Warpaint At The Albert Hall, Manchester And A Half Hour Mix

The Albert Hall has become Manchester's best gig venue in recent years. Holding 1800 people in a second floor former Wesleyan Chapel (Grade 2 listed), hidden and forgotten about for forty years, it's now the perfect venue for bands- the stained glass windows above the balcony are stunning, especially at that ideal time in the spring and summer when the sun sets just as bands take the stage and the natural light and stage light play against each other. The stage is compact with the old organ pipes visible behind it. It's big on atmosphere and intimate feeling and can conjure up some real magic.

Warpaint played there on Thursday night, a band I've been meaning to see live for years and for some reason never managed until now. They're touring to promote a new album, Radiate Like This, a record I've not really heard in full yet but one which has a poppier, lighter tone than some of their previous albums. The four members arrive on stage just after 9pm and play a mixture of songs from the new album along with older ones- they kick off with Stars from 2009 mini- album debut Exquisite Corpse and follow it with new one Champion. The rhythm section of bassist Jenny Lee and drummer Stella are locked in, the sound is great, guitars clear and bright over the post- punk/ dubby rhythms. The bass is pleasingly loud, felt as well as heard. Jenny often moves to the centre of the stage when starting a song, face to face with guitarist/ singer Emily, eyes locked into each others. Seven songs in they play Love Is To Die, the moment when everything really takes off, slow burning and intense, the song's heavy churn and sweet harmonies really hitting the mark. A little later the four of them come to the front of stage and sing Melting a capella (except for some delicate finger picked guitar from Emily), a sweet moment of calm. Stevie from the new album and Bees follow and then New Song from 2016's Heads Up, a powerful, filled out version of the song, with Emily dancing at the mic, and then they finish with one of their best songs, Disco// Very, a tense, dark and menacing, going off like a slow firework. 'I make room for everyone', Emily sings, 'I make room for everyone/ I... need... to... take... a break!' 

The encore gives us Elephants, the song that was the stand out on their debut, thumping drums, squealing guitars, propulsive bassline and threats to 'break your heart'. Beetles, equally old, is next before the final song, a slighter and more delicate song from the new album, Send Nudes. The very mixed age crowd- everyone from sixteen year girls to sixty year old men with thirty- somethings well represented- are happy, everyone's had a good time and Warpaint seem genuinely excited by the reception they received. They're a powerful live band, the songs bursting to life on stage, the four women equally adept at atmospherics, dreamy, stoned Californian post- punk with Mamas and Papas vocals, and hypnotic 21st century dance- rock too. 

Today's half hour mix is a Warpaint compilation with a Jennylee solo song thrown in (Never from her 2015 album Right On!). There's a lovely cosmic Richard Norris remix of Disco// Very, the version of Undertow from the re- released version of The Fool (from last year's Record Store Day, the Weatherall mixes of the album that were shelved at the time of the album's original release), No Way Out- a standalone 7" single in 2016 and one of their best songs for me and three of their killer songs- Elephants, Keep It Healthy and Love Is To Die, all played at the Albert Hall on Thursday night. 

Thirty Minutes Of Warpaint

• Disco// Very (Time And Space Machine Remix)
• No Way Out (Redux)
• Undertow (Andrew Weatherall Mix )
• Elephants
• Never
• Love Is To Die
• Keep It Healthy

Newtopia

Jennylee from Warpaint's latest single Newtopia is a catchy, jingle- jangle, folk- pop record, a bit of a departure from her usual post- punk, Cure influenced music. The usual half- drawled, heavy lidded vocals are there but the harmonies and upbeat strumming make this an uptempo, autumnal treat. 

I Said Never

Warpaint's bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg released a solo album in 2015, an album steeped in post- punk and gothic influences. Stella, Warpaint's drummer, played on it and as a result the album is very bass and drums led with Jenny's voice layered on top. The single Never was the best moment, a clattering, splintered Cure- indebted song for 2015, the guitars sending little shards of light into the monochrome rhythms. One to dance to in the Batcave.  

Never

In 2017 Jenny Lee wrote a song with Danish producer Trentemoller. This version, the so called Blissed Out Mix, is sparse and spectral, the synths adding texture rather than tunes, the goth psychedelia of Siouxsie recast for the 21st century. Less overtly pop than the main mix and rather good. 

Hands Down (Blissed Out Mix)

I'm So Tired

Events are moving very fast at the moment- the government is reactive, constantly running to catch up with the virus. The announcement about schools yesterday means we'll all be at home from after school tomorrow. I don't feel any elation about this, there's no real joy in having time out of work under these circumstances. I feel some relief- it's been difficult coping at school this week as staffing numbers have fallen and those of us in school have been more and more stretched. Staff and children feeling anxious with an impact on the behaviour of some. Not an easy situation to manage.

Record Shop Day 2020 has been put back from April to June, another casualty of the Coronavirus. One of the announcements I was interested in from the initial lists was this single from Jennylee, Warpaint's bassist- a cover of Fugazi's 1999 song, a piano ballad from a band who played hardcore US punk. 'I'm so tired the sheep are counting me' Ian MacKaye sings before checking out with a bleak final line. Jennylee doubles the length of the song, picking out the melody on the bass and the two voices, hers and another, entwine around each other.



Back in January Warpaint sneaked a new song out on the soundtrack to a film called The Turning. The Brakes seems to be evidence that Warpaint are still a going concern and harks back to the sound of their early records, sparse and brittle but with that liquid, rolling groove and slightly stoned vocals they do so well.

The Brakes

Jennylee sang on a song on Trentemoller's album last year, a very mid- 80s synth pop homage, Depeche Mode and New Order via Copenhagen and L.A. in the 21st century. I hadn't heard this until I heard the RSD cover (or the soundtrack song) so I got three new Warpaint related songs in one go. Which is nice, as that man on The Fast Show used to say.

Never

Jenny Lee Lindberg, Warpaint's cool as fuck bassist, has a solo album coming out (under the name jennylee, all lower case). This song is the attention grabber to get you interested. Dominated by one of her trademark slinky basslines it's got guitars that point towards The Cure, skittering drums and an overall feel of the early 80s- what the record companies called New Wave. More labels for you- dark underbelly of LA, post-punk, early goth. I've got to say, I like it.