Phildel CD cover
Apr 15

Phildel: The Disappearance of the Girl

Phildel is more than a singer song­writer, she’s a mul­ti-tal­en­t­ed per­former whose artistry per­me­ates every aspect of her work. So I was keen to buy the phys­i­cal CD of The Dis­ap­pear­ance of the Girl and enjoy the art work and read the lyrics. Some­times I just think, damn those soul­less down­loads: music with­out its his­to­ry. For Phildel,…

 Read More
Phildel
Feb 24

Mixing it up at Bush Hall: Phildel and Ali Warren Band

Bush Hall, with its its rich red vel­vet drapes, majes­tic chan­de­liers and upstairs bar with view­ing gallery is opu­lence in minia­ture. Such swag­ger for such a tiny place. This Sun­day eve is Mixel­la­neous Melodies, and true to its name, it’s a very ran­dom mix of artists who play to a relaxed week­end crowd. Ozzie band…

 Read More
Jodrell Bank
Feb 14

Location, location: music for 2013 in unforgettable venues

From tiny, friend­ly gigs where you feel as if you’re in some­one’s liv­ing room, to the big, bold and out­landish, 2013 is all about state­ment venues. Here are a few to whet the appetite. 1. Feb­ru­ary 17: Bush Hall, Shep­herds Bush, west Lon­don. Only £5. A mel­low Sun­day evening under the chan­de­liers beck­ons at this…

 Read More
Feb 5

Down in Kentish Town: great music and Thai curry

Oh for a good old-fash­ioned Eng­lish high street, a scruffy one, with no Star­bucks, Acces­sorize and Oliv­er Bonas pop­ping up every­where. Well that’s pret­ty much Ken­tish Town for you, where you’ll find newsagents, print­er shops, friend­ly mar­ket stalls and even a library – grant­ed a Cos­ta lurks, but it does­n’t seem to have ush­ered in…

 Read More
Jan 24

King’s Place for food, drinks, art and alt-country band, ahab

We saw ahab at King’s Place as part of the King’s Cross venue’s folk ses­sions. Just for the record, Ahab (upper-case) are a Ger­man funer­al doom-met­al out­fit – to be remem­bered when googling them. ahab (low­er case) saunter on stage at King’s Place. First on is Cal­lum Ander­son, play­ing the first few chords of a beautiful-sounding…

 Read More
Mental Elf, The Trades 2012
Jan 4

Mental Elf – New Year at Hebden Bridge Trades Club

New Year’s Eve 2012. I asked var­i­ous peo­ple how they intend­ed to cel­e­brate. Most­ly, it seemed, this was to be the year of the “qui­et night in”. How bor­ing, I thought. I need to go out and do some danc­ing, maybe rolling back home as dawn creeps in. I’ve always been drawn to The Trades,…

 Read More
Sadie and the Hotheads, Earls Court 2012
Nov 28

Review: Lady Cora of Downton at The Troubadour

The Trou­ba­dour at Earls Court. Upstairs is the quirky cof­fee house and restau­rant which I don’t think has changed in appear­ance since I first vis­it­ed it in the 70s. Down­stairs is a venue at the heart of Lon­don’s music scene, a cramped cel­lar which has seen the likes of Bob Dylan grace its stage. Last night…

 Read More
Painted Black vintage shop Crouch End
Nov 12

The beginning of “The End” – a music festival for Crouch End

This week’s post is a bit dif­fer­ent, but there’s some­thing excit­ing hap­pen­ing next week­end in my neigh­bour­hood so I’d like to give it a heads up. It’s a mini music fes­ti­val called The End, and its hap­pen­ing in Crouch End, north Lon­don. The End takes place Fri­day 16th and Sat­ur­day 17th Novem­ber, start­ing at 7pm…

 Read More
Big Chill festival 2008
Oct 25

Music Festivals – what’s on the horizon?

2012 has not been an easy year for fes­ti­vals. The eco­nom­ic sit­u­a­tion and the depress­ing wet weath­er took their toll. The sea­son kicked off with a dis­as­trous­ly sod­den Isle of Wight, fol­lowed by sim­i­lar prob­lems at Cream­fields dance week­ender, and Wake­stock in Wales. Even Mor­risons, the super­mar­ket chain, was due to get in on the…

 Read More