Gig Of The Week – Parallel Voices 2010 @ Siobahn Davies Studios

Pulling together an incredible cast of cross-media artists, Parallel Voices 2010 is the third event of it’s kind at the Siobahn Davies Studios in Elephant & Castle. Curated this year by Carsten Nicolai the event aims to bring together performers that bridge the gap between the audio and visual mediums and the two headline figures for me are Blixa Bargeld (Einstürzende Neubauten, The Bad Seeds) and electronic maestro Christian Fennesz. Given the supreme quality of their musical work, you’d expect their discussions to be equally vital. Both discuss the fertile land where art forms meet – music and poetry, dance, video. Each talk is accompanied by a short performance piece featuring some of the panel – an intriguing event.

If you hanker after something a little more traditional then there are gigs aplenty throughout town this week. On Monday try Mono at Scala, or the latest ATP event – The Retribution Gospel Choir at Cargo. Tom McRae is back, still searching for the awesome form of his first two records, and plays Scala on Wednesday. The influential Chapterhouse, along with Engineers, also play Scala on Thursday. MGMT hit the promo trail at Heaven, part of an ever-expanding live music line-up at the club. Fabric on Friday sees an incredible lineup, highlights of which are Skream, Benga and Caspa. As a final recommendation why not try and catch the inimitable Patti Smith, who performs at the branch of Foyles in the RFH, and then a fully fledged gig at the Union Chapel on Sunday – still, I imagine, something worth seeing.

Einstürzende Neubauten – Die Wellen

Fennesz – Grey Scale

Parallel Voices website

Photo: Kentaro_m_photography @ The Triple Door, Seattle WA, 02/06.

Read on for all this week’s recommendations.

Monday 15 March

Delphic – Heaven

Mono – Scala

Retribution Gospel Choir, These Monsters – Cargo

The Tallest Man On Earth, Alessi’s Ark – Bush Hall

Tuesday 16 March

The Avett Brothers – Relentless Garage

Emma Pollock + Josh Pyke – The Tabernacle

George Pringle + Robot Disaster + more – Club Fandango @ Buffalo Bar

Why? + I Might Be Wrong – Heaven

Wednesday 17 March

Cara Dillon + Seth Lakeman – East Wintergarden

Tom McRae – Scala

Spectrum + Hush Arbours – Luminaire

Thursday 18 March

Bad Lieutenant + Factory Floor – Electric Ballroom

Blixa Bargeld + Christain Fennesz + many more – Parallel Voices 2010 @ Siobahn Davies Studios

Eliza Carthy – Water Rats

Chapterhouse + Engineers – Club AC30 @ Scala

The Hidden Cameras – Shoreditch Church

MGMT + Television Personalities – Heaven

Nosaj Thing – The Rhythm Factory

Two Door Cinema Club – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Friday 19 March

The Bloody Beetroots + Does It Offend You, Yeah? + Kissy Sell Out + more – Together @ The Coronet

Caspa + Skream + Benga + more – Fabric

Dan Michaelson & The Coastguards – The Local @ The King’s Head

Vitalic – Matter

Saturday 20 March

Foals (DJ set) + D.N.T + No Pain In Pop – London Sunshine @ Amersham Arms

IAMX – ULU

Free - Patti Smith – Foyles, Royal Festival Hall

Times New Viking – The Dome

Sunday 21 March

DM Stith + Mechanical Bride – The Slaughtered Lamb

Patti Smith – Union Chapel

Gig of the week: Los Campesinos, The Hippodrome, Thursday 4 March

I fell in love with Los Campesinos at The Works in Kingston back in February 2008. This Thursday I return to the scene of the crime (the venue now bears the dreadful moniker The Hippodrome) to witness the band two years and three albums later. No doubt they’ll be excellent, after all all three LPs have their shining moments – their most recent, Romance Is Boring, containing some of their most successfully constructed tunes to date. The show is put on by the incomparable Banquet Records under their New Slang banner, bringing excellent bands to the otherwise barren south west suburbs of London. This year alone they’ve hosted Vampire Weekend, British Sea Power and last week, Blood Red Shoes. If you’re in the area, or even if you’re not, get yourself down here – cheap entry, cheap drinks, cheap thrills.

More centrally there are in-stores from Blood Red Shoes, Scary Mansion and Late of the Pier for those who like their thrills more free than cheap. For those who don’t mind paying don’t look much further than U.S. Girls at Cafe OTO on Monday – another cracker from Upset The Rhythm. Tuesday and Wednesday sees the fucking awesome xx play at Shepherd’s Bush Empire – supported by These New Puritans, who have never really filled my boots – or Esben & The Witch on the latter date. You could also catch Hot Hot Heat - remember them? – at Scala on Tuesday. If you’re not headed down to Kingston on Thursday there’s two spiffing options in town, Jealousy favourites Errors at Scala, and Wild Beasts at Koko. Yet again things dry up towards the end of the week, unless you’re plumping for the corporate cowshed and the Dizzee / Lily hoedown. Whatever you’re up to this week, enjoy – why not let us know about it!

Los Campesinos! – There Are Listed Buildings

Photo: Barry Yanowitz @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC, 12-07

Read on for all our recommended gigs this week.

Monday 1 March

FREE – Blood Red Shoes – Rough Trade East

FREE – Scary Mansion – Pure Groove Records

Shy Child – ICA

US Girls – Cafe OTO

Tuesday 2 March

FM Belfast – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Hot Hot Heat – Scala

Polar Bear – Relentless Garage

The xx / These New Puritans – Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Wednesday 3 March

The Antlers – Union Chapel

Broken Bells – ICA

Field Music – Scala

Groove Armada – HMV Forum

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis – Relentless Garage

FREE – Late Of The Pier – Pure Groove Records

The xx / Esben & The Witch – Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Thursday 4 March

Errors – Scala

First Aid Kit – Union Chapel

Los Campesinos! / Swanton Bombs – New Slang & The Hippodrome

Richmond Fontaine – Bush Hall

Wild Beasts / Erland & The Carnival – Koko

Friday 5 March

Brendan Benson / Heartless Bastards – Koko

DD: MM: YYYY – The Lexington

Four Tet / MF DOOM & many more – A Taste of Sónar @ Roundhouse

Idlewild – The Watershed

John Cale – Royal Festival Hall

Saturday 6 March

Billy Bragg – ULU

Kathryn Williams – Purcell Room

Plaid / Luke Vibert – Koko

Sunday 7 March

FACT / Joy Orbison / MJ Cole – The Lock Tavern

Lily Allen / Dizzee Rascal – O2 Arena

Gig Of The Week: Dum Dum Girls / MALE BONDING, Barden’s Boudoir, Thursday

A bumper, bumper week sees the return of our weekly gig guide to what’s happening on London’s live music scene. So bumper that I really struggled to pick a single gig – but the one that has come out on top is a cracker. Get yourselves down to Barden’s Boudoir on Thursday night to check out two of legendary label Sub Pop’s latest signings. From LA there is the awesome Dum Dum Girls, playing in advance of their debut full length, I Will Be, due out in March. Playing too are Dalston’s MALE BONDING – who recently rocked as support for the Vivian Girls on home turf at the Trinity Hall, Dalston. Both bring ferocious pace and lo-fi thrills to the party, expect it fast and loud and Barden’s is a great place to watch it unfold.

Sadly I’ll be missing the show in favour of the live return of Brighton’s Blood Red Shoes who play the regular New Slang show out in Kingston. Box Of Secrets was a joy for me, and remains a regular feature on my playlists and I cannot wait to see what their forthcoming sophomore LP, Fire Like This, will bring. Elsewhere, the ongoing rush of the NME Awards shows continues with New Young Pony Club headlining a bill that also includes the excellent Chew Lips and Teeth on Monday at the Islington Academy. Girls at Scala should be a riot too, and if you fancy something a little quieter try the Jagjaguwar showcase at the Windmill, Brixton on Tuesday. Two big shows in support of the ongoing Haiti Earthquake appeal are obviously for a good cause but the line ups are deeply uninspiring.

Brain-melters Ungdomskulen play The Lexington on Thursday – the busiest day of the week. You could also pick Los Campesinos! at Koko, but if like me you like things a bit more intimate – wait a week and catch them at New Slang, Shearwater (Scala), Casiokids (Barfly) or if you like things a but more retro try Pere Ubu at the Garage. Things slow down a bit as the weekend draws near but Friday sees Xiu Xiu rip up the Luminaire which has to be worth a view. If you’ve got nowt to do all day Saturday there’s an excellent one day festival – Owl Parliament – happening at Union Chapel. Featuring  Mount Eerie, Jeremy Walmsley, Aidan Moffat and Darren Hayman amongst others this should be a fantastic day, evening tickets are a little less than all-day ones. Finally, Hot Chip play a couple of nights down at the Brixton Academy.

Dum Dum Girls – Catholicked

Male Bonding – Rehearsal Song

Photo: MALE BONDING. Taken by Sebastián J @ Barden’s Boudoir, 20/12/09

If you’re struggling to find any of the venues listed, they’re all on our map of London’s gig venues and record shops – here. Read on for all our recommendations this week.

Monday 22 February

Delphic – Cargo

New Young Pony Club / Chew Lips / Teeth – O2 Academy Islington

Tuesday 23 February

Girls – Scala

Japandroids – ICA

Marina & The Diamonds – Bush Hall

We Are Scientists – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Wolf People / Johnny Barry Trio / Bert Page – Jagjaguwar Records @ Brixton Windmill

Yeasayer / Javelin – Heaven

Wednesday 24 February

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Dum Dum Girls / Yuck / La La Vasquez – The Old Blue Last

Fionn Regan – ULU

Hockey – Koko

Thursday 25 February

Blood Red Shoes – New Slang @ The Hippodrome

Broadcast 2000 / Alessi’s Ark – The Luminaire

Casiokids – Camden Barfly

Dum Dum Girls / MALE BONDING – Barden’s Boudoir

Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser ft. Zero 7 / Hexstatic / Stereo MCs / Maxi Jazz – Proud Galleries Camden

Haiti Earthquake Fundraiser ft. KT Tunstall / Paul Weller / The Futureheads / The Maccabees / Seasick Steve & more – The Roundhouse

Hauschka / Hildur Guðnadóttir / ISAN – The Bubbly Blue & Green @ Kings Place

Los Campesinos! / Swanton Bombs – Koko

Pere Ubu – Garage

Shearwater – Scala

The Strange Death Of Liberal England – Underbelly

Ungdomskulen – The Lexington

Friday 26 February

Air – Roundhouse

DD: MM: YYYY – The Windmill, Brixton

Hot Chip / Casiokids – O2 Academy Brixton

Sir Richard Bishop – Whitechapel Gallery

Xiu Xiu – The Luminaire

Saturday 27 February

GZA / Genius – Jazz Cafe

Hot Chip – O2 Academy Brixton

Mt Eerie / The Microphones / Emmy The Great / Jeremy Walmsley / Darren Hayman / Aidan Moffat – Owl Parliament 2010 @ Union Chapel

Sunday 28 February

James Chance & Les Contorsions – The Victoria

Marcus Foster / Alessi’s Ark / Broadcast 2000 & more – Communion: The Compilation Launch @ Notting Hill Arts Club

Shout Out Louds – Fall Hard (Passion Pit Remix)

A tempting taster for the Swedish group’s upcoming third LP, Merge, due out February 23 on Merge. Remixed by Jealousy favourites Passion Pit, this is a wonderful, subtle mix – stripping the track back a little, smoothing some of the edges – nothing extravagant or damaging. You can check out the video for the original below.

Young Adults – Rip It Up

A debut five track demo from this unsigned Allston, MA trio – a quintet of punchy yet fuzzy tunes, only one of which cracks the 3 minute mark. They kick off with the track flagged here, Rip It Up. Basically doing what it says on the tin it careers through it’s 110 seconds in the blink of an eye, guitars buzzing in the foreground – vocals set well back in the mix. Set somewhere between the sound of echoing surf punk and the chiming yet fractured guitar melodies of early 90s Manchester indie it’s an engaging ride. Check it out – you can download the entire EP from their Myspace here.

Ezequiel Ezequiel – Dear Permafrost

After the cold spell most of the Northern Hemisphere is having or has had, the Winter Rise EP from London based Argentinian Ezequiel Claverie (under the moniker Ezequiel Ezequiel) is aptly titled to say the least. Five tracks of intimate, intricate ambient folk with conjure up images of that feeling of being wrapped up against the cold; a musical log fire if you will. Best of all, you can get this for absolutely nothing from his website, here. Trust me – you’d be hard pushed to purchase much music this year that shines with such feeling and warmth.

If you’d like to send any stuff through, please find our email address over on the right, or check out the ‘About’ page.

#22: Metric – Fantasies

Metric self-released Fantasies across pretty much all the globe – Lord knows if they had too, after all it’s not as if Live It Out was a flop. In the four years since the Canadians unleashed that effort (they released their unpublished debut Grown Up And Blown Away in 2007) they honed their knack for anthemic, punchy indie pop. Fantasies is full of it, the most consistent record of their career thus far – and their second Polaris nomination. The pace barely lets up, from the growling opener Help I’m Alive through to the ever-so-aptly named Stadium Love each track is poised to make you dance. Fantasies gives the overall impression though, that next time round, Metric are going to need a much bigger dancefloor…

Metric – Stadium Love

Metric Myspace

Buy Fantasies

Photo: El Diano @ Metropolis, Montréal Canada, 10/09

Funny thing is, the songs that ran constantly through my mind whilst getting ready, jostling my way through the crowded streets or clambering up the nearest peak weren’t my top tracks. They were an odd selection of either things that were related to what I was looking at – Supergrass’ Moving whilst watching the shadows of clouds roll across the hills for example – or more often than not uber-catchy pop tunes from the eighties. What I find odd about this is that you’d think when deprived of music your mind would relate back to the songs you class as your favourites, instead it reverts to base values. I realise this has the potential to ruin my credentials (pah! – what credentials!) as a purveyor of music taste, but I found the strains of tracks like Roxette’s The Look blasting through the alleys of my brain. Why?!

I’m guessing it is just the catchiness of these pop nuggets that has lodged in there; after all that was the kind of pap that my folks would listen to in the car when travelling, they were the songs on the radio when I was growing up. Of course, there was some great pop from that decade – can you beat the Pet Shop Boys, The Human League, Frankie? – but why wasn’t I remembering that? Does our memory have a default setting to fill the aural void with songs from our earliest years? If so, surely it can’t have such bad taste – I want to remember the good stuff my folks brought me up on! To make it worse since I’ve got back I’m finding it hard to listen to music for any consistent period of time, almost like I’m having to re-train my mind into hearing recorded audio again.

Sorry for the ramble, back to the music next post – and trying to finish my best of ‘09!

Supergrass – Moving (mp3)

Roxette – The Look (mp3)

When Zero surfaced early on in 2009, it didn’t sound like anything the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had produced before – it was more electric, more synthy, less shouty, less YYYs. But hey, if you’ve got Karen O on vox you can pretty much get away with anything and by the release of the album it started to look a canny trick; a sound re-invented and shot through with urgency and bass, leaving the band with yet another smashing single and reputation further enhanced.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero (mp3)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero (video)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Myspace

Buy It’s Blitz!

Photo: Mick Orlosky @ Coachella, CA, 04/09

Out of the chaos that forms much of their back catalogue, Animal Collective have finally made sense to me. Merriweather Post Pavilion is an album of fractured pop beauty, easily their most accessible record to date. Within it’s pulsating cover lies snatches of glorious harmony, glitchy riffs and pummelling basslines. It’s a hypnotic listen, and like a good comedy reveals something new to enjoy on each revisit. This has grown and grown on me throughout 2009, after first dismissing it on the basis that everything they’d done previously left me flat. Boy, I’m glad I did.

Animal Collective – In The Flowers (mp3)

Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes (video)

Animal Collective Myspace

Buy Merriweather Post Pavilion

Photo: Peter Mooibroek @ Vera – Groningen, Holland, 07/07

#24: Florence + The Machine – Lungs

Florence Welch was a revelation in 2009. The signs were there from 2008; her first few limited singles were a blast, then there was her success in the BBC’s Sound of 2009 poll. No-one could have predicted the level of exposure she would gain however. Her’s was easily one of the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen in the Radio 1 tent at Reading, support slots for Blur’s Hyde Park mega-gigs, countless spots on adverts: 22-year old Welch was everywhere in ‘09. Underpinning all of that was a highly creditable debut LP, an album full of huge choruses, massive hits and that clarion call of a voice out front. Tracks veer from Bat For Lashes style percussion driven torch pop through to the quicker paced, almost White Stripes-esque bash Kiss With A Fist – and they meld together to form a compelling introduction to one of Britain’s brightest new stars.

Florence + The Machine – Kiss With A Fist

Florence + The Machine – You’ve Got The Love (Live @ Bestival) (video)

Florence + The Machine Myspace

Buy Lungs

Photo: Anne Helmond @ Lowlands, Netherlands, 08/09

There’s a noise in this track that I can’t get out of my head. It sounds like a bent out of shape guitar being pulled backwards through a hedge, dragging a full board of pedals behind it. It comes into my peripheral thoughts when other stuff is on, if only many pop tunes had a hook half so memorable! I struggle to comprehend how these two guys make music with such depth of sound, whilst maintaining a pop knack that escapes so many of their contemporaries. They only put out the Losing Feeling EP in ‘09, just four tracks, but it was enough to keep their name on so many lips. Their preceding two long-players were fantastic too, which raises expectations for a third to fever pitch. Can’t wait.

No Age – You’re A Target (mp3)

No Age – Losing Feeling (video)

No Age Myspace

Buy Losing Feeling

Photo: Cassie @ Wexner Centre, Columbus OH, 11/08