Regular readers will know we’re big fans of the Mood Swings night at Yes Basement. You get 3 or 4 bands for less than a pint of lager at that overpriced, overcrowded Bingo Hall on Peter Street. Expect contrasting styles of music but all carefully curated by the promoters (Now Wave), everyone gets 30 mins to do their thing like an old school 60s package tour, and chances are you’ll see artists who will be headlining bigger venues before too long
We arrive in time to catch Child of Prague. Six musicians from Dublin, shared vocals, guitars, violin and Saxophone. There’s a folky, traditional angle to their sound (they play their version of an old Reel at one point) but they have a solid rhythm section behind them that roots them firmly in the present with just the right amount of fizz – think maybe early Fairport Convention when they were still on their holidays or Mercury Rev before they headed for the Catskills. They’ve got a knack of turning in wistful melodies, not a million miles from Prefab Sprout and the mixture of instruments – Sax, violin, harmonies, spiky guitars and fluid drums makes for a really appealing brew. Smart music, elegantly played. Typically for Mood Swings we’ve already seen a massively accomplished and enjoyable group and we’ve barely got started.
Next up, all the way from Texas are Teethe who transform the mood completely. I’ve seen them before and something about them chimed with me – and they’re seriously immersive tonight . They’re brooding, intense and play with the lights down low which fits their slow burning but propulsive music. They’re in the ballpark of Mazzy Star or Spiritualized – Deceptively simple riffs and hushed vocals that suddenly explode into fireworks when you don’t expect it. There’s no communication with the audience, heads firmly tilted towards shoes, the bassist/singer hides in an unlit corner of the stage and concentrates on the performance. Nothing to break the spell. They mean business and it works. Ambient loops and drones fill the space in between songs while the guitarists tune up so it’s hard to know where songs end and begin adding to the disorientation. Intense, spellbinding and and thoroughly engaging.
The last mood swing comes with the arrival of Adore. Another Irish group, this time from Sligo who transform the room again. Adore are all about high energy, punky pop thrills however think more Buzzcocks, The Damned or ’12XU’ era Wire than Gr**n D*y. They have a super amped up 1978 sound and the stage is full of movement and excitement that doesn’t let up, apart from a brief moment where they play a tune on an Omnichord (which has to be strapped to one of those floor signs they put out to warn you of a spillage as a makeshift keyboard stand) which puts me in mind of Stereolab.
Frontperson Lara is funny and engaging and the band are well drilled and know how to ‘mach schau’, rock out and knock out a set which would probably wallop the arse of a PsychFest as much as it would old punkers at Blackpool Rebellion. High velocity F-U-N. They’re as bouncy, tuneful and energetic as Teethe were dark and brooding and C.O.P were cerebral and scenic. All the bands exhibiting brilliance in a totally different medium. So there you go – all this for 6 quid! A fantastic trio of bands and I can’t help thinking we’ll be seeing more of all three
Just outside the city limits of Sheffield, Forge is a relatively new music venue. It is reached by crossing the Tinsley Canal, ducking under a railway arch, passing still functioning industries, the twinkling lights of the city in the distance until you reach the converted Victorian steel forge – it’s an almost too perfect setting for Cabaret Voltaire.
Over time, the sonic ripples that three mischievous teenagers created by larking around with tape recorders and primitive electronics in a Sheffield attic are still only just becoming clear. They were inventing the future of music. They were also researching our future and critiquing it. They were doing this in 1973(!) before Kraftwerk had ditched the woodwind and released ‘Autobahn’.
It’s fair to say this is one of the more unlikely musical reunions in recent years. Of the original attic trio Chris Watson left in 1981 to work in TV – most notably as a highly respected sound recordist for wildlife documentaries. Although he swapped a life in electronic pop music for working with David Attenborough he never forgot his roots and continued to release field recordings, sometimes bent into uncanny musical shapes like ‘El Tren Fantasma’ and the recent ‘Oxmardyke’ (highly recommended both). Stephen Mallinder (Mal) went on to have a flourishing solo career, teaming up the likes of John Grant and Jane Horrocks. Richard H.Kirk is no longer with us of course, although he claimed the Cabs name for a brace of new recordings and played sporadic live shows in his final years – albeit with a militant ‘no nostalgia’ stance and playing only sets of his own, ferocious new material. It is fair to say, it would be highly unlikely he’d be up strapping on a guitar and playing ‘Nag Nag Nag’.
So it’s a surprise and a delight that Chris and Mal have reunited as Cabaret Voltaire for a straightforward celebration — a chance to square the circle of fire, have some fun, and craft a new performance to satisfy the surge of interest that has grown exponentially during their absence. There is no new LP to promote. This is a retrospective rather than a reformation. There’s only a handful of live dates (suffice to say this isn’t a Gallagher Bros style cash grab) but those few dates sold out instantly and the excitement in the air is palpable. Dear reader I am thrilled to bits – I have been obsessed with the Cabs since 1990 when I first saw a feature, including some clips of ‘Nag Nag Nag’ and ‘Yahar’ on Snub TV where they were promoting ‘Groovy Laidback & Nasty’ (a collaboration with Chicago House legend Marshall Jefferson) and tried to fathom how they joined all those dots. Formative stuff.
It’s worth remembering that, apart from Kirk’s sporadic solo shows the last time there was a ‘tour’ was in 1992. I had a ticket for a gig in Liverpool that was cancelled as were several other dates due to selective appeal. The band were floundering somewhat – making decent but under-the-radar electronica records. There was a nag-nag-nagging sense they were playing catch up rather than blazing the trails for others to follow.
33 years late….Bass bin rattling thumps herald ‘Theme From Earthshaker’ and four musicians file on stage to a massive roaring welcome. Watson is presiding studiously over a bank of modular synths conjuring all sorts of spectral waveforms. Mal is flitting between a series of mics so he can do straight vocals, vocoder and terrifying Dalek voices that make those early CV records so unsettling and downright alien – and occasionally playing an odd little vintage bass guitar as only he can. They’re joined by Eric Random – a musician deeply embedded in the DNA of post-punk Manchester and Sheffield since the 1970s. He played on several CV records including the seminal ‘2×45’ and his scything guitars are a revelation tonight – he’s perhaps the 4th Cab. On electronic percussion should Mal’s long-time collaborator (as well as John Foxx and many others) Benge – but he’s got a sick note and been replaced at last minute by Oliver (from the group Moonlandingz) who does a remarkable job (apparently he was planning to be in the audience and now has the dream ticket thwacking out the beats instead).
So how do you go about representing the long and complex career of CV in around 80 minutes?. Their early material could be abrasive and murky, sometimes disturbing. They often changed direction – sometimes alienating fans along the way who perhaps didn’t understand that CV wanted to keep progressing, keep exploring new sounds, new rhythms and new ways to communicate. They wanted to make people dance too. They wanted to make Pop records, albeit in their own roguish way and with the same geopolitical and social themes.
The opener is an unexpected choice (’24/24′ from ‘The Crackdown’) recoded after Chris had gone to Tyne Tees Television. As it turns out the set draws heavily on that album and ‘Micro-Phonies’ when they were signed to Virgin Records and becoming more of an electro pop band, albeit informed by the same impulses of their less commercially minded work. It’s clear that they have spent a lot of time working out the set, recreating sounds and reimagining songs to the point that it’s like we’re hearing what they would have done if they’d had access to more advanced gear at the time. Songs like ‘Animation’ and ‘Just Fascination’ suddenly sound more like the classic synth pop hits that could have been (the fact that Phil Oakey of the Human League is stood a few feet away from me nodding in appreciation only underlines that one). Perhaps the most striking upgrade comes with ‘The Set Up’. On the original Rough Trade single from 1978 it’s a brooding, lo-fi Velvet Underground whine with an unsettling and relentless Bontempi beat. 2025 Cabaret Voltaire turn this into a monstrous technoid cyber-garage drone of interweaving buzzsaw guitars and thundering rhythms. It’s utterly astonishing.
The sound in the venue is immaculate. Loud, full of energy and vivid with detail. Everything needed to be right tonight because this might never happen again. The lighting and presentation is also perfect – CV were always ahead of the game in using video art and projections and tonight their archive of mesmerising visuals is put to good use.
The next surprise is something new – a piece called ‘Tinsley Viaduct’ that will form part of Chris Watson’s next project ‘Inside the Circle of Fire’ based on field recordings made in this very city. Watson seems to be relishing the opportunity to engage with the music made after he left the group and rattling the venue walls with his synths. In a recent interview in The Wire he makes clear that there was no bad feeling, he remained a fan- Mal says the music was always informed by his DNA and so in some ways, Watson never left.
It would have been nice to hear them tackle more more of their earlier material – we get a stunning rendition of ‘Landslide’ from Red Mecca for instance but – that said, it is also an utter delight to hear them play ‘Easy Life’ – a key track from a somewhat underrated period when the Cabs were collaborating with the same Chicago and Detroit Techno pioneers that they indirectly influenced. ‘Yashar’ also gets an airing – in a sort of hybrid between the band version on ‘2×45’ and the US electro remixes – the video footage of some very cool 80s Sheffield dancers and Richard and Mal running around the derelict Sheffield Victoria Station is the perfect visual setting and the club sound system is firing on all cylinders to prove that this is indeed music for the limbs as much as the mind.
They close with two songs, what else, ‘Nag Nag Nag’ – followed by ‘Sensoria’. The former is a an absolute monster – an electronic music masterwork up there with The Normal ‘Warm Leatherette’ or Soft Cell’s ‘Memorabilia’ (played by the DJ afterwards as a nice tribute to a recently departed Dave Ball) and given that supercharged garage rock electroid boost that thrilled us earlier in the set. ‘Sensoria’ is looser and more stretched out – and closes the set in tribute to the Sheffield arts and culture festival that has tipped the hat to CV and promoted the show tonight. (By the way – there is also a very progressive club and music venue tucked away off the main shopping centre in Sheffield called ‘Gut Level’ after a CV tune – another nice nod from the city and another very meaningful legacy – the Cabs are perhaps to Sheffield what the Hacienda was to Manchester)
CV have a few more dates on this tour and there is already a show at the Roundhouse in London booked 2026. This could be a one-off in Sheffield, and so tonight the fans gathered here from all over the world (I had some lovely chats with a few of ’em) and got a chance to experience Cabaret Voltaire, say thank you and be reminded of the ideas and possibilities and provocations they kicked off. This wasn’t a nostalgic event, it was an exercise in plugging CV back into the national grid just for a moment and letting them blow a few fuses again.
I first became aware of Milan W. (aka Milan Warmoeskerken) when the Flemish polymath was awarded 2024 album of the year by Manchester’s enigmatic Boomkat – an online record store that can be relied upon to sift out record releases that no algorithm on earth would put your way. They praised ‘Leave Another Day’ to the heavens and rightly so and I’m intrigued by the chance to hear this curious, immaculately crafted and otherworldly music performed in a basement.
Support comes from fellow Belgian, Tristanne who is quietly poised behind a keyboard – occasionally switching between flute and adding her own vocals. Like the headliner she’s worked in multiple genres too – including some quite strident, jazzy pop but tonight -performing solo – the focus is on drifting, dreamy ambience with lots of cinematic and orchesral colours which sets the mood just right.
There’s a respectable sized crowd by time Milan takes to the stage joined by a keyboard player and a seated, acoustic guitarist. The performance is entirely drawn from the ‘Leave Another Day’ record and what is remarkable is how this minimal setup can completely convey the hazy mood of that record. It’s a studious, focused performance – no great theatrics or stage patter – just excellent musicians playing with elegance and care. The interplay between the two guitarists is where the magic happens – weaving lush harmonics between them and filling the grotty Soup cellar with sonic cathedrals of sound particularly as the acoustic player flips between pkaying through an echo machine and a bit of frippertronics with a e-bow. It’s intricate and delicious. Musically I’m reminded of Les Disques Du Crepuscuile label of the early 80s particularly the likes of Antena, Tuxedomoon and Manchester’s own Durutti Column – and indeed a wondeful eveing provided by our Belgian Friends.
It does make me wonder what Milan W will move on to next, whether he’ll make more records in this mode or whether this was something of a one-off. If the latter, for all it’s rather low key atmosphere this was something to treasure.
The silly season is coming to and end and darker nights means back rooms and basements are coming alive with music once again. Autumn 2025 kicks off with a double bill of encouragingly strange new sounds.
First up is Flip Top Head from Brighton. They’re a 6 piece, crammed onto the small stage with keyboards, violin and guitars plus a deputising bassist drafted in having only rehearsed earlier that day not that you’d know it, such is the confidence with which the songs are attacked.
There’s no obvious focal point – singer Bowie Bartlett (nominative determinism alert) is tucked away behind the PA but has an excellent, soaring voice as a counterpoint to the other singer Bertie who leans into the dreaded ‘Sprechgesang’ spoken word thing but not to the point where we’re looking at another Sleaford Yard Cleaners D.C. – far from it.
The mix of soaraway and spoken is just right and musically things are an enjoyably disorientating mix of jazzy, folky, avant rock but with plenty of musical anchors and hooks to keep you interested. I like ’em.
Headlining tonight are Dog Race. Early days for them but it’s a sell out show and there’s a definite buzz in the air. The band file on – I’m still getting used to the fact that Paul Calf moustaches, mullets and clobber last seen on Limahl from Kajagoogoo in 1983 are in vogue again but preferable to Library-hater Liam Gallagher and his fucking designer anorak gurning at me from billboards. Unlike the support, Dog Race have a very definite focal point in singer Katie Healy. Her voice, rising from deep and guttural, to screamy to an almost operatic warble is quite something. I hear a hint of Billy Mackenzie, Anohni/Anthony, and maybe going way back Lene Lovich. It lifts Dog Race sky high above the standard 2025 Indie competition – and although Healy is not exactly throwing shapes she puts in a completely gripping performance.
Musically things are more conventional – bass driven, synth and guitar. The Cure, Joy Division, Soft Cell, Bauhaus…so far, so 4AD. The vocals take us to some uncanny spaces and the music needs to follow it – and sure enough there is an unnamed new song – written days earlier – where the band hang back and Healy plays solo on keys and we can hear the unconventional intonation and tone she can conjur up before she steps away and things explode. There’s something happening here. Quietly charismatic, unsettling and wonderfully gothic but in a very 2025 way rather than a retro 80s way – and there is some serious frugging and grooving going on in the audience.
The Devon / Sheffield crossover Dream pop combo delight a Wednesday night crowd in Manchester
Support comes from Shaking Hand who I’ve already seen at one of the excellent Hot Take band showcase gigs at Yes Manchester. They strike up an unhurried, circular groove and there’s something immediately appealing about them as the venue fills and people gather to listen rather than ignore, as can happen with supports. We’re in good hands with this unassuming 3 piece – guitar / vocalist playing distinctive weaving guitar parts, a drummer pattering away with jazzy flourishes but with a pleasing kick, and a bassist who frequently doubles as a twin lead – playing the higher register of the instrument. They have a post-rock edge to them, a little bit of Slint or early Tortoise perhaps, or the fabled Leeds band Hood and while the pieces they play are enjoyably drifty at times – they aren’t averse to wrong-footing us with a sudden tempo change, a burst of noise, a scrape of strings here or a cheeky rhythmic curveball there. They wear their guitars well, they play studiously but with a confidence that suggests they know how they good they are- I like them a lot and, judging by the applause, everyone else does too. There appears to be no recorded material available but hopefully they’re busy in a studio somewhere bottling that magic.
On to the headliners. I’m a bit behind the curve with Pale Blue Eyes but Piccadilly Records piqued my interest and I’ve been enjoying their latest record ‘New Place’ which it turns out is their 3rd album so I’ve some catching up to do. For a band who trade in dreamy, shoegazey pop they have a disarmingly chummy and light hearted air about them – in fact their footwear remains un-gazed at and they spend most of the time looking and grinning at each other and the audience – it turns out PBE here to have a good time and so should we.
The band have toured with Slowdive and they share a love of using guitars and keyboards to create a sea bed for the songs to float on but they have their own distinct sound that is sparkly, upbeat and distinctly pop-tastic. Lots of major chords, and at times this sounds like ‘The Big Music’ – think Simple Minds in their early 80s pomp but also informed by Stereolab, and the locked groove of Neu! or La Dusseldorf – but just when it seems they might lean a bit too much into that well-worn trench coat – they pull out a moody, slower number or throw in a gorgeous chord pattern or bassline that has their own distinct stamp on it. They have art college roots – and drummer Lucy, it transpires wrote a thesis about Cabaret Voltaire – so, again, we’re in safe hands and these people know what they’re doing
There’s something very appealing and convivial about PBE – there is a husband & wife duo at the core (Matt and Lucy), who have relocated from Devon to Sheffield and the new record which is informed by upheaval and loss – and it’s hard not to be moved by the joy emanating from the stage – they feel like one of those bands that will inspire a certain amount of loyalty (I’m thinking of Sea Power who they’ve supported) and they’re going to be a bit of a regular fixture. I’m on board!
Anthony Moore has an extraordinary CV that brilliantly straddles the deeply experimental vs some of the most mainstream Pop musical imaginable (of it’s time). How about this – he was part of the collective around the serious-as-your-life avant-rockers Henry Cow and formed the offshoot Slapp Happy – a huge influence on groups like The Fall. He also followed that Rock in Opposition trajectory and produced records with the likes of This Heat – Art Rock royalty basically. So it may come as a surprise that he also wrote a song called ‘No Parlez’ the title track of the gazillion selling Paul Young album (that famously seems to replicate itself in charity shop shelves, such was its ubiquity). He’s a key part of the post-Roger Waters Pink Floyd, collaborating on songs such as ‘Learning to Fly’ but has also worked on countless experimental and exploratory works and art installations which I’m still discovering. His most recent solo release is called ‘Arithmetic in the Dark’ – enough said. He’s comparable to someone like John Cale, or latterly Jim O’Rourke – able to work in mixed media, high art but, as this compilation demonstrates he has an appealing voice and a way with words and song.
This very satisfying compilation collects lots of unheard material from his archives, mostly home recorded (hence the title and the cover – with Anthony unwinding a C90 with a pencil) but this is no scratchy lo-fi set – bar a few cheap sounding synth and drum machine patches, and you soon forget you’re listening to home demos and just enjoy a smart and intriguing set of would-be Pop hits. Floyd fans will home in on ‘Earthbound Misfit’ (which became ‘Learning to Fly’) but there’s lots more to enjoy. ‘Lucia Still Alive’ is a crunchy take on ‘Low’ era David Bowie, and ‘Coralie’ is a fab Velvet Underground/Roxy style strumfest. Best of the bunch is ‘Me and Neil Diamond’ featuring the unmistakable croon of Ian McCulloch recorded sometime in the mid-80s. It sounds like a song that 10 years later could have set Britpop era Radio 1 ablaze (and perhaps a counterpoint to ‘The Ballad of Tom Jones’) with it’s Easy Listening reference and ‘I can’t stop smoking and drinking and having a good time’ refrain – except that Moore uses a wrong-footing time signature that threatens to derail poor Ian but perhaps reflects the ‘all at sea’ motif in the lyrics.
I’m in a busy room above a pub on a Friday night in Glossop. Glasses are being clinked and over on the stage a tribute band are tuning up and getting ready to entertain the punters – except that there’s a swirling drone of discordant synthesised strings beginning to swell from the P.A. and that’s because 3 unassuming blokes in winter hats, jumpers and jeans are about to start their set – not with Sweet Caroline or Brown Eyed Girl but with…er…’The Electrician’ an extraordinarily dark, gothic epic from the 1978 Walker Brothers album ‘Nite Flights’. Of course this is no ordinary pub (it’s an independently run Vegan pub with it’s own brewery) and this is no ordinary night – our hosts are The Black Circle an arts collective who’ve been promoting a series of progressive and adventurous events but with a strong ethos of being welcoming and inclusive (i.e the ‘guest list’ is strictly for those with low incomes and the gigs are timed so people can get home before our creaky transport network winds down for the night – certain Manchester promoters should take note!)
I’m in time to see support act Tekrar Eden who have come over the hills from Sheffield – a two piece – bass and drummer with beards, loops and samples – they’re rooted in Jazz but the more atmospheric, darker and electronic end of it with bass to the fore – albeit a bass with loads of strings on it that can play nice, weird chords. They’re really good and what they play seems a fitting preamble to the headliner.
So, there was no way I was going to miss a band who describe themselves as “Mancunian goth/avant-rock power trio performing the music of Scott Walker and The Walker Brothers” and oh boy Walker Not Walker do not disappoint. So how on earth do you tackle the back catalogue of Scott Walker who went from child star, to 60s Pop Idol, to cult late 60s bedsit baroque icon, to being set up to fail as the next Tom Jones, to boozy 70s chicken-in-a-basket club turn and failing MOR recording artist, to spending the mid 90s onwards becoming one of the most uncompromising, imposing and extreme musical artists of the 21st Century? Well, let’s find out.
Walker Not Walker’s set in fact draws heavily from 2 records. The first is Scott’s sole 1980s LP ‘Climate of Hunter’ – which is a fascinating and brilliant record and with guest spots from his pals Mark Knopfler and Billy Ocean, his record label might have expected this 60s star to boss the 80s like say, Steve Winwood did – but Scott had other ideas. The 2nd is the volcanic and frequently terrifying ‘Tilt’ – which came 11 years later and is the dividing line where you either go with it into the deep depths of what followed or you make your excuses and hurtle back (to the relative safety of those bleak but satisfying orchestral hits of Scott 1 to 4). This high art version of Scott – approaching Lieder (art song) territory is WNWs ‘sweet spot’ and so they do a magnificent job of ‘Patriot’ for instance – a long and complex piece from ‘Tilt’ (with whistling replacing the flute part). It’s amazing how well these songs fit the 3 piece goth power trio format – ‘Face on Breast’ is done with a propulsive motorik drive like Joy Division (which the recorded version does have but I’d never noticed before). The songs from ‘Climate of Hunter’ really come to life in this formation too – perhaps the closest Scott came to Post-punk and you’ll be wanting to play that record again after hearing WNW’s take on it.
They dip into earlier stuff too – obviously without a massive string section it’s hard to busk songs from Scott’s 60s heyday with a gothic rock power-trio but they make light work of ‘On Your Own Again’ from Scott 4, ‘Black Sheep Boy’ from Scott 2 which provide calm between the stormier moments (WNW deploy explosions of feedback to emulate the string section). They close with an effortlessly gliding ‘Nite Flights’, the song that humbled Bowie & Eno having heard Scott and John Walker had stolen a march on them in moving Pop music forward into the future. Wow.
This is music that was mostly never peformed live in Scott’s lifetime, and yet these 3 modest chaps (who break the spell with their reassuring between-song banter) make it work and bring these songs to life -and (sorry to labour the point) but I’m hearing this astonishing, hard to fathom music in a room above a pub in front of an appreciative audience gathered around old bar stools and tables.
I can’t help thinking the man himself would have loved it not least because WNW were not overly reverential and seemingly fearless in their choice of his material. If you love Scott’s music do not pass up the chance to see Walker Not Walker….they’ll thrill you and thrill you and thrill you…..
Following a triumphant headline set at Manchester Psychfest earlier this year, those little Horrors are back with what promoters like to call an ‘Underplay’ tour –
i.e. a run of intimate shows at smaller venues. Not to suggest that their appeal has become more selective (the tour sold out in no time), rather after a few years of minimal Rock Action for The Horrors this is to give them a chance to get up close and personal with an audience again and road test a few new songs ready for next year which promises a new LP ‘Night Life’, festival appearances and presumably some bigger stages.
The Horrors are also using this opportunity to showcase some new bands they want us to hear- different supports each night of the tour and we get a good one in the shape of MYNK – a London post-punk power trio who currently have just one digital EP to their name so far- produced by Horrors frontperson Faris Badwan no less – entitled ‘Pleaser’ and very good it is too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR2qDsltSMU
MYNK play as the venue slowly fills up and I find myself drawn into their world rather than lingering at the back – singer Bex drives the songs along with thundering bass and interacts with guitarist Lewis who plays the kinds of guitar I like – spectral not-quite riffs that hang somewhere in mid air. Just when you think this is yr standard Banshees/Wire/PiL style post-punk business – they swerve this way and that (both physically and sonically) and wrong-foot you – in a pleasingly disconcerting way. I’m into it, the gathering audience are too and I’ll definitely watch out for more MYNK – and so should you.
So, The Horrors. I go back with these guys – not as far as their Screaming Lord Goth debut ‘Strange House’ (which lest we forget, got rave reviews at the time) but certainly to their curveball 2nd LP ‘Primary Colours’ which I saw debuted at a raucous show in Manchester back in 2009 (the long, lost Ruby Lounge). This saw them find a sweet-spot between their B-movie horror shtick, My Bloody Valentine churning guitars and metronomic Kosmiche Musik and since then it’s been fun to follow them down a few unlikely paths – early Simple Minds-esque Big Music on ‘Skying’, the Numanoid/Depeche black-clad disco of ‘V’ and most recently a somewhat controversial step into Cyborg-metal with the ‘Lout’ EP – but always in the same skinny jeans and pasty complexions – the essential heart of the Horrors has always been there. Their only misstep, perhaps the somewhat directionless ‘Luminous’ LP notable by its absence from tonight’s set – although it has a few fan favourites on it too.
The other thing about the Horrors is they never seemed to play quite as often as I’d have liked – and like The Fall or New Order (before they turned Pro) they could be a bit erratic – indeed at Leeds in 2022 for a one-off show – the band seemed to struggle to fill the gaps left by former Keyboard player Tom Furse and a poor sound mix rendering Faris inaudible – which made for a frustrating and dispiriting experience for both band and audience. “Goodbye Forever” was the parting shot.
So it is a relief when they lurch onto the stage with the jabbing electronic stabs of ‘Whiplash’ (from the Lout EP) and we get a clearly audible Faris and the band in all their Horror.
Faris, still like a Gerald Scarfe cartoon of a rock star, lurches forward from his mic stand staring the audience out and leading the merry dance – the somewhat demonic Rhys Webb has decided to paint his face with panstick which drips down his face as the gig goes on to add a nice bit of Sensational Alex Harvey showmanship to the occasion. Josh the guitarist hangs in the shadows sending those signature churning washes of guitar up into the stratosphere and they crash into ‘Three Decades’, the first of 5 tracks from ‘Primary Colours’ – and we can relax cos there’s a band up on stage who look like they were born to do this – this is clearly going to be fucking ace. And it is.
There is a new drummer (not sure what happened to ‘Coffin’ Joe Spurgeon) but Jordan Cook does a sterling job and Amelia Kidd (who we can’t see hidden behind the speaker stack from where we’re stood) is getting busy with synths and backing vocals that are so crucial to the Horrors sound – she brings what was missing from that Leeds gig and injects some feminine cool into proceedings. If anything, she could do with her being louder in the mix – there is a point during ‘Sea Within A Sea’ where she gets the keyboard riff going and the phones go up and the energy level soars – more Keyboards please!
We get 3 new songs from the forthcoming ‘Night Life’ the first of which is ‘Trial By Fire’ – it’s classic Horrors but with brutal bursts of violent distortion and Faris (who is of Palestinian heritage if you didn’t know), leaves us in no doubt about what might be driving some of this newfound fury.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV69ePJv8Yo
It sets the scene for a new LP which, based on what has been played and released so far seems to tie up the clues left from ‘Strange House’ up to ‘Lout’ and maybe they’ve arrived at a sound which is truly theirs .
For a band accused of ‘Record Collection Rock’ (see also Primal Scream) tonight everything hangs together and you start to see a band with a strong identity that are built to last – with the set ending with their most poptastic moment, the weirdly bleak dance anthem ‘Something to Remember Me By’ but even that fits seamlessly.
As always there are shouts at the encore for ‘Sheena is a Punk Rocker’ and cuts from ‘Strange House’ and – who knows maybe a veteran Horrors will revisit those one day but for now we’re looking at band who have tunes to burn (and they don’t play all of them) a very promising new record and, still only in their 30s, maybe they’re only just getting started….
Another excellent ‘Mood Swings’ night..you know the shtick by now, Now Wave present 3 new bands for a fraction of the cost of a warm lager in a Manchester Enormodome. Musically you don’t know what to expect (hence the name) but Now Wave can be trusted to sift through the unstoppable avalanche of new bands and find the best. Short, sharp sets with a minimum of faff between acts make it easy to give everyone on the bill a chance to be heard so if you want to support new artists and hear something fresh, get along to one of these nights that happen every few weeks at Manchester’s fantastic Yes.
Tonight’s turns…first up Night Swimming who in spite of a moniker that doesn’t scream originality and wearing their Cocteaus/Slowdive/Sundays influences on their sleeves early on, revealed hidden depths as their set progressed. All the Sonic Cathedral signature sounds are there but as they progress the songs open out, leaving space to appreciate the excellent vocals and songwriting with considerable emotional heft – underpinned by an insistent rhythm which nods toward Joy Division or Magazine. As often is the case at Mood Swings you start to forget you’re at a new band showcase and feel like you’re watching a confident group who’ve been treading the boards for years rather than just starting out. I’m wondering how we’re going to top this ridiculously good start to the evening…
Total gear change for the next turn, RIP Magic who deliver their set silhouetted against deep red light apart from when they blind us with yellow strobes. I like it when bands think about the lighting scheme – it works a treat and makes for a disorientating, slightly threatening vibe. They play an enjoyably murky set of heavy beat-laden industrial sludge with nods to 90s Hip Hop powered along with with a driving bass and live drumming combined with analogue synths – always a good match. See what I mean about mood swings? The sound mix means the vocals are submerged somewhat but that may be intentional and matches the lighting scheme – nobody really knows what RIP Magic are up to and in an era where everything is transparent and we’re always being let in on the magic – it’s fitting that this lot keep something hidden. There doesn’t seem to be much info about these let alone any recorded music – hopefully they’re building up toward something – we want more!
Last up, The Itch…5 hyperactive groovers with lots of bubbling synths, slap bass and more cowbells than you can…er…shake a stick at…which they did. Some of them wore vests, the singer had a jerky Talking Heads preppy style and they played infectious punk-funk work-outs. Musically LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture are the obvious touch point but they go much further. They tap into the darker side of Depeche style synth pop and there was a nod in the direction of those early 80s bands who had loads of members and whipped up a militant shakedown – I’m thinking Pigbag, Funkapolitan and perhaps a touch of the Spandau Ballet (before they donned the stockbroker suits)- with various members joining in the chant and throwing some excellent shapes. Kids and their eclectic music tastes today eh? Loads of movement and energy on stage – if I was going to be a total hack I’d say scratch this Itch if you can!
I’m back at the ultimate Salford grotspot to celebrate the music of the mighty Swell Maps in their current incarnation as Swell Maps C21.
Support comes from Dutch group Geo who are enjoyably unhinged and have a very heavy low-end bass groove that works a treat with the huge speakers in the venue. Swell Maps were always a curious proposition (and I’m certainly not an expert), more of a loose musical collective who were active in the early 70s but having put out a single in 1977 get lumped in with Punk but really they pre-dated and post-dated it at the same time and tonight reflects that very well.
Leading the celebrations is original member Jowe Head – who has some art school history with Manchester. In tight formation around him are the great David Callaghan (a brilliant artist in his own right and as part of the brain frazzling Moonshake), drummer Jeff Bloom, singer and keyboardist Lucie Rejchrtova and – festooned with a clankening of badges, Post-Punk gun for hire and fellow IdealCopyist – the great Lee McFadden.
Everyone shares vocal duties and lyric sheets are swapped around as the set isn’t carved in stone. We get lots of the visceral, Motorik Swell Maps sound but also new material, and some nice nods to the extended discography of the band including a lovely version of ‘Jellybabies’ the song Epic Soundtracks recorded with Robert Wyatt in 1981 (beautifully sung by Lucie) –
that one in particular sits this in context with that curious, hard to fathom strain of 70s British music that covers This Heat, the Canterbury Scene and the ROI thing. Perfect. Alas things are running late (not Swell Maps fault) – but there’s no way I’m leaving before a closing medley of glorious fuzzy ‘Midget Submarines’ and ‘Full Moon in My Pocket’ which veers quite logically into ‘Mother Sky’ by Can – which is ringing in my ears as my cab driver veers in out of the mad traffic back to the station. We made it! Hooray!
