Liverpool Sound City Day Three and Four

If you’re not a fan of crowds, Liverpool city centre is the place to avoid on any Friday or Saturday night. Couple that with 25 gigs running simultaneously each night, and the city centre is fit to burst. Friday evening began with the Scottish rap outfit Stanley Odd, who played to a pretty empty Bumper venue, but the dated beats and fast-paced rhymes on life on the dole were charming nonetheless. Down at the Kazimier (if you ever get a chance – GO TO THIS VENUE) we caught the soon-to-be renamed Bagheera play their ethereal, melodic alternative folk. ‘Cutting Ties’ is rumoured to be their debut single when they change their name over to White Deer Park in a few months. In the Zanzibar, Fly With Vampires kick off an amazing night of bands, including Titus Andronicus, Male Bonding, Crocodiles and Blood Red Shoes, none of which we make time to see because there’s just far too much to see in one night. After Bagheera we make it over to the newly opened Shipping Forecast to catch the electro-rockers Fenech Soler. They’ve got a sharp sense of how to make massive pop hooks that’ll make the walls dance. Friendly Fires had better be quick with their new album, Fenech Soler are a danger to their dance-rock crown. Back down at the Kazimier, we wait for Wild Beasts, the success story of last year, however there’s no chance of previewing new material, this is more of a celebration of their flawless first two albums.

During Saturday afternoon, the likes of Drellas and Voo played in an old department store window as part of a gig poster exhibition ‘Screenadelica’ with local artists displaying their work alongside American and European ones. Liverpool’s gig poster art is as vibrant as the scene it supports; the Horse (http://www.youresomehorse.com/) creates brilliant poster designs for Liverpool’s best gigs.

To the evening, and one of the most inappropriate venue/band pairings of the entire festival. The Temps played their razor-sharp, sarcastic and energetic riffs in the otherwise placid Hannah’s Bar. Fans of chaos missed a treat. Over at the Zanzibar, relative newcomers to the Liverpool scene Pink Film played their brilliant electro pop tunes with Ziyad Al-Samman at the helm. He’s probably the conspicuous frontman you’ll ever see. He glides through the insanely catchy ‘Living A Lie’ looking part Julian Casablancas part Brandon Flowers (the Colonel Sanders years).

It would have been nice to finish this years Sound City on a relaxed, easy-going note in the form of Fionn Regan, but, and through no fault of his own, the closing gig at Static Gallery was a disaster. Sound problems were an issue from the start (partly due to the venue’s tin roof) and a visibly pissed-off Fionn cut the show short after six songs. It seems a bit stupid to end on a bum note, so here’s a nice one: Sound City has been an overwhelming triumph. There we go.