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The Yorker presents this week's succinct guide to goings-on of the musical variety, both locally and nationally. Here you'll find previews of a selection of single and album releases from the week ahead, as well as a guide to the hottest tickets in town for live music.
This week York Concerts offers you three consecutive evenings of entertainment without having to leave campus, beginning on Wednesday 8th June in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall with the debut concert of Ensemble 452, a wind and piano quintet bringing together five prominent players currently prominent in Europe's early music scene; the programme includes works by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Beethoven. Then on Thursday 9th and Friday 10th, you can head to the Rymer Auditorium, also in the Music Department, to catch the University Jazz Orchestra performing as part of their residency with saxophonist Julian Argüelles and drummer Martin France.
If harbour a passion for metal, then Stereo is the place to be this week, with two nights dedicated solely to shining exponents of the genre. On Wednesday 8th, you can catch Essex five-piece Our People Versus Yours as part of their current touring activities, while on Friday 10th, be sure to stop in for up-and-coming Leeds act Dead Air, with support provided by Fall Of Fame, Cause Of Denial and Fools to Favour.
Alternatively, if you fancy something a little more chilled to cap off your Friday night then you have two options. The first is to head over to Fibbers where you can revel in the stripped-down, r'n'b soul guitar sound of Little Barrie, headed by Barrie Cadogan of the current Primal Scream touring band. The second comes in the shape of acoustic singer-songwriter Jon Allen who, following the widespread success of his debut album Dead Man's Suit, is now touring ahead of the release of the follow up, Sweet Defeat released on June 20th. Sample his sound below with this live performance of 'In Your Light' on Later... Live with Jools Holland:
This week sees the return of Sheffield superstars Arctic Monkeys, as their edgy indie sound takes to the country's record stores in promotion of their fourth album Suck It And See. In reaction to the glossy, production-heavy Humbug, the band recorded much of this LP in live takes, rehearsing heavily together before entering the studio. Also unleashing his fourth album upon the world today is cult hero Frank Turner; England Keep My Bones is released on Xtra Mile Records and sees the London-based singer-songwriter team up once again with Tristan Ivemy, producer of his highly acclaimed LP Love Ire & Song.
However, perhaps the most musically intriguing release of the week comes from American experimental band Battles. Today sees the launch of their second album Gloss Drop, but notably their first without singer Tyondai Braxton; rather than replace their bandmate, the band have instead enlisted various guest vocalists, including Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino and electronic musician Gary Numan. You can listen to taster single 'Ice Cream' starring Matias Aguayo below:
Almost by design, this week's singles each tackle the ever-cliched and frequently tricky subject matter of relationships with varying levels of success. Does this make The Yorker some sort of agony aunt, then?
Katy B - 'Easy Please Me
Katy B's latest offering, the fourth single from her acclaimed debut LP On A Mission, opens with a face-palm worthy attempt to rhyme 'bar' with 'Olivia'. But please don't lose hope, it gets better! The synth-heavy musical backdrop possesses a great deal of attitude that slowly unfurls throughout the song while Katy's vocals gradually take flight above it; the culmination is nothing short of soulful. The track proves to be a three-and-a-half minute lament of the decline in standards of male suitors, our protagonist desiring something more meaningful than 'cheesy lines' and 'arrogance' (it sounds unnervingly like 'Africans', transforming the track into a terrifying work of racial controversy if the actual subject matter isn't stimulating enough for you). In short, a 'how to' guide for bachelors and tuneful empathetic bemoaning for frustrated women.
Nicole Scherzinger ft. 50 Cent - 'Right There'
Nicole and Fiddy, meanwhile, take the more superficial approach to love with 'Right There', a taster from Scherzinger's debut solo effort Killer Love. Theirs is a relationship based almost entirely around the physical. Fiddy certainly seems a demanding man to please; he wants it 'in the morning, bright and early' because 'he rises with the sunrise'. Lovely. Unfortunately Nicole is all too happy to oblige, presenting the following verse: 'Me like the way that you hold my body / Me like the way that you touch my body / Me like the way that you kiss my... yeah, yeah, yeah, me like it / Me like the way that he put it on me / Me like the way that he push upon me / Me like the way that he go down down wah-down down wah-down down down down'. I wanted to type all that out so you get the full lyrical impact of it. Yeah. Just be glad I didn't read it out loud, it sounds very wrong. Anyway, it's a pity the lyrical content is so shocking because the musical bed that you need to focus on in order to retain a grip on reality is well constructed, guitars and synths blurring in an edgy soundscape.
Example - 'Changed The Way You Kiss Me'
If I remember rightly, way back when last year when we reviewed Example's first budding efforts to break out of Brit-rap obscurity and break the mainstream, we were less than kind. Well, I have to say, against all our expectations, he's proved us all wrong. 'Changed The Way You Kissed Me' proves to be a passionate confrontation of cracks appearing in a romance. This is a man unafraid of almost anything life can throw at him, but openly admitting his infallibility in the face of a crumbling relationship. Accordingly the beat-dominated track swells up in a sea of synth (there's quite a lot of synth this week... hmm...), intense reminiscences and personal confessions giving way to a desperately screaming climax. I was moved.
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