This Week
The week gets off to a busy start, with three of our picks of the week playing on Monday night. Stealing Sheep are at the beautiful Bush Hall, where the Scousers will round off an exciting year. We caught them a few times this year - first supporting Field Music and then at Camden Crawl. Their debut album, Into The Diamond Sun, impressed us too; we
called it “a heady cocktail of sounds, with layer upon layer of harmonies and psychedelic folk influences.”
Stars Of The Lid play their first show in the capital for more than four years on Monday. They’ll be at St John-at-Hackney, where Adam Wiltzie and Brian McBride will be joined by a nine-piece string section, with projections from Luke Savitsky.
Also on Monday, one of our tips for 2013, Tom Odell, plays a low-key show at the Queen Of Hoxton. The singer/songwriter’s had a busy few months; we caught him at a showcase gig and then supporting Jake Bugg at KOKO and he’s already got shows booked in at bigger venues next year, so catch him early.
On a similar vein, Luke Sital-Singh plays at the increasingly popular St Pancras Old Church on Wednesday. We likened his delicate voice to Damien Rice when we saw him supporting Marika Hackman earlier this year. You can hear his single, Fail for You here.
If that sounds a bit hushed for you, Roller Trio erm, roll, into the Lexington on Thursday. The rock-jazz band’s debut album was nominated for this year’s Mercury prize – we enjoyed the album, saying them: “they deal, often with thrilling results, in punchy grooves, crisp riffs and full throttle, high octane attack.”
The best of the rest…
Monday 10 December
Stars Of The Lid – St John at Hackney Church
Tom Odell – Queen of Hoxton
Stealing Sheep – Bush Hall
Christopher Owens – St Giles-in-the-fields Church
Rodi Zygadlo – Sebright Arms
Tuesday 11 December
Bettye LaVette – Jazz Café
Allo Darlin’ – Cargo
The Popguns – Lexington
Polly Scattergood – Madame JoJos
Delphic – Electrowerkz
Wednesday 12 December
Ellie Goulding – Brixton Academy
Luke Sital-Singh – St Pancras Old Church
Friendly Fires – XOYO
Malcolm Middleton – Slaughtered Lamb
Thursday 13 December
Lewis Watson – Borderline
Mika – Roundhouse
Roller Trio – Lexington
Speeche Debelle – Jazz Café
Sharks – Old Blue Last
L A N D and Roberto Crippa – Café OTO
Friday 14 December
Saint Etienne – Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Imperial Leisure – Surya
Saturday 15 December
Los Campesinos! + Sparkly Deathcap + Among Brothers – Islington Assembly Hall
Just announced
There’s been a flurry of tour announcements over the last week. One of the most exciting has to be WU BLOCK – the coming together of two of hip-hop’s heavyweights, Ghostface Killah of Wu Tang Clan and Sheek Louch of D Block. They’ll play their first UK show at the Garage on 15 January.
Dinosaur Jnr will play at Electric Ballroom on 4 February as part of the NME Awards shows. Expect tracks from new album, I Bet On Sky.
My Bloody Valentine have announced three UK dates, including a show at Hammersmith Apollo on 12 March. This got us quite excited.
But then Kraftwerk went and announced eight shows at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. Not only will they be their first live appearances in London since 2004, but the shows will see the electro pioneers play their back catalogue in chronological order. Tickets are an eyewatering £60 per show, but theese performances promise to be very special indeed.
The Weeknd follows his BBC Sound Of 2013 nomination with some tour dates; he will be in London on 24 March for a show at the Electric Ballroom. The Canadian recently released Trilogy – a 30-track compilation of his three previous free-to-download mixtape albums, and his distorted R&B and icy synths should make for an energising live show.
musicOMH favourites iamamiwhoami – aka Jonna Lee and Claes Bjorklund– make the trip over from Sweden on 30 May for a show at the Electric Brixton. We loved Kin, which was released in September, saying: "The textures are dark and frosted, and Lee's voice is shot through with a chill that brings to mind two very different ice maidens, namely Liz Fraser and Siouxsie Sioux."
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