The Invisible, Hejira, Runners @Nation of Shopkeepers, Leeds – 17/10/12

At the last quims meeting I was saying how I’d never been to see a gig at ‘A Nation Of Shopkeepers‘ so Si got out his iphone and booked us in to see this gig on the spot. When it first opened as the Courtyard it used to be one of the only places you could drink outside in Leeds. Now it has been decked out by art students and has a funky feel to it – ideal for tonights bill.

First up were local band Runners who just blew me away in a Neu! type way. With films playing in the background and drumming to die for, the interplay of the synths was just dreamy. They have their first 12″ coming out soon – sign me up!

Hejira were an altogether more intense prospect. At times sounding like early ACR they were not adverse to thrashing a few chords out too. A female bass player nearly always makes for a good band. They also are due to debut on record soon…..

The official blurb for this gig  ran:

The Invisible are a three piece live experimental electronic sounding group who are very hard to describe. They have played seperatly as members of numerous groups such as Polar Bear, Matthew herbert, Hot Chip, Zongamin, Golden Silvers, the list goes on and on. Their new album RISPAH is one of the best albums released this year. Check it out and get down to this gig it’ll be mindblowing.

The Invisible have 2 LP’s out “The second one’s very different…” Si told me “..influenced by the death of Dave Okumu’s mother” – who’s on the cover. Again a wonderful drumming underpinned the set and the tunes when Dave drummed too were my faves. Hard to catagorise but easy to love – this was one fabulous Tuesday night!

Bob the Chiropodist

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