Issue 44 / May 2014

10
Lose
Yourself
In...
LIVERPOOL SOUN
Bido Lito! May 2014
Words: Sam Turner / @samturner1984
This month, our city will once again be transformed. For one
weekend we won’t think about
family rows, rubbish
collections, essay deadlines, kebab shop
opening times or football (as much):
LIVERPOOL SOUND CITY
is set to
take over your life. The
musicloving
community
will emerge on
to the city
streets
like
the
undead;
car parks will
be meccas to this
year’s indie darlings,
the Anglican cathedral will
become, well, a cathedral, but
to KODALINE
instead of The Almighty, and every venue
and almost-venue will become alive
with the best music
on the planet. Who’s excited?
It’s our duty at Bido Lito! to help you traverse these new
musical avenues and alleyways. We’ve cast our eye over this
year’s glittering roll call of artists and picked out some acts that
may transform your weekend; hell, some of them may even
transform your life!
First off, the marquee names this year offer variety, intrigue and
fantastic CVs: we will see ALBERT HAMMOND JR’s return, as The
Strokes axeman comes to these shores in support of a third solo
release. Last year’s AHJ EP was of a typically high standard, even
if the records produced in his day job aren’t to everyone’s tastes
(nowadays at least). An elder statesman in the post-indie band
solo stakes, GRUFF RHYS has been relentless since the inimitable
Super Furry Animals went on a hiatus. He comes to Sound City on
the back of a typically innovative project: American Interior is an
album, film, book and app about Gruff’s “investigative concert tour”
tracing an ancestor who sailed to America in 1792. Another artist
bidolito.co.uk
Factory Floor
who’s charting his own solo course apart from his regular band is
Doves frontman JIMI GOODWIN. Doves fans can rest easy though,
as Goodwin’s debut record Oldludek
(released on Heavenly
Records) doesn’t stray too far from his usual path – unless you’re
still a staunch Sub Sub fan. JON HOPKINS sails to Liverpool (well,
gets a bus probably) to further investigate the inner-workings of
electronic music, which we’re fairly ecstatic about. The Londonbased
producer, famous for working with Coldplay, Brian Eno and
David Holmes, plays Nation on Thursday (1st May).
Back in December The Kazimier saw what it was like to
reverberate to swathes of industrial electronica courtesy
of FACTORY FLOOR, and they (and us) can look forward
to the same thing all over again on Friday (2nd May).
The post-1am slot will be perfect for the latenight
rave element in this year’s Sound City
crowd, though if you prefer something
a little more visceral then Belfast’s
AND SO I WATCH YOU FROM AFAR
could be just the tonic for
you. Athletic and supple
in their performance,
the quartet bring a
more considered edge to
the post-rock genre, and their
reputation precedes them. And
on the subject of innovators, the
RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP continue the
trailblazing work of Delia Derbyshire and
Daphne Oram which began in the BBC’s
Maida Vale studio, bringing all of their
audio manipulation to life in a stunning
live context.
Further scientific explorations into
electronica that will be greeted with
open arms by a large section of the
city’s music fraternity will come
from MIXHELL, AKA former
Sepultura drummer Igor
Cavalera and his wife
Laima
Leyton.
The Brazillian
duo
spearhead
the
Gruff Rhys
international
contingent at this year’s
festival with their ultraaccomplished
musicianship
and electro grooves. Staying
below the Equator, Kiwi COURTNEY
BARNETT has an early contender for track
of the year in History Eraser, and the garage rockstress will be
cashing in on her anthem at The Kazimier on Thursday night.
Fellow antipodeans THE CREASES are a typically obscure diamond
unearthed by the Sound City bookers. But with the Brisbanites’
signature on a Rough Trade contract, and a litany of jangly guitar
pop gems, they won't remain obscure for long. If obscure is
your bag, then check out the indigenous folk stylings reimagined
by NOZINJA. As part of Shangaan Electro,
the South African artist, producer and DJ put on
one of the shows of the year last summer in
The Kazimier Garden. For Sound City he is
back to bring the African street party
to The Kazimier club.
If you were having a street
party you wouldn’t invite
Brighton
noiseniks
ROYAL BLOOD. The
garage rock duo (yes,
another one of those) have
earned their place set apart
from a saturated market with
tumbling onslaughts of precision
racket: bring your earplugs to The Garage
on Friday night when they’re in full flow.
THE WYTCHES are another set of rockers from
the English Riviera bursting on to our radio
waves with little manners. The neo-grungers
have proved themselves an exciting prospect
with tunes in the shape of brutal singles
Gravedweller and Beehive Queen. Slightly
more unassuming but no less exciting
are WOLF ALICE, a North London
foursome dealing in uplifting
indie rock which fuses some
of the structures of grunge
with a folkie aesthetic.
JUNGLE are another
band with little
respect
for
genre
boundaries:
enigmatic
duo J and T made
waves with the superb
video for Platoon last year.
Hopefully they will bring sixyear-old
break-dancing star Terra