This week sees the series of gigs taking place across the capital as part of the NME Awards step up a gear. The pick is arguably tUnE-yArDs appearing at Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Wednesday. Merrill Garbus has long been a favourite here at musicOMH – we saw her play a great show last year at the Scala – and this bigger show on Wednesday should be another exciting night. Other notable NME Awards shows taking place this week include Pure Love at Bush Hall on Tuesday, Band Of Skulls at XOYO on Wednesday and Niki & The Dove at Hoxton Square Bar & Grill on Thursday.
Thursday evening also sees Shepherd’s Bush Empire host a show by M83. We recently saw Anthony Gonzales et al play shows in London and Brighton in support of last year’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming album. Porcelain Raft support, showcasing songs from debut album Strange Weekend.
This week sees several other gigs by bands promoting debut releases. Tennis play Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on Monday in support of Young & Old, while The Twilight Sad appear at Cargo on Tuesday promoting No One Can Ever Know. We Have Band will be at the same venue on Wednesday playing from Ternion and Thursday sees Blondes appear at the Shacklewell Arms in support of their eponymous debut album.
Thursday also has an impressive double bill at XOYO of Rock Action-signed pair Errors and Remember Remember while Anaïs Mitchell plays a show at the Westminster Reference Library on the same evening.
More experimental, leftfield musical fare can be found (as usual) at Café OTO. Matthew Bourne plays from his excellent Montauk Variations album on Wednesday, with support from Icarus (who have just released their own conceptually unique Fake Fish Distribution album). The Peter Brötzmann/Paal Nilssen-Love/Fred Lonberg-Holm trio close the week with a show on Sunday night.
Just announced
Café OTO have just announced details of their Counterflows Festival, the highlight being a rare solo performance by Michael Gira of Swans (with support from Grouper). Read full details here.
Other new announcements are below:
The Dandy Warhols – Forum – 21st April
Gary Numan – Forum – 1st June
Best Coast – Shepherd’s Bush Empire – 20th June
Madonna – Hyde Park – 17th July
