There’s a weird atmosphere in London. The weather forecasters have promised an icy apocalypse for later in the night. From the tone of the warnings it is not clear whether we will get one inch of snow and some minor disruption, or whether this is indeed the end of the world and any poor souls caught outside will have to devour each other like members of the Donner Party.
I decide to risk it.
So that’s 2011 then. Another year packed with excellent performances.
I walk down the stairs of a chilly XOYO to be confronted by the fascinating and aptly-named-in-the-circumstances New York duo The Shivers.
Although confining themselves to guitar and keyboards, the band conjure an impressively wide range of music.
Keith Zarriello is pugnacious and direct and looks as though he might be useful in a fight, yet posses a voice that is sometimes a growl, sometimes a throaty roar and sometimes a near operatic trill. His colleague Jo Schornikow is one of the best keyboard players that I’ve seen, clearly properly trained rather than relying on the traditional two fingered ‘what does this button do?’ hopeful prodding.
Q. What do you get if you cross the theme from Twin Peaks with the more melodic tracks in the Jesus & Mary Chain canon?
A. You Wish You Were Red by the American sounding but London based quartet Trailer Trash Tracys
Tonight’s entertainment is bought to us courtesy of Ja Ja Ja Music, purveyors of top Nordic pop fun.
We start off with Sykur, who hail from Iceland. They are three young guys called Halldór, Stefán and Kristján, who hunch over keyboards and produce a minimalist, stripped down Knife-like funk.
Got this new 3 days ago, sad times. DANANANANAYKROYD has announced that they will split up after their upcoming (and last) tour. The Glaswegian band will also digitally release a single for the last time on 7th November. It’s called Think & Feel taken from their 2nd album, There Is A Way, produced by Ross Robinson in LA. You can hear it here.
Given that I’ve spent the last three days writing about gangs of kids fighting police in the streets and unprecedented looting sprees in London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and other English towns and cities, it’s hard for me not to see everything through a riot prism. (Ie a prism that doesn’t have any glass left because it’s all been smashed.) I go to get the milk out of the fridge for a cup of tea, I hurl it across the room at an imaginary police officer…
This week’s round up of the tracks that I haven’t had the space to post…
Tim Osboune is a journalist who likes going to gigs. A fortunate combination.
When he offered to write for ANBAD, I immediately said ‘Yes!’; when he offered to write the article on Camden’s music scene, I said, ‘Oh, go on then,’ because, even though it’s been discussed before, Tim’s view is very different…
An (Unpretentious) View From… Camden…
Photos from a recent FOE gig - a friend of our friends Hold Your Horse Is - she’s gonna be big!!! Read the gig review after the jump.
Shots of North Carolina’s folk-rocking Avett Brothers’ stop in Glasgow - 22.08.11
Read the review of the gig here.
Take a look at the acts and art on offer at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. Included are the likes of Fight Like Apes, Lykke Li, Sea of Bees and Seasick Steve. Photos from our own...
Good time with Bad Guys. Photos from the May 29th gig at the Old Blue Last. Read the review by the Bad Guy himself, Stuart London after the jump.
Artrocker.com exclusive: for fans of White Lies and Crocodiles we’ve got some fresh pictures from their UK show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire earlier this month, courtesy of Alessandro...
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