London Gigs Diary: 28 May - 3 June 2012

This week is again dominated by larger events happening at the weekend, namely Field Day and The Apple Cart, which both take place at Victoria Park over Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Field Day seems to bring a wonderfully eclectic, reliably genre-defying selection of artists and bands to east London each year and 2012 upholds this tradition in style. It boasts big-hitting names of alternative music (Beirut, Franz Ferdinand & Liars), populist crowd-pleasers (Metronomy & The Vaccines), cutting-edge contemporary female sounds (Grimes & Julia Holter), the return of semi-forgotten favourites (Tortoise & Mazzy Star), the overlapping worlds of dubstep/electronica (SBTRKT, Rustie, Zomby & Gold Panda) and a customary nod to world music (AfroCubism). And that really is only scratching the surface.

The following day sees the return of the more family-friendly The Apple Cart to Victoria Park for its second year of music, comedy, art, cabaret and magic. From a musical perspective following Field Day can be a tough act but the organisers have done a commendable job. The line up covers diverse musical ground featuring performances from Adam Ant, Billy Bragg, Penguin Café, Lianne La Havas, Scritti Politti, Josh T. Pearson and Marques Tolliver amongst others.

The presence of Field Day and Apple Cart over Saturday/Sunday shouldn’t detract from the quality of gigs taking place earlier in the week, and in particular, gigs that focus on full album shows.

On Monday the Barbican is the setting for a celebration of Big Star's culy Third album. Several figures from the world of alternative rock including Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Ira Caplan (Yo La Tengo), Ken Stringfellow & Jon Auer (The Posies) and Alexis Taylot (Hot Chip) amongst others unite with original Big Star drummer Jody Stephens for what should be rather special evening. The album still has a raw emotional power to it (not to mention a quietly devastating beauty) and it’s quite possible you may see men of a certain age wandering the floors of the Barbican in a emotionally-drained, damp-around-the-eyes daze after the gig finishes. You’ll be able to read a review on musicOMH in the days after the show.

Tuesday evening sees yet another classic album performed in full as James Yorkston & The Athletes play Moving Up Country in full at Cecil Sharp House to mark the 10th anniversary of its release. Lastly, Copper Blue by Sugar will be performed in full by Bob Mould at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Friday.

Elsewhere, Thursday sees Giant Sand frontman Howe Gelb play Village Underground, ∆ (Alt-J) promote widely-praised current album An Awesome Wave at Corsica Studios while Miike Snow appear at Brixton Academy.

Meanwhile, Julia Holter plays a show at Café Oto on Friday ahead of her Field Day appearance. Expect to hear selections from her latest offering Ekstasis. Mazzy Star also play their own headline show, this time at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Sunday.

Also taking place this week:

Monday

Beach Fossils – Water Rats

Girls – Forum

Walls – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Tuesday

Savages - Shacklewell Arms

Ken Stringfellow & Chris Stamey – Slaughtered Lamb

Holy Other – XOYO

Hundred In The Hands – Madame Jojo’s

Japandroids – Upstairs at the Garage

Kathryn Williams – Union Chapel

Mull Historical Society – Dingwalls

Three Trapped Tigers – Hotel St.

Wednesday

Fixers – Scala

Friday

Doldrums - Birthdays

Gary Numan - Forum

Saturday

Moby – Roundhouse

Sunday

Soweto Kinch – Ronnie Scott’s

The Men – Shacklewell Arms

Just announced:

The Mars Volta – Forum – 15th July

Joan As Policewoman – QEH – 3rd August

Matmos – QEH – 6th August

Lou Reed – RFH – 10th August

Perfume Genius – Union Chapel - 6th September

Dexys – Barbican – 16th September

James Yorkston – QEH – 24th September

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Forum – 4th November

Ben Folds Five – Brixton Academy – 5th December

Kurt Vile, Lower Dens & Dark Dark Dark – Forum – 6th December

Madness – O2 Arena – 14th December

London Gigs Diary: 21-27 May 2012

This week of gigs in London is dominated by the looming presence of the ATP I’ll Be Your Mirror event that takes place from Friday to Sunday at Alexandra Palace. It promises to be another excellent weekend, with particularly strong line ups on Saturday and Sunday.

The bill on Saturday is curated by Scottish post-rock titans Mogwai, and sees Stuart Braithwaite and co. headline with their only UK appearance of 2012. One of the best live bands on the planet (well, at least in this hack’s humble opinion) Dirty Three will take to the stage just before them to play from excellent current album Toward The Low Sun. The line-up also features the warmly-received return of Codeine alongside an appearance from Chavez and perennial ATP favourites Mudhoney. On the second stage Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat will play from last year’s beautiful Everything’s Getting Older album.

The following day sees a headline appearance from The Afghan Whigs, while it also marks the return of The Make-Up after several years away. Elsewhere, lower down the bill there’s a slew of smaller acts that should not be missed – Forest Swords, Demdike Stare and Blanck Mass in particular. It all starts on Friday with Slayer playing their Reign In Blood album in full with support from Melvins and Sleep.

Meanwhile, if at the end of 2012, Bloom by Beach House appears towards the top of several end of year album lists we won’t be surprised. It sees the band build on the progression offered with each of their previous three albums, merging their many qualities into what could prove to be their best yet. They play a show at Village Underground on Thursday. As expected, it sold out in minutes, but don’t worry – if you weren’t quick enough to claim tickets they’ll be back later this year for a date at the Roundhouse.

Gravenhurst are another band to have received acclaim this year for their The Ghost In Daylight album and they’ll be appearing at the Lexington on Tuesday. On the same night, just down the road the Scala welcomes sometime-Raconteur Brendan Benson to promote new album What Kind Of World. As if there isn’t enough appealing gigs taking place in that particular part of north London on Tuesday, CAMP Basement hosts a show by Japandroids.

There’s plenty happening on Wednesday, too. The Magentic North play from their debut album at Wilton’s Music Hall, Exitmusic promote latest album Passage at CAMP Basement with Halls supporting, and Mairi Morrison and Alasdair Roberts appear at the Slaughtered Lamb in support of Urstan.

Finally, two shows taking place on Sunday are worthy of attention. Husband and wife duo The Handsome Family play a show at the 100 Club while just a short distance away at the Borderline ex-Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble plays a solo show.

Other gigs taking place this week:

Monday

Gallon Drunk - Rough Trade East

Malcolm Middleton - Cargo

Choir Of Young Believers - Birthdays

Tuesday

Pond - Cargo

White Denim - Forum

Wednesday

Jonquil - Cargo

Elvis Costello - Royal Albert Hall

Thursday

Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Rough Trade East

Elvis Costello - Royal Albert Hall

Chris Abrahams - Cafe Oto

Friday

Gaz Coombes - Bush Hall

Saturday

Orcas, Rafael Anton Irisarri & Benoit Pioluard - Cafe Oto

Just announced:

This week saw the first announcement of the iTunes festival that will take place at the Roundhosue in September. Jack White and Norah Jones are amongst the first set of acts named to appear. More details here.

There was also another announcement from the organisers of the London Jazz Festival. Jim Hall, Esperanza Spalding, Neil Cowley Trio and the legend that is Mulatu Astakte will all play shows in London in November. Find out more here.

Other new gigs announced this week are listed below:

Doldrums - Birthdays - 1st June

Left Of Manila - Proud Galleries, Camden - 5th June

Dawes - Scala - 11th July

Ultravox - Hammersmith Apollo - 27th September

London Gigs Diary: 14-20 May 2012

In terms of albums, one of the under-the-radar successes last year was Past Life Martyred Saints by EMA (South Dakotan singer Erika M Anderson). It seemed to receive praise from all quarters and those that were taken by its dark beauty will have a chance to hear selections from it when she appears at the Scala on Tuesday. Support comes from the excellent Still Corners (who also impressed with their Creature Of An Hour album last year). There’ll be a review and some photographs on musicOMH in the days after the gig.

Meanwhile, it seems strange to think that it has almost been three years since The xx released their debut album on to a largely unsuspecting public. This week they play three small shows ahead of the highly anticipated release of their second album (hopefully) later this year. If you were one of the lucky few to get tickets you’ll be able to squeeze yourself into either Electrowerkz on Monday, Chat’s Palace on Tuesday or Battersea Arts Centre on Friday to see them in action.

Three gigs of a slightly larger scale will take place from Friday to Sunday at the O2 Arena as Jay-Z and Kanye West unite for the first UK date of their Watch The Throne tour. It should be quite a night. As it should be at XOYO on Thursday, where hotly-tipped Seattle hip-hop outfit Shabazz Palaces play from their Sub Pop released debut album Black Up. Speaking of hotly-tipped, 27 year old Chicago singer Willis Earl Beal also arrives in London this week to play a show at the Tabernacle on Wednesday. Read what we thought of his debut album Acousmatic Sorcery here.

It seems to be a week where the London gig scene is dominated by acts from the other side of the Atlantic. Baltimore five-piece Lower Dens are over for two shows – at Madame Jojo’s on Tuesday and the Lexington on Wednesday. The impact that their second album Nootropics has created has already resulted in these both selling out but it shouldn’t be long before they are playing bigger venues. Sharon Van Etten also returns to London this week after her show at Cargo earlier in the year. You can catch her at the Scala on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Zulu Winter, a homegrown London act play the Boston Arms on Thursday in support of debut release Language. 

Finally, the Barbican’s excellent contemporary music series continues this week with a show on Friday featuring three of the most highly regarded artists from the modern classical genre – Icelandic player-composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, American pianist Dustin O’Halloran and German experimentalist Volker Bertelmann (Haushcka).

Other gigs taking place this week:

Monday

Hunx & His Punx – Birthdays

Sly & The Family Drone – Power Lunches

Dylan Carlson (Earth) – Black Heart

Electric Guest – Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen

Tuesday

Esmerine & Eric Chenaux – Lexington

Gossip – XOYO

Alan Wilkinson, Steve Noble & John Edwards – Power Lunches

Milk Music - Birthdays

Wednesday

Niki & The Dove – XOYO

A Whisper In The Noise – Cafe Oto

Fairport Convention - Borderline

Scissor Sisters – Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Gringo Starr - Windmill

Thursday

DZ Deathrays – Barfly

Spector – Electric Ballroom

Bass Clef – Power Lunches

Saturday

Charalambides – Cafe Oto

Trust, Visions Of Trees & The Haxan Cloak – Birthdays

Just announced:

Talk In Colour – Floripa – 23^rd May

Friends – Dingwalls – 6^th June

THEESatisfaction – Birthdays – 6^th June

Gonjasufi – Village Underground – 16^th June

Rokia Traoré – Wilton’s Music Hall – 18^th June / Barbican – 22^nd June / Village Underground – 23^rd June

The Psychedelic Furs – Garage – 5^th July

Grimes – Heaven – 6^th September

The Futureheads (a capella & acoustic) – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – 19^th September

Ray Davies – Royal Albert Hall – 4^th October

The Walkmen – Forum - 1^st November

M83 – Brixton Academy – 8^th November

First Aid Kit – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – 20^th November

The Wedding Present (playing Seamonsters) – KOKO – 23^rd November

London Gigs Diary: 7-13 May 2012

It’s fair to say that one of the acts of 2012 so far has been Grimes. Canadian artist Claire Boucher released her third album Visions to considerable acclaim earlier in the year (read our thoughts here). She’ll be appearing at various festivals over the summer but on Wednesday you can see her play a smaller show at XOYO. It may be slightly busy.

Another name to have made a quiet impact on the music world this year has been Perfume Genius. Here at musicOMH, we were quite taken by his second album Put Your Back N 2 It and you can see him play at St. Pancras Old Church on Thursday. Elsewhere, Ladyhawke plays Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Friday (read our interview with her here), Friends play the Scala on Wednesday (read what we thought of their last London show here) and Trailer Trash Tracys play Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen on Tuesday (read what we thought of their debut album here). We’ll be publishing photographs from that gig in the days after.

I Like Trains promote new album The Shallows at the Borderline on Monday, whilst Ben Kweller plays a show at Water Rats in support of latest release Go Fly A Kite on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Brooklyn outfit Milagres have had a lot of nice things said about them this year and they play from debut album Glowing Mouth at a show at the Barfly on Wednesday.

There’s also a fair few shows by bands/artists that have been around a little longer. Garbage make their return to the live arena with a gig at the Troxy on Wednesday, The Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets reunite for a pair of shows at Brixton Academy on Thursday and Friday, whilst erstwhile, fellow Mancunians The Fall appear at the Coronet on Friday. Echo & The Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch also plays a solo show at Union Chapel on Sunday.

Also taking place this week:

Monday

Richmond Fontaine - Cecil Sharp House

Tuesday

A Place To Bury Strangers - Cargo

Yacht - XOYO

Sea Of Bees - Cafe Gallery, Bethnal Green

Wednesday

Geoff Mullen/Petrels/John Chantler - Cafe Oto

Hannah Cohen - Vortex

Laura J Martin - Cafe Gallery, Bethnal Green

Tellison - Garage

Thursday

Mmoths/Solar Bears - Birthdays

Seams - Shacklewell Arms

Friday

Optimo & Planningtorock - Nest

Dub Pistols - Brixton Electric

Saturday

Amon Tobin - Brixton Academy

Cocknbullkid - Macbeth

Just announced:

The xx - Electrowerkz - 14th May / Chats Palace - 15th May / Battersea Arts Centre - 18th May

Poliça - CAMP Basement - 6th & th June

Beirut - Hammersmith Apollo - 14th September

Sharon Van Etten - Shepherd's Bush Empire - 8th October

This week also saw the first announcement of artists due to appear at this year's Meltdown festival on the Southbank. It is being curated by Anthony Hegarty and the line up is already looking special - he's managed to persuade Elizabeth Fraser to play a pair of shows, whilst the likes of Diamanda Galas, Laurie Anderson, Marc Almond, CocoRosie and William Basinski are also due to appear over the course of the fortnight in August. Read more details here.