Review // Theo Parrish @ The Ritz

My first post in an age, I'm sorry! In between all the madness that is currently my life, I was lucky enough to catch Theo Parrish's live show in Manchester, a fortnight ago, with my review up now on the award-winning 405's website. Isn't that nice? Click here to read, or scroll down for the unedited version... 

Review // Theo Parrish @ The Ritz

Following an exclusive album playback of his anticipated release ‘American Intelligence’, Detroit luminaire Theo Parrish, proves the only way to better a jazz-laden dish of electronic indulgence, is when a prestigious squad joins their selector. Oh and a decent back catalogue helps, of course. A favoured face on the club scene, Theo’s first first live shows in a decade led to a mass turnout at Manchester’s Ritz, a high-energy crowd readied for the transition of projects- usually sacred to the studio or club- in an immersive, hypnotic live experience. 

As dancers bound out onto the stage; brass, keys, guitars encasing them, the energy levels soar as a funk led introduction, effortlessly sets the tone. Sporting the furthest thing from uniform, including a bucket hat in one case, the performers taking centre stage dazzle with their moves and solos, ‘Walking Thru The Sky’s acid-jazz, fluently layering in. Vocalist Ideeya’s notes project far and wide, gleaming and demanding attention, before drum snaps crack in, each member of the troupe indisputably given to the beat. 

As personally a huge fan of Theo’s Sound Signature productions, when favourites like ‘Chemistry’ are performed well-seasoned, with synths full of body and sticky sweet croons, deviating away from the electronic-led original to a jazz jumped adaptation, is anything but sour and a welcome variation. Of course there are more prominent keys and a digital basis with the likes of ‘Control’, but taking a route more smooth, more brooding, makes it less explicitly sexy than the accompanying fan videos of the track found on YouTube, and allows itself air to breathe, the odd improvisational flurry maintaining a specifically rich tone, rather than something more rigid. 

With a blistering drum solo ahead of ‘Solitary Flight’ and formidable popping and locking to ‘Going Through Changes’, it’s easy to understand why London’s seated Barbican venue was chosen to house the same performance on this mini UK tour, with so much to also visually stimulate, the whole thing omitting an essence of a relaxed and comfortable- but excellent- enactment. This years Pièce de résistance ‘Footwork’, proves itself a worthy inclusion alongside his extensively impressive inventory, hi-hats shimmying in and then, that bass! Oh so unforgiving, oh so infectious. 

A superbly well executed live show doesn’t mean that Theo is hanging up his headphones any time soon, and as disciples to the House of Parrish, you’d forget it was his name atop the posters emblazoned across the building out front, each performer, musician and dancer, bold in their duties. Just don’t leave us waiting another decade, to sample the silky-soul setting of such an astonishing live show, and judging by the strong-hold applause and hollering as everyone erupted out onto the streets come 11pm, It's a unanimous contemplation that leaves me believing I'm not the only one...

Words by Yours Truly X

Review // Future Everything Festival

Afternoon! Late last month I was sent down to Manchester's Future Everything Festival for Crack Magazine. Held in various venues of theatres, basments and galleries, Future Everything marries the look at digital innovations across art, music, sport and a whole range of diverse subjects. I caught Evian Christ's curated evening at The RNCM and Darkside at The Ritz, which you can read over here- or below for the full copy, penned in collaboration with Joe Goggins. You can also read it in print by picking up Issue 40 with Pixies on the cover!
Future Everything @ Various Venues

FutureEverything’s premise is one that favours all things forward-thinking. Taking place across Manchester over the course of seven days, their mission to host shows from contemporary music artists at the forefront of innovation as well as art exhibitions, conceptual events and industry conferences is a vision to behold. Crack’s FutureEverything experience kicks off on Thursday night with an appearance from Darkside. Nicholas Jaar and Dave Harrington’s collaborative project brought an eclectic bout of prog-imprinted, tension building electronica to the back end of 2013. With mirror-led visuals that breeze beams of darkness through to a spectrum of colours, the experience feels somewhat transcendental, moody yet sanguine, as melodies and bodies melt into one another, accentuating the deeper levels that cross over live on tracks such as Golden Arrow and Paper Trails.   

 With the city’s Royal Northern College of Music welcoming in an Evian Christ-curated evening, held in its seated theatre, there was uncertainty as to whether or not the formal space would enhance the atmosphere or, alternatively, swallow it whole. TCF, a blackened-out figure before us, projects swirling bass that immerses with his film-score-worthy-weird manipulations. His brave efforts set off abstractly and just a throw too-far leftfield for many in attendance. London’s Visionist immediately follows, marrying his ghostly take on radical, nocturnal grime. A glacial, dubbed-out half hour ensues, forming the most club-worthy set of the night. It’s admirable to watch how this plethora of future-thinking artists adapt with the theatrical environment, especially with the aid of artist Emmanuel Biard, whose lighting spectacular set to the abrasive elements of Evian Christ’s set provides the most amazing part of the evening. 

To say that Julianna Barwick’s set at the RNCM Theatre is more than the sum of its parts would be an enormous understatement; she spends the 40-minute slot stood behind a keyboard, but in truth she barely uses it. It’s the mess of samplers and pedals at her disposal that form the crux of the performance, as she creates a veritable cornucopia of lush soundscapes using little more than her own voice, generously looped. Every time the mass of loops threatens to bubble over into cacophony, she dials them back down in impressively soothing fashion. Tim Hecker’s headline performance, meanwhile, couldn’t be further removed. 

 He’s just barely discernible amongst the shadows as he takes the stage in a pitch-dark theatre, and you spend the first few minutes wondering when the visuals are going to kick in – only to realise, eventually, that there aren’t any. Hecker delivers his entire set in almost total darkness, and it’s a complementary environment; his dark, foreboding sound, often beautiful on record, is utterly punishing live. We spotted a fair few heading for the exits early during a brutal, reverb-laden opening ten minutes. What they missed was a tantalising reinvention of what live electronic music should represent. Enjoyable seems like the wrong word, but exhilarating? Absolutely. 

 And as in previous years, a major part of FutureEverything’s remit was to explore how we interact with sound, and to experiment with it; it wasn’t simply a case of putting on live events. In keeping with that, one of the major installations at the vast ‘pop-up urban experiment’ City Fictions project was BUQS, which saw ninety Ubiquitous Electronic Lifeforms scattered across the city. The devices – produced, as demonstrated at New City Square, using 3D printers – were constructed of plastic casing and contained sensors and motors that allowed them to pick up basic information about their environment and relay them sonically, encouraging direct interaction with the BUQS with user-unique results. Their resemblance to giant insects was intended to conjure up imagery of ‘infestation’, with the suggestion that the units were able to ‘hack’ the landscape, leaving spectators with the resonant reminder that in urban environments, often the most omnipresent technology is near-invisible. 

We entered FutureEverything with a desire to broaden our horizons, and left with shattered preconceptions and with fresh ideas buzzing around in our minds. Looking at the forecasts of digital culture, proving that music is continuing to explore exciting, uncharted new territory and even handing out 130,000 copies of a fictional newspaper issue from 2018, FutureEverything is both inspiring and, at times, somewhat overbearing. If there’s one thing we’ve learnt, it’s that the future is coming, so we might as well embrace it.

Words By Yours Truly & Joe Goggins X

 Images by Gary Brown and Matt Eachus

In photos // A$AP Rocky @ The Ritz

Last week, I went and caught A$AP Rocky's show at The Ritz along with some rowdy underagers who shouted "IGGY AZALEA!" at me (Pfft, I wish!) and some lads stage invaded whilst the A$AP Mob tried to grab people who were crowd surfing up to join in the fun. I also took some pictures for your viewing pleasure, so enjoy!

Words and images by yours truly X