The Glad Cafe, Glasgow, 26 September
QUAD90
As you peer across the musical landscape within this blog, there are bands who tick the boxes of psychedelic, shoegaze, soulful pop, chamber pop, krautrock, funk and much, much more. Few here though encapsulate the virtues of disco as well as QUAD90, two young ladies by the names of Amelia Lironi and Naomi Mackay.
I’ve been lucky enough to have seen them at first hand over the past couple of years and each successive time their confidence and outward demeanour has grown with the experiences gained from recording and singing together.
For the launch of their self-titled album, they played to an enthusiastic crowd at The Glad Café, enthusiastic and spacious enough for a few to dance the set away as if they were back in the discos of the seventies and eighties.
Musically, the album sits comfortably in the realm of funk driven grooves combined with the jangly guitar sound that came out of Glasgow in the eighties. That their backing band is of that era, with Douglas Hannah on drums, Lachlan Allan on bass, Sam Smith guitars and synthesisers and finally Douglas MacIntyre on guitar, may have had more than a little influence on their own musical journey. As a backing band and mentors, QUAD90 couldn’t have hand selected a better bunch of musicians.
However, there is little doubt they have grown into their role front and centre of the stage. Throughout the set, most songs are sung in tandem, bringing out the wonderful vocals that both possess creating harmonies that bring the lyrics to life.
They also have the style to match the songs, dressed in all black, shades covering their eyes and the obligatory tambourines to keep in time to the beat when the disco instrumentals are given space to lead.
Across over 50 minutes, the album provides catchy tunes that offer a glimpse of what they have achieved in such a relatively short time and when played live, Le Blank, Contort Yourself and Too Much Too Soon stand out.
In an era of musical re-invention, it’s comforting to know that the disco era has not been forgotten with the good vibes that shone during that period in good hands with QUAD90.
Mackenzies
While the headline act QUAD90 begin their upward trajectory in the musical world, the Mackenzies are a band who were playing and recording in the mid to late eighties and were one of the 22 acts to feature on C86, the cassette compilation released by the NME, aimed at highlighting new bands on the UK indie scene.
Two John Peel sessions followed and yet…. well yet, here we are forty years later and watching a band who commanded the full attention of the audience during their set, an audience most of whom were familiar with the band from the earlier decade.
Their music in many ways is very distinctive and possibly even unique. Two, sometimes three guitars, bass, trumpet, sax, drums with vocals and banter provided by Gary Weir. The sax and trumpet provide the funk like sounds that embellish many of the songs played, though it is the discordant guitar sounds that set the music and band apart from nearly all of the acts we have seen on our own #AtoZMusicalTour. The uniqueness of the music means you’re never quite sure where the songs are about to go and this doubt creates an energy all by itself.
Forty years on and the band may even be in the space that allows them to record their debut album. If the recording studio is able to reflect the live experience, then it is certainly something well worth waiting for.
