Darwin Deez » 26 October
Scala | 275 Pentonville Rd, N1 9NL
Last issue’s cover star Darwin Smith brings his good-time pop show to the Scala for the Deez’ biggest UK headliner to date. Expect good vibez aplenty, hook-laden NYC indie-pop, beaming band-mates and dance breakdowns that make the gaps as fun as the songs themselves. Their next live stop is Koko early next year, and if the label masterplan unfolds as seamlessly as it seems to have so far, they’ll end up in Brixton Academy before long. Support comes from French hip-pop trio Naïve New Beaters and Little Comets.
03 Oct 2010
Perfume Genius » 19 October
Cecil Sharpe House | 2 Regent’s Park Rd, NW1 7AY
Having once believed the only way he would ever be able to overcome his phobia of performing live would be to sing down the phone, young Mike Hadreas’s (aka Perfume Genius) lo-fi pop harmonies are as fragmented, fragile and disarming as the man himself appears to be. Adorned with soaring strings and ethereal vocals that swell with an overwhelming warmth, the Seattle based pianist returns to our increasingly blustery shores this autumn to bite the bullet once more and actually play in front of a (no doubt rapt) live audience.
03 Oct 2010
Echo Lake » 19 October
The Social | 5 Little Portland St, W1W 7JD
A “nu-gaze” five piece from London town, Echo Lake’s sound touches on dream-pop but crucially they crank everything up to eleven with squalls of violent feedback injecting some much-needed chaos and energy into proceedings. This Ill Fit curated evening also features Over The Wall, Still Corners and some no-doubt impeccable selections from the resident DJs.
03 Oct 2010
Club Motherfucker » 16 October
Corsica Studios | 4-5 Elephant Road, SE17 1LB
Daughters Of The Kaos, aka Zena Blackwell and Becky Rosoman, have put together some of the most catholic lineups of underground talent seen in London in recent years. Drawing from scratchy electro-pop, noise, chaotic breakcore and skewed rock ‘n’ roll, they’re bringing a stellar lineup to DIY art venue Corsica Studios this October 16th. JD Samson (Le Tigre/Men) mans the decks while Chilean-born, Paris-based post-punk band Panico and all-girl punk-rockers Thrush Metal play live. Elephant & Castle won’t know what’s hit it.
03 Oct 2010
Annie » 15 October
Old Cholmley Boys Club | 68 Boleyn Rd, N16 8JG
She may be over-shadowed in the scandi-pop world by pop behemoth Robyn, but don’t let Annie Strand’s relatively low profile fool you. With pop hooks bigger than the fjords that surround her Norwegian hometown of Bergen, Strand pulls in producer heavyweights Richard X and Paul Epworth to devastating effect on latest full-length “Don’t Stop”. Her music sumptuous in its delivery and packed with seemingly sweet lyrics with a bitter aftertaste; Annie has the tunes, the moves, and more sex appeal that you can fit into Kylie’s knicker drawer.
03 Oct 2010
Mice Parade » 13 October
Corsica Studios | 4-5 Elephant Road, SE17 1LB
Mice Parade was originally the solo project of New Yorker Adam Pierce, a sometime member of Múm amongst his many other band projects. His plaintive voice and wonderfully subtle, tonal instrumentation has led to a record deal with Fat Cat and a series of fantastic records. Now expanded to a full live outifit, they’re touring ‘What It Means To Be Left-Handed’, their first release since their wonderful (and underrated) eponymous 2007 album. The new material sees Mice Parade stepping up the pace just as they’ve consistently stepped up the quality since their inception.
03 Oct 2010
Errors & The Twilight Sad » 7 October
XOYO | 32-37 Cowper Street, EC2A 4AP
Two of Scotland’s finest new bands share a line-up in what will surely result in XOYO’s noise limiter being tested to its outer limits. The Twilight Sad are masters in the art of noise, orchestrating mass amounts of distortion and feedback into something altogether euphoric, whilst Errors hover somewhere between post-rock and electro, fusing the two genres into an unstoppable dancefloor threat of massive proportions. You’ll be leaving XOYO either deaf, (emotionally) bruised, sweat stained or a heady mixture of the three. Not for the faint of heart.
03 Oct 2010
Laki Mera » 7 October
Inspiral Cafe | 250 Camden High Street, NW1 8QS
Drawing influence from their fellow Glaswegian ambient maestros The Blue Nile, Laki Mera create lush textural beds of synths, drones and cello to create a richly ambient bed for the fragile, Liz Fraser-influenced vocals of Laura Donnelly. Recent EP ‘Clutter’ saw rave reviews and, in some quarters, more than occasional references to The XX. The ghost of trip hop past hangs over the band and they’re in no small debt to the work of the Bristollian greats Massive Attack and Portishead, but there’s enough of an edge to the synths to place them in the present and, in Donnelly, they have a wee starlet waiting to spread her wings.
03 Oct 2010
Xiu Xiu
Songs to thump your fist against the table to
03 Oct 2010
Active Child: Pat Grossi is walking in the air
Active Child, aka pale skinned, strawberry-blonde LA resident Pat Grossi, seemed to come out of nowhere this year, but tracking back on music blog aggregator Hype Machine reveals that a handful of his songs have been creeping across the blogosphere since August 2009.
The influential Transparent blog first posted “She Was a Vision”, leading to coverage on everything from monolithic US tastemaker site Pitchfork to über-blogs Stereogum and RCRD-LBL to homegrown champions of all things indie The Line Of Best Fit, and culminating in an impressive internet-led word-of-mouth following.
03 Oct 2010
Snipe Highlights
Some popular articles from past years
- The best church names in London, and where they come from
- Hope and despair in Woolwich town centre
- An interview with Desiree Akhavan
- Random Interview: Eileen Conn, co-ordinator of Peckham Vision
- Could red kites be London's next big nature success story?
- Nice Interactive timeline lets you follow Londoners' historic fight against racism
- Margaret Thatcher statue rejected by public
- London has chosen its mayor, but why can’t it choose its own media?
- Number of people using Thames cable car plunges
- Diary of the shy Londoner
© 2009-2026 Snipe London.