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January 23, 2016January 23, 2016

BREVIEW: Daughter @ O2 Institute 20.01.16

Words by Ed King / Pics by Harry Mills

Due to cabin fever and relative poverty I’m walking to the gig tonight. I’m cold but complicit; Daughter are playing at the O2 Institute, alongside their 4AD label mate Pixx, and it’s a gig I’ve been scratching to see.

For the past fortnight I’ve had Daughter’s sophomore album, Not to Disappear, running through my head. It’s a bit of a monster, a ten track avalanche with videos that would break bigger men than me. And now, after hearing it virtually non-stop for two weeks, I need flesh (to read Ed King’s Birmingham Review of Not to Disappear, click here).

I need time too. I’m late. I’m not going to see Pixx. And as I walk through the park the late frost turns the concrete silver and dangerous, blades of grass so brittle I’m not sure they’ll make it.

The lake is frozen too; the only warm light comes from the capoeira and spoken word workshops at the local arts centre, heads bobbing with unwatched enthusiasm. I feel numb in this kingdom; I swig the miniature bottle of Famous Grouse left over from Christmas, apparently this is ‘not drinking tonight’, and try to both speed up and not fall over (thankfully some photographers keep better time; to see Harry Mills’ full Flickr of Pixx, click here).

I stammer through the back streets of Digbeth and eventually spot the O2 Institute’s main entrance, a trickle of bodies coming in and out of the archway. I’ve definitely missed Pixx, this is half time in action, so I quickly ask the relevant questions to the relevant faces and make my way to the main arena, being stewarded according. Tonight is not just full, it’s busy; allocated seating, you’re an ‘S’ or a ‘B’. There are a lot of groups, conversation and action, and as I stand in the thoroughfare from one bar to the other, with my back rigid against the back wall, a small crowd gathers in front of me and starts to circle, dance and shriek. I am irritated by children in men. There will soon be no room at all.

The stage is set simply, from what I can see over heads and in between shoulders – two mics and a raised drum kit, with gold four spots shining out into the crowd and purple par cans illuminating the dry ice and backdrop. It’s a big room, the O2 Institute’s main hall, with a high ceiling, and without elaborate lighting the stage can look a little sparse (in previous incarnations there was an old church organ that used to sit along the rear of the stage). If Not to Disappear was indeed written with bigger venues in mind, I’m not sure how tonight is going to pan out.

But I’ll find out soon enough, as the limited lights come down to a BIG CHEER from the “sold out” auditorium (as I would be later informed by a gregarious member of the bar staff). The lights come back up with another BIG CHEER, shining down on Elena Tonra and Igor Haefeli at the forefront of the stage – decorated in black and red, standing either side of Remi Aguilella’s elevated throne. There is subtle hush, not silence, as Torna slides across the bass line and introduction to ‘How’ – a significant album track from Not to Disappear. And by my count, the room has about twelve seconds…

BAM. White light and searing guitar pierces through the air above the crowd; like a surprise or collision, we stand dumbstruck. ‘How’ is a fierce song on Daughter’s new album, one that helped set the pace for me when I first heard the LP, but live… this is a bona fide rock band on stage.

Four and a half minutes later we are released, briefly, before the sonorous whirling and plucked guitar of ‘Tomorrow’ brings album No1 onto the stage. I’ll admit here, I fu*king love Daughter’s debut (apart from ‘Human’, which, just, didn’t, you know) which makes watching it live a precarious job. I am precious and critic, a terrible duality. But it’s perfect, and I mean perfect. A word I never, ever use.

But so far I can’t fault either the old or the new. Haefeli’s guitar is richer yet absolute in the real world, Aguilella’s pounding percussion marches, rises and falls with Buddy Rich fervour, and Torna’s vocals… I can’t believe this is the same woman I watched stare at the ground whilst singing ‘Peter’.

“..thank you. Thank you. It’s our fifth date and… it’s great to see you out.” Torna’s absurdly soft on stage speaking voice, considering, squeaks out a well received recognition, before the echoed drums and wistful strings of ‘Numbers’ leads into the song’s rolling thunderclaps and exceptional lyrics. This is another sterling album track on Not to Disappear, but, again, live… Christ. “You better, you better, you better, you better make me. Me better, me better. You better make me better.”

The odd swing/miss of the evening comes up next, as an unapologetic techno drum beats out the pace for ‘No Care’ – another new born offering, and the benchmark (to me) of any Daughter to come.

It is a superb song, but live, tonight, there’s something missing. Powerful, yes, but as effective as it has been through my earphones for the past fortnight, no. And I really wanted this to be ‘the moment’. After the bell rings, the audience are silent for a second longer than they should be.

The set rolls across old to new, with most of my drunk spider notes saying ‘better live’ and ‘ET’s vocals’, before I am schooled again by a staggering live delivery of ‘Human’. As I mentioned, not my favourite on If You Leave, and a track I’ll shamefacedly admit I sometimes skip when it comes on. But to repeat myself, watching it live…

Whatever you think they are, whatever place they held in your head, whatever weaknesses and strengths you think Daughter have to celebrate or challenge, they are a rock band. A solid, tight, punchy and powerful rock band. I stand here watching a track I don’t like and I get it, now I get it. You just have to see this on stage. And absorb as much of it as you can.

Torna is a beautiful lyricist and songwriter, one with heartbreaking insight; she means something, and delivers her words with such precision and poignancy that they’re impossible to avoid. Igor Haefeli has taken that thread and made a unique blanket that no other band, not even on their own labels’ roster (which is the perfect place for Daughter) can compare to – it is his blood on their hands here, and it stains something quite incredible both on the recordings and off. Then, like some hybrid of Greek mythology, Animal, and Seattle grunge, you have Remi Aguilella – who, quite rightly so, finishes Daughter’s main set tonight with a spotlight and drum solo.

After a glorious 16 song set, the gig ends a single ‘Made of Stone’ encore – a perhaps unplanned denouement that would have been the biggest relief to the venue’s security. I flit around the lovesick hall, trying to verify the “NAME OF TRACK NO5??’ (incorrectly, it was track No10 I was after) as the entire crowd jams itself into, and out of, the main exit. I’m sober, with the cheap rye having worn off a while ago, and prepare myself for the hour long return journey. ‘Home’.

All the way back I listen to both Daughter’s albums on Shuffle, appreciating aspects from both the debut and sophomore that I’d either missed or ignored. And I’m not to know it tonight but this resurgence will last for a while, it will even increase – the happy hangover of the O2 Institute gig keeping me close to this impressive twenty track plus portfolio. Thank you for that.

As I cross through the park in reverse order, Canadian geese are standing in the centre of the frozen lake – churlish, isolated and defiant. I watch them for a while, blowing the smoke from my ‘walk-home-joint’ across the sandpaper air and into the fluorescent lights surrounding the arts centre walls. It’s an oddly pointless endevour in below freezing temperatures, but I’m curious and distracted, a little lost, setting fire to our insides for fun.

And as I eventually reach my front door, in eerily film soundtrack timing, I realise I’ve not listened to the track on If You Leave that I would usually have started to walk with. In fact, most of my attention is on Not to Disappear. I didn’t skip ‘Human’ either.

Not to Disappear is out now, released by 4AD. For more on Daughter, including online purchase points, visit http://www.4ad.com/artists/daughter

Visit the official Daughter website at http://ohdaughter.com/

For more on Pixx, visit http://www.4ad.com/artists/110

For more from 4AD, visit http://www.4ad.com/

For more on Kilimanjaro Live, visit http://www.kilimanjarolive.co.uk/

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listings & online tickets sales, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

December 28, 2015December 30, 2015

BREVIEW: Maxïmo Park @ O2 Institute 18.12.15

Words by Helen Knott / Pics by Ed Taylor (Digital Flow)

The first time I saw Maxïmo Park live was in 2005, in the small upstairs room of a Sheffield pub. There were about 15 of us in the crowd. Through the course of that gig I think that we all realised this band couldn’t fail to make it.

The songs were too good and lead singer Paul Smith too beguiling – a lassic indie poet cast from the same mold as Sheffield’s own Jarvis Cocker. Ten years and five albums later, Maxïmo Park are touring to mark the 10^th anniversary of their debut album, A Certain Trigger – playing the O2 Institute‘s 1500 capacity main room.

And outside the numbers not too much has changed since Sheffield in 2005; Smith is still the same edgy, intense Romantic, spitting out lyrics in his unmistakable Geordie accent. It’s just now he has amplified his persona for a much bigger stage. The awkward bookishness of the early days is gone, replaced with the posturing and leaping of a rock star.

The first half of tonight’s Institute show is a selection of singles and rarities from throughout the band’s career. Singles such as ‘Our Velocity’ and ‘Girls Who Play Guitar’ have an excitable, beered up, Friday night crowd enthusiastically singing along.

And if it’s a little laddish, this is a particularly neurotic brand of modern laddishness: “If everyone became so sensitive / Perhaps I wouldn’t be so sensitive”. Besides, there’s something quite delightful about a roomful of people yelling along to lines like, “I am young and I am lost / You react to my riposte”. ‘Wonderwall’ this isn’t.

After a short break, Maxïmo Park return for a track-by-track performance of A Certain Trigger. The album stands the test of time pretty well, a fine example of mid-00’s indie pop to file alongside Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and Arctic Monkeys.

I have mixed feelings about the merits of playing the record in its entirety, however. Unlike Pink Floyd performing Dark Side of the Moon or Radiohead doing OK Computer, there’s not much to be gained from hearing this type of album – which is basically a collection of singles with some filler album tracks – from start to finish.

Still, playing the album in full does showcase some of its hidden gems; songs normally overlooked in favour of hits ‘Going Missing, Apply Some Pressure’ and ‘The Coast is Always Changing’. A case in point is ‘I Want you to Stay’, the record’s melancholic fifth single. It begins as a restrained love song, with twitching guitars developing in counterpoint to the wistful vocals (“Nothing works around here/ Where cranes collect the sky”), building in complexity and urgency before reaching its chaotic conclusion. It sums up the best of Maxïmo Park: while their songs tend to be familiar tales of love and loss, Smith’s diction and delivery is always idiosyncratic enough to avoid cliché.

As much as I was impressed by Maxïmo Park’s songs and charisma that night in Sheffield ten years ago, my overriding memory is of the band’s warmth – they were delighted that we had turned up to see them play.

Now there are 1,500 rather than 15 people in the crowd, but Maxïmo Park still have that ability to make each audience member feel valued, special and part of something exciting.

It’s a great feeling, for this reporter at least. And it’s one of the many reasons I believe Maxïmo Park continue to be so cherished by their fans over a decade after their debut – be in a small room in Sheffield or a big room in Birmingham.

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For more on Maxïmo Park, http://maximopark.com/

For more from the O2 Institute, including full event listings & online ticket sales, visit http://o2institutebirmingham.co.uk/

For more from Gigs & Tours, visit http://www.gigsandtours.com/

December 22, 2015December 22, 2015

BREVIEW: The Clothes Show Live ’15 @ NEC 04-8.12.15

Words by Sasha Holt / Michelle Martin (Visual Voice Media) & Pics by Ed Taylor (Digital Flow)

Hello fashionistas, it’s finally happened, I’m back through the wardrobe from the fashion land full of surprises, better known as The Clothes Show Live 2015.

Having visited this event a number of times before, whilst at The Clothes Show Live ’15 I was interested to see how much of the show was dedicated to sustainable fashion – whether vintage or pre owned charity pieces. In previous years the event had definitely paid homage to what I would call ‘fast fashion’, so this time around I wanted to talk to designers who try to create clothing with elements of sustainability.

Exhibitors such as All about Aud saw that core customers at The Clothes Show Live ’15 were the quality savvy fashion crowd. Audrey Taylor from All about Aud pointed out that “high street retailers are selling vintage style pieces at a fraction of the cost I could sustain”. She also highlighted the issue of fast fashion saying “throwaway fashion was a problem for the fashion industry as a whole and younger people needed re-educating as to quality of vintage garments.”

As I mentioned in a previous report, millions of tons of clothes are thrown away each year – but of the clothing that’s given away to charities, it would be interesting to discover how much that is thrown away is sold on through less than reputable sources.

One of the most interesting insights into the pre owned clothing world was from Jacqueline Seaby of Sue Ryder; this charity minimizes its rag waste (unsalable clothing) by diversifying its avenues of sale. Jacqueline told me that “in our Bristol store and a selection of others where we saw there is a market we have vintage sections managed separately from the main stock”. She also pointed out that from their distribution centre in Swindon “we can select key pieces to be sold at events and guide the merchandising of each store into what will sell. We hope to change the perception of Charity shop fashion”.

From what I saw at The Clothes Show Live this year, Sue Ryder had made great waves in doing that on their stand – with an eclectic fashion smorgasbord that wouldn’t have been out of place in a high end boutique.

Visitors to The Clothes Show Live ’15 were also supporting the vintage look. Josh Gilzeane caught my eye in a red leather 1980s jacket. He said “I adore it and it always gets comments because it looks so different.” It was also interesting to see independent designers, both burgeoning and high end using sustainable methods where possible as part of their fashion remit.

One such brand is JAM Industries. Set up three years ago, and born out of surf culture, JAM is founded and run by brothers Mark and Andy Jordan – offering “stylish good quality après surf wear” that can be “worn from Carlisle to Croydon and you don’t even need to own a wetsuit”.

At their Clothes Show Live ’15 stand, JAM Industries told me “our ethos has been simplicity and design but most of all affordable quality and comfort”. And if their products weren’t already appealing enough to me, JAM also embrace the responsibility “to be as carbon neutral as possible. And using British sourced skilled workers and materials is important”.

Even the high end designers, such as London Fashion Week darling Emilio De La Morena, have visions of creating exquisite pieces that make the wearer feel sexy and special with a nod towards sustainability and ethical fashion too.

Introduced to The Clothes Show Live ’15 audience at the Olympus Style Studio, by sustainable and eco fashion champion Hilary Alexander OBE, Emilio De La Morena talked about his “sculptural intricate pieces that envelope a woman’s every curve in lace, velvet and sequins” making his pieces “sumptuously sensual”. Emilio further stated that “where possible I source my materials from Europe, usually France and Spain, to cut down on our carbon footprint. I sometimes redevelop fabrics from previous seasons to design a completely new garment to reduce our dependence on new fabrics.”

Emilio De La Morena was also keen to highlight the kind of woman that wears his clothes, “she takes time out at the mountains or coast to enjoy the beauty around her and that inspires my collections with colours and marvels of nature.”

So from vintage retailers to designers and customers at The Clothes Show Live ’15, trying to be part of fashion in an ethical way (no matter how small) is agruably growing in momentum; maybe one day the tide will turn away from disposable fashion.

I look forward to seeing if The Clothes Show joins this clothing revolution and champions sustainable fashion at future events.

For more on The Clothes Show, visit http://www.clothesshow.com/

For more from the NEC Group, including links to listings at all venues, visit https://www.necgroup.co.uk/

For more from the Ticket Factory, visit https://www.theticketfactory.com/

November 25, 2015

THE GALLERY: Boat to Row (album launch) @ Hare & Hounds 20.11.15

Words by Ed King / Pics by Joëlle O’Toole

On Friday 20th Nov, Boat to Row came to the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath) to launch their debut album, If I Found You Here. Somewhat established round these here parts, Boat to Row stopped off at t’Hare for a special home town show, as promoted by This Is Tmrw, before the obligitaory London showcase and a gig up in Nottingham

Released via local label/promoters, Nocturne Records – the city purveyors of storytelling and Folk (from Midnight Bonfies to Katherine Priddy), the If I Found You Here launch night was supported by Dancing Years and Declan McKenna – alongside DJs from Goodnight Lenin.

Joëlle O’Toole was at the Hare & Hounds for a Birmingham Review, grabbing some of life’s ever fleeting moments to stick in THE GALLERY.

Declan McKenna – supporting Boat to Row @ Hare & Hounds 20.11.15

Blah blah, young, blah blah, talented. Ignore the obvious rhetoric; Declan McKenna is well worth a stop, look & listen regardless – penning some feisty Folk (© Birmingham Review) with some bitter sweet lyrics and the occasional Ska staccato to move it all along. I suppose you could say he’s a bit like Jake Bugg without the skiffle addiction. And, you know, good. Plus those kindly folk on Worthy Farm have given him some walking around money, so there’s probably more to come from Mr McKenna before the next festival season.

For more on Declan McKenna, visit http://declanmckenna.bandcamp.com/

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Dancing Years – supporting Boat to Row @ Hare & Hounds 20.11.15

With a name that reminds me of a Reeves & Mortimer sketch, but a sound that’s much more laudable, Dancing Years are getting ready for their debut release EP next Feb. Great vocals, strong melodies; do not be put off by the tweed-jumper/Geography-teacher-on-weekends moniker, this quintet from Leeds are a pretty spectacular thing. They’re getting some solid support from Auntie at the moment too; Dancing Years could have a promising new year ahead of them.

For more on Dancing Years, visit http://www.dancingyears.com/

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Boat to Row @ Hare & Hounds 20.11.15

The band of the hour, and a pretty well loved/established/supported local ensemble – the release of their debut LP, If I Found You Here, is another step along Boat to Row’s already confident path. A group of musician’s musicians, quite clearly friends, and writers of some Folk sturdy enough to support even the most cynical of hearts (mine) Boat to Row are one of the city’s musical feathers. As in cap..? Anyway… just check out the album and you’ll see what I mean.

For more on Boat to Row, visit http://boattorow.com/

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For more from the Hare & Hounds (Kings Heath), including full event listings & online ticket sales, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/

For more from This Is Tmrw, visit http://thisistmrw.co.uk/

November 17, 2015

BREVIEW: Julia Holter @ The Glee Club 11.11.15

Words by Helen Knott / Pics by Michelle Martin (Visual Voice Media)

In the past four years, American composer and singer Julia Holter has made a gradual transition from the obscure, avant-garde soundscape of her debut album Tragedy (2011) to this year’s critically-admired Pop opus Have You in My Wilderness.

Now signed to Domino Records, the development in sound could partly be explained by changes in her recording process – moving from solitary recording on a laptop to a collaborative studio environment.

But that’s not to say that things have got less innovative or compelling; Julia Holter’s songs are still joyously off-kilter and inventive. A case in point is the opening track of her gig at The Glee Club tonight, ‘Silhouette’. The song starts conventionally enough, with its traditional Pop chord structure and melody. But gradually the order falls apart, with things getting more dark, dusky and disjointed. It’s like an idyllic, sunny walk that gets interrupted by an invigorating rain storm.

While Julia Holter may have moved away from making art music, her songs still encompass a wide range of influences; it’s just now they have been refined to make a cohesive Pop whole. Jazz is at the core of the hazy, dream-like ‘Vasquez’, but an elongated bass section accompanied by droning viola also suggests eastern influences, all while slightly reminding me of Air. In ‘How Long’ Holter has even created her own version of a Bond theme, with its dramatic strings and crooning vocals.

And it’s not surprising that some of Julia Holter’s music sounds filmic. Indeed, it has been announced just this week that she has been drafted in to write the soundtrack for Bleed for This – the latest film from Boiler Room director, Ben Younger. But stories are clearly important to Holter,
with her first three albums heavily influenced by pieces of literature. Have You in My Wilderness doesn’t have an overriding concept but the songs still feel like a series of short stories or vignettes, offering a window to curious incidents in her life.

Consequently, between tracks tonight Julia Holter is prone to long and convoluted speeches about the stories behind her songs. I quickly start to find this quite annoying, but everyone else seems totally charmed. Before ‘Horns Surrounding Me’ she draws particularly tenuous parallels between her dislike of marching bands and paparazzi. Luckily the song is great, pounding, unrelenting and sounding exactly like how it feels like to be claustrophobic in a busy city.

As the set unfolds I come to realise I prefer the recorded versions of Julia Holter’s tracks to the live ones. Recorded, they are precise and texturally perfect. Live, things can feel a little thin and flat, even though the backing band playing viola, bass and drums features musicians of quality.

Things brighten up with Julia Holter’s most out and out Pop song so far, ‘Feel You’ – the opening track from her most recent album. With harpsichord at the foundations it sounds Baroque, but also light, glassy and modern – its catchy melody punctuated with rhythmic strings and drums. And if there were anything right with the world ‘Feel You’ would top the chart for weeks.

For more on Julia Holter, visit http://www.juliashammasholter.com/

For more from Domino Records, visit http://www.dominorecordco.com/

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For more from The Glee Club venues, including all music and comedy listings, visit https://www.glee.co.uk/

For more from Birmingham Promoters, visit http://birminghampromoters.com/