Monday, 14 November 2011

LMW Closing Party: GHOSTPOET & the many acts I failed to see…



IT is quite criminal for a self-proclaimed music writer to say that Liverpool Music Week has generally passed me by over the years.
Had a friend from pastures not quite so culturally diverse not noticed that I had clicked ‘attending’ GHOSTPOET at Liverpool Music Week Closing Party, as I do for most of the Facebook events I never attend, I’m quite certain it would have done so again.
LMW is not a week in fact I’m not sure it ever ends.
This leads simple folks like myself to believe we will maybe catch something the following week or in a few days when we’re not working/hungover/otherwise engaged. Before you know what’s happened you’ve missed the whole thing and will have to wait until Sound City! before we can miss a whole load more gigs we wanted to go to.
Most infuriating I’m sure you’ll agree.
Cutting to the chase; I missed almost all of LMW 2011 save for the Closing Party, held at Liverpool’s Contemporary Urban Centre, which judging by the line-up had more acts playing that the entire Liverpool Music Week.
Result.
In the run up to the event, much time was spent intently scouring Soundcloud and Spotify to try and glean out a timetable whereby I could get the most out of the high volume of music on offer.
And so as a small posse of close compadres sat and caught up over pre-drinks in the flat I finally had it down. It was going to be tight, but if we kept it together and carefully divided our time between acts, calling for some tricky and clinically cut-thrust decision making, we could see a good 15 top-notch acts.

First on my list was NEW VILLAGER, an angular conceptual art pop duo from Brooklyn and North California, whose infectious and soulful melodies on tracks such as ‘Lighthouse’ warm the soul.
But hang on, they were on at 8.30pm and we’re still at the flat. Shit doesn’t time fly when you’re catching up with friends over a few Becks Vier and Stella Cidres?


Dustin Wong: Bloody annoyed that we missed him


Never mind, wasn’t that fussed about them and if we hurry up we can make the next act on my schedule DUSTIN WONG & THE INFINITE ORCHESTRA.
Hard act to track down online; plenty of Wong on Soundcloud but no sign of the Infinite Orchestra, and they sound pretty vast so surely worth a look.
Sadly it takes rather longer than planned to get to the CUC than figured, and it appears they didn’t live up to their infinite claims, the Orchestra and Wong has left us for dust by the time we’ve even got a beer from the bar.
Damn.
EX-EASTER ISLAND HEADS are up next, but I’ve seen those mallet wielding atmospheric instrumentalists before and so decide to explore the building instead.
The CUC: maze-like
If you’ve never been to the CUC for a gig before it’s like attempting to drunkenly negotiate a maze, while a thousand other drunken people attempt to do the same in apposing directions.
 Two main rooms, a foyer, several long corridors, lifts, stairs and in total about ten different rooms with music on it was all a little overwhelming and by the time we’ve done a circuit and ended up back where we started it’s time to get another beer.

On route we finally manage to catch a snippet of some music as we wander into one of the two main rooms.
It is largely unoccupied and those who are there cling to the edges of the room in the shadows as two spectral figures cast some heavy electronic layers, accompanied by some chilling vocals.
It’s enthralling and strangely calming compared to the melee outside.
Sadly as it’s not on my schedule, I had no idea who it was so we reluctantly head back out to meet the rest of our posse.
Ghostpoet - unhappy to found he's trodden on dog poo
GHOSTPOET is up, and determined not to miss another thing we head back into the main room.
It has filled up considerably and through the smoke and gloom you can just make out the ghostly poet himself.
The music is a transfixing blend of lo-fi yet high octane, melancholic yet forceful, eclectic blend of experimental Hip Hop and Dubstep that is as much Roots Manuva in its wordsmithery (yes that’s a word) as it is early Benga/Burial in its mellow and deeply spacious instrumentation.
The only downside tonight is that his lyrics, softly delivered almost in spoken word, are largely incomprehensible.
Not a major issue for those familiar with his songs, but perhaps disappointing to those to whom the words are as vital as the groove.
Still, invigorated by actually seeing some music, I’m back on task and head off to catch local art-rockers OUTFIT.
Formed from members of the much lauded experimentalists INDICA RITUAL/BALLOONS/SHADOW CABINET/APATT, founding members of Merseyside’s cultural institute and legendary house party venue The Croxteth Lodge, this acts as a homecoming show.
Outfit: dark and mysterious
The band decamped to London in the summer where the shroud of mystery surrounding the group and their stormy, shimmering, synth rock is currently whipping up national interest and coverage.
It is clear that despite the titanic presence of Ghostpoet in the main room, and the other eight rooms of music, many people have come to see just what these Wirralites have been up to since moving to the big smoke.
The result appears to be polishing a professional sound that is the culmination of years of work on different tangents.

A group of guys who live for music and are done playing around, and are looking to succeed in making this what they do.
This is not a slight, just a reflection of music that seems to be taking itself very seriously. ‘Every Night I Dress Up As You’ is a subtly dark and sinewy track that crawls under the skin, while personal favourite ‘Vehicles’ is a shimmering 80s Synth Pop with a dark edge.
‘Two Islands’ is the track that seems to nail their colours to the mast: There’s something about it that imbeds itself into your head and will stay there for days and like the band itself, it’s got something you can’t quite pin down.
DJ Derek: Who needs a pension anyway?
After this the schedule emphatically goes out the window: RIOT JAZZ, D/R/U/G/S and THE WHIP are all missed in favour of jostling for pints of Caffreys at the bar and despite earlier claims that I have far too much to see to go and watch 80+ DJ Derek, I end up dancing like a lunatic to the incredibly good pensioner for some time.
However, there is time for one last act that had to be ticked of the scrumpled and torn up list. DOGSHOW. And what a show.
For those of you who haven’t seen Dogshow before The Kazimier’s house band are a psychedelic freak out crunk duo who manage to create music that sounds unlike anything on this planet.
It is amazing what you can do with just a drumkit and a set of keyboards.
Dogshow: spectacular workout
‘Pink Elephants’ starts off slowly and builds into a sound resembling circus music on acid, before exploding into a high tempo knees up around the shoulders rave.
The sets backdrop is a swirling hypnotic eye pattern that I think genuinely has hypnotic qualities, unless it was that hipflask of Sloe Gin I’d been sipping on all night, because it turned me into a dancing lunatic.
Engine Room is a crunked up, speed dubstep behemoth. It’s a workout from start to finish, they should do an exercise DVD or do a dance class down the local Lifestyles.
I must have sweated buckets of liberating freestyle limbthrowing and thrusting that resulted in a lost phone and finally that damned schedule too.
I may have only seen three of the 17 bands I had planned to, but it was still one of the gigs of the year. Roll on the next Liverpool Music Week; just throw the schedule out the window.    

Sunday, 23 October 2011

OTHER LIVES @ LEAF



THIS blustery autumnal Saturday night sees OTHER LIVES make their first appearance in Liverpool.
Blown over from the Atlantic all the way from Oklahoma, they are the latest in an increasingly long line of pastoral American folk rockers riding the wave that swept onto British shores in the form of Fleet Foxes in 2009.

Support band ANOTHER BLOOD are forced to cancel for unknown reasons so it is left to SUNDOWERS to warm up the crowd.
Sundowners - sixties vibes
The group wear their influences on their gaping sleeves and their flair in their, well, flairs.
 FLEETWOOD MAC and EAGLES are clearly strong influences, with sweet and soulful harmonies sweetening reverb laden Rickenbacher riffs and four to the floor drum patterns.
The BYRDS and MAMAS AND PAPAS are evident in the bands more mellow moments and there is a tight efficiency between band members, while the music itself has an uncomplicated sweetness which is warming without ever setting ablaze.

The crowd doesn’t have to wait long for Other Lives, and from the armada of instruments they bring onto the stage it is clear they mean business, and judging by the size of the crowd packed into Leaf’s upstairs, that business is booming.
Leaf is fast becoming a small venue with a big reputation, and tonight it seems the ideal setting for a band of this ilk; their setup looks perfect set behind claret drapes and under a sea of mirrorballs.
As the band finish the last pieces of tinkering a hush descends before they break into a powerful rendition of As I Lay My Head Down, a percussively driven piece with aching vocals and an almost wolf howl backing vocal that sets the spine-tingling.
Trumpet trills announce Dark Horse, an album highlight with a regal feel that remains impressive despite some of its orchestration left in the studio. Deep booms from a huge floor tom give it depth, while cello and violin intermingle to beautiful effect.
The album has been well adapted for live performances and loses little of its orchestral qualities, and if anything the sound intensified by the live nature.
Many of the songs are themed around nature, its awe-inspiring power and force as well as its delicacies.
Jesse Tabish
Led by singer Jesse Tabish, with his guitar slung over his back, hunched over his piano, they take the audience on a journey through this, evoked no better than in Landforms, with its pounding rhythm section engulfed by piano, violin and cello all in tandem.
 Weather shows the bands musicality at its grandiose best while Tabish’s stunning vocal never dwarfs or is dwarfed by the swirling music surrounding itFor 12 is the most comparable with Fleet Foxes, a delicate number with stunning vocals which are dwarfed slightly here but the instrumentation.
Second Album Tamer Animals
Album title track Tamer Animals is led by rolling drums and reverb-laden piano, and is reminiscent of early WILDS BEASTS, its sparse arrangements leaving room for Tabish’s chilling vocals to fill the gaps.

There isn’t a great deal of interaction with the crowd  – in fact Tabish seems quite shy when separated from his keyboard, and his voice surprisingly light and thin in comparison to his vocal.
That said he does have some choice words to complement the audience and express a meaningfulness to being in Liverpool which goes does well.

After a more rootsy track from their first album they finish their set on Dust Bowl III.
From its acoustic plucked opening it slowly transforms into an air-born entity, conjuring up images of dusty and barren landscapes that we are gradually elevated from and sent swirling into the air, transported somewhere between the ground and outer space.
When after a short encore they gracefully depart the stage, the audience suddenly comes to, as if snapped out of a trance.
It is a testament to these fine musicians that they can create music so evocative; never overwhelming, yet quietly impressive like a wave that swells but never quite breaks.
It is an enthralling experience that feels like a journey over land, water and space. In the air, in flight, this is a band going places.

About Me

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La Garde Freinet, Var, France
I am a qualified journalist with an NCTJ in newspaper journalism. I also have a degree in media, cultural studies and popular music. Writing, music and food & drink are my strongest passions and whenever and wherever I can, I will write and I will listen and I will taste (preferably all three). On these blogs you will find reviews, travels and ponderings from my latest ventures. My ultimate aim is to be make writing my career. And although I already am a writer my true goal is to make writing about what I love (and sometimes hate) my career. I hope you enjoy them.

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