Category: Music Live in London

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Music Live in London

New Music

I saw The Molotovs on Friday. The promoter (Lost Kitten Music) said it may be the last chance to see them in a small venue. I met them on Thursday at a gig by Blousy, who were an excellent surprise. Two of The Molotovs dressed to the nines; it was a small club in Soho and it could have been Carnaby Street in the 60s. Here’s one clip

I have no idea if this gig was typical but I loved every second of it.

I usually go to Other Side Promotions events. It’s mostly psyche and Elios and Terry have good taste. I saw Daiistar, from Austin, Texas, a couple of weeks ago. They’re on Fuzz Club. Rolling Stone magazine said that’s the best label in the world at the moment. They’ve got a good roster – my current favs Helicon and back where it started, The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Mentioning JAMC, the drummer is Justin Welch, who also plays drums in Aircooled. No surprise Aircooled supported JAMC at the Roundhouse on Good Friday. Oliver Cherer may be the front man for Aircooled (or it might be Riz Maslen). Olie plays bass in The Miki Berenyi Trio. They managed to release one track so far “Vertigo”

Emma Anderson, on the other hand, doesn’t play live but has an album called Pearlies. It stopped me dead by the time I got to track 3.

Shoegaze has a new lease of life, and seemingly and million subtribes. Keeley is my top pick among the new dreampop. (see my YouTube channel).

It’s kinda like there are lots of ‘old’ bands playing again – Slowdive, Sisters of Mercy, JAMC, Kristen Hersh, Telescopes, The Darling Buds…. Things I loved in the 80s are back, and they’re even better. And then there new bands and i’m just going to list whatever comes to mind

Black Doldrums, Pet Sematary, Helicon, Mary Anne’s Polar Rig, Daiistar, Hex Poseur, Pretty Addicted, Black Helium, Heales, Jorinde, Agathe Max, Maud Anyways, Bugeye, Madame Mutante, Marlene Ribeiro, Flowers Must Die, Sons of Vilijems, Alter Moderns, Ghost Patterns.

Beneath Eden deserve a special mention because the guitarist was the fastest and most accurate I’ve seen so far. Many of these bands have played and I’ve captured something and it’s my YouTube.

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Music Live in London

My weekly rant

Heather Mccormick posted a beautiful picture with the legend “Stop imaging the apocalypse; start imaging the revolution”. I’ve been watching @DamiLeeArch. She introduced me to the term “Solarpunk”. Cyberpunk imagines technology creating a dystopian future. I might love the art but it’s not a world I want to live in. I replied “Solarpunk not cyberpunk”.

I write software. Architecture is a term used in computing to describe the structure of the programs. The design reference was called Design Patterns. It’s a collect of common design idioms. It’s modelled on a collection of architectural patterns from the 1950’s.

Many of these design patterns have been obsoleted by improvements in the languages. My main language is C++ and there’s huge difference between the current standard (2023) and when the design bible was published (1995). This is crux of my rant; Biden’s Whitehouse said don’t use C++. The NSA says it’s inherently insecure. This is just wrong. Here’s Bjarne Stroustrup explaining why.

And my life is only bearable (cyberpunk, outdated knowledge, people in authority talking about thing they don’t know, the oncoming apocalypse in climate, war, ecomics, etc) with music. Here’s Aircooled supporting The Jesus and Mary Chain at The Roundhouse, Camden. I bought a ticket for Saturday but I saw they were playing on Friday, so I bought another ticket. I’ll see JAMC twice ‘cos I’ve loved them for 30+ years.

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Music Live in London

I need better equipment

I saw Freya Beer again last night. The bass was so high up in the mix you felt it in your bones. I got Write Her Off on my crappy camera phone. Compare that with same song a couple of weeks ago in Camberwell.

The low-end in non-existent in this video from last night. And the auto-focus is silly.

They were supporting Black Dolldrums but I didn’t capture any video. Here’s Sad Paradise from last year at The Black Prince, Northampton. That was the first time I stayed overnight for a band and I really like the atmosphere there.

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Music Live in London

Only music can save me now

Apparently everyone respects my C++ skills, but I’m so bored with it. I wanna be a rock-star. If I don’t get to see a live band often, I get miserable, especially in the winter. This week I saw three cracking acts.

On Thursday 7th March Mango In Euphoria played at the Dublin Castle, Camden. The first song is a little unsure, but I’m not sure if that’s her or us, the audience. By the time she gets to Can’t Be Cured, we’re loving it. I want to dance but I want to get another song of hers. I didn’t know what the third song is but the audience are now eating out her hand. Every is clapping along as instructed (except me, filming).

Friday 8th March I went the awesome Night Owl in Finsbury Park. The headliners JE T’AIME were bill as “Parisian post-punk cold wave hybrid”. For an all-male band they had some great tunes and sensitivity. I captured two of their songsThey were supported by PALINDRONES – “Electronic duo mixing pounding beats and blistering synth drones”. They got me dancing (when I wasn’t filming).

I had to go out and missed Agathe Max on Radio 3’s Late Junction. That programme is on the BBC Sounds app for 28 day only. I have seen Agathe Max perform before.

I keep saying I’ll perform on guitar soon. I’m going to gigs recently just watching the guitar player for all I can steal, er, I mean take and learn from. More shows next week.