Maramduke Dando: reviews his own gigs

Nothing says christmas like lists, and nothing appeals to me more than an artist's own opinion of a venue

Marmaduke Dando has posted a blog of all his gigs this year, giving a short review of what he thought of the people and place in each case and whether he'd play again.


My favourites are where he hails the the glorious St Mary's and Ryan's Bar of Stoke Newington and damns the awfulness of The Lock Tavern and Maggies. His appraisal of Barden's is accurate, but I love the place...so hopefully he'll give it another shot.

Banjo or Freakout: New EP free online

Get on over to the Banjo or Freakout blog, where a new EP of very recently recorded material (apart from the title track) has been set free!

Elf Power: Tour Europe in March (w/ Vic Chestnutt)

Elf Powe have just announced a string of dates in Europe supporting Vic Chestnutt, including London in the Arts Depot (wherever that is).

14 Mar 2009 20:00	Dag In De Branding Festival (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Den Haag,Netherlands
15 Mar 2009 20:00	Arenbergschouwburg Club (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Antwerp,Belgium
16 Mar 2009 20:00	Cafe De La Danse (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Paris,France
17 Mar 2009 20:00	La Poudriere (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Belfort,France
18 Mar 2009 20:00	L’Autre Canal (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Nancy,France
19 Mar 2009 20:00	Fri-Son (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Fribourg,Switzerland
20 Mar 2009 20:00	Spazio (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Turin,Italy
21 Mar 2009 20:00	Bronson (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Ravena,Italy
22 Mar 2009 20:00	Circolo Degli Artisti (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Rome,Italy
23 Mar 2009 20:00	Magnolia (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Milan,Italy
24 Mar 2009 20:00	Grabenhalle (w/Vic Chesnutt)	St Gallen,Switzerland
25 Mar 2009 20:00	De Kreun (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Kortrijk,Belgium
27 Mar 2009 20:00	The Cluny (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Newcastle,UK
28 Mar 2009 20:00	Arts Depot (w/Vic Chesnutt)	London,UK
29 Mar 2009 20:00	Cube (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Bristol,UK
30 Mar 2009 20:00	Tavastia (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Helsinki,Finland
31 Mar 2009 20:00	Klubi (w/Vic Chesnutt)	Tampere,Finland

Matana @ The Vortex, 1 April 09

In a world that so indie-music oriented at the moment, with all its brilliant jangly guitars and lo-fi vocals, it's great to hear something different. And Matana is certainly that.

Lucky for us Londoners, she's playing one show in the Vortex next April. It's on the 1st, but that doesn't mean it should be taken lightly!

Of Montreal announce new support date - already sold out

Of Montreal have had to cancel their berlin show but are playing an additional London show, supporting Franz Ferdinand in Heaven. This would be a nice tiny gig - unfortunately it's already sold out.

Scroobius vs De La Soul

I've been out of the loop for a long while now and it's taken me a while to pluck up the courage to start back into it all, so this is old news...

Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip are re-releasing Thou Shalt Always Kill in february, including a version with De La Soul.

Wow. It's exiting. And DLSvsSP needed something like this to bring them back up...I was getting fairly bored with it.

Gigs This Week!

20th October

Los Campesinos! | No Age | Times New Viking @ Electric ballroom
7.30PM | £10 | Tickets

21st October    

Hatcham Social | Silhouette @ Madame JoJos
8PM | £5/6 | Tickets

Sky Larkin | Those Dancing Days @ Kings College
7.30PM | £8.50 | Tickets

22nd October

Sky Larkin @ Pure Groove
1.30PM | FREE

The Research | Threatmantics @ The Luminaire
7.30PM | £7.50 | Tickets

Bethia Beadman @ The Blag Club
7PM? | FREE (Before 9)

Stricken City | Exlovers | La Shark | Dallas @ Madame JoJos
8PM | £5/6 | Tickets

it hugs back | Rod Thomas @ Borderline
7:30PM | £6 | Tickets

23rd October 

   
Last.fm Presents:
ARE Weapons | Indian Jewelry | SJ Esau | ddd @ Shunt
6PM | £5 / free for members | Tickets on door
     
El Guincho @ Plastic People
FREE
 
Imperial Leisure @ Scala
7.30PM | £7 | Tickets

24th October         
 
THE RAVEONETTES | Liam Fray | The Displacements | Peggy Sue | The Bookhouse Boys | Story One @ 229
8PM | £12.50 | Tickets

Godfathers | The Jim Jones Revue | The Jooks of Kent @ Islington Academy
6.30PM | £7 | Tickets

Broadcast 2000 | Alaska in Winter | Tunng (DJ Set) @ 93 feet east
7PM | FREE

25th October         

Tilly & The wall @ ULU
7.30PM | £10 | Tickets

Cats and Cats and Cats | Vessels | Blakfish | Luke Leighfield | House of Brothers | The Siegfried Sassoon | A Genuine Freakshow | Our Own Devices | Papillions @ The Windmill
2PM | £5/7 | Tickets

Red Light Company | Amazing Baby | Micachu @ Barfly
7PM | £10 | Tickets

26th October     

Vampire Weekend | Ra Ra Riot @ The Forum
7PM | £15 | Tickets

MMJ Cancel European dates!

So, I just got a text message from Ticket Text saying that MMJ will not be supporting Black Keys at Brixton Academy later this year. This is baf new - I love Black Keys, but it was really the combination that drew me in...

Sha La Las: UK dates

Supporting Rosie & The Goldbug this Sunday in the Boogaloo are the poppy danes Sha La Las. But they're rolling up to that with a few extra dates the city too:

16th: The Enterprise
17th: Nambucca

Gigs This Week: Bromheads Jacket, Cut Off Your Hands, Chris Bathgate, Of Montreal, Jenny Lewis, Moshi Moshi, Rosie & The Goldbug

13th October:

Bromheads Jacket @ Kings College
7.30 | £10 | Tickets


VIKING MOSES | Golden Ghost | The End Springs @ Luminaire
7.30 | £7 | Tickets

14th October

Cut Off Your Hands | Division of Laura Lee | Sounds Like Violence | When Gravity Fails @ Water Rats
7.00 | £6 | Tickets

Bodies of Water @ Cargo
7PM | £8 | Tickets

MAPS AND ATLASES | This Town Needs Guns | Tropics @ Bardens Bar
8PM | £7

15th October

Kelli Ali | CHRIS BATHGATE | BETHIA BEADMAN @ Slaughtered Lamb
8PM | £5adv / £6 | Tickets

Anais Mitchell | Alex Lipinski @ 12 Bar Club
7.30PM | £8 | Tickets: 020 7240 2622

16th October

Of Montreal | Eugene McGuinness | Wave Machines @ KoKo
7PM | £14.50 | Tickets

17th October

Jenny Lewis | Benji Hughes @ KoKo
7PM | £14 | Tickets

Tilly & The Wall @ Pure Groove
6.30PM Instore | FREE

18th October

Moshi Moshi Birthday @ Matter
10PM - 7AM | £17.50 | Tickets

Roots Manuva @ Shepherds Bush Empire
7PM | £16 | Tickets

19th October

Cass McCombs @ The Luminaire
7.30PM | £7.50 | Tickets

Rosie & The Goldbug | Sha La Las | Maria Viskonti @ The Boogaloo

The whiskers play Wheel of Fortune

Whiskers give us a gameshow-esque preview of their next album title. I'm going for Three Currents. Any other guesses?

Gigs This Week: Pete Molinari

A bit late with the guide this week, but if you didn't know that Tricky was playing Barbican, I'm not sure your life is worth living. The rest of the week looks like this:

9th October:
Pete Molinari Band @ Dingwalls
7.30PM | £10 /£12.50 | Tickets

Example | Plastic Little @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
8PM | £7 | Tickets

10th October
Chris Garneau | Banjo or Freakout | Sleaford Mods @ The Luminaire
7PM | £5 | Tickets

Amanda Palmer | The Danger Ensemble @ Koko
7PM | £13.50 | Tickets

11th October:
Sam Isaac @ Borderline
7PM | £7.50 | Tickets

Calexico | Bodies of Water @ Forum
7PM | £16 | Tickets

Diesel xXx: The Creative Experiment @ Matter

Diesel xXx: The Creative Experiment

The
London leg of Diesel’s global 30th birthday party will see 30 of
London’s best loved artists getting up on stage to collaborate together
on totally unique versions of 30 tracks for a one-off live performance.

Guests include - TheCocknBullKid, Disco Bloodbath, Friendly Fires,
Hannah Hanra, Lethal Bizzle, MARK RONSON, Mystery Jets, New Young Pony
Club, Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, Rob da Bank, The Lovely Jonjo, These New
Puritans, The Souljazz Records Soundsystem, The Teenagers, The View and
many more


Tickets are available in UK Diesel stores or from websites below

www.diesel.com/xxx/london

Line up

• Cock’n’Bull Kid
• Disco Bloodbath
• Friendly Fires
• Hanna Hanra
• Lethal Bizzle
• Mark Ronson
• Mystery Jets
• New Young Pony Club
• OX.EAGLE.LION.MAN
• Rob da Bank
• The Lovely Jonjo
• These New Puritans
• The Teenagers
• The View

9pm - 3am
£5 (all proceeds to charity)

Email this
Link to this

Travel info
Jubilee Line suspended between Green Park and Stratford More info

Tickets
Book with Ticketweb
Book with Ticket-text More info

Chris Bathgate: London 15-18th October

The number one song on my iPod recently, if I switch to that playlist, is the amazing "Yes I'm Cold" by Chris Bathgate. I don't really know mmuch else of his music, but I'll be very much trying to get to one of his upcoming London shows:

15 Oct 2008 20:00	The Slaughtered Lamb	London, London and South East
16 Oct 2008 20:00	The Betsy Trotwood	London, London and South East
17 Oct 2008 20:00	The Vortex	London, London and South East
18 Oct 2008 20:00	The Miller	london, London and South East

15 Oct 2008 20:00	The Slaughtered Lamb	London, London and South East
16 Oct 2008 20:00	The Betsy Trotwood	London, London and South East
17 Oct 2008 20:00	The Vortex	London, London and South East
18 Oct 2008 20:00	The Miller	london, London and South East

Tonight: Blitzen Trapper | Absentee @ 93 Feet East

TUESDAY OCTOBER 7th:
BLITZEN TRAPPER +
ABSENTEE
7:00PM - 11:00PM ~ £8 IN
ADVANCE / £10 ON THE DOOR
BLITZEN TRAPPER have self-released three albums since
2003, including their latest, Wild Mountain Nation. The struggle of DIY indie
bands can be over-romanticized, but in the case of Blitzen Trapper, the freedom
to work at their own pace is most likely what brought them to come up with the
cock-eyed stylistic blitzkrieg of Wild Mountain Nation. It's better for all of
us they've refused to focus. While I'm loathe to make a Pavement reference, Wild
Mountain Nation comes closer to catching the carefree fuck-off sprawl of Wowee
Zowee than any record in recent memory. Here the band sail through any number of
genres and styles without giving off a whiff of effort, their apparent West
coast breeziness covering for the judicious amount of detail crammed into nearly
every song.
ABSENTEE Born to the sounds of Barry Manillow and The
Carpenters, raised on romantic comedies, and schooled in failed love and
misfiring lust Absentee emerge well-versed in the rigours of romance with their
finest album to date, Victory Shorts. Marked with the influence of Johnny Cash,
Pavement and The Velvet Underground, produced/engineered/mixed by Nick Terry
(Klaxons, Libertines, Bernard Butler), and shot through with the originality and
humour we've come to expect from Absentee, Victory Shorts stands alone as the
band's strongest, most honest record yet.

The Whiskers: Dunce Cap

The Whiskers are compiling and slow-releasing an album of tracks they've dumped. Clearly not going to be as good as their albums - which are also free to download - but worth a mention. The 2nd track "Worms Don't Need No Sleep" is available here.

Gig Addition: 1st Oct - Yo Zushi @ The Betsey Trotwood

Songs in the Dark @ Betsey Trotwood
Live Music:
Lettie | Yo Zushi | The Woe Betides

Spoken Word:
Niall Spooner-Harvey | Sophie Cameron (I think...)

Exhibited Art:
Echao Jiang

Doors 8PM | £3.00

This weeks gigs: phil campbell, the duke spirit, kaki king, golden silvers

Monday 29/09

Phil Cambell | Telegrams | Ben Pike @ The Slaughtered Lamb
Doors 8pm | £7 advance / £8 door | tickets

Tuesday 30/09:

The Duke Spirit | Howling Bells | Lord Auch @ Astoria
£12.50 + booking fee | tickets

Wednesday 1/10:
Tom Brosseau | Adam Beattie @ Cafe OTO
Doors 7PM | £5 on door

Golden Silvers | exlovers @ Water Rats
Doors 7PM | £6.50 | Tickets

their hearts were full of spring | Electrophönvintage | The Garden City Project | Mega Moog @ Buffalo Bar
Doors 8PM | £5

Thursday 2/10:

Frightened Rabbit | O Death | Errors @ Hoxton Bar & Kitchen
Concrete & Glass Festival
2 day ticket: £35 | tickets | Full Schedule

Friday 3/10:

Kaki King @ ICA
8PM | £12.50 | Tickets

Artefacts for Space Travel | Let’s Wrestle | Screaming Tea Party |  Pete and the Pirates @ Macbeth
Concrete & Glass Festival

2 day ticket: £35 | tickets | Full Schedule

The Pack A.D.: London 16-17-18 October

catch The Pack A.D. in London next month at one of their 3 dates in London (maybe not the Towers of London gig...)

16 Oct 2008 21:00	ULU - opening for Towers of London	London, UK
17 Oct 2008 21:00	The Dirty Water Club!	London, UK
18 Oct 2008 21:00	Islington Academy	London, UK

To The Bones: tonight Madame JoJos

Guardian's band of the day No. 396, are playing tonight in Madame JoJos. Can't get better advertising than that.

I'm a bit over this genre of music, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate good, old-fashioned alt-rock when I hear it. Get it now while it's un-MTV2ed.

The Ergs: A few final breaths

So, as is sometimes the case, as soon as I discover a band and have started to follow them - they announce their impending demise.

The Ergs are the latest to join this list. But before they join, they've got a few last contributions to make:

1. "Hindsight is 20/20, My Friend" 2XLP Dirtnap Records: a delayed release of the LP, due to red tape...
2. "Jersey's Best Prancers" LP re-release Don Giovanni Records.
3. "That's it... bye!" 7" Don Giovanni Records - a set of the last original Ergs songs.
4. Ergs/Teenage Bottlerocket split 7" Suburban Home Records - a split single where each band covers a song from an influence.
5. Ergs/Measure [SA] split 7" No Idea Records - Where each band wrote a song for the other to play
6. "Thrash Compactor" one sided 7" Firestarter/Grave Mistake Records - An unfinished (the 2nd side isn't complete) but to-be-released-nonetheless album.

And then they call it a day! I really hate posting that a band is splitting up...

The Whiskers: "Gold Fury"

The Whiskers, one of my favourite bands to keep an eye on, have just posted a new track on their site.

Get it here

Puregroove: Shred Yr Face Special Instore

As part of the powerful combo tour of Los Campesinos, No Age and Times New Viking, one of the bands will play at Pure Groove records at 3PM on Sunday. Another band will play at Beyond Retro at 5PM and then the remaining band will play Rough Trade East at 7PM!

The tour dates (C&P from Pitchfork) below:

10-14 Brighton, England - Komedia
10-15 Liverpool, England - Academy 2
10-16 Leeds, England - Irish Centre
10-17 Dublin, Ireland - Whelans
10-18 Glasgow, Scotland - School of Arts
10-20 London, England - Electric Ballroom
10-21 Bristol, England - Fleece
10-22 Manchester, England - Academy 3

Ponytail: Officially Baltimore's Best Band

Ponytail are getting a lot of well deserved attention this year, especially in their home city of Baltimore where they've been named Best Band for the 2nd year running.

I'm not sure if I can, but if you can you should go along to see them at one of their london gigs this weekend:

20 Sep 2008 20:00	Amsersham Arms	London
22 Sep 2008 20:00	The End	London

The Information: on Vinyl

I never managed to get my hands on a copy of Becks "The Information" when it came out. I suppose I wasn't paying attention, and my flatmate had bought it anyway. But now that he's released a vinyl package...

Dead Confederate: Free MP3 online

Showing their openness, Brantley from Dead Confederate has posted a new song on their official blog hours after recording it.

I haven't listened yet (I have to leave for work shortly) but I guess he's giving it away because of the difference he outlines from their normal style.

Download - Mob Scene.mp3 (192 kbs)

Shearwater @ Rough Trade East today

Anyone free this today should try to get themselves down to Rough Trade East to catch Shearwater for free. FACT

Gigs this week -

Just got back from End of the Road festival, and realised that I need to build some blogging tempo. Still working on it, but in the meantime, here's a list of gigs for the week:

Tuesday    Sep 16         

The Dodos @ ULU
Rosie & The Goldbug @ Soho Revue
DECLAN BENNETT @ The Slaughtered Lamb
The Young Republic - 100 Club

Wednesday Sep 17         

Shearwater | The Constantines @ Bush Hall
Jim Jones Revue @ Undersolo
SMOKE FEATHERS + JACK CHESHIRE @ The Slaughtered Lamb

Thursday Sep 18         

Silhouette @ Proud Galleries
Bob Log III 100 Club

Friday    Sep 19         

ADAM MCBRIDE SMITH + THOMAS DENVER JONSSON @ The Slaughtered Lamb
Black Affair @ Fabric
Florence & The Machine @ Spitalfields
Silhouette @ The Victoria, Mile End
Sam Isaac @ Airwaves
Pete & The Pirates @ KoKo

Saturday Sep 20         

Environmental Photographer of the Year 2008 Exhibition - The Art Pavilion, Mile End Park
Marmaduke Dando @ The Black Gardenia
Trash Fashion @ Albany Theatre
Ponytail @ Astoria

Be Your Own Pet Breakup: A great loss?

I just read today in Pitchfork (which I've only recently started reading again) that BYOP will be breaking up after their current tour. Well, to tell the truth, I'm not surprised.

Their early music was raw, and full of promise. The cover they did of Queen's "Bicycle Race" was fun, and delivered the edge that the music scene was missing at the time.

The new album, however, showed that the music system had chewed them up, cleaned them up and pumped them out as berkeley-alike punkers. I had unsubscribed from their myspace updates a long time ago.

It's a shame. They were a good band, but that was over a long time before they split up.

Mountain Goats release EP Radiohead Style

The Mountain Goats are one of the bands I'm most looking forwards to seeing at End of the Road, but it was surprising to read that they're the latest band to release music for download at a price set by the buyer. They're hedging their bets by limiting to a 4-track EP, the physical version is available only at their tour dates. If I still bought CDs (I'm fairly strictly a download and vinyl man these days) it would certainly be mine.

Full story here

New Gigs Discovered: Yeasayer, Lovvers, Los Campesinos, Cats and Cats and Cats, Jay Reatard

20th Aug: Yeasayer @ KCSU
23rd Aug: Yeasayer @ Rough Trade East
26th Sep: Lovvers @ Old Blue Last
20th Oct: Los Campesinos! | No Age | Times New Viking @ Electric ballroom
25th Oct: Cats and Cats and Cats @ The Windmill
24th Nov: Jay Reatard @ Old Blue Last
27th Nov: Jay Reatard @ Banquet Records

Gigs Discovered Today: Featurecast, Boy Least Likely To,

2nd Sep: Boy Least Likely To @ 229
3rd Oct: Featurecast @ Big Chill House

Gigs added today: The Little Ones, Neon Neon

Sep 14th: The Little Ones @ QEH
Sep 23rd: The Little Ones @ 93 ft east
Oct 29th: Neon Neon @ KoKo

Gigs Discovered Today

Aug 12th: Inner City Pirates @ Metro
Sep 13th: Inner City Pirates @ New Cross Inn
Sep 19th: Florence & The Machine @ Spitalfields
Oct 29th: Headlights @ The Windmill
Nov 29th: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds @ Troxy
Nov 30th: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds @ Troxy

Nick Cave & Co to tour the UK in November

Luckily I haven't missed my last chance of the year to see NC&TBS this year. They've announced another tour - dates below:

UK NOVEMBER TOUR
23 Nov 2008 - Brighton, Centre
25 Nov 2008 - Manchester, Apollo
26 Nov 20088 - Edinburgh, Corn Exchange
27 Nov 2008 - Sheffield, Academy
29 Nov 2008 - London, Troxy
30 Nov - 2008 London, Troxy