What’s On

Japanese noise legends Melt-Banana make a very welcome return to Cambridge in September! Over the last 30 or so years they’ve ploughed their own distinct furrow and played with bands such as Wire, Mr.Bungle, Fantomas, Tool, MGMT, Napalm Death etc.

Simmering memory and unspoken truth righteously seethe in songs with tenderness, anger and startling leaps of joy and optimism. To see it live is to truly feel it. Dominie Hooper, long-time session musician, collaborator and multi-instrumentalist, takes flight in the centre of a stage wrapped in musical alchemy with bandmate mainstays Phil Self and Dave Hamblett.

Her folk-steeped debut EP “Anno” was described as “beautiful, challenging, fruitful… captivating” (Liverpool Sound & Vision), and “confident and impressive” (Fatea Magazine), and was triumphantly celebrated with a sell-out debut headline tour in June 2022.

Cambridge Portland Arms, Thu, 18 Apr 2024 at 7:00pm
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Ryley Walker began his career in the early 2010s, after moving from Illinois’ provincial town of Rockford, and settling into Chicago’s independent scene. After a slew of cassette and vinyl releases, Tompkins Square put out his debut album in 2014, which was then followed up by the Dead Oceans-released “Primrose Green” a year later. His most recent album, “Course in Fable”, was released on his own Husky Pants Recordings label in 2021.

Having toured with the likes of Richard Thompson, and with a supporting slot for Dinosaur Jr. forthcoming – as well as a tremendous Bert Jansch tribute show behind him, wherein his hero Anne Briggs called him the ‘c word’ – Walker has rubbed shoulders with the very best.

While, in the past, his desire to be as great as his influences may have dogged and hindered him from bringing his own personality to his music, now, Walker’s music is undeniably his. A mix of Twitter and sobriety may be partially responsible. “Music is an exciting thing I get to do because I’m alive and well. I take every opportunity I’m given very seriously; I’ve gotta pay tribute to that by staying alive and being as good to the people who love me as I can,” he said.

Green Mind presents… acts TBA

Tom’s 9th studio album is an album of duets with some of his favourite French artists. McRae decided to collaborate on these 11 new songs with various artists as a way of acknowledging his deep love of French music, and deepen his relationship with mainland Europe, following Britain’s disastrous decision to leave the EU.

Tom’s debut album went Gold in France in 2001, selling over 60,000 copies, and he has divided his time between Paris and Wiltshire since 2021. Says Tom: “I grew up being intrigued by classic French songs. Before streaming services made all music readily available, only the huge crossover pop songs made it across the channel, but while my friends were listening to Vanessa Paradis, I was listening to Serge Gainsbourg. It seemed exotic, adventurous, and to be from another planet, let alone a country only 21 miles away from my own.”

This event has been rescheduled from 15th February. All tickets remain valid.

Sivu recently released his incredible album Wild Horse Running, alongside trailer single Apollo, where his more acoustic leanings mixed with influences like Wild Beasts, Hot Chip, SBTRKT and Beck to devastating effect. While recording the album he assembled a crack team of musicians to bring the album to life and he’s bringing this home for the first time in celebration of the tenth anniversary of début album Something on High.

lotusbliss is made up of brothers Josh, Seth and Adam Gauton, who ditched sibling-rivalries to come together under one musical moniker, developing a sonic identity that fuses their small-town Canterbury roots with an ambitious cinematic soundscape. They’ve already grabbed the attention of BBC 6Music’s Tom Robinson and BBC Introducing’s Abbie McCarthy who has made them her “Record of The Week” twice now. lotusbliss have also received praise from the likes of Wonderland, Under The Radar, Atwood Magazine and EUPHORIA to name a few.

Their dedication reaps great rewards. Taking this new release slower than their previous three EPs, gathering up melodies and songs that predate even the formation of the band as each member stored their best work away for a project like this – “Deafening And Silent” is the result of a band that finally feel ready for take-off.

It might seem as though things happened very quickly for Divorce. The Nottingham four-piece, who once described themselves as “Wilco meets Abba”, formed in the pandemic and played their first gig supporting TV Priest in October 2021. That led to them becoming label-mates at Hand in Hive (alongside the likes of Dama Scout and Tancred) who released their debut single in February 2022, the on-edge country-punk escape anthem “Services”. Their debut EP, “Get Mean”, arrived that December: less an intentionally curated collection than a breathless attempt at containing their first four singles, in and of itself a portrait of a band developing in real time – and one that earned them BBC Radio 6 playlisting and acclaim across the UK music press.

PLEASE NOTE: This is an early show, with doors at 5pm, and an expected finish of 9pm.

Ariel Posen’s music occupies the space between genres. It’s a rootsy sound that nods to his influences – heartland rock & roll, electrified Americana, blue-eyed soul, R&B, Beatles-inspired pop – while still moving forward, pushing Posen into territory that’s uniquely his own. He turns a new corner with Headway, a solo album that finds the songwriter taking stock of his personal and musical progress.

Green Mind presents… acts TBA

Joshua Burnell makes retro pop-rock for the modern world. His latest album, Glass Knight – which according to the Financial Times, “plays like a lost out-take from Spiders-From-Mars-era Bowie” – won over a lot of new fans upon its release in 2023. Expect hooky melodies drenched in warm, retro-synth textures, reverbing guitars, lush harmonies and words that make you think. Imagine The War On Drugs meets Genesis with “lashings of Peter Gabriel stylings” – The Guardian.

Steph Strings is an Australian based singer-songwriter from Melbourne, Victoria. With influences from the John Butler Trio, Kim Churchill and Ziggy Alberts, this young story-teller has combined fingerstyle guitar with bursts of percussion, Celtic, blues and folk. Her music and stage presence continue to captivate audiences around the world.

Following the release of her “LION” EP in 2023 Steph has toured both domestically and internationally selling out shows in Australia, the UK & Europe and Canada. Steph also supported The Cat Empire on their European Tour in 2023 as well as opening for Vance Joy across huge shows in Europe.

Lauded by many as one of Britain’s Finest Live bands in the late 90s and early 00s, Billy Mahonie are back on tour. Taking in many of the towns and cities previously played (Glasgow, Leicester, Cambridge, London, Brighton) and some newer places, the band members have never felt so stoked to get out on the road.

After the breakup of his former band Red Red Meat, frontman Tim Rutili formed Califone as a solo project. Rutili’s solo effort soon became a full-fledged musical project with a regular and rotating list of contributors, including many former members of Red Red Meat and some members of other Chicago bands.

According to Rutili, Califone started as a home project: “The statement of intent would have been ‘easy listening’ compared to what we were doing with Red Red Meat. This was supposed to be making little pop songs out of found pieces. It was supposed to be just a little home project, and it slowly grew from there. Now it seems like just about anything goes.”

Califone’s sound is a combination of Red Red Meat’s blues-rock and experimental music, with inspiration drawn from early American folk music, pop, as well as electronic and groups like Psychic TV. Listeners familiar with Red Red Meat can quickly tell that Califone is not an attempt to revive the old band; elements from a number of musical styles contribute to their distinctive sound.