Northwest Gig Highlights – June 2016
The balmy summer evenings that we should, in theory, soon get will go perfectly with shimmering Scandi pop from Molly Nilsson, reggae festival Positive Vibration and upbeat genre-crossing sounds from the Max Graef Band.
Our Manchester gig highlights for June
Swedish songstress and driving force behind DIY label Dark Skies Association, Molly Nilsson brings our month to a heady, evocative start with a show at Gullivers on 9 Jun, where she'll be putting her gently anthemic, assuredly off-kilter twist on classic Scandi pop.
Poet, beat-thrower, agitator and all-round firebrand Saul Williams returns to the Northwest (backed by the formidable Thavius Beck) after Liverpool snagged his only appearance in the region a few months back. This time he'll be at Band on the Wall on 21 Jun in tow with Martyr Loser King, his new multi-platform project comprising album, graphic novel and film.
Meanwhile, Alexis Taylor has been busy working on a new solo EP, Piano, which sees the Hot Chip frontman wind down from the hyperactivity of his (still prevailing) dancing days for covers, new songs and reimaginations of his own material via the contrasting sparsity of the piano and his own voice. He'll be tinkling those ivories at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation on 21 Jun for an intimate – and, no doubt, sold out – gig.
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Critically acclaimed Congolese outfit Mbongwana Star stop by Band on the Wall on 23 Jun, just over a year since the release of their debut, From Kinshasha – and just before a busy festival season trailing their unique fusion sound, which combines traditional Congolese rhythms with European influences.
After we caught Glaswegian synthpop duo Happy Meals at last month’s Sounds from the Other City Festival, we're also feeling fairly indebted to suggest you do the same yourself as they head to Soup Kitchen on 24 Jun. Brilliant stuff.
And, finally, Anthony Gonzalez-fronted French electronic outfit M83 take to O2 Ritz on 26 Jun, fresh from the April release of their seventh album, Junk.
Our pick of gigs in Liverpool this month
Returning with the first output under his own solo moniker in seven years, Summer of ’13, Scotsman and pioneer of Glasgow’s 1990s indie folk days (as one half of Arab Strap) Malcolm Middleton plays Leaf on 3 Jun. With his latest work packed with influences of electronica and produced by Miaoux Miaoux, it may not be what you expect...
The Saturday session of the Baltic Garden Party – 24 Kitchen Street’s nod to both the start of summer and their new garden space – may have sold out, but being the good folk that they are, they’re putting on an extra shindig on Sun 5 Jun, joined by Manchester’s hip-hop maestros The Mouse Outfit.
It won’t be long before you hear that inimitable deep thud of dub sound systems, as the city’s favourite reggae festival, Positive Vibration, rolls into town once more, taking over Constellations on 10 and 11 Jun for a two-day party jammed full with great energy from Mad Professor, Trojan Sound System and Don Letts.
The month then draws to an impressive climax via the double-pronged mastery of Immix Ensemble and Ex-Easter Island Head at The Bluecoat on 24 Jun, returning to the site of the latter’s first collaboration to revise and extend it into a new feature-length piece, Extended Collaborative Works.
Do Not Miss: Max Graef Band @ Soup Kitchen, 10 Jun
It’s the dextrous touch with which DJ and producer Max Graef pushes both genres and limits that has made him a firm favourite of his native
This love for embracing all corners of music in his chameleonic bosom comes into its element this month, as he steps out from behind the turntables and onto the stage, bass in hand, with his eponymous five-piece band to play a funk, soul and classic jazz-infused set.