Everyone’s talking about sublime lo-fi popstrels My Sad Captains. Well we are anyway. Their brand of luminescent indie brims with catchy melodies and striking lyrics, perfect for a summer’s day – think a DIY-Death Cab or a Brit-based Fanfarlo. We told them we’d stamp on their Pavement record collection unless they agreed to feature in Listen Up!, and, being a sensible lot, they agreed. Catch them in their full fresh-faced glory tonight at Buffalo Bar’s......

XX Teens are the latest London band to succumb to our Listen Up! harassment. If you used to hang out at Art Rocker up in Islington you might have bumped into them when they were still known as Xerox Teens, but after narrowly avoiding a photocopying centric lawsuit the name had to change. Their single 'Only You' is out this week, and their debut album 'Welcome to Goon Island' follows on 28 July. We......

Recommended to us by London girl gone global Estelle, today's Listen! Up Tawiah made her mark on our pod with her smooth soulful grooves, and her excited performances during Mark Ronson's live shows. Born in Battersea, she's a former Brit School classmate of Kate, Amy and has fans such as Gilles Peterson and Rob Da Bank loving her every move. Tawiah! Hello, fill us all in on who you are I am Tawiah! I......

We're playing dot to dot with Listen Up! this week. After Toy! Toy! recommended 24 year old Cherry Suicowe thought we'd get in touch to find out what she's all about. Who are you what do you do? My name is Cherry Suico and i'm a singer/songwriter currently working with my band called The Crazy 88s. How did you get here? I started singing as a child. Wasn't really the performing arts school kid......

Every so often we spend hours getting lost in social networking sites and when it's new bands we're after we turn to myspace. This is how we came across the gentle twinkles of Synth Girl. Mainly a musician for other artists, we loved 'Hurricane Butterfly' (which you can hear online) so got in touch to say hi. It turned out she was actually in a band of her own Toy Toy which with it's......

Every now and again we try and bring you the finer things in life. Sure, there's loads of indie, goth, electro and Viking death metal to talk about but what about music on the more classical end of the spectrum? Portico Quartet are currently touring their "inimitable" sound with Basquiat Strings and will headline a gig at the Union Chapel this Friday. We'll be there but we're not sure what to expect. They have......

On a cold winter night in North London, we meet with hotly tipped indie pop beat combo The Wave Pictures before their gig at the Islington Bar Academy. Counting Jeffrey Lewis, Dean Wareham, Darren Hayman and Herman Düne as fans David Tattersall (vocals, guitar), Franic Rozycki (bass) and Jonny 'Huddersfield' Helm talk to us about their inspirations and what it's like to be finally getting recognition after years of obscurity. How would you describe......

And now for something completely different. We stumbled upon Joey Herzfeld and some of Hooverville at the Carling Academy back in January. Their extraordinarily different sound, great musicianship and stage presence alienated half the crowd and transfixed the rest. Were they mental or brave musical pioneers? We couldn't resist snagging them for an interview purely on the basis of a song called "Cavity Search" and a frenetic gypsy dancing interlude. It went like this.........

From the government department for investigating blatantly obvious things - a public consultation into whether learning English helps immigrants feel more at home. Spend the money on the courses, you twonks. BBC names rising music stars for 2008. Don't get too excited. Watch out for our Listen Up! posts instead. Market "intelligence" firms gathering data on public health predict that residents of deprived boroughs, Tower Hamlets, Southwark and City & Hackney are likely to......

>>Stop the Press Book Slam is at The Big Chill House this Sunday 2pm – 11pm. It's free and perfect refuge for those dodging Glastonmuddy… Just out the Van: Literary High Tea launches in the heart of Bloomsbury on Sunday, featuring readings from Toby Litt, Heidi James, Kate Ansell and Jeremy Sheldon accompanied by a menu of tea and scones. 4pm-6.30pm Sunday 24 June, £12.95/£8.95, The Great Russell Suite, The Montague on the Gardens,......