Liverpool Sound City 2016 review: Cherie & Renno, Tunacola, Coquin Migale, Leyya, Koala Voice, The Hearing, Jess Will, Buslav & more

After Australia’s finest exited the scene, Getintothis’ Vicky Pea checks out the afternoons action on the Cargo Stage.

Following immediately on from the Aussie showcase, and to ease us into an afternoon of international affairs Jesse Will of New Zealand takes to the stage accompanied by a three piece band to compliment his stargaze-y soft pop perfectly fitting of a summers day on the riverside. Although largely ignorable earlier in the day by both acts and audience Jesse puts a dampener on his set by continually apologising for having to compete against the “noise next door“, ironically making it far more noticeable than it ever was.

Mid way through his set we get a Ryan Adams-eque cover of Shake It Off, however we’re assured Jesse got to it first, explaining that Ms Swift herself shared Jesse‘s cover and it “ruined my career as I have to play it in every set now“. We’re reluctant to believe his annoyance at this seeing as we doubt anyone in the crowd would have been aware of his cover, yet he chooses to play it anyway.

The Hearing, aka solo Finnish artist Ringa Manner brings charm to the stage along with her small electronic/loop set up. Unfortunately it seems to go largely under appreciated by the passing crowd, with slow building, layered tracks demanding the listeners full attention, seemingly a little too much to ask on this occasion.

The magic of the Cargo Stage and its international showcase comes to life as Cherie and Renno draw intrigue and enthusiasm from a gathering audience, managing to do what previous acts hadn’t and pull the passing punters in. Playing what we can only describe as a DIY hack-job violin that wouldn’t look out of place in Mad Max it’s the perfect unique balance of quirky, catchy and fun. Joined by his wife Cherie they share a playful back and forth stage presence and jump to the top of the highlight reel.

Be sure to check out the rest of our Sound City 2016 coverage here. 

Refusing to let that top spot go without a fight Newcastle’s Coquin Migale step it up a notch with a healthy dose of hard grooving body rattling garage rock. These guys jam tight and have the added attraction of just seeming like nice dudes.

Four piece Koala Voice hail from Slovenia, now we’re not entirely au fait with the Slovenian rock scene but if Koala Voice are an accurate representation of it, then we’re fans. Sweet riffs are given substance with an unforgiving rhythm section and the lyrical content points to more than that of usual indie-pop stars. The audience lap it up and there were even complimentary yells for an encore.

The next stop on our musical world tour brings us to Vienna and the duo of Leyya who deliver a super sharp set of experimental electronic pop before Chilean revelation Tunacola hit the stage, and when they did, you knew it. What ensued was a hybrid party of pop, hip hop, ska all seasoned with South American spice. It was the perfect kind of noise to walk into and passers by soon found themselves in the middle of a street samba, ending the night on a high as they made their way to the exits.

Somewhat surprisingly the Cargo Stage‘s night wasn’t over. Buslav were left with that honour and sadly the sombre, melancholic feel to the material was ultimately lost in the chatter of the hordes leaving the site and had little hope in following on from the party that preceded it.

After a slow start the Cargo Stage turned out to host a trove of treasures from across the globe, with Sound City once again bringing us some incredible and varied international talents.

Pictures by Getintothis’ Vicky Pea

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