Gig Review - Bones Shake, Frankie Teardrop Dead and XUP at the peer Hat, Manchester - Friday 23 July

Bands are like buses sometimes, we don't see Bones Shake for a few years and then twice in a couple of days. It's a bit special though as its launch night for Bones Shake’s Bleed album and Astral Elevator Promotions have sorted out what looks like a great lineup at the rather good Peer Hat Venue in Manchester.

The venue is a small dark basement, like many of the best venues, there’s a massive PA systems and not a lot of ventilation on this really quite warm day so already sweat is forming on people brows. As a crowd presses into the place it gets a lot warmer.

XUP is a solo artist, drum machine, repetitive base lines and almost monotone vocal delivery. Somehow though the sum is greater than the parts. It all melds together in a hypnotic trance like performance that demands attention and gets it. There’s an almost Joy Division nihilism about the songs and the rhythmic patterns created by baselines running up against the drum patterns can mesmerise. It’s fascinating to see how the simple pieces of the XUP jigsaw puzzle all come together by the end of each track to create a bigger picture.

It’s also been a while since we saw Frankie Teardrop Dead, too long. There’s been a few lineups changes and there are some distinctly new sounds on display but fundamentally the band retain their cosmic dance psychedelia. There’s a few teething problems early on in the set but once these technical issues are dealt with the band progress smoothly. They progress from danceable gentle psych through to some more funk laden jam outs and then back to flat out psych trance stuff. All the while musical patterns are evolving and shifting changing the songs, rhythmic changes catch the audiences ear and by the end of the set most of the crowd are at the very least gently swaying to the Frankies sound.

Bones Shake get ready to play, there’s a little setting up and changing over from the Frances seven piece lineup to the Bones’ completely stripped down three piece. This is drums, a guitar and vocals. It promises to be raw. It delivers this and more. For the next 30 or som minutes we are treated to a band at the top of their game, all expert musicians. Raucous drums that border on the unhinged but are totally in the control of the stick person give it all depth and fill the room from front to back and side to side. The guitar is incendiary, bluesy, garage, stooges’y, MC5ey… and so much more. Its a primal thing capable of brutal assault on the audiences ears and of keeping up with the drums. Atop this stands a charismatic front person, wails and deep howls interject the songs narrative as he cavorts around the stage, frequently taking then guitarist with him. There are no horizontal or vertical limits for this one and the gig ends with him writhing around the floor, exhausted, covered in sweat, but still delivering until the last moment of the last track. A veritable hurricane of music and enough to clear out any cobwebs. Looking forward to playing the album.