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LIVE REVIEW
A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS AT THE HARLEY, SHEFFIELD
A Place To Bury Strangers
The Harley
Sheffield
19/05/10

It’s dark, cramped and sweaty as APTBS take to the stage – the stagnant, almost suffocating air hangs endlessly like a misty fog above a river. They not so much as start their set as ignite it, and they start as they mean to go on. When listening to APTBS their influences certainly speak volumes through their work – however, fortunately volume is something they are quite apt at dealing with and subsequently more often than not this results in paying homage to their influences rather than becoming a crass pastiche. Tonight, APTBS are almost vengeful with their force, playing through you instead of to you. The last song is a never ending cacophonic onslaught that feels like the auditory equivalent of being thrown out of a plane and plummeting to your own death. You begin with a sense of dread and perpetual horror and fear as the unknown grips you – that is until you fall for long enough you accept your own certain fate and begin to relish in the liberating and cathartic qualities of the free-fall, then before you know it, it’s all over.

By Daniel Dylan Wray


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.