CALEXICO (London Forum, 14/05/22)

Could one of the world’s most reliably satisfying live bands fully overcome the awfulness of London’s Worst Gig Venue? The jury’s still out on that, but the Tex-Mex ensemble nonetheless elicited a great deal of mariachi-tinged joy.

PORTALS FESTIVAL (London Tufnell Park Dome, 14/05/22)

Attended London’s annual math/post-rock fest purely to see fuzzed-up Bristol alt/math-rockers No Violet and scintillating Norwegian duo Aiming For Enrike (plus their myriad effects pedals). The fact I also caught the last few minutes of Teeth of The Sea was merely the cherry on top.

BELLE AND SEBASTIAN (London Rough Trade East, 12/05/22)

A charmingly unpolished in-store from the Scottish cardigan-core icons, who are still clearly having fun a quarter-century into their careers.

GUSTAF (London Moth Club, 09/05/22)

An intoxicatingly high-energy set from the vivacious Brooklyn art-punks, who seemed tailor-made to go down a storm during festival season.

ANAMANAGUCHI (London Garage, 07/05/22)

A kaleidoscopic weeb-out courtesy of the chiptune wizards, performing the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack in full plus other nerdcore faves.

JONATHAN BREE (London 100 Club, 06/05/22)

Ever wonder what would happen if Jarvis Cocker had been brought up by an unsettling mannequin cult from the Nightmare Zone? If so, then Jonathan Bree may be for you.

ILLUMINATI HOTTIES (London Moth Club, 04/05/22)

A strong power-pop core, spiced with genre influences a-plenty (post-hardcore to alt-country and everything in between), all wrapped together with Sarah Tudzin's electrifying frontlady energy. Very hot stuff.

THE BESNARD LAKES (Leeds Brudenell Social Club, 03/05/22)

A two-hour psych/shoegaze odyssey from the Canadian wig-out merchants. Your mileage may vary, but when they're good, they're very very good.

COLIN STETSON (London Union Chapel, 02/05/22)

Witnessing this saxophonic sorcerer in full flow is like experiencing a primal force of nature; a literally breathtaking affair for everyone in the vicinity.

ARCADE FIRE (London KOKO, 29/04/22)

Review: HERE

THE NATVRAL (London Rough Trade West, 28/04/22)

A low-key, engaging acoustic in-store from the melodic mastermind behind The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

GRANDADDY & THE LOST MACHINE ORCHESTRA (London Palladium, 26/04/22)

I’ll be frank, I was expecting this to be an all-timer, but things just didn’t quite click the way I hoped it would. I love Grandaddy, I love lush orchestral arrangements, but the end result was too singularly-paced to stir the old heartstrings. That said, it was still a thoroughly lovely evening
(despite the odd heckling danger in the audience), and “A Lost Machine” remains one of the most gorgeous songs of recent years.

HOLY FUCK (Birmingham Hare & Hounds , 24/04/22)

Almost too much propulsive electro-percussive brilliance for a small pub attic in Brum to contain. A magnificent way to spend a Sunday night.

MELT-BANANA (London Garage, 23/04/22)

The banana has not so much 'melted' as 'been rent asunder into its constituent atoms, triggering the Heat Death of the Universe'.

MABE FRATTI ( London Kings Place, 21/04/22)

Had high hopes for the experimental Guatemalan cellist, but I sure wasn't expecting this to sound so...Godspeed-y. Impressively intense!

SPARKS (London Roundhouse, 17/04/22)

Truly, the Alpha Maels. What more can be said?

MDOU MOCTAR (London EartH, 14/04/22)

Earlier this year, Dalston was shredded out of existence...but all concerned agreed it was worth it. I’ve waiting 4 years to witness the Tuareg Hendrix in the flesh (no thanks to the Home Office) and he surpassed even my heady expectations.

ELAINE MITCHENER & PAT THOMAS (London Cafe Oto, 10/04/22)

Innovative vocalisations and avant-garde piano from a strikingly talented duo.

WET LEG (London Rough Trade East, 08/04/22

I went to work, and I got the Big D...

CIRCUIT DES YEUX (London Milton Court, 06/04/22)

In the dimension where I am an omnipotent deity respected and worshipped by all, Haley Fohr is being watched rapturously by thousands and Ed Sheeran will be tried at the cultural equivalent of The Hague. In the worse dimension where we currently exist, experiencing “Black Fly” and "Neutron Star", accompanied with a string ensemble will have to suffice, and you know what- that's a pretty blessed position to be in. A spine-tingling masterpiece of a performance.

   

MARI KALKUN (London Kings Place, 26/03/22)

A pleasant hour of traditional and contemporary Estonian folk. Sat next to the Ambassador from Tallinn too, without causing an international incident. Hooray!

DAN DEACON (London Alexandra Palace, 25/03/22)

Yeah, I spent £35 just to see half an hour of Dan Deacon, and I REGRET NOTHING. The Crystal Cat dance-off could literally power cities with the euphoria it generated.

ENSEMBLE NIST-NAH (London Cafe Oto, 22/03/22)

An act I bought a ticket for solely because they sounded fascinating on the Oto website -and this nine-piece Aussie/French gamelan ensemble definitely proved a winner. The sheer spectacle of several hundred tiny drums was almost worth the ticket price alone.

SPOON (London Rough Trade East, 21/03/22)

Two-fifths of a Spoonful of veteran indie-rock goodness, including a moving cover of Bowie's "I Can't Give Everything Away".

COLLEEN (London Kings Place, 19/03/22)

An endearing, if perhaps “rough around the edges” performance from the cult French experimentalist.

MARIO BATKOVIC (London St Pancras Old Church, 17/03/22)

A supremely impressive set from the virtuoso Swiss accordion master. Fans of Philip Glass and Colin Stetson are legally obliged to check him out.

HOLY HOLY (London Barbican, 13/03/22)

Yes, there was a Woody Woodmansey-shaped hole tonight (disputes about vaccination status, alas) but Holy Holy remain the Diamond Dogs of Bowie tribute acts. In fact, one may argue the Spider from Mars’ absence allowed the group to be more adventurous setlist-wise than usual, which was nice for established fans- everyone loves a ch-ch-ch-ch-change, after all.

KEELEY FORSYTH (London Milton Court, 11/03/22)

If you’ve ever yearned for a disquietingly beautiful mid-point between Grouper and Pharmakon, Annette from “Happy Valley” is here to sort you out. A hypnotic performance that straddled the line between music, theatre and the endless dark of the Nether-realms.

FRANZ FERDINAND (Kingston PRYZM, 10/03/22)

Bouncing to "Take Me Out" in a sweaty student nightclub? No, I’m not nineteen again, but Alex Kapranos and pals almost made me think I was. My back on the other hand, not so much...

THE HOLD STEADY (London Moth Club, 06/03/22)

As exhilarating a set of fist-pumping bar-room anthems as their March 2020 Bush Hall show was. Hopefully this time their closer “Killer Parties” won’t seem so dreadfully apt...

SONGS IN THE KEY OF LONDON (London Barbican, 05/03/22)

A suitably fantastic, diverse and slightly disorderly tribute to the Big Smoke, featuring Marc Almond covering Bowie and the Pet Shop Boys, Brett Anderson duetting with Nadine Shah, Emmy The Great's take on Nick Cave, an unexpected Harry Enfield cameo and much much more. No wonder it over-ran its already generous three-hour set time!

EFTERKLANG (London EartH, 01/03/22)

Live music in its many wondrous forms can elicit all the emotions under the sun, but if you were to ask me what band makes me happy in the purest, most uncomplicated sense, Rasmus, Casper, Mads and co. would definitely be at the peak, playing weird instruments and high-fiving everyone.

NOUVELLE VAGUE (London Union Chapel, 28/02/22)

For a band formed solely to execute a specific multilingual pun (they play NEW WAVE covers in a BOSSA NOVA style, you see), the French quintet are far more substantial and consistently delightful than they have any right to be.

MARTHA SKYE MURPHY (London Purcell Room, 26/02/22)

Not gonna lie, I actually forgot to take a photo at this one, so please enjoy this highly misleading shot from her Visions show instead, featuring more musicians and colours, but less flight recorders and experimental noise collage.

DAMON ALBARN (London Barbican, 22/02/22)

A meditative, piano-led performance a million miles away from the laddish swagger of Blur’s Britpop heyday. It may have not been for everyone, but I thought it all sounded rather lovely.

SEA POWER (London Rough Trade East, 21/02/22)

A solid if unspectacular in-store from the newly de-nationalised indie veterans.

GOGO PENGUIN (London Barbican, 10/02/22)

Minimalist jazz, minimal penguins. Swings and roundabouts, eh?

TEETH OF THE SEA (London Lexington, 06/02/22)

The sound of a brutal 80's cyber-punk dystopia distilled into fifty visceral minutes of industrial/electro/psych awesomeness: yes, Teeth of the Sea remain one of the best live bands Rainy Fascism Island has to offer.

LOS BITCHOS (London Social, 04/02/22)

'Let The Festivities Begin' seems to be as much a mission statement as it is an album title, and this certainly proved a super-fun launch party for a super-fun record. Cumbian-psych is clearly where it’s at.

WET LEG (London 100 Club, 02/02/22)

Was anyone assigned to butter my muffin? Were they fuck. Nonetheless, Wet Leg's fourteen-songs-in-55 minute barrage was very good fun, even though ‘Chaise Longue’ was controversially a much more euphoric experience at Brixton, which had more young people and fewer members of The League of Bald-Headed Men.

NATION OF LANGUAGE (London Lafayette, 31/01/22)

Top-tier synth-pop anthems from the distant shores of the Yanks. I imagine this most excellent trio will be playing much bigger rooms soon enough...

ASTREL K (London Shacklewell Arms, 27/01/22)

First caught this Welsh/Swedish five-piece supporting Black Country, New Road in early 2020 – they piqued my interest then, and they’ve become even better since. If you like woozy late 90's-early 00's indie-pop (The Unicorns, Grandaddy etc), keep an eye out!

THE HOWLING BELLS (London 229, 22/01/22)

Nope, I haven't been teleported back to 2008- this definitely took place at the 229 *and* the headliners really were mid-level Australian indie darlings The Howling Bells. Took a few songs to win me over, but Juanita Stein and co. are still worth checking out.

YARD ACT (London 100 Club, 22/01/22)

Sarcasm, swagger and an incisive sense of humour from the highly entertaining Leeds beat combo.

DAKHABRAKHA (London Barbican, 20/01/22)

 

An exhilarating blast of "ethno-chaos" from the big-hatted Ukrainian folk mavericks, earning a rapturous reception from a sold-out Barbican.

EBONY STEEL BAND PLAY KRAFTWERK (London Jazz Cafe, 05/01/22)

I had some concerns this could wind up too gimmicky for its own good, but it turns out fusing the warm-yet-metallic timbre of steel drums with motorik odysseys is a match made in Krautrock heaven. An unexpectedly satisfying way to kick off 2022.