This Week
This week sees Nas return to the capital to play three surprisingly small shows across. But this intimacy comes at a price - tickets are an eye watering £32 for the shows at Village Underground, XOYO and Under The Bridge.
Elsewhere Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble call in at Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday. Unlikely as it sounds, German trio Brandt Brauer Frick’s first
album You Make Me Real merged techno with classical music, blending lush pianos
with warm synth bass. They’ve now swelled to 10 members, rebranded at the Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble and ditched the computers to play their handcrafted grooves completely live.
Jesca Hoop plays at the Borderline on Tuesday. The Californian may have been taken under the wing of Guy Garvey and made Manchester her home these days, but that’s done little to change her other-worldly vocals. Tom Waits’ former nanny will play tracks from her recent third album, The House That Jack Built.
Over in east London, Scandinavian duo Nude On Sand will bring their understated blues, spoken word and fragmented pop to Café Oto on Monday. Singer/songwriter/artist Jenny
Hval and guitars Havard Volden promise to “rip apart the idea of how a guitar/voice
duo should sound”.
Here’s our pick of the best of the rest…
Monday 1 October
Shonen Knife – Cargo
Nude On Sand – Café Oto
Echo Lake – Lexington
The Hysterical Injury – Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen
Tuesday 2 October
Aiden Grimshaw – Scala
Jesca Hoop – Borderline
Nas – Village Underground
Wednesday 3 October
Richard Hawley – Brixton Academy
Tori Amos – Royal Albert Hall
Man Like Me and Mike Skinner – Electric Ballroom
Thursday 4 October
The Temper Trap – Hammersmith Apollo
Claudia Aurora – Green Note
Ultrasound – Scala
Lisa Marie Presley and Ed Harcourt – Bush Hall
Friday 5 October
The Lovely Eggs and Shrag – London Palladium
The Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble – Queen Elizabeth Hall
Jacques Greene – XOYO
Filthy Dukes and Ylhscd – 93 Feet East
Saturday 6 October
Soap&Skin and Ghost Poet – Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 7 October
Serj Tankian – Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Cheryl Cole – 02 Arena
Just Announced
Award-winning music director Woodkid, or Yoann Lemoine to his mum, is best known for producing videos for the likes of Moby, Mystery Jets, Katy Perry, Lana Del Ray, Drake and Rihanna, but he’ll soon be taking centre stage himself.
Legend has it that he was inspired to try life on the other side of the lens after guitarist Richie Havens gave Lemoine a banjo during a video shoot. His debut EP, Run Boy Run, showed he’s not left his eye for breath-taking visuals behind. His only UK show of the year, to mark the release of his first album, The Golden Age, will be in the grand setting of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, on 15 November. See the video for Iron here.
Beak>, featuring Geoff Barrow of Portishead, have announced they will play a second show at Lexington on 22 November after a first, the night before, sold out. The band will again be hand-picking their support acts, so expect a genre-bending night of music.
Mercury-nominated Jessie Ware will take to the road for a full UK tour next spring, following a string of sold out dates in November. It kicks on in Cambridge on 6 March, and calls in at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 13 March.
Fierce Panda/Label Fandango signing Dingus Khan have announced their first headline tour. Channeling the energy of the late Dananananaykroyd, the Essex eight-piece boast three drummers, three bassists, and an electric ukulele and make a helluva noise. They’re supporting Underworld at the Scala on Wednesday, but will be back in London, at Dingwalls, on 31 October. See the video for Made a List here.
