Jagwar Ma @ The Deaf Institute, Manchester, 20/06/2013

Gabriel Winterfield is infectious, present tonight with Sydney based outfit Jagwar Ma, he has obvious intent, to play some of the best new music to be heard this year and to have fun doing it. Selling out Manchester's Deaf Institute, not an easy feat when the city's student population have decamped to lick their wounds for another summer, the crowd seem no less eager than the band to comply to their manifesto. The band, completed tonight by full time member Jono Ma twiddling knobs on synth and beats duty, and touring bass player Jack who moves with such splendour that he most definitely would have still been present on stage if he was instrument free. The trio open with "What Love" a track that first appeared as b-side to early single Come Save Me but now takes precedence on both the début album Howlin and the bands live set list. The throbbing synth line's of "What Love" give birth to Gabriel's soaring vocal lines which, aided by delays and loops, sound every bit as luscious live as they do on record. The extended versions of tracks, witnessed in the non-radio friendly edits, glow and demonstrate a band who have truly embraced a diverse range of influences. The result is an act who have enough vocal melody and pop credibility to break the mainstream but with deep grooves and the oft referenced baggy Madchester beats that wouldn't be out of place curating the Warehouse Project. This marriage is recognizable on "Let Her Go" where a dab hand at lyrics reveals Gabriel confessing “I've become undone I want my lips stitched back together”. The song balloons to a chorus every bit as much Beck as it is Chemical Brothers before the inevitable, but nonetheless desirable, lyrical decay and dance beat influx. The band drops "Come Save Me" and "Man I Need" to rapturous reception before closer "The Throw" demonstrates best where the Madchester acid house comparisons come from as the flailing limbs of the band are reciprocated by the crowd. It seems lazy to solely reference the acid-house scene from the 80's when writing about Jagwar Ma because for a post-hacienda Manchester resident they seem to speak to more than just that generation and with Gabriel's boyish good looks, confident stage persona and most of all the strength of the music, we may see them adorning the walls of generations to come.

Toro y Moi @ Parklife Festival's Now Wave tent, Manchester, 09/06/2013

With the calendar turning once again to festival season, and thus Manchester's ever growing Parklife festival, certain acts stood raised against a intriguing and varied bill. One of these being Toro y Moi, the alias of South Carolina resident Chazwick Bradley Bundick, why a pseudonym was needed one can only wonder. Achieving recognition in certain spheres (Rolling Stone, Pitchfork etc.) with début Causers of This, Chaz was hailed as a pioneer of an emerging genre chill-wave movement but has yet to have cross over success. His follow up Underneath the Pine offered a musician differing from his début with more emphasis on vocal melodies and introducing elements of funk to his sound destined to be the soundtrack to the connoisseur's summer. Appearing on the Now Wave stage on the Sunday of the festival Toro y Moi was a promising start to the second day which boasted a billing of diversity and quality throughout the day, commendation to Now Wave as always for enriching the quality of Manchester and the festival. Backed by a three-piece band Bundick demonstrates the strength of the songs of his most recent release Anything in Return, which demonstrates the great diversity of Chaz's song writing introducing a more pop-conscious sound on his longest release yet. In the live sphere the record is given room to grow providing a stage for unreleased tracks affording them a much deserved spotlight. “Living High” is given power through the chorus that one might miss in the sheen of the album's production standing as one of the strongest moments of the set. This added energy does however in no way detract from the subtleties of the album's production and tracks swell with as much quality live as witnessed on the record. Finishing the short set with Anything in Return's lead single “So Many Details”, Toro y Moi set the bar high for the tent's acts to follow with Chaz's reserved but confident stage presence not betraying the strength of the songs and being every bit as enticing as the previously documented performer. It seems that as his Afro grows, now at a respectable size, his following and reputation will continue to do so and soon he will receive billing and reception that reflects the quality of his performance and music.

Brown Brogues @ Roadhouse, Manchester, 12/1/2013

 

 Scuzzy, reverb drenched and dressed as a pair of slutty sailors, Manchester's very own Brown Brogues take to the stage to launch their new album Born To Lose. The self proclaimed “noise duo” certainly do like to make a racket, with a set so sodden with spikey punk and sludgy blues that John Lydon wouldn't curl a lip at. The garage couplet have adopted a stripped back approach having only guitar and drummer on stage with the drums being only floor tom, snare and ride cymbal, almost as stripped back as the drummer himself flashing the flesh beneath his increasingly hot hot pants. The duo truly seem to give all and invite support band Queer'd Science onto the stage whilst singer Mark Vernon finds his way through the crowd pouring shots into the gaping mouths of the audience. Brown Brogues certainly are a spectacle and something with spontaneity and catchy tunes a plenty certainly evidence that Manchester has a vibrant scene that is certainly thriving underneath its rain strewn streets and all for under a fiver!