surroundings; Fire Harp is exactly as it sounds). Having made a name for his hyper-minimalist take on the form, recent work has seen a startling increase in volume and presence. This is particularly true of last year’s Wound Response. Drawing influence from across Africa – Konono No.1’s Congotronics‘ insistent polyrhythms, the dizzying tangle of pealing guitars found in Mississippi Records’ incredible African Guitar Box, bits of the Ethiopiques series – you can also hear the contemporary free jazz of Smalltown Supersound and John Fahey raga in its ecstatic, overdriven power. It’s a dizzying, blissful and progressive cross-cultural joy. Get there early to catch a rare show from Ginko, whose shadowy drones and oscillations are produced on homemade instruments and triggered by light sources. Ambitious and exciting booking from Shape. Get involved!
SQUAREPUSHER, Thekla, 28th
The trouble with prolificacy as a musician is that after a certain length of time you become so written about that the critical subject becomes less your music itself than your motives, intentions, your career path. Your evolution as an artist. Around the time Squarepusher released Ultravisitor in 2004, pushing his love of jazz fusion and brilliant live musicianship more to the fore than before, reviews spoke of Jenkinson maturing, moving away from the spastic breakbeats and mangled rave chop-ups of old. Once that pattern was established it became easy to assess subsequent work for what it appeared to represent, adding unnecessary baggage to the goofy Daft Punk send-ups of Shobaleader One or the strobing neon riffs peppering Just A Souvenir. Truth is, he’s as restless and contrarian as he ever was, and if the cruder d’n’b pastiches of 1997 aren’t on the radar anymore then maybe it’s just because they belong to another time. Ufabulum still has a quicksilver magpie thrill about it, seeming to borrow back from those he’s influenced (Rustie’s metallic sheen, Flying Lotus’ rubbery hiphop bounce) much in the way that Kieren Hebden isn’t afraid to filter through the new sounds he admires. It’s the sort of evolutionary spirit that keeps Squarepusher live shows brilliantly thrilling and fun even while you’re watching a guy play hyperspeed jazz bass in a laser cradle. ‘Even while’? Try ‘especially while’.
BILGE PUMP / BEARDS / THE JELAS, County Sports Club, 29th
A double dose of brilliant from Leeds with Bristol’s most joyous clatter-pop diamonds in support, this is one of the finest line-ups presented all month. I seem to have used Bilge Pump as a comparison point here way more often than I’ve actually written about them. An indication of my very limited abilities as a writer, yes, but also of their idiosyncratic cross-genre appeal and frustratingly irregular output. Tempo-shifting real-ale post-punk with a healthy prog influence, a lyrical imagery all its own and a mindbending, weirdly groovy lurch somewhere between King Crimson, Devo and Jacob’s Mouse. Treasure them. Beards are vaguely reminiscent of what in the recent past might have been described as ‘dancepunk’, but that’s a reductive and insufficient view of their fidgety avant-noise. As technical and proggy as Bilge Pump in their arrangements, the nimbly hopping basslines and defiant, gleeful yelp of ‘Take A Picture’ (“it’ll last longer!”) typifies their thrilling Delta 5 / Erase Errata clatter. The Jelas could play in my front room at 6.00 every night and it would never be too often. Jittery tempos, stream-of-consciousness call and response vocals, cooing pop hooks and a sheer love of making such a fine noise. Plus the best Roger Federer joke you’ve ever heard. Salute all of these people.
WALES GOES POP FEST: THE PRIMITIVES / JOSIE LONG / WAVE PICTURES / ALLO DARLIN’ / THE SCHOOL / LET’S WRESTLE / LAURA J MARTIN / SPENCER MCGARRY / JOANNA GRUESOME / loads more, The Gate / 10 Feet Tall, 29th-31st
A long-standing goal of Liz from the School, this Easter weekender – two days of gigs in the Gate, with a Sunday alldayer in 10 Feet Tall/Undertone – brings together your indie and your pop from Wales and beyond in the spirit of Indietracks and the Popfest weekenders. We’ll preview this in full elsewhere as there’s way too much to cover in this space; needless to say the presence of the names above should be enough to reel you in, but further down the bill lie plenty of lesser known bands to scribble in your planner. Chelmsford’s Evans The Death add a little gloss and satisfying crunch to the formula, a glammy dreampop take on indie swooning that takes the TPOBPAH route to success. Cardiff’s own Joanna Gruesome look more towards the Pacific North-West for inspiration, unable to resist the classic trick of namechecking the bands on the coolest girl’s notebook and evoking the pedal worhsipping pop of Drop Nineteens, Superchunk or Urusei Yatsura. Edinburgh’s Kid Canaveral are great, a curious but effective mix of knowingly witty Ballboy lyricism (‘Smash Hits’) and rollicking, danceable guitar pop, also notable for using boy-girl vocals that play off each other effectively rather than simper along in tandem. The Yearning are a textbook Elefant band, all irresistable Motown/Ellie Greenwich key changes and soul-pop classicism, while the choppy, punkish sass of London trio The Tuts (whose ‘Tut Tut Tut’ is a dizzy great autobiographical spoken-sung rebuke to promoters, reviewers and anyone else who dare judge them by age and gender) may well be the weekend’s secret highlight. This is a daunting undertaking on Liz and Kay’s part – putting on any gig in the current climate is risky enough – and deserves all the support you can give it. Whether for a day or the whole lot, COME ALONG.
THOUGHT FORMS, Exchange, 30th
The sound of a band reaching their full potential at the optimum moment, Thought Forms’ second album Ghost Mountain coalesces some pretty broad-ranging and admirably manifest influences – strung-out, blackened drones, earthily gothic Alexander Tucker folk, the sludgy fuzz-rock classicism of Boris, undulating post-rock and shuddering walls of shoegazey fx, crackling distortion and sugar-sweet MBV melodies. If the latter are an unavoidable reference point, particularly given their own recent awakening, even a cursory listen to the disorientating rush of Ghost Mountain reveals just how much the Bristol trio can wring out of two guitars and an entire lifetime’s worth of pedals. Elemental, immersive and far-reaching stuff, and it’s well worth checking out Deej’s solo work and Charlie’s prolific, whacked-out improv drone output as Silver Stairs Of Ketchikan while you’re at it. All good. This hometown album launch concludes a jaunt supporting Esben & The Witch; the rest of the bill is still tantalisingly unclear but signing up is strongly recommended.
GROUPER, Cube, 31st
HIEROGLYPHIC BEING, secret Bristol location, 31st
Liz Harris becomes the second artist in residence of the playthecube series, though aside from this headline performance, the secretive afterparty featuring Hieroglyphic Being and a screening of Kieslowski’s The Double Life Of Veronique (no soundtrack suggested, at least yet) it’s not exactly clear what form her residency will take. This is all so much splitting hairs, of course, as any opportunity to catch Grouper’s lush amniotic lullabies and ghostly drones live should be taken wherever possible. Her last visit to Bristol, last April, centred around the Violet Replacement tape collage, so it’s rarer still to see a set of her (relatively) more conventional material. The recent The Man Who Died In His Boat, a companion piece to 2008’s Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill, is an endlessly rewarding collection of smudged, heavy-eyed vignettes recalling This Mortal Coil, Juliana Barwick or Flying Saucer Attack; troubling and beautiful, frozen in amber. Jamal Moss’ unique, utterly boundless soundworld, showcased in a ridiculously diverse, gleefully scrappy Fact Mix from last year, gets a full six hours at the post-Grouper afterparty. There’s a combined £10 ticket available, which just sounds like good sense.
