Deep Cuts line up May Liverpool Sound City sizzler at Phase One

Deep Cuts line up six live performances ahead of Sound City 2019, Getintothis’ Peter Guy on something special.

We often get asked by musicians who play Deep Cuts, ‘when will the review go up‘?

And it’s always the same, slightly forlorn face, when we tell them, ‘we don’t review Deep Cuts‘. There’s a simple reason, it’d always be overwhelmingly positive – which seems a little crass and self-indulgent given it is our new music night. But the fact of the matter is, we wouldn’t be booking those musicians to play were we not already fans of their music.

The same goes, we imagine, for most promoters. Sure, they’ve gotta make a living, and sometimes the fear of paying the rent means they they compromise their taste for a payday, but by in large most promoters book music they’re keen on. It’d be a thankless task promoting something your heart isn’t in wouldn’t it?

That’s why in journalism the phrase ‘moving to the dark side’ is associated with PR: selling a product and often your soul for commercial gain.

We will, however, break our own rule this month as April’s Deep Cuts offered up a revelatory performance (for this writer, anyway) in the shape of Douglas Savage.

The alias of Dumfries student Connor O’Mara, his on stage persona is part shy, bookish romantic and part gleeful, balletic disco chameleon. He’s a natural raconteur recounting tales of bunking into cinemas with a lover or emotional car-crashes delivered with a coquettish charm which makes him a charismatic band leader.

And what a band he has behind him; former Pink Kink drummer Amanda Scheibert teams up with bassist Ryan ‘The Duke‘ Murphy on nuanced rhythms while guitarist Sylvester blends New York chops with spine-tingling tender licks by way of dressing up O’Mara‘s vocal most notably when the front man serves up poetry in between his songs acting as beautiful suites all the more adding to a rich palette of art-pop.

If we were to offer up comparisons, it’d be Perfume Genius with hints of Blue Nile and perhaps Pulp in their His N Her’s heyday – but that’s not near enough, and for us, his performance was in our personal top five Deep Cuts offerings. It was that good.

Having said all that, two of our writers insisted York lo-fi college rock and rollers Cowgirl were their picks – so it really is a matter of taste. What we can definitely say once again, is that Deep Cuts is a night that delivers on its pledge: Guaranteed Swell Times.

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So, with that in mind, our next one is Thursday May 2 at Jacaranda Phase One on Seel Street and is our second in conjunction with Liverpool Sound City – the festival kicks off the following day across the Baltic Triangle.

May’s Deep Cuts sees the return of Ormskirk’s favourite new lad on the block, TRACKY, and with him a debut single, Boys in Black is his swaggering anthem to contemporary Merseyside with his trademark pop hooks and a catchy AF guitar hook.

Following performances at Sound City (of which he returns this year, up the bill), various festivals in the North West and live acclaim, his first recorded output is much anticipated – this will be your first opportunity to catch the man in action.

Joining him are London infectious post-punk quartet Foundlings and a brace of new Liverpool bands, The Shunt and Kangaroos.

The former specialise in hook-laden Scouse melodica reminiscent forefathers The La’s while the latter are a brand new band who come highly recommended – but with no music out there, we’re keen to take a first listen.

Also on the Deep Cuts bill is Munkey Junkey aka New York multi-instrumentalist Kurran Karbal.

Songwriter, producer and part of fast-rising Birkenhead artist Zuzu‘s live set up, Munkey Junkey sees Kurran melding a musical theme park of stylistics marrying his journey from growing up in the Middle East, moving to Switzerland and London before settling in the North West.

The final live artist is spoken word artist Amina Atiq. Part Yemeni, part Scouse poet, performance artist and activist, Amina has had work published in a number of places and read her poem Sir, I Speak Scouse at the 6 Music Festival launch in Liverpool.

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Such was the power and beautifully crafted word play she left listeners, who had gathered for the Mary Anne Hobbs show at the Bluecoat, breathless and received a standing ovation.

Amina uses poetry to explore her Yemeni heritage. Her identity lies in Yemen and in her current home, Liverpool, and her lyrical delivery reveals the beauty of both. We’re chuffed to have her join us.

• Deep Cuts is on Thursday May 2, at Phase One with TRACKY, Foundlings, Munkey Junkey, The Shunt, Kangaroos and spoken word courtesy of Amina Atiq – tickets £5 or £7 OTD. Buy here.

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