Phoning it in

Dispatches from the back of the venue

RIYL: Stereolab

  • Manchester Psych Fest 2026

    Manchester Psych Fest 2026

    I remember when Psych Fest was just a diy all-dayer at Night & Day cafe. It’s now a multi-venue affair, firmly established on the Manchester scene, attracts people from far and wide and this is the biggest one yet. There are also sister events in Brighton and Edinburgh so like Reading & Leeds Festivals they can exchange headliners across a weekend with local artists making up the rest of the bill.

    When the festival began, as now, the definition of ‘Psych’ is up for debate and has a increasingly fluid meaning much like ‘Post Punk’ or even ‘R&B’. 30 years ago you might expect a bill to include bands like Gong or Ozric Tentacles, maybe some electronica like The Orb. Now ‘psych’ is basically a catch-all for bands with (mostly) guitars with a broadly ‘Indie’ aesthetic- but ‘Psych’ is supposed to infer a more experimental, freewheeling variant More ‘Freak Zone’ than Radio X. More Stereolab than Shed Seven.

    Mid afternoon and the freaks are out in force moving around the venues, wrist bands and ‘Clashfinder’ at the ready (or the slightly clunky ‘official app’). Usually Psych Fest is centred around the ‘Oxford Road Corridor’ (as developers call it) where there is a cluster of gig venues around The Ritz, Gorilla, Yes, Bread Shed, Deaf Institute and sometimes reaching over to the Albert Hall and even a skate park under the Mancunian Way. This year it’s gone to the another level with both the 2,600 capacity Academy and the 3,500 capacity Apollo Theatre pressed into service, extending the festival map even further.

    Bringing the Apollo into the mix does make it less easy to dive in and out of venues – at a push you can get there in 20 minutes from the festival hub in Circle Square, or even hop on a 192 bus, but this negates the ‘lucky dip’ ethos of the event a bit. I suspect the growth in scale may be partly due to one band in particular – the viral “sensation” Angine du Poitrine which the internet has been losing it’s collective shit over for months. Whether they are actually any good or not is hard to say because the relentless algorithmic hype behind them drowns out the music, but the weight of FOMO around them is palpable. With a multi-venue festival there is always the possibility you won’t get in to one of the more popular shows. To be honest, I don’t care how many notes they can play at once – I’m quite happy to miss out on Polka-dot Noseybonk and his pal and opt to watch a few other bands rather than queuing halfway round Ardwick Green. (I hear on the grapevine that a lot of AdP fans just pitched up in the Apollo for Gwenno’s set and hogged the space thereafter – and were talking loudly during the act that didn’t have the Polka Dot gimmick – inevitable I suppose)

    Anyway, Psych Fest is very much a ‘choose your own adventure’ affair and it’s worthwhile doing some research on Bandcamp, a bit like the Christmas Radio Times, underlining the turns you might like to see. There are, inevitably, clashes which are deliberately timed to split the audience between the bigger acts. For instance Stereolab, Allah-Las and Bdrmm are all on at once. Beta Band, White Denim and Ty Segall clash (find out who I chose later!) suffice to say one of the reasons the tickets are so affordable (especially if you book early) is you will have to make some tough decisions over who you want to see.

    Our day begins at the good old Ritz to see Lael Neale. Joined by a keyboard/guitarist I’m taken by Lael’s deceptively simple songs – keyboard and guitar based, drone and 2-chord trick based drawing obvious comparisons with Spacemen 3/Sonic Boom or Galaxie 500. Lael has a secret weapon which is a surprisingly powerful voice and ability to do a bit of a Tim Buckley-esque soaring vibrato which she does, sparingly so as not to overdo it but to striking effect. It’s relatively slight and delicate music at times – challenging put over in one of the larger gig rooms – but the audience ‘get it’ and Lael goes down a treat.

    Staying in The Ritz, the seldom used (and notoriously hot and humid) 2nd venue underneath is open for Psychfest – one of the smallest spaces in fact and I stick around to see the intriguing Roscoe Roscoe – a raggedy and rather earnest looking bunch – lots of instrument swapping and one or two fluffs here and there “blowing off the cobwebs” as they put it – but I’m rather taken with them and stay for the whole set as do the engaged crowd gathered here. The songs are delicate, hard to pin down and often using layered vocal harmonics, complex interlocking parts and veering into odd time signatures in the post-rock vein of These New Puritans or Bark Psychosis. It’s hesitant and understated at times but I rather like that and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do next.

    Time for some venue hopping – I catch a bit of Renni Conti with his band in the basement of Yes – on record the music is quite dreamy and string laden, stripped to a four piece rock band it reminds me more of Pavement but there is a clever songwriting at play here. ‘Leaving the Zoo’ is particularly striking and has a nice mix of sweet sounds and grungy guitars.

    Over at the aforementioned Skate Park, I catch Ghostwoman. One of the stranger spaces in use, it works quite well as a semi-open air venue (with a roof) albeit with some awkward standing arrangements on various ramps and curves and platforms (complete with thrown trainers hanging off the metalwork above the crowd). The band are a two-piece drummer and guitarist who share vocals. They lean into the guitar grinding riffs and distorted vocal/slapback echo thing on the mic that is a bit of trope of the more OhSees/Ty Segall brand of psych rock – which isn’t to my taste and a bit wearing on the ears albeit they whip up an impressive head of steam and the crowd around me love ’em – but the beauty of today is I can nip down the road and find something else…

    Over at the Bread Shed I find (forever to be misspelled) The Heavenly Bodes – from Penryn in Cornwall – now this is more like it. Proper 60s Garage rock unashamedly ‘Nuggets’ style, pudding bowl haircuts and lots of rock action on stage and Fun Fun Fun. They jingle, jangle and make everyone smile.

    Now comes the first mega-clash of the day. I could see my beloved Stereolab, west coast janglers Allah-Las or Hull shoegazers Bdrmm. I decide to pass on Stereolab at the Apollo as I’ve seen them many times and by all accounts the set is drawn from the exact same repertoire (mostly from the current LP) I saw them play back in December and reviewed here. I plump for Bdrmm as I could do with some more electronic based music after all those guitar riffs and I suspect they may have some new music to play (which they do). I’m not the only one as the Ritz is packed and Bdrmm seem genuinely humbled at how many have shown up to see them. They rise to the occasion and put in a visceral and passionate performance. It’s good to see them able to space themselves out on a much bigger stage than I’ve seen them previously and they also show their songs benefit from room to breathe and easily fill the big old Ritz ballroom. There is still that self-deprecating “we’re from sunny Hull”, DiY modesty about them and their daft band name (which they are now stuck with) but they are clearly transcending that and I see before me a band maturing into something potentially rather dramatic.

    I attempt to see Atlanta duo Lowertown at the basement at Yes but this is my first and only lock-out of the night and instead head over to see US/Mexican band Holy Wave – they’re intriguing and perhaps my favourite discovery of the day. They make up for missing Stereolab as they have a line in exotic melodies and tropicalia that isn’t a million miles away (one of the band sports a ‘lab shirt just in case there was any doubt) but with nods toward kosmiche rock and good old guitar-fx laden shoegaze. A mish-mash but a very enjoyable one.

    So finally over to the Apollo – taking a short cut via Grosvenor Street in Brunswick where modernised low-rise social housing competes for breathing space with student tower blocks and the expanding city centre looming around it. I’m wondering if there will be a queue for Beta Band – there is not and the security staff are packing away the crowd control barriers presumably set up for the Angine du Poitrine shenanigans. In fact the venue is half full at best, with stiff competition from Ty Segall and White Denim across town.

    I’m curious rather than desperate to see Beta Band again and I must admit to being a bit dismissive of the news last year that they were touring again not least because I saw them a couple of times in the 90s they were pretty listless and soporific in concert. Admittedly I only saw them once they’d got to mid-sized venue stage and didn’t see what were probably quite exciting early gigs. I also don’t think I’ve listened a Beta Band record in 20 or so years – they were interesting for a fleeting moment for me. Reports from the comeback gigs have been positive and suggest they have got their shit together and out of three clashing headliners they’re an easy win for me.

    After some preamble including a video montage and David Bowie’s ‘Memory of a Free Festival’ over the PA the band file on in their jump suits surrounded with odd foliage and a weirdly gloopy pink lighting scheme which is a bit unsettling and off they go. The sound is a bit reverby, especially the drums so it all sounds a bit soupy at first and makes me think Beta Band’s idiosyncratic and wayward songs were really designed for much smaller venues – but it starts to settle in after a while and your ears adjust to the strange logic of Beta Band. They Start Making Sense. I also note that the band – especially Steve Mason and keyboard player John Maclean – are making efforts to ‘mach schau’ albeit the lighting is such that the band are always in shadow and creates a barrier between them and the audience. There is lots of instrument swapping between drums, guitars and percussion and as they play through cuts from the early EPs and their patchy subsequent LPs (including a rambling ‘It’s Not too Beautiful’ from their self-sabotaged debut album). Hypnotic loops like ‘Push it Out’ just about work in the huge venue but inevitably ‘Dry the Rain’ lands the best and the audience respond with a huge singalong and ‘The House Song’ which becomes a full-on percussion workout and once last dance-off.

    For some this is deeply nostalgic, for me it’s interesting to listen again and I’m struck by what an odd and curious band the Beta Band were, and still are. You could argue that such was the buzz around them back in the 90s they were the Angine de Poitrine of their day except that the hyperbole and excitement was generated in print media rather than online as the internet was in its infancy back then. We’ll see whether AdP mount their own comeback 30 years from now…

    Psychfest goes on into the night for them with the stamina or a second wind, but when the Bee Network goes to sleep, so PhoningItIn.blog must retire to bed too and dream of what Greater Manchester would be like if it had something like Greater London’s late running transport network… – so we don’t get to catch the return of Working Men’s Club, the intriguingly named Annabella Chairlegs or the appropriate choice of Nightbus (seen ’em before and very good they are too) who mop up the last dregs at 1.30am. I do not feel remotely short changed though and worth every penny of the reasonably priced early-bird ticket – book now for 2027 you psychedelia crazed youngsters!

  • Stereolab

    Stereolab

    For a band who were on a 10 year ‘indefinite hiatus’ until 2019, Stereolab really seem to be making up for lost time. They’ve been touring extensively all over the globe since then and this year surprisingly released a brand new record ‘Instant Holograms on Metal Film’ which has been getting rave reviews. For my money it is their best since Scary Monsters 1997’s electronic exoctica masterpiece ‘Dots & Loops’ – and brings with it a much needed message of hope & unity.

    I’ve seen a fair few shows since they returned to active service and each time they had a different set – picking from their 11 studio albums and myriad of EPs, mini-LPs, obscure 7″s, compilations and bonus tracks. To the innocent bystander their can sound a bit ‘samey’ – the old joke “Stereolab (or insert other band name here) have made their album again” has been applied on occasion. In fact they are a band who have traversed through many different phases. There is Camden lurch noisy Lo-Fi Stereolab (my fave I have to say) there is weird Lo-Fi loungey exoctica Stereolab, there is weird Hi-Fi loungey exotica Stereolab, there is freewheeling abstract Art Rocker Stereolab, retro-futuristic electronic Pop Stereolab… All these stereolabtypes merge together rather satisifyingly on the new record – which is just as well as it will form a large portion of their current live show.

    The Ritz is packed and at full capacity and even though we’re well into Xmas party season (Manchester is heaving with civilians and office partygoers in Xmas jumpers) and indeed maybe because it’s the Xmas party season – I get the sense everyone is in here for something a bit more cerebral and thoughtful. The crowd are a real mix of ages too – and that strident, progressive new album seems to have a resonated with a younger generation which is heartwarming to see. The new album tracks get cheers of recognition – they have been paying attention.

    The Groop tonight are mainstays Laetitia on lead vocals, synth, guitar and tonight playing a mean trombone, Tim on rhythm guitar – giving it some serious Northern Soul riffage, the mighty Andy Ramsey – the absolute heartbeat of Stereolab since 1992 on drums – (always a joy to watch) – joined by relative newbies Joseph and Xavier on Keys & Bass. Tonight isn’t going to be about favourite old songs so I settle in to watch them clearly loving playing this material which has energised them and gives them the chance to go off piste and take it for a walk around town on more than once occasion.

    It’s good stuff and easy to warm to with each song having moments where the band can really explode into fireworks after some meandering and occasional freeform noise bursts. The oldies are not the obvious ones but ‘Peng 33’ from their debut LP is a real treat – and a blast of their remarkable ability to take a simple melody and make it sound epic. A couple of tracks fall a little flat – ‘A Flower Called Nowhere’ never did it for me in the 90s and seems to be glued to the setlist since 2019 – ‘Household Names’ – is a rather nondesript b-side from 2000 that clearly means more to them than it does to me – but those are the exceptions. For the most part the band are on top form and playing with a mixture of earnest seriousness and playfulness.

    Closing the main set is ‘Electrified Teenybop’ from the new album – an instrumental which sounds outrageously massive as a live performance – up on the balcony I find myself watching heads bobbing and moving linbs- it’s a huge, imaginary orchestral film theme scaling the walls of the venue and earning the band a very raucous call for an encore. It might have to be a live staple if they return to playing oldies again.

    One of the best sets I ever saw Stereolab do was touring ‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’ in 1996 and that night was much like tonight – leaning heavily into the new record with just a few oldies – so this is very much true to form. Tonight can’t quite measure up to that because they had the sort of extended line-up 90s music biz budgets could stretch to – High Llama Sean O’Hagan on keys, members of Tortoise popping up on percussion and – amazingly – Sonic Boom of Spacemen 3 who spent the entire gig smoking and prodding at a huge modular synth (30 years before they became fashionable again). Here’s a clip of that version of The Groop – with song that resonates today more than before:

    However, this leaner unit does capture the sheer joy of playing music that they’re energised by and want to play – and play with. They leave us with an extended and rapturous ‘Cybelies Reverie’ also played at that 1996 show. This ain’t no ‘French Disko’ (the closest they came to a hit and one that felt it was becoming a bit obligatory on the last couple of tours tbh) but it’ll do nicely

    It’s fantastic to see them entertain 1,500 people with such an uncompromising set and take people along the ride with them – I think everyone realises there is nobody quite like Stereolab – in attitude, approach, outlook and the unlikely combination of sounds and influences they cram together – they’re a bigger deal than ever.

  • Peel Dream Magazine & Tulpa

    Peel Dream Magazine & Tulpa

    It’s a warm balmy evening and so even though it’s Monday there’s lots of people enjoying the last rays on Stevenson Square (you take your beer garden opportunities when they arise round these parts) but that hasn’t put off a decent crowd descending the steps into the grotty but welcoming Soup cellar – amid the scuzzy, graffiti strewn vibe (CBeebies GBs I call it) the aircon is on, the vibe is cool and slightly damp – and there’s some suitably summery rock action going down.

    First up, from Leeds, Tulpa who I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing before. They’re a four piece and I’m immediately taken by their sound which has some bendy Kevin Shields guitar noise mixed with post-punk dynamics and, importantly, catchy and memorable melodic drive. What really gets them extra points is they do something too many young bands shy away from – they aren’t afraid to get a good head of steam going and keep it locked rather than switching to the next song. Tulpa let the instrumental sections of the songs go round a few bars to give time for some nice, grungey riffage and let the twin guitars ring for a bit – not to the point of self-indulgence or (god help us) ‘jamming’, but long enough to have impact and reel the listener in. It works and they have the audience right on side. They’ve got some great material, they’re cool, they play with quiet confidence and verve. My guess is next time I see them they’ll be headlining – they’re very good indeed.

    Up next, from LA, Peel Dream Magazine. I’ve been very much enjoying their records and this is my first time seeing them live. Their music takes some cues from shoegaze, dream pop, Avant pop and the smarter, quirkier end of the American songbook (Van Dyke Parks for instance). It’s very cleverly produced, enigmatic and quietly remarkable. They have some obvious influences, they clearly have spent a great deal of time poring over the back catalogue of Stereolab (seems a reasonable way to spend your time) – but they do it in such a way that they add a whole new dimension of their own. I like it when I hear an artist reimagining music I grew up with in their own image and taking new steps those artists didn’t take. PDM have a habit of homing in on elements in music that I really like that makes me think “oh you’re hearing that the way I hear it”. PDM are so good you can imagine them being cited as an influence by future artists. That in fact, is how Pop history works kids.

    I do wonder how they might translate their elegant, multi-instrumental music in a low-budget live format. With the best will in the world, I doubt it would be financially viable for PDM to bring a vibraphone player (never mind said instrument) on a short European club tour. The answer is to take the songs and reframe them for a 4 piece guitar band – and it works a treat. They do use a bit of ‘track’, just to add some keyboard backing which the drummer fires off from his pads. Much like High Llamas (who they don’t imitate but share some musical DNA) the songs are good enough that they can stand up with a basic band format. This gives a different spin on the songs compared to their records – in fact PDM positively rock out at times, particularly when leaning into their earlier, louder songs.

    There’s a really good crowd in, in spite of the not entirely Pop-friendly Monday night and outdoorsy weather. PDM leader Joseph Stephens is a man of few words, and has said he doesn’t like gigs where people are talking. Fortunately tonight, in our musty cellar underneath the Northern Quarter people are getting into it, we’re all on the same page and, for both bands it’s very much a Listening Room.

  • eat-girls

    eat-girls

    This is my first gig at the former (infamous) Old Mother Macs pub, now relaunched as The Rat and Pigeon. It’s still very much an old school backstreet boozer but with enough of a facelift to make it feel friendly enough and the youthful clientele challenge the myth that ‘ver kids’ don’t like clustering around a pub table for a chinwag, a bag of crisps and a pint of mild… these lot do.

    Upstairs is a very small but well appointed gig venue, about the size of the back room of The Castle but with space for a corner bar and back room…and it has a sound and lighting rig powerful enough for a venue three times the size. Small enough for local artists and international bands taking their first steps on the circuit  – and indeed tonight’s turn is French trio eat-girls (the lower case and hyphen is important apparently), over from Lyon for their first ever UK dates.

    They start by donning those head-light things joggers wear to illuminate each member of the band and the audience – it’s a neat trick and straight away they grab your attention. The striking three piece Amélie, Elisa, and Maxence play keys, guitar and bass with everyone covering vocals – often the track drops away to them all singing in unison – their “electronic madrigals” as they put it. There’s no drummer but the backing track is punchy enough and the propulsive bass and guitars provides enough movement, spontaneity and energy to compensate for the relentless, pre-programmed beatbox. 

    I don’t want to resort to that old hackery of comparing these young artists to other, older bands but I’m going to anyway. There’s definitely an echo of early Stereolab in the taught rhythms, vocal rounds and a certain sense of utilitarian style. They draw from Post-Punk, particularly the clipped, economical tunesmithery of Wire, The Banshees and Joy Division at their most motorised. The organ drones and keyboards recall the dreamily European, cinematic swoon of Tuxedomoon or Marine.

    But enough of the comparisons – eat-girls have plenty of ideas of their own with moody synth textures and atmospheric samples and dubby FX adding to a swirly miasma. You can dance to them too – and they inspire some serious frugging in the room among the pop-crazed youngsters as the room fills and warms up. They have a deft knack of veering from total seriousness, to bopping around with abandon- often during the same song. 

    I’m totally sold on these – easily one of the best new groups I’ve seen in a long time. Their mighty fine LP ‘Area Silenzio’ is out now and don’t miss the chance to see eat-girls.

    They will haunt you. 

    https://eat-girls.bandcamp.com/album/area-silenzio

  • 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.

     

  • 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!