Lana Del Rey | 100 Years Of Electronic Music: Eccentronic Research Council | Mikal Cronin | Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet And John Surman | The Bad Plus | Tectonics Festival
*Lana Del Ray, Birmingham & Glasgow*
Rather than focus solely on her talents as a singer, today's Lana Del Rey concert aims to offer the full package: sumptuous music, evocative images, queenly deportment. This, after all, is how we first experienced her: the expertly stage-managed YouTube videos that helped transform an aspirant singer-songwriter called Lizzy Grant into a tastefully retro-fitted performer named Lana Del Rey. It's evidently an impactful show: the scene a kind of 1950s salon, all peacock feathers and sculpted fronds in plaster urns. Into this, the musical element (a string section; a tight and minimal band) are elegantly placed. LDR grows in confidence as she progresses; as time goes on, she seems increasingly comfortable in her iconic role.
*O2 Academy, Birmingham, Sun & Mon; SECC, Glasgow, Thu*
JR
*100 Years Of Electronic Music: Eccentronic Research Council, London*
The Pendle witch trials – a 1612 Lancashire legal case that resulted in the execution of 10 women suspected of witchcraft – occupies a macabre place in British social history. For that very reason it has appealed to successive generations of musicians from the north-west, from the Fall to Demdike Stare, all drawn to the event's supernatural elements and its atmosphere of suspicion and injustice. The Eccentronic Research Council, primarily from Yorkshire but here augmented by Boltonian actor Maxine Peake, are the latest to explore the story, in a series of deadpan observations and analogue synth burbling. To be honest, for all its tasteful design, pedigree etc, the band's album 1612 Underture sits a little uneasily in tone between the spooky and the humorous, but this show also serves to kick off a year of gigs from Noise Of Art celebrating the centenary of electronic music.
*Village Underground, EC2, Fri*
JR
*Mikal Cronin, London & Brighton*
A man to be judged in part by the company he keeps, Mikal Cronin is probably best known so far as a pal of Ty Segall. A swooshy-haired sidekick on bass in Segall's touring band, Cronin is also a co-conspirator, bringing a melodic sophistication and old rock classicism to his collaborations with the rather more thrashy and punk rock artist. His association to San Francisco garage rock is close – Cronin lately moved to the city from his native LA – but his own identity is strongly defined. His eponymous debut from 2011 demonstrated his knack for finding a soft landing somewhere between John Lennon and Nirvana. His follow-up, MCII, is more plushly upholstered but never at the expense of his core tunefulness. As part of a brief UK visit, he's playing Brighton's Great Escape festival. With 350 bands playing there over three days, if you don't manage to catch him, you'll still make some new discoveries.
*Tufnell Park Dome, N19, Thu; Great Escape, Uncut Stage, Brighton, Fri*
JR
*Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet And John Surman, London*
With this double bill of the Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and the British saxophonist John Surman, the Barbican brings together two of the most original jazz musicians ever to have emerged in Europe. Trumpeter Stanko came out of bebop in 1962 to create his own blend of Miles Davis and free jazz, and to work with pianist and film-composing legend Krzysztof Komeda's group. John Surman similarly took off in the 60s with Coltrane as his fuel, eventually building a lifetime's work of distinctly English jazz, and here he'll perform some of the atmospheric pieces from last year's ECM album Saltash Bells.
*Barbican Hall, EC2, Wed*
JF
*The Bad Plus, On tour*
Mixing classical music, improv, jagged funk, famous pop songs and affectionately non-ironic bursts of old-school swing, The Bad Plus have become one of the most popular piano trios in contemporary music over the past decade. On this UK tour, they're likely to mix old favourites with materials from last year's Made Possible album, a vintage Bad Plus collection in its striking themes, nonchalant time-bends, drum'n'bass diversions and full-on collective improv, and its solemnly poignant tribute to the late New York percussion genius Paul Motian.
*Colston Hall, Bristol, Sun; Royal Northern College Of Music, Manchester, Mon; Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, Tue; Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, Wed; Norwich Playhouse, Thu*
JF
*Tectonics festival, Glasgow*
Since he stepped down as the BBC Scottish Symphony's chief conductor three years ago, Ilan Volkov (pictured) has been working with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Reykjavik. There, he wasted no time in setting up an annual contemporary music festival. Now Volkov has created a sister event under the auspices of his former orchestra in Glasgow. The first Scottish Tectonics runs for two days this weekend, a mix of contemporary classical, experimental, improvised and electronic events, with the music of famous US avant-gardist Alvin Lucier as its focus. There are a healthy clutch of premieres, including specially commissioned pieces from Martin Suckling, David Fennessy and John de Simone.
*Various venues, Sat & Sun*
AC Reported by guardian.co.uk 8 hours ago.
*Lana Del Ray, Birmingham & Glasgow*
Rather than focus solely on her talents as a singer, today's Lana Del Rey concert aims to offer the full package: sumptuous music, evocative images, queenly deportment. This, after all, is how we first experienced her: the expertly stage-managed YouTube videos that helped transform an aspirant singer-songwriter called Lizzy Grant into a tastefully retro-fitted performer named Lana Del Rey. It's evidently an impactful show: the scene a kind of 1950s salon, all peacock feathers and sculpted fronds in plaster urns. Into this, the musical element (a string section; a tight and minimal band) are elegantly placed. LDR grows in confidence as she progresses; as time goes on, she seems increasingly comfortable in her iconic role.
*O2 Academy, Birmingham, Sun & Mon; SECC, Glasgow, Thu*
JR
*100 Years Of Electronic Music: Eccentronic Research Council, London*
The Pendle witch trials – a 1612 Lancashire legal case that resulted in the execution of 10 women suspected of witchcraft – occupies a macabre place in British social history. For that very reason it has appealed to successive generations of musicians from the north-west, from the Fall to Demdike Stare, all drawn to the event's supernatural elements and its atmosphere of suspicion and injustice. The Eccentronic Research Council, primarily from Yorkshire but here augmented by Boltonian actor Maxine Peake, are the latest to explore the story, in a series of deadpan observations and analogue synth burbling. To be honest, for all its tasteful design, pedigree etc, the band's album 1612 Underture sits a little uneasily in tone between the spooky and the humorous, but this show also serves to kick off a year of gigs from Noise Of Art celebrating the centenary of electronic music.
*Village Underground, EC2, Fri*
JR
*Mikal Cronin, London & Brighton*
A man to be judged in part by the company he keeps, Mikal Cronin is probably best known so far as a pal of Ty Segall. A swooshy-haired sidekick on bass in Segall's touring band, Cronin is also a co-conspirator, bringing a melodic sophistication and old rock classicism to his collaborations with the rather more thrashy and punk rock artist. His association to San Francisco garage rock is close – Cronin lately moved to the city from his native LA – but his own identity is strongly defined. His eponymous debut from 2011 demonstrated his knack for finding a soft landing somewhere between John Lennon and Nirvana. His follow-up, MCII, is more plushly upholstered but never at the expense of his core tunefulness. As part of a brief UK visit, he's playing Brighton's Great Escape festival. With 350 bands playing there over three days, if you don't manage to catch him, you'll still make some new discoveries.
*Tufnell Park Dome, N19, Thu; Great Escape, Uncut Stage, Brighton, Fri*
JR
*Tomasz Stanko New York Quartet And John Surman, London*
With this double bill of the Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and the British saxophonist John Surman, the Barbican brings together two of the most original jazz musicians ever to have emerged in Europe. Trumpeter Stanko came out of bebop in 1962 to create his own blend of Miles Davis and free jazz, and to work with pianist and film-composing legend Krzysztof Komeda's group. John Surman similarly took off in the 60s with Coltrane as his fuel, eventually building a lifetime's work of distinctly English jazz, and here he'll perform some of the atmospheric pieces from last year's ECM album Saltash Bells.
*Barbican Hall, EC2, Wed*
JF
*The Bad Plus, On tour*
Mixing classical music, improv, jagged funk, famous pop songs and affectionately non-ironic bursts of old-school swing, The Bad Plus have become one of the most popular piano trios in contemporary music over the past decade. On this UK tour, they're likely to mix old favourites with materials from last year's Made Possible album, a vintage Bad Plus collection in its striking themes, nonchalant time-bends, drum'n'bass diversions and full-on collective improv, and its solemnly poignant tribute to the late New York percussion genius Paul Motian.
*Colston Hall, Bristol, Sun; Royal Northern College Of Music, Manchester, Mon; Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton, Tue; Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, Wed; Norwich Playhouse, Thu*
JF
*Tectonics festival, Glasgow*
Since he stepped down as the BBC Scottish Symphony's chief conductor three years ago, Ilan Volkov (pictured) has been working with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Reykjavik. There, he wasted no time in setting up an annual contemporary music festival. Now Volkov has created a sister event under the auspices of his former orchestra in Glasgow. The first Scottish Tectonics runs for two days this weekend, a mix of contemporary classical, experimental, improvised and electronic events, with the music of famous US avant-gardist Alvin Lucier as its focus. There are a healthy clutch of premieres, including specially commissioned pieces from Martin Suckling, David Fennessy and John de Simone.
*Various venues, Sat & Sun*
AC Reported by guardian.co.uk 8 hours ago.