The urban festival season rolls on, with the third annual Stag and Dagger kicking off this week. But we'd hate for you to think your gig options were limited to pub crawling in Shoreditch. Here's what we recomend for the rest of the week:
Fresh off their ATP appearance, alt-country Portlander's Blitzen Trapper will be at the Borderline tonight. Wintersleep will bring their warm guitar tones to the Lexington. To get your rock fix early on, catch Little Fish at Barfly (they're playing an early set). If you want to start your week off dancing, you won't want to miss a rare appearance by Syria's Omar Souleyman at Scala.
Tuesday's big ticket event comes courtesy of American indie mainstays Built To Spill who will be at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. But there are plenty of low-key happenings as well. On the twee part of the indie spectrum, Allo Darlin' will be at Barden's Boudoir. In the early days of an extensive European tour, minimalists Ganglians are at Brixton Windmill. And for a mellow singer-songerwriter experience, The Mountains And The Trees is playing the first of his London dates at the Slaughtered Lamb.
Pick up the pace on Wednesday with a little more snarl and shout from Mother Mother at the Brixton Windmill.
Thursday evening is especially exciting, as pioneering all-girl post-punk group The Raincoats are playing their 1979 self-titled debut in full at Scala. Kurt Cobain loved that record and you should too. Porcupine Tree will have a screening of their live DVD, Anasthetize, at the Theatre at Leicester Square.
You'll have to chances to see Sweden's masters of ethereal pop, The Radio Dept., at Bush Hall on Thursday and the Legion on Friday.
Also happening on Friday, you can meander down to the ICA for the gorgeous orchestral pop of Beth Jeans Houghton. For equal complexity, catch the album launch of Mathew Sawyer And The Ghosts at Café Oto. But if you want something a little more experimental, Anathema are previewing their first album in seven years, We're Here Because We're Here at Islington Academy.
We recommend you round out your weekend and ease yourself into next Monday with the gentle crooning of Nina Nastasia. She'll be playing her first of two shows at Café Oto.
