Be it madness in Manor House or not, once Halloween's done and dusted we'll all be in need of some Sunday goodness, the pure and straight kind. And here's an ample reason to stroll past the burnt out pumpkin husks, disgarded masks and green bloodstains that wreaked havoc mere hours ago: Bandstand Busking is back for its latest [...]
Halloween seems to become a bigger deal each year in London. This year there are so many balls, raves, parties and promotions that you'll do well to move without elbowing a fellow ghoul or knocking over a zombie's zombie. All well and good - or evil - but the real scare is unwanted: the cost of these [...]
What is it these days with singers playing a drum? It's a definite trend (SOIWT! being such a modish, style-setting, Vogue-advising and super-kool blog, I'm officially permitted to make these sorts of industry-sweeping, analytical comments). Just as I'd got used to 75% of singers pointlessly tapping a tambourine, too. The latest and highest-profile case of drum flu came this week in [...]
Deptford was famously tipped last year by a New York Times and Guardian travel writer to be London's most happ'ning area. It also has a depth of bloggers and some trendy-wendy bars. And now it has what every up-and-coming enclave needs: a decent musical scene... Tapetheradio The new kids on the block. An unsigned trio, Tapetheradio peddle a full-blooded, gentlemanly kinda [...]
Here's a rare piece of gentle ambience from the northern wilds of the UK, an area more renowned for grandiose/grumpy/both rock rousers. Aka Peter and Jof, The Boy Least Likely To sing about pajamas, porches, balloons, lemonade and Spiderman in fey, enchantingly childish ditties about mundane episodes. Jof's playful vocals sound over a background of woodwind, a folksy guitar and tootling electronica reminiscent of CBBC [...]
Ahhh - with the nights truly drawing in, chill winds blowing, pumpkins being sculpted and fireworks starting to decorate the London skies, it's definitely the season for some warm, wholesome musical nourishment. And here, right on cue, are The Rifle Volunteer. Based in Islington, their rich, lustrous songs are perfect for nights under the blanket in candlelit rooms, a [...]
I remember watching Florence and her then machine with about 50 other revellers in Black Gardenia a few years ago: it was intimate and she was largely unknown, although the talent was obvious. Those days are long gone now, with FloMa selling out Shepherd's Bush Empire and making adverts for o2, but here is perhaps [...]
zHARE is down again (because it's a terrible website), so most mp3s listed below will be availave in due course - whenever the clowns at zSHARE get their act together, basically My latest collection of forthcoming London concerts that merit investigation: John Maus Hawaiian-based and blessed with a boomingly low voice, John Maus was never going to just fit in. Be it [...]
Hailing from Caracas (the capital of Venezuela, dontcha know) but now based in London, Cabezón Key are ostensibly providers of an typically rhythmic Latin rock. That is, a rhythmic Latin rock enhanced with bouncy dub beats, deep bassy grooves and whining vocals. Sometimes Cabezón Key's sound is stark and primal, syrupy thick and drum-powered; at others the softest guitars float slowly into a long, murmurous jam, particularly the amazing [...]
It's a question I've been pondering for some time now. This after numerous declarations from the theatre/lounge bar of last nights and claims of final events, only for more nights, more events, and one more, revised, closing date. Shunt's unwillingness to slink off into the odorous London Bridge night seems at odds with the spirit of these times. This is an [...]
Yee-hah: hot goss from the London music scene... Spoonfed is reporting that one John Depp is to take the stage next month with "are they really still going?" indie act Babybird, ie Stephen Jones & co, they of the seminal and arguably-criminal You're Gorgeous. I daren't imagine the female singalong if he joins in with that one. If not, [...]
Tickly guitars, a streaky-sounding singer doting over a mythical lady, a chanted and muddy chorus... can it get more East London? Al Cool & The Stranger Wines remind of a good few other bands, but at the same they possess a charming, spunky swagger all of their own. Painting pretty worlds over catchy riffs, Mr Cool's voice is appealing - somehow naive and [...]
This is pretty cool - Editors have embedded images and tracks on Google Street View to promote their latest album, In This Light And On This Evening, released this Monday past. Click here to share in the fun. Basically, if you access Street View through the band's website, you can go on a virtual treasure hunt through sections of London. You have [...]
The majestic La Gainsbourg has made the title track from her forthcoming, Beck-produced album IRM available on the internet. At 2:38, it's fast and flippant, but still there are enough clues to make assumptions about the new album - a moody, electronic haze, with intense loops; wacky, puzzling lyrics; and a rather itinerant feel, complete with sudden ending, that strong contradicts [...]
Time for another run-through of upcoming London live dates worth a peek. The amount of tempting gigs in the coming weeks and months is positively bountiful; each offering diversion and delight for the soul in this season of sunsets, Starbucks sessions and X-Factor. YACHT Aforementioned on this blog for a delectable Noah & The Whale remix, YACHT (the A is meant to [...]
This is supposedly to be a blog spending lots of its time telling you about NEW London acts - but instead, just this once, I'm going to tell you about an OLD band that I'm pretty sure are now long gone. Nostalgia on an autumnal, drizzly Sunday - it seems appropriate, really. The band is Red Eye Banquet. [...]
Yesterday, finally making a links page, I included Awesome Tapes From Africa, a brilliant blog run out of Brooklyn, where the guy uploads old vinyl of unheralded or little known African acts. Without exaggerating in the slightest, this is a website that single-handedly made me appreciate African music. Before this, all I had heard was clips [...]
One thing about music blogs is that you hear a lot about the music, and little about the music blog. To remedy that, and just because it seems like a decent idea, here's an update on how this particular blog is going: I've spent much of today finally pulling together a Links page - it's over there [...]
Chill-out rock: not a term you hear often, and not a genre ever recognised. But it's by far the simplest way I can find to describe the elegant melodies of The Grants, about the best new band I've heard this year. Hailing from Liverpool, the fourpiece produce aching, earnest epics that flicker like musical paraffin lamps. Forlorn bass [...]
I don't know masses about dance music, but I do have an opinion or two on remixes - formed while listening to the The Remix, a terrific show on Xfm, and dating back to the time when CD singles had four remixes and a radio edit as B sides. I think a good remix - much [...]
Some Of It Was True!
No Church In The Wild
Nas - Daughters
The Rains of Castamere by The National
CHROMATICS "THESE STREETS WILL NEVER LOOK THE SAME"
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
iamamiwhoami: kin - Teaser
Album Review: alt-J – An Awesome Wave
Azealia Banks – ’1991′ & ‘Van Vouge’
Big Boi & Theophilus London (feat. TRE LUCE) - 'She Said OK'
