I reckon we’re barely going to be able to draw breath this month, there’s an insane amount of quality music on: This Saturday alone there’s Lakker, Necro Deathmort & Dead Fader at Shipley’s excellent Golden Cabinet, Manuel Gottsching performing E2:E4 in Hebden Bridge, Dave Clarke at Sound Control in Manchester (Concrète will be dividing our attentions between Shipley & Manchester, but strongly endorse Gottsching, as E2:E4 is simply one of the most sublime pieces of music ever made, and it’s creator is a genius).
On Sunday we’ll be attending the demonstrations at the Tory party conference, possibly in pig masks (and maybe on Monday too).
Tuesday 6th: Xiu Xiu are a the Kazimier in Liverpool playing Lynch & Badalamenti’s music from Twin Peaks – we recently acquired a copy of the TV series soundtrack on the bootmarket, and can confirm it’s fucking ace, so this should be amazing (and probably sold out. Go and bother a tout).
Salford’s Islington Mill is knocking it out of the ballpark the next couple of months, so expect it to crop up a load both in here and in review. They start the month strong with Actress on Friday 9th (and carry on strong, but more later…)
Back home in Preston on Saturday 10th, Hawkwind’s Nik Turner is at the Conti, supported by one of our favourite local bands, Lancaster’s superb Three Dimensional Tanx. Turner and band will be playing tunes from Hawkwind’s back catalogue, as well as from his other bands Inner City Unit and Space Ritual. Hawkwind’s best is fantastic, and the opportunity to hear acid-rock loud and up close is enticing. Lovers of space rock should also check out Bo Ningen in Salford later in the month, and Acid Mothers Temple at Band on the Wall.
Saturday 17th sees Preston institution Beats of Rage return to their spiritual home at what is now Blitz (and used to be Coda). It’s their 8th birthday, so regular headliner Boy 8-bit is making the journey north – but more importantly This Machine (who blew the roof off at last month’s Concrète) are also performing. We strongly recommend checking these guys out if you weren’t there (and if you were, you don’t need us to tell you).
John Carpenter has just announced he’s going to play his first live shows ever at ATP Iceland next year: we’re sure this means there’ll be UK dates to follow, but to sate our appetites in the meantime, there’s an all-night marathon of Carpenter movies at Islington Mill on Saturday 24th – Assault on Precinct 13, Escape from New York and They Live are all lined up: vote for the final film at the fb event page.
On Sunday the 25th, it’s Concrète’s 1st Birthday: we’re celebrating by launching the tape label, and three acts with upcoming releases on Concrète Tapes will be showcasing their amazing music. Polypores, with his new live show of hauntological soundtracks, Unit 303 are back with some heavy acid shit, and Hyberus, the latest project from long-time Preston/Shrewsbury experimentalist Dave Gate (and associates). The presses are rolling with the first releases, so keep an eye out over the next few weeks for announcements.
The month closes with a couple of immense Halloween parties – Islington Mill weigh in with Lydia Lunch’s Halloween Seance. Lunch has appeared at the Conti in Preston a couple of times, and her intense, magical spoken word & noise shows remain some of the finest we’ve ever seen in our home town. Backed up by ILL (who blew us away with their Sunday afternoon set at Supernormal festival in the summer), Water and Manchester’s on-the-brink-of-something-massive garage-pop band PINS, Lunch promises to whip up something truly majestic.
In a mildly infuriating turn of events, on the same night Pangea & Demdike Stare are playing at a warehouse party somewhere in Manchester, and we’d like to do both. curses.
We’ve updated the listings onto a google calendar – you can view or subscribe to it here. And, if we come across anything else exciting we’ll add to it as the month goes by.
concrète 