YARD ACT + BABA ALI – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 18.2.22
It really was a dark and stormy night on Brighton seafront, with a deep low named ‘Eunice’ doing its tempestuous best to trash the entire south coast with alarmingly strong winds. Leeds-based post-punk outfit Yard Act have been moving a fair bit of air themselves lately. Their ‘Dark Days’ EP established them as a force to be reckoned with, and they have recently been blasting across the country to promote their debut album ‘The Overload’. We caught up with them in-store at Resident recently, (read our review of that night HERE) part of a hectic itinerary of record store appearances in a release-week effort to hit the coveted number one slot in the UK Album Chart. They narrowly missed that goal, but have picked up plenty of new friends and fans along the way.
Tonight’s show, brought to us by promoters One Inch Badge, is at Patterns, whose basement room has a capacity of about 300. The event, fully sold out last September, is part of a tour booked some time ago, and it’s unlikely we’ll be seeing the band in venues this size again. Their next Brighton date is at Chalk on 30th November. Purchase your tickets for that gig HERE.
First we have Baba Ali, the project of Babatunde Doherty, a singer-songwriter from New York, now based in London and playing as a duo with English guitarist Nik Balchin. The latest single, ‘Living It Up’/‘Black And Blue’ is out on Yard Act’s Zen FC imprint label, a connection that explains why they were chosen as tour support. The music is an intriguing and eclectic combination of styles, including 1980s synth funk and a hint of contemporary post-punk, and I’m looking forward to hearing it live.
The room is pretty full as the pair take the stage to a warm reception. They stand either side of a small bank of electronic hardware. Baba has a vocal mic on a straight stand. To his right, within easy reach, are a Behringer analog synth and an Akai MPC One, a magic box that exudes drums, basslines and assorted electronic sounds. House left, Nik plays a vintage 3/4 size guitar with a single pickup. It’s not badged, but I’m guessing it’s a Teisco. If you’re as old as me, it looks like something you might have bought from your mum’s home shopping catalogue. At his side are two tiny Roland synthesisers, including a JU06, whose modest housing seems to contain those big squelchy 1980s sounds associated with the old Juno range.
Baba is an engaging and animated performer, and has the crowd on side right from the start. He looks as cool as you like, reminding me of a young Arthur Lee, with cropped hair and smudged black eye make-up giving him an artily wasted appearance. Opening number ‘House’ has a thumpingly insistent electronic beat with a juddering bassline. Ethereal wailing noises waft over the top, and the undersized guitar has some plus-size effects delivering satisfyingly crunching embellishments. The vocal is funky and soulful, and the overall effect is rather striking. Imagine Prince guesting with Suicide, and you’re on the right lines.
‘Living It Up’ is introduced as “the hit”, and Baba is giving us his best moves, with some impressive spins around the mic stand. Tasty guitar licks jangle delicately over a deep and catchy groove, and I get a random mental image of Larry from Cameo performing ‘Word Up’ in his red codpiece. ‘Thought Leader’, introduced as being about mind control, is a slab of growling psych-funk with a vibey play-out. ‘Black And Blue’, one side of the current single, goes big on oscillation and has a particularly satisfying progression underpinning a moody vocal. There’s a hint of New Order to ‘I Got An Idea’, which starts with some kitsch bleepy noises and gets progressively heavier from there. Set closer ‘Black Wagon’ launches with fast chiming electronic arpeggios (imagine the opening to ‘Baba O’Riley’) that take a more sinister tone with the addition of a thudding bass. Again there’s a hint of post-punk to the languid vocal, and a long steady build that morphs the whole thing into something Giorgio Moroder might come up with.
In a music scene that’s often hung up about genre, it’s refreshing to hear something that resists being easily pigeonholed. I’ve a sneaking feeling that this may well be the sound of the future, so I’m going to buy a copy of the single, just in case. If you fancy something different and you’re not afeared of the dark magic of electronica, check out Baba Ali. They will appearing live in Brighton on Sunday 8th May when they headline the Green Door Store. Purchase your tickets HERE.
Baba Ali setlist:
‘House’, ‘Living It Up’, ‘Thought Leader’, ‘Black And Blue’, ‘I Got An Idea’, ‘Black Wagon’
Baba Ali are on Bandcamp and their official website is HERE.
I’m disinclined to relinquish my spot leaning on the crash barrier, but a quick glance over my shoulder confirms that the venue is now absolutely rammed. There’s a palpable buzz of excitement and anticipation, and many of my fellow patrons are raucously chanting along to the intro music, the theme from ‘Rocky’.
Yard Act take the stage to a massive cheer, and we’re as up close and personal as could reasonably be. My head is at the non-business end of guitarist Sam’s mic stand boom, and I’m near enough to count the hairs on his impressively bulbous moustache, should the need arise. I settle for noting the small detail that his Telecaster is actually a G & T Tribute ASAT Classic. Bassist Ryan is house right, slinging a Fender Mustang, and the front skin of Jay’s kit is badged with the now nationally familiar band logo. Coats have been de-rigueur for post-punk since the days of Joy Division, and I’m pleased that frontman James continues that tradition indoors, regardless of the prevailing conditions. His trademark gabardine mac must be in the cleaners, as tonight’s garment of choice is a military surplus olive drab anorak, incongruously teamed with bright red trackie-daks and Dr Marten boots.
“We’ve all survived the storm!” he exclaims, to a great roar of celebration. The band are pleased to be back in Brighton so soon after their Resident appearance, “…battling for number one, which we won… in our hearts.” They launch into the album’s title track, with thumping toms and wailing guitars ushering in the quick-fire vocal. There’s plenty of vigorous dancing on our side of the barrier. On the other side of the tubular steel, Sam seems to be playing his guitar in a shamanic frenzy. I’ve heard this song so many times now, but its fast-moving parade of lyrical images still makes me smile. “In my day, the gear on the street was so weak you could eat your ambition in a matter of weeks just trying to envision the peak… and that’s bleak.”
On the off chance you’re still not familiar with Yard Act, there are obvious comparisons to make with The Fall and Pulp, although the musical scope is actually rather more varied. The most distinctive feature is the vocal, often semi-spoken or delivered in character, offering extremely witty social observation. “Two home owner” Graham is a recurring presence, and provides the ranting narrative voice for ‘Fixer Upper’, with deliciously discordant guitar figures over an insistent bass groove.
James seems pleased with the enthusiastic reception, and the relentless beat of ‘Payday’ soon has an impressive bounce going amongst the tightly packed crowd. The dancing gets even more intense for the ludicrously infectious chorus of ‘Pour Another’.
James is very adept at working the crowd with his cheeky northern charm, usually by winding them up. Tonight he’s going to build us up first, declaring that last night’s London gig was merely a warm-up for Brighton. This obviously goes down very well. A discussion of our cathedral-free city status reveals the crowd’s apparent indifference towards the Pavilion. “Maybe it has a knotty past, “ suggests Ryan, which is a nice segue into the lyric of the next song. Can anyone guess what it is? When someone responds that no one cares, James’s exaggerated exasperation raises much hilarity.
“I don’t know why I bother. I said we preferred you to London. I thought I had you in my pocket, and then someone in the front row shouts, ‘No one cares’!”
‘Land Of The Blind’ is the lyric in question (“the knotty roots of a shameful past”) and it has clearly been decided that James’s “magic trick” of robbing the audience of their loose change is no longer sustainable. The lyric is amended accordingly: “I’m going to make me, and your sense of self worth, disappear.” No money changes hands, and Sam’s utterly manic guitar solo to conclude the piece is priceless anyway.
In the breakdown of ‘Dead Horse’, James resumes his ongoing wind-up. “Now Brighton, I slagged London to f*ck last night for your benefit, and London is worth a lot more money to us than Brighton, so I need a lot more energy…” The predictable response is utter mayhem, and this continues through the excellent bounce along ‘Dark Days’ and the frenetically Fall-like ‘Witness’, which is accompanied by some impressively reckless crowd surfing antics.
‘Peanuts’, from the first EP, usually features a long narrative poem. James has decided that he’s bored with that, and instead decides to read out some bizarrely surreal perfume descriptions that the band apparently picked up on a visit to Penhaligon’s perfumers in East Street. This sudden lust for luxury goods now the band are successful is blamed on Ryan. James and Jay received free samples “because we looked poor” and now everyone smells lovely, even if the perfume names sound like “shamed gentry.” It’s an amusing digression, and the newly fragrant combo eventually get around to finishing the song.
‘100% Endurance’ is a surprisingly reflective choice for a set closer, though needless to say there’s a huge shout for more at the end. The band obliges with a brisk romp through ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’. It’s been a most entertaining evening with a band absolutely on top form, and it was well worth braving a bit of weather for. If you haven’t already got a ticket for the 30th November show at Chalk, now’s the time to get one.
Yard Act:
James Smith – vocals
Ryan Needham – bass/vocals
Sam Shijpstone -guitar/vocals
Jay Russell – drums/vocals
Yard Act setlist:
‘The Overload’, ‘Fixer Upper’, ‘Payday’, ‘Pour Another’, ‘Land Of The Blind’, ‘Dead Horse’, Dark Days’, ‘Witness (Can I Get A)’, ‘Peanuts’, ‘100% Endurance’, (encore) ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’.
