Death From Above 1979, On tour
Time won’t necessarily mellow you, but it may give other people the chance to catch up. Ten years ago, Sebastien Grainger and Jesse F Keeler were reducing the rock music form to the essential constituents of dance music. In a more traditional, supportive-of-the-Futureheads time, not everyone was ready for Canadians making aggressive between-genre noises, and the band ultimately quit for other projects. A decade later, they’ve returned with a great new album, The Physical World. Tunes such as White Is Red appear through the noise like a rechromed engine gleaming under the bonnet of a classic car.
Electric Ballroom, NW1, Mon; Gorilla, Manchester, Tue; The Garage, Glasgow, Wed; The Plug, Sheffield, Fri; touring to 25 Oct
JR
Sam Smith, On tour
Unlike many of the featured vocalists who have lately become stars in their own right, Sam Smith doesn’t make it appear remotely as if it was something he was “born to do”. Not a physical performer like Ella Eyre or even John Newman, Smith’s an altogether more low-key kind of cat, seeming to come more from an Antony Hegarty kind of place where introspection is valued above peacocking. He’s turned that vulnerability to his advantage, using his strong but not over-assertive pipes on a series of singles – Stay With Me, I’m Not The Only One – that have almost without fail been melancholy ballads. Showing impressive singularity of purpose, even his fast ones, such as recent single Restart, are sad. Much like Adele, Smith has the popular touch: his is a voice people instinctively believe, so more than the show itself, his gigs are genuinely about the songs.
O2 ABC, Glasgow, Thu; O2 Academy, Leeds, Fri; touring to 7 Nov
JR
New Build, On tour
Hot Chip have had their moments, but their slightly sickly dance music hasn’t been quite the unanimous commercial success one might have once expected. Focusing on the positives, and getting back to basics, the band’s members have sought to dismantle the indie-dance jigsaw they once made, returning to its separate elements in a series of side-projects. Alexis Taylor improvises with About Group; Joe Goddard does a dad-dance thing with the 2 Bears; and since 2010 Al Doyle and Felix Martin have been working on the poppy electronics of New Build. A big feature of the group’s second album, Pour It On, is the band’s singing. Folky by intention, their synth tunes and anthemic choruses actually take them off that track, to an unexpected destination: a place where the Human League are covering Oasis.
Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds, Mon; Broadcast, Glasgow, Tue; touring to 28 Oct
JR
Grumbling Fur, On tour
Grumbling Fur are an alternative supergroup of sorts, albeit one where neither has quite had the recognition they deserve. Alexander Tucker records a gorgeously psychedelic take on folk under his own name for Thrill Jockey and ATP Records, and Daniel O’Sullivan’s background is in heavy droning guitars, having recorded solo albums as Mothlite, and played in Æthenor and Norwegian doom metal outfit Ulver. Together, they’re a lot chirpier than you’d expect, bringing in dreamy hooks that could be lifted from 80s synth-pop megahits, found percussion, dinky drum machines and Tucker’s signature swirling vocals.
Dim Swn festival, Cardiff, Sat; The Garage, N5, Mon (supporting the Charlatans); touring to 7 Dec
JA
Evan Parker, London
Evan Parker, the internationally revered reinventer of the sax as an abstract sound source, took John Coltrane’s radical 1960s legacy and made an extraordinary new music with it. The result was an aural tapestry of fierce, searing tenor-sax eruptions, gruff lyricism and seamless circular-breathing episodes that sounded like several reeds-players simultaneously entwined. Parker has been celebrating his 70th birthday all year, and this week of alternating nights features the tirelessly collaborative improviser in partnership with new and old friends. These include seminal Australian improv trio the Necks (Cafe Oto, Mon); Joe McPhee, the American trumpeter-saxophonist with whom he made last year’s memorable What/If/They Both Could Fly album (Vortex, Tue); 60s experimental noise trio AMM (Cafe Oto, Wed); and many others.
Cafe Oto, E8, Mon, Wed & Fri; The Vortex, N16, Tue & Thu; touring to 26 Oct
JF
Sound Festival, Aberdeenshire
A joint venture between Banchory’s Woodend Barn Arts Centre and the University of Aberdeen, Sound is “Scotland’s festival of new music”, and fulfils its role with missionary zeal. Three weeks of concerts range across a wide spectrum of styles; the emphasis is on changing perceptions about new music, and presenting concerts to be enjoyed, not just dutifully endured. The programme explores new approaches to traditional music, with concerts featuring music and performers from France, Turkey, Argentina, Norway and Scotland, and premieres of commissions from folk musician Alasdair Roberts and electroacoustic composer Ross Whyte (St Margaret’s Church, Braemar, 26 Oct). There’s mainstream new music, too: the festival opens with a recital by percussionist Colin Currie (Cowdray Hall, Thu), which includes the Scottish premiere of Rolf Wallin’s Realismos Mágicos.
Various venues, Thu to 10 Nov
AC
