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Issue 53 / March 2015

March 2015 issue of Bido Lito! Featuring HOOTON TENNIS CLUB, A LOVELY WAR, MOTHERS, TUNE-YARDS, OPEN MIC CULTURE and much more.

March 2015 issue of Bido Lito! Featuring HOOTON TENNIS CLUB, A LOVELY WAR, MOTHERS, TUNE-YARDS, OPEN MIC CULTURE and much more.

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14<br />

Bido Lito! <strong>March</strong> <strong>2015</strong><br />

VFor Threshold<br />

SECRET SOUNDS<br />

feat. Natalie McCool / D R O H N E / Silent Cities<br />

Words: Josh Potts / @joshpjpotts<br />

Hark, what beast comes to drag our neighbours through the gates of<br />

spring into joyous pastures? Why it’s only the fifth annual THRESHOLD<br />

FESTIVAL, an event that’s becoming something of a trendsetter in<br />

Liverpool, a three-day celebration of our smartest grassroots creatives<br />

and an excuse to legitimately knock back enough craft beer to<br />

permanently curl a moustache. Last year’s sci-fi theme had its moments,<br />

but this time the organisers are letting the line-up speak for itself,<br />

broadening the reach of their enviable tendrils to ensure our dynamic<br />

locality is more present than ever. This home-cooked confection of<br />

music, art and performance, spread across half a dozen venues in the<br />

Baltic Triangle, announces the festival season before anyone’s had the<br />

chance to shake off those winter blues. So start shaking! Here are a few<br />

of the highlights you can look forward to . . .<br />

MUSIC<br />

With a mightily impressive roster of local artists packed in to the<br />

bill, headline status at Threshold V falls to a few pesky out-of-towners.<br />

AKALA (pictured) is sure to be a major draw for the casual urbanite and<br />

anyone else with a penchant for smart, tongue-boggling hip hop. Having<br />

long ago trashed the label of Ms Dynamite’s brother with his emotional<br />

intelligence and amazing freestyle skills, the London-born rapper is<br />

now a pillar of the UK scene. His 2013 album The Thieves Banquet was a<br />

cogent attack on the evils of dictatorship and political hypocrisy without<br />

sacrificing his famed lyricism, while his follow-up, a graphic novel/<br />

performance hybrid, was nothing less than a trawl through entire aeons<br />

of societal corruption.<br />

Another big name making their mark will be NUBIYAN TWIST, a<br />

twelve-piece mash-up of musicians and DJs walking a thin stylistic<br />

tightrope through jazz, Latino and Caribbean-inflected funk. Fronted by<br />

the timelessly effervescent Nubiya Brandon, their raison d’être borrows<br />

from so many corners of world music that you’d be forgiven for checking<br />

your passport stamps before turning up. Luckily, Nubiyan Twist are just<br />

too damn to be ignored, since they’re practically unable to turn in a show<br />

that doesn’t leave people grinning like loons. Of course, if you’re a true<br />

regional patriot, LIMF Academy Ones To Watch SUB BLUE and SOPHIA BEN<br />

YOUSEF will be knocking out their neo-soul arsenal as they’re fixed ever<br />

closer by the bright eyes of stardom, just as ETCHES and MUTANT VINYL<br />

hope to further their rise to the top of the city’s musical chain. Elsewhere,<br />

VYNCE, BLUE SAINT and the uncategorisable PADDY STEER offer depth and<br />

assurance to a busy programme.<br />

Words: Josh Potts / @joshpjpotts<br />

VISUAL ARTS<br />

Because bashed livers and eardrums are not everything in this world,<br />

Threshold V is giving our peepers a bit of a treat, too. The new Liverpool<br />

Craft Beer space will be hosting work from some of our finest local<br />

artists, including ROBERT FLYNN’s ongoing Metamorphosis series. Having<br />

dabbled in a number of solo and group shows in the past, Flynn’s current<br />

muse resides in our modern anxiety with body image and the thankless<br />

quest for perfection. His photographs tap into the surreal quality of<br />

transcending one’s physical form as the demons of insecurity nip at our<br />

backs. Meanwhile, RADAR COMMUNICATION, or Mark Chapman to the<br />

alias adverse, will be returning to exhibit his latest digital collages. As<br />

Flynn interprets hidden desires of the mind, Chapman turns his attention<br />

outward, finding accidental beauty in what many would consider prosaic.<br />

Inspired by creative renovation in warehouses and bygone industrial<br />

spaces – a perfect match, then, for Threshold’s pop-up mentality – his art<br />

is swamped with texture, symmetry, and abstraction, filtering materials<br />

through the eyes of someone in love with urbanity. For the Threshold<br />

crowd, that might just be a lens we already share. Heartily recommended.<br />

FILM<br />

As if Threshold’s chest-beating wasn’t loud enough, it’s roped in<br />

someone else to do it for them. Brett Gregory’s third documentary in<br />

his Beyond… collection, Liverpool – Beyond The Beatles, aims to hold a<br />

spotlight to Liverpool’s music scene as it stands today, combining talkinghead<br />

interviews, lush panning shots of that distinctive waterfront, and<br />

discussions about whether bands are still trying to live up to You Know<br />

Who. Rest assured that the soundtrack, video footage and interviewees<br />

will all be top notch (look out for Bido Lito!’s very own Craig G Pennington<br />

in full pontification mode). After its well-received premiere, those who<br />

missed out can expect a portrait of the familiar from the inside, spliced<br />

with the same affection Serious Feather Productions imparted on<br />

Manchester and Iceland in other cinematic scrapbooks.<br />

Threshold Festival takes place between 27th and 29th <strong>March</strong> across a<br />

variety of venues in The Baltic Triangle. Full line-up and ticketing details<br />

can be found at thresholdfestival.co.uk.<br />

What do you get when you combine an acclaimed solo artist,<br />

a pair of ambient electro-heads, and one of the most purely<br />

gorgeous songwriters to come out of Liverpool in a decade? Fuck<br />

knows. But this collaboration, taking place in an undisclosed<br />

venue, has got us seriously excited. Since our hands would be<br />

hacked off and fed to monkeys if we said any more, we asked<br />

NATALIE MCCOOL if she could spill the proverbial beans.<br />

Bido Lito!: Obviously there’s an element of secrecy<br />

surrounding exactly what’ll go down at this gig, but can you<br />

give us any clues? Will it be improvised or rehearsed diligently<br />

beforehand?<br />

Natalie McCool: An element of both, I think. We'll be having<br />

a few rehearsals to lay the groundwork for sure, but it's always<br />

good to keep things fresh<br />

BL!: When did you first come up with the idea of<br />

collaborating?<br />

NMcC: It was Sally Nulty who initially approached me to<br />

collaborate with D R O H N E and I thought that would be a<br />

really great experience. Then [festival organisers] Chris and<br />

Kaya approached myself and Simon [Madison, Silent Cities] –<br />

they heard about our collaboration on the Daydream track and<br />

really wanted us on board for Threshold, too.<br />

BL!: I’m interested to know what can be gained from<br />

combining all of your different styles – D R O H N E, for example,<br />

are quite separate from yourself on the musical spectrum.<br />

NMcC: I think collaboration is really important – I actually<br />

think we are all very different from each other and I think that<br />

will really work. It's good to experiment as much as possible<br />

outside of the sphere of your own project, and to be versatile in<br />

that way. I believe it opens more doors of possibility.<br />

BL!: Would you agree that Threshold’s laid-back, communal<br />

atmosphere is something special for performers to witness?<br />

NMcC: Threshold is a fantastic event – it's unique because<br />

it combines arts with music, which attracts quite a wide<br />

audience. Last year's show was brilliant – I played solo, which is<br />

something I really enjoy because it enables me to connect with<br />

the audience in a different way. There was a great atmosphere,<br />

which goes across all the Threshold events I've attended.<br />

BL!: In the spirit of the piece, tell us a secret…<br />

NMcC: I used to speak about myself in the third person when<br />

I was a baby, calling myself “the baby”. When I woke up in my<br />

cot I would stand up and shout down the stairs: "COME AND<br />

GET THE BABY!"

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