Artist: Scala

To a degree, so volatile are their stylistic deviations amid the murky undergrowth of sonic miscreance that there can no longer be any true surprises when it comes to Liars . Or rather that is until they're unleashed into the live, where results can, and indeed often do tend to vary wildly: last time in London , they disappointed with a set which proved obscenely overreliant on matter from their restive latest  WIXIW , but then they truly astonished at last month's Pr i mavera Sound [...]

• Dots & Dashes - Liars – Mess on a Mission
• Liars - Mess on a Mission

Preposterously prolific Montréal oddball Sean Nicholas Savage may now be on his umpteenth full-length release and indeed sprouts from Canadian soils so culturally fecund currently that it's a thing of wonderment that there's yet enough moisture to water such a burgeoning alternative music scene. But unlike any other to have traversed the Atlantic, Savage is not only a rarity in that he's an inimitably eccentric individual but can be considered more idiosyncratic still by the fact that he goes about his craft in a commensurately outré way. And whereas his previous recordings have favoured any and indeed seemingly [...]

Angel Haze. La rapera estadounidense Angel Haze estrenó durante un reciente concierto en Londres, Inglaterra, su último sencillo titulado "No Bueno" y el video de lo ocurrido llegó a su canal oficial en YouTube . Esta canción, con clara influencia de actos como A$AP Rocky , hace uso del violín para agregarle dramatismo y concluye con una ejecución enérgica por parte de todos sus músicos sobre el escenario, incluyendo la misma Haze. Vean este magnífico debut a continuación.

Hey Sholay , a Sheffield/Leeds five-piece, have debuted the newest video for the unpronounceable "WDYRWMTB", from the band's equally hard to pronounce upcoming EP Cloud, Castle, _____ . Directed by Bobby Nassier and members of the band, "WDYRWMTB" (unsure what exactly the acronym means) features simply a young girl performing the sign-language version of the poppy track, which ends up sounding like if Band Of Horses teamed up with Passion Pit. See for yourself below and grab Cloud, Castle, ____ June 3 via Fierce Panda Records . As well, next Tuesday, May [...]

Tonight of all nights feels precisely the right time to go see Yorkshire's returning alt. rock stalwarts Sky Larkin , not least as they just so happened to unveil a preliminary glimpse into their third, and as yet untitled full-length –  Motto  – more recently than it would've taken to travel down to the neighbouring Kings Cross from their native Leeds, and those East Coast trains really don't hang about. And neither do Katie Harkin & co. Well, almost... Since last heard from, a trio became a duo became a quartet although tonight they're back down to three, [...]

To celebrate  The Doctor's Orders 250th event we will be hosting a new competition: Win a fresh set of SERATO VINYLS + Two Tickets to see ‘The Magnificent’ DJ Jazzy Jeff. Along with the UK’s... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Just 24 hours ago, I stumbled down Pentonville Road in dwindling sunshine; today, the streets about Kings Cross are spattered with a grim drizzle. Though irrespective of the downturn in the weather, the self-professed, suited and booted DruMachine hammers away, sticks flying in the sheeting mist. It's therefore testament to the brute force of the irrefutably inimitable John McEntire that, even though this most adept of percussionists does exactly what it says if not on the tin, then on his drenched kick drum he is only the second best of the two seen rhythmically expressing themselves on the night. [...]

The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. The Sea and Cake, Scala, March 6th 2013. [...]

Amidst the first blooming of the darling buds of spring, it seems apt that Montréal indie Arbutus Records  should this week begin to fully burgeon. And tonight our attentions turn (albeit fleetingly, I should full well think) from Blue Hawaii's extraordinary Untogether , to the label's resident darling, Sean Nicholas Savage . He's that little bit further from home, though some few thousand miles closer to our hearts as he saunters onstage unassumingly in support of Melody Prochet before a brimming Scala. A prolific, pseudo-sensual songsmith, judging by the number of [...]

Melody's Echo Chamber, Scala, March 5th 2013. Melody's Echo Chamber, Scala, March 5th 2013. Melody's Echo Chamber, Scala, March 5th 2013. Melody's Echo Chamber, Scala, March 5th 2013. Melody's Echo Chamber, Scala, March 5th 2013. Melody's Echo Chamber, Scala, March 5th 2013. Melody's Echo Chamber, Scala, March 5th 2013. Sean Nicholas Savage, Scala, March 5th 2013. Sean Nicholas Savage, Scala, March 5th 2013. Sean Nicholas Savage, Scala, March 5th 2013. The post Gallery: Melody's Echo Chamber & Sean [...]

At the risk of sounding like Martin Sheen at the beginning of Apocalypse Now... "Valentine's day... shit." But this isn't Saigon, this is the Scala, which isn't shit actually. In fact it's rather nice and very, very busy. In an evening which would have witnessed countless incidents of false romanticism, some fairly desperate attempts to win affection and also some downright shameless exercises in trying to gets ones end away, the Scala provided an oasis of genuine warmth and fondness. Local Natives were in town and there was hardly enough room to swing a single bollock never mind [...]

Photograph: George O'Brien Perfect harmony isn't always easy to find. However, for many, Valentine's Day is a time in the calendar assigned for celebrating and embracing its discovery, and whether hand-in-hand with a loved one or looking around a packed London venue for a spark, Local Natives provide an exceptionally harmonious soundtrack to this somewhat peculiar Saints' day. The L.A. four-piece's seemingly 'not-so-difficult' second album Hummingbird was released, via Infectious at the end of January, and defiantly proved that not all sophomore albums fail [...]

Photograph by Gaelle Beri. View the full gallery here. There's a point during this gig when most of TOY 's heads are bowed, where a still frame of the stage would be almost indistinguishable from a shot of Napalm Death looking for their keys, albeit with a smiling female organist (if you play a Korg organ, does that make you a Korganist?) photobombing. You can take Alejandra Diez's grin in a number of ways. It's could be taken as an indication of [...]

Our infatuation with  Melody's Echo Chamber is both boundless, and tediously well documented so we shan't dwell on that to instead gleefully divulge the news that there's new material. Well, there's the one solitary slive of new material, which thankfully just so happens to be the scuzzy beauty known only as Je Me Perds de Vue. I think its title roughly translates to something about the loss of sight, which seems pretty suitable as it's a total blinder. Again. Prochet's vocal remains exquisitely nonchalant and fine as sunlight; Tame Impala lynchpin and Melody's lesser half Kevin Parker's sonic backdrop [...]

• Melody's Echo Chamber - Je Me Perds de Vue

Drop Out Cheatahs

Billed as one story told two ways , the creative conjoining of sludgy Tokyo heck-raisers Boris and Bristol's now quiet rioter Joe Volk is a weird one in innumerable ways. Though will the imaginatively entitled  Split Release be forever remembered as one of the greater stories told across 2012 now that we've truly descended into the nebulous blizzard of year-end, list-phrased prioritising? Well, the obvious answer would be a staunch no . Though that is primarily because most of said lists were outed long before this week's release date. [...]

Throw together Tokyo sludge metal experimentalists Boris and Bristol-based acoustic ambientalist Joe Volk , and you forge for yourself a striking equilibrium of what ought to be utter disharmony. Take the first syllables of each and you compose the nickname of the hapless and straw-haired, harebrained toff to run this town tonight , but that's beside the point. In his absence, and in irrefutable incompatibility here lies great redemption and live revitalisation of two very contrasting sorts. There's a collaborative feel to the combining of Atsuo, Wata, Takeshi, and Volk not least [...]

Photograph by Jason Williamson A slightly crumpled, skew-wiff sheet of paper is blu-tacked to the wall in The Scala’s foyer. It reads ‘Sold Out’. Tonight plays host to Purity Ring , and so the packed venue indicated by the sign is more or less a given. Shrines was one of the most hotly anticipated debuts of the year, and it went on to completely surpass all expectations. Claustrophobic, dark and teetering between fear and unhinged delight it seemed to arrive at [...]

In their own words, Pepe Deluxe "is an inter-continental collective orchestra directed by James Spectrum - Baron of Sealand and Paul Malmström - an explorer of worlds both known and unknown. And you know, I'm not going to rock the boat, as the theatre of Pepe Deluxe's recent album (and its forthcoming deluxe re-release) along with the narrative that underlies it all is absolutely crucial to them, and to the delight I experienced at watching their debut UK show at The Scala on Monday night. The eccentric headliners were amply supported by dapper Finns Husky Rescue, who [...]

"I think one of the most interesting things about doing the live show is that even though I think it's kind of common knowledge that we make a lot of pretty different sounding records, when you start to put together a setlist comprising songs from those records it sometimes becomes clear just how similar those songs are to each other. I can definitely see how a song from our second record [ They Were Wrong, So We Drowned ] could've been on WIXIW , for example." Those were the words drooled from Angus Andrew's [...]