ANDREW BIRD \/ WOODPIGEON, Trinity, 6th<\/strong><\/p>\nA seemingly leftfield choice to headline the second stage at Green Man in ’09, Bird was in fact an inspired selection; while Jarvis toiled away across the site, his solo songs an unwelcome diversion from his patter, Bird’s easy charm, careworn croon and deep, luxurious catalogue of undiscovered orch-folk gems stole the show at a canter. A virtuoso violinist whose early affiliations with gypsy jazz, swing and folk blues still inform his latter-day pop songwriting, his broad stylistic palette, dizzying, seductive wordplay and burnt-sugar voice would elicit comparison with the pop-baroque orchestration and raffish wit of Rufus Wainwright, M. Ward\u2019s crumpled folk-country or the tastefully reappropriated AM radio storyteller pop of Destroyer\u2019s Dan Bejar if he didn’t cover all bases equally well.<\/p>\n
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LA VAMPIRES \/ MARIA MINERVA \/ ITAL \/ MAGIC TOUCH \/ HEATSICK, Motorcycle Showroom, 8th<\/strong><\/p>\nAchingly hip LA label 100% Silk brings the party to this mammoth Qu Junktions night, with label head honcho Amanda Brown\u2019s own LA Vampires and Tallinn-via-London chanteuse Maria Minerva heading the bill. Appearing here in a full-band setting, Brown\u2019s releases as LA Vampires have seen her exclusively work in tandem with labelmates, be it the static-wreathed drones and spooked vocals of her Zola Jesus collab, warped tape-loop jams and blocky 80s FX or the submerged and heat-baked house beats explored with Ital’s Daniel Martin-McCormick. He’s here too, returning to Bristol with his slo-mo, prickly-heat drone-house epics, as is his Mi Ami bandmate Damon Palermo, aka Magic Touch, who brings a more direct, delirious retro-disco vibe. Minerva might be the most intriguing of all the turns here; her own take on the Not Not Fun house style allies seductive lo-fi dance-pop to sturdier, more modernist house and garage patterns. A pretty intense and rewarding showcase for a label that’s a singular voice in dancefloor circles.<\/p>\n
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JACK LEWIS\u2019 AWKWARD ENERGY \/ THE MIDDLE ONES \/ TWO WHITE CRANES, Caf\u00e9 Kino, 9th and Moon Club, 14th<\/strong><\/p>\nMore than merely the Carl Hoddle of antifolk, chiefly because I just made that up and it made me chuckle, Jeff\u2019s little brother gets a fraction of his coverage but here steps out of his shadow for a rare solo tour. Moving in the same tight creative and collaborative circles (Herman Dune, Wave Pictures, Kimya Dawson etc) mightn\u2019t exactly suggest a singular voice, but his L\u2019vov series of albums (L\u2019vov Swims the Willamette<\/em>, on Cornershop\u2019s Ample Play label, is his fifth) reveal a sunny, laidback and awkwardly witty pop that trades enough on the family tropes and retains a naivete, charm and wit redolent of Richman or Malkmus but offers something unique and enjoyable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
DAVID THOMAS BROUGHTON, St Bonaventure\u2019s, 11th<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s galling, in a way, that ten-a-penny mobile phone advert singer-songwriters shin up the greasy pole so quickly and frequently \u2013 selling out huge venues on the way \u2013 while the likes of the unique Broughton remain cult concerns. It was wonderful to see him play the main stage at End of the Road a few years ago, baffling the afternoon picnickers with his gloriously plummy Jake Thackray tones, frenzied violin and decaying vocal loops.\u00a0 Outbreeding<\/em> may have showcased slightly more conventional songwriting than his previous loop-heavy, improvised and processed recordings, but it\u2019s still wonderfully affecting, odd stuff; a Richard Youngs-style approach to folk, twisting English traditions, weird acid-folk, and more contemporary electronica together and coupled with a rich Yorkshire baritone and disquieting, personal subject matter. Captivating to see live, get up close and revel in it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
LA SERA \/ CASSETTE CULTURE \/ VELCRO HOOKS, Fleece, 12th<\/strong><\/p>\nThe breakneck pace of Vivian Girls\u2019 thrilling 2008 debut had an unfortunate critical echo; last year\u2019s third emerged to frustrating indifference from many, as if the abundance of trebly C86 copyists made them a worse band. There was a notable tension creeping into the band\u2019s lyrics, perhaps unsurprisingly; girl-group fragility and brittleness hid in the murk and reverb from the start, and the resultant solo projects could be seen to act as a clearing-house for the band\u2019s songwriters to work through some long-held issues. Bassist Katy Goodman\u2019s confident, direct second LP as La Sera hits the spot. In parts it tears along with the same cacophonous energy Vivian Girls specialise in, albeit paring back the sheets of noise for a cleaner, crisper fuzz-pop. Elsewhere there\u2019s luminous melodies and swooning Beach House languor.<\/p>\n
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ADDISON GROOVE, Clwb, 8th & Thekla, 15th<\/strong><\/p>\nConceived as a Chicago footwork and juke-influenced sideline to his plentiful and high-quality heavyweight dubstep releases as Headhunter, Addison Groove achieved notoriety from the off with the inimitable gonzo brilliance of \u2018Footcrab\u2019. Repurposing the bass-heavy juke form for UK dubstep crowds, the resultant hybrid came off effortless, dumb and hugely danceable. A subsequent flurry of 12\u201ds and remixes followed a similar pattern, dabbling in electro and house along the way; one such, for Spank Rock, led to a couple of suitably lascivious numbskull collaborations on AG\u2019s debut LP earlier this year. Breathless, sweaty dancefloor fun and bass-heavy filth in spades at this one.<\/p>\n
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Y NIWL \/ JOYCE THE LIBRARIAN \/ VIOLAS \/ EILIR PIERCE, Caf\u00e9 Kino (22nd) and Clwb (23rd)<\/strong><\/p>\nTAFWYL FAIR, Cardiff Castle (23rd)<\/strong><\/p>\nAnglesey\u2019s finest continue to tour incessantly as their profile justly rises; radio sessions, high-profile endorsements and support tours (Richard Hawley, more dates with Gruff Rhys) litter their diary as album number two comes together. They\u2019ve two shows in the capital to mark the expansion of the Tafwyl fair, the centrepiece of a week-long community arts festival to raise the profile of spoken Welsh in Cardiff. A mid-afternoon slot in the free alldayer (also featuring Meic Stevens, Heather Jones, Yr Ods etc) is followed by a Clwb gig where the promisingly unhinged Eilir Pierce \u2013 Denbighshire\u2019s own R. Stevie Moore, he said glibly – supports. The night before sees them blast through twangy nuggets old and new in a rescheduled show in Caf\u00e9 Kino\u2019s intimate, friendly basement; in-yer-face and loud like memorable Swn shows in CAI, the Model and Dempseys, it\u2019ll be well worth the hike to Bristol to witness people seeing them for the first time again.<\/p>\n
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FLOATING POINTS \/ ANDREW WEATHERALL \/ BEN UFO \/ BRAIDEN, Clwb, 22nd<\/strong><\/p>\nBlinding line-up courtesy of Electronic Goods and Red Bull Music Academy, topped off by nu-house wunderkind Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points. The Londoner’s diverse and frequent releases via his Eglo imprint have moved almost imperceptibly across the map, from the gloriously symphonic downtempo electro-soul like ‘Love Me Like This’ or the spacey, smudged disco ecstacy of ‘Vacuum Boogie’ to the fidgety abstractions of ‘Danger’. Think the psychedelic, jazz-inflected bass music of Flying Lotus rerouted via Detroit and Chicago. Supporting cast is pretty solid too \u2013 just Hessle Audio mainman Ben UFO and Rinse FM’s Braiden \u2013 oh yeah, and the masterful Andrew Weatherall. Expect the first two to chart a course through garage, funky, dubstep and electro; expect the unexpected from the moustachioed interloper.<\/p>\n
THE SCHOOL \/ TOYPOP \/ MOUSE DEER, 10 Feet Tall (23rd) and Croft (6th)<\/strong><\/p>\nIn which Cardiff\u2019s finest pop combo, fresh from a support tour with reanimated C86 janglers the Primitives, take a deserved victory lap of the country in celebration of their utterly lovely second album Reading Too Much Into Things Like Everything<\/em>. A refinement rather than a reinvention, it once more takes lyrical and musical inspiration from classic girl group pop, with Spector and Bacharach arrangements, brassy indiepop choruses, deft hints of new wave and wistful Francophone longing. They\u2019re a proper gang these days, and this giddy enthusiasm shines through every note. Pick of the handpicked supports here is Mouse Deer, hopelessly named but toting deceptively complex, sunny pop of a Field Music hue with some very nifty melodic twists. Afterparty chaos will ensue following the Cardiff gig. Do yourselves a favour and celebrate with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hello.\u00a0 Seemed like a fairly low-key June when I first drafted this preview, but it’s blossomed nicely; the absence of more high-profile stuff means more room to highlight some of the more far-flung recommendations for the month ahead.\u00a0 Quick note to also acknowledge Tera Melos,\u00a0Wormrot and the Peyote\/Hangmen show in Cardiff, the Sick Livers\/Hip Priests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":20413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,458],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","category-preview"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}