live
NINE INCH NAILS
Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Wed 21 May
Trent Reznor’s groundbreaking band
bring their metal machine music to
Cardiff as part of their first British tour
in six years, known fittingly as the Tension
Tour. Their latest album, Hesitation
Marks, exists at the more sparse and
introspective end of the Nine Inch
Nails canon, so projecting its songs onto
an arena setting might prove a difficult
task. If anyone can manage it, though,
it’s Reznor and his bandmates, who have
always made uncompromising music that
has nonetheless proven enduringly popular.
Now best known for Hurt after it was
covered by Johnny Cash in his American
sessions, the band have chalked up a
number of modern rock classics, including
The Hand That Feeds, Only, Every Day
Is Exactly The Same and Survivalism.
Reznor’s comeback is more of a marketing
device than an indication of creative
rebirth: during Nine Inch Nails’ hiatus,
Reznor performed under the moniker How
To Destroy Angels.
But that’s no criticism. Nine Inch Nails
are a band who have consistently delivered
through their existence, the peaks and
troughs of their discography indicative of
the wandering nature of Reznor’s muse.
If anything, in fact, they’ve grown more
interesting since 2005’s With Teeth, but
NIN have an enviable back catalogue that
will keep long-time fans happy in the
band’s live show.
Tickets: £35. Info: 029 2022 4488 (LW)
BUZZ 46
RED SNAPPER
Pontardawe Arts Centre
Fri 9 May
After 2011’s Key and last year’s soundtrack to digitally restored Senegalese avant-garde film Touki
Bouki, Red Snapper are on course for a very busy 2014. The band has a continually evolving sound
that embodies many of the different strains of jazz, electronica, dance and experimental music.
Drummer Richard Thair recounts the group’s creative ethos: “We’ve always talked about jazz being
our influence but very much in terms of the philosophy of jazz…reinventing, recycling and doing
things our own way.” Their latest project and new album Hyena shifts their focus onto afrofunk-tinged
grooves and melodies carried over from their time working on the Touki Bouki soundtrack.
Red Snapper successfully keep their music fresh after a 20-year run by always “changing things and
trying to look at them a different way,” which, Rich suggests, is why they favour remixes of their tracks
made by other artists. Indeed, a taster EP Card Trick will surface in late May before the big album
release in September; this will feature several new remixes by DJs/producers Tici Taci, Auntie Flo and
even some by Richard Thair himself.
Utilizing their cult following, the fast-approaching May gig will be one of the first to showcase the new
project. Rich assures fans, “What you will see in Pontardawe is very much what it is on the record. The
album has a very live feel to it.”
Previous material will assume new forms – “Old tracks are constantly evolving and changing” – making
for an exciting and refreshing show. Rich calculates the relevant ratios as “30% new music, 30%
from the last album and the rest classic Red Snapper!” You can also expect an appreciable dose of
improvisation but not at the cost of “real structure and melody – although if the crowd are really into it
we’ll stretch out that section.”
With new direction and a plentitude of old and new material you can truly expect a captivating
performance here. Tickets: £11/£9 adv. Info: 01792 863722 CHARLIE PIERCEY
9BACH
Theatr Hafren, Newtown, Fri 16 May;
Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, Fri 23 May;
Lyric Theatre, Carmarthen, Sat 24 May
9bach play three Welsh dates this month,
on the back of the release of their second
album, Tincian. “Tincian can mean a lot of
things: to move with a tinkling sound, to ring
and make a clear sound. Depending on what
area of Wales you are from, the meaning
varies,” waxes 9bach’s lead singer, Lisa
Jen. “Tincian can also mean to resonate...
like the bell of your memories, the sound in
your mind that awakens to things forgotten.”
Despite being sung entirely in Welsh, their
sound has a truly international and modern
feel. Jen’s haunting voice is the focal point
of the album which paints an atmospheric
soundscape of stories inspired by the
cultural and physical landscape of their
native Wales. Haunting gospel backings
writhe behind the towering voice of Jen in
a highly attractive arrangement of dub and
rock music.
9bach’s music notably draws inspiration
from landscape. During the album’s
inception they spent time recording in
the remote Papunya Northern Territory
Australia, recording in a chapel vestry.
With no phone signal or internet, they
crafted a beautiful second album, even
adapting William Griffiths’ Llwybrau Unig
into a dazzlingly distressing folk song.
Tickets: £10 (Newtown) / £14 (Cardiff
+ Carmarthen). Info: 01686 614555
(Newtown) / 029 2064 6900 (Cardiff) /
0845 2263510 (Carmarthen) (TB)
O’HOOLEY & TIDOW
The Chattery, Swansea
Fri 23 May
Despite well-meaning fretting about the
health of the UK’s traditional folk scene
– partly prompted by certain mega-selling
acts who tout their ‘authenticity’ while
being anything but – it’s doing just fine,
really. O’Hooley & Tidow, two Yorkshire
women, are a rare example of an act who
remain popular on the trad circuit while
gaining a fanbase outside these confines.
“Our music is on the fringes of ‘folk’,” says
Heidi Tidow, partner (musical and civil)
to Belinda O’Hooley; “we write our own
songs, and our main instrument is the
piano. We embrace all elements of the folk
scene, traditional to leftfield.”
Recent third album The Hum is vocal-led
and politically conscious in the manner of
folk singers through the ages, the production
of Gerry Diver adding an extra dimension
or three. (Expect an O’Hooley & Tidow live
performance to be more stripped down,
however.) Social issues are afforded modern
context: Summat’s Brewin’ hails the recent
rise of independent beer brewers; Coil &
Spring references Pussy Riot’s broadsides
against the church. “History has a way of
repeating itself,” s ^\