Issue 88 / May 2018

CLUB
Tim Sweeney
The Reeds – 25/05
TIM SWEENEY, the man behind the seminal Beats In Space
radio station and record label, arrives at The Reeds on
London Road for a super intimate show courtesy of new
promotion outfit Cherry Mango. Counting Bicep, Jamie xx,
Hunee, Dimitri From Paris and Nina Kraviz as just some
of the stations’s past guests, Sweeney’s standing and
reputation in the dance music scene is unparalleled. Having
completed five Boiler Rooms, and having played at clubs
like Panorama Bar in Berlin and Robert Johnson in Frankfurt,
you’ll be safe in the hands of a selector like Tim Sweeney.
The bar-meets-club setup of The Reeds has exactly the sort
of house party vibe you’d want for an event like this.
GIG
Upitup XV
North Shore Troubadour – 11/05
and Kazimier Garden – 12/05
Alternative electronica label and free music collective UPITUP RECORDS
is 15, and they’ve planned a two-day extravaganza to celebrate. Topping
Friday’s bill at North Shore Troubadour is acid house and drum and bass
innovator CEEPHAX ACID CREW, who will be returning to Upitup for the
fifth time. He’ll be joined by Scottish producer and techno legend NEIL
LANDSTRUMM. Saturday will be a much calmer affair with an all-day party
at the Kazimier Garden. There’ll be food, booze and a line-up of new artists.
Headliner HAPPY SHOPPER has recently released her debut EP Aisle Of
Smiles, which was composed as a soundtrack for a Greek supermarket. If
that sounds weird, then that’s because Upitup are the pioneers of forwardthinking,
unique electronic music – and that’s worth celebrating.
CLASSICAL
Manchester Collective: Sirocco
Invisible Wind Factory – 04/05
On the back of their triumphant 100 Demons collaborative
show, MANCHESTER COLLECTIVE return with an equally
ambitious affair: Sirocco is an African storm of music.
Originally a wind that travels from Africa into Europe,
Sirocco is the perfect name for an evening that promises
to create a musical melting pot of these two continents.
Guest Director ABEL SELAOCOE will lead this exploration
of European and African music with an unlikely repertoire
that combines Bach, Sollima, Lawes, Debussy and Crumb.
Join Abel and his band in their celebration of life, diversity
and African culture; Manchester Collective promise a night
of pure joy.
EXHIBITION
Shouldn’t Throw Stones
Alexandra Park, St Helens – 04/05-03/06
What does an artist do when he finds himself working as a security
guard? He turns it into art. Shouldn’t Throw Stones – The View Of A
Night Watchman is the culmination of a two-year project by artist and
photographer KEVIN CASEY, which documents his time as an on-site
security guard at the former Pilkington Glass Headquarters. The
exhibition uses photography, archive film, projections and uncovered
artifacts to tell the complex story of our recent industrial past and an
equally uncertain future. A visit to the exhibition will also include a
short tour of the former Pilkington Glass complex, which is not usually
open to the public.
GIG
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Arts Club – 17/05
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Celebrating a 10-year anniversary of an album is an amazing feat in itself, and underrated work
of genius Some Like Thunder is still fresh to this day. Now CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH!
are playing it in correlation with the deluxe reissue that was released late November 2017. The
screaming lo-fi beats could easily be placed within the current music scene, and would receive
significantly more praise than they did then – depending on who you ask, they were the real
stars of 2007 or just a hype band. The album has a certain darkness and raw emotion to it than
can seldom be found, moving from the ‘fuck you’ attitude in the first track to the wearied in Five
Easy Pieces. Some Like Thunder, according to Alex Ounsworth, was written as a gamble in
experimentation, and it most definitely paid off in mass.
GIG
Alessi’s Ark
81 Renshaw Street – 18/05
ALESSI’S ARK will be bringing her multi-hued solo work to Liverpool in May. Her current album, Love Is The
Currency (released late last year as her first album in four years) is a wonderful and refreshing slice of acoustic
upbeat pop that has a truly intriguing sound and presence, similar to Cate Le Bon and Whyte Horses if we had
to make comparisons. Lyrically exploring issues such as grief and healing to the backing of indie folk, it’s hard
to really pin it down. But this makes it all the more compelling, and more fascinating to see how it plays out
live. Support comes from CHARLOTTE CARPENTER and locals SEATBELTS.
Alessi’s Ark
GIG
Bido Lito! Social: Mark Peters
The Reeds – 24/05
Mark Peters
Innerland is the debut solo LP from multi-instrumentalist MARK PETERS, who has previously
performed as a member of the shoegazing dream pop outfit Engineers and has even collaborated
with electronica pioneer Ulrich Schnauss. Whether you’re familiar with his past work or coming to
it fresh, Innerland is a work of ambientronic beauty that chimes with a deep-seated admiration for
nature and thrums along with an energy that is as captivating as the landscape it evokes. We’re
delighted to be hosting Mark’s first headline Liverpool show in support of this new LP (released
on Sonic Cathedral), with support at our May Bido Lito! Social coming in the wondrous form of LO
FIVE and THE GENTLE SEX. Bido Lito! members get free entry, and advance tickets are on sale
now from bidolito.co.uk.
PREVIEWS 63