MISTY’S BIG ADVENTURE (London Islington Academy 2, 22/12/15)

As good as Mew’s brand of Danish post-rock was last week, I'm glad my *actual* final gig of 2015 involved 80's prog interpretations of "The Snowman", Christmas ditties featuring Jeremy Corbyn, Nice biscuits and the nightmare-inducing antics of Erotic Volvo. For a band often dismissed as a bit of a novelty, they’re also a surprisingly competent set of songwriters and musicians. God bless Misty’s, and all that sail within her.

MEW (London Village Underground, 14/12/15)

The Danish post-rock veterans have never really clicked for me live, but tonight’s intimate set, featuring both acoustic and standard versions of twenty songs from their back catalogue was certainly a cut above. Great sound, fantastic lighting, and a timely reminder that Mew have a more eclectic output than they perhaps get credit for.

A WINGED VICTORY FOR THE SULLEN (London Barbican, 12/12/15)

Whilst I went primarily for Hauschka’s customarily brilliant prepared-piano antics, AWVFTS weren’t too shabby themselves, adding some orchestral flourish to Stars of the Lid’s classically-styled ambiance.

EL VY (London Electric Ballroom, 10/12/15)

I’m not sure this louche lovechild of The National, Menomena and Wye Oak transcends the sum of its parts, but that full-throttle cover of the Fine Young Cannibals “She Drives Me Crazy” must be a contender for one of the most gleeful gig moments of 2015.

ANNA VON HAUSSWOLF (London Oslo, 08/12/15)

I must admit a certain degree of scepticism that Anna Von Hausswolff would be able recreate the gloriously OTT gothic majesty of her recent release “The Miraculous” in a sweltering attic next to Hackney Central, but as usual, I was proved embarrassingly wrong. Music to herald the literal Apocalypse.

CHAIRLIFT (London Oslo, 01/12/15)

Review: HERE

NEKO CASE (London Lexington, 30/11/15)

Neko Case's last London show was a pretty big disappointment. They'd had major technical problems, they were suffering from flu and end-of-tour fatigue and quite simply, they look like they couldn't be arsed. This time round it's quite the opposite - Neko's in extremely chipper form and babbling about the Kaiser, and the band's actually putting in the effort to bring the songs to life, rather than listlessly going through the motions. A very enjoyable performance, albeit a little brief for the asking price.

LIGHTNING BOLT (London Electric Ballroom, 26/11/15)

I deeply regret not seeing Lightning Bolt when i) they played on the floor guerilla style and ii) I was young enough to have the energy for this sort of thing, but regardless of my ill-disguised scorn for the over-stimulated youths determined to elbow me in the torso, their noise-rock onslaught certainly blew away a few cobwebs from the ol' earholes.

BUILT TO SPILL (London Electric Ballroom, 25/11/15)

Doug Martsch is a little greyer around the whiskers than the first time I saw him in 'aught seven, but Built To Spill's lo-fi, hook-heavy indie rock remains as fresh as ever. Bit gutted "Conventional Wisdom" and "Distopian Dream Girl" didn't make the cut that night, but 1999's eight-minute epic "Broken Chairs" is one hell of a closer.

MERCURY REV (London Oval Space, 24/11/15)

Review: HERE

EZRA FURMAN ( London The Dentist, 19/11/15)

An acoustic set from Ezra in a venue so trendily deshabille, you could see mice peaking through the holes in the ceiling. Good fun.

CAR SEAT HEADREST (London Rough Trade East, 18/11/15)

Crap name, decent band. Will Toledo's tendency to overuse the same chord progressions makes it hard to distinguish between songs at times, but he's got a good ear for melody and an engagingly nonchalant lyrical style.

TITUS ANDRONICUS (London Old Blue Last, 17/11/15) 

I first listened to Titus Andronicus the day after they played the Old Blue Last in 2008, and after watching YouTube footage of "Fear and Loathing In Mahwah, NJ" from that gig, I knew that I'd missed something pretty special. So to hear them play that very song at the very same venue seven years later was a really rather cathartic experience.

THE BESNARD LAKES (London 100 Club, 16/11/15)

Some mediocre bands sell out headline arenas, whilst some amazing ones are destined never to graduate from the pub circuit. Such is the fickle nature of the music business. But it's a particular shame that the Besnard Lakes are playing to a half-full 100 Club, as their Fleetwood Mac-do-shoegaze grandeur deserves a far larger audience.

KAMASI WASHINGTON (London Barbican, 14/11/15)

Kamasi Washington's been declared by several reputable sources as the new great hope of jazz, and on the basis of this, that might be an understatement. Combining multiple traditions of the genre into one scintillating, unpredictable, breathtaking whole, it's without a doubt the most sublime hour of jazz musicianship I've ever had the pleasure to see.

MONO (London Electric Ballroom, 06/11/15)

I'm not sure why one would book Mono to play a 70 minute set given that timeframe allows them roughly two and a half songs, but if I'm to be entirely truthful, that's not entirely a bad thing. For as brilliant the Japanese post-rockers can be at their ostentatious best, they're not the most varied band in the world, and the brevity of the set meant what we did get was all-killer, no-filler.

TITUS ANDRONICUS (London Village Underground, 05/11/15)

I think it's fair to say Titus Andronicus have struggled to match the quality of their second album "The Monitor", that rollocking, impossibly anthemic masterpiece that could well be my favourite album of the last half-decad. But as a live act, they remain an absolute riot. I've been to a lot of gigs this year, but the audience response to the likes of "No Future Part 3" or "Four Score and Seven" was simply unmatchable in terms of vitality and good old fashioned, beer swigging, singalong bonhomie.

CASPIAN (London Dome, 02/11/15)

For reasons too boring to iterate here I was unable to stay for the whole of Caspian's performance, but the thirty minutes of uncompromisingly abrasive post-rock I did catch did leave a most satisfying ringing in my ears for several days afterwards.

JOANNA NEWSOM (Brighton Dome, 01/11/15)

After being left curiously unmoved by Sufjan's sad-jams earlier this year, it was left to popular harp-caressing songstress J-New to successfully elicit emotion from my black and joyless heart. The new material happily lived up to expectations (even if there was perhaps one too many mid-tempo piano ballads), it was nice to be reminded that "Have One On Me", despite its 500 hour running time, actually has some stunning moments, and of course the classics remain some of the most sublime works of music these ears have ever heard.

PATTI SMITH (London Roundhouse, 31/10/15)

Patti Smith is cooler than you. Indeed, Patti Smith is cooler than pretty much any other live act out there. Yeah, her band does at time tend to adopt a pub-rock bludgeon on songs that demand a bit more nuance, but to hear "Horses" in full is one of those majestic, electrifying, heart-swelling, experiences few others could possibly come close to replicating.

DESTROYER (London Islington Assembly Hall, 30/10/15)

Has there ever been a more unlikely crooner of louche soft-rock than Daniel Bejar, he of the ever-cryptic lyric and perpetually moody temperament? Yet, while the mellow, sax-heavy jams may occasionally threaten to go full Mick Hucknell, Bejar's natural inscrutability and his band's effortless proficiency ensures an experience more celebratory than cheesy.

MATES OF STATE (London Birthdays, 29/10/15)

The last time I saw Mates of State, I was twenty, had considerably more hair, and was pointedly not writing my dissertation. Many things have changed since then, but their sugar-coated synth pop remains as straightforward a delight as ever.

RATATAT (London Electric Brixton, 28/10/15)

I still maintain their Cargo show in '08 was one of the most fun gigs I've ever been to, but the limitations of Ratatat really came into sharp relief tonight, despite an impressive light show. Their signature sound still works well in short doses, but their reliance on backing tracks and significant quantities of filler are all a bit "B-rate M83".

MASAYOSHI FUJITA (London Vortex, 26/10/15)

It's not often an artist piques my interest purely through description, but then again, not many artists dabble in vibraphone-based minimalism. Masayoshi Fujita's sound is very much as you'd expect for an act associated with Erased Tapes, but his cute stories around each piece and Hauschka-esque creativity adds a unique and endearing character to his music.