Playlist: Liverpool Music Week (LMW)
As Texan Josh T. Pearson takes to the the stage tonight, Jack Roe makes a mixtape of all his favourite artists flocking to Liverpool for a city wide, week-long party…
With a music scene as vital and varied as Liverpool’s, it seems almost silly to describe something as Liverpool Music Week (LMW). A brief stroll down Duke St whilst playing ‘gig poster bingo’ will show that it’s music week every week. Having said that, you don’t get anywhere by overcomplicating things and the LMW organisers who have had the assuredly brain-mangling task of putting together this city wide, week-long party of international acts have succeeded in conjuring up a programme that stands out even among such a claustrophobic calendar.
You see, it might take place in Liverpool, but its scope and ambition reaches far wider. Taking in venues across the city — from usual suspects The Kazimier and Camp and Furnace to more left-field choices like The Scandinavian Church — anyone lucky enough to attend more than one night will surely be treated to an eclectic view of arts venues representing diverse programmes, identities and communities. The excellent choice of venues, however, pales next to the breadth and scope of the artists set to play them.
Musical expression is stretched across the Atlantic: from the port of Liverpool in Stealing Sheep, with a frenetic blend of pop styles and neon tights, to the West Coast of America in Best Coast (geddit!? (30/10)), all reverb-soaked guitars and dreamy 1950s-style vocals. As an example of the variety of genres available in the UK, electronic music is being given a fair bill with Evian Christ’s Trance Party 4 (29/10), showcasing not only his own sonic experiments — think of the more avant-garde edges of hip-hop without the usually attendant ultraviolence — but also early ’90s rave stalwarts Altern8.
The atypical skew that this festival has been given could arguably be typified by the inclusion of the mysterious and masterful post-rock act Godspeed You! Black Emperor, who played C&F last night. Alt-country star Josh T. Pearson’s Texan-hued maudlin Americana (tonight) gives yet another direction to travel for those who prefer gruff tears in their beer.
Quite frankly, it would take a full week to give a brief taste of the multitude of artists that are taking over the city for the next few days at LMW, and the only real way to get a sense of the music is, of course, to listen to it. As a word of advice, the scope of this festival is such that it’s a good idea to keep your skip button handy; while there is certainly something here for almost everybody, it would be a stretch to imagine that everything here is for one somebody, and more credit to the organizers and the talent for that being the case.
Jack Roe
Liverpool Music Week (LMW) continues at venues across Liverpool until Saturday 31 October 2015; including Best Coast (30/10) @ The Kazimier (£10), and The Closing Party (31/10) 5pm @ Camp And Furnace: feat. Deerhunter, Gang Of Four, Soak, La Priest, All We Are, Baio, Fraser A Gorman, Clean Cut Kid, Holy Holy and Spring King (£15)
