Siobhan Wilson | Tue 10 Apr | Kitchen Garden Café | £11
Siobhan Wilson creates elegant and tempestuous folk-rock every bit as beautiful and bleak as the mountainous landscapes of her Scotland home. Interwoven harmonies, delicate piano and just the right amount of PJ Harvey grunge makes last year’s ‘There Are No Saints’ a heart-stopping triumph from start to finish. wegottickets.com
Alex Cameron | Tue 10 Apr | Mama Roux’s | £11
You’d think that we’ve already mined everything we can from the 80s, but Alex Cameron dives deliberately into the ugly, sleazy sounds that you’d forgotten, a kind of bargain-bin nightmare come to life. Why? It’s his tool to deliver songs about irredeemable jerks, songs that reel you in with hooks while they repulse you with their characters. Love it or hate it, it’s a faultless delivery. seetickets.com
Let’s Eat Grandma | Wed 11 Apr | Castle & Falcon | £11.25
In a dramatic turn from their psychedelic, eerie ballads of yore, Let’s Eat Grandma’s 2018 singles so far are club-ready pop bangers, helped in part by the hand of electro-songstress SOPHIE. They double down on everything abrasive about their sound, daring you to challenge them. No doubt the UK duo are headed to interesting places this year – best get on the bandwagon. skiddle.com
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs | Wed 11 Apr | Hare & Hounds | £11
The brutal and exhilarating behemoths of stoner-doom metal, Pigs (x7) will rattle your very ribcage and burst out through your heart like some kind of H.R. Giger monstrosity. It’s surprisingly old-school stuff – corroded blues licks bubbling up through a mud of heavy-metal riffage – but it hits like a storm. With support from Grey Hairs and Youth Man. skiddle.com
Everything Everything | Thu 12 Apr | O2 Academy | £23
Rescheduled from March. Everything Everything are experts in complex, rhythm-heavy music, fueled by a nervous energy. Poppy, razor-sharp synths, and killer clean guitars duel for supremacy, with Jonathan Higgs’ acerbic tongue delivering his rapid-fire, often absurdist lines in twisting, catchy falsetto melodies. See our full preview here.
Little Comets | Sat 14 Apr | O2 Institute | £15
Little Comets have been slow-burning their way to greater recognition over the course of four albums now – their highest moments combining a catchy Vampire Weekend touch with dense lyricism and a ‘kitchen sink’ mentality. Last year’s ‘Worhead’ showed them at their upbeat, deceptively-complex best, a little like the 1975 fractured through an octagonal prism. seetickets.com
Shonen Knife | Sun 15 Apr | Hare & Hounds | £15.40
Osaka’s all-girl trio Shonen Knife became alternative rock darlings way back when – with Kurt Cobain and Thurston Moore championing their stripped-down, fluorescent neon style. But the Yamano sisters are still going strong – as evidenced by the Pixies-esque barroom fight of their 2016 album, ‘Adventure’. See our full preview here.
Andrew WK | Sun 15 Apr | O2 Academy 2 | £22.50
The super-earnest rock ‘n roller, motivational speaker and white-jean-wearing cartoon burst back on the scene this year with his new album ‘You’re Not Alone’. His operatic, turn-it-up-to-11 optimism can’t be better summarised than single ‘Music is Worth Living For’ – it’s cynicism-proof, and for many of us, probably the type of guilt-free brochismo we could use once in a while. seetickets.com
Words: Chris Donald - Gigs Editor
Published on: Mon 12 Mar 2018
