Live music listings: September 2006

Doors 7.00
£7 via WeGotTickets

After a summer hiatus to record their new E.P. OKJunior mark their triumphant return to The Luminaire with a blistering new set. The band, championed by NME and XFM will showcase their talent for combining sunkissed melodies with lazy, tripped out beats and howling sonic landscapes.
"It's like the Who circa Pinball Wizard tapping into the hidden, prog-rock spirit of Radiohead and passing Gorkys, the Stone Roses and Television on the journey. There's an energy here rarely found in anything but punk in this day and age; a distinct originality, lacking from most of the new music around" [ Ishotthedeputy.com].
The as yet untitled follow up to the band's much acclaimed debut E.P. 'The Floating Formation', promises to be a mesmerizing affair of blistering, anthemic slack-rock fused with their usual array of grooves, samples and messed up rhythms. Don't miss this chance to catch one of London's freshest and most unique new bands.

Armed with a cheap four track, a diy ethos and a steady army of contributors, Markland Starkie AKA Sleeping States has amassed a wealth of material over the last two years, self-releasing the CD 'Distances Are Great' (winner of playlouder's '2004 Turner Prize'), and releasing the 'Exhibit J' EP for the 'Homocrime Singles Club'. Consisting mainly of electric guitars, found sounds and the odd vocal sampler, the music of Sleeping States generates simple soundscapes over which stories of love, separation and walks in the city are quietly drawn out.

From New York, Joe Driscoll is described as "Probably the most energetic performer on the planet - as real as it gets." His eclectic compositions are a tapestry of American roots music, an indescribably original canvas of rock and soul, with dynamic tones of hip-hop, funk and reggae seeping through. If you were going to send a diplomat to an intergalactic music conference, you would send Joe Driscoll to show them what’s up here on planet earth.

Widely regarded the globe over as the two most indispensable ingredients for a blazing party, amiable Cambridge born production duo The Nextmen (Brad Baloo and Dom Search) continue to set 2006 alight and up the ante for home-grown hip-hop and eclectic electronic music in general.
Their music, in both performance and production, continues to embody some stunningly cool conundrum: on one hand it's a blend of their own razor sharp slice of forward-thinking UK production which reconfigures the format for British urban music, drawing on lessons learned from diligent drum 'n' bass programming, the highest grade riddims of dancehall, the sway and seduction of classic soul, and their families' musical backgrounds. On the other, they channel a supremely funky groove that's reminiscent of New York 's formidable defining hip-hop blueprint. And they've done it all on the downlow over the past eight years, quietly responsible for pushing their musical peers to step up their production game. MC Wrec will be on hand tonight to lend his formidable talents to proceedings.

Rich Greentree, of The General and Duchess Collins and previously The Beta Band presents a DJ set: "Musical from the Soul" Appreciation Night will start at Motown o'clock and ride, rough-shod, on the back of The Carthartic Monkey Squad, right through to Old Dirty Bastard, R.I.P a.m.