{"id":29075,"date":"2013-04-01T18:10:59","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T18:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thejoycollective.co.uk\/blog\/?p=29075"},"modified":"2014-09-04T11:42:59","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T11:42:59","slug":"april-preview-some-of-the-musical-highlights-this-month-in-cardiff-and-bristol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/preview\/april-preview-some-of-the-musical-highlights-this-month-in-cardiff-and-bristol\/","title":{"rendered":"April preview: some of the musical highlights this month in Cardiff and Bristol"},"content":{"rendered":"

JAMES HARRAR’S ‘CINEMA SOLORIENS’ featuring DAEVID ALLEN & MARSHALL ALLEN, Cube, 1st<\/b><\/p>\n

Cinema Soloriens\u00a0<\/em>is film-maker and musician Harrar’s now 18-year creative partnership with the remarkable alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, now 88 years young and still leading Sun Ra Arkestra over 50 years since joining Ra’s endlessly exploratory space-jazz ensemble.\u00a0 Together, Harrar and Allen compose live soundtracks to the former’s personal and experimental films exploring the cosmic, spiritual and meditative.\u00a0 Not entirely surprising, given the brief, that this touring incarnation sees Gong founder Daevid Allen augment the duo, adding his inimitable psychedelic shades to the jazz\/electronic\/ethnographic melting pot.\u00a0 Caution: may contain hippies.<\/p>\n

HOOKWORMS \/ JOANNA GRUESOME \/ BRANDYMAN, Undertone, 2nd<\/b><\/p>\n

Speaker-rattling psych-rock and drawn-out, spacey drones whose illicit charms draw heavily on generations of forebears, the staggering debut from Leeds’ Hookworms expertly distils the intensity and thrill of psychedelic music; Velvets\/Spacemen 3 narcotic dreams, the insistent motorik grooves and washing machine guitar churn of Loop or Wooden Shjips and vocals that eschew zoned-out mumblings for an adrenalised Sky Saxon\/Roky Erickson garage-punk yelp.\u00a0 Low-key presentation, anti-image attitude and DIY fervour (Pearl Mystic <\/em>comes out on Nottingham’s excellent Gringo label) sets them further apart from poseur also-rans.\u00a0 They’re also fearsomely loud, drenched in reverb and walls of fuzz that ought to make for a visceral and damaging live experience.\u00a0 Excellent support from two of Cardiff’s finest complete a bill that’s complementary rather than samey, Shape once again nailing one of the month’s finest gigs.\u00a0 Don’t be late.<\/p>\n

RICHARD JAMES \/ NO THEE NO ESS, Sherman, 4th<\/b><\/p>\n

Hats off to Adam Jones and the Sherman\u2019s team, making excellent use of the lovely foyer space afforded by the building\u2019s revamp with a series of semi-acoustic showcases of excellent local bands.\u00a0 Free entry and a bar selling Celt ales, too.\u00a0 Ratatosk, Gentle Good, Sweet Baboo, Threatmantics and R.Seiliog have already appeared, and this time frequent collaborators Richard James and No Thee No Ess are there.\u00a0 No reason to miss this, unless you\u2019re planning on talking through it in which case you can do one.<\/p>\n

SWANS \/ XIU XIU, o2 Academy, 6th<\/b><\/p>\n

As a statement of intent, Swans\u2019 remarkable magnum opus The Seer <\/i>would be laudable at any point in any band\u2019s career.\u00a0 Coming two years into a reformation following a 15-year hiatus, and a full 30 years after their formation, it\u2019s nothing short of astounding.\u00a0 Michael Gira described it as being \u201cthe culmination of every previous Swans album, as well as any other music I\u2019ve ever made, been involved in or imagined\u201d, and its unrivalled scope and all-consuming energy bears all the hallmarks of a life\u2019s work.\u00a0\u00a0 It has coal-black Gothic incantations, walls of pummelling rhythm and noise and passages of extreme beauty.\u00a0 It\u2019s visceral and apocalyptic, challenging and questing, reflective and forward-looking, and it\u2019s remarkably fun<\/i>, gripping and intense, and demands attention across two hours like the most vital art should do.\u00a0 Bringing this work to the stage will be no mean feat, yet you suspect that someone of Gira\u2019s resilience and vision will relish it.\u00a0 They\u2019re joined in a weighty double-header by Xiu Xiu, Jamie Stewart himself celebrating a decade of making intensely personal, provocative pop music.\u00a0 Just a shame the Arnolfini won\u2019t be hosting this as originally planned.<\/p>\n

ADAM GREEN & BINKI SHAPIRO, Thekla, 10th<\/b><\/p>\n

In which erratic, occasionally inspired singer-songwriter, noted bon vivant<\/i> and budding artist\/film-maker Green teams up with Shapiro, member of Strokes drummer Fab Moretti\u2019s sideline band Little Joy.\u00a0 More Lee & Nancy than the scatological, gleefully potty-mouthed and occasionally touching Moldy Peaches\u00a0a decade and more ago, their self-titled LP is a breezy, knowing pleasure which puts the warm, romantic siren call of Shapiro’s voice at the forefront and builds subtly effective, chiming arrangements of sighing Brill Building pop and Gram Parsons country-soul around it.\u00a0 Dialling down the irony and shock-value non-sequiturs prevalent in even Green’s best work, it carries the appeal of similar duet projects – She & Him, most obviously – but bests them at every turn.\u00a0 Well worth investigating.<\/p>\n

COMANECHI \/ JEMMA ROPER, Buffalo, 10th<\/b><\/p>\n

A second home run of the month from Shape, wherein the now three-piece Comanechi make their first visit to Cardiff since a shit-kicking double bill with Divorce back in 2010.\u00a0 If you saw that, or their monumental gig with Ponytail at Tommy’s Bar the previous year, you’ll recall bare-wires grunge-punk with hardcore attitude and grimy Evol<\/em>-era Sonic Youth dynamic range delivered by a rail-thin seven-foot guitarist and an unhinged force of nature on drums and vicious, hilarious vocals.\u00a0 New album Y<\/em>ou Owe Me Nothing But Love<\/em>, their first as a trio, is not unexpectedly a fuller-sounding, more diverse listen, but the clenched-teeth, restrained Akiko is no less captivating and fun than before.\u00a0 Visceral and lean, fun with gleaming fangs bared.\u00a0 Jemma Roper’s brittle, luminous and thrilling electro-pop and epic art-rock swoon is the irresistable bait before the trap springs.<\/p>\n

DEVILMAN \/ WALTER GROSS \/ BOOZE, Buffalo, 12th<\/b><\/p>\n

NEXT JOY COLLECTIVE PRESENTATION!\u00a0 This time we team up with excellent dudes FYB to bring you this multi-headed noise beast.\u00a0 Praise be to London\/Berlin label Small But Hard and its co-founder Shige aka DJ Scotch Egg for the double hit of foundation-troubling bass and bewildering noise at the top of this bill; the tripartate dub-terror monster that is Devilman is comprised of Shige himself, vocalist Taigen of Bo Ningen and Gorgonn of Dokkebi Q on live mixing.\u00a0 Their self-titled album hums with claustrophobic, static-wreathed bass throbs, warped stabs of melody and crunching, metallic beats.\u00a0 Spooky, disorientating and masses of fun.\u00a0 Walter Gross is a crazily prolific beatmaker and sound artist out of Baltimore who’s worked extensively in hip-hop circles (with Anticon’s Sole and Pedestrian, with k-the-i??? in hyper-dense,\u00a0d\u00e4lek\/Company Flow-style duo Youth:Kill) and whose deconstructed, sample-heavy ambient soundworld has been captured on dozens of CDRs and cassettes.\u00a0 Think Clouddead, Odd Nosdam, Tobacco etc except way messier.\u00a0 Speaking of which, Booze are the horrific result of three men drinking a bottle of whiskey each before attempting to play rock music.\u00a0 They don’t try it often, for reasons which will become clear.\u00a0 Impossible to look away from.\u00a0 It’s an early gig too (7pm till 10pm): get yourself along!<\/p>\n

CUBE FUNDRAISER ‘DUST UP THE PLOUGH’: ZUN ZUN EGUI \/ BUGBRAND \/ OLANZA \/ DJ BASS CLEF, The Plough, Easton, 13th<\/b><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been to the Cube Microplex you\u2019ll know how unique it is, even within the teeming DIY culture of Stokes Croft and Bristol as a whole.\u00a0 A volunteer-run arthouse cinema, gig venue and cultural and artistic hub with a vital and all-inclusive community spirit, its downhome charms make it a wonderful place to hang out.\u00a0 They\u2019ve leased their building privately for fifteen years, and they\u2019d now like to see that all their hard work is invested directly back into Cube facilities and projects; as a result, they\u2019ve negotiated a price to buy the building freehold, and they\u2019re appealing for donations of help.\u00a0 If I haven\u2019t sold this enough, read more on the whys and wherefores here<\/a>; meantime, this fundraiser across town at the Plough on Easton Road provides plenty of reasons to dig deep aside from the cause itself.\u00a0 Zun Zun Egui\u2019s genre-smashing, cross-continental punk-funk-prog-Afrobeat bricolage is always a joy to behold, punching through any last vestiges of audience aloofness bearing a massive, life-affirming heart and fizzing danceability.\u00a0 Bristol\u2019s melting pot musical and cultural history made flesh, he observed pompously.\u00a0 Eclectic support comes from Bugbrand (home-built synths and vintage drum machines creating wonky Detroit-flavoured electronica), hefty post-hardcore instrumental dudes Olanza and a fine DJ line-up headed by Bass Clef.\u00a0 A neat summation of the kind of thing the Cube fosters so well, and a cracking night out.<\/p>\n

VERONICA FALLS \/ BRILLIANT COLORS, Fleece, 16th<\/b><\/p>\n

An inability to pin Veronica Falls down is one of their most likeable assets; far too many have tried to usher them into easy c86\/indiepop or girl-group revival pigeonholes, as if their co-ed lineup and penchant for scuffed-edged, 60s-tinged pop were enough to lump them in with this or that six month fad.\u00a0 They’re a trickier, far more pleasing proposition; a cursory look beyond the scuffed, hurried early singles – lo-fi by necessity, not intention – reveals swooping, dolorous guitar pop with a stack of huge choruses, wonderfully mordant lyricisim and a knack for recalling variously the bookish jangle-pop of early REM or the Chills, the crystalline gloom of Camera Obscura and the scuffed-up 60s nuggets of the Aislers Set.\u00a0 A second album that casually ups the ante on the first without either replicating it in higher fidelity or self-consciously ‘growing up’ doesn’t hurt either.\u00a0 Brilliant Colors, Slumberland labelmates of VF in America, do a pleasingly smudged, breakneck version of the Shop Assistants-indebted stylings the label specialises in, with blink-and-it’s-over debut Introducing<\/em> one of the better overlooked gems of its kind in recent years.<\/p>\n

JESSICA BAILIFF \/ BODUF SONGS \/ ROBIN ALLENDER, Cube, 18th<\/b><\/p>\n

Blurry, fuzzed-out slowcore a la Flying Saucer Attack or Windy & Carl shot through with gorgeous, dreamy Slowdive \/ Mazzy Star melodies and Grouper’s otherworldliness.\u00a0 Ohioan Bailiff’s 2012 album At The Down-Turned Jagged Rim Of The Sky <\/em>refines her writing and aligns the folk and drone elements of her music more sharply than ever, a place where Broadcast and Bardo Pond meet.\u00a0 Fellow Kranky artist Mat Sweet, aka Boduf Songs deals, in mordant, claustrophobic unease and delicate, glacial art-folk arrangements for piano, electronics and guitar capable of recalling Aphex, Broderick or Hebden in their quieter moments but building to ominous, fuzzy rock crescendos.\u00a0 Like Gravenhurst swallowing cloudy salt water.\u00a0 Opening is ex-Azalea City Penis Club er, member Allender, whose fingerpicked guitar and low-key, thoughtful songcraft fits in here very nicely.<\/p>\n

PAN SHOWCASE: LEE GAMBLE \/ NHK’ KOXYEN \/ RENE HELL \/ HELM \/ BILL KOULIGAS, Arnolfini, 18th<\/b><\/p>\n

Stellar line-up representing PAN, one of 2012’s most written-about labels whose singular visual aesthetic and roster of often uncategorisable electronic music has delivered a clutch of essential releases.\u00a0 Chief among these are Lee Gamble’s brilliant deconstructions of \/ tributes to the music of his youth, the jungle tape collage Diversions 1994-1996 <\/em>and the otherworldly, submerged post-techno of Dutch Tvashar Plumes<\/em>.\u00a0 These have maybe represented a swerve towards more accessible territory for Gamble and PAN alike, both making their names with more challenging sound art, concrete and noise but seeking closer alignment with the dancefloor in the manner of, say Actress or the Modern Love label.\u00a0 The same could be said of Helm, whose dense sound explorations on Impossible Symmetry<\/em> work Demdike Stare’s ethnographic bass heft into the oblique industrial post-punk of Cabaret Voltaire, while NHK’Koyxen (seen here last year with DJ Scotch Bonnet) sculpts and chops hip-hop, techno and blissed-out drone n’ crackle into new shapes.\u00a0 Oneohtrix collaborator Rene Hell and label boss Kouligas complete a storming bill, with the Arnolfini site noting an afterparty too.<\/p>\n

JAMES YORKSTON \/ PICTISH TRAIL \/ SEAMUS FOGARTY, Louisiana,<\/b> 19th<\/b><\/p>\n

Nice cosy get-together for Fence Records gentlemen past and present.\u00a0 Six albums in it’s the subtle differences that stand out and keep you coming back, and while his familiar brogue and boozy, woozy acoustic spirituals show no sign of dimming Yorkston’s latest\u00a0I Was A Cat From A Book <\/em>takes a gorgeously languid full-band tumble through the Canterbury folk of Ayers and Wyatt, a pinch of\u00a0Bryter Layter <\/em>and even, well, a bit of Van Morrison.\u00a0 Jonny Lynch’s scattered works as The Pictish Trail represent the other side of Fence, that of Lone Pigeon, where lo-fi experimentation, DIY beats and rusty, rickety synth-driven concoctions coalesce into something odd, personal and moving.\u00a0 His Secret Soundz Vol 2<\/em>, produced by Sweet Baboo, takes the homemade electronica and insistent pop showcased on tour with Malcolm Middleton a couple of years back and shines it up while encouraging Lynch’s magpie curiosity to flourish.\u00a0 Ireland’s Seamus Fogarty could be a carefully drawn-up mid-point of the two, his kitchen-sink arrangements and menagerie of found sounds dressing up twinkling folk songs in strange new duds.\u00a0 If you recall Mull Historical Society or UNPOC with fondness from a decade or so back, you should probably already have a ticket for this.<\/p>\n

PERE UBU \/ VARIETY LIGHTS, Thekla, 19th<\/b><\/p>\n

Coming up on four decades in music and David Thomas is as unique and mercurial a presence as ever. Pere Ubu’s 15th album, Lady From Shanghai<\/em> is thrillingly of the now, leaving only quizzical, arch lyrical clues as to its provenance (‘Mandy”s refrain of “I could sleep for a thousand years” is shared with ‘Venus In Furs’, and ‘Thanks’ is a brilliant, blank-faced appropriation of Anita Ward’s disco classic ‘Ring My Bell’).\u00a0 It’s a fascinatingly knotty, complex record, as alive with the possibilities of sound and the chaos at its boundaries as anything in their storied 37 years as a band.\u00a0 Comparisons with the Fall are as inevitable now as ever, but Thomas’ and the band’s focus is sharper than the Fall have been in years; Thomas’ fevered lyricism and that inimitable, sour falsetto are in fine shape, and the mix of driving art-garage, needling synth chatter and outr\u00e9 <\/em>sound-art is, at this stage in their career, perhaps matched only by Wire.\u00a0 Two songs into Variety Lights’ debut Central Flow<\/em> and you’ll spot the unmistakable voice of David Baker, frontman of Mercury Rev’s tripped-out masterpieces Yerself Is Steam <\/em>and Boces<\/em>; this is his first widespread release in around 18 years, centring largely around chunky MIDI synths, treated guitars and Baker’s familiar giddy incantations and off-kilter warble.\u00a0 A mixed bag but a decent, appropriate supporting choice.<\/p>\n

MELVINS LITE \/ BIG BUSINESS, Exchange, 22nd<\/sup><\/b><\/p>\n

Revisiting 2011\u2019s \u2018Endless Residency\u2019 US tour, they\u2019ll play two further Exchange shows in May with mammoth sets comprised of five classic Melvins albums.\u00a0 Here they appear as Melvins Lite, with the core duo of Buzz and Dale augmented by Mr. Bungle \/ Fantomas \/ Tomahawk virtuoso Trevor Dunn on bass, although just to be even more bloody-minded they\u2019re supported by Big Business, the other half of the current Melvins line-up.\u00a0 Got that?\u00a0 Good.\u00a0 As Melvins Lite they released 2012\u2019s Freak Puke<\/i> album, which while as head-spinningly diverse as their usual fare is (for the most part) airier and less suffocatingly heavy.\u00a0 Their signature treacly sludge-rock is tempered with grizzled but hugely fun excursions into desert boogie, and Dunn’s presence on upright and even bowed basses allows them to stretch out into semi-acoustic, freeform jams.\u00a0 The hardy will go for all three nights, but if that’s a bit of a stretch then this will be a neat one-off diversion.<\/p>\n

…AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD \/ TURBOWOLF, Great Hall 2, 22nd<\/sup><\/b><\/p>\n

Probably unfair to react to news of this one with surprise that they\u2019re still going, but long after Trail Of Dead\u2019s sometimes awkward evolution from untethered Daydream Nation<\/i> thrash with Who-scale ambition into more florid arena rock complexity they play a rare Cardiff show (their first?\u00a0 Other than the infamously curtailed non-appearance at John Peel\u2019s Coal Exchange gig in 2000 when the Texas authorities threw them in chokey, I can\u2019t recall one). On record they\u2019ve largely been subject to diminishing returns since three or four albums in, although the schizophrenic musical peaks and troughs and multiple line-up shuffles are less the mark of creative stasis and more the inevitable result of unrealistic, slavish press expectations and subsequent puffed-cheeked confusion when their more grandiose attempts at meeting them fell short.\u00a0 Frankly their crash-and-burn bullheadedness has always been one of TOD\u2019s most endearing qualities, and it\u2019s the same attitude that\u2019s seen them pull off storming, inclusive live shows in the midst of spotty musical output, 2007\u2019s massively enjoyable, fat-free greatest hits-in-waiting at the Thekla a memorable example.\u00a0 Whether the crowds are still there is a moot point, but I doubt the band\u2019s attitude has lessened.<\/p>\n

PHYSICS HOUSE BAND \/ RIGHT HAND LEFT HAND \/ WICKET, Buffalo, 27th<\/b><\/p>\n

Chiefly of interest\u00a0in heralding the live return of the mighty RHLH, for whom this will be the first gig since June by my reckoning, and who will headline our alldayer in Dempseys on June 15th *NEPOTISM KLAXON*.\u00a0 They’re writing and recording a follow up to Power Grab<\/em>, which is excellent news, and will be utilising the twin drumkit approach with which they slew Swn festival in 2011.\u00a0 Don’t stand\u00a0at the front\u00a0unless you want a pair of drumsticks thrust into your hand.\u00a0 My glib\u00a0introduction does Physics House Band quite the disservice, though; labelmates of Gallops and Three Trapped Tigers, they crunch similar post-rock and electronica influences together with nutso Italo soundtrack vibes and breakneck prog tempo changes.\u00a0 Gallingly good for ones so young.\u00a0 Arrive early for Wicket, too; classically tricksy math-rock recalling the much-missed Zail where the core elements (chiming and\/or winding guitars, airtight drumming) are nailed down early and augmented carefully with keys, electronics and pleasing Thrill Jockey minimalism.\u00a0 Very promising stuff.<\/p>\n

ANTHONY REYNOLDS: A SMALL SPIT OF LAND, East Moors Community Centre, 27th<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony Reynolds’ band Jack cut such a swathe through late-night mid-90s radio broadcasts that it seemed genuinely impossible that they could have come from Cardiff.\u00a0 Classic Beats imagery, crooned, string-drenched Walker\/Brel symphonies to bad alcohol and worse women and the same gutter-dwelling, star-gazing rumpled cool practiced by Gallon Drunk, Flaming Stars and the\u00a0nascent Tindersticks made them appear such an archetypally London band.\u00a0 Latterly back in Wales, Reynolds’ musical work since their demise – with frequent collabortor Kirk Lake, with Martin Carr and author Colin Wilson, with Charlotte Greig – has been parallel to his collected poetry and prose, well-received biographies and theatrical pieces.\u00a0 A veteran of Laugharne and frequent visitor to Chapter, where\u00a0A Small Spit Of Land <\/em>– his song-cycle account of his Splott childhood – had an early run-out last year, he returns to perform the work in full with an impressive cast including Richard James, pianist\/composer Paul Jones and the Adamsdown Community Choir.\u00a0 \u00a0 East Moors Community Centre is on Sanquhar Street, in a\u00a0Splott\/Adamsdown no-mans-land itself rich in history, and you can expect Reynolds’ evocative snapshots of Cardiff past and personal to be intriguing and rewarding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JAMES HARRAR’S ‘CINEMA SOLORIENS’ featuring DAEVID ALLEN & MARSHALL ALLEN, Cube, 1st Cinema Soloriens\u00a0is film-maker and musician Harrar’s now 18-year creative partnership with the remarkable alto saxophonist Marshall Allen, now 88 years young and still leading Sun Ra Arkestra over 50 years since joining Ra’s endlessly exploratory space-jazz ensemble.\u00a0 Together, Harrar and Allen compose live […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":29083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2230,458],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29075","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\/29075","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=29075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonnyjaniero.com\/thejoycollective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}