Northwest Gig Highlights – April 2016

It’s a seemingly less busy month than usual – perhaps to do with an abundance of festivals hoovering up so many great acts (for details, see our Festival Watch column) and that bank holiday sandwich effect. But there’s still a few choice gigs to keep April ticking over nicely; and, of course, various events to mark Record Store Day on 17 Apr – more on that later.

First on our radar are sonic adventurers Animal Collective. Instagram has been littered with photos and videos of the Baltimore crew’s psyche-tastic looking stage set these last few weeks, and we’re excited to get lost in the correspondingly prismatic dimensions of new album Painting With at Manchester’s O2 Ritz on 13 Apr. Where many thought their 2013 LP Centipede Hz failed to connect in the way Strawberry Jam and – especially – the technicolour Merriweather Post Pavilion had, it seems this tenth (tenth!) outing is going down a treat.

Also joining us this month are Future of the Left, who come to Liverpool Arts Club on 20 Apr. Articulate and outspoken frontman Andy Falkous has earned the group a reputation for sharp humour and barb since their inception in 2005, though as evidenced in our interview with Falco, new record The Peace and Truce of Future of the Left sees them on somewhat more cautious form. They’ll probably still tear your head off live, mind.

And while you’d be hard pushed to take things up a notch from a Future of the Left gig, the next night in Salford might just turn that knob to 11 as Canadian post-punks Ought hit Islington Mill on 21 Apr. Punchy, savvy and venomous live, they’re a perfect fit for the Mill’s atmospheric live space.

Handily, you can recover the next day in a wash of textures from Money’s new album. The Manchester band’s long-awaited return to their home turf at the Ritz on 22 Apr should be a special show, and it’ll be interesting to hear how the intimacies of Suicide Songs translate to this somewhat cavernous venue (though those who’ve followed them since their early days and looked forward to them deservingly filling big stages can bask in the shared glory).

Other local darlings on the rise are Bathymetry, the Manchester/Liverpool-straddling band fresh off the back of some support slots for The Jesus and Mary Chain and taking centre stage at Liverpool Buyers Club on 16 Apr (and if you miss them, they're there again on 7 May!). Do their sounds run as deep as the waters of their name? (Bathymetry is the study of the depth of lake or ocean floors.) You’ll have to head along to find out. And as if you hadn’t got the earplugs out enough this month, things reach a decidedly visceral pitch as 65daysofstatic step up to the plate. The storied Sheffield band’s mighty instrumental force found bracing new territory on 2015’s Wild Light, which bristled with – as our reviewer had it – “scattershot mathy energy” and “beatific noise.” Experience it live at Liverpool O2 Academy on 28 Apr.

Finally, the night after that, you’ve something of a cult name: Chicago’s Russian Circles bring their post-rock, post-metal, post-everything ’scapes to Liverpool's suitably industrial Constellations (29 Apr). 

Do Not Miss: Record Store Day 

Various venues, Liverpool and Manchester, 16 April 

As to those Record Store Day activities: we’re sure there’s more to be announced (it’s always the case), but for now our highlights in Manchester include another all-dayer of live music at Soup Kitchen, an after party at the Deaf Institute with sets from local bands Horsebeach, Blooms, Move and Sprinters and DJs from Piccadilly Records and Family Tree, and a R.A.D. double screening of High Fidelity and Empire Records the day after at Gorilla. In Liverpool, Small Cinema will be hosting a RSD short film night celebrating the Liverpool music scene and beyond.

To help make the most of the day, get the full rundown in our Record Store Day events guide.