Monday 18 April 2016, 8pm
Fantastic double-bill for those skirting around the edges of pop, looking in, with Galaxie 500's Damon & Naomi and the incomparable Richard Youngs.
“A quarter of a century ago, Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang sold the world that pervasive slowcore guitar sound with Galaxie 500, then split to work as a duo with subtler methods. They have been peddling diaphanous acid folk-pop for two decades now, bowing their heads patiently as it billows in and out of fashion, and their ninth album is among their best. The quicksilver guitar of Michio Kurihara, from the Japanese psychedelic collective Ghost, drips magic dust over lightly jazzy drums, arrestingly inexact harmonies and cautious, languid melodies that uncoil like cats in the sun.” – Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times
Richard Youngs (b. 1966, Cambridge, England) is a musician based in Glasgow, Scotland. In a career spanning more than 40 years, his diverse and prolific output defies the existence of any definitive biography or discography. Primarily recognised as a solo artist and writer of extended song, he is also an active cross-genre collaborator. Recent work includes "deep wallpaper" music with Daniel O'Sullivan, and the potentially global site-specific Here Is A Big Place project with Raymond MacDonald. Initially a rare live performer, he has embraced the stage, playing throughout Europe in the past few years.
Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang started playing music together as the rhythm section, co-songwriters, and sometime singers in Galaxie 500. When that band ended, they continued as a duo, first recording for Shimmy Disc and then on a series of albums for Sub Pop Records. In 2005, they formed their own label (20/20/20) and have since released four further Damon & Naomi albums – The Earth Is Blue, Within These Walls, False Beats and True Hearts, and Fortune – alongside reissues of their own and the Galaxie 500 back catalogue.
In addition to their work as musicians, Damon & Naomi are the publishers of Exact Change, a small press dedicated to avant-garde literature and artists’ writings. Individually, Damon is a writer (books, blog, articles for Pitchfork, Artforum and others), and Naomi is a visual artist (photography, video, and graphic design).
