Caffeine Nation - testing the East London disloyalty card over one day

A cool, and novel, “disloyalty card” scheme has been set up by a group of like-minded, high class independent coffee bars in East London. Try a coffee in all eight, and get a free one in the ninth. I’m no coffee connoisseur – in fact I’m not used to anything stronger than Nescafe – but this was a great excuse for some reckless self-improvement. Below, reproduced in their entirety, are my notes from when I toured all eight joints in one day.

11.45 am The Espresso Room. Great Ormond Street
What a lovely day in leafy Queen Square. The Espresso Room is small, wood lined, and nordic. I order a latte from the friendly barman, sit and drink it next to a woman perusing the London Review of Books. A suited man, a consultant from the hospital perhaps, comes in for his morning drink and is greeted by name. This is wonderfully civilised. The latte is creamy and slides down easily. Eager to get on with my mission I neck the final couple of inches. Lovely stuff. I feel: Optimistic.

12.25 pm Dose. Long Lane
That latte has barely touched the sides. I’d better speed things up. I’ll have a macchiato. Dose is very busy, very brisk. My macchiato comes in an adorable little glass. Down it goes. This is going to be a breeze. I feel : Enlivened.

1.10 pm Whitecross Street Market
What a great food market. I buy a ciabatta. Delicious. Switch back to a long coffee here, that seems sensible. God I’m making so many good decisions today. This is such a good day. I should do this every day. A white americano, very smooth. I feel: Great.

2.00 pm Taylor Street Baristas. New Street
Strolling down City Road, waves of exhilaration brushing through my hair with the breeze. I skip through to Liverpool St station, past umpteen suited men and white-bloused women, city drones, pushing their numbers around, making their money. They’re not free. I’m free. There’s wind in my sails and caffeine in my blood. Arrive at Taylor St Baristas. Very busy. I order, giving my name. “Mike. Who’s Mike?” That’s me hot barista. “Mike can we make your cappuccino a large for the same price? Otherwise we have to throw some away?” Erm…well that’s not such a good idea really cos I’m…oh yeah sure you have a pretty smile. That’s actually really nice of you thanks hot barista! I feel: High.

2.10 pm Nude Espresso. Hanbury Street
Hmm. Nude is only 5 minutes walk from Taylor Street Baristas, and I’ve got a large cappuccino in my hand. Oh well. Better have an espresso, don’t want to be double parked with two big drinks. Oh. Waitress says I can’t keep the first drink. I’ll have to finish it now. There’s still half a large cup. Damn you Taylor St barista! Down cappuccino. Now espresso. I stir it. It’s very black. Another stir. Black like night. I down it. Fuckmethatsstrong. So smooth on the back of my throat the rich flavour so good but so strong. Get out. Air. Hanbury Street. Jack the Ripper killed someone just there. Espresso black like death. I feel: Woozy.

2.55 pm Taste of Bitter Love. Hackney Road
Google “caffeine poisoning” on phone. Need water. Buy water. Could I die? Google says no. Feel my heartbeat. Fast. Thinking about fast heart makes heart beat faster. Get on bus. Trusty Ol’55 bus. Reach coffee shop. Don’t want coffee. Lovely looking cakes. Latte. Can drink slowly. Sip it. Is it good? No idea. Sip water. Water is good. I feel: Deranged.

3.40 pm Climpsons. Broadway Market
They do decaf. What? No it’s not cheating. My mate Edge arrives. He says decaf is cheating. Flat white. Can’t we have a pint in the Dove instead? No. I’ve come this far. I owe it to Snipe. I owe it to the poor coffee pickers. I owe it to myself. I feel: Sick.

4.30 pm Tina we Salute You. King Henry’s Walk
Handbags on wall that’s mental lets just get in and get out I’ll have an espresso can’t deal with lots of liquid here goes I drink [PASSAGE OBSCURED BY BROWN STAIN] don’tfeeelsogood can ? go now. Retch in the street. Have done that in Dalston before but not at 4 in the afternoon. I feel: Hot cold flush sweat.

9.00 pm
Sick.

1.00 am
To sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream. Need sleep can’t sleep. So awake and the night so black like death, black like espresso

720 Hours

ZOLA JESUS » 1 September
CAMP Basement | 70-74 City Road, EC1Y 2BJ

Hailing from Madison Wisconsin, Zola Jesus is the latest musical incarnation of the classically trained 21-year-old Nika Roza Danilova. Both haunting and beautiful in equal measure, Danilova’s gloomy stentorian voice is punctuated by menacing synths, sparse percussion and cautiously uplifting melodies. Call it ‘Drag’, call it ‘Witch-House’, call it whatever the hell sub-genre you feel you need to, just please don’t repeat ad-nauseam whilst glossing over the much more complex and interesting reality of Zola Jesus’ ethereal output – especially not without experiencing such breath-taking and dramatic overtures firsthand. Lauren Down

The Tim & Sam Band » 8 September
The Rest Is Noise | 442 Brixton Road SW9 8BH

Pastoral, pretty and increasingly popular, this band’s currently diminutive monicker has been trimmed from “Tim and Sam’s Tim and The Sam Band with Tim and Sam”, a name made more odd by the fact that none of the nine musicians credited are called “Sam” at all. But, possibilities of Fight Club style alter egos aside, the name may refer to the use of multiple instruments and looping technology on seemingly every song as they weave their sun-dappled melodies. You can observe their current configuration of musicians and judge for yourself at this intimate show at Brixton drinking den The Rest Is Noise. John Rogers

Les Savy Fav » 10 September 2010
Cargo | 83 Rivington Street, EC2A 3AY

There are bands whose records you should sit and spend time with. Then there’s Les Savy Fav, who come into their own playing live arena. The last time I saw them was at ATP in 2007: it started with crazed, giant, bearded, balding frontman Tim Harrington performing stand-up while receiving a haircut, continued with at least five costume changes (leotards, animal costumes, Victorian bathing suits), made an imprint of his face in some poor sod’s t-shirt using fake blood and got everyone to chant “WE WERE THERE WHEN THE WORLD GOT GREAT, AND WE HELPED TO MAKE IT THAT WAY”. THIS WILL BE WORTH IT. Jonathan Fisher

WHALE WATCHING TOUR » 27 September
The Barbican | Silk Street EC2

The London date of this tour from the Icelandic Bedroom Community label was ashed off during the Eyjafjallajokull last year, but thankfully this unmissable bill has rescheduled. The tour features four singular talents. The brilliant Sam Amidon you can read more about a few pages on. Ben Frost makes textured drones and long instrumentals in a fusion of post-rock and electronica. Valgeir Sigurðsson is most famous for his work producing Bjórk, but his recent soundtrack piece Draumalandið is also well worth a look. Nico Muhly is perhaps the brightest in this constellation after his universally acclaimed mould breaking contemporary classical opus, Mothertongue. Apparently the four play during each other’s sets live just as they do in the studio: this is an essential show. John Rogers

BRAINLOVE TOUR » 28 September
CAMP Basement | 70-74 City Road, EC1Y 2BJ

As Autumn sets in, Brainlove Records sends out four solo artists for eleven dates around the UK. Pagan Wanderer Lu and Napoleon IIIrd have new records out, the former writing from the head, the latter yelping from the heart, but then meeting somewhere in the middle in a meld of hyperactive electronic pop and programmed beats. Stairs To Korea and Mat Riviere, however, start in the same place (bedroom recordings of pop songs) and end up poles apart, the former crafting huge indie anthems and the latter sharing misanthropic howls with jagged instrumentation. Wrap up warm, this is a must-see. Jonathon Fisher

Diary: Internet Forever

Day One
This studio time with James Rutledge has been in the pipeline for what feels like years, so it’s exciting to finally get down to it. But of course first all the drums and bass have to be laid down, so Chris does that awesomely whilst me and Craig play table tennis. I tell Craig about 35 times that my Dad used to be County Champion but he never seems impressed.

Day Two
By the time I arrive Craig’s nearly recorded all the guitars. I sit there and tell him where he’s done them wrong and he, rightly, sulks. Chris plays afrobeat guitar over everything and does takes of playing with a pocket fan and a violin bow. All Internet Forever pretentiousness is kept firmly in check after this when Craig insists we watch Justin Bieber videos on the studio’s massive TV screen.

Day Three
Today I finally get to record the vocals and I enjoy it, but I’m pretty sure there’s nothing worse than singing sappy lyrics you wrote 4 years ago to a control room full of grown men. Must write less embarrassing songs. Later on in the day we have our friend Sophie pop in to add some violin parts, and Pete Fraser comes to wow us with his improv sax skills. It’s all coming together now and starting to sound rad.

Day Four
Today is officially final final overdubs and editing day. I ask our engineer, Brendan, what he would describe our music as. He says, “Afrobeat-y, weird pop. Dirty pop? A bit like The Go Team?”. Pretty sure that beats all the twee/shambolic/DIY descriptions we’ve had in the past.

You can hear James Rutledge’s version of Break Bones on the Huw Stephen’s Wichita compilation that will be released sometime soon. This will be followed by singles from us in the winter.

Internet Forever is Heartbeeps, Laura Wolf, and Christopher Alcxxk

Deez just wanna have fun

Spaghetti-limbed singer, dancer, lover, philosopher, rapper and alleged tap enthusiast Darwin Smith sits piled under a tree on a hillside in Oxfordshire, balancing a dictaphone on his elbow. He’s talking animatedly about a new mini-project he’s working on, a rap concept album. “It’s all sampled from the original Willy Wonka movie,” he smiles. “Someone said Lil Wayne had done it already, I’m gonna check that out on Wikipedia and if he’s done it already it’ll be a bummer because I’m four songs in!”

Future Islands are making the year’s best pop songs a reality

A quick chat with Future Islands front man Samuel Herring could easily turn into a 3 hour discussion about what it means to be making DIY music today. Jumping between topics without pausing for breath, he explains how bands can go on world tours but still come home with no cash, laughs wickedly about how he wants bands to devise an acappella version of their album (just to fuck with people of course) and talks at length about the merits of “being taken seriously”. Like any good rock star, somewhere along the way he nips out to his car to get a cigarette. At another he disappears completely.

Tennis

Tennis’s story appears too perfect to be true. Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley set their disposable income aside for six months until they had enough to buy a yacht and sustain themselves on a private adventure. They climbed aboard their ‘Swift Ranger’ and sailed on a rough course along the east coast of the Americas, taking in destinations which would come to provide emotional source material for their music. “One day we were in a bar in the Florida Keys and ‘Baby It’s You’ by the Shirelles came on. We’d never heard it before, but we loved the wall-of-sound thing, and decided right then that we’d try to create that when we got back.” Having sold their instruments to help fund the voyage, they went about reacquiring enough to flesh out their dreams. Each song that came out of the voyage was named after a different stop-off point – ‘Marathon’ (Florida), ‘Baltimore’ and ‘South Carolina’ make up their first seven-inch, paddling in perfect surf-pop melodies with shimmering backing vocals and sharp focus. On meeting dry land again, our two lovers were wed and on listening to these tracks, it’s obvious why.

Slow Burners and Hot Lights

Mum is seeing a fellah. Daughter is steadily dropping out of life, disappearing before her mother’s eyes. Brother is on a path to a bad end. And mum’s fellah may or may not be a monster.

Visits, by Jon Fosse, is a dark, slooooow burner, with moments of revelation hidden behind other moments of misdirection. Characters take forever to say anything, building pressure like a percolator, but never letting the steam escape.

When I first entered the main stage space Theatre Delicatessen has created at the former Uzbekistan Airways building I immediately thought, This place needs a Scandinavian play! I hadn’t then realised I was about to see one. The setting is perfect. Dark wood panels and shelving, peeling walls scraped away and replaced with corrugated translucent plastic sheeting, behind which we see backlit silhouettes acting as both memories and intimations of impending danger. Characters walk out of the space, out of sight, and their voices bouncing around the corridors, creating additional distance and disconnection.

Alpha-Ville Festival

*Rich Mix and Whitechapel Gallery, 17/18 September *

The second annual Alpha-ville Festival, themed “Visionary cities” will bring the newest and best in digital arts to Rich Mix and Whitechapel Gallery over the weekend of 17-18 September. Presented by the non-profit organsation of the same name Alpha-ville aims to bring more people to engage with “quality” digital arts, design and culture, and to help emerging artists find an audience.

This year’s Alpha-ville line-up will include electronic music performances from artists such as The Boats, Actress, Kettenkarussell but there is also an intriguing mix of visual and educational programming. Festivalgoers will be treated to viewings of the finalists who’ve entered the “Visionary cities” international short film contest.

A showcase of work from final year students in the Bartlett School of Architecture’s “Unit 15” postgrad course will show how the course uses film, CGI, animation and motion graphics in the study of architecture.

Girls aged 14 to 19 who fancy a career as a sound engineer or producer will be interested in the free Alpha-ville Digital Music Workshop, which promises to teach participants how to create music, mix and synchronize it with images.

Visit www.alphavillefestival.co.uk for info.

SLEEP∞OVER

Y’know in Eternal Sunshine when the old house on the beach at Montauk buckles beneath the reverse suck of destroyed memories? sleep∞over are the aftermath of that; their cooing lost beneath thick layers of dust-laden, trembling synths and a gloaming choir of howling fantods. Some might call it “witch house” or “haunted house” – the inference to Beach House is certainly warranted – but sleep∞over are just “interested in creating a thick sound,” according to Stefanie, Christa and Sarah. From the dark dreaminess arises the odd unexpected clanks or howls, which Stefanie puts down to home recording accidents.

“We did most of it live and ended up with only one room mic working. We’re slightly technophobe. Modern studio recording can sound soulless. Something feels comfortable and personal about a home recording—and we started because we’re friends, and everyone should play music with their friends.” This ethos has served the fledgling band well, releasing their first single, ‘Outer Limits’ on Gorilla vs Bear’s Forest Family label. “They were nice, so we did it,” says Stefanie as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

And what about the infinity sign in the middle of your name?
“That’s how long we want to be your friend.”

Meursault

With his band tagged as downbeat and introspective, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Meursault main man Neil Pennycook might be something of a sourpuss. Not so, it seems. “I’m quite chipper actually,” he says merrily down a crackly line from Glasgow, where he’s recording with a pal. “People assume because of my voice and the way I sing that I’m somehow in pain or tortured, but if you listen to the lyrics, they’re not always that dark.” Not always, but often. Debut LP Pissing On Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues is a brilliantly brooding and cheerless ride of gloomy rumination that earned comparisons with Arcade Fire and introduced the world beyond their Edinburgh garden to an epic landscape of folky multi-instrumentation and precise and measured bleeps and bangs.
Recently released follow-up All Creatures Will Make Merry sticks to the script, cranking up the ambition and the joy (“There’s even a love song on it!”) while remaining faithful to their lo-fi upbringing in a swathe of beats, noodles, strums and howls. As with their previous effort, the latest long-player comes courtesy of Scottish indie Song, By Toad. “It’s the perfect place for us to be right now,” reckons Pennycook. “They’ve used the template of labels like Fence and Chemikal Underground, and everything works. There’s no reason for us to want to be anywhere else.” And the dark tag? “Drowned in Sound called us “a troubled mind or six”. I’m not sure I want my mum to read that! I don’t want her asking me if I’m disturbed.”