Doors open at 4pm with tickets priced at £7 (advance) and £10 (otd) – as presented by This is Tmrw. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.
Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam have been out on the road with YR Poetry, touring their latest double release since the 25th July. The August 5th gig at the Hare & Hounds is a stone’s throw from the end of their oddly alliterated tour and a chance to see the MAMMOTH 20 track LP get some serious stage time. Plus check the wider line up… for a tenner downwards you can’t really go wrong there.
So what’s the ‘ere LP all about then? Littered with short, sharp shocks the Sink or Swim / The Mirage double whammy is the fourth/fifth long playing endevour from SFL. Opening with the twisted garage rock of one of the album’s title tracks, we slide into some kick drum led punk pretty quick and then bounce around the two.
The other title track delivers a longer wall of sound and pedal kissed rock, before introducing a second half that would have felt right at home on the sticky Hummingbird and Black Horse dance floors of yore… that’ll separate the men from the older men. Then there’s the album’s closer, ‘Drunk in the Sea’, with a psychedelic kiss goodnight.
But it’s live you want to see this band. The last time Birmingham Review stood in front of Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam was back in May this year, again at the Hare & Hounds, when they supported Victories at Sea. Ouch. Then there’s the wider line up to this ‘all dayer’ album launch who are, for the most part, pretty high on our ‘I’ll call in sick tomorrow’ list.
Can’t argue at that for a crinkled Charles Darwin; but if you need a little more twist to your arm…
‘Sink or Swim’ – Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam
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The Mirage – Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam
Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam headline and host their ‘all dayer’ album launch for Sink or Swim / The Mirage at the Hare & Hounds on Saturday 5th August – as presented by This is Tmrw. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.
The night is scheduled to start at 19:30 and tickets are priced at £6.00, excluding bookings fees etc. For direct gig info, including online ticket sales, click here.
This is an evening set to hammer your ears. In a good way. And believe me, trying to find a way to describe a good way to have your ears hammered is no easy feat.
The first act are The Kingcrawlers, a solid rock band reminding me of Thin Lizzy and Saxon era classic rock/NWOBHM, followed by The Hole in the Head Gang (one of the only bands I’ve seen in a long time using Myspace) who will be bringing a slightly psychedelic edge to things. The penultimate set will be by Mallavora who are described by Birmingham Promoters as ‘a home-made mix of heavy music, light vocals and accessible lyrics’ which to me sums up their mix of ‘Arctic Monkey’ vocals, Muse guitar and heavy hitting rhythm section very well.
Our headliners for the evening are, of course, Ideal Club and if you haven’t seen them before you might be forgiven for wondering what they’re all about. The name and the striking, brightly coloured pop-art style logos put me in mind of a dance artist or maybe an electronica band. Something to go raving to. And to be fair, not having a website or a list of influences on their Facebook page doesn’t particularly help.
Have no fear lovers of guitar music and hard rock, Ideal Club are not what they may first appear.
If you were to look at a roster containing The Black Keys, The Vines and Royal Blood, Ideal Club would fit in there very well. Putting a bit of funk into punk and wrapping it in an anthemic uplifting package seems to be their mission and I think they do it pretty damn well.
Originally forming in 2015 Ideal Club have, until recently, been a four-piece. This year for reasons as yet unknown, they are performing as a three-piece comprising; Dan Beckett on vocals and guitar, Lee Cartmell on bass and David James on drums. The hunt for a lead/second guitarist goes on but happily seems to have had no impact on their busy schedule other than to offer a ‘limited edition’ run of reduced line-up performances for fans to talk about.
Ideal Club started strong in 2015, announcing they would have their first show only three months after their appearance online. And that was at the O2 Institute so hardly an unknown venue. Sadly, the headline band were unwell and the show never happened but, even so, it then took until the 20th of May 2016 before they got their first headline show at The Flapper and Firkin.
Equally, they were first in the studio in October 2015 and announcing their first song release, ‘Are You Listening?’, on the 9th but it has taken until the 24th of February this year for their first official EP to be released. Also called Are You Listening? and containing the song of the same title (presumably re-recorded).
I think it would be fair to say that while Ideal Club do all the right things, they don’t move very fast. That said, I’m told (again and again) that patience is a virtue and while it’s not one I’ve ever had, good things may come to those who wait. We’ve been waiting for Ideal Club to get to this point; it could well be the Actress & Bishop crowd are in for a treat on Friday 4th August.
‘Breathe’ – Ideal Club
Ideal Club play at the Actress & Bishop on Friday 4th August, with support from Mallavora, The Hole in the Head Gang, and The Kingcrawlers – as presented by Birmingham Promoters. For direct gig info, including online ticket sales, click here.
Birmingham’s Beyond the Tracks festival is set to take over the Eastside City Park, outside Millennium Point, from the 15th to the 17th of September.
This new three day addition to the Birmingham festival scene has a stellar line-up and caters for an eclectic audience incorporating rock, britpop, dance, electronica and more. And it’s not just music that’s on offer, the festival website boasts a ‘great selection of gourmet caterers to suit all tastes and appetites’ as well as ‘a choice of well stocked and well staffed bars’ which, while not essential for the festival experience, will certainly be reassuring for some (me included).
Beyond the Tracks is one of the biggest city centre festivals this year and although there’s no camping, being just five minutes from Moor Street Station the transport access is good enough to take away the sting of the daily ‘commute’. For direct festival info, including more about getting on and off site, click here. For information and online bookings for all Birmingham city centre stations (Moor Street, New Street and Snow Hill) click here to visit Trainline.com
On Friday 15th September the gates will open at 14:00 and this is definitely your day if you like electronic music. Orbital, reunited and with a new track released this February, are the headliners – with Leftfield performing their 1995 album Leftism in full as part of their anniversary tour. There will be a DJ set from electronica stalwarts Faithless, with Australia’s Jagwar Ma also providing a touch of psychedelia to the Friday night bill.
Beyond the Tracks opening night also sees the return of the Higher Intelligence Agency (HIA) to our city’s soundsytems, who will no doubt bring the old ambient/Oscillate crowd out from under whatever chamomile flavoured rock of lost serotonin they are currently resting – Birmingham Review’s editor included. HIA are also hosting an unofficial after party at Centrala on Friday night, for direct info click here.
On Saturday and Sunday the gates open at midday, with both days set to have a more rock-based line up. There are also a number of notable local names across the weekend, including Saturday’s headliners – britpop veterans Ocean Colour Scene.
Saturday daytime the event openers are Penkridge based indie-rockers Sugarthief, who have had an impressive festival run this year including Y Not and Kendal Calling. They are followed by ‘experimental’ Birmingham band Health & Efficiency who make me think of what indie would sound like if it were invented in the 80’s. Noise punk fuzz merchants Table Scraps are up next, who recently spoke to our own Ed King at their recent double a-side launch with Black Mekon at the Hare & Hounds – click here for the Birmingham Review of the gig, alongside links to the full interview.
Also performing across the Saturday programme are The Americas, with their driving up-tempo rock (reminiscent of Tom Petty) describing themselves as ‘music to ride a motorbike to’. Then there’s Midlands based artfully crafted classic college-rock quartet Superfood and B-Town indie-pop rockers Jaws, both coming back to Birmingham after some significant success outside the city walls. The Twang, who are celebrating the ten-year anniversary of their debut album Love It When I Feel Like This,Maxïmo Park – touring following the release or their 2017 album Rick To Exist – and The Coral complete an indie side to the day’s line-up. To read Damien Russell’s Birmingham Review of Risk To Exist, click here.
For those still craving more following all that, there is an after party running from 23:00 to 03:00 at the O2 Institute featuring a DJ set from Maxïmo Park, Blast Off DJs and Dave Southam of Snobs – click here for more details or check out the banner ad below.
For those not exhausted by the previous two days partying, Sunday is a more eclectic line-up with artists such as Scottish 80’s alternative rockers The Jesus and Mary Chain – touring their new album Damage and Joy, Reading’s shoegaze rockers Slowdive – promoting their eponymous album (the first for twenty-two years) and Birmingham’s own Editors bringing the proceedings to a close.
Beyond the Tracks‘ final day will be opened by Dorcha – ‘a five piece Birmingham band of synths, strings, electronics and heavy beats led by composer Anna Palmer’. Then throughout Sunday we will see sets from Victories at Sea – described by The Guardian as ‘dolorous indie disco with a fresh spin’, Goodnight Lenin – who have recently announced they are recording their second album, and psychedelic industrial rockers BLACKASH.
I think it would be fair to say that there is something for everyone on the Beyond the Tracks bill and seeing big national names with current tours/releases lined up side by side with solid local acts is a pleasure. The organisers seem to have considered every act and made sure they all have a connection to the area or to the 2017 music scene – an attention to detail that bodes well for the wider event.
Speaking of the wider event, while information is a little sparse the promotional video for the festival (link below) goes into a little more about what non-music elements we can expect. There is the promise of ‘fine ales, imported lagers, craft beers, scrumpy cider shack, quality cocktails and fine wines & fizz’ for the drinkers, alongside the aforementioned ‘gourmet street food & snacks’ to soak it all up with and and keep you going.
Then for those moments when the music has got a bit too much, we have some ‘cabaret side shows and walkabouts’ for the grown ups. Not a lot on the programme for children though, with the Beyond the Tracks organsisers issuing the following statement:
‘The event is aimed at an adult audience. There will not be any specific children’s entertainment on site with the focus primarily on the music itself. That said, we are keen not to exclude anyone from the event so have not set an arbitrary age limit for this year. However, all persons do require a full ticket for the event regardless of age’.
But seriously, who under the age of… is going to be losing it to Orbital or The Jesus and Mary Train? Also worth noting Beyond the Tracks has a no re-entry policy and once you’re in, you’re in. Although with a line-up like this I can’t see why anyone would possibly want to be ‘out’.
Beyond the Tracks 2017 – Official Trailer
Tickets for this event are £54.45 for individual day tickets, £145 for a weekend pass, and £11 for the Saturday night after party at the O2 Institute.
For more on Beyond the Tracks, including full festival details and online ticket sales, visit www.beyondthetracks.org
On Saturday 5th August, Regina Spektor comes to the Symphony Hall – performing in Birmingham as part of a six UK tour dates.
Doors at the Symphony Hall open at 7pm, with tickets priced between £30.50 and £38 as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs & Tours. For direct gig info, including venue details and online tickets sales, click here.
So at the beginning of the week you’re making jokes about holding your heart for a Jewish redhead who can play the piano…
Born into a musical family, both performers and professors, Regina Spektor began playing piano as a young child growing up in Moscow. After her family left the USSR, as it was back in the late 80s’ perestroika, Regina Spektor eventually settled in the Bronx and began performing around the clubs and cafés of downtown New York. Piano based storytelling is perhaps one way to describe Spektor‘s style; socio-political and self analytical narratives, delivered over strong melodies with ivory at their heart is another. The classical training is there, the Jazz influences were there, and watching Regina Spektor’s finger work is like a master class in appropriate pressure. But there’s fun, self deprecation, the occasional horror story and above all honesty. So it’s a win.
After a few years grafting through the suitcase sales and self promotion of a truly DIY artist, Regina Spektor signed to the Warner’s subsidiary, Sire Records, to release Soviet Kitsch in 2004. But it would be the flurry of singles from her 2006 LP, Begin to Hope, that would start attracting the more mainstream success – although the album tracks such as ‘Samson’ and ‘Après Moi’ would be picked up and performed by Gwen Stefani and Peter Gabriel respectively.
The production partnership on Begin to Hope, with David Khane, would carry onto Spektor’s third album for Sire Records – releasing Far in 2009, with (…wait for it) Jeff Lynne also sitting in behind the glass (BOOM, a regional connection… Trinity Mirror’s click bait merchants would be proud). But Far would also deliver arguably some of Spektor’s most memorable songs, with the singles ‘The Calculation’ and ‘Eet’ backed up, even beaten, by the delicious ‘Folding Chair’ and personally pertinent ‘Laughing With’.
Two albums and eight years later, Regina Spektor is back globetrotting to promoter her latest LP Remember Us to Life – released in 2016 on Sire Records, the label Spektor has stuck to since first signing to them in 2004. The debut single from Spektor’s seventh studio album was ‘Bleeding Heart’, let loose into the world in July last year.
An official ‘Steinway Artist’, endorsed by the piano manufactures in 2012 (although having played on/preferred Steinway pianos throughout her career), Regina Spektor at the Symphony Hall is a promising marriage of artist and venue. It also gives me allows me to come up with a suitable pun for the one Sire Records album I haven’t mentioned yet.
Until then I’m going to make jokes about Donald Trump and Stan Kroenke being sat on by an escaped rhino… lets see if this universe stuff really works.
‘Bleeding Heart’ – Regina Spektor (from Remember Us to Life – look out for 3mins 46sec)
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‘Samson’ – Regina Spektor (from Begin to Hope)
Regina Spektor comes to the Symphony Hall on Saturday 5th August, as presented by SJM Concerts/Gigs & Tours. For direct gig info, including venue details and online tickets sales, click here.
On Friday 28th July, MeMe Detroit is hosting and headlining at the Actress & Bishop – releasing her new single, ‘How She Runs’. Detroit is joined by Coventry rockers Vamoosery, the mysterious and ‘brutally delicate… entity’ The Holy Men, alongside Worcestershire based singer/songwriter Chloe Mogg.
Bringing in elements of rock and the more accessible areas of grunge, running them through a radio-friendly pop filter and firing that mix straight into your ears, are MeMe Detroit and her band – Lewis Smith (Bass) and Barney Such (Drums). If you haven’t heard MeMe Detroit before she has an intriguing fusion of influences ranging from Radiohead, Soundgarden and Foo Fighters on the heavy side to Fleetwood Mac, Michael Jackson and even Tina Turner on the lighter pop side.
In an interview in May 2015 with Counteract, Detroit herself explains that “one problem I’ve been having is falling in-between indie and rock. I’m not heavy as rock, but heavier than indie. Live people have said we sound quite grungey, and there definitely is a grunge influence, there’s a new genre I suppose, grunge indie, it’s kind of poppy too maybe grindie?! Grop!? Grindie-grop, haha.”
But this isn’t just a straight up Meme Detroit gig, it’s more than that. It’s the launch party for her new single, ‘How She Runs’, and even coming from a band fitting the description ‘different’ this new release is something else.
Managing to give off an impression of being simultaneously driving and mellow, ‘How She Runs’ was a commission by up and coming director Steven Murphy who asked specifically for a song with an ‘eighties feel’ to be added to the soundtrack of his new feature film My Saviour. As someone whose Facebook page states is ‘an indie/grunge wave of sultry sublimity’, I can’t help but think that capturing that ‘eighties feel’ must have been a challenge.
‘How She Runs’ has already received significant media coverage, and is a bit of a radio darling in particular with BBC Introducing, Brum Radio, SRB Radio and even Valley FM in Australia.
And it’s not just radio popularity. MeMe Detroit’s recent pre-release Pledgemusic campaign received 129% of its initial target. To say this record is hotly anticipated may not be overstating things. And why would it not be? Kicking off 2017 with a Bowie tribute night at The Night Owl and following that with sets at Dares Bar and The Roadhouse, MeMe Detroit has hardly had a quiet year even if the new single has been a fair time in the making.
The first announcement ‘How She Runs’ was in the pipeline was on the 27th January, but it wasn’t until the 12th March before the first day of recording took place. Then add another month, taking us to April 17th, for the official release date. We’re now a further three months on, and while that does seem like a long wait to me in these times of digital recording there seems to have been little slowing of support both online and at Detroit’s live shows.
So, how will this new 80’s element fit in with the pop, rock and grunge influences that have driven MeMe Detroit this far? Get yourself down to the Actress & Bishop on the 28th July to find out. Or check out the official video below:
‘How She Runs’ – MeMe Detroit
MeMe Detroit launches her new single, ‘How She Runs’, at the Actress & Bishop on Friday 28th July with support from Vamoosery, The Holy Men, Chloe Mogg – as presented by SoulRock Central Records and Birmingham Promoters. For direct gig info, including online ticket sales, click here or on the Birmingham Promoter’s logo below.
