Frazer King at Night & Day Café, 10 November 2012

15 December 2012 by · Write a comment · Categories: manchestertaper · Tags: , ,

Detail from gig poster courtesy of Frazer King

The group of young scallywags pictured above is, obviously, not up-and-coming Wythenshawe band Frazer King, although it is an image they are happy to portray to the world at large.  And it is this rough-and-ready image I fell for when I first saw the band play live, back in March, at the Frankfest 2012 fundraiser.  “Just what the world needs,” I thought, as Nathan McIlroy staggered around the stage, a can of lager gripped tightly in his fist, “Another bunch of Professional Mancunians.”

But delve a little deeper into the world of Frazer King and you will find a warmth and intelligence lacking in many of their parka-clad brethren of this fair city.  McIlroy may be outspoken, but he actually has something to say, and is capable of saying it articulately, both in interviews and through his lyrics.

Musically, too, Frazer King are streets ahead of other, more one-dimensional, outfits.  The six-piece embrace everything from indie to doo-wop to polka to God-knows-what.  It shouldn’t work, but, like their hero Frank Zappa, it somehow holds together through skilled musicianship and sheer force of personality.

Under the tutelage of James guitarist Larry Gott, Fraz Kinky, as they refer to themselves, have sharpened up their act in preparation for their debut album and wider, national attention.  The days of shambolic, drunken live performances are behind them, and it showed at their recent Night & Day gig, presented here for your enjoyment.  There is a confidence, beyond mere posturing, growing within the band, which makes us at Manchester Taper believe they are on the cusp of greatness.  The emphasis now is on Professional, rather than Mancunian, and we can’t wait to see where that attitude takes them.

Stream “Showtune from 42nd Street”:

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Download complete show in MP3 format (click here)

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Setlist:

Glorified Hymn
Cockroach
Showtune from 42nd Street
Faith in the Community
Military Wives
War Song
Funnybones
Eunuch Growl
Mother Mary
Sunday’s Shame
Sail a Boat
Pea Factory

If you download and enjoy this music we would fully expect you to support the band by buying their records and attending their gigs.  Frazer King’s official website is here and their Idle Class Debris mixtape can be purchased here.

Gideon Conn at the Deaf Institute, 31 May 2012

14 July 2012 by · Write a comment · Categories: manchestertaper · Tags: , ,

Photo by manchestertaper

Having spent Gideon Conn’s formative years on the Manchester singer-songwriter scene living on the other side of the planet, I must confess ignorance of him before this night.  The only information I am armed with as I enter my favourite venue in town is that Conn is “eccentric”.  So is Tom Cruise, I silently ponder.

The opening number is an amusing little ditty about a hard-working fishmonger, quietly strummed by a solo Conn.  It’s a fun lyric, but I’m not yet convinced.  With his ironic trucker cap and mannered speaking voice, one can’t help but wonder if all this isn’t just a hipster put-on.

All fears are soon assuaged as the band takes the stage and begin kicking out a funky rhythm.  Conn launches into a hip-hop vocal and before I know it he’s in the audience, dancing like your kid brother who’s drunk too much Buck’s Fizz at a family wedding.

“Quite early for me to go downstairs,” he announces with a cheeky grin.  I’m officially converted.

What follows is, indeed, eccentric, and often amusing.  Conn is far from being a comedy act, however.  More he’s Manchester’s answer to Jonathan Richman, with all the wide-eyed joy that tag implies.  I can’t remember the last time I smiled so much at a gig.

Musically, Conn and his band are all over the map, switching effortlessly from gentle ballad to soul and beyond.  Guest vocalist Josephine Oniyama is a particular highlight, her warm tones bringing an extra dimension to “Colours” and “Raise the Bar”.  And for the funk nerds out there, there’s even a cover of Archie Bell & the Drells’ 1968 hit “Tighten Up”.  Clearly, Gideon Conn knows his onions as well as his fish.

Stream “State of the Nation”:

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Download complete show in MP3 format (click here)

Download complete show in FLAC format (click here)

Setlist:

The Man Who Drives Around Selling Fish
I Want You Around
Mighty Lightning
Wildfire
Carcenogenics
Read the Signs
Colours
Take It All
Fall Under Tokyo
Trademark
Our Future
Tighten Up
Real Life
Raise the Bar
State of the Nation
Inside

If you download and enjoy this music we would fully expect you to support the band by buying their records and attending their gigs.  Gideon Conn’s official website is here and his current album can be purchased here.

Mr. Heart at Club Academy, 26 May 2012

30 May 2012 by · Write a comment · Categories: manchestertaper · Tags: , ,
Photo by Jak-Kenton Spraggan

Sometimes it seems there is so much good music out there to discover that it’s easy to miss what’s on your very doorstep.  It took a heads-up from a friend in Leicester, of all places, to turn me on to Salford’s own Mr. Heart.  “They are fantastic,” he says.  “Bit PJ Harvey-esque.”

So it is that I find myself in the beer garden of Kro, on the hottest day of the year so far, approaching three girls half my age with a view to recording their impending shenanigans for our website.  We have no shame here at Manchester Taper.  Luckily, I don’t get a slap in the face, so the girls and I take our business indoors.  Score.

Onstage, screaming feedback gives way to a riot of crunching riffs, buzzing bass, and flailing drums.  Then all too quickly they break it down.  Mr. Heart do the quiet-loud thing well and often.  They’ve clearly been studying the alternative scene of the early ’90s (Pixies, The Breeders), which I remember with fondness and which they, almost certainly, don’t.

But it would be foolish to hold their youth against them.  Mr. Heart are as musically accomplished as they are knowledgeable.  Tamsin does, indeed, have an air of Polly Jean about her, while bassist Sophie is a protégée of legendary Blockhead Norman Watt-Roy, no less.  But it’s Helen — the least likely rock chick of the three — who surprises most when she turns out to be a monster drummer.

They tear through seven of their planned ten-song set before an edgy jobsworth at the Academy informs them to make the next song their last.  It’s the only unsatisfactory moment of the night, but I have the feeling Manchester Taper will be crossing paths with Mr. Heart again soon.  And, if we’re there, you can be, too.

Stream “The Hide”:

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Download complete show in MP3 format (click here)

Download complete show in FLAC format (click here)

Setlist:

Boredom’s Device
Mr. Heart
Sexy Husby
The Hide
Amber
Devolution
The Riot Song
Stones

If you download and enjoy this music we would fully expect you to support the band by buying their records and attending their gigs.  Mr. Heart’s official website is here.