Northwest Gig Highlights – July 2015

Heavenly Records celebrate their 25th birthday at the Kazimier on 5 July, with a lineup typical of the label’s sungaze-y sound, including The Wytches, Duke Garwood, Hooton Tennis Club and Gwenno, ex-Pipettes (remember them?). They’ll be taking over the whole Kaz venue and garden and have DJs Heavenly Jukebox in tow, so expect a proper relaxed vibe – as well as a guest performance from local lot on the rise, Stealing Sheep. With the release of their second album, Not Real, this year, the kaleidoscopic pop trio have casually stormed slots at Liverpool Sound City and Field Day, as well as support slots with Everything Everything and First Aid Kit, two very different acts that merely emphasise how far reaching their sound is.

Also taking advantage of the Kaz’s idyllic island of beach calm slap bang in the centre of Liverpool is one-day festival Liv-Bcn, which for a second year running brings together musicians and artists from, you guessed it, Liverpool and Barcelona in a celebration of shared ethos. Clinic headline, with Mujeres, The Suicide of Western Culture and more over the course of the day; a showing of Pablo Berger’s black-and-white silent fantasy drama Blancanieves at Liverpool Small Cinema on 9 July and an exhibition at the Exhibition Research Centre (part of John Moores University) offering perspectives on the two cities through the eyes of artists also form part of the programme.

Keeping things summery, godson of Afrobeat Femi Kuti and his band The Positive Force have sold out the Ritz on 16 July, but keep an ear to the ground for any returns, or get yourself to the Garforth Arts Festival in Leeds to see them instead (11 Jul). Elsewhere, melting pot soundsystem Nubiyan Twist, one of the highlights of Threshold Festival earlier in the year – and counting Femi’s father Fela among their influences – reprise their groove-driven, highly physical performance (there’s 12 of ’em) on 10 July at the Kazimier.

Those of you for whom summer is one long high (what, we’re talking about being dosed up to the eyeballs on hayfever medication here) may prefer the humid meditations of The Holydrug Couple, who arrive at Soup Kitchen from their native Chile on 8 July, with support from locals Horsebeach, who captured our attention this time last year thanks to leader Ryan Kennedy’s unexpected combination of a sunny stateside lilt with a decidedly moody Mancunian worldview. Of all the optimistic, seasonal programming this month, this gig’s probably the most realistic – leave it to the audio to provide the heat, while sheltering safely in the more reliable weather-system of Soup Kitchen basement.

Good news for people who like Good News for People Who Like Bad News: American indie’s nice guys Modest Mouse are back on our shores with their first album since 2007, Strangers to Ourselves; and, as our reviewer had it – praising frontman Isaac Brock’s idiosyncratic wordplay and resilient knack for an earworm – it sounds like they never went away. Let’s face facts, though; whether the Ritz in Manchester (7 Jul) or Leeds' O2 Academy (Jul 8) we’ll be reserving some bounce for Float On.

Meanwhile, a further – proper – comeback is on offer in the form of The Sonics, the culty garage outfit harking back to their 60s heyday with the release of their new album which, though only their fourth, is their first in just under 50 years. As Gerry Roslie tells us in the July issue they’re chuffed that lots of fresh new faces are turning up to their gigs as well as the old crowd (also, that no one’s throwing tomatoes). Hopefully Manchester will give them the same reception (24 July, also The Ritz).

Finally, having seemingly taken it easy the last couple of years to tend to his new family, concert hall royal Rufus Wainwright pays another visit to the Liverpool Philharmonic on 13 July. Having left far behind him his hell-raising days – which produced Poses and the Want double bill, albums characterised by their lyrical aggression and sense of wounded wonder – and now being on his way to elder statesman status, it can be easy to take Wainwright somewhat for granted these days, and forget his individual ability to pair quixotic orchestral composition with writerly precision; a talent only superseded since, in some eyes, by John Grant. Happily, tonight is a ‘Best Of’ show – so wishes for The Art Teacher, Dinner at Eight or Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk may indeed be granted.

DO NOT MISS: Nozinja, Soup Kitchen, Manchester, 24 July

As unpretentious as they come, Nozinja just wants you to have a good time. The figurehead of Shangaan Electro – both a craze and his group, who wowed the UK with a hyper-NRG showcase tour two summers ago – the artist also known as Robert Mthwethwe has spent the last few years tirelessly campaigning for the style’s distinctive, slightly deranged sound, taking his crew and Tshetsha Boys out of Soweto to Europe and the US (You can read our interview with him on page 41.)

The success of Shangaan Shake – which saw the likes of Theo Parrish, Actress and Demdike Stare take on Shangaan Electro’s sugar-rush highs for a 2012 Honest Jon’s remix compilation – led to his signing to Warp, which now releases his debut album, Nozinja Lodge, a neon flurry of fluttering MIDI keyboards and breathless urgency, it turns out manic single Tsekeleke was only a mild hint. If this weren’t guarantee enough of a top gig, you’ve got Kickin’ Pigeon of Manchester’s finest underwater boogiedrome Wet Play on the decks. Man knows what he’s doing.