O2 Love Music Column – September 2012
Celebrating the best in what might overall be termed Americana, the No Mean City festival rolls into Glasgow again this month. On one end of the spectrum, Los Angeles-based, one-time busker Frank Fairfield (8 Sep) will be transporting the O2 ABC2 back almost a century with his uncanny facsimile of bluegrass and country. A somewhat prodigious talent on fiddle, banjo and acoustic guitar, Fairfield’s anachronistic demeanour and faultless vocal placing should ensure a night out that’s a world away.
On the other end of the curve, Zach Condon’s Beirut (O2 ABC, 11 Sep) will resolutely be pulling things forward a few decades with their modern, indie-influenced take on a similar field. Three albums and various EPs in, Condon is showing no lack of greatness as 2011’s The Rip Tide demonstrated. In fact, despite being seen as a magpie of eastern European influences, recent Beirut output has seen them plant firmer feet on their own native soil, whilst opening up a wider pop-sensibility. It’s a cross-over par excellence and live, Condon and his troupe simply shouldn’t be missed.
If country, blues and folk isn’t your thing, or if you just need a change of pace from the ukuleles and banjos, then genre-mashing Maverick Sabre (O2 ABC, 20 Sep) could be just the tonic. Sabre, or Michael Stafford to his Mum, cut his teeth collaborating with the likes of Professor Green and Chase & Status before releasing his debut album Lonely are the Brave earlier this year. Utilising elements of soul, rap, folk and big band, Sabre’s shows promise something for everyone and, on the heels of the likes of Plan B, is certainly a man to keep an eye on.
She’s yet to release her debut album proper, but New York rapper Azealia Banks (O2 ABC, 29 Sep) has already made quite a splash. Finishing third in the BBC’s Sound of 2012 and topping the NME’s 'Cool' List for the previous year, Banks certainly has the pressure on. But she seems poised to handle it if this year's effortlessly thrilling 1991 EP is anything to go by, whilst the no-holds-barred anthem 212 has proven to be electric in the live arena. With her strictly adult lyrics, mass crossover potential seems far off for now, so this really could be the place to catch the young rapper at the top of her game.