It’s for helping you reach your musical climax safely
Sigur Ros @ Alexandra Palace
As the masses of people swarm through the entrance of the huge Ally Pally, the thing that stands out the most is the full on atmosphere of child-like excitement. As faces of all ages chat happily to their mates and the time draws closer to the main event of the night, it all feels like the sort of buzz of a fairground from another age.
Dananananaykroyd, Tubelord and Favours For Sailors/The Lexington/12.11.08
Gigs where even the local support band are something to get excited about are few and far between but on this non-descript Wednesday night The Lexington is hosting one and London based four piece Favours For Sailors are most certainly that band.
Dananananaykroyd/Pulled Apart by Horses/Calf by Calf @ The Harley, Sheffield
With Youthmovies playing at Sheffield University, Death Cab for Cutie at the Academy and Fucked Up and White Denim also playing in Sheffield, there was an abundance of live music on around the city tonight. However, it was a small pub, The Harley, that would boast one of the finest line-ups of the night.
TV on The Radio @ Shepherds Bush Empire 19/11/2008
TV on The Radio’s most recent long player, “Dear Science”, seems to have disappointed a number of fans equally as much as it has been, or will be, featured in end of year best of lists, yet, judging by the hysteria of an excited buzz mixed with furiously busy touts, tonight the stage is really set for them to prove their worth.
Fucked Up/Rolo Tomassi @ Camden Barfly 6/11/2008
Anyone smart enough to brave it to Camden tonight not to see a Pete Doherty solo set is in for a treat with this XFM showcase at the perfectly scummy Barfly. Although advertised as a “secret headliner”, it seems everyone is pretty confident that it’s Canadian hardcore punk outfit Fucked Up that will be taking to the stage by the end of the night.
Vampire Weekend/Wild Beasts/El Guincho @ The Kentish Town Forum, London 25 October
The rise and rise of Vampire Weekend has been a thing of wonder: last year they were swimming about in the peripheries of the music press and then, suddenly, BAM!- it’s customary for radio DJs to play at least one of their songs each hour and they’re on every British festival this summer inciting chirpy sing alongs all the way from a rainy Pyramid Stage performance to a triumphant, sweaty Leeds festival set. Whereas some bands (a certain multi-racial five piece from Florida spring to mind) received a hell of a roar in the hype department of the NME office but eventually only delivered a whimper, Vampire Weekend have consistently come up with the goods. After the festival season undoubtedly won them numerous fans, tonight the question is whether Vampire Weekend can cope in the spotlight in their own right headlining three sold out nights in a row at the Forum.
Shred Your Face at Camden Electric Ballroom, London 20 October
It’s a rainy Monday night and the self styled “Shred Your Face” tour rolls into Camden town for what is surely the biggest gig of the jaunt.
First on to an already pretty packed venue is Times New Viking who impress those who made the effort to come early. The band seem to take a particular perverse joy in creating glorious pop songs almost of the Belle and Sebastian variety and then smothering them with walls of feedback, splashy cymbals and fuzzed out vocals so that the listener has to almost decipher those gorgeous melodies.
Dananananaykroyd, Johnny Foreigner/ Madame JoJo’s/ 30.09.08
It’s not often one sees a line up so simply perfect as tonight’s. A band whose recent debut can be expected to flutter around top twenty lists across the internet come this December and another who are going to find it difficult not to take over the world in the next two years if certain sources are to be believed. Read the rest of this entry »
Holy Fuck/Kelpe- Kings College London 18 October
The first time INFTC saw Holy Fuck, it was as a barely advertised add-on band in a sweaty, dirty nightclub to a few gurning clubbers who had lost their mates on the way to the bar. Now, a year on, it’s perhaps a little surprising that the band have sold out a headline show at the relatively large Kings College Union. They may not boast the hits or even accessibility of many of their contemporaries, but one thing is clear when seeing them live- they are certainly interesting and experimental enough to hold attention unwaveringly.
Nail The Cross, 27.09.08
It’s that magical time of year again, when the students of the country are riding high on a new injection of what feels like free money, the sun is still shining and in East London there are the hippest of events to attend. Being added to the list this year is New Cross’ ‘Nail The Cross’ festival, a mix of art, music and barbeque filled beer gardens. Read the rest of this entry »