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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Morton Valence: Bob And Veronica Ride Again
Released 4th May 2009
Bastard Recordings
Morton Valence’s debut is an achingly British slab of pop, so desperate to tell us the story of the title’s namesakes that it comes packaged with a romantic novella. Thankfully, unlike many concept records, the album forms a coherent whole and begs to be listened to from start to finish. It does this whilst constantly shifting in style; dipping from Jesus And Mary Chain style shoegaze on the fantastic “I Must Go,”Said Veronica, “But I Will Always Come Back” through to classic electropop reminiscent of Saint Etienne or Black Box Recorder . The similarities to the latter don’t end there either, with Anne Gilpin recalling the glacial delivery of Sarah Nixey.
Whilst treading the same well worn boards as their pop peers Morton Valence carry the whole thing off with such charm, wit and panache that it never comes across as anything but original. I can’t wait for word to catch on about this glorious piece of work, and I suspect neither can the fans who invested in ’shares’ of the album to ensure its release. A wonderful album that deserves to be near the top of the pile come the year end reckoning.
Rating: 
For our London readers there are a couple of opportunities to catch Morton Valence over the next few weeks in the city. The first is on June 25 at the last of their Bob And Veronica Book Club events at The Enterprise, and also a chance for a bit of a boat party on July 9 as they play the Battersea Barge.
Morton Valence – Hang It On The Wall (mp3)
Morton Valence – Chandelier (video)
Band site
Last.fm
Myspace
You can buy the CD version of the album that comes with the novella from the band’s website.
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