Northwest Gig Highlights – June 2014

June! Summer! Sun! Well, perhaps not the latter. Those of us old enough to remember the by-now-legendary heatwave of 2014 are more than prepared to dream of a repeat, even if the prospect does put us in mind of the encroaching festival season and the gradual migration of gig-goers from dark, dusty dives to, well, dark, dusty fields. Still, apart from the annual Parklife Weekender, which takes place at Manchester’s Heaton Park on 7 and 8 June (with headline performances from Foals, Snoop Dogg and side attractions such as Warpaint, Daniel Avery and a Now Wave-curated stage featuring Bonobo and Factory Floor), those of us with a curious penchant for gigs under roofs can breathe easy for a while yet.

An antithesis to festival largesse could be an evening with Night Beats, who are in Liverpool at The Shipping Forecast on 4 June. The Seattle trio are a solid proposition onstage, their psych garage grooves well suited to live performance. (They also play Roadhouse, Manchester, the night after.) 

The fourth o' June in the rainy city, meanwhile, presents a triple headache for local music fans. While EMA stops off for a show at The Ruby Lounge, Manchester’s emerging electro duo Shield Patterns are at Soup Kitchen – while Australia’s Howling Bells play a show across town at The Deaf Institute. All three intrigue for different reasons. Erika M Anderson’s The Future’s Void took a healthy swipe at her debut’s art-riot methodology, retaining much of its graffiti fuzz but adding a deepening layer of musicality. One of the albums of the year performed by one of the most exciting live artists around? What are you waiting for? Led by singer Juanita Stein, Howling Bells emerged in 2006 with a brand of scuzzy dream-pop that deservedly won them a loyal fan base in their adopted UK. Their subsequent work has perhaps lacked the black magic of their debut, but comeback single Slowburn, trailing forthcoming album Heartstrings, hints at mojo recovered. Lastly, Shield Patterns launch their astonishing debut album Contour Lines with an intimate gig in the Northern Quarter. Claire Brentnall and Richard Knox have spent the past year perfecting their subby electro noir, and recent live forays confirm they’ve nailed bringing it fully, properly to life onstage.

In Liverpool on 5 June some band called Future Islands play The Kazimier. Unless you’ve made Mars your home these past few months, you’ll know they played the Letterman Show and managed to squeeze out a few gazillion YouTube hits. Those who've caught them prior to this year's breakthrough know that their 80s-influenced synth pop can sustain a whole headline set. It's sold out, but y'know, you can beg, borrow or steal. Maybe not borrow. Or steal. 

Just under a week later, 11 June sees US duo Wye Oak return to promote excellent recent album Shriek with a show at Manchester’s Soup Kitchen. Its predecessor, Civilian, saw Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack gain widespread acclaim, despite no-one being able to properly compartmentalise them. They were branded as all sorts – alt-folkies by some, crafty shoegazers by others. Shriek, dispensing with traditional instrumentation in favour of a new electronic sheen, confounds things further. Seeing how they handle the transition in a live setting should be a treat.

Stay in Manchester 'til 14 June, when local lads YBAs (Young British Artists) launch debut album Change by Any Other Name at First Chop Brewing Arm. They’ve got the sound. They’ve got the songs. It seems reasonable to assume they can play the shit out of them live. Cross everything.

The middle of the month sees a trio of distinct and distinctly American voices visit the Northwest. On 16 June, the Bridgewater Hall hosts Eels, who pitch up at a venue seemingly made for the stripped-back classicism of recent album The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett. Everett’s live show changes from tour to tour and this should be a sharp counterpoint to last year’s full band tour. Willy Vlautin, meanwhile, is one of the US’s great, unsung storytellers, a critically acclaimed novelist and member of Americana stalwarts Richmond Fontaine. He brings his new band, The Delines, to the Night & Day (18 June) on the back of broad acclaim for their stirring debut. Vocalist Amy Boone has a voice that seemingly knows heartbreak all too well. Take tissues.

Liverpool grabs its share of the action with Brooklyn’s Parquet Courts on 22 June at the Kaz. Their skewed guitar pop saw them finally break through over here last year, and with new album Sunbathing Animal out in time for this UK jaunt, expect a wiry and uncompromising live show. 

We close a heady month with a couple of closely matched crackers. Electronic provocateur Luke Abbott plays a short tour that calls at Kraak Gallery on 25 June in support of second album Wysing Forest. Over at Gorilla on 30 June, Merrill Garbus, AKA tUnE-yArDs, plays songs from her wondrous new album, Nikki Nack. How she transfers her tricksy, multi-tracked pop from the studio to the stage should be nothing short of fascinating.

Do Not Miss

Sun Araw & Laraaji: The Play Zone
The Kazimier, Liverpool, Saturday 7 June


A five-act bill with The Royal Wedding, John McGrath and BLACKHOodS in support is led by a collaborative, dual performance by two unique American artists. Sun Araw is the recording moniker of Texan Cameron Stallones, whose work in recent years has seen him develop his electro, reggae and Afrobeat-influenced stylings both solo and in conjunction with the likes of The Congos and the Not Not Fun label’s ‘supergroup’ Vibes.

Having turned 70 last year, Laraaji is veteran musician, actor and meditation guru Edward Larry Gordon, perhaps best known for his 1980 album, the Brian Eno-produced Ambient 3: Day of Radiance. The promoters promise that the two musicians will meet somewhere out in the cosmos – a psychedelic coming together based on a shared sense of mysticism and spirituality. It promises to be a transportive, immersive experience.