Weekend manoeuvres

So the weekend rolls around once again, with the weather looking up for once!  There's sport a-plenty; Liverpool vs. Everton and the Singapore Grand Prix are set to feature heavily on my calendar.  However, there is also musical gold to be found in our fair city with the likes of:

The 'endearlingly bizarre' (TimeOut) Tubelord, who play the Macbeth tonight on the Levi's 'Ones to Watch' tour.  They're supporting Metronomy, but are well worth getting there early for.

Doors 7pm, £6, Shoreditch

Also tonight, Club NME has Outside Royalty at Koko, but again it's the support that holds the interest coming as it does from James Yuill, who is bloody brilliant.  Totally recommended.

Doors 9.30pm, £5, Camden

Finally, Slam champion Maxwell Golden headlines Jammin' at the Paradise Bar with a heady mix of spoken word, MCing, music and beat poetry.  It should be a belting night.

Doors 8pm, £3, Kensal Green

For tomorrow, This Ain't no Picnic at King's College SU is an all-dayer with highlights including Future of the Left, the brilliantly-named This Town Needs Guns, and one of my favourite bands - Bearsuit.

Doors 1pm, £15, Temple

...and later on, to round things off and if you're feeling flush, catch the brilliant Snowboy & the Latin Section at Ronnie Scott's.  It seems pricey, but these guys craft jazz par excellence and are totally worth the expenditure.

Doors 6pm, £20, Soho

Enjoy people,

Jx

Barack Obama on the London Underground - the secret is out!

So this since Monday I have been constantly intrigued by the mystery black adverts appearing all over London, and reading with interest the numerous blogs popping up with news and views on their presence – thank God that I’m not alone in wondering what they might be – Rick Lamb, Going Underground and Current have all been in a positive tizz of excitement.  There was even a link to a Telegraph story, but it has since been deleted, hmm...

The images – Barack Obama outside 10 Downing Street, David Cameron walking past Winston Churchill, the CERN Large Hadron Collider, a ginger kid in swimming trunks (from Corbis’ photo library apparently), a golden football, and a woman stretching in what I can only assume is some kind of yogic position – have taken pride of place on the Underground, and mainline train stations all week.

...and now the secret is out!  Opening up the copy of The Times that is sent to our office today, what did I see?

I guess The Times are to be congratulated for getting everyone so het up, but personally, I was expecting something a little more ground-breaking...Then again, no wonder the Telegraph decided to delete their story about it!

UPDATE: There's a story on the campaign here, courtesy of Brand Republic.

Live music review - Pull up the Roots @ The Old Queen's Head 24.09.08

Once again, Broccoli Music took over the upstairs room at The Old Queen's Head for their successful 'Pull up the Roots' night.  The concept is to break new bands in the capital in slightly more comfortable surroundings than is the norm (naming no names Camden Barfly...).  Entry is free, and punters more often than not find themselves lounging in one of the venue's comfy chairs veiwing the stage, adding a certain living room vibe to the whole affair.  On Wednesday, music came courtesy of The Black Lies, Carlotti, Rock City Sixteen and De Shamonix, with the gaps plugged ably by the excellent Coathanger DJs who entertained with dancefloor indie a-go-go.

Indie-punk foursome Black Lies swaggered onto the stage to the strains of their track 'My House is Your House'.  So far, so Arctic Monkeys, and it was this sound that they stuck to resolutely throughout their set, assisted by a small cabal of hardcore fans leaping about at the front of the room.  It's being done plenty elsewhere, but these boys give it a sense of fun at the very least.

Carlotti offered something a little more fulsome - there was even a mandolin at one point!  Melodic rock with a fine country/blues edge, they were my pick of the crop for the night.  Grabbing debut single 'Your Guess Ain't as Good as Mine' on iTunes is a highly-recommended move.

Of all the acts performing, it was Rock City Sixteen that wore their references the most proudly on their chests.  Their myspace is the epitome of self-conscious 50s cool, and their music owes much to the work of Blondie and, though they don't admit to it in their list of influences, The Strokes.  Their set was all angular guitars, overdrive, and some very very large shades indeed.  The crowd lapped it up.

Last but by no means least were De Shamonix, who blasted through an excellent set to the appreciation of a sizeable audience.  I had been told beforehand that they knew how to own a stage, and own it they did - stagecraft is often the big differentiator between a band making it or not, and De Shamonix offered it up in spadefuls to round out a fine night's entertainment.  

Verdict: You may not be a fan of broccoli as a vegetable, but you can't fault it as a clubnight...

Where next:

Black Lies: @ Monto Water Rats, Fri. 31st October

Carlotti:  @ the Hope & Anchor Fri. 3rd October

Rock City Sixteen: @ the Ryhthm Factory Tues. 7th October

De Shamonix: @ Monto Water Rats, Sat. 29th November

Pull up the Roots Thurs. 20th October @ The Old Queen's Head