Live Music Highlights – September 2012
From righteous blues rock sisters to the most vital man in modern hip-hop, we've got your September gig calendar all sussed out
Don’t let the title of Perfume Genius’s second LP confuse you – Put Your Back N 2 It is no fragrant tribute to Ice Cube. Rather, it’s like Mike Hadreas got carried away after a few too many chasers down at Club Silencio. A songwriter both simultaneously shy and fearless, his reputation for deeply affecting vocal performances guarantees you’re in for a good greet at SWG3 (4 Sep).
Since meeting in needlework class, LA blues rawk duo (hang on, come back) Deap Vally have been busy casting their primal voodoo all over the road since forming a little over a year ago. First to succumb was Josh Homme, who invited the ladies out to support his Eagles of Death Metal. Understandable, given that Lindsey Troy’s screeching caterwaul calls too many greats to mind to be ignored (Karen-O, Robert Plant…), while drummer Julie Edwards brings the accomplished skill of a prog heavyweight. Take their cover of I Put A Spell On You; so deranged it would probably perplex Screamin’ Jay Hawkins himself. Apparently Fearne Cotton’s “well keen,” but don’t let that put you off. Nice 'N' Sleazy (4 Sep).
Having kept a low profile over the past 12 months, we suspect that Linlithgow foursome Penguins Kill Polar Bears have been in the lab cooking up a fresh batch of post-rock face-melters since we saw them last. Singer Ben Proudlock’s emotive wail might steer the ship, but they’re at their best when the distortion pedals hit the floor. With two EPs to date (both available to stream on SoundCloud), the band have taken strides with each release, this date at the Electric Circus (6 Sep) should be a fine litmus test for progress.
Following a Mercury win for their debut and a string of high profile collaborations in its wake, expectations are high for Coexist, the second album from
Maybe the zeitgeist has fallen out of love with A Place To Bury Strangers’ perpetual psych rock revival, but that doesn’t mean you should. Broader success seemed assured back when the
If you’ve read James Yorkston’s Touring Diaries of a Scottish Gent you’ll gather that headlining The Queen’s Hall with such regularity was probably an unfathomable pipedream for the Fife troubadour not so long ago. The sincere, heartfelt qualities of his first solo outing in four years (see the recently released I Was A Cat From A Book) should see to it that it's a tradition that continues for some time yet. Move quick for tickets (21 Sep).
From their modest beginnings as earnest champions of hippy-dippy Gabriel-inflected world music to their latter-day status as synth-pop renaissance men,
Like a modern day Zappa (maybe without the sense of humour), Omar Rodríguez-López is surely one of the most inventive and prolific composers functioning in modern rock today. Granted, the critical perception of his vast 'solo' catalogue has varied wildly from sheer noise (see Despair) to prog records deemed as Mars Volta releases in everything but name (Old Money, Cryptomnesia), but scratch past the surface (take this year's haunting Octopus Kool Aid, his 22nd album) and we're clearly still dealing with a talented maverick. Fresh off tour with Volta and At the Drive-In, here's a rare chance to see the man lose his mind with a guitar in a basement like the good old days (Stereo, 30 Sep).
DO NOT MISS: EL-P, STEREO, 18 SEP
Nobody does dystopian future-rap better than Jaime Meline, AKA EL-P. In Cancer4Cure, the former CEO and resident producer of his self-made Def Jux Records has turned full focus on quietly sculpting one of the finest hip-hop records of the year. Seldom has an MC sounded so increasingly furious and vital this deep into a career, and matched it with production chops. This tour marks El’s first appearance on these shores in five years; don’t sleep.