BPreviews Archives - Page 27 of 69 -

September 8, 2017September 8, 2017

BPREVIEW: Semantics – Acid Test EP launch @ Actress & Bishop 09.09.17

Striking in both sound and appearance, the Actress & Bishop welcome Semantics to its stage on 9^th September 2017 – celebrating the release of their sophomore EP, Acid Test.

The event, brought to you by Birmingham Promoters, will run from 7.30pm through to 1.00am, with tickets priced at £6 plus the usual booking fees. For direct gig info, including online ticket sales, click here.

Semantics are supported by high octane indie/punk rockers Hankks, who are no strangers to the Actress & Bishop, and power pop band Quinn who remind me of a softer Smashing Pumpkins.

Starting with airplay on BBC WM Introducing, 2017 has been the year Semantics kicked things up a notch. Founded in 2014 and with their first recorded music release on the 1^st July 2016, Semantics took a little time to prepare before taking the Birmingham music scene on fully, but since then they have been hitting it hard and keeping the pace high.

Their first EP, self titled, saw the first of their BBC WM Introducing spins, made it onto the Little Indie Blog track of the day and was crowned one of Scruff Of The Neck Records’ top five tracks of the week – all within two months.

Now before I go through any more of the year’s achievements, sound-wise Semantics are a fusion of 80’s synth-pop melodies and guitar led indie rock. Their music centers around the powerful vocals of Rob Lilley, and the simple, engaging melodies he creates.

Behind this sits a driving rhythm section that gives their songs a foot tapping, head nodding quality and a soaring guitar, heavily laden with echo (or delay, I can’t work out which) that adds a high melody to counterpoint Lilley’s vocal, bringing extra depth to their sound. Some bands work with each instrument in its place; some bands create a unified wall of sound. Semantics are the latter.

After a strong start in 2017, Semantics headed down south for their debut show in the capital before, in March, getting back into the studio for their second EP recording. In April they headlined the Into The Void Festival at the 6/8 Kafe before heading back down to London to The Finsbury Pub. The radio play and headline shows continued and while staying at a steady one-a-month kind of rate, there is a consistency to it that speaks to me of a steady but fierce rise.

Leading us to this… Semantics‘ second EP release show. Whether this will be promo, party or both is yet to be seen, but it’s a promising lineup and there’s only one way to find out; get yourself to the Actress & Bishop on Saturday 9th September. Click here for direct gig info and tickets, from Birmingham Promoters.

‘Acid Test’ – Semantics

For more on Semantics, visit www.soundcloud.com/semanticsuk

For more on Hankks, visit www.soundcloud.com/hankks

For more on Quinn, visit www.soundcloud.com/quinn-580556457

For more from Actress & Bishop, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.facebook.com/Actressandbishop

For more from Birmingham Promoters, visit www.birminghampromoters.com

September 7, 2017

BPREVIEW: The Lord of the Rings – trilogy screenings @ Moseley Park 8-10.09

Words by Heather Kincaid

For anyone who’s ever experienced the magic of the Moseley Folk Festival, it won’t be too much of a stretch to imagine Tolkienesque creatures emerging from the greenery around the festival site. So what better place to host Peter Jackson’s trilogy of films, with one adventure screening each day from 8^th to 10^th September.

Screenings will start at 7pm each day, with the films being show in order across the weekend: The Fellowship of the Ring (Fri 8^th Sept), The Two Towers (Sat 9^th Sept), The Return of the King (Sun 10^th Sept). Adult tickets are priced at £23 per day or £60 for the weekend, with concessions for children over and under 12 years old. For direct event info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

So why Moseley Park? Nestled behind an unassuming row of shops and cafés, the beautiful, eleven-acre urban oasis is sheltered from the Birmingham traffic by lush foliage. Steeped in 300 years of history, it feels almost as relaxed and picturesque as Bilbo Baggins’ beloved Shire, particularly when kitted out with the rainbow colours, floral displays and quaint and quirky crafts that accompany the festivals that take place on the site.

A peaceful lake is packed with fish and waterfowl, with a Grade II listed ice house that once served the Moseley Hall Estate built into a grassy hill in the heart of the park (rumoured to be the inspiration for Tolkien’s hobbit holes). Add to this the author’s well-documented Midlands connections, and it’s perhaps a wonder a Lord of the Rings-themed event didn’t happen here sooner.

There’s perhaps a good reason for this, however. Along with Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul, the Moseley Folk Festival is currently one of only two major commercial events happening in Moseley Park, both from the same festival organisers.

Run by a charitable trust, the park initially opened itself up as an event space to the Mosley Folk organsiers with some pretty stringent conditions attached – hoping they could protect the concerns of local residents whilst building on the foundations of the L’Esprit Manouche jazz events previously held there. Luckily the Moseley Folk team have done a good enough job keeping trustees happy to be permitted to expand activities there, albeit under the new, rather apt name of ‘Ice House Pictures’. Could the formation of the Ice House Picture be the beginning of a new series of outdoor screenings?

Either way, this weekend brings the event that the local LOTR fan community have been waiting for in all its glory: a three-day movie marathon scheduled to coincide with the Middle Earth Festival at the nearby Sarehole Mill, making for a veritable extravaganza for all die-hard Ringers.

Alongside the films, with high quality audio delivered via radio headsets, there’ll be live music from the Central England Camerata as conducted by Louis Clark Junior – plus storytelling, folk dance, children’s games, costumed actors, wandering minstrels and more.

So don your walking gear and prepare for the long hike out to Mordor and back – bearing in mind there’ll be prizes for the best costumes every day. While you’re around, why not check out the re-enactments, living history camp, weapons displays, costume pageants, medieval traders and more at the Middle Earth Festival at Sarehole Mill, Hall Green (9th to 10th Sept) where Tolkien lived and played as a child.

A word of warning though, if on your travels you happen across any mysterious jewellery or treasure hoarding beings… it’s probably best to steer clear.

For more on The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Film Screening, visit www.moseleyfolk.co.uk/LOTR

For more information about Moseley Park, including news and event listings, visit www.moseleypark.co.uk

August 30, 2017August 30, 2017

BPREVIEW: Mother’s Ruin: A Cabaret about Gin @ The Old Joint Stock 31.08-03.09.17

Words by Lucy Mounfield / Pics by Patrick Boland

Running from Thursday 31^st August to Sunday 3^rd September, Mother’s Ruin: A Cabaret about Gin will tipsily explore the history of gin through a unique brand of story-telling, song and drinking the good stuff itself (with tonic) at The Old Joint Stock’s intimate theatre. The Old Joint Stock seems the perfect choice for Mother’s Ruin with the theatre above the pub.

Created and performed by Maeve Marsden and Libby Wood, Mother’s Ruin is coming straight from the Edinburgh Festival and London’s Underbelly Festival – pausing their run in Birmingham, before heading back on the festival tour circuit with Cabaret in the Glen on October 19^th. Nominated for Best Cabaret (Fringe World Festival ) and Best Writing (Green Room Awards), Mother’s Ruin is a 60min cabaret, loosely blending a historical narrative with the hysterical happenings of two women who love drinking all things gin.

Beginning the story with 18^th Century vaudeville London, Mother’s Ruin sings and drinks through the next 200 years of prohibition, New York speakeasies, the Australian bush, the jungles of Peru and a trip to India. Gin has had a rocky history – closely tied to colonization and women’s rights – which makes the renaissance of gin in recent years all the more interesting.

Throughout these stories Marsden and Wood weave in gin recipes, recount the origins to some of the world’s most famous cocktails, and give away tips on how to drink the spirit. With a gin researcher as part of the production team (Elly Baxter aka The Gintress), Mother’s Ruin takes the story of gin drinking quite seriously, mixing feminism and history to re-tell the story of this dubious tipple.

When I think of a cabaret nightclub, I picture a dark cavernous room with jazz music being played by a pianist at the stage; I think of people sitting elegantly, tapping their fingers rhythmically on the small round table they occupy, drinking gin with ice, a twist of orange, and a splash of tonic water. Gin, cabaret and music go hand in hand, so it’s no surprise that Mother’s Ruin combines all three.

And if all this gin musing makes you thirsty, don’t fret as each ticket holder to Mother’s Ruin will be given a free glass of gin and tonic. During the UK tour of the show, the gin of choice has been Four Pillars Gin – an Australian boutique spirit, made with oranges and botanicals native to Australia and served with Fever Tree Tonic.

And if, like me, you couldn’t tell a boutique booze from supermarket schnapps don’t worry because Meave Marsden and Libby Wood do – facts I’m sure they will reveal to us whilst singing and drinking the night away.

‘I’ve Drunk Every Gin’ – from Mother’s Ruin: A Cabaret about Gin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGFfzjBb8hI

For more on Mother’s Ruin: A Cabaret about Gin, visit www.mothersruincabaret.com

For more from The Old Joint Stock, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.oldjointstock.co.uk

August 26, 2017

BPREVIEW: Parquet Courts @ O2 Institute 31.08.17

Words by Helen Knott

On Thursday 31^st August, Parquet Courts play the O2 Institute in Digbeth. Doors open at 7pm, with tickets priced at £17 plus booking fee – as presented by Goldenvoice and This Is Tmrw. For direct gig information, including full venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

Parquet Courts’ show at the O2 Institute continues their tour in support of last year’s Human Performance – the Brooklyn band’s third studio album and the first to be released on Rough Trade Records. This is one of five UK dates in the run-up to a performance at End of the Road Festival in September.

Human Performance received a warm critical reaction on its release, causing Rolling Stone magazine to describe them as “the most exciting young rock band in America”, heir apparent to groups like Television, Pavement and the Velvet Underground.

This article marked a culmination of the steady momentum the band has been building since they formed in 2010. Birthed in the grassroots of the New York DIY scene – even now Parquet Courts avoid running a Twitter feed or Facebook page – the band has an ethos of rejecting digital marketing in favour of old fashioned physical releases, homemade print and frequent touring.

Front man Andrew Savage is an important aspect of this DIY mentality, designing the artwork for their records and flyers, and taking the unusual step of advertising the release of Human Performance through a wall mural in Brooklyn. But don’t think that Parquet Courts are all style and no substance; Savage’s songs have led Pitchfork to describe him as ‘one of the best rock lyricists of his generation’. And whilst that might sound like hyperbole he is arguably one of the more captivating indie lyricists around, pedaling words often sardonic, occasionally touching, but always compelling.

Andrew Savage is ably supported by the band’s other songwriter and guitarist, Austin Brown, bassist Sean Yeaton, and his brother Max on drums. When it works the resulting tumbling guitar lines and duel vocals are twitchy art-punk at its best.

Parquet Courts‘ live shows can be a potent mix of abrupt one-minute tracks and extended jam rock-outs; if they reach anything like the heights of this wonderful version of ‘Stoned and Starving’ from 2013 record Light Up Gold the O2 Institute crowd are in for a raw, and rather exciting, evening.

‘Stoned and Starving’ – Parquet Courts

‘Human Performance’ – Parquet Courts

Parquet Courts play at the O2 Institute on Thursday 31^st August – as presented by Goldenvoice and This Is Tmrw for Direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.

For more on Parquet Courts, visit www.parquetcourts.wordpress.com

For more from O2 Institute, including full event listings and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2institutebirmingham

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For more from Goldenvoice, visit www.goldenvoice.com

For more from This Is Tmrw, visit www.thisistmrw.co.uk

August 25, 2017

BPREVIEW: Bank Holiday Weekender @ Hawker Yard 25- 27.08.17

Hawker Yard is bringing a Bank Holiday Weekend live music special to Birmingham, 25-27^th August. Beginning with Blak Twang + Mr Thing and culminating with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the al-fresco eatery is celebrating the long weekend with a combination of dirty beats and delicious food.

Birmingham’s first purpose built street food centre, Hawker Yard opened in 2016. Founded by Brum Yum Yum’s Duncan Stanley, the shipping container and scaffolding structure (somewhat dubiously described as ‘cargotecture’) aimed to bring some ramshackle permanence to Brum’s emerging street food scene.

Styled with lanterns and lights, the formerly derelict yard now houses a variety of bar areas, lounging and eating options. The Pershore Road site was, however, put up for sale earlier this year as Stanley was seeking to relocate and recreate his East London vibe in, er, London.

Now promoters Feel the Vibe and Hawker Yard LIVE have combined to devise a Bank Holiday Weekender to tempt the ears as well as the taste buds: renowned turntablist DJ Mr. Thing and British rapper Blak Twang kick off the weekender with a ‘till late party promising street dance performances and scratching aplenty.

Saturday will see Sneaker Hawks launch the city’s newest ‘vintage, kicks and urban clothes’ event, with some of the £3 entry price supporting Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Non-shoppers wishing to indulge in some weekend philanthropy should appreciate the graffiti art, break dancing and fresh food, if not the ‘fresh garms’.

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the seven sons of jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran, will round off the weekend. The group has real pedigree, having recorded and performed with the likes of MosDef, Wu Tang Clan, Prince, Childish Gambino, Maxwell, Erykah Badu, Gorillaz, and, of course, their father. No doubt their big eclectic sound, encompassing hip hop, jazz, funk and calypso will boom around Hawker Yard: the promoters promise a ‘bloc party vibe’ and the South Chicago band is likely to deliver with their delectable ‘hypnotic’ style.

Birmingham Review last saw Hypnotic Brass Ensemble at The Glee Club back in June 2015, click here to read the BREVIEW from Helen Knott with pics from Ella Carman.

For more on BLAK TWANG & DJ MR THING at Hawker Yard (Fri 25^th), click here.

For more on the Sneaker Hawks launch party at Hawker Yard (Sat 26^th), click here.

For more on the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble at Hawker Yard (Sun 27^th), click here.

For more from Hawker Yard, visit www.hawkeryardbirmingham.co.uk