London Gigs Diary: 24-30 September

This Week

Oxfam’s annual month-long fundraiser, Oxjam, launches this week. The event sees thousands of local gigs taking place up and down the country, launched with a week of higher profile shows at the charity’s Dalston shop. Kicking off on Monday with a set from Graham Coxon, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Lucy Rose, Theme Park, Kyla La Grange and Hot Chip will also be putting in appearances.

Staying in Dalston, Birthdays will be hosting Jon Spencer Blues Explosion on Wednesday – it’s a tiny venue for someone lined up to play the Electric Ballroom in a couple of months so expect a super sweaty, highly charged set.

Following a residency at Café Oto, an expanded Sun Ra Arkestra under the direction of Marshall Allen, play at the Barbican on Saturday. The legendary cosmic jazz orchestra will swell to 20 members for this special show, which will include a specially-commissioned light show from Mystic Lights. 

Monday 24 September

Graham Coxon // Theme Park – Oxfam, Dalston

James Yorkston, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Lucy Rose – Rough Trade East (free)

Tuesday 25 September

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs – Oxfam, Dalston

Race Horses - Lexington

Neil Halstead – Bush Hall

People Under The Stairs - XOYO

Choir of Young Believers - Rough Trade East (free)

Capital Cities – Water Rats

Wednesday 26 September

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Birthdays

Beth Jeans Houghton – KCSU

Dan Deacon – Scala

Cosmo Jarvis – Borderline

The Charlatons // DJs Norman Jay, Don Letts, Terry Hall – Garage

Lucy Rose – Oxfam, Dalston

Thursday 27 September

The Pooh Sticks – Buffalo Bar

Peace – Barfly

Carina Round – Bush Hall

Beans on Toast – Scala

Lights – Islington Academy

Hot Chip – Oxfam, Dalston

Friday 28 September

Mina Tindle – St Pancras Old Church

Beach Boys – Wembley Arena

The Miserable Rich – Kings Place

The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing – Lexington

The Pictish Trail – London Palladium

Tender Trap – Buffalo Bar

Saturday 29 September

George Michael – Royal Albert Hall

Eliza Carthy – Cecil Sharp House

Sun Ra Arkestra – Barbican

Death in Vegas // Toy – Electric

Sunday 30 September

Oneohtrix Point Never – St Luke’s

Just announced

Mike Skinner unveiled the first single from his new project, The D.O.T, this week. His post-Streets project sees him teaming up with Robert Harvey from The Music, and their first effort, You Never Asked will be released on 8 October. The pair also hit the road next month, calling in at XOYO on 15 October.

The curators of next year’s spring and summer ATP festivals at Camber Sands have been announced as TV On The Radio, who take over the event in May, and Deerhunter, who’ll be picking the acts in June. Tickets went on sale on Thursday.

Ultraísta’s debut album is just weeks away – it’s set to hit the shelves on 5 November - and they’ve announced their first tour, that takes in Dalston’s Birthdays, the month before. The multimedia trio are best known for the Four Tet remix of their single Smalltalk, but expect big things from their self-titled release.

A series of live shows will showcase the acts up for this year’s Mercury Music Prize. The gigs will be free to competition winners and the first one, on 26 September will include Field Music, Lianne La Havas and Jessie Ware. More will be announced in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on theticketfactory.com for details of how to win tickets.

The Association of Independent Music (AIM) have joined forces with Club Fandango for a month of gigs in the run up to the AIM Independent Music Awards in October. The month-long Labelled with Love festival is a series of shows curated by indie labels including Fortuna Pop!, Fierce Panda and Too Pure at the Bull & Gate, The Victoria in Dalston and Dingwalls. Bands lined up include Ultrasound, Darren Hayman, Pseudo Nippon, Best Friends and Joyland. Find out more at theaimsocial.com

London Gigs Diary: 17-23 September

Herewith, musicOMH’s London gigs of the week...

Calexico @ Forum, Tuesday 18 September

A week after their sixth studio album was released, Calexico call in at the Forum on Tuesday. After a four-year wait, Algiers was eagerly anticipated, and didn’t disappoint.  Evoking the rolling tumbleweed of the American south west, we called it “endlessly listenable”.

This Many Boyfriends @ Old Blue Last, Thursday 20
September

This Many Boyfriends have been making noises on the indiepop
scene for what feels like forever. Their album is finally scheduled for release
on 8 October, but you can get a sneak peek at their free show, ahead of a UK
tour which starts next month.

Thurston Moore and Mats Gustafsson @ Cafe Oto

Dalston’s Café Oto has bagged itself a huge gig – hosting Thurston Moore and Mats Gustafsson for two nights this weekend. Sonic Youth founder Moore needs little introduction, and he’s joined by Swedish saxophonist Gustafsson, who toured with Sonic Youth several times over the years. Expect the unexpected.

Also playing this week...

Monday 17 September

Saka – Café Oto

A Place To Bury Strangers – Dingwalls

Motion City Soundtrack – Heaven

Dntel – Borderline 

 

Tuesday 18 September

Frightened Rabbit - 93 Feet East

Best Coast – Borderline

Silver Apples – Lexington

Matchbox Twenty – Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Casablanca – Old Blue Last

Hey Sholay – Lock Tavern

 

Wednesday 19 September 

Kimbra – Union Chapel

The Futureheads – Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Rosie Taylor Project – Zigfrid von Underbelly

Goldheart Assembly – Sebright Arms

Quadron – Jazz Cafe

 

Thursday 20 September

Disco Ensemble – Barfly

Jens Lekman – Hackney Empire

Cult of Youth - Birthdays

 

Friday 21 September

Simone Felice – Union Chapel

Flying Colours – Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Finley Quaye and Mica Paris – Islington Assembly Hall

Elton John – Wembley Arena

The History Of Apple Pie – Palladium

Fever Dream – Victoria, Dalston

She Makes War – Half Moon, Putney

 

Saturday 22 September

Ultrasound – Scala

Withered Hand – Bull & Gate

Thurston Moore and Mats Gustafsson – Café Oto

Beardyman – KOKO

Wiley – Proud2

We Are The Psychics – Old Blue Last

Dignan Porch, Omi Palone and Old Forest – Windmill

 

Sunday 23 September

Alphabet Backwards – Windmill

Mercury Music Prize 2012 Nominations: Some Thoughts

Ben Hogwood writes: There is no getting away from it – this year’s Mercury Prize nominations have a feel of the damp squib about them. In a time when Britain, and England in particular, has experienced a completely invigorating cultural explosion with the Olympics and Paralympics, it feels like something of a missed opportunity for the breadth of our musical output in the last 12 months to be only partially recognised.

For sure, there are a lot of talented singer/songwriters on our shores these days, but to have half of the nominations made up of artists that could be bracketed in to this category is a big push, and even then those of the calibre of Kate Bush are still left on the sidelines. 

Michael Kiwanuka has a winsome voice on Home Again, as does Lianne La Havas on Is Your Love Big Enough, but both fit snugly in to the realms of daytime radio, as does Ben Howard in Every Kingdom. Even Jessie Ware, here performing a wonderfully smoky Wildest Moments with just a guitar for company, is referred to by many as a ‘new Sade’. Not true – this is a voice that can go with clipped electro beats just as well as it marries an acoustic. Richard Hawley, on the other hand, is now indie royalty, and a nomination for Standing At The Sky’s Edge recognises a career that has been consistently high quality, his first nomination since 2006 and Coles Corner.

More original inspiration is to be found in the jazz entry – Roller Trio’s self-titled album – and in the folk corner, where Sam Lee’s Ground Of Its Own sits crookedly on a bar stool. Meanwhile there are three bands nominated. One is a durable set of North Eastern brothers – Sunderland’s redoubtable Field Music particularly well received with recognition for the ambitious Plumb. Also showing staying power are The Maccabees, with their crowning opus Given To The Wild a palpable and urgent step up from previous long players, while Leeds quartet Alt-J (∆), just starting out, have their own curious sound world for An Awesome Wave recognised by the judges and bookmakers, many of whom make them joint favourites. Meanwhile, Django Django's eponymous debut, released way back in January, could be the dark horse of 2012.

In the sad absence of Rustie, this leaves Plan B all on his own, occupying a lone furrow with the return to angrier self that is Ill Manors. Here he leaves behind the soulful yearnings of She Said, returning to the sharp observations of his debut in an album that readily journeys to the edge, asking the questions that a number in the nominations list would not dare to broach.

Should there be a gong for challenging the audience, or one for making them feel safer? We may well find out the answer to this poser come 1 November, when a winner is plucked from these ten. At the very least what the Mercury Music Prize never fails to do is start a debate about the last year’s albums, followed by a second chapter on state of the nation’s music, and for this reason it remains a valuable commodity. Yet it is to be hoped that the Mercurys, just like Plan B, will be ready and willing to take on some more obviously difficult issues.

London Gigs Diary: 10-16 September

The iTunes Festival rolls on, with Norah Jones, The Killers, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Pink, Labrinth, David Guetta and Rebecca Ferguson all heading over to the Roundhouse this week.

Rough Trade East is also hosting some great free instore gigs this week, with TOY on Monday, Race Horses on Wednesday and Calexico on Thursday.

On Monday The xx play at Shepherd's Bush Empire, but if you fancy something a bit more upbeat, Rod Thomas - aka Bright Light Bright Light - brings his brand of club pop to The Old Queen's Head on Wednesday.

Patti Smith plays at the Troxy on Thursday, while Dexys play their recent album, One Day I'm Going to Soar - which we gave four stars and called a "triumph" - in its entirity before a set of fan favourites a the Barbican on Sunday.

The Features will be playing tracks from their new album Wilderness, which is out this week, at Bush Hall on Wednesday while Welsh singer/songwriter Cate Le Bon plays at Electrowerkz.

Indie popsters of the moment Allo Darlin' and Tigercats play at KCLSU on Thursday, while Swedish rockers The Soundtrack Of Our Lives play their last ever UK show at Heaven.

Beirut, whose album The Rip Tide was one of our top 50 albums of 2011, wraps up the working week with a show at Hammersmith Apollo on Friday.

London Gigs Diary: 3-9 September

The iTunes festival began its annual 30-day residency at Camden’s Roundhouse on Saturday, with Usher playing the opening night. This week sees Olly Murs, Plan B, Emeli Sandé, JLS, Elbow, Jack White and Deadmau5 all taking to the stage for an audience of prize draw winners.

Further north, Wembley Arena will be dusted down by Friday to welcome Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, with support from Graham Coxon and The Kooks. Leonard Cohen’s relentless world tour stops off in Wembley on Saturday and Sunday – the same nights Lady Gaga‘s Born This Way Ball pitches up at Twickenham Stadium.

If you fancy something a little more sedate, folk legends Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick play at the Half Moon in Putney on Tuesday, while over in Dalston Marika Hackman and Luke Sital-Singh play at Servant Jazz Quarters. Sital-Singh has been touted as the British Bon Iver…check out his single Fail For You.

Tuesday also sees the return of Grandaddy to Shepherd’s Bush Empire. They’ve cut to the chase and called it The Welcome Back Tour and rumours of a new album are rife, so it’d be surprising if they didn’t throw in a few new songs.

Perfume Genius plays at the Union Chapel on Thursday for what promises to be a breathtaking show. We gave his second album, Put Your Back N 2 It, four-and-a-half stars, and called Mike Hadreas a "staggeringly talented songwriter".

Grimes plays at Heaven on Wednesday and Thursday. We recently saw her in Edinburgh and at XOYO and loved it. In fact, we described her live show as “a curious mix of live performance, DJ set and, at times, full on rave".

The week draws to a close with the arrival in London of Africa Express; a train that’s crossed the country bringing together African and Western artists. Co-founded by Damon Albarn six years ago, this has been the collective’s biggest tour and has seen Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Temper Trap, Rizzle Kicks, Singgai Shoniwa of the Noisettes and Carl Barât among those joining Sengalese star Baaba Maal, Egyptian rapper Karim Rish and blind husband and wife duo Amadou & Mariam from Mali among many, many others. The Africa Express pulls into Granary Square, Kings Cross, on Saturday.