Exploring London since 2007
This time last week I was at the new Aloft London ExCeL, the Starwood group’s budget conscious yet modern 252-room hotel for a special event. Recently they’ve been running a competition, ‘Play and Stay at Aloft’, where they asked unsigned bands to submit demos of their material, with the winner being invited to record a [...]
Suzanne Vega is a veteran performer, having taken her unique musical talents on the road for most of the last 27 years, since her debut album and it’s iconic tracks ‘Marlene On The Wall’ and ‘The Queen & The Soldier’ were released back in 1985. Both of these songs were aired again at this week’s [...]
Over the weekend I was at the O2 Shepherds Bush Empire to see Norwegian singer Ane Brun just before she departs on a tour of the US. Originally from Norway, Ane found her musical feet in Sweden – her five studio albums, ‘Spending Time With Morgan’, ‘Temporary Dive’, ‘Duets’ (where she collaborated with several artists [...]
Chairlift’s gig at London’s Scala in Kings Cross on Wednesday night of this week was, apparently, their largest to date. The Brooklyn-based duo, consisting of Caroline Polachek and Patrick Wimberly were joined on stage by two compatriots for a musical tour through material from their two albums, ‘Does You Inspire You’ from 2008, and January’s [...]
Last night I went along to the big purple cow on the Southbank to witness the aural talents of the Vocal Orchestra at this year’s E4 Udderbelly Festival. The brainchild of human beatbox Shlomo, the Vocal Orchestra consists of four girls and three boys (two sopranos, an alto, two tenor and bass and a ‘beatboxer’). Their [...]
Last night we were down at that fantastic brutalist masterpiece, the 1967 Queen Elizabeth Hall on the Southbank, for a concert by singer-songwriter Laura Veirs alongside two of her long-time collaborators, guitarist Tim Young and string player Alex Guy. Supporting Laura last night was Alessi’s Ark (Alessi Laurent-Mark) – a young singer/guitarist who’s a bit of [...]
Fleet Foxes are currently on the UK leg of their tour to promote their second album, ‘Helplessness Blues‘, and I was lucky enough to see them at Hammersmith Apollo last night. If you’re not familiar with them, Fleet Foxes are a six-piece folk band from Portland Oregon who have a signature style of close harmonies [...]
