Tagged: unionchapel

Feeling disenfranchised with British guitar music? Aren't we all. Apparently... Though the six strings tied to the widely reviled instrument have long since stood onetime Orange Juice crooner Edwyn Collins in pretty resolute stead. And although he can no longer play the thing himself, with James Warden on "guitar, saxophone and harmonica. Ooh!" there's little likelihood of this ceasing to be the case this evening. Of course there's little of Collins' existence that hasn't already been heavily documented, and indeed effusively extolled – not least his less than stable bill of health in recent years. Yes, [...]

Following rave reviews for debut album Life After Defo last month, Deptford Goth 's Electrowerkz show in late April sold-out within a week of going on sale. The good news is this fast-rising purveyor of electronic soul has just announced a second London headline show, performing in the beautiful surroundings of the Union Chapel in September and three regional shows in May. Upcoming UK live info below: [...]

That onetime OJ crooner Edwyn Collins should return warbling: "Too bad/ That's sad/ I can't stay/ Another day with you" over a stereotypically effervescent, if abnormally soulful stomp is somewhat strange, given the heroic efforts over these past seven or eight years of longstanding partner, Grace Maxwell. The two words to compose the name of his wife-cum-manager were one of only four phrases he was able to utter having suffered a second cerebral haemorrhage back in '05: affirmative and negative linguistic lynchpins yes and no were of course also included in Collins' somewhat restrictive [...]

• Analogue Enhanced Digital - Edwyn Collins TOO BAD (THAT'S SAD)

Photograph by Jason Williamson Philip Glass , the program points out, is such an iconic composer that he gets to extend his birthday celebrations. The Queen gets two birthdays, after all, and Philip Glass is royalty of the musical sort. We’re here tonight for Philip Glass at 75, this year’s final knees-up. Candles twinkle overhead in The Union Chapel, and rose-hued lights illuminate the huge pulpit onstage. The chapel has raised balconies with yet more pews crammed into every available nook and cranny. The two-tier set-up gives the [...]

Photos by Jason Williamson

'Tis the season to be merry (read: sherry-sozzled); for loving, even (read: doing something thoroughly regrettable atop the photocopier). Though the Bella Union Christmas Service at Islington's Union Chapel, whilst still an inherently festive bash, served as the glorious antithesis to the strangely rakish anecdotes of shagging on office machinery and slipping down one too many of the open bar singles, only to sick it back up in the back of a black cab at some ungodly hour. Ho ho ho , and a Happy New Year etc. The first of the night's two orthographically nightmarish aural [...]

Filed under: Beats , Brit Brit Brit , Clip Tagged: Beth Orton , magpie , new , Sugaring Season

Nothing quite says Christmas like a choir of angels and Whitacre and his Singers were in fine Christmas spirit at the Union Chapel. Bringing a warm glow to a chilly evening, this was the perfect way to welcome in the holiday season. Later this month, Whitacre releases his new album 'The Chelsea Carol', for which this concert offered a preview. The concert comprised Whitacre's own compositions mixed with pieces by Poulenc, Barber and Tavener (amongst others), traditional carols and some amusing and moving poetry reading from the likes [...]

One of the year’s most welcome musical returns has without a doubt been that of Beth Orton , whose latest record, Sugaring Season , may well be her finest since the much celebrated Central Reservation . That Sugaring Season and this intimate show in support of its recent release come after a long absence from Orton is not discernible either from her voice or indeed her appearance. The former remains just as raw, raspy and riveting as it ever was and the latter… well, she sort of [...]

Photos by Howard Melnyczuk

Last night a public meeting took place to decide the fate of the Union Chapel . A development company are looking to build behind the iconic venue, which would most likely cause 'sound pollution' issues down the line with people living so close to the venue. However, despite raising over 12,000 signatures, the the application for the redevelopment of the site behind Union Chapel was accepted, though the decision was deferred. The updated message reads as follows: Dear supporters, At the planning meeting held [...]

Patterson Hood SoloAlbum ‘Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance’ Out Now On Play It Again Sam Union Chapel 13th November (with Craig Finn) Tickets here. Drive-By Truckers’ front man/co-songwriter Patterson Hood will release his solo album ‘Heat Lightning Rumbles in The Distance’ through Play It Again Sam on 10th September. Recorded at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA and produced by David Barbe and Patterson Hood, the album will be available on CD, vinyl and download. ‘Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance’ is [...]

Photos by Anni Timms

Photos by  Gaëlle Beri

Photos by  Gaelle Beri

The sky a becoming azure shade and the intense foliage of Islington inundating the place, it's irrevocably springtime and to adulterate the ageless prose of DuBose Heyward, 'the livin' is easy'. It is too ameliorated further by a rare visit from manic-depressive, maniacally genius Texan Daniel Johnston , whose Waller roots tonight wriggle into the essence of artefact aficionados British Sea Power . Branded the Texan Sea Power for one night only (and later perhaps unintentionally erroneously by Johnston as the "Texan Sea Lions"), they open up the evening with an [...]

Demdike Stare entered stage left, took to their seats under a stained glass window, and quietly, without fuss, plugged the Union Chapel into the universe. What followed was an hour and a half of astonishing deep-space drone. Throughout the performance, a projector splattered a degraded flickering mess of film fragments over the walls behind the duo as they wrung a series of epic crackles and groans from their equipment, the whole sound often soaked in enveloping sub-bass. The techno thump and rumbling bass often found room for an Autechre-like algorithmic churn from which [...]

Although gigs in chapels and cloisters have become ever-present and sought-after of late, 'the occult new project from Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty' that is Demdike Stare probably wouldn't be Union Chapel's go-to duo were they in search of a couple of new choirmasters. The pair's Facebook profile picture – a facet of a quasi-religious phenomenon in itself with a number of adherents disproportionately inferior to that boasted contemporarily by Christianity – manifests a deathly grim juxtaposition of life and death and indeed Whittaker and Canty are here for some downright desecration in place of deferential [...]

Whether chastised or acclaimed, Tall Firs' latest, Out Of It And Into It is an unremittingly morose and intermittently discomforting listen, and with songs centred upon ending it all even entitled Suicide dipping Dave Mies and Aaron Mullan into the outwardly morbid, it's little wonder friends and acquaintances have been calmly questioning the pair's mental stability and with it sanity, such is the sadness within. "We're totally fine! We've got a new record out!" they jovially offer to any such perturbation, and indeed housed within a snug pub down an alley round the back of Islington's [...]

Often the blurb presented with music from a new act lays out handy comparisons and pigeonholes that group a genre/style/aesthetic, the subtext of which is always the short cut: ‘if you like this artist, you’ll appreciate this…’ With Johnny Parry Chamber Orchestra there are no such short cuts. Their debut ‘Fields & Birds & Things’ possesses a unique, baroque beauty, barely touching on conventional frames of reference, and all the better for it. Parry previously recorded in his solo moniker accompanied by varying amounts of orchestration. ‘Fields & Birds [...]