Filthy Friends play The Garage on Friday (photo: John Clark)
Some of the best gigs we’ve been to have been those by artists playing venues that are frankly *way* too small for them. There’s a few shows taking place in London this week that fall into that category, perhaps no more so than Filthy Friends (the band featuring Sleater Kinney’s Corin Tucker and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck) who promote second album Emerald Valley at a show at the Garage on Friday.
Wednesday sees a ridiculously low-key show take place at XOYO by Carly Rae Jepsen who will be playing from her recent Dedicated album. The last time she was in London back in 2015 she played the O2 Arena so let’s just say this one will be a bit more intimate. Earlier in the week on Wednesday The Futureheads make their long-awaited return with a show at the Garage. Expect them to play bigger venues when they release their sixth album in August).
Tuesday meanwhile sees Belgian singer Melanie De Biasio call into London to play a show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall that will showcase her jazz-inflected songs from last album Lilies and beyond. If you want a gig to ease you back into the working week after the bank holiday this should be a suitably gentle contender. Tickets were still available last time we checked but if you can’t make it there’ll be a review on musicOMH soon after.
Another artist from further afield arrives in London on Wednesday, namely Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade who will perform tracks from latest album Manga at EartH in Dalston. EartH also hosts shows by esteemed Australian improvisers The Necks on Monday and seminal post-punk band Wire on Saturday. The Necks are held in high regard within experimental/leftfield circles (and have a reputation for never playing the same show twice) while Wire have enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent years so both should we well worth checking out. Get tickets for all three shows here.
Finally, Saturday has two gigs worthy of mention. Swedish trio Death & Vanilla will be at the Shacklewell Arms in support of latest release Are You A Dreamer? (check back here for a review afterwards) while inventive Brighton electronicists Fujiya & Miyagi return with a show at the MOTH Club.
Filthy Friends MP3s or CDs
Filthy Friends on Spotify
