Northwest Gig Highlights – November 2013

The depths of autumn: grey-brown skeletons of trees hang ominously over the dark, dank streets, while short-fused rows over whether to turn on the central heating settle into teeth-chattering agreements that yes, it probably is a bit nippy after all. Meanwhile, the gig calendar rolls on, undaunted by concerns for our cold cash and colder fingers. Liverpool’s ever-reliable EVOL gang kick off the month in style, bringing Future of the Left to East Village Arts Club on 6 Nov (also at Gorila, Manchester, 7 Nov). If Falco and co’s brand of teeth-rattling snark doesn’t raze the town to ruins, there’s also chances to catch up with fuzz-mopers Yuck (The Shipping Forecast, 13 Nov) and Sub Pop’s own Daughn Gibson, whose square-jawed fusion of country and dense electronica shakes East Village on 24 Nov.

The good folks at Harvest Sun are no slouches either, hosting Sweet Baboo’s hooky soft psych (Leaf, 12 Nov – also Night & Day, Manchester, 7 Nov), the gentle chaos of Julia Holter (Leaf, 15 Nov), and some Velvet Underground-inspired miserabilia courtesy of Brooklyn’s Crystal Stilts (The Shipping Forecast, 24 Nov). They’re also responsible for one of the month’s clear highlights, when Minnesota trio Low make the Anglican Cathedral all the more magnificent by illustrating just how their beautiful slowcore made them indie-rock royalty (18 Nov).

Elsewhere, there’s treats-a-plenty for fans of esoteric sounds. MelloMello invite you to a very special two-day residency: Sun Ra Arkestra band leader Marshall Allen is part of the group behind Cinema Soloriens (8-9 Nov), which features interpretive live soundtracks to James Harrar’s explorative, abstract films. Next, the uniquely odd Joan of Arc return to the Kazimier on 15 Nov in support of latest album Testimonium Songs – a typically ambitious suite composed to accompany modern dance and experimental theatre. Posh, eh? And that’s before we even get to Autre Ne Veut’s appearance at the same venue (19 Nov). His luxurious, avant garde approach to soul is both immersive and thoroughly beautiful, so miss him at your peril.

At the other end of the East Lancs Road, there’s plenty more to excite discerning gig-goers (or to make ‘em fear for their bank balance, depending on how you look at it). An early flurry of shows should thrill those who favour life on the raucous side – seminal Australian heroes The Saints brave these shores with a trip to the Night & Day, Manchester, on 5 Nov, before the underappreciated and astonishingly brilliant Enablers squeeze in a trip to KRAAK (6 Nov). Frontman Pete Simonelli’s dark poetry meshes perfectly with their math-tinged post-punk, while their live performances are simply essential viewing.

Soup Kitchen has its fair share of highlights too –  the gloomily pretty Mazzy Star-isms of Dark Horses (15 Nov) and a rare visit from Detroit noisemongers Wolf Eyes (21 Nov). The latter have been making a gleefully abrasive racket for over 15 years now, drawing from hardcore, industrial and electronic influences to stunning effect. Best bring your earplugs for that one, mind. You’ll need to ensure they work for Norwegian heroine Ane Brun, who’s likely to be thoroughly unsettling and bruisingly beautiful in equal measure over at the Ruby Lounge (15 Nov), while over at Fallow Cafe there’s hypnotic, electronic dreampop from Mt Wolf (5 Nov).

Exciting times are also a-brewing at The Castle, where you can catch the Trouble In Mind label’s new favourite son Jacco Gardner (6 Nov). His 60s inspired chamber pop should draw in the crowds, as will Vivian Girls/Babies singer Cassie Ramone (11 Nov), whose intimate acoustic performance provides an intriguing contrast to the rough’n’ready sounds for which she’s known. There’s also joyous surrealism from Post War Glamour Girls (14 Nov) and lo-fi splendiferousness from Dumb (23 Nov), if your interest hasn’t already been snared by the nu-psych stylings of Dead Skeletons – in which case you should make a beeline for Band on the Wall on 26 Nov (also playing The Kazimier, 27 Nov).

Those dreaming of more shows at The Ritz can get excited for visits from electronica duo Mount Kimbie (7 Nov) and Matador favourites Savages (9 Nov), who should both do more than enough to get that rickety old dancefloor bouncing. The Deaf Institute is also doing more than its fair share of providing the unmissable: Swiss Lips’ electro-squelch gets toes a-tapping on 7 Nov, and New Pop revivalists Summer Camp hit town (22 Nov) before METZ (22 Nov) remind us how grunge should be done – i.e. not like Nickelback, who play Liverpool Echo Arena on 23 Nov if you’re feeling particularly masochistic.

There’s just enough space to mention two very rare and special performances by reformed visionaries – NYC proto-punks Television squeeze the sprawling white heat of their dual-guitar magnificence into Manchester Academy 2 (17 Nov), while the versatile dynamics of Kentucky post-rockers Slint promise to bend minds at the Albert Hall (28 Nov). This hectic schedule may not care one jot for the well-being of our finances, but it beats the hell out of the autumnal blues.

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do not miss: Autre Ne Veut + Tropics + Beluga @ The Kazimier, Liverpool, 19 Nov

Released in February this year, Arthur Ashin aka Autre Ne Veut's debut for the quietly impeccable Software label, Anxiety, has become one of the sleeper releases of 2013, its by turns fretful and fearless synth-soul – for want of a better term – having finally come to wider attention with the recent Jacques Greene remix of single Play By Play. 

Informed by the Brooklyn-based auteur's growing understanding, through psychoanalysis, of the condition of the title, it's a histrionic, harmonic record, of which the highlight is the aforementioned, elaborately stacked and tiered Play By Play, whose squeezed strings and almost abashedly gushing vox seem to move through eight choruses before flooring the listener with a final, ecstatic lurch. Pop songwriting this ambitious would seem overreaching if it weren't for the way Ashin's decadent cadences are anchored by a near-classical composer's ear for the path least trodden, his melodies never taking you where you think you're going to go. Where contracted Hollywood writers give you the hit – in both senses of the word – you want, this is pop built to last; and despite all its bedroom-production hallmarks, to call it lo-fi would be to do a disservice to its dreams. 

With Ashin joined by backing singers and a drummer, his live shows – including to a twice sold-out Birthdays in London earlier this year – have been garnering a rave reputation, and this Liverpool date is his only Northwest stop on an otherwise brief UK tour. Able support comes from Planet Mu's Tropics, and locals Beluga. [Laura Swift]