QLOWSKI + M. WOODROE – THE HOPE & RUIN (BAR), BRIGHTON 3.11.24
London based concrete-punks Qlowski comprises Italian born duo of Michele ‘Mickey’ Tellarini and Cecilia Corapi, as well as Brit Lucy Ludlow, and American Christian Billard and they have just released their second album which is titled ‘The Wound’ and it dropped on 1st November via Italian based Bologna Maple Death Records. Qlowski stated that “‘The Wound’ ebbs and flows through syncopated grooves, abstraction and bliss, a work of contrast, dark-soft-heavy full cycle but mainly euphoric. The addition of drum pads, drum machines, electronics, analog pedals and field recordings are part of this process, it almost feels like a punk album for the club culture, where bodies and sweat are just one gear in bringing a community together” – Find out more HERE.
This follows on from a couple of EP’s: ‘Qlowski EP’ (2016) and ‘Pure As Fear’ (2018), as well as their 2016 ‘Qlowski For Sniffin’ Glucose’, ‘Polaroid Blog’ (2017), and 2020 ‘Ikea Youth’/‘Grinding Halt’ singles and their 2021 debut LP ‘Quale Futuro?’ which they recorded just before lockdown and it very much signalled the band’s future intent. ‘A Woman’ was also lifted from the album and given a few remix treatments. Note ‘Grinding Halt’, yes it IS that one and a decent clue to the Qlowski sound. As well as The Cure, I hear New Order in their sound, particularly via the keys, as well as very early Simple Minds, OMD and Positive Noise, and a few other contemporaries such as Priestgate and Nation Of Language. But let’s face it Qlowski are very much ploughing their own furrow, as are Walt Disco, who are another of a similar ilk. On first discovering Qlowski, I could also hear a similarity to the criminally underrated Swiss punk band Kleenex who morphed into LiLiPUT to avoid a tissue cort case. There’s also a hint of The Sugarcubes as well, and we know what happened with their lead singer! Qlowski were ticking all of my inquisitive boxes and when I found out that they were to play The Hope & Ruin on Queens Road in Brighton, I knew that I have to delve much further into the world of everything Qlowski.
We arrive at the venue in plenty of time and liquid refreshments are dutifully purchased from the street level bar and that’s where Qlowski are playing tonight, as opposed to the first floor music room. This evening’s event has been organised by Love Thy Neighbour promoters who always seem to have the knack of finding the next big thing!
Qlowski grace us with their presence at 9:04pm and we are in their company for the next 28 minutes. During that time they reward us with eight self-penned numbers, which included a half dozen from the new platter. Cecilia is to our left on Korg keys and vocals, next to her in the centre is Mickey on vocals and Epiphone guitar, to the right is newest band member Lucy on Squier Jazz bass, and to the rear is Christian on the drumkit.
They kick off with the title track of the brand new LP ‘The Wound’ and I immediately pick up on the agonised vocal delivery from Mickey from sounds like Robert Smith (The Cure) along with tiny hints of Nick Heywward (Haircut 100) and James New (Mirrors). There’s some decent drumming going on in this post punk tune which is accompanied by some lavish echoey guitar sounds. ‘In Cold Blood’ from the same album is choice two and this features Cecilia on lead vocals, which my colleague thought sounded rather like heyday Lush. Sadly the keys were down in the mix, but this was rectified from the next track onwards. This track being ‘Desire’, another newbie, which witnessed lead vocals transferring back to Mickey. Again there was some decent guitar riffage going down here, whilst Christian unveiled an ac companying skippy drumbeat. This was a great tune as was the next number, ‘A Woman’, from 2021’s ‘Quale Futuro?’ album. This is their most melodic song to date and you can see why it was released as a single. Cecilia is back on vocals for this one and her Korg gave a great account of itself and New Order sprung to mind whilst listening to them. This is a real earworm track that explodes halfway through.
We are now already at the halfway point in the set and we get another track from ‘Quale Futuro?’, this time around it’s ‘Folk Song’ which runs on from ‘A Woman’ without a pause. Mickey is back on lead vocals for this great foot-tapping song, which has a true retro vibe going on with its echoey guitar and pleasant bass interplay. In fact I’d go as far as to say it’s quite possibly the choice cut of the set. The quartet revert back to the new LP for their final three numbers, beginning with ‘Praxis’, with its keys intro followed by more echoey guitar and Cecilia on vocals, and this tune grows and grows the longer it is performed for. Their penultimate choice is ‘Off The Grass’ with Mickey back on vocals and his guitar immediately has surf rock overtones as well as reminding me of Blondie’s ‘In The Sun’, before going off into ‘Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)’ (Haircut 100) meets early Wedding Present. Let’s face it John Peel would have loved this! There’s so much urgency with this track, especially with its guitar distortion. They sign off with ‘Surrender’ with its keys intro and I pick up on the guitar and drums combination sounding like New Order, but overall it’s just like listening to a decent song by The Cure. It was a great choice to end on and at 9:32pm that was it. I’m not saying it was good or anything, but I made a beeline to their merch area and snapped up both albums in coloured vinyls, which I know will be getting canned at every chance! Qlowski are fab, but don’t just take my word for it, check out their releases on their Bandcamp page HERE.
Qlowski:
Michele ‘Mickey’ Tellarini – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Cecilia Corapi – vocals, keyboards
Lucy Ludlow – bass
Christian Billard – drums, percussions
Qlowski setlist:
‘The Wound’ (from 2024 ‘The Wound’ album)
‘In Cold Blood’ (from 2024 ‘The Wound’ album)
‘Desire’ (from 2024 ‘The Wound’ album)
‘A Woman’ (from 2021 ‘Quale Futuro?’ album)
‘Folk Song’ (from 2021 ‘Quale Futuro?’ album)
‘Praxis’ (from 2024 ‘The Wound’ album)
‘Off The Grass’ (from 2024 ‘The Wound’ album)
‘Surrender’ (from 2024 ‘The Wound’ album)
M. Woodroe are an emerging young Brighton-based alternative indie band consisting of ‘M’ on vocals, ‘B’ on guitar, ‘J’ on bass and ‘O’ on drums. Their first gig was back in May and they offer up intricate politically and emotionally focused lyrics and noisy grunge inspired guitar lines and they have been compared to PJ Harvey, the Velvet Underground, and Sonic Youth. They’ll be recording soon so expect both delicate introspection and untamed rage. But in the meantime they are opening up for Qlowski tonight at The Hope & Ruin.
They commence their half hour half dozen unreleased song set at 8:15pm, beginning with ‘What A Shame’ which is a slow building tune which then explodes with a full on sound and then reverts back again, and then gets louder and speeds up to a dramatic conclusion.
The vocal delivery is slower in comparison with the music, but it works rather well and its presentation reminds me of the expressiveness of Gemma L. Williams of Becky Becky fame. For this and the rest of the set, the lead vocals are the duty of ‘M’, who also takes care of a Fender guitar, plus a maraca shaker and once uses a Walther Melodica, whereas ‘B’ expertly handles his Squier Custom Telecaster, and ‘J’ is in charge of a Squire Jaguar bass and ‘O’ is on the drumkit.
Song two is titled ‘Sweetness, Sweetness’ and the vocals this time around are delivered in talky fashion akin to Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning but with more true emotion, which is set against a jaunty guitar and drums combination. Next up we have ‘A Veil’ which we understand is the current working title of the song. This commences with a slow and quiet intro, before eventually becoming louder but at the same pace. After this the quartet give us ‘Stalactites’ which again is another slow sedate atmospheric composition which then explodes into action via a scream, one of many throughout the performance. Their penultimate selection was ‘Brazen Bull’ which again affords a quiet start which then builds and reverts back again. They sign off with ‘Carte Blanche’ which is noted for some top bass guitar string tickling action and is overall a decent foot-tapping number that impressively signs off with a big drum outro. At 8:45pm they were done. Clearly being a young act, they are very much work in progress, but all 4 of our party could see potential with M. Woodroe with two even citing them equally as good as Qlowski.
M. Woodroe:
M – vocals
B – guitar
J – bass
O – drums
Woodroe setlist:
‘What A Shame’ (unreleased)
‘Sweetness, Sweetness’ (unreleased)
‘A Veil’ (unreleased)
‘Stalactites’ (unreleased)
‘Brazen Bull’ (unreleased)
‘Carte Blanche’ (unreleased)
