Live Picks (Aug '19): Gig Picks by Sam Gregory
I'm writing this intro on Thursday 25 July, the hottest day in Sheffield since the city was founded 12,800 years ago - or at least, since records began. It may be a harbinger of our imminent extinction as a species due to our own greed and recklessness, but isn't wearing shorts at work nice?
Quite frankly, the idea of going to any of the gigs below fills me with sweat-soaked dread right now. Or being anywhere indoors, around other sticky people. But I'm sure I'll have changed my tune once this heatwave passes, as even though Tramlines has been and gone there's some cracking gigs on over summer.
If you've not been, I'd recommend taking in a summer show at Bishops' House, the sixteenth-century half-timbered house at the top of Meersbrook Park. Listening to beguiling sounds in the house's garden on a late August evening, with the sun dipping below the Heeley horizon, is something close to idyllic.
2-4 Aug | Yellow Arch | £20 weekend (Fri £10, Sat £12)
Describing itself as the "third international festival of badass vintage music", this party's playlist policy is strictly sixties. Expect cool rhythm and blues and mod grooves from guest DJs Lionel Romano and John Parker, who are joined by the residents.
Wed 7 Aug | Lescar | £8
Bassist Huw V Williams returns to Jazz at the Lescar with his new 'dynamic and edgy' trio, featuring George Crowley on tenor sax and drummer Jon Scott. All three are veterans of top-tier groups, with Scott playing with MOBO winners Kairos 4tet and Crowley appearing on albums by Kit Downes.
A Page Of Punk / Nazi Killer / Stray Bullet
Wed 7 Aug | Hatch | £5
Japanese speed punks A Page Of Punk are on tour across the UK, playing from their new 51 -track album, Fool's Punk Line. They're joined by Nazi Killer everything you need to know is in the name, I think and Stray Bullet, who 'definitely won't be shit', according to the poster.
Thu 8 Aug | Shakespeares | Free
DJ Norman joins residents for another edition of the monthly cult club night. Get down from seven for more exploratory sounds or a bit later for the doof-doof stuff. As always, excellent beer flows freely.
Fri 9 Aug | Bishops' House | £8
Using song forms to "explore and evoke dark landscapes", Burd Ellen is the new solo project of Debbie Armour. She's touring to support her latest self-released album, Silver Came, and is joined by the drones and electronics of Pefkin, a new moniker for Gayle Brogan from the Electroscopes.
Sun 11 Aug | Yellow Arch | Free (booking required)
Four short films, from weird docs to esoteric thrillers. Of interest to music fans will be Chinstroke TV's Project Sandstorm, in which filmmaker Alex Noble follows an attempt to install a sandstorm detector in the Gobi Desert that raises awareness of climate breakdown by playing what else? Darude's 'Sandstorm'.
Wed 21 Aug | Greystones | £14.30
Hailing from Johnson City, Tennessee, Amythyst Kiah reinterprets the blues for our troubled times, drawing on the Mississippi Sheiks and Jimmie Rodgers for inspiration. She accompanies herself on banjo and acoustic guitar, dipping into her encyclopaedic knowledge of American roots music.
Living Body / KITS / Lou Terry
Fri 23 Aug | Hatch | £6
Pigeon Hands presents Living Body, a five-piece fronted by Chicagoan Jeff T. Smith who aim to "bring joy into the lives of others." They're joined by Jayson Turner's 'sad techno' project KITS and the slow jams of new Harwood Street resident Lou Terry.
Alexander Robotnick / Annabel Fraser
Sun 25 Aug | Night Kitchen | day ticket £12.40, night ticket £10, day + night £17.90
The Control crew team up with Mizik Nou for a sunny session in the daytime, with a three-hour italo-disco set from Italian legend Alexander Robotnick. Annabel Fraser from NTS picks things up as day turns to night, with a second room of psychedelic party music hosted by the Apricot Ballroom Soundsystem.
Wed 28 August | Lescar | £8
Formed at 2018's Bolton Worktown Festival, Rafe's Dilemma are a four-piece that mix rock, electronics and jazz to electric effect. Vocalist Nel Begley draws out stories from Bill Naughton's play Spring and Port Wine, joined by Jamil Sheriff on keys, bassist Sam Vicary and Katie Patterson on drums.
