Liverpool Sound City 2015 review: Sun God Replica, KLO, Tear Talk, LIVES, Hein Cooper

KLO

Friday night’s red sky left old wives across the whole of Liverpool beaming today as the sun cracked the flags for Getintothis’ Ste Knight to have a proper go at Saturday’s Sound City.

The Antipodean sunshine formed the main order of the day as the Kraken stage hosted the Australian BBQ, and our friends from down under certainly did not disappoint.

Protégé of Franz Schuller (manager of Half Moon Run) Hein Cooper is a solo indie artist from the land of the kangaroo burger. Playing multiple instruments, Hein’s songs really captured the indie spirit with an astonishingly silky vocal delivery. Curse My Life was his standout track, telling tale of the bitterness of a love long gone.

Achingly beautiful. He also coped incredibly well and adopted a truly British stiff upper lip as the North stage threatened to swallow the Kraken whole.

Next up was The Coopers, who bathed the crowd in summertime pop befitting of the glorious weather (and our sunstroke) with their truly beaming track Summer’s Child. Sun shining on your face!

Deservedly there is plenty of hype bubbling away for electro 2-piece Klo, who impressed all with a ridiculous plethora of synth modules. So many, in fact, that the eight legs of the Kraken would have struggled to operate them all. Falling in between FKA Twigs and SZA, Chloe’s vocals (both live and sampled) combined perfectly with Simon’s robotic bleeps and sweeps to stir emotion in all.

Truly the modern embodiment of real 70’s rock and roll, Sun God Replica took the Kraken stage by the horns and rode it like no other. With shades of Deep Purple and the whir of Motorhead, they desimated the crowd. Filthy arpegiated riffs aplenty wowed all.

Over at the Baltic stage, openers Lives totally snapped the ripcord with their opener, and all five looking cooler than the Lizard King himself we were treated to a blistering set by these resident Scousers.

Where to even start with Slovenian band Ludovik Material? Governing the Cavern Stage, this post-punk trio tore the whole crowd a new one with a maximum blowout both in terms of volume and sheer grit. Think Riot Grrl meets Atari Teenage Riot meets Combichrist and you’re on the right lines. Awesome!

The Record Store had surprises aplenty up its sleeves as Tear Talk took to the stage.

Almost reminiscent of Joy Division (not least because of Josh Miller’s facial similarity with Ian Curtis) the bittersweet sound of these youngsters is definitely one to listen out for. Leaf Rapids followed with something so hauntingly beautiful that words do no do justice. Theremin, soothing vocals and a perfectly performed bass part made for a spellbinding, sublime performance.

The North Stage was emblazoned with skintight sheer tops and leather as Judas stood strong with infectious guitar riffs and reverb laden melodies.

The afternoon was topped off perfectly by live instrumental beatsmiths Sekuoia, who laid out a hypnotic groove as beats and melodies intertwined with each other in an almost serpentine fashion. Afternoon peak-time bewilderment.

Photos by Getintothis’ Martin Waters, Martin Saleh, Michael Hegarty, Jack Thompson, Tom Adam, Vicky Pea, Chris Flack: