Culture Diary w/c 08-04-13
Tuesday – For Ellen 6pm @ FACT
Starring Paul Dano (a firm TDN favourite) as Joby Taylor, a struggling musician whose life is spiraling out of his control, the Ellen of the title (played here by Shaylena Mandigo) is his estranged daughter. Driving overnight to battle his estranged wife for the custody of Ellen, the film is thoughtful, sensitive and great to look at. So Yong Kim’s film is a quiet triumph, one shared by Dano, whose performance correctly drew favourable reviews.
We Came Out Like Tigers/Wode/Spirit Animals 8pm @ Drop the Dumbells £3
From a quiet triumph to a bill made up of coruscating noise all in one evening. Headlining are We Came Out Like Tigers; touring feverishly right now, this is the politically informed screamo outfit’s only Liverpool gig of 2013. With black metallers Wode and Spirit Animals – playing a mixture of “ambience and heavy cacophonous dronescapes” – in support, this is one gig not for the faint of heart.
Wednesday – Exhibition talk by Mark Leckey 6pm @ the Bluecoat FREE (booking advised)
“The status of objects is changing, and we are once again in thrall to an enchanted world full of transformations and correspondences, a wonderful instability between things animate and inanimate, animal and human, mental and material.” A sneak peak of insight there into Mark Leckey’s thinking when he curated the current Bluecoat exhibition The Universal Addressability of Dumb Things. A great show, to hear it given context from Leckey is bordering on unmissable.
All Tomorrow’s Parties 6.30pm @ FACT
All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival is the brainchild of Barry Hogan and a wonderful antithesis of the axis of evil that is Reading/Leeds. In 2009, the festival celebrated its first decade by shooting a film, screening as part of FACT’s The Art of Pop Video exhibition. Full preview.
Thursday – Glam! 21st Century Factory 7pm @ Camp and Furnace FREE
Inspired by Andy Warhol’s vaunted New York studio, Glam! 21st Century Factory is the result of young creatives network Tate Collective, bringing together young musicians, sound artists, fashion designers and visual artists. Taking inspiration from the “confluence of music, fashion and art in the Glam! era”, results should be interesting to say the least.
Fang Island 7.30pm @ the Kazimier £10
“Honest, life-affirming and infectious, and it’s that rare concentration of directness and simplicity that makes Fang Island so uniquely and wonderfully inclusive.” All sentiments expressed in Pitchfork that we find it difficult to disagree with; in-fact, a listen to last year’s album Major should do wonders for those experiencing the Monday blues. Support from No Spill Blood and Alpha Male Tea Party.
Friday – White Teeth in the Planetarium 6pm @ The Royal Standard
Working with wax, fiberglass, clear acrylic, paint and plastic laminate, Scottish artist/sculptor James McLardy has drawn on Modernism for his solo exhibition, White Teeth in the Planetarium. “Art Deco meets Brutalism,” we’re told, as McLardy puts his craft to the use of exploring dystopian architecture (pictured above), “questioning notions of aesthetical and materialist authenticity through quizzical and sometimes comic means”. Read an interview with McLardy from last year.
PICK OF THE WEEK: Beth Orton and The Leisure Society 8pm @ the Kazimier £20
Up until 2006′s Comfort of Strangers, the Brit Award winning Beth Orton (main image) had released a new album roughly every three years, but 2012′s Sugaring Season would be the singer-songwriter’s first in more than half a decade. In those intervening years, she has become a wife and a mother. The big question was would a new album, produced in that starkly different context, prove worth the wait? The answer, happily, is a resounding yes. Not simply a welcome return, Sugaring Season is an album resulting in Orton quite rightly moving toward Cat Power territory in terms of repute and respect. Full preview.
Saturday – White Hills/Mugstar/Plank! 8pm @ The Blade Factory £7
When White Hills played Liverpool last year, we said the NYC duo were a band “delivering deep-space, sprawling psych-rock” and we stand by that! Promoters Behind The Wall of Sleep, perhaps looking to make the booking an annual one, are at it again here. Support coming from Mugstar (the band have just returned from Hawkeaster) and Plank, you have the ingredients for a heavy psyche-infused night out.
Sunday – King Creosote 7.30pm @ the Kazimier £11.50
Kenny Anderson, KC, or plain old King Creosote, the Fence Collective founder member is an artist improving with age. His latest releases, a trio including the Mercury Prize nominated Diamond Mine, have featured some of Anderson’s strongest material. Given he has put out more than 40 records, that’s quite the achievement and it’s fitting that he helps round of a week of strong gigs in some style.
