HALF MAN HALF BISCUIT (London Shepherd's Bush Empire, 21/03/14)



















The last time I saw Half Man Half Biscuit was at a Christmas show in 2006, where they pointedly didn't play "All I Want For Xmas Is a Dukla Prague Away Kit". This, of course, was profoundly upsetting and led to a life long phobia of defunct Central European football teams. Tonight, however, finally rectified that. Not only did they perform the world's best paean to Subbueto, but they immediately preceded it with "Vatican Broadside" (the best sub-30 second song by anyone ever) and "Joy Division Oven Gloves" ("DANCE! DANCE! DANCE! DANCE!"). Add in a bit of "Fuckin' Hell, It's Fred Titmus", "National Shite Day" "A Country Practice", "Bob Wilson, Anchorman", "Running Order Squabble Fest" and a myriad other shining examples of Nigel Blackwell's peerless wit, and you've got a gig that somehow transcended the Empire's frankly shoddy sound.

LAIBACH (London Village Underground, 12/03/14)

Review: HERE

JOHN GRANT (London Roundhouse, 09/03/14) 

Review: HERE

(Photo: Burak Cingi/The Line of Best Fit)

MUTUAL BENEFIT (London St John-on-Bethnal Green Church, 04/03/14)

Review: HERE

(Photo: Danny Dorsa)

WILD BEASTS (Kingston New Slang, 27/02/14)

  Wild Beasts may be one of the country's most critically acclaimed bands, but even they lose some of their lustre within a student nightclub with floors the consistency of treacle. Meh.

HAIKU SALUT (London Kings Place, 21/02/14)

 
A lovely, if brief set of orchestral folk from the Derbyshire trio, falling halfway between the glitchy beauty of múm and the whimsical charm of early Yann Tiersen. These ladies deserve to go far.

ST VINCENT (London Shepherd's Bush Empire, 20/02/14)

Annie Clark certainly picked up a few tips from David Byrne during the "Love This Giant" tour. She still has a "less is more" mentality as to the musical aspect of her shows, eschewing big ensembles for two synth-players and a drummer, but this performance was a hell of a lot more theatrical than anything she's done before. Most of it works excellently- the dual shimmying, the guitar shredding atop a ziggurat- but there are moments the artifice wears a bit thin, not least the stilted, scripted, faux-insightful "banter". But she played "Krokodil". And "Cruel". And "Marrow". And "Surgeon" (god, I love that guitar tone). And "Cheerleader." And "Prince Johnny." And a gloriously apocalyptic "Your Lips Are Red" to round things off. So that's all OK then.

(Photo: John Gleeson)

EZRA FURMAN (London Sebright Arms, 19/02/14)

Ezra Furman is Bruce Springsteen reincarnated into the body of a nebbish, shrill-voiced youth. Ezra Furman is a guy who produces quality, old-school rock 'n roll singalongs with unseemly ease. Ezra Furman is the kind of performer who can get away with three covers in a set ("Please Mr Postman", "Train In Vain" and "Hungry Heart") without making the punters feel like we're getting ripped off. Ezra Furman is bloody awesome.

JENNY WILSON (London Lexington, 17/02/14) 

It's pretty easy to tell Jenny Wilson once collaborated with The Knife. Her glacial, industrial Swedish pop bears a lot of similarity with that of the siblings Dreijer, and although she doesn't have anything in her catalogue to match "Heartbearts" or "We Share Our Mother's Health" she's also, thankfully, a lot less pretentious. Very enjoyable.