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Yikes – we’re officially spoilt for choice. In fact, this years Liverpool Sound City line-up is giving us a headache. Taking place (for the most part) between May 19-22, you’d best be prepared to peg it between one venue and the next, or pick very, very, VERY wisely indeed if you intend on committing yourself to the one gig all night.
You’re better off blueprinting, mapping, and scheduling the whole festival with intense, scientific, synchronized watch style military precision if you want to see all the bands that you truly want to.
In fact, the whole festival is so bloody big that we’ve had to split this guide into two separate, wriggling parts. Gory.
Think we’re joking? A little scared? No drama, buds, we’re here to help – you can even hold our hand if you need to. Introducing Part One of Purple Revolvers essential picks for Sound City – listen up and listen hard, we’ll only say this once.
First and foremost – Gil Scott Heron? Sweet-child-of-the-revolution-YES. This is a gig we’ve been literally baiting breath for since, well, forever. With latest album I’m New Here, the legendary soul-jazz-blues poet has proven he hasn’t lost his flair for socio-political spoken word commentaries, and soul-baring confessional vocal dramas. This is a gig we’re destined to lose our cool at – and you should too. Playing on April 29 at the Philharmonic, this is probably THE greatest Sound City launch party thus far. Don’t be the chump who misses out on this – it’s destined to be the central, jaw-to-the-floor moment of the entire festival. No lie.
Continuing with this theme of truly engendering innovators of hip-hop, May 18 see’s a double-team of greatness in the form of legendary American photographer Ernie Panniccioli and Afrika Bambaataa.
Panniccioli will be launching an exhibition of his photos in the FACT gallery alongside the UK premiere of The Other Side Of Hip Hop: The Sixth Element.
The film, directed by Dion Michael Ashman, details Paniccioli’s life, art and politics and features MC Lyte, Flava Flav, Chuck D, and of course Bambaataa, and will be followed by a Q&A session with both Bambaataa and Panniccioli themselves which should be too amazing for words.
What’s also too bloody amazing for words is the fact that Bambaataa is doing a rare DJ set the same evening at The Masque. Girls and boys – this is bound for awesomeness. Let your heart beat Bambaataa, and meet me on the dance floor.
May 19 – the silliest day of the festival in terms of clashing rad-sounds – is a tricky, sticky one indeed.
Let’s start here.
Should you have the words ‘must dance my arse off’ pencilled in for May 19, as I do amongst other ludicrous ambitious things, then look no further than the irresistible dance inducing, stupidly awesome line up going down in the Static Gallery.
Featuring experimento-electro Toronto four piece Holy Fuck, one man jive-soliciting musician / DJ Max Tundra, pyscho-circus trance duo Dogshow and indie-llectual twitch funsters Indica Ritual, we can feel our body already limbering up in preparation for some serious dance-offs.
But then, aaaahh! Over at Korova is the reliably magnificent Canadian Rawr-Disco skills of You Say Party! We Say Die! alongside the gorgeously heavy, distorted disco grumblings of I Am Austin.
And then over at The Kazimier, are the artsy and intense pseudo-psychedelic Archie Bronson Outfit, who we get the distinct feeling are one of those bands who put on one helluva live show. Not only that but their support acts – Denmark’s space cadet experimentalists Oh No Ono and the dream-soundtracking White Hinterland – are the kind of brain tinkering escapism perfect for those of us looking to get away from our own minds for an evening.
Bugger. We honestly don’t know where to start. We’re gonna have to devise some sort of decision making system based upon dice rolling, straw pulling, drawing names out of a hat and asking bewildered local cats to give us some tail raising inclination as to which venue to hit next, every 40 minutes or so.
Keep your eyes peeled for Purple Revolver’s advice on D.I.Y. decision making methods for choosing which bands to see during the festival, and also Part Two of our Sound City guide featuring May 20 – 22, coming soon.
Big love,
Amy Roberts (Purple Revolver’s Liverpool Sound City Editor)
Liverpool Sound City official site: http://www.liverpoolsoundcity.co.uk/index.html
Gil Scott Heron official: http://gilscottheron.net/
FACT gallery: http://www.fact.co.uk
Holy Fuck: http://www.myspace.com/holyfuck
Max Tundra: http://www.myspace.com/maxtundra
Indica Ritual: http://www.myspace.com/indicaritual
Dogshow: http://www.myspace.com/dogshowdisco
You Say Party! We Say Die!: http://www.myspace.com/yousaypartywesaydie
I Am Austin: http://www.myspace.com/iamaustin
Archie Bronson Outfit: http://www.myspace.com/archiebronsonoutfit
Oh No Ono: http://www.myspace.com/ohnoono
White Hinterland: http://www.myspace.com/whitehinterland