MUSIC | Previews 76 THE LIST 21 Mar–18 Apr 2013
R&B/HIP HOP THE WEEKND O2 ABC, Glasgow, Thu 21 Mar
All the familiar tropes of hip hop’s seedy side – narcotics, booze, girls very much in the plural – lurk in the shadows of The Weeknd’s spacey, chilly synthscapes, as nights typically become day and then night again. But if there’s a marked contrast between the soulfully-voiced Toronto Canadian Abel Tesfaye and so many of his contemporaries, it’s his readiness to also speak of the guilt, insecurities, doubts and self-loathing that will dog rappers just as they might anyone else as a hangover breaks with the dawn. ‘Bring the drugs baby,’ he sings on ‘Wicked Games’, the best track from his major label debut mixtape anthology Trilogy. ‘I can bring my pain.’ Like kindred spirit Frank Ocean, Tesfaye’s close to reclaiming
some of mainstream hip hop’s credibility from the horrible spiral of booty-slapping machismo and egotism it’s been stuck in for years. At last, it seems, rappers can show more vulnerable sides to their character (‘The party’s finished . . . I’m all alone,’ he sings, voice trembling, on ‘Coming Down’) than simply the one that brags about sipping cognac with breakfast. Still, Tesfaye and other party trash are ‘drinking Alizé with our cereal’ as sun seeps through drawn curtains on ‘The Morning’.
If there’s another of rap’s clichés The Weeknd eschews, it’s that of the loud-mouthed trash-talker; a welcome development indeed in light of Azealia Banks’ dismally boring habit of late for picking Twitter spats with practically anyone. Clearly mindful of the value of enigma in this social media-saturated age, Tesfaye doesn’t say much publicly at all outside of the stage and some elliptical tweeting – he’s yet to give a single media interview (we did ask).
If the mystery man currently putting the hip back in hip hop turns out to be half as complex and intriguing a character as his music suggests, he’s going to prove one of the best things to happen to the genre in a generation. (Malcolm Jack)
HIP HOP S-TYPE King Tut’s, Glasgow, Sat 30 Mar
LuckyMe protégée S-Type, aka Bobby Perman, has been necking a combo of sick hip hop stimulants. ‘I’ve just had a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea,’ admits the ingenious electronic producer, warming up in his Glasgow studio. ‘I’ve only recently started eating breakfast, and I’m way more productive and focused. I used to prefer working in the night, but it throws off my entire next day. Also, because I’m travelling a lot now, I need to look after myself more. Let’s see how long that lasts.’ Let’s hope it prevails indefinitely, because S-Type is loaded with promise. In between touring
Europe and working on a new EP, the musician and beat-maker remixed the new Aluna George single, ‘Attracting Flies’, and forthcoming remix clients include Jamie Lidell and Lianne La Havas. Last year, he released his heroic, synth-blazing ‘Billboard’ EP (his LuckyMe debut) and starred on Rustie’s Radio 1 Essential Mix. Over the past decade, he’s issued tracks via Phuturelabs and Surface Pressure, the latter of which is run by his brother (and FOUND pop-wizard) Tommy. S-Type’s sense of kinship extends to LuckyMe. ‘It was always on the cards,’ he says of signing with the brilliant Glasgow party collective. ‘I’ve known them since before the label. We’re family.’
Indeed, S-Type and LuckyMe ally Hudson Mohawke traded beats as kids. ‘We were MSN buddies for a few years before we met,’ Edinburgh-raised Perman recalls. ‘We talked about the usual teenager shit. We laughed about terrible Scottish rappers.’ (Nicola Meighan)
EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC FESTIVAL COUNTERFLOWS Various venues, Glasgow, Fri 5–Sun 7 Apr
Now in its second year, Counterflows channels vital currents in experimental music and art into a world class three-day festival. This year, there’s a particular focus on mixed-media performance. On Saturday the CCA will reverberate to the intense drones, field recordings and films of Phill Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit. Earlier in the day, Lina Lapelyte presents Candy Shop, her détournement of misogynist hip hop lyrics, while Finland’s Sami Sänpäkkilä introduces films about the artists on his label Fonal. On Sunday afternoon, Trembling Bells’ Alex Neilson unleashes his new folk-damaged free-jazz trio, Death Shanties (pictured, left), featuring saxophonist Sybren Renema and artist Lucy Stein, whose live painting is projected over the band.
Other highlights include bluesman Loren Connors performing solo and with partner Suzanne
Langille, a family workshop with Daniel Padden and Hector Bizerk’s high-energy hip hop. Pick of the bunch though, is Peter Brötzmann, who, with his walrus moustache and lung- busting tone, is often characterised as the wild man of European jazz, reducing buildings to dust with his baws-oot horn thunder. But the 71-year-old is also a player of great subtlety and invention, breathing new life into the saxophone, clarinet and taragato. In both solo and group guises, Brötzmann is currently making some of the greatest music of his life. His duo with drummer Paal Nilssen-Love (The Thing, Atomic) is not to be missed. (Stewart Smith) ■ See counterflows.com for more info.