Northwest Gig Highlights – August 2013

Early offerings this summer include a showcase from Brighton-based audiovisual promoter The Outer Church at Manchester’s Kraak Gallery on 3 Aug. The outfit's 28-track double LP, released 5 Aug by Manc imprint Front & Follow, will feature unreleased tracks from numerous OC alumni – including movie-sampling connoisseur VHS Head, who tops the bill on the 3rd supported by slurtronic folk proponent Kemper Norton and – wait for it – The Geography Trip DJs, among others.

Down at the other end of the Ship Canal, fresh-faced skiffle boys The Hummingbirds will continue to follow in some very big footsteps when they take to the Cavern Club stage on 2 Aug (they come to Manchester on 18 Sep and 11 Oct at the Night & Day and The Ruby Lounge, respectively). Elsewhere, you can catch Cold Cave – aka Wesley Eisold – at East Village Arts Club (9 Aug) for a few hours of moody Depeche-esque synth pop (he also plays The Deaf Institute, Manchester, on the 11th). Having recently parted ways with Matador Records, nothing major has been announced regarding the follow-up to 2011’s Cherish The Light Years, but Eisold has released a few singles so far this year on Heartworm, so we imagine he’ll be testing the water with some new material.

Back across the M62 and there’s more reggae on offer at Manchester’s ultra-plush Sheridan Suite (9 Aug), where Lovers Rock forefather John Holt will be joined by a cohort of legends including Barrington Levy, Ken Boothe and Freddie 'Big Ship' McGregor. Skank in swanky surroundings as four old-timers unearth a treasure trove of rocksteady beats for rude boys with a sensitive side.

The following night (10 Aug) is a big one, as Martha Reeves brings The Vandellas to town for a one-night-only Motown extravaganza at The Ritz. Nice bit of booking work here from One Inch Badge – we’d love to see Martha’s face as she peers through tinted windows at the yellowing Whitworth Street West facade to discover that The Ritz doesn't provide quite the red carpet shindig she had in mind. Better yet, if this weather keeps up, then expect a highly topical crowd rendition of the Holland–Dozier–Holland classic (Love is Like a) Heat Wave. We feel your pain, Martha.

On 16 Aug, Liverpool’s Blade Factory – the latest development of the Camp and Furnace site – hosts one of few bands who fall under the banner of Chilean Krautrock. Föllakzoid's spacey sophomore album II was released on Sacred Bones back in January, and the trio have spent a large chunk of this year taking their psychedelic live act across the US. A day later at Camp and Furnace (17 Aug), and Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts grad Dan Croll will look to add to his growing legion of fans by performing a free show to support the launch of single In/Out. He’s got a Miike-Snow-mixed-with-Darwin-Deez thing going on.

Liverpool International Music Festival gets into full swing on 18 Aug when Neil Young & Crazy Horse come to the Echo Arena. The tour features support from Band of Horses, and represents the continuation of Young’s first UK dates with Poncho, Talbot and Molina since 2001 (read our review of the recent Glasgow date here). A few days later, and California’s surf-rock revivalists Allah-Las are back at Leaf on Bold Street for the second time in less than a year (21 Aug); their chiming guitars and sneering harmonies are framed by a sturdy rhythm section to form a sort of Beach Boys/Byrds pastiche, which, while not being too innovative, is still pretty groovy.

Back in Manchester, composer, violinist and Polaris Prize-winner Owen Pallett (the artist formerly known as Final Fantasy) brings his fiddle-looping live show to Band on the Wall on 12 Aug. Pallett’s portfolio of work boasts orchestral arrangements for the likes of R.E.M., The National, Beirut, and The Last Shadow Puppets – quite the CV. Keep a keen ear out for his one-man rendition of Caribou’s Odessa – and any lovers of bass ukulele won’t want to miss support from Buke and Gase.

Controversial hip hop supergroup Slaughterhouse are expected at NQ Live on 20 Aug off the back of their second studio effort, Our House, out on Shady Records last year and produced by Slim himself. Royce da 5’9”, Joe Budden and co are the latest collective to hit Manchester this year, following appearances from The Pharcyde, Slum Village and Jurassic 5.

Pickings are slightly slimmer towards the tail end of the month, probably due to the fact that festival season is just about reaching its climax. But come 31 Aug, and you’ve still got a distinctly Canadian choice to make: witness songsmith supreme Leonard Cohen at the Manchester Arena for the black market price of a kidney, or gaze on as Calgary art-rock three-piece Braids offer up tracks from new album Flourish // Perish at East Village Arts Club, Liverpool. Choose wisely.

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DO NOT MISS:

Lonnie Liston Smith & the New Cosmic Echoes, Band on the Wall, Manchester, 29 Aug

A piano man by trade, Lonnie Liston Smith earned his stripes in the 60s wading through the murky waters of improvisation alongside fellow free jazz bigwigs Pharaoh Sanders and Miles Davis. He emerged at the turn of the decade with a Fender electric organ, a mastery of odd time signatures and his very own troupe of spaced-out funk soul brothers, The Cosmic Echoes, whose brand of astral jazz is fused with colourful strains of R&B and disco: try to imagine what John Coltrane might have sounded like after a three-month acid binge on the moon.

Smith’s back catalogue (1973-85) has since become a gold mine for hip hop artists across the board, with Madlib, Doom, Mary J. Blige, Nas, Rick Ross and Joey Bada$$ all among the raiders. Killer track Expansions also made an appearance on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, where it provided a great soundtrack to mowing down pedestrians in a stolen fire engine.

We're sure the scenes will be a tad more sociable come 29 Aug, when the man from Richmond, Virginia, comes to Manchester's Band on the Wall for a rare UK performance. Expect insane bass solos, impromptu whooping and the occasional pissed-up dad. [Daniel Jones]