Gig Of The Week: Orbital @ Brixton Academy
Celebrating 20 years of recording activity, the Hartnoll brothers make their indoor live return this month – culminating in a pair of shows at Brixton Academy. The tour is celebrating their entire groundbreaking output, from Chime onwards so expect a thumping catalogue-raiding set and a stage show to singe your eyeballs.
Elsewhere the London scene is coming back to life following its summer slumber. Check out the superb double header at the Queen of Hoxton on Tuesday – Epic45 and Piano Magic should be an excellent evening’s entertainment. There’s an Aphex Twin led bash at Matter this Saturday too, with a strong support line up led by Luke Vibert and Leila. Possibly the mist interesting free gig of the week takes place on Thursday at the lovely Jamm in Brixton, where White Town (remember Your Woman, what a track!) play with Arthur and Martha. See you stageside.
Orbital – The Box
Read on for the week’s recommended gigs across town…
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Gig Of The Week: The Twilight Sad & Factory Floor @ The Lexington
Summer season finally starts to bite, with a much slower week this week. Still, there are still a few great shows dotted around town. The plumb draw has to be The Twilight Sad at the Lexington on Wednesday. The show happens in advance of a month long jaunt around North America, and in support of their new single, I Became A Prostitute, out on Monday. Their support comes from a fantastic London band Factory Floor, whose hypnotic, swirling songs blew Piano Magic off the stage at Barden’s earlier this year.
Otherwise, catch Fucked Up at the relaunched Higbury Garage on Monday – surely a fabulous venue in which to catch such an intense live band. Tuesday sees The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart backed by Hatcham Social at the same venue.
The Twilight Sad – Modern Romance
The Twilight Sad – I Became A Prostitute (video)
Factory Floor – Taxidermist
Photo: Jacob Earl, Metropolis, Montréal, 03.05.08
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Gig Of The Week – Marnie Stern @ The Luminaire
A relatively quiet start to the week soon gives way to a first class end with my undoubted highlight being the appearance of Marnie Stern at Kilburn’s Luminaire on Thursday. The New Yorker has been around town a few times since the release of last year’s excellent This Is It… (which made #5 in my Best of ‘08 list) but I’ve missed her each time. No doubt the intimate venue will be shredded by her awesome guitar work. A few tickets are still available from We Got Tickets.
The week ends with two varied festivals in Clapham and Shoreditch. The two line ups are wildly different, with Ben & Jerry’s sponsored affair on Clapham Common seeing some well established acts like The Human League, Teenage Fanclub and Super Furry Animals lead a solid but slightly anodyne line up. A more of-the-moment line up can be found at Sunday’s 1-2-3-4 Festival taking place in Shoreditch Park, headed up by The Rakes, Patrick Wolf, Chrome Hoof and S.C.U.M. Also in the festival vein the iTunes festival and Somerset House summer series continue, although with slightly less big hitters than the previous week.
Listen:
Marnie Stern – Letters From Rimbaud
Marnie Stern – Vault
Watch:
Marnie Stern – Transformer
Marnie Stern – Ruler
Find out more:
Marnie Stern Myspace / Last.fm / Wikipedia / Label
Photo: Sexy Fitsum
Read on for the rest of the week’s highlights below…
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Gig Of The Week – Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction, Mew – O2 Arena
Although ordinarily I would never recommend a gig at the corporate cowshed, this little soiree should be one of the gigs of the year for those who attend. Not only is it probably the last chance to catch Trent Reznor for quite some time, earlier this year he claimed that NiN were done with touring for the foreseeable future, but also see the iconic Jane’s Addiction and the excellent Mew.
Elsewhere in town we have the Summer Series at Somerset House, with the Mars Volta tonight and Bat for Lashes, The Ting Tings and Super Furry Animals appearing throughout the week. It’s a beautiful setting to see a show and last time I went the sound was perfect. Lovebox also takes place this weekend in Victoria Park, with a crazily haphazard lineup that sways from Duran Duran to Rodrigo Y Gabriela. Stand-out individual gig of the week has to be Fever Ray appearing at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, her glacial electronics slightly out of sync with the rising mercury.
It also happens to be the week when Michael Jackson’s This Is It tour was due to kick off in earnest, a huge gap in the O2 – and London’s – musical summer that will be impossible to replace.
Nine Inch Nails -Discipline
Jane’s Addiction – Just Because
Mew – Swimmer’s Chant
Photo: Nine Inch Nails Official, Worcester MA, 09.11.08
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Gig of the Week: Tinariwen @ Roundhouse
Continuing my love affair with most things Malian, desert band extraordinaire Tinariwen hit the Roundhouse this Thursday as part of the third iTunes festival. Their follow up to 2007’s fantastic Aman Iman, Imidiwan, is garnering similar levels of adulation from both music and mainstream presses. Tickets for this show and all the others during the month long run at the Roundhouse are available for free from the iTunes festival Facebook page, or through their site here.
Elsewhere this week Welsh trio The Victorian English Gentlemen’s Club make their London return, in support of stomping new ‘un Parrot. Catch them Monday at The Lexington. Other recommendations include the incredible live experience that is !!! at Electric Ballroom, M83 wrapping up (surely!) their tour surrounding our 2008 album of the year Saturdays=Youth with support from the returning Maps. Also on the comeback trail are Jealousy faves Honey Pine Dresser, now with all members on the same patch of earth for the first time in months. They’re playing as part of the all-dayer on Saturday at the Cross Kings. Finally, in unusual venues of the week Morton Valence play on the Battersea Barge, their tales of Bob and Veronica surely set to rock the boat… cue groans.
Tinariwen – Tahult In
Check out the rest of this week’s fantastic haul below.
Photo: Mick Orlosky, Coachella 18.04.09
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