Phoning it in

Dispatches from the back of the venue

Archives: Gig Reviews

  • Walker Not Walker

    Walker Not Walker

    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…..

  • Still House Plants

    Still House Plants

    This month the band are the cover stars of The Wire magazine – that extraordinarily resilient and outré music publication which, at the time of writing is still readily available in WHSmiths – if you go past the overpriced confectionery, magazines are now relegated to the back of the shop – there I see Still House Plants on a shelf, in a Railway Station branch of WHSmiths – looking very cool but strangely out of time and very much of it.

    Cut to the White Hotel, in darkest Salford – I guess the closest the North West gets to a venue like London’s Cafe Oto – where in between decadent all-nighters that start at midnight, they do put on lots of artists such as you might read about in The Wire at more sociable hours. There are 3 musicians gathering on the stage and as they start to play I’m immediately struck by telepathic interplay between them. This is very much a group. One brilliantly innovative, minimalist guitarist (cut from the same cloth as Wire’s Bruce Gilbert, John McGeoch or David Pajo perhaps), a fantastic freewheeling drummer who has a very stripped-down kit -(Robert Wyatt or Wire’s Robert Gotobed springs to mind -yeah that good) -and a singer who spends the set hunched over a mic stand facing the band but has this remarkable, husky soulful voice that rises up from nowhere and adds an unexpected emotional heft that absolutely lifts this music into somewhere stratospheric.  

    The songs aren’t conventionally structured and they veer between danceable beats and sounding like the drums are falling down stairs but it never gets tedious or overly chin-stroking – this is deeply experimental music you can dance to, or just stand back and take it all in.

    It’s an exhilarating, and hugely energising experience watching them lock in and out of each other doing their thing. It turns out I haven’t seen it all before, there is still music out that there can surprise and delight that is completely otherworldly.  I pick up a beautifully packaged CD, make my feelings known to the disarmingly charming musicians at the merch stand and walk back into the darkness of Salford. Still House Plants moved me. Let them move you.

  • Dummy & Three Quarter Skies

    Dummy & Three Quarter Skies

    Back in my favourite basement which, once again has been transformed into a sonic cathedral by some adventurous artists

    First up, a nice surprise. Simon Scott, who by day is the drummer with Slowdive – now well into their remarkably successful 2nd act – but is also well established as an artist in his own right with a dizzying array of musical projects and soundtracks to his name. Tonight he performs as Three Quarter Skies who have a new record ‘Fade In’ to play to us. Shoegazers will be in familiar sonic territory however this is a much looser and more lo-fi proposition than Slowdive – Simon fronts a 3 piece band singing and playing guitar and electronics and he’s joined by a simpatico guitarist and drummer who whip up great billowing clouds of noise that reminds of those more exploratory groups in this field like The Telescopes, Spacemen 3 and also the fragile songwriting of the mythical Flying Saucer Attack. It’s loud, enveloping and rather marvellous.

    This is my 2nd time seeing Dummy, who headlined a ‘Mood Swings’ band night in this very venue a couple of years ago and I was very much taken with them and the many musical boxes they ticked with me. They’re back over from LA and getting toward the end of a pretty extensive few weeks schlepping around Europe and beyond. It’s fair to say they look completely knackered – but this doesn’t stop them putting in a brilliantly powerful and idiosyncratic performance – and like the Portishead album they borrowed their band name off – it’s hard to predict the musical ebb and flow they take us on.

    Everyone has keyboards as well as guitars and drums so one minute we get Brian Eno style, ambient interludes and the next minute we’re into My Bloody Valentine guitar bending freakouts, the electro-glide of Curve or the metronomic locked grooves of early Stereolab, Broadcast or Yo La Tengo. On songs like ‘Unshaped Road’ they show that 90s Trip Hop influence as a sweet pop vocal rides over a killer bass riff that could be from Massive Attack. That’s not to say they are derivative or slavishly copying those artists – they have a unique style of their own and they knit a lot of different moods and sounds together and somehow make it all coherent – their track Blue Dada is a good example – it starts very much in that early 90s Too Pure era Stereolab Groop Groove but takes on a strange little life of it’s own and its that sense of surprise in the choice of melody and dynamics that sets Dummy apart.

     

    https://youtu.be/_w8942xcHY4?si=ZQbvcSmusYLmyS9T

    Tonight suggests that Dummy, as good as their records are, are a band that really need to be seen live to really get what they’re about – so if this hard working band come to your town don’t pass up the chance to see them bring the noise.

     

  • The Horrors & Mynk

    The Horrors & Mynk

    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….

  • deary

    deary

    This is the (all lower case) deary’s first gig in Manchester and there’s a full basement and a definite sense of anticipation, I’ve certainly been looking forward to this one. It’s hard to talk about this band without mentioning their influences which, as part of the Sonic Cathedral roster, they wear loud and proud. Yes they do sound a lot like Cocteau Twins, Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine but really, by 2024 those bands have become as influential as Joy Division, The Cure, Can, Kraftwerk, The Velvet Underground, Love and The Doors were on previous generations of shy Indie kids. The fact is, a lot of young bands have embraced the pejorative ‘shoegazing’ tag and are running with it and making it their own – and unlike the 1st wave of shoegazers there are no NME journalists demanding they stop and be more like Guns N’ Roses (this actually happened).

    Let’s just accept that the NME journalists and Ladrock cheerleaders lost – Shoegaze/Dreampop is firmly established as a genre – but a template and jumping off point rather than a set of rules (aside : I’m on a Canterbury Scene Facebook group which eternally ties itself in knots debating what is, and what isn’t ‘Canterbury’ like some creaky old arts committee deciding what can be allowed into the catalogue raisonné – it’s both tragic and hilarious – I suspect the same goes on with Shoegaze/Dreampop). In which case, it’s no good just having some FX pedals, nice guitars and ethereal vocals – it becomes about the songs and fortunately deary have songs to burn and melodies to melt your heart.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-RgOyTrYlE

    I’ve loved their two EPs so far their self titled debut and the latest ‘Aurelia’ are magnificent and we get highlights from both tonight. They also have presence and a touch of magic about them and as they start their set with the aptly named ‘Heaven’ and get into their stride there’s definite intensity to them which crackles through the room. Brilliantly, the audience is rapt and it’s one of those nights where there’s nobody nattering and everyone seems to be hanging on every minute – even when they’re tuning up for the next song as if we all know we’re witnessing something very special.

    deary’s secret weapon is rhythm and the core of the group, Dottie & Ben are joined by an excellent drummer and bass player who bring that to the fore even more than on their records and it’s a joy to watch them at work – it reminds me of when My Bloody Valentine veered toward dance music on ‘Soon’ and maybe Massive Attack’s songs with Elizabeth Fraser – deary have yet to make an LP but maybe that’s something they might expand on. A stunning gig that flew by in a heartbeat – can’t wait to see where they go next.

     

  • Seefeel

    Seefeel

    I first saw Seefeel 30 odd years ago supporting Cocteau Twins and was immediately grabbed by the fact that while they presented as a traditional 4 piece guitar band, they didn’t sound like a ‘beat combo’ at all – swirling, looped sounds, distant vocals mangled so the line between voice and synthesised sound becomes blurred, and great thwacking bass (memorably played by Darren Seymour – twirling it around his head like it was a majorettes baton). Truly in a class of their own and I’ve been an avid fan ever since.

    The band have returned, sporadically over the years, and got some critical reappraisal recently with the material they recorded for Warp records being reissued as an excellent box set complete with a wodge of unreleased gems that – unlike a lot of ‘extra tracks’ are well worth your attention. Seemingly out of nowhere, a new mini-LP ‘dropped’ earlier this year on Warp. ‘Everything Squared’ is delicious and bridges the gap between the billowing clouds of looped guitar and sub-bass of their earlier stuff and the spartan, icy plains of their mid-period work.

    A gig by these is a rare thing indeed and with no danger of a moshpit I get down the front for the full arsequake bass experience and perhaps to try and figure out how Seefeel works. They’re down to a 3 piece tonight with core members Sarah Peacock and Mark Clifford joined by a bass player (I didn’t catch his name and this reviewer thought it was a returning Seymour?) and while the bass stays firmly below head height you could lie down and take a nap on the colossal subsonic waves coming off the stage.

    The set opens with ‘Climatic Phase’ from their debut ‘Quique’ and it is one of those goose-bump moments as they gradually build the track up from looping samples, fragments of vocal and guitar building toward the dub bass and everything locks in. They still sound like nobody else. The set mixes those early Too Pure tracks with a selection from the new record and you can’t see the join. It’s a privilege to watch them at work, up close – and it’s not as if we’re seeing behind the curtain as I’m none the wiser how they make a few FX pedals, some guitars, a laptop and some singing sound so other-worldly.

    It’s a relatively short set but warmly received by a very attentive audience of old heads and few curious pop-crazed youngsters who hopefully leave inspired like I was 30 years hence. Leave ’em wanting more I guess, and we do. Their is talk of a new full length LP and apparently Mark Clifford only puts out a fraction of the material he records so hopefully I will have my atoms rearranged by Seefeel again before too long. Majestic.

     

  • Immersion (Colin Newman & Malka Spigel)

    Immersion (Colin Newman & Malka Spigel)

    While sensible people are staying home with the immersion on, I’m braving the sub-zero ice and snow ‘cos Immersion are on.

    Last time I saw Colin Newman on a stage he was fronting his day-job band, Wire, at Band on the Wall just before Covid curtailed their touring plans in 2020. With the band now seemingly on hiatus (check out Matthew Simm’s Memorials and Graham Lewis’ latest – both mighty fine ) Colin and his partner, musician and artist Malka Spigel have been keeping very busy with a weekly radio show and reviving Immersion which started 30(!) years ago as a way of exploring the duo’s fascination for club music and electronica. I saw them play a mesmerising set at Wire’s ‘retrospective’ comeback at the Royal Festival Hall in 2000 (we only have this excerpt:)

    – and tonight’s set up is very similar – a bank of electronics and the duo silhouetted against a video projection except tonight, they are facing the audience. There are songs too, with vocals from both and Colin occasionally reaches for a guitar and Malka is bashing away at a Korg synthesiser with considerable gusto – so although the austerity budget didn’t stretch to bringing a live drummer over for the tour, it makes this feel like a gig you can engage in rather watching some laptop jamming.

    There are familiar, signature drones which remind you of their initial incarnation and the downright essential ambient classic ‘Low Impact’ but Immersion has morphed into something more open-ended and actually very danceable – there are beats galore and trouser-flapping bass as well as some very enjoyable detours into kosmiche musik and Dreampop (if we need to get into genres).

    There is an airy, almost new-age positivity about Immersion which might sound a bit flowery in less talented hands but with two of the coolest musicians on the planet in charge who know of what they sing/speak, it works and the audience response reflects this right back – all smiles. The audience is a mix of people of a certain age but also curious younger folk who are enjoying the hefty basslines and beats these two, ridiculously youthful 70 year olds are firing off and we’re all moving with them. Immersion are bringing their sound and art to your town – go and see them!

  • Night Swimming, RIP Magic and The Itch

    Night Swimming, RIP Magic and The Itch

    Mood Swings @ Yes Manchester

    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!

  • Swell Maps

    Swell Maps

    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!

  • High Llamas

    High Llamas

    1 July 1995 I was in London for the weekend with some pals and, with no definite plans for the Saturday evening, we looked in Time Out magazine that day and saw that Mercury Rev were playing the Astoria – so that was the entertainment sorted for the evening – (pre internet, we just rang the venue and booked tickets…imagine that)

    I was absolutely blown away by the headliners who were plugging the under-rated ‘See You On the Other Side’ to a modest crowd (a few years before they headed for the Catskills and made their canonical ‘Deserters Songs’) but what really stuck with me was the support band High Llamas – they played what I now know is a mix of 50s and 60s Exotica, Brian Wilson, Van Dyke Parks, Steely Dan and experimental European electronica. It was a really formative gig for me, and particularly their habit of hitting on a beautiful chord progression and repeating it on an endless, dreamy loop. I was hooked, and there is such a thing as a High Llamas completist because, dear reader, I am one. If you’ve not ventured beyond their earlier works you’re missing out. Try their latter-period masterpiece ‘Beet, Maize and Corn’ for instance:

    So it’s a delight to be back in Hebden Bridge at one of the best gig venues on the planet to see a very rare appearance from the High Llamas and they blew me away all over again. Sean is joined by his daughter on backing vocals, longtime Llama Marcus Holdaway and a brilliant rhythm section. We get a bunch of songs from extraordinary new album which reflects Sean’s fascination with contemporary Pop/Hip Hop and R&B (he was sampled by Tyler y’know!)

    …which somehow works perfectly with the older material of which we get an unexpectedly generous serving. Sean doubles up on acoustic guitar and vocals and occasionally firing off samples from his Roland 404 (yesss!) which adds those unexpected contemporary pop moments into the songs. He really is steeped in the contemporary Pop landscape in a way that puts me (and probably most of us gathered here) to shame but listen to him here on the Rocks Back Pages podcast talking with infectious enthusiasm about this new inspiration

    As a massive fan I’d have struggled to predict the very varied setlist seemingly picked from a tombola of the wonderful records they’ve quietly slipped out over the past 20 years but it worked brilliantly. There is a reverence and hush but a lot of appreciation from the crowd even if a lot of the material may be unfamiliar to many (who may be expecting cuts from ‘Hawaii’ – which is perhaps their ‘Deserters Songs’) – and there’s the unmistakable sense that something special is happening tonight. While a lot of the songs were really carefully rehearsed (there are a lot of chord changes and unusual time signatures involved here so you can’t just wing it) they very kindly played a request – the song Steely Dan could have written ‘Checking In Checking Out’ which they hadn’t rehearsed and I don’t recall them playing since 1995, the bass player didn’t know it (and nobody could remember the middle eight) but bless ’em they played it anyway. So this isn’t a night of nostalgia – playing all the old tunes, but what it does do is make me feel as inspired and delighted as I was 20 years ago – better than nostalgia.