REVIEW
festival
Old Subbacultcha
Old Subbacultcha
We give you the lowdown on this year's Liverpool Sound City
Published
North by Northwest scratches the 7 year itch. Liverpool Sound City - various venues -1st-3rd May 2014.
The usual buzz of excitement hits Liverpool this May bank holiday weekend. The Sound City festival is now in its seventh year and it will once again host 360 bands in 25 different venues. From Thursday 1st to Saturday 3rd May thousands of music fans and industry professionals will make up the largest city centre music and arts festival in the UK. It combines multimedia performances, seminars and workshops with music. This will be played out in venues as disparate as Liverpool Cathedral, The Kazimier and gardens, East Village Arts Club, FACT, Heebie Jeebies, Leaf, The Attic, Sound Food and Drink and The Zanzibar. In the daytime the Hilton Hotel plays host to the industry conference.
As always it is a diverse line-up. Among the more well-known acts who will appear are; SFA front man and Welsh legend Gruff Rhys as well as nihilistic noiseniks, Fuck Buttons. Strokes guitarist and solo artist, Albert Hammond Junior and expert producer and film score master, Jon Hopkins take to their respective stages. Brooklyn rockers The Hold Steady will also perform. While Doves singer, Jimi Goodwin, fresh from supporting Elbow, showcases his first solo studio album 'Odludek.' Lanterns on the Lake return to Leaf with their symphonic folk and last season’s summer festival favourites, Public Service Broadcasting bring their woven samples and AV transmissions to Nation. This year the key themes of the conference are the business of music, football and style. Heavyweights include Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and fabled Velvets composer and artist John Cale. Also involved are music commentator John Robb, Creation guru Alan McGee with Hacienda DJ, writer and broadcaster Dave Haslam. Home-grown talent comprises Janice Long, Jayne Casey and Kevin Sampson. Sound City always encourages local bands as well as attracting worldwide acts. Merseyside’s finest include otherworldly sonics from Bird, to enrapture us in the cathedral on Saturday night. On the same night All We Are provide psychedelic soul & RnB. A cappella harmonies will come care of Barbieshop who are playing in Bold street coffee. While stoner-psychedelic rock is the brand of Beach Skulls. Ten Bands Ten Minutes founders, Married to the Sea create rowdy pop that people can dance to. Then DIY Free Rock & Roll collective Pete Bentham & the Dinner Ladies take on Moon Museum fresh from their tour of Germany. Last year Silent sleep played their debut LSC gig in the Black-e. Having recently appeared at the Sundance Film Festival they will be debuting songs from their new album.
Manchester girl gang PINS and Boston’s funksters Bad Rabbits will contrast with Hampshire folksters Blaenavon and Glasgwegian post-rock from Campfires in Winter. Clean Bandit are sure to provide a clash of bass, beats and soaring strings at Liverpool Cathedral. While another hot tips is Melbourne’s Courtney Barnett’s, whose song Avant Gardener has been getting some serious airplay on 6music. Bon Iver, Feist and James Blake combine in Jamaican born Denai Moore at East Village Arts Club. Danish trio Ice Cream Cathedral run the gamut between kraut rock, 60s pop and IDM. Leeds nu ravers The Sunshine Underground and North London newcomers Wolf Alice also ply their trade. While Sydney’s Jagwarma return to Duke Street Garage and Blackpool’s own Tori Amos RAE Morris debuts at The Zanzibar. A definite must is Radiophonic Workshop at Nation on Saturday. Originally founded in the labyrinthine corridors of the BBC’s Maida Vale studios in 1958 this maverick group of experimental composers, sound engineers and musical innovators will be sure to delight. One for fans of dub, jazzcore, industrial hip hop, dancehall, and dubstep is musician, record producer and journalist Kevin Martin (alias, The Bug) who will be headlining the Black-e on Friday night. Messy organic tales by way of eclectic electric come care of We Were Evergreen playing earlier that evening. Of course there are the ones to see just because you like the nominal cut of their gib; Camp Stag, Cats Park and Moustache Prawn are musicians I hope to encounter over the course of the festival. In addition to the music Screenadelica will reopen their hugely successful gig poster exhibition in the form of a pop up gallery. LSC will present their own record fair. FACT and Sound City collaborate for the exhibition Science Fiction: New Death currently at FACT and delegates will have discounts for the Tate Liverpool keywords exhibition. There is a Mersey Ferry Boat Party, a DJ championship, a Buskers corner in Wolstenholme square and Dance troupes will teach a samba school at Chavasse Park. As the North’s answer to SXSW grows Sound City continue to provide a mouthwatering package of musical treats which will keep the city in its thrall. For the full artist line up see:
http://www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk/home/line-up.aspx Website and ticket link:
http://www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk/ Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/liverpoolsoundcity Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SoundCity #SoundCity14
