MELT YOURSELF DOWN (London Corsica Studios, 24/04/13)

Look, it's Zun Zun Egui with a bunch of the country's leading modern jazz musicians. It was always going to be great. True, their material lacks variety, deviating from high-octane jazz-funk only to delve in latter-day-Sam-Beam world music territory, but my God, it's a hell of a lot of fun.

NOBUNNY (London Brixton Windmill, 19/04/13) 



No-bullshit lo-fi garage rock, delivered by a guy in a tattered bunny mask and almost ruined by a bunch of coked-up, beer-throwing dickheads. Great performer, shame about the audience.

(Photo: Jason Reed)

BRASS BAND BATTLE- BALKANS VS MEXICO (London Barbican, 14/04/13) 



All that really needs to be said about this phenomenal brass-off between the Serbian Boban I Marko Marko Markovic Orkestra and the Mexican Banda Estrellas de Sinaloa de Gérman Lizarraga is that it inspired a typically staid and highbrow Barbican audience not only to initiate a conga line around the venue, but also to undertake two full-on stage invasions. For my money, the Balkans easily won it, with a far more varied and technically brilliant set, but the Mexican's played their hearts out too, with “Tequila Mambo” an obvious highlight. Without a doubt the most fun I've had this year outside of a Dan Deacon gig.

KARIN PARK (London Lexington, 10/04/13)
 

Review: HERE

BRITISH SEA POWER (London 100 Club, 03/04/13)



Review: HERE

BALMORHEA (London Hoxton Bar & Kitchen, 01/04/13)

Balmorhea hail from Austin, Texas. They play lush, folky instrumentals, swap instruments with abandon and are really rather delightful.

EFTERKLANG (London Lexington, 29/03/13)

Efterklang's orchestral shows have been great an' all, but it's such a pleasure to see them once again as a proper band, playing their little Danish hearts out in a venue ten times smaller than what they're accustomed to these days. There's not a single duff moment during their 90-minute set, with their new female member's angelic harmonies elevating the arrangements to even more astounding levels of joyousness. An absolute stunner of a performance, and perhaps the best I've seen so far this year.