Dundalk outfit The Mary Wallopers head to Leeds Irish Centre

Benjamin Forrest on 2 May 2023

Contemporary Irish folk group The Mary Wallopers have been making waves with their anti-establishment, Jinx Lennon-inspired tunes since their live streamed gigs during the pandemic. The seven-piece band was formed by brothers Charles and Andrew Hendy – who you may recognise from their previous project; the hip-hop act TPM, who’s hits included ‘F*ck RTE’ and ‘All the Boys on the Dole’. Their self-titled first album, which arrived last year, perfectly encapsulates the energy and chaos which was prevalent on their early recordings and those live streamed lockdown gigs, it is that chaos and humour which make the band so endearing.

On the 27^th April, The Mary Wallopers released their new song ‘The Holy Ground’ – “a song written about a place in Cobh, County Cork where sailors would stop off on long voyages across the Atlantic.”, according to Charles Hendy, “Despite the name of the place there were little-to-no churches, instead it was the town’s red-light district where all sorts of fantasies could be realised”. The single is thought to be from their upcoming album, set to release later in the year. In May, the group are due to set off on their biggest UK tour to date, including a date at the legendary Leeds Irish Centre on Saturday 6^th May, before performing at numerous festivals in the Summer, including Latitude and Truck Festival.

With a band so famous for putting on energetic and enthralling live performances, The Irish Centre show is sure to be a sight to behold – helped along by a support slot held by rising post-punk outfit Gurriers. Tickets are available for purchase here.

New York rap personality Wiki set to play Headrow House in July

Jay Fullarton on 5 June 2022

By now, the New York rap personality should need no introduction, with as much personality as an Action Bronson or an ODB. Wiki was one half of the cult-underground, abstract Hip Hop trio Ratking, who pushed boundaries with tracks like Canal. They emerged amongst the aggressive, hungry, innovative Hip Hop resurgence, amongst iconic supergroups like Odd Future, A$AP Mob, Black Hippy, and Pro Era – in what was surely Hip Hop’s second golden era.

Wiki is coming to Headrow House in Leeds on 25^th July, for what should be one hell of a show. He’s always shown love to the UK, featuring a lesser-known King Krule on the classic Ratking track So Sick Stories, and also featuring Jesse James Solomon, and Obongjayar on solo tracks. So, we welcome him to Leeds with open arms, ready to hear his stories behind the mic in the intimate venue.

After an incredible 2021, which begun with the severely underrated, overlooked side project with NAH, Telephonebooth – one of the grimiest, dirtiest portrayals of New York since Mobb Deep’s The Infamous, but only a brief, 21-minute glimpse into the dark alleyways and gritty underbelly of NYC.

His year only continued with a surprisingly even better LP, Half God, with production across the tracklist from Navy Blue (who also put on quite a show at Headrow House this year). With Wiki’s lyrical displays and gobby inflections, he shows off an almost New Yorkified Slowthai style delivery, or rather maybe, Slowthai mirrors an abrasive, even more chaotic, British version of Wiki…

Earl Sweatshirt collaborator, Navy Blue – the LA based pro skateboarder, model, rapper, and producer extraordinaire with an already vast discography up his sleeve from over just two years, seems to have mellowed Wiki out – with Madlib style production behind the boards, Wiki shines over choppier, sunnier beats. With a clash of styles that should’ve been too difficult to pull off, their chemistry seems to work so well. A complete shock from the typical eeriness of Wiki’s bodega stock of rhymes and flows.

From signed to independent, Wiki has remained one crazy, vivid storyteller; he will transport you to New York City with his penmanship, and his combinations of Hardcore East Coast Hip Hop, and Abstract Jazz Rap. Whilst still relatively low key, because of his talents Wiki has been incredibly influential on this new scene of experimental, alternative New York based emcees… Tracks like Roof are just a testament to this. Whilst he was once a Danny Brown type poster boy for weirdo, dark aesthetics, his latest is much less menacing and dingy, more bittersweet, hopeful, and seems to come from a better headspace, with a more personal, human quality to it.

Make sure to check out both Wiki’s solo output, and Ratking’s body of work (despite their split), and make sure you grab tickets while you can here!

Scottish singer Joesef stuns packed out crowd at Brudenell Social Club

Jay Fullarton on 20 May 2022

Even though the revered Brudenell Social Club is only a 5-minute walk from my grotty student home, we still managed to show up halfway through the first song, but thankfully managed to catch the last half of one of Joesef’s best singles – It’s Been A Little Heavy Lately, a relatively new single with an irresistibly catchy groove and bassline that brings the songs energy to life in the iconic venue.

The Scottish, Bold Cut signed singer took to the stage with such confidence and charm, telling jokes like he was doing a stand-up show – his words, but he had everyone laughing including myself.

What shocked me the most was the relatively upcoming bedroom pop artist had a seemingly dedicated fanbase that knew every word, and I mean every word, meanwhile I only knew a few. But, maybe he had just been slipping under my radar, with just a few hundred people away from 2,000,000 monthly listeners, and his biggest song racking up over 23,000,000 plays. I’m now certainly a bigger fan than I was before the show.

His talented band helped elevate his already assured stage presence to that of an established bigger name like Tom Misch, or Rex Orange County. It was surreal seeing Brudenell so packed, for someone I heard originally only for his cover of Sister Sledge’s Thinking Of You, and as much as that sounds like a back handed compliment – it’s not, it’s a great cover, from a clearly bright artist.

The Sun Is Up Forever was another bittersweet highlight from the night, with its dreamy Mac Demarco style jangly guitar and its infectious hook. It’s a little difficult to stomach live with lyrics like ‘but honey now I’m better, the sun is up forever, I just see you in a different shade’.

Another highlight I was anticipating was the dreamy upbeat sounds of It’s Been A Little Heavy Lately – the lavish instrumental beautifully contrasted by his sombre lyrics. Alongside this, one of his greatest tracks, I Wonder Why featuring Loyle Carner, was a particularly special moment, with its sentimental and melancholy lyrics and gentle instrumental that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Carner LP.

Comedown, a track I’m sure many students would resonate with was another potent moment, as was the intoxicating single Fire. Many of his track’s deal with emotionally evocative themes, but he understood he was queer from an early age, and “the kids made fun of my trainers more than my sexuality,” – he was raised to celebrate his identity and understand it.

Speaking on his first single with BBC Scotland, he exclaimed ‘Limbo is part of a collection of tunes I wrote in the midst of my first break-up’. ‘I split up with my ex; we were still sleeping together. It was like that grey area — it was a horrible situation to be in. I was still in love.’ Having been in similar situations, it made his songs particularly difficult to digest live, but almost like closure in a sense.

As Glasgow’s Joesef left the stage, no one in the crowd believed it was over for a second. It’s obviously become tradition to exit right before your biggest track, we all know he would be performing an encore after chants of ‘one more song!’, and we all knew that song would be his Sister Sledge cover, ‘Thinking of You’. It’s a shame the talented Scottish songwriters biggest hit is a cover rather than a display of his own unique song writing abilities, however it went over incredibly well to the audience of mostly 20 something students.

For fans of the vulnerable, soulful soundscapes of Joy Crookes, Rex Orange Country, and Arlo Parks, make sure you give Joesef a listen – he’s certainly going nowhere any time soon, and the comparisons (whilst no artist should be boxed into a sound) certainly add up – after already supporting Mercury winning Arlo Parks, and working with Barney Lister (a talented producer whose worked with Joy Crookes and Celeste). His mellow vocals almost sound like a concoction of Joy Crookes and Sam Smith.

You can hear his Northern Soul raised roots, and what a fitting venue, being an old social club… His ‘kitchen radio’ also raised him on Al Green, The Cure, and The Mamas and the Papas, influences you can subtly here in his music. Whilst he’s not the next breakthrough Amy Whinehouse or rebirth of Motown – which misleading, pressurising headlines may lead you to believe (and I’m guilty of comparing him to others myself), he is for sure going to be one to look out for. His first ever gig had sold out without him even releasing a single, a big achievement for someone who relied on recording in his bedroom. Since then, he’s headlined a 2500 capacity show at his home in Glasgow!

Check out Joesef’s music here, and if you can, catch him when he next tours, as Glasgow’s Colourboxx Festival, his last date, has unfortunately been cancelled, but we’re sure he’ll be back soon.