Brooklyn Mixer serves up electronic duo One Bit who turn out to be the days surprise draw for Getintothis’ Josh Gorman on day one of Liverpool Sound City 2014, elsewhere there’s hits, misses and Norwegian prog.
Last year’s Sound City was somewhat of a drunken haze; so we’re hoping to take more in this time around and first up was a trip to Black E’s Screenadelica for one of the first gigs from the elusive psychedelic outfit Strange Collective.
Immediately problems arose as a mix up between the venue and its security staff meant bands weren’t allowed to start until half an hour later. Due to our tight schedule at this year’s festival we couldn’t wait that long and sadly had to leave the impressive venue early.
Next up was a trip to Korova for Black Diamond, a young Liverpool band who are clearly still finding their feet in a live setting. Recalling acts such as Steel Panther; sadly this was classic rock at its most boring and derivative. We decided to make a quick exit to Nation for Scotland’s Prides.
For such a large venue the crowd wasn’t quite what the band was expecting. An audience of three greeted the bands arrival on stage. Our power trio cheered loudly but I’m not sure it was quite enough to compensate prompting the band to embarrassingly declare that there were more people on stage than in the audience.
Thankfully more people did eventually arrive and Prides confidence visibly grew. Combining elements of pop and electro to great effect Prides are set for much bigger crowds and venues in the near future.
By comparison Sound Food and Drink was packed for Norwegian psychedelic/prog rockers Tiebreaker. The bands musicianship was truly fantastic. The problem was that they never knew when to end the song and the performance petered out into one long jam interspersed with yelping vocals.
JAWS live at Liverpool Sound City 2014
After a small break we made our way over to The Brooklyn Mixer for One Bit who turned out to be the surprise highlight of the day. An electro two piece similar in many ways to Disclosure who got the small upstairs room jumping in no time.
Jaws seemed to have The Shipping Forecast’s audience in the palm of their hand. Having recently sold out the 1,100 capacity O2 Academy in Birmingham, this must be like going back in time for the Brummie four piece.
Carrying off afro beat rhythms and math rock guitars with great aplomb, Jaws are surely set for a much bigger stage next year.
Final act of the day was Darlia. We were eagerly anticipating the performance having enjoyed the bands recent EP but was left disappointed by the obvious derision on stage. The influence of Nirvana loomed large and their big sound fell a little flat.
Pictures by Getintothis’ Gaz Jones
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Further reading on Getintothis
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: Top 10 Merseyside bands to watch
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: Top 10 international bands to watch.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: Top 10 UK bands to watch.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: Getintothis‘ guide to the venues.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: Things to do off the beaten track.
* John Cale – the grit in the oyster that shaped the sound we worship today.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: Revo‘s routeplanner – the insider’s guide.
*Liverpool Sound City 2014: Getintothis presents Jon Hopkins and stellar Merseyside show at Nation.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: Fringe events and John Peel World Cup revealed.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: The Hold Steady ready to bear their teeth.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014 – a Getintothis festival playlist.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014 add The Kooks to festival bill.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: He used to come round wearing make up and strange Japanese Kimono clothing – David Pichilingi.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: Jon Hopkins, Albert Hammond Jnr, Drenge and more for May festival.
* Liverpool Sound City 2014 announce headliners Kodaline plus Gruff Rhys and Fuck Buttons for May festival
* Liverpool Sound City 2014: John Cale and Thurston Moore head up Conference speakers
* Liverpool Sound City 2014 reveal football, music and style themes
* Liverpool Sound City 2013: Top 10 bands and review round up of the festival
