Låpsley, Oxfordshire
Post-dubstep is a sound that is synonymous with east London – but the music itself occupies a place of eerie stillness and soulful expression, with the fusion of minimal electronic beats and R&B detailing ensuring the emotional tension in the song matches the suspense in the music. As the likes of Banks (from Los Angeles) or, at a stretch, FKA twigs (originally from Gloucestershire) have shown, however, it’s a genre with no geographical exclusion. In that tradition is Holly Lapsley Fletcher, from Southport but still channeling that same minimal, precision-detailed sound and heavy emotional vibe. It’s all about restraint in this part of the world, and while Låpsley’s not been hurrying anything (her self-produced EP was in 2013; her XL debut was at the start of this year), Låpsley’s voice seems most natural in a soulful ballad, so perhaps she may be busting out of minimal settings before too long.
Wilderness festival, Cornbury Park, Fri
JR
Mick Harvey, Glasgow & Newcastle upon Tyne
A former member of the Birthday Party and Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, Mick Harvey knows a thing or two about keeping your head when all around you are losing theirs. A drummer, guitarist and producer (for PJ Harvey among many others), Harvey brings some of that same dependability and competence to his own solo work. His is a career defined less by songs than by a slightly eccentric but unwavering aesthetic: 20 years after making two albums of Serge Gainsbourg covers, he is still performing shows of the material (though not here), while his default position as presented on his Two Of Diamonds album of 2007 is a classically-textured alternative rock. While the Hammond organ swells, Harvey, much as he has done historically, presents dark and drily humorous drama in an open-necked shirt.
Oran Mór, Glasgow, Sun; Cluny, Newcastle upon Tyne, Mon
JR
Frank Turner, Kingston
After some years spent with a group called Million Dead playing hardcore, a genre associated with people of conscience, Frank Turner has since gone solo and headlines enormous venues with a type of music synonymous with festivals attended by David Cameron. It’s an abrupt change, possibly troubling to those who like to think music is rooted in some kind of conviction, but as the libertarian Turner will tell you, you make your own luck in this world. Truth be told, though, it’s less the right-leaning nature of Frank Turner’s politics that should worry you, more the conservative nature of his music: a jaunty and melodic sub-Mumfords/Wonder Stuff folk-rock.
Hippodrome, Thu
JR
Blue Tapes, London
Far from being just another format fad, UK tape labels are currently in rude health, with Fort Evil Fruit in Ireland breaking new artists, Salford’s Sacred Tapes charting the social noise-making of the Islington Mill community, Opal Tapes touring internationally, and stalwarts like The Tapeworm still going strong. Here, Blue Tapes’ global roster come together for Joseph Stannard’s Outer Church night. Italian gutter-industrialists Father Murphy chant and screech amid a pounding collage of recordings made from beating metal and the splintering of wood chopped up to build a crucifix; Japanese sound artist Leedian unpacks a digital cosmos in zeroes and ones; Norwegian experimenter Benjamin Finger draws out slow harmonic drifts and shuffling echoes; and Brighton duo Map 71 play hardcore that sounds broken like a chair with three legs: wobbly, and on the brink of collapse.
Power Lunches, E8, Wed
JA
GoGo Penguin, Manchester
GoGo Penguin, the young Manchester piano trio who have grown an international following over the past three years for angles that take in Aphex Twin, Debussy, Squarepusher and Massive Attack, return to familiar turf for the Manchester jazz festival (to 9 Aug). On their albums Fanfares and the Mercury-nominated V.20, the trio embraced the anthemic roll of the late Esbjörn Svensson’s music and the spacey chords and free-jazzy drum fills of the Bad Plus, but also darkly impressionistic electronic soundscapes, seductive pop hooks and big stadium rock climaxes. Dance music fans might be discovering the band, but their improv skills have kept more traditional listeners onside.
Thwaites Festival Pavilion, Fri
JR
Dartington International Summer School, Totnes
For more than 60 years the summer school held at Dartington Hall has been one of the fixtures in the British musical calendar, bringing together amateur and professional instrumentalists, singers, conductors and composers for workshops, masterclasses and a series of public concerts. William Glock, who became perhaps the most influential of all BBC controllers of music, was its founder, and after him a series of equally distinguished performers and composers have taken over the reins. The latest is the pianist Joanna MacGregor. Her hugely diverse musical interests, which range from Bach to Birtwistle and take in world music and jazz too, are very clearly reflected in her four-week programme. There’s a focus on early music in the first week, and on the baroque repertoire in the second; with contemporary music and multimedia works featuring after that.
Dartington Hall, Sat to 29 Aug
AC
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion