Precinct of Sound

brought from The Central Library

Gorilla  54-56 Whitworth Street Manchester M1 5WW 

Like most people, I had never heard of Jimothy Lacoste until The Youtube Algorithm, suggested I might want to watch a popular trending video of a young man dancing in and on the LU system singing about London life. I didn’t think too much of it to be honest. I neither loved nor hated it. It was just, meh. However, something about him intrigued me, it must have been the colors of his clothes, his fashion style and my fondness for London’s finest mode of transport. So over time, The Algorithm, kept luring me into a false state of purpose and again, I was subject to another video, which I again I watched, and again I was felt, meh. It wasn’t until I watched the Will Robson-Scott documentary on Fader, that my interested peaked and the song, I can speak Spanish, tangled me in an internal love affair with the young Gonzales.

I have been a fan ever since. 

He is an interesting character, but I’m on the fence, trying to work out how much of his Jimmy Lacoste character is actually him, Timothy Gonzales, or an act. I suppose it shouldn’t matter, he provides an alternate narrative to pop music and pop culture. His almost punk and very much lo-fi attitude and sound respectively work and in truth, his music isn’t aimed at me, an 80′s baby.

Sundays gig, showed me a lot about Jimothy and his potential future. I would argue that he is most certainly not a voice of a generation, but he definitely is a spokes person for a group of youths who for now just want to have fun in life, given the current political climate we live in. I suppose, he isn’t doing anything new in all honesty, but what ever he’s doing, he’s coming through correct. He has a great showmanship on stage and doesn’t let his ego take over the show, or at least it doesn’t over power his presence and make you think, this guy is actually a tool. He’s confident and smart and definitely knows how to ride the wave he is currently surfing, because he seems quite humbled by the exposure and fame he has, but also knows that this might just be a flash in the pan so enjoy it while it lasts, because we as his fans are definitely getting quite excited.

Gorilla, Manchester, 2019

Hive, Manchester, 2019

CROYDUB | XOYO | 2016

Night & Day Cafe 26 Oldham St Manchester M1 1JN

We been to a few gigs in between Jesca Hoop (the last gig update) and this one with Shonen Knife. There was Emma Ruth Rundle at Soup Kitchen, Julian Baker supporting Belle and Sebastian at Bridgewater Hall, Editors at Manchester Cathedral, DJ Mag Bunker presents Contact.  

So, here we are in Manchester, at one of the last remaining decent music venues. There was a chat with the manager the following day about the gossip this place nearly got shut down due to gentrification and greedy landlords. Look, if you want to move into the city centre great! However, don’t complain about the noise, it is after all, the city centre. So, if you choose to live above a loud venue with its peek times being a Friday and Saturday night, then more fool you.

This gig was a so much fun. It was the right level of cheese, nostalgia and good old entertainment. You might agree that its very rare just to go somewhere and have fun, you don’t have to take the experience in too deeply and critique how the sound was appalling or how the bands music just doesn’t seem to resonate as it did the first 2 albums. 

I imagine I brought Brand New Knife, in Camden, London at a now closed down record shop, because on my adventures into London, living outside of the capital, I stumbled upon this record shop and they had a Japanese section. It was very small, but that was a gate way to real Japanese music, pre(ish) internet and anime soundtracks. So my love for Shonen, if truth be told, was more a fling with the orient. I loved the whimsical nature of the music and its pop-ish elements and it was a lot more light-hearted in comparison to a lot more of the ‘serious’ music I was and still listen to then and now.

So for me, this gig was like meeting an ex whom you had a good time with so many years ago and decided to hang out for the evening, playing catch up on the years apart (ie- I never brought anything from them since 2000..maybe?). I wish I had though, so I could sing along with some of the songs. It was surprising to see the turn out, which became nearly a full house and even started a mini mosh pit, which was bizarre and confusing , given the music was so playful and kawaii. However, all being said and done, SK were real entertainers and for me Risa, the drummer, was the star of the show. Always smiling, banging away at those drums, she could have bottled and sold that happiness.

Soup Kitchen 31-33 Spear St Manchester M1 1DF

this gig was saved in the drafts folder since early December, It is now the 23rd of April. Not quite sure what I was saving it for or where I was going with this, but Emma Ruth Rundle is one of the best.  IF you’re into the likes of Chelsea Wolfe, then ERR is most certainly the along the same dark vein, but less metal and more a tortured folk influence. What I mean is, where Wolfe has this metal tinged edge to hear sound, ERR seems to met Wolfe at the same place, but coming from a musical angle. 

Rundle was support by Jay Jayle, who has this amazing low slung cowboy blues vibe as an aesthetic and his music. Its deep, dark and powerful and matched the tone of ERR perfectly for the night. And get this. Soup kitchen i n’t my favourite venue, but it very much set the mood for the music and artist alike. those dark and sweaty basements filled with people who wear black, even when they are mildy happy.

A lot of the music played by both are artist were taken from this: The Time Between Us, the collaborative project between Emma Ruth Rundle and Jay Jayle.

Just a little head ups, 4th March 2018, I'll be making my radio debut via some hip-hop instrumentals I've been making lately. Relieved that it's not just my mum who thinks my tunes are heavy!

The radio station is ITCH.FM and the show is Trackside Burners 8-10pm GMT. It will be 2 hours of non-stop hip-hop instrumentals, packed with some heat, so definitely worth locking in, locking on.

If you ​​hear my tunes, like 'em or not, please graciously ask for the rewind.

The Stoller Hall, Hunts Bank, Manchester M3 1DA