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LIVE REVIEW
Cymbals Eat Guitars at The Lexington, Angel, London
Cymbals Eat Guitars
The Lexington
London
12/10/09

What starts with an explosion ends with a drony, drawn-out whimper that in its aimlessness leaves us disappointed, because it all began so well. ‘And The Hazy Sea’ displays all the characteristics that have people drooling over New York’s indie rockers Cymbals Eat Guitars – urgent, youthful vocals coupled with arrangements and guitar riffs built together from a bulky toolbox covered in Pavement, Grandaddy and Deerhunter stickers. “Will you take the wheel for a while/ I’m suddenly real tired,” singer and guitarist Joseph D’Agostino sweetly pleads, and you just want to get into your Nissan Micra and ride it down the nearest deserted highway. D’Agostino’s face is coated with sweat after a couple of songs, and no wonder – he jerks himself from a squat to a stiff salute to the microphone and back again, and handles his guitar the way a butcher handles stray bones. The rest of the band go about their business with a knowing smirk rather than D’Agostino’s contortions, and sometime after the lovely, meandering Jonny Greenwod jangle of ‘Indiana’, the melodies become a bit too derivative and the jamming too directionless to stand up to the initial bang. Spread the dynamite more evenly boys and you’ll have us in the palm of your hand.


HUDSON MOHAWKE AT XOYO
XOYO
Old Street, London
19/10/11

The best shows are most often those where artist and audience fall into a frenzied feedback loop of mutual appreciation.

AZARI & ILL AT WHITE HEAT, SOHO
White Heat
Soho, London
01/11/11

Some tech-savvy good Samaritan recently ripped and uploaded a BBC radio documentary about house music grandaddy Larry Levan.

GOTYE AT KCLSU
KCLSU
London
01/11/11

King’s College seems an odd venue for Australian singer-songwriter Gotye.

FLAMINGODS AT THE SHACKLEWELL ARMS
The Shacklewell Arms
Dalston, London
19/10/11

Save for an old electronic keyboard and a delay pedal that makes singer Kamal’s vocals ping-pong out of the room, Flamingods don’t do instruments with wires.

PURE X AT THE SHACKLEWELL ARMS
The Shacklewell Arms
Dalston, London
1/11/11

Drugs. They’re rife within popular music. Especially within the type that Texan trio Pure X make, courtesy of a Spiritualized habit they just can’t (or won’t) kick.

2:54 AT CORSICA STUDIOS, ELEPHANT AND CASTLE
Corsica Studios
Elephant & Castle, London
09/11/11

Sisters Hannah and Colette Thurlow famously named their bristly, glowering rock band after a favourite moment on a Melvins song, 2 minutes and 54 seconds in, to be precise.

DOOM & GHOSTFACE AT THE ROUNDHOUSE
The Roundhouse, Camden
London
05/11/11

The man formerly known as MF Doom returns to the Roundhouse for a sold-out show, barely a year after his debut European performance in the same venue.

CAGED ANIMALS AT THE SHACKLEWELL ARMS
The Shacklewell Arms
Dalston, London
28/09/11

In the studio, Caged Animals (Soft Black’s Vincent Cacchione’s new baby) deal in a faintly cloying, suburban youth-channelling indie with a twist.

MILK MAID AT THE GREEN DOOR, BRIGHTON
The Green Door
Brighton
20/09/11

Despite the days of Union Jack plastered guitars and weather-worn parkas being a prerequisite of any northern based guitar band being long gone.

METRONOMY AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL
Royal Albert Hall, Kensington
London
03/10/11

“It’s hard to believe that in this very room they used to have gladiators fighting to the death,” exclaims Metronomy main-man Joe Mount.