It's been a while since I've posted a live review, hasn't it? Well, last Friday I went and caught Disclosure on the opening date of their sell-out, debut headline tour to review the show for Artrocker- of which I'll link to once it is live- along with taking some shots which can be seen below with the whole article. As for this evening, I'm off to swoon over Cyril Hahn and Maribou State sharing a bill over at NQ Live, Monday has never looked so good! I'm keeping this one short and sweet, enjoy!
Disclosure / Shadow Child @ Manchester Academy 2
2012 was the year of
young, British electronic prodigies’ omitting their frustrations felt in droves
throughout their home towns, sparking a movement of garage-infused nostalgia, laced
with fresh experimentation that could only stem from a new generation of these
mid-90s born beat-makers. Too young to travel far and wide to world-class mecca
line-ups held in various cities across the country, the likes of Matlock’s
Karma Kid (A chap just barley-legal to purchase a pint.), now Leeds-based fifteen-year old house crafter
Happa and the Lake District’s biggest musical export since- well, ever- Bondax
are all note-worthy names to reference, however, where these gents follow, another
surely leads…
After a string of
underground support upon their earlier ‘Offline Dexterity’, ‘Tenderly/ Flow’ offerings
and ‘Latch’ featuring that
attention-grabbing Falsetto from Sam Smith, going into 2013, the Howard
siblings of Disclosure have only continued to rise to the top. Securing a
Number Two chart position with a little help from AlunaGeorge last month, the
duo have managed to secure their first ever headline UK tour with a string of
sell-out shows; but will the essence of their originality flounder after such a
steep rise to popularity, this early on into their careers? We headed down to
the first night of their tour at Manchester, to find out.
With the modest size
Academy Two playing habitat to tonight’s hostings, supporting act Shadow Child
(For a man that is more used to 2am rave sets to students and older techno-head
crowds, rather than a 9pm stage time to younger onlookers...), splices together
a combination of tracks that ran from Sub Focus’s crowd-surger ‘Tidal Wave’,
over to the cinematic build-up and bassline house drops of his own release ‘String
Thing’, wrapped with commanding slickness and ease. Despite the initial
short-set offering being reduced in stage time from the man himself, as the surveilling
packed-to-the-rafters throng displays a rapturous series of applause and
appreciatory waves of dropping down low, a spectacle of chrome and a trio of screens (Embossed
with Disclosure’s now-trademark facial logo.) stand brazen upon the stage, as
the duo of the moment take to their craft.
Opening their set
with new track ‘Infected’ taken from their forthcoming debut Album set to drop
this spring on PMR, the unexpected employment of Howard on vocal duties makes
for body popping-inducing repetitions of “Because I played the fool before you”,
standing supplied with huskingly soulful undertones, that windingly weave around
low-tempo beats. Yes it certainly continues on the use of uprising keys and
curling snaps that make it recognisable as theirs
respectfully, yet the inductions of crooning lyrical delivery and infectious qualities
(‘scuse the pun…) help to bring it back to sounding oh so renewed and inventive.
After the bellowings of “Wheelchair coming through!” behind
me, boom straight from the lungs of a neon jacket-clad security guard, just as the
launching into of old favourite ‘What’s In Your Head’, looking around the venue
as something of an evening pre-outing show of a dance nature, it really is
alarming to see teens dotted around all wide-eyed and clenched-jawed, resembling
the behaviour of those way older than seen at a 14+ occasion. Sure, the crowd aren't the be all and end all of any event,
musical orientated or otherwise, yet this is a signifier of how Disclosure have
played such a big part in infiltrating the mass dance market and the younger crowds they've bought in along the way. The fantastic
performances include tracks such as ‘Control’, simmering with its snaps of
glittering electronic warps and Ria Ritchie’s soaring vocals; yet seeing a
troupe of blazer-clad girls higher than the moon for the first time in their
lives isn't exactly the breed of crowd I want to get excited about such a
fantastic new pairing with…
Weaving in, at a healthy ratio, new as-yet untitled tracks
in with their established and still-amazing offerings- take the foot-stomping,
house-led vibes of ‘Tenderly’, over to the fantastic, entwining and dippy
buzzes heard on ‘Flow’- the Lawrence boys seem to be achieving their success of
heading up the umbrella of cross-generational genre resurrections’, scoping out
old-school garage qualities sprinkled across their take of modern day dance
music. Closing a triumphant set by anyone’s standards, the chance taken to part
ways with the people of Manchester on their smash remix of label mate Jessie
Ware’s ‘Running’, results in not one person seen failing to move on the dance floor
and a whole host of abandoned shoes upon our departure. It certainly has been a
whirlwind year for Disclosure, what with laying down tracks at Red Bull Music
Academy’s eponymous studios in London, over to achieving Radio 1 A-list daytime
status before they've even had their own tour or full-length out; I, for one,
don’t see this success story slowing down any time soon.
Words and Images by Yours Truly X
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