Northwest Gig Highlights – December 2014

December’s a funny time of year for gigs. Not in the sense that everyone’s walking between venues holding their sides with irrepressible mirth; more that, with your man Jesus lording it over everyone with the fact his birthday’s on the way, there isn’t much of a look-in for anyone else. Fear not, though, because a smattering of pre-Christmas treats are in store for those wide-eyed in disbelief at still somehow having some shrapnel in their pockets despite the big festive consumerist drive they’ve been bullied, peer-pressured and shamed into. (Merry Christmas everyone!)

It was pleasing to hear that the soaring dark pop of duo Bernard + Edith recently found a home courtesy of the respected Bella Union label. They’re subsequently releasing new single Wurds with a big ole launch for it at the Eagle Inn in Salford (3 Dec), though we presume they won’t be smashing a big bottle of champagne into it. Maybe they will. Meanwhile, Francis Lung finally comes to bloom after a couple of years spent planting new seeds following the demise of his old band WU LYF. His Sacred Trinity show (18 Dec) sees his delicate balladry bolstered by a full live band for the first time, which should hopefully release the richness of his studio recordings to their full extent.

Sticking with the 18th and also Manchester, Soup Kitchen team up with Interstellar Overdrive for their third annual night of psychedelic Christmas mayhem. Psychmare Before Christmas is headlined this year by London duo The KVB, who place their hazy shoegaze aesthetic atop minimalist electronic beats. A few days earlier at Islington Mill, Samarbeta Records bear the fruits of their labour with an album release party for Anonymous Bash (12 Dec), a series of recordings made during This Heat drummer Charles Hayward’s month-long residency at the space earlier in the year. Mill favourites including Gnod, Locean, Tombed Visions and 2 Koi Carp all popped up during Hayward’s initial stay, and expect them to do so again as the record is performed live in full.

A couple of remarkable groups come to Liverpool this month, in the form of Staff Benda Bilili and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (more on the latter below). The former appear at the Philharmonic Hall on 6 Dec as part of DaDaFest, a three-month festival across the city showcasing international talent in Disability and Deaf Arts, and are surely one of the most anticipated acts of the season, their reputation preceding them; a band of street musicians that formed around the grounds of Kinshasa zoo, the Congolese collective arrived at global fame a few years back. They’ve had a bit of a turbulent time of it recently – with speculation in the press as to how that attention was being handled, and two key members of the group quitting – but we’re sure the band’s roots in peaty, chunky rumba and their volition in documenting the extraordinariness of ordinary daily experience will still ring true.

Those in the mood for some down-home storytelling and guitar work may want to look to Jesse Malin at The Kazimier on 3 Dec; though less in the spotlight than he was in his mid-2000s glory days – The Fine Art of Self Destruction (2003) is as fondly remembered by sensitive punks and early noughties alt.country acolytes as a smudged journal, still with the faintest tint of perfume – he’s been continuing to wear his heart on his leather-clad sleeve ever since. The ex-punk’s spikier days – first fronting D Generation, and then tearing up New York with Ryan Adams – may be behind him, but the sentiment still hugs his huffed, uncomplicated songs; and though he’s not put out a record for a while, his love of the rock club – he owns a couple of New York’s finer grubby drinking holes himself – is evident from his continued touring. Further honest songwriting comes from Bill Ryder-Jones (joined by Saint Saviour) – also at The Kazimier, on 13 Dec – while James Blackshaw ditches the poetics entirely for his silvery, Tacoma-influenced instrumental guitarwork at what will likely be a spellbinding gig – perhaps edging into seance territory – at Leaf on 8 Dec. (He’ll be joined by Yorkshire-born wandering spirit Mike Chapman.)

A couple of heavyweight hip-hop shows rumble through the region within a few days of each other. First up, Run the Jewels come to Manchester’s Academy 2 (14 Dec), with the pairing of veteran MCs Killer Mike and El-P combining together with spine-tingling precision on October’s Run the Jewels 2. These winter shows mark their first time in the UK as a unit. Then, at the O2 Academy in Liverpool on 14 Dec, Method Man & Redman take to the boards. Method Man of course barely needs introducing as one part of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan, while Redman (14 Dec) came to the fore as part of rap supergroup Def Squad; however the two have worked together for 20 years and been pals for longer than that, both seemingly able to get the most out of each other even when they’ve been in a creative lull elsewhere.

Last up pre-Christmas before we drown amid turkey, nutloaf mince pies and pudding is one of the original dons of grime, Wiley, playing Gorilla in Manchester to support his tenth and possibly final album Snakes & Ladders (19 Dec). Initial sessions for the record were scrapped in February after the producer felt they weren’t truly epic; that’s something that the resultant record most definitely is, and with the Bow-born artist possibly bowing out, these final live shows are set to be nothing if not full-blooded.

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DO NOT MISS
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
The Kazimier, Liverpool, 9 Dec

Eight brothers, four trumpets, two trombones, one baritone: this is Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a Chicagoan force to be reckoned with, as promised by the name of their current jaunt – ‘The Bad Boys of Jazz Tour.’

The sons of jazz musician and past Sun Ra Arkestra trumpeter Phil Cohran, their hot-blooded brewings of hip-hop, rock, calypso and beyond have taken them through several albums and tours with artists as storied and varied as Wu-Tang Clan, Prince and Femi Kuti; their sound really breaking through with their self-titled LP for Honest Jon’s in 2009. Perhaps what most impresses on the live stage is that that the physicality of their shows never compromises their consummate musicianship; this manages to be loud, chunky, heavy-sweating stuff that retains the lightness of touch of the virtuoso.

There are many reasons for seeing this band: for the infectious endorphin rush of watching, and participating in, such a bodily performance; for the heaviest boogie you’re likely to find in Liverpool this side of Christmas; and, if the idea of being on the road with seven of your siblings strikes horror deep into your very core, to watch and learn from some true pros. [Laura Swift]