Issue 73 / Dec 2016/Jan 2017

John Carpenter
Bido Lito! Dec 2016/Jan 2017
25
EEK 2016
DIY BREAKING
OUT SHOWS
Amber Arcades
MAMATUNG provide an unexpected delight. The three young
women play a variety of instruments, including the autoharp and
melodica, and harmonise beautifully. They’re folky with a worldmusic
edge; earthy, pagan beats over ethereal, sometimes otherworldly,
vocals. There’s a Wicker Man-like intensity and build-up
of apprehension in the pagan drumming – well in keeping with
the night before Hallowe’en.
SDTG’s superb set includes the intensely moving Since You
Were Not Mine and If You Could See, and a groovy Sugababes/
Jefferson Airplane mashup of Overload. The “angry songs about
the way things are” are also in evidence – Louisa’s sweet voice,
like honey flowing over the razor’s edge of her sharp lyrics,
combining to deliver a knockout, sneering, sarcastic punch to all
those who are part of the problem rather than the solution – with
Poem and Pit Pony. She ‘raps’ between songs – a “microphone
sniper” calling-out the world’s ills and those who perpetuate
them, bringing huge cheers and applause from the enthusiastic,
packed room.
Anticipation is high a few days later in Arts Club for yet more
plentiful musical festivities, showing that the stamina of the
crowd is far from flagging. Tonight’s one and only support act
is a band that are a stylistic far cry from the musical direction
of headliners GOGO PENGUIN, yet somehow they complement
the bill perfectly. DELIAH are, in short, phenomenal. They deliver
a minimal but well-composed set full of weighty, tight drum
breaks, tasty guitar lines and bass counter-melodies. They can
legitimately do neo-soul: no gimmicks, no clichéd disco-esque
cheapness, just raw, gritty beats and melodies with powerful,
lush vocals drizzled on top.
Before long, GoGo Penguin’s trio of contemporary jazzmasters
are striding through a rich set of frenetic, breakneck beats and
complex melodies – and the audience are transfixed. Not only
is this incredible music to listen to but the playing is at the
level of the virtuoso. Drummer Rob Turner offers a mesmerising
display of both blistering technique and beautiful layers of
texture, while bassist Nick Blacka and pianist Chris Illingworth
put forward both a wealth of expressive outbursts and refined,
tight melodies.
Plenty of diverse cuts from the Penguins’ three albums are
peppered throughout the set, such as newer tracks All Res
and Unspeakable World as well as older tracks One Percent,
Garden Dog Barbeque and Fanfares. The trio give everything
they have and seem to disappear into their instruments when
they play. Every pair of eyes in the room is focused intently on
the emotional, visual and audible trip.
There are few venues in Liverpool as suited to host the last
of LMW’s showcase events as Leaf’s upstairs space. Despite
the high ceiling there’s a real intimacy about the place, with
candles, sombre blue lighting and draped velvet curtains behind
the stage making it feel like we’ve been invited to something
special.
Liverpool’s own TOM LOW provides support, and his threepiece
band open with the charmingly innocent Telephone. Quirky
guitar hooks and three-way harmonies perfectly set the theme
for his dreamy yet uplifting performance.
CAT’S EYES themselves enter to the nostalgically sad Twin
Peaks theme – first, the three backing singers meander through
the crowd to take their positions on the stage, then guitarist,
bassist and tonight’s stand-in drummer Dave, Faris Badwan
and, finally, Rachel Zeffira. Upon reaching her mic, Zeffira wastes
no time in unleashing the devastating soprano voice she has
become known for, the crowd instantly falling under her spell.
We’ve been excited to see how their ornate chamber-pop studio
sound translates to a live setting for a while now, and answers
come in the form of brilliantly captive performances of Face In
The Crowd, Drag, and Standoff. Badwan’s vocals often croon
throughout them in the style of Nick Cave, the lyrical maturity
that has come since his early Horrors days now abundant.
Cat’s Eyes can brilliantly alternate between mournful
ballads of lost love and some up-tempo nightmare-pop, with
the resultant sound being something that haunts the space
between Arcade Fire and Ladytron. Zeffira’s voice is similar to
that of Helen Marnie, inspired as they both are by sixties yéyé
and the French chanson. A well-placed cover of The Beatles’
spooky Because only furthers the feeling that we’ve been privy
to something original, unpredictable, unforgettable
Away from the bright lights of the established headliners,
LMW 2016 provided us with a run of shows in Arts Club’s
Loft featuring a clutch of acts who we can be sure will
be bill-topping names in the future. Jonny Winship, Evan
Moynihan, Cath Bore and Matt Hogarth were our scouts for
the series of more intimate gigs – here’s who impressed
them…
A sporadic stream of Harley Quinns, shoddy sugar skulls
and half-arsed zombies are chugging their way down
Seel Street as we arrive at the venue on the Breaking Out
series’ opening Halloween weekend. Inside, BATHYMETRY
are already mid-flow within their own stream of scuzzy,
mix-and-match grunge rock. Their sound twists and flows
over the audience, and is well received by this early-bird
crowd.
Playing for the first time as a live band, the new,
reimagined project from AGP follow. Bar the odd hitch
and mistiming, they produce an intricate sonic wall of
punchy shoegaze rock. The powerful and delicate FERAL
LOVE are next to add their own dynamic to the support
for tonight. Drawing the biggest crowd of the night, they
enthral and enchant with thick electronic tones and Adéle
Emmas’ soaring and commanding vocals. They deliver an
impressive set, and leave as if it was their own headline
show.
By the time the Heavenly headliners AMBER ARCADES
take to the stage, the room has thinned a little and the
noise levels from the bar area behind us are heightened.
Nevertheless, the band effortlessly sail through their
set; fuzzy organs, gentle jangly guitars and Annelotte de
Graaf’s soft, deft croon float over the crowd. Come With Me
and Fading Lines act as the most rousing parts of the their
set. Harmonies are carried and delivered with a heavenly
grace; the essence and style of their brilliant EP Fading
Lines is reciprocated, but something is missing. They fail to
snare the attention of the room, as people chatter, shuffle
awkwardly or politely look on. Their sedating, dreamy pop
is lost on this crowd.
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