Midweek Music News

By london_ken Last edited 226 months ago
Midweek Music News
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A Midweek Music News already? It seems like only yesterday we posted the albums round-up. That's the trouble with these Bank Holidays; nice as they are, they do screw up the body clock somewhat. It doesn't help when you're writing about bands called The Eighteenth Day of May on the fourth day of May (on the second working day of May) who have a gig on the sixth day of May but told you originally it was on the first Thursday of May. Confused? We'll start again.

The Eighteenth Day of May will be playing the Water Rats supporting Herman Düne on Friday May 6th. They'll be on stage at around 8.30pm. Also supporting will be Diane Cluck. The gig takes place at The Water Rats Theatre, Gray's Inn Road, London WC1, with tickets £6 advance from Ticketweb, or you could take your chances on the door. Or, why not send your details in an e-mail to info@theeighteenthdayofmay.com using the subject of Londonist - concession. The payoff? Half-price entry. That's £3 for three acts! You cannot say fairer than that. [Update: the e-mail address supplied to us was missing a crucial 'the' but we've reinstated it now. To anyone who tried mailing, please try again.]

Songs are available for inspection on the respective websites should you wish to check out the music before the gig. Expect a folky kind of vibe but in a nicely eccentric 'indie' kind of way without the finger stuck in the ear. We caught the end of EDOM's set at the Track & Field Leo Sayer at the Camden Monarch on Sunday and we dug their country/folky song which reminded us of Willy Mason. That is, of course, not all that helpful to the band in that they are obviously more complicated than a mere lazy comparison, so do make the effort to check out the song snippets on the website. Don't be misled by their glum appearance in the photograph above, they were actually a cheery bunch from what we could see. We liked them enough to pursue them to try and bring you more news of them anyway.

Herman Düne, by the way, can also be seen by the more economically-sensitive readers at the Rough Trade shop, Neal's Yard, Covent Garden, London WC2. This free appearance takes place on Saturday at 1pm, but arrive early to avoid getting squished.

The Pipettes - Gwen

Also playing at The Monarch on Sunday were the ever wonderful Pipettes. Despite losing one polka-dotted princess in the form of Julia, they put José Mourinho Rafael Benitez to shame in making an astute signing in the Welshtastic and almost impossibly nice Gwenno (pictured right, click on the picture to get to a Flickr set with more photos from the gig). In a story that is just somehow very Pipettes, Gwenno was a fan who saw them in Cardiff and somehow found herself in the band. Gwen's slotted straight into the band and her enthusiasm is infectious. Far from taking the spotlight away from Rose and Becki, however, she really does add something to the whole and without wishing to be disrespectful to Julia (not least because we really liked her), it is already hard to imagine The Pips without their new girl.

It's not just about personnel changes, though. In the months since we last reviewed The Pips, the sound's been really beefed up. Whether it's through tightening up the performance, adding new songs to the repertoire or just greater confidence, the girls reminded Londonist less of Phil Spector era girl bands and more of Blondie. Not afraid to show their femininity but defying you to try and perceive it as weakness, we can think of no better role model for young girls (and boys, come to think of it). Band theme song We Are The Pipettes is just sheer class and delivered with real gusto and belief. The Pipettes are sunsheeeine on a cloudy day, when it's cold outside, they're the month of May. Open up your eyes, ears and hearts to them, and your soul will thank you for it.

You can catch The Pipettes at one of the following:

- The London School of Economics tomorrow (Thursday 5th, tickets £3.50, doors at 7.30pm, the Pips will be on at around 10ish but don't hold us to that)

- Stay Beautiful on Friday 6th. Stay Beautiful opens at 9.00pm and closes at 2.00am, the venue is over-18s only so if you have youthful good looks, the club recommend you take along a passport or driving license with a credit card. Normal admission is £6, or £5 with flyer/NUS/DSS, with a further quid off if you arrive before 10.00pm.

- Back at the Barfly/Monarch on Monday 9th (entry is a fiver) with The Young Knives.

The band then support another favourite of Londonist's, The Magic Numbers, on tour. Unfortunately for Londoners some bright spark somewhere saw fit not to have The Pipettes supporting the Numbers at the Forum gig on the 12th which is a shame for The Pipettes, and an even greater shame for the Forum gig-goers. Regular readers will know, however, that where there's Pipettes news, we're not far behind. Indeed we were lucky enough to spend a pleasant afternoon pre-gig with the girls and we'll be bringing you the results of our little chat soon.

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If you'd rather club than gig this week then ROCK'N'ROLLSOUL is back this Saturday for the usual "six solid hours of soul that rocks and rock with soul". regulars Gary, Nat, Al, Martin and Jimmy are joined this time by Danny Decourtelle who, we are reliably informed, is "co-founder of legendary London club nights Deep Funk and Happiness Stans and purveyor of fine drinks and good times in Smersh and Filthy MacNastys". ROCK'N'ROLLSOUL takes place at The Albany (opposite Great Portland Street tube) this Saturday 7th May, 8.30pm-2.30am. Entry is a fiver (£4 with flyer/badge/NUS). The keen-eyed will have spotted the small version of the flyer to the right. The keen-fingered will have clicked it to produce a bigger version. The keen-money-saver will have printed it out using their work printer rather than wasting ink on their own personal printer. (K)

Londonist Noise was pleased to hear that Part Chimp will be playing the Buffalo Bar on May 27th - a date for your diaries, dear readers - ahead of new single War Machine and their July album release I Am Come. Last time Londonist caught up with Part Chimp was over a year ago supporting Explosions In The Sky and the experience was somewhat akin to having the living crap pounded out of you by a troop of enraged Gibbons. But in a really good way.

Talking of Explosions we'd also like to recommend forthcoming US football movie Friday Night Lights, not because it's about American football, or because it's been well reviewed but because Explosions provided the soundtrack for it. And that's reason enough. If you're still wandering what the hell we're talking about think Mogwai / Godspeed but with a sense of inner beauty and hope rather than political despair or social armageddon. You can check out some of their stuff here. You can also check out the movie this Sunday courtesy of Empire online.

And finally you can pick up the new Foo Fighters single Best Of You on iTunes from this week ahead of its more conventional release in the round. Dave Grohl's been quoted as saying that he wants this album to be the definitive Foo album (Foolbum?) and Best.. is if nothing else a definitive Foos track: Grohl carrying the melody over crash chugging guitars and thumping drums before breaking out into a full on stadium mosh chorus designed to be played with maximum front row spit storm. However, this doesn't mean it's a classic and we were hoping for something a little more exceptional than average as a lead into their long awaited double album.

Still it'll keep us going until the Dr Who album (MM)

This post was brought to you with the assistance of Mark Mulcahy's In Pursuit of your Happiness.

Last Updated 04 May 2005