Northwest Gig Highlights — April 2015

If you thought March was pretty great, then you’ve seen nothing yet as we hurtle helplessly towards ApBRILL (anyone?). Better get some big wallets, bigger trouser pockets for said huge wallets, and better jobs to be able to afford to fill those goddamn gargantuan wallets, because there’s so much going on this month that you and I, friends, will be homeless, or at least working out how to explain to our landlords that we’ve spent all our wonga on sexy, sexy live music.

Weirdly enough though, The Skinny’s April starts on, err, 31 March. I know, I know, try not to fret too much about the quirks of our deadline system — we certainly don’t — and instead get thee to the Zanzibar Club for probably the loudest gig of both last month and this. Primitive Man’s latest record Home Is Where the Hatred Is is an utterly thunderous granite slab of blackened doom, and the Colorado metallers are always a dozen or so times louder in a live setting; so if you’re going to this one you probably don’t need to read on from here. Your ears are done for the month, pal.

For those of you still able and willing, April gets going in earnest at Gullivers in Manchester, and the terminally underrated Enablers (2 Apr). Sprawling art-rock that draws influence from the likes of Slint, Sonic Youth and Fugazi, the Californians base their brooding structures around the poetry of vocalist Pete Simonelli; their latest LP The Rightful Pivot would be in the running for one of 2015’s albums of the year so far but, alas! Remember that whole underratedness thing I just wrote.   

In shockingly unsurprising news, things get pretty psychedelic at Salford’s Islington Mill this month. First up: the searing repeato-rock of Moon Duo on 8 Apr, Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada launches latest record Shadow of the Sun. Then on the following night it’s the turn of LA-based space rockers White Hills to fry minds with choice cuts from their newie, Walks for Motorists; support comes from mates Gnod, the Mill residents enjoying the added bonus of a mere 30 second commute to get there. Cushy!

After a quiet winter — outwardly at least — the Mill’s springing back into action as a venue space this month with abandon. There’s extra ear fun courtesy of the, err, uniquely named Fat Bastard Cock Fest on 3 Apr, which features veteran post-punkers Minny Pops, Hackney rockers Bad Guys’ filthy licks and the local might of Ill, among others. On 17 Apr, meanwhile, the ebullient pop-punk of Joanna Gruesome pays a visit, the five-piece riding high on the simple brilliance of latest record Peanut Butter (Joanna Gruesome's tour has been rescheduled - they'll play Manchester's Islington Mill on 18 Sep). And then there’s Record Store Day on 18 Apr, with local promoters including Interstellar Overdrive, Fat Out Till You Pass Out, Grey Lantern and more hand-picking the bill, alongside DJs and local labels. Soup Kitchen are getting in on the RSD action this year again too, Bernard + Edith topping their typically super cool selection of Manchester’s latest and greatest.

Long respected within Liverpool but now starting to gain recognition beyond the banks of the Mersey, there's a chance to catch the local off-kilter stylings of the androgyne Esa Shields at the Kazimier on 10 Apr; while, talking of those starting to get some seriously hearty props beyond their hometown, recent blow-up, next-big-thing, one-to-watch, star-in-the-making (you get the drift) Låpsley plays a homecoming show at Leaf on 17 Apr, having signed to XL Recordings last year. The bluster around her’s entirely justified, the teenager balancing a texturally explorative open-mind with some right banging hooks.

Another act making hometown headlining waves this month are Hartheim, a surly troupe of young men whose mixture of big cinematic soundscapes coupled with a heart-on-sleeve delivery and poetic sense of tragedy tip toe a thrilling tightrope between grandeur and calamity – head to Soup Kitchen on 8 Apr to find out which. And since we’re still on local ‘uns, do head to First Chop Brewery on 24 Apr for the latest stage in Stealing Sheep’s evolution through their mesmerising kaleidoscopic pop (although if you prefer your pop enormo-dome-filling and chock full of anacondas, then there is Nicki Minaj at the Echo Arena on 6 Apr).

A couple of oldies but goodies visit the Northwest this month too. The ever-enterprising, relentlessly forward-thinking post-punk powerhouse Wire play the Kazimier (23 Apr); on to their 14th studio album and as intense live as they ever were. Two days beforehand at the Arts Club, Sir (he’s not really a Sir, we don’t think anyway) Adam Ant is thankfully back in good health after a tough few years, and approaching something close to his outlandish best, currently focusing live on 1979 debut LP Dirk Wears White Sox. It’s easy to imagine that the dandy highwayman was an influence on Of Montreal, giving us a convenient segway to Kevin Barnes and co's Kazimier show on 21 Apr.

All-a-this and we’ve not even mentioned our Northwest cover stars Errors who basically kick off the whole shebang on 4 Apr at Manchester’s Deaf Institute. Shitting hell, May, you better be planning to go easy on us. [William Gunn]

Do Not Miss: Gazelle Twin

FACT, Liverpool, 9 Apr, 8.30pm, £10

One of the more intriguing live acts on February’s FutureEverything bill, solo London artist Gazelle Twin's 2014-released second album Unflesh was visceral in its bludgeoning use of industrialism, softened by a vocal performance that both burrowed around underneath the seething mass of sound she'd created and flew high overhead. Startlingly futuristic and yet also deeply personal, it told a tale of the artist's — real name Elizabeth Bernholz — struggles with body image and wider issues with societal perceptions of the female body as a whole. A truly unique presence, Bernholz has been reticent in some interviews to predict quite how long the project will continue, suggesting that she may leave the music element of it behind altogether eventually. That gives each performance a sense of finality even on its own, each an occasion without the stunning visual work by Carla MacKinnon that she'll be reacting against at FACT this evening. [William Gunn]