Culture Diary w/c 15-10-12
Monday – The Cubical: On The Weekend
Taken from the album Arise Conglomerate (out 19th Nov), On The Weekend is the lead single and raucous hymn to the behaviour we allow ourselves once Friday swings around from The Cubical. Displaying all that’s best about the band: singer Danny Wilson’s wit and dirty charm, accomplished nods to bluesy rock and roll and the ability to meld the familiar with something fresh-sounding, On The Weekend is a fine teaser to the band’s new material.
Tuesday – Stories From An Invisible Town 7.45pm @ The Playhouse Studio £10
Stories From An Invisible Town is a performance from Welshman Hugh Hughes, who has invited us to “step inside and visit me and my family at home”. Inspired by a return to the said family home in Llangefni (to help his Mum move house), Stories From An Invisible Town is a rare opportunity to see the highs, lows and in-betweens of family life in the intimate setting of the Playhouse Studio.
Wednesday – Ray Davies 8pm @ Liverpool Philharmonic Hall £32.50, £35, £40
One can’t help but ponder that Ray Davies and his band the Kinks were incredibly unfortunate to have the likes of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to contend with in their pomp. Had they not, surely the quintessential Englishmen – boasting a string of hits few can match – would have been even more widely lauded. That said, they didn’t fair too badly, and Davies himself has evolved into a sort of respected but distant grandfather. Grab this chance to see him live with both hands.
Thursday – Shadow Dancer 7.30pm @ Liverpool Philharmonic Hall £6/£7
Released earlier this year to blanket critical acclaim, Shadow Dancer tells the tale of a young IRA member turned MI5 informant. Described by the Guardian as “an opaque, slow-burning but brilliant thriller”, if you missed out first time, the Phil’s screening offers a second chance in atmospheric surrounds.
Friday – Acid Mothers Temple 8pm @ Mello Mello £7
Acid Mothers Temple is a collective of musicians (sometimes 30 at a time) famed for their brand of Psychedelic Kraut. The project is led by Kawabata Makoto who sees himself and his music as a vessel, allowing us mere mortals to hear what is around us: “Music, for me, is neither something that I create, nor a form of self-expression. All kinds of sounds exist everywhere around us, and my performances solely consist of picking up these sounds, like a radio tuner, and playing them so that people can hear them.” You can’t buy that kind of eccentricity, apart from this Friday, for £7.
Saturday – Threshold ‘New Bird’ Launch Party 2pm-2am @ The Picket £5/£6
This year’s Threshold Festival was a learning curve for the young team behind it: on one hand it illustrated Liverpool’s appetite for a ‘grass-roots’ festival and how far you can go on enthusiasm, while on the other, it provided a clear sense that there was some of that curve yet to be climbed. Saturday brings with it the first glimpses of what we can expect from 2013′s incarnation with Threshold’s biggest one off event to date, featuring the baggy-inspired Towns (a Guardian band of the day earlier this year) and a single launch from Louis Barabbas & the Bedlam Six.
Sunday – Uperitive 6pm @ Drop The Dumbells £3
Uperitive: an electronic aperitive (Food/Music/Exhibition) marks the triumphant return of the Dumbells crowd, who earlier this year found a new home on Slater Street. Already the site of a superb exhibition last month, the space should only serve to enhance the three-pronged attack in that part of town of WSC, the Kazimier and Mello Mello. We don’t know about you, but they had us at Food/Music/Exhibition.
Biennial Diary Picks
Wednesday – Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present
Alongside offering numerous Q&As as part of their Biennial strand of screenings, FACT are also re-showing a number of films that just about crow-bar their way into the Unexpected Guest theme. Whether we believe Abramovic’s The Artist is Present sits comfortably within that theme or not, it’s nice to know the opportunity to watch her exploration of what defines art on the big screen exists.
Thursday – Thin Air 6pm @ Victoria Gallery & Museum
Commissioned by Leeds Metropolitan University in collaboration with Sound and Music and MAAP, Thin Air is a 60 minute pre-recorded lecture by Liverpool artist Paul Rooney. Rather than harking back to your days schlepping it into a cold, dank uni building, this is something different. Part academic lecture, part science fiction story, Rooney’s Thin Air is a meditation on art, memory and research.
