The Luminaire Events for April 2007

03 April - JOSH PYKE + Zillionaire + Dark Captain Light Captain

2007-04-03

The Luminaire presents
JOSH PYKE
+ Zillionaire
+ Dark Captain Light Captain

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

This is the final show of a three night residency for Josh

"...though his high voice will bring casual comparisons to Elliott Smith, the similarities lie more in the raw and mysterious imagery... of the kind most current singer songwriters wouldn't consider.... Pyke has particular promise." [Uncut]

It didn\'t take long before Josh Pyke\'s unique voice and song writing style, influenced by the likes of Elliott Smith, Evan Dando, and Sparklehorse, began to find favour amongst music tastemakers, critics and Triple J listeners in his Australian homeland. The first taste, the assured \'Kids Don\'t Sell Their Hopes So Fast\', found high rotation on JJJ and soon \'Silver\' and the gently sweeping \'Doldrums\' followed to similar praise and airplay.

"Memories & Dust' is a classic example of one-man acoustic story-telling - quirky, sullen and akin to a more upbeat Elliott Smith. This is a world-class album from the Australian songwriter who signed to Island last year. A very bright talent." [Music Week]

Earlier this year Josh signed to Ivy League Records and shortly afterwards travelled to New York for some further writing, performing and demoing and upon return set about recording what will be his debut release under his own name, a mini album entitled \'Feeding The Wolves\'.

\"Feeding the Wolves\" signifies a great deal more than a change in name: It reveals a huge step in the development of Josh as an artist and songwriter. The subject matter is as broad as titles like \'Beg Your Pardon\', \'Private Education\', \'Middle Of The Hill\' and \'Goldmines\' suggest, however it\'s Josh\'s lyrics that draw this collection of songs together into a complete package. He cleverly dissects human emotion and feelings and shows them for what they are: complex, abstract, fascinating.

With production by the much-lauded Wayne Connolly (You Am I, Underground Lovers, Youth Group, just about any Australian act of note...), \"Feeding The Wolves\" has the artist now rightly known as Josh Pyke letting his talent flow without constraint. The words seem to tumble out of him: honest, evocative, and emotional all at once. The playing - again mostly all Josh - is one moment sweetly melodic, then turning urgent and insistent as needs be. This range of feelings, packaged so they bounce around inside your head like good songs do, and given so generously, go together to make \'Feeding The Wolves\' the sound of an artist beginning to realise an enormous potential.

Main support are the perfect psycho-geographic combination; Zillionaire sound both exquisitely chilled and streaked with a lonesome melancholy (as anyone who recognises the nature of definitive music of Kiwi origin will appreciate) but there\'s urban tension and tenacity in their soul. This is delicate, intricate songsmithery but with a swarthy, slowburning gait.

\"An engaging astute melancholy married to a healthy combination of profound pop classicism and sleek guitar shininess.\" [Playlouder]

Their debut album \'Comfort In The Machine\' infuses both dynamics and speaks of experiences both arduous and joyful. It involves shifting life and soul to the other side of the world; over-fragile Spanish bass players; recording in tiny London bedrooms and famous plush Welsh studios. All the usual trials and tribulations, then. But the result is an unusually sublime collection of songs.

\"Stephan Tomasek has a voice smooth enough to melt this audience into a quiet hush.\" [Disorder]

\"They recall a supremely dreamy Jeff Buckley, or Buckley if he was smitten by Air and Pink Floyd rather than Led Zeppelin. Either way, Zillionaire are a more organic, precious commodity than the living-in-the-material-world suggestion of their name.\" [The Times]

\"Earnest Jeff Buckley-inspired rock.\" [Time Out]

Opening proceedings are East London duo Dark Captain Light Captain who came together in 2006, and aim to make both themselves and other people happy. Here are some things people have said about them:

"Think The Beta Band meeting Ride, with Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Kings Of Convenience looking on approvingly." [TuneTribe.com]

"They manage to sound fresh and exciting while remaining strangely familiar, to retain the rough-edged quality of a DIY recording while sounding more than competently produced and, all-in-all, win us over with a minimum of effort and a quiet, lackadaisical confidence." [Supersweet Magazine]

04 April - PAUL CURRERI + Benjamin Wetherill + DONT MOVE!

2007-04-04

The Luminaire presents
PAUL CURRERI
+ Benjamin Wetherill
+ DONT MOVE!

Doors 7.30
£8 via WeGotTickets
£9 door

Of Paul Curreri's 2003 album, 'Songs for Devon Sproule', which was produced by Kelly Joe Phelps, Vintage Guitar Magazine claims; "One of the very finest records in awhile. And, not just in this genre. Any genre."

The New Yorker calls this guitarist & songster from Charlottesville, Virginia "Exquisite. Brings a renewed eloquence to the medium" and Americana-UK says: "Full of soul, hushed insight, and (at last) originality."

His fifth album, 'The Velvet Rut', is due for release on Tin Angel Records in April, 2007. "Spontaneous & poetic, playing unpredictably, altering his phrasing, his routines thankfully haven't been hammered into regular shape" says The Independent.

Main support this evening plays "enchanting, odd, kind-of-folk songs, with a dash of his own take on the blues, intermingled with touching versions of George Formby numbers played on the ukulele." [Nude Magazine]. The purveyor of such songs is one Benjamin Wetherill.

Opening are DON'T MOVE!whose "propulsive, addictive rhythms" [The Fly] were born from a diverse range of influences including '60s legends such as The Byrds, Scott Walker and Love, as well as jazz greats like Buddy Rich, Ahmad Jamal and Jaco Pastorius and an appetite for classic disco. Not to mention their love of folk and roots music too.

05 April - SPEARMINT + The Winners

2007-04-05

Spearmint presents
SPEARMINT
+ The Winners

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door. "One day Spearmint will be hailed as Gods." [NME]

Spearmint are a national treasure. Since 'Sweeping The Nation' was released in 1999, Shirley Lee and his London band have released a stream of glorious pop singles and albums, which have earned them their place as one of the most important indie bands in Britain.

"The glamour that elevates our otherwise mundane existence." [Careless Talk Costs Lives]

Spearmint released 3 singles (blue, white and red) last year around their new album 'Paris In A Bottle'.

"The Spearmint album is truly great and shows up the majority of dead weight that supports the UK rock industry for being the money-led buffoons they are. They've created a masterwerk that will no doubt be appraised as a classic in 20 years time." [Creeping Bent]

Spearmint close their gigs for 'Paris In A Bottle' with two special, completely different full-length shows at The Luminaire, the second on April 12th.

"One of the most life-affirmingly brilliant pop records of recent years." [Drowned In Sound]

"If this doesn't put a smile on your face then you should check your pulse. Poptastic." [Flux]

06 April - PIT ER PAT + Fulborn Teversham + Quack Quack + Ill Ease

2007-04-06

Knom presents
The Long Good Friday No. 2
It\'s About Time!

PIT ER PAT
+ Fulborn Teversham
+ Quack Quack
+ Ill Ease

WE\'RE VERY SORRY, BUT THE DRUMMING WORKSHOP HAS BEEN POSTPONED AND WILL NOW HAPPEN AT A LATER DATE. DOORS ARE NOW AT 6.00

Doors 6.00
£5 via WeGotTickets
£6 door

Pit er Pat is the Chicago-based trio of keyboardist Fay Davis-Jeffers, drummer Butchy Fuego and bassist Rob Doran. Powerful rhythms provide the solid floor for ethereal melodies and layers of textural samples on Pyramids. Contemporaries describe Pit er Pat's sound as distinctively modern and fresh. Doran and Fuego's vocals often flit with Davis-Jeffers' in an exchange evoking haunting innocence.

Fulborn Teversham is the mindblowing new group of Seb Rochford, the extraordinarily in-demand and prolific drummer/composer, leader of Mercury Music prize nominees Polar Bear, and winner of BBC Jazz award for Rising Star 2004. Pursuing a more eclectic, less overtly jazz direction than Polar Bear, or indeed Rochford's other acclaimed group, Acoustic Ladyland, Fulborn Teversham incorporate elements of electronica, Bablicon-style experimentation and post punk. With clever balancing of cosmic and acoustic sounds, Seb Rochford (drums), Nick Ramm (Nord synthesizer), Pete Wareham (saxophones), and Alice Grant (vocals), set up an intimate and thrilling improvisational punk jazz chamber music for the future.

Like the great rhythm sections of James Brown, Africa 70, CAN and Led Zeppelin, Quack Quack operate right next to your heartbeat and your footsteps. They understand the importance of rhythm and use it to get the good chemicals flowing. This is music for dancing and smiling. Quack Quack have played a superabundance of gigs, sharing the stage with many great bands including, Hella, E.A.R, Pit er Pat, Scout Niblet and Lords. All three members, individually, continue to contribute to the Damo Suzuki Network.

Ill Ease evoke the seething sexual undercurrent of a Velvet\'s record.
\"Like a Moldy Peach playing patty-cake with Can. Bad times never seemed so good.\" [Spin]
A dark blend of low-fi, fuzzed out guitars, thrashy hip-hop style drums and Sharp\'s pleasantly off-kilter vocals. 8 out of a near perfect 10.\" [Alternative Press}

06 April - IAMX + Sue of Robots in Disguise [DJ set]

2007-04-06

PLEASE NOTE:
THIS SHOW IS STRICTLY
OVER 18. IF YOU THINK YOU\'LL BE ASKED FOR ID, PLEASE BRING IT

The Luminaire presents
IAMX
+ Sue of Robots in Disguise [DJ set]

Doors just after midnight on Friday night, after the Pit er Pat show
£10 via WeGotTickets

PLEASE NOTE:
THIS SHOW IS STRICTLY
OVER 18. IF YOU THINK YOU\'LL BE ASKED FOR ID, PLEASE BRING IT

\"Chillingly Bowie-esque..\" [Alternative Press]

Some musicians are meant to be heard but not seen - merely an auditory experience and nothing more. Berlin\'s Iamx, on the other hand, isn\'t merely a band; it\'s an event - a full-on aural and visual attack with the dynamic and inimitable Chris Corner (of Sneaker Pimps) leading the charge.

\"Heavier, dirtier and more sinister than the Sneaker Pimps\' listener-friendly sounds, \'The Alternative\' is almost industrial without the excessive noise. Taking the buzzes from that genre and mixing them with electro elements, orchestral washes and Corner\'s dangerous delivery makes for a tempting mix.\" [Remix Magazine]

With the European marketplace going bonkers for his blend of dramatic synth-rock, darkness-infused pop, and intricately-constructed indie dance, IAMX has been headlining festivals in Austria, Belgium, CZ Rep, Poland etc. and sharing the stage with Placebo, Franz Ferdinand, and The Cardigans among others.

\"Think Muse, but more out there, and sounding both stadium sized rock and seedy Berlin underground at the same time...\" [Londonist]

Like an 80s electro glam soundtrack to a Jan Svankmajer film or an almost unfathomable hybrid between the sexy swagger of Prince and the cool and collected respectability of Roxy Music, IAMX mixes Chris' erotically-charged vocals with music that is, at once, frantic yet controlled.

\"Like magic when he performs...\" [The Spartan]

With such strikingly cinematic songs as the waltzy drama of \'President\' to the percussive sexual predatory dirtiness of \'The Negative Sex\' to the indelibly infectious synthpop of the sweeping \'Spit It Out\', \'The Alternative\' is exactly just that - the alternative to the cookie-cutter music scene that dominates the airwaves.

\"Although it has always been said that the hardest thing to do is to create massively appealing songs that will be both lyrically genius and melodically catchy, Chris Corner has, with IAMX, seemingly defied the odds to effortlessly hit the jackpot.\" [Subculture Magazine]

Considering the rabid reception he receives from his performances, it seems it\'s time for the masses to latch onto \'The Alternative\'.

07 April - BIB + The Escapologists

2007-04-07

Loose Change presents
BIB
+ The Escapologists

SORRY, THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES. MORE INFO HERE

08 April - MALCOLM MOONEY + Very Special Guest + Jane Weaver + Booger Red + Wolf People + DJs Andy Votel, Dom Thomas + Doug Shipton

2007-04-08

Finders Keepers presents
SPIEGELEISABBATH MALCOLM MOONEY
+ SPEZIAL SEKRET GUEST
+ Jane Weaver
+ Booger Red
+ Wolf People
+ DJs Andy Votel, Dom Thomas + Doug Shipton

Doors 6.00
£12 via E ticket, here
£14 door

Just order your tickets through Paypal, print out and bring your receipt down and we will cross check you against our list.

Finders Keepers and B-Music presents a historical event from legendary krautrocker Malcolm Mooney plus Sekret Spezial Guest live, playing classic Can tracks and featuring sonic contributions from Voice of The Seven Woods (and friends), Booger Red, Wolf People and Jane Weaver.

Plus DJs Andy Votel, Dom Thomas and Doug Shipton.

Free B-Music sampler CD with the first 50 tickets sold.

Click here for a handsome flyer, created for the occasion.

10 April - PRIESTBIRD [formerly Tarantula AD] + kontakte + Fuck Buttons + John & Jehn [DJ set]

2007-04-10

The Luminaire presents
PRIESTBIRD
[formerly Tarantula AD]
+ kontakte
+ Fuck Buttons
+ John & Jehn [DJ set]

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

\"The band creates a night-time world of turbulence and beauty in equal measure\" [Kerrang! 4KKKK]

Priestbird is a new group comprised of the former members of the instrumental prog trio Tarantula AD. Following a vicious break-up, the three members of Tarantula AD parted ways and set out on their own, individual paths. One member left for Argentina to join a tango band, another became a semi-professional Soccer player in Italy, and the last retreated to the Himalayas to seek refuge in Shiva.

\"...sure to draw comparisons with Godspeed You! Black Emperor\" [Uncut]

After a year, the three members reconvened in New York City. In the midst of a brawl, typical of their past, they picked up the instruments in the room and began to play. What they played was not what they had known of each other in the past. It was something new. So inspired by what they heard and felt, they decided to work together again - but this time with a new sound, a new direction, and a new name.

\"Epic? Most of it makes Radiohead\'s \'Paranoid Android\' sound like Babyshamles. With guest vocalists such as Devendra Banhart, it all adds up to an intriguingly freaky kind of trip.\" [Q]

They now call themselves Priestbird. The name makes reference to a character in one of their songs that looks after the bird spirits on the afterlife. It was as if a steady fog had finally lifted. They realized that Priestbird was their true name all along. With this new beacon of light they developed a new sound that is doused in creativity yet makes reference to the familiar. It harbors a lyricism and visual quality that characterizes the artists' former work in Tarantula AD yet is more approachable.

They explore a psychedelic and pastoral realm reminiscent of early Syd Barret Pink Floyd, offset by a hard-hitting bombast evocative of Led Zeppelin's third album. There are also references to the work of guitar mystic, John Fahey, the exploratory production of the Beatles, and the melancholic textures of Debussy. Lyrically, Priestbird constructs verse that explores otherworldly travel - things that we all know yet do not all see.

Priestbird called upon the mastery of Black Crows' engineer, Chris Ribando, to record their new album, entitled In Your Time. Saunder Jurriaans played the double-neck (both guitar and bass), sarod, and sang. Danny Bensi played cello, violin, piano, guitar, bass, organ, banjo, and sang. And Gregory Rogove played drums, percussion, piano, organ, flute, the forks, and sang.

The same kind of explosiveness, raw energy, sensitivity to space, and dynamism found on this record is palpable in Priestbird's live show. They are a musical force to be reckoned with. This past year Priestbird toured the US and Eastern and Western Europe when not working on this new album. They have performed with an array of incredible musical groups during their career, including: Pearl Jam, Devendra Banhart, The Sword, Medeski Martin & Wood, Marc Ribot, Tim Fite, CocoRosie, Dungen, Grizzly Bear and more. Priestbird's new album, In Your Time, will be available April 2nd 2007 on Kemado Records.

Main support comes from London quartet kontakte, who\'ve been causing ears to prick up across the capital of late. Bringing together passions for distorted beats, transience and star-scraping melodies, kontakte create a sonic soundscape taking in post-, drone-, space- and kraut-rock.

Opening the show are the inimitable Fuck Buttons. A duo from London and Oxford, the pair pile up their equipment between them and duel to combine towering, distant and beautiful drone ambience with sky-splitting noise, unidentifiable animal calls and tribal, organic echoes. The result is a perfect match of the celestial and the bestial.

11 April - KRIS DELMHORST + The Cedars + The Blazing Zoos

2007-04-11

The Luminaire presents
KRIS DELMHORST
+ The Cedars
+ The Blazing Zoos

Doors 7.30
£9 via WeGotTickets
£10 door

Kris Delmhorst is an American singer/songwriter, part of the Boston folk scene. She was involved in producing 1998\'s Respond compilation, a fundraiser for domestic violence groups, and it included her song \'Weatherman\'. In 1999, she released a live album with The Vinal Avenue String Band, consisting of herself, Sean Staples, and Ry Cavanaugh. She has also recorded three full-length solo albums and one EP. Delmhorst is married to fellow singer/songwriter Jeffrey Foucault. [1] In 2003, Delmhorst, Foucault, and Peter Mulvey released an album entitled \'Redbird\' and followed this in 2006 with \'Strange Conversation\'.

Delmhorst\'s wine-deep, honey-bright voice can deliver even a centuries-old phrase directly to the doorstep of the listener\'s soul. Her sweet, sleepy vocals keep the album fresh and relaxed; her voice is the album\'s greatest instrument, both powerful and tender, falling somewhere between that of Jolie Holland and Patty Griffin, dusky, warm, distinctive.

Her interpretations are typically inspired, with highlights ranging from the shuffling, horn-backed \'Galuppi Baldessare\' to the colourfully arranged blend of jazz and blues of the title track and \'Everything is Music\'. Lest we might expect a batch of straight-laced art songs, though, \'Strange Conversation\' is a rollicking and even rootsy affair, full of tasty, vibrato-colored electric guitar, clarinet licks, fiddle and other touches of Americana from the post-modern saloon.

Main suport, The Cedars are a mesmerising Americana 4-piece with infectious stomping rhythms, a mournful, muscular female vocal and a mean dose of slide guitar. Playing songs of jilted love, distant lovers, murder and revenge, these guys conjure up scenes of dusty crossroads and cracked river beds so vivid that your throat gets dry just listening to them.

Since they formed in 2006, they have played a raft of gigs including the Reading Festival and received radio play in the UK and the USA. Tonight sees The Cedars playing a rare duo set.

\"They\'re very clearly a class act; there are a whole raft of signed bands unfit to lick the shiny boots of The Cedars.\" [Music Mart]

The Blazing Zoos are a bracingly bitter five-piece country band from London. The story of their gestation is long and peculiar, but involves a brief imprisonment in West Africa, a sleep-deprived hallucination in Libya and an impulsive journey to Nashville, all endured or enjoyed by the group's singer and songwriter, the journalist and author Andrew Mueller, in late 2005 and early 2006.

For reasons which made a certain amount of sense at the time, The Blazing Zoos' live debut, in the summer of 2006, occurred at a beach festival in southern Albania. The Blazing Zoos\' present lineup includes former Jesus Jones members Mike Edwards (lead guitar) and Gen Matthews (drums), along with Alec Pointon (bass) and Robin Colgan (piano). They are presently unsigned, but working on rectifying this.

12 April - SPEARMINT + The Lionheart Brothers

2007-04-12

Spearmint presents
SPEARMINT
+ The Lionheart Brothers

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door.

"One day Spearmint will be hailed as Gods." [NME]

"The glamour that elevates our otherwise mundane existence." [Careless Talk Costs Lives]

Spearmint released 3 singles (blue, white and red) last year around their new album 'Paris In A Bottle'.

Spearmint close their gigs for 'Paris In A Bottle' with two special, completely different full-length shows at The Luminaire, the first on April 5th.

"One of the most life-affirmingly brilliant pop records of recent years." [Drowned In Sound]

"If this doesn't put a smile on your face then you should check your pulse. Poptastic." [Flux]

Main support are Norway's marvellous Lionheart Brothers who've just released a new album 'Dizzy Kiss' in Norway (Racing Junior) with great success at home, and grabbed the number 1 favourite at Rough Trade shops in London.

Comprising two members of Serena Maneesh, The Lionheart Brothers are a widescreen, psychedelic colossus that take in and juxtapose the expanse and serenity of Slowdive and Mercury Rev with the blissful chamber pop and '60s technicolour of Brian Wilson, all swirling organs and dreamy hooks.

13 April - BUTCHER BOY + Cats on Fire + Guests

2007-04-13

How Does It Feel To Be Loved? presents
BUTCHER BOY
+ Cats on Fire
+ Guests

Doors 8.00
£6 via WeGotTickets

Having been at the heart of the UK's indiepop scene for the last four years as the man behind Glasgow's legendary National Pop League club night, John Hunt is now stepping out with Butcher Boy, a group of his own. Imagine Tindersticks, Felt, Lloyd Cole, Morrissey and songs to die for.
"Wonderful." [The Guardian]

Main support comes from a brilliant new band from Finland - Cats On Fire - who marry the lyrical flair and melodic swagger of The Smiths with a sweet garage pop influence to form a cool new take on indiepop. Their debut album, 'The Province Complains', is out soon on German indie Marsh Marigold. This will be their debut London show.

How Does It Feel To Be Loved? is a London club night that plays indiepop, northern soul, tamla motown, girl groups, and sixties heartbreak. They've been running since 2002 and in that time have had a host of guest DJs play at HDIF, including Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian), David Gedge (Wedding Present), Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Stephen Street (Smiths/Blur producer), Tracyanne Campbell (Camera Obscura), Dan Treacy (Television Personalities), and many more.

"A legendary indie club" [NME].

"A speakeasy for anyone who suspects that their life is one big Smiths song." [Big Issue]

After the bands, HDIF and National Pop League DJs will be playing some records, so we hope you stick around to dance in London's most beautiful small venue.

2007-04-14

The Luminaire presents
A Rump Recordings showcase

ICARUS
+ Rumpistol
+ Karsten Pflum
+ Bjørn Svin
+ VJ Same Same

Doors 7.30
£5 via WeGotTickets
£6 door

Headliners, and the only UK artist on Rump Recordings' bill this evening are Icarus, who've been interpreting electronic music since 1995 via jungle, drum'n'bass, no-wave and free jazz, psychedelic rock, minimal techno and avant-garde classical music. During releases on Hydrogen Jukebox and Output they moved away from the fading limelight of drum 'n' bass and looked deeper into sound-design, music concrete and rhythmic experimentation, with forays into film. The Leaf Label-released album 'I Tweet the Birdy Electric' in 2004 made album of the year charts in The Wire and BBC Online. Their new album on Rump Recordings this year will be an adaptation of a 30 minute live sketch into a studio-buffed precision product, an approach that has caused the duo to record all their very improvisational livesets ever since.

There is no doubt that Jens Berents Christiansen, aka Rumpistol, is a musician well in the premier league of electronica. Jens began his musical career in the art-rock band Magtværk, but quit the band in 2000 to focus on his solo enterprise, Rumpistol and single-handedly establishing Rump Recordings - the standard-bearer of uncompromising electronica in Denmark.

Rumpistol's crackling and dubbed downbeat sound is located in the more pensive part of the electronic hemisphere, and it shares a kinship with artists like Four Tet, Murcof and Telefon Tel Aviv. On his latest album, glockenspiels, melodicas, saxophones and especially guitars are woven into the sonic fabric, and the pace is raised by more distinctive beats, while the musical layers have expanded. The press wrote:

"An excellent new album from Rumpistol." (Angry Ape, UK)
"This record is unique." 8/10 (Cuemix Magazine, Germany)

Inspired equally by '80s synth pop, Detroit techno and Nordic folk-music, Karsten Pflum began playing around with old synths and sequencers in the middle of the '90s using the name of Slaphead Faun. In 2003 he released his first album "Tracks" on the English label Worm Interface (who also released Tom Jenkinson & Solar X), soon followed by two EPs and a second full album on the two Danish labels Tender Productions and Jenka Music. In October 2006 he released his 3rd album 'Idhax' on Rump, showing a darker and more soulful side, and his most "electronic" release to date, with twisted yet melodic tracks with an epic quality, exploring the borderland between repetition and rhythmic intricacy.

"Wonderful and essential!" (Cuemix Magazine).

Bjørn Svin (Bjørn Christiansen) started making music in 1992, and has produced several albums and 12-inches as well as music for films under different monikers like Prinz Ezo, El Far and Cygnett Committee. In the late nineties he became the first Danish techno-star with 'Mer Strøm #2, and soon reached cult-status among Scandinavia's club-scene.

His charismatic live performances move from minimal ambient pieces to post-industrial techno, and is often signified by a passion for low frequenies. His is a 'strictly hardware' approach to music-making and performing, where he prefers hardware sequencers and synthesizers to computers.

15 April - VINCENT OLIVER & THE CUMONTITS ORCHESTRA + Gable + Barbed + Felix

2007-04-15

Lo Alternative Frequencies presents
A Feast of Trumpets, with
VINCENT OLIVER & THE CUMONTITS ORCHESTRA
+ Gable
+ Barbed
+ Felix

Doors 4.00
FREE ENTRY

LOAF or Lo Alternative Frequencies is a new off-shot from Lo Recordings, one of the most consistently innovative labels around (home of Susumu Yokota, The Chap, Black Devil Disco Club and many more).

LOAF is a label dedicated to developing new talents and since its launch last year, has gained critical acclaim for its musical diversity and unique take on CD packaging. Vincent Oliver & The Cumontits Orchestra is a contender for the title \'Poster Boy of Electronica\'. Vincent has worked with the likes of Nathan Fake, MFA and The Chap but his own music has a quirkier edge to it; a mix between Arab Strap's dark lyrics, My Bloody Valentine's soaked guitars and R. Stevie Moore's pop sensibility. Vincent has just released his second EP on LOAF.

Gable must be the most eccentric band in a long line of eccentric French bands. Their songs are really short, really silly and really energetic, reminiscent of early Deus, Daniel Johnston and The Moldy Peaches. This will be their live UK debut with a mini album scheduled for a late summer release.

Veterans of the English experimental scene, Alex & Alex, have been members of an embryonic Add N to X and released music on the legendary Recommended label. Their music as Barbed is a sprawling journey through bouncy pop, brooding jazz, eastern scales, \'50s lounge music, bhangra, philly soul, contemporary folk and classical music. Yet each song lives and breathes in its own little world.

As far as Felix is concerned, start with the sound in the brain of one Lucinda Chua; piano, cello, vocals sung in hushed tones, stories heard whispered in the back of the cinema and messages scribbled in biro on scraps of paper, add delicate guitar from Christopher Summerlin to make your spine tingle and you have Felix, a mesmeric formula which would ideally be consumed in liquid form piped into the ear in the half-awake-half-asleep state.

----
Some background on The Feast of Trumpets...
The Feast of Trumpets is specifically and biblically the first day of the month of Tishri. Leviticus 23:24 states, \"In the seventh month you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation.\"

On the third Sunday of the month, from 4.00pm to 9.00pm we hand over The Luminaire to the UK\'s best independent labels and inviting them to curate the bill, to give their artists space to perform in a way they might not ordinarily, to collaborate together, for electric acts to play acoustically, or vice versa, to invite friends down to play... In short, to do whatever they like.

16 April - BARR + No Age

2007-04-16

Upset The Rhythm presents
BARR
+ No Age

Doors 8.00
£5 via WeGotTickets

Barr is the project of LA / NYC's wandering pop-dynamo Brendan Fowler, in which he half-sings over half-tunes, creating a set of confessional songs that challenge the listener's preconceptions of truly innovative music.

Holding articulate dialogues that fall between lyrics and spoken word, Brendan's words are backed by deceptively simple, yet emotionally disarming melodies, formed from a sparse arrangement of bass, drums, piano and sometimes xylophone. This minimal aesthetic is the perfect platform for candid and exploratory songs about love, absence, realisation and experience.

'Summary', Barr's new record, will be released by Upset The Rhythm on February 12th. This show will see Brendan premiere his new full band.

No Age is Randy Randall and Dean Spunt - two heavyweights from the LA punk/ skate / art underworld, who previously performed as two thirds of that punked DIY machine, WIVES. A crashing collision of sweetly shouted ditties, ecstatic crunch feedback and violent bouts of percussion, the NO AGE sound is abound with pop songs fighting to break through a mist of white fuzz.

'Get Hurt' - a debut six song, 12" EP - will be released by Upset The Rhythm in March 2007.

17 April - ALASDAIR ROBERTS + Elaine Palmer

2007-04-17

The Luminaire presents
ALASDAIR ROBERTS
+ Elaine Palmer

SOLD OUT
NO DOOR SALES, SORRY

Doors 7.30
SOLD OUT
NO DOOR SALES, SORRY

After his 2005 collection of tragic ballads, \'No Earthly Man\', Alasdair Roberts bounces back with a bright and shiny new record, \'The Amber Gatherers\'.

In contrast to \'No Earthly Man, \'The Amber Gatherer is, in many respects, a pop record, albeit pop firmly rooted in traditional folk music. Where \'NEM\' was unapologetic in its grim tragedy, \'TAG\' is likewise unapologetic in its playfulness. Certainly, death features now and again - but this time as foe to be defeated rather than as all-conqueror - and lyrically, there's a new-found willingness to let playfullness lead the way, with Alasdair entrusting the eternal logic of rhythm and rhyme finally to unearth meaning in songs like \'Where Twines the Path\' and \'River Rhine\', among others.

Alasdair\'s voice is as honest and naked as ever and the result is both beautiful and utterly beguiling.

[Words adapted from Isaac Stepek\'s original text]

Supporting this evening is Elaine Palmer

18 April - KIMMIE RHODES + Jessica Blake + Harmony & Pollution

2007-04-18

The Luminaire presents
KIMMIE RHODES
+ Jessica Blake
+ Harmony & Pollution

Doors 7.30
£10 via WeGotTickets
£12 door

Willie Nelson-endorsed Austin-based Kimmie Rhodes brings her rootsty songcraft and liberating country to town.

Kimmie is a native Texan who grew up in Lubbock, Texas and began her singing career at the age of six with her family gospel trio. She moved to Austin in 1979, where she met DJ and producer Joe Gracey, an instrumental figure in the Austin progressive country scene who she eventually married. In 1981 she recorded her first album 'Kimmie Rhodes and the Jackalope Brothers' when Willie Nelson invited her to use his studio. In 1985 she recorded her second album, 'Man In the Moon'. Her third album 'Angels Get The Blues', recorded at the original Sun Studio in Memphis, was released in 1989. These records led to a series of British and European tours which received rave reviews.

Since then she's recorded many albums, played with just about anyone you care to mention and had her songs recorded by just about anyone else you care to mention.

You might want to get yourself along to hear why.

Main support is Jessica Blake who, "having grown up on an American Indian Reservation, displays a love affair with the wide-open wilderness of the West." [Uncut]

"The fact that Blake has spent most of her life in the US explains why she has that wonderful down & dirty sound which somehow escapes most UK female singers. Her album is certainly a cut above most recent UK releases". [British Country Music Association]

"You can almost taste the clear air and feel the rugged beauty. The title track 'Three Good Reasons' had me punching the air in agreement and found me wondering...could this be the future of British country music?" [Country Music and More]

And first on go by the name of Harmony & Pollution is a loosely based musical collective from Brooklyn, New York formed by California native Jason P. Grisell. A melange of personal songwriting and electronic experiments that follows mecurial shifts in moods while maintaining ties to the heart and soul of American acoustic forms. His voice has been described as heartbreaking and damaged, invoking the ghosts of Elliott Smith, Neil Young, and Carl Wilson.

19 April - THE FUTURE SHAPE OF SOUND + The Justin Stones Band + Big Daddy Kai & Lady Joker

2007-04-19

Future Crew Records & Duwee Promotions presents
Big's Birthday Bash featuring
THE FUTURE SHAPE OF SOUND
+ The Justin Stones Band
+ Big Daddy Kai & Lady Joker

Doors 7.30
£tba

An evening of Psychedelic Blues, Bowler Hats and 60s Hip Hop with The Future Shape of Sound, The Justin Stones Band and Big Daddy Kai. This is Space Age Gangster Soul.

"A family of streetwise superheroes for a post apocalyptic world." [The Independent]
"More about the feet than the head, this is party-centric, music first". [Mojo]
"'60s lounge and funk - a living retro filter." [Blues Matters Magazine]
"Very good. Visually arresting and sounds fantastic." [BBC Radio London]

20 April - THE MANHATTAN LOVE SUICIDES + The Gresham Flyers + Silver Springs

2007-04-20

Lost Music presents
THE MANHATTAN LOVE SUICIDES
+ The Gresham Flyers
+ Silver Springs

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

Feedback, noise, melodies all dressed in black and fronted by a sassy female singer - The Manhattan Love Suicides are indie pop gold. If you don't automatically think of a shit nightclub when you hear the word Creation, or a girls name when you hear Sarah, or a sandwich shop when someone says Subway, and you actually know what the fuck we're talking about here, then you need to see and hear The Manhattan Love Suicides.

Rough Trade Shops says; "For anyone who loves fuzzed up guitar assaults, feedback, female vocals, melodic pop, ear splitting minimalist noise...and hates a hell of a lot of other things - we give you The Manhattan Love Suicides' debut album. Not since Juniper Moon have we been this excited about an indie pop band. Think The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Shop Assistants, Galaxie 500, The Velvet Underground, The Rosehips, The Golden Dawn and Meat Whiplash. The album is full of fuzzed up noisy pop music with a pounding beat and heart breaking female vocals combined with slower, less raucous sounding tunes. Every song is a indie pop nugget."

Main support are The Gresham Flyers. Describing their sound as "Classy, energetic pop, boy/ girl singers, handclaps, and hooks you can hang your duffel coat on", the band pride themselves on their instrument-swapping diversity and ear for a good hook, based around the diverse influences of the band- from the indie storytelling of Pulp & Belle & Sebastian, to the electronic washes of New Order or Sparks, to the manic strum of The Wedding Present to the classy pop-rock of Roxy Music, 10cc and The Tubes.

Their debut 7 inch single 'Shiftwork' was released in 2006. Rough Trade have called it "a cracking little single that is sure to announce the band to the wider world". The band also contributed the standout track 'Blackpool' to the critically-acclaimed compilation 'The Kids At The Club' on How Does It Feel Records.

Opening the evening is the "amped-up country noisepop soundscapes" of Silver Springs

"Beautifully played avant-noise Americana with a Galaxie 500 influence." (Sean Price, Fortuna Pop)

"A classic-sounding indie jangle band in the vein of The Orchids and The Television Personalities." (Ian Watson, How Does It Feel To Be Loved?)

"Indie of the fiercely old school style, resplendent with sensitively shy, soft indie boy vocals and lyrics." (Fliss Collier, Metro Online)

"A spot on take on the melancholy beauty previously modelled by The Silver Jews and Palace." (Crud Music Magazine)

21 April - TINY DANCERS + 747s + Envelopes + Clash Magazine DJs

2007-04-21

Clash Magazine presents
Club Clash
TINY DANCERS
+ 747s
+ Envelopes
+ Clash Magazine DJs

Doors 8.00
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

Clash Magazine returns once again to our monthly spiritual clubbing cathedral in North London, to bow down and worship at the altar of the UK's best live venue 2007 (as voted in Music Week). Yet again we bring you a musical melee you will struggle to better anywhere, both in terms of absolute quality all through the line up, and value for money as you eagerly bounce in and ecstatically fall out of our welcoming front door.

Tiny Dancers, although from Sheffield eschew the city's contemporary oversubscribed frenetic sound in favour of a soundtrack more likely to emanate from the shores of Southern California. Radiantly retro and with their debut album dropping in June they are possibly this year's 'Band of the Summer', so catch them at this months Clash Club before they, like the weather, get too damn hot.

747s are one of the only bands to be invited to play Clash Club twice, after an unforgettable set back in summer 2006. This Anglo-Irish-Italian-German outfit deliver romantic yet robust pop, searing hooks and blistering riffing that will unleash your darkest desires.

Envelopes are Scandanavia's latest and greatest purveyors of tripped-out, blissed-out electro punk pop. They profess to posses the ability to change you and those around you. Mental and physical positivity is what they are all about and with the melodic well-being and chunks of funk emanating from their every track, we believe they may just be able to make that change.

The fourteenth in the continuing Clash Club legacy follows blinding previous events that played host to Jeremy Warmsley, Action Plan, Radioclit, Low Sparks, Spektrum, The Fratellis, Apartment, Pull Tiger Tail, 747s, Midlake, Deaf Stereo, The Sunshine Underground, Union Of Knives, Radar, The View, Larrikin Love, Captain Black, The Rank Deluxe, The Bishops, The Crimea, Vatican DC, Freelance Hellraiser, George Demure, Vincent Vincent and the Villains, Mr Hudson and the Library, The Rumble Strips, Battle, Pete & The Pirates and many more.

Clash , the groundbreaking and award-winning bimonthly music and fashion magazine, is proud to continue its association at London's Luminaire in Kilburn. The Luminaire won Time Out\'s Venue of the Year, bringing well-deserved attention to the continued success of London\'s most promising club. It\'s a marriage made in music heaven, as venue manager Andy Inglis explains: \"The award-winning Luminaire welcomes the award-winning Clash Magazine for a monthly night of bands, DJs and debauchery."

22 April - HTRK + Underground Railroad + John & Jehn

2007-04-22

The Luminaire
HTRK
+ Underground Railroad + John & Jehn

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

\'...what those in the know call the Glamorous Neu Underground ...\'\' [20jazzfunkgreats]

HTRK are a three piece from Melbourne who reside in Berlin and London. Their debut album was produced, at his own request, by Rowland S. Howard of the Birthday Party, who also plays guitar on the record. HTRK use 808 drum machine, electronic guitar, floor tom, maraca, bass and vocals. HTRK are interested in teenagers, night clubs, dreams and heartbreak.

\'\'Ominous collusions of downtown basslines and ricochet beats (in bullet-time). Sound like, y\'know, a motel room, a tyreprint curve in the rain, an alibi.\" [Plan B]

\'\'Slinky, sexy and deep bass and synth throb\'\' [NME]

Main support are Underground Railroad who provide a live show that sends you spinning. Politely devastating, they produce a storm of energy and anger, which demolishes everything in its way. The band cite their influences as The Velvet Underground, Radiohead, and The Cure, to name but a few, however these guys have carved out an emotionally unique sound.

They're a gang of dirty, French mothers with a magnetism you can't ignore. They met in the grey city of Paris in 2003 with a common aim; to gig and gig and then to gig some more. In the past two years they've played over one hundred shows all over the world. Invited to perform alongside Melt Banana in Japan and Ted Leo and The Pharmacist in the USA, the band have just about had time to set up home in London and send shockwaves of anticipation through the city's gigging circuit. They continue to infiltrate the UK and Europe, executing tight live shows with a subtly which collides beautifully with their torrential sound.

Underground Railroad are Marion Andrau, J.B Ganivet, and Raphael Mura. The trio were approached by a number of record labels in 2006 but finally signed to One Little Indian Records, and we're awfully glad they did. If you haven't seen them live, then you haven't seen anything yet.

First on are John & Jehn, specialising in intense, French boy-girl / guitar-vs-Farfisa and Moog duelling. A less moody Sons & Daughters, maybe, but with more musical invention and plenty nods toward Gainsbourg. Expect taut, angular guitars, pure raw energy and handclaps."

23 April - TH\' LEGENDARY SHACK*SHAKERS + Hot Rocket Trio + Penny Black Remedy

2007-04-23

The Luminaire presents
TH\' LEGENDARY SHACK*SHAKERS
+ Hot Rocket Trio
+ Penny Black Remedy

Doors 7.30
£12 via WeGotTickets
£14 door

Th\' Legendary Shack*Shakers: Southern by the Grace of Goth!

Th\' Legendary Shack*Shakers started their hell-for-leather, Penta-caustic roadshow just over three years ago and in a short time have earned quite a name for themselves with their unique brand of American Gothic that is all-at-once irreverent, revisionist, dangerous, and fun. Led by their wildly charismatic rail thin frontman, the blues-harpist J.D. Wilkes, Th' Shack*Shakers are a four-man wrecking crew from the South whose explosive interpretations of the blues, punk, rock and country have made fans, critics and legions of potential converts into true believers.

Described as \"the last great Rock and Roll frontman\" by Jello Biafra (of the Dead Kennedys), Shack*Shakers\' front man J.D. Wilkes began yelpin' the blues through a ham radio microphone at his boyhood home of Paducah, Kentuck; a short farmer\'s blow away from where his future bassist Mark Robertson was cutting his teeth on punk rock and gospel in Nashville, Tennessee. When their paths crossed a few years later in the lawless honky tonks of music city's "lower broadway scene," they found their individuated styles and common interests meshed and that's when the like-minded, red-headed musical misfits began their crusade.

With the recent addition of guitarist extraordinaire David Lee (South Carolina\'s preeminent bad-ass and \"Illustrated Man\") Th\' Legendary Shack*Shakers have quickly become know for providing some of the best entertainment - live or otherwise - that you can get for your hard-earned money.

24 April - MARK EITZEL + Michael J Sheehy

2007-04-24

The Luminaire presents
MARK EITZEL
+ Michael J Sheehy

£12 via WeGotTickets
£14 door

Mark Eitzel, singer and songwriter of American Music Club will be making his first apperance at The Luminiare performing songs from his solo catalogue as well as old and yet to be recorded songs from the upcoming new American Music Club album. Mark has been called \"America\'s greatest living lyricist\" by The Guardian and was voted by Rolling Stone as Songwriter of the year. He has released over 14 albums with his group American Music Club as well as solo artist and is one of the most intense and enduring performers around.

25 April - SHADY BARD + Airport Girl + Maribel + Club AC30 DJs

2007-04-25

Club AC30 presents
SHADY BARD
+ Airport Girl
+ Maribel
+ Club AC30 DJs

Doors 7.30
£5 via WeGotTickets
£6 door

Shady Bard are putting the finishing touches to their debut album, 'From The Ground Up', due for release in spring 2007 on Static Caravan Recordings. Described as a miniature indie orchestra, their line-up includes violin, cello and French horn alongside guitars, piano, percussion and samples.

Where Airport Girl are concerned:
"Swathed in Cosmic Country Shimmer...A toasty soundtrack to duvet-wrapped winter despondency." [Metro]
"Mesmerising...an album to make you glad it's winter, a time to huddle indoors and wallow." [The Guardian]
"Airport Girl still have that undying sensibility of creating sorrowful yet swooning epics in equal measures." Drowned in Sound]

Opening the evening are Oslo-based Maribel, who'll take you on a sonic journey from Slowdives grand shoegaze-universe into Spacemen 3s intense and dark mass of lost souls. Minimalistic punk-rhythms are enveloped by a moaning wall of reverberated guitars. Barely decipherable words form a lingering elegy. Maribel is a meditative and vibrating exploration of alternative music.

26 April - SHOOTER JENNINGS AND THE .357S + Alan Tyler and the Lost Sons of Littlefield

2007-04-26

The Luminaire presents
SHOOTER JENNINGS AND THE .357S
+ Alan Tyler and the Lost Sons of Littlefield

Doors 7.30
£13.50 via WeGotTickets
£14.50 door

Waylon Albright (\"Shooter\") Jennings (born May 19, 1979) is an American country music singer, the only child of Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter. His middle name comes from his father\'s drummer, Richie Albright. His father nicknamed him \"Shooter\" after he urinated on a nurse shortly after birth (as the elder Jennings wrote in his 1996 autobiography).

Shooter Jennings lived his first few years in a crib on his parents\' tour bus. By age five, he was playing drums. Between tours, he took piano lessons. He started playing guitar at fourteen and sometimes played in his father\'s band. He and his father recorded a few things together when they happened to have some microphones set up and the tape recorder plugged in. At age sixteen, Jennings discovered rock \'n\' roll.

As an adult, Jennings left Nashville, Tennessee to seek his fortunes in Los Angeles. He assembled and performed with Stargunn, a southern rock band whose sound he described as Lynyrd Skynyrd mutating into Guns N\' Roses. Stargunn performed at local clubs for six years, built a rabid following and earned praise from the local music press. But the Hollywood party scene eventually began to bother him. He says, \"I was posing as a rocker-a country guy trying to be something he wasn\'t.\"

On March 30, 2003, Jennings dissolved Stargunn and moved to New York City to spend time with his girlfriend and sort out what he wanted to do next. An unexpected gig at the House of Blues a few weeks later revived his creativity. He returned to Los Angeles to form another band, the 357s.The 357\'s Consist of Ted Russell Kamp on bass, Leroy Powel on guitar and Bryan Keeling on drums. After six weeks in the studio, he completed his first solo album, Put the O Back in Country. Universal South released the album in early 2005.

Jennings portrayed his father in the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line. He is the host of Shooter Jennings\' Electric Rodeo, a two-hour weekly music show on Sirius Satellite Radio\'s Outlaw Country channel. Shooter Jennings\' second solo album \"Electric Rodeo\" was released on April 04, 2006.

Main support this evening will be Alan Tyler & The Lost Sons of Littlefield. English country rock pioneer and ex-Rockingbirds front man Alan Tyler picks up where he left off on his southern American-inspired odyssey with new band, The Lost Sons of Littlefield.

\"Always a brilliant songwriter, Tyler has lost none of his verve and ingenuity. This is a humble, yet nonetheless unashamed, work of cowboy art.\" [Rock \'n\' Reel]

Tyler is justifiably praised for creating beautifully crafted songs with universal themes in a traditionally American genre. But he is also one of the very few artists who can successfully tell his tales with lyrics originating from an unmistakably English standpoint. His tender, honey-rich lead vocals blend beautifully with the harmonies provided by Lost Sons Chris Clarke and Paul Lush, along with guest musician and fellow-Rockingbird alumnus Sean Read. Jim Morrison's exquisite contributions on fiddle and mandolin give the songs a warmth and depth that would allow them to sit comfortably on any wooden porch in the, rural towns of America.

\"Homegrown country that kicks serious ass.\" [Record Collector, Feb 2007]

While the band's name is a nod to the birthplace of its leader's favourite singer Waylon Jennings, Tyler once again proves that he has earned his own, unique place in the world of country rock music.

27 April - PONTY BONE AND THE SQUEEZE TONES + Slim\'s Cyder Co

2007-04-27

The Luminaire presents
PONTY BONE AND THE SQUEEZE TONES
+ Slim\'s Cyder Co

Doors 7.30
£10 via WeGotTickets
£12 door

In the Lone Star State, where the squeezebox pervades the musical landscape, Ponty Bone is an authentic Texas accordion King. He\'s a master of the instrument who has played with some of the state\'s most influential artists and infused his instrument and talents into a myriad of popular and roots musical styles, in the process winning an international reputation.

For two decades Bone has led his band, The Squeezetones, to popularity throughout the Southwest, the rest of America and across Europe; and, over seven prior years with Joe Ely, he helped change the face of country music. He has shared the stage and studio with such varied musicians as punk rock stars The Clash, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, fellow Texas accordion King Flaco Jimenez, country-rock superstar Linda Ronstadt and English rock legend Ronnie Lane.

He\'s even been name-checked in a book of short stories by noted playwright and actor Sam Shepard. And his resume of musical associations reads like an honor roll of Texas music: Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Terry Allen, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Earl Keen, Gary P. Nunn, Omar & The Howlers, both Bruce & Charlie Robison, Terri Hendrix and Timbuk 3, to name some but hardly all.

The keys to Ponty Bone\'s pervasive accomplishments are an all-embracing musicality and a magical touch that brings deep soul and feel-good vibes to all the music that his accordion graces. Whether he is playing a roadhouse, concert stage, cantina, folk festival, nightclub, college campus or backyard pig roast - just some of the venues where he has appeared - Bone is \"the salsa that spices it up,\" as the Santa Monica Mirror puts it. That\'s because Ponty Bone is \"the Real McCoy of soulful accordion playing,\" says his fellow squeezebox hero Flaco Jimenez.

Opening tonight are Slim\'s Cyder Co., an accordion led brew of Rockin\' Swamp Country Swing.

28 April - ANDY WHITE\'S GARAGEBAND + Pete Molinari + Paul Simmonds + Cracktown

2007-04-28

Complete Control presents
ANDY WHITE\'S GARAGEBAND
+ Pete Molinari
+ Paul Simmonds
+ Cracktown

Doors 7.45
£6 via WeGotTickets
£8 door

Irishman Andy White has worked with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Tim Finn, been the A of ALT, won awards and critical acclaim for his albums, and toured the world with his acoustic guitar.

His new album \'Garageband\' was recorded in Andy's new home of Melbourne Australia and Real World Studios by John Leckie, producer of \'The Bends\', My Morning Jacket, Muse and Roy Harper.

Andy is launching the album in London this April with his very own Garageband - Beat Pachlatko on bass and Marc Krebs on drums.

The new album is panoramic, live and loud. A mix of world, rock and Irish music - all shot through with Andy\'s trademark lyrics.

A Belfast boy, he is a rock'n'roll star in his own land. He has merged pop sensibility with lyrical excellence, social commentary and acoustic guitars ever since his debut single 'Religious Persuasion' and first album 'Rave On Andy White' in 1986.

Since 'Rave On\' he\'s released 8 solo albums, two compilations and a live album. He has written classics such as 'James Joyce's Grave' and 'Street Scenes From My Heart', won Ireland's top songwriting award, lived in Ireland, Europe and currently Australia, and toured the world many times over.

They called him Belfast's Bob Dylan when he started, but this album sounds more like U2 playing Velvet Underground songs at WOMAD.

Main support is Pete Molinari, a folk blues singer/songwriter of Egyptian / Maltese parentage, raised in from Chatham, England, where he was discovered by Billy Childish.

During an 18 month stint in America, he honed his unique vocal style playing the bars and cafes of New Yorks Greenwich Village like the Bitter End, the Gaslight, Cafe Wah, Café De LArtists places where Jack Kerouac and his beat poets read and also the likes of Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Ramblin Jack Elliot and Dylan all played.

\"I think he can go on to follow in the footsteps of greats like Dylan, Guthrie and where few others rarely go.\" [NME]

On his travels, Pete got to play with some of the best players that were part of Dylan/ Phil Ochs scene like Justin Devereaux and Eric Fransen who was later invited by Dylan to join his Rolling Thunder Revue. Pete says: \"They thought it was real strange that a kid of my age from England could play this kind of music in a more authentic way than any of the Americans they normally see in the Village.\"

Before Pete we\'ve Paul Simmonds, songwriter and guitarist with The Men They Couldn\'t Hang, stepping out on his own to perform classic selections from a 23 year repertoire plus a batch of brand new songs destined for the forthcoming TMTCH album and his debut country style album scheduled for later this year. Backing vocals come courtesy of Orbital vocalist Naomi Bedford.

First on is Cracktown, a two headed mythological Anti-Folk-Blues Beast that currently ply there trade in the bar rooms, brothels and boozers of old Kingston upon Hull. Worshipped in the Northern provinces and envied in the South, they have shared stages and broken bread with the likes of The Paddingtons, Kimya Dawson, MJ Hibbert, Ed Tudor Pole, Wreckless Eric, Attila the Stockbroker, Carter USM, Pog, Wob and Curtis Eller.

With their wicked mixture of sardonic songs and scandalous social commentary they have justifiably earned themselves the reputation of being one of the best live acts currently roaming the British Isles. Fronted by the Victorian dandy harmonica supremo The Silver Fox and ably backed by the luscious licks of the regal King Rat, a man who is for guitar sex gods what Barry Bethal was for Slim Fast. CrackTown are the new musical Sheriffs in town and they have the badges to prove it so lock up your daughters, prick up your ears and prepare yourself for a brutal neck snapping feast of gallows entertainment.

29 April - GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS + Barbarossa+ Serafina Steer + Lowery

2007-04-29

Knom Music presents
GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS
+ Barbarossa
+ Serafina Steer
+ Lowery

Doors 7.00
£7 via WeGotTickets

£9 door

Great Lake Swimmers is the musical project of Toronto based singer/songwriter T. Dekker and a revolving cast of backing musicians. Two records have been released to date: \'Great Lake Swimmers\' (2003) and \'Bodies and Minds\' (2005).

A new album, entitled \'Ongiara\' made with core members Erik Arnesen and Colin Huebert, along with several special guests, will be released in Canada in March. It was recorded at the Aeolian Hall in London, Ontario. Great Lake Swimmers explores the worlds of indie folk, roots music and alt-country pop, with a focus on lyrics and the craft of songwriting.

The records are permeated with the lush natural reverb of various acoustically unique locations, which create the backdrop for the melancholic songs. The atmospheric sound has been referred to as \'ambient folk\'.

Great Lake Swimmers have been compared to Nick Drake, Iron and Wine, Red House Painters, and \'After the Gold Rush-era Neil Young. They were awarded the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation\'s Galaxie Rising Star Award in March 2005 and were voted Favourite Folk/Roots Artist at the 2004 Canadian Independent Music Awards.

Main support are Barbarossa whose \'Chemical Campfires\' album featured as Rough Trade\'s \'Album of the Week\'.

\"An immaculately constructed album of forward facing folk, without blemish.\" [The Word]

\"Fresh as the winter months when it was concieved.\" [Uncut]

\"Lovely laptop folk.\' [Q Magazine - \'Aeroplanes\' was no.66 in their top 100 undiscovered tracks of 2006]

\"Conjures up drizzle, a log fire, single malt and dusting off the old acoustic guitar.\" [The Telegraph] \"Chemical Campfires perches on the cusp of folk and pop with fiery metaphors, mellifluous harmonies and a genial groove.\" [The Independent]

Before that is Serafina Steer.

Kooky is a phrase over-used for female artists with original voices, but there is a connection here with such fellow musical visionaries as Bat For Lashes, CocoRosie, Joanna Newsom, Bjork and even the Flying Lizards. Recorded and produced by Mike Lindsay, of Tunng.

Lowery makes smart music. We just got wind of this stuff. Lowery can also be heard with The Lost Levels, i am error, Ellis Island Sound and occasionally Sean Redmond.

30 April - THE BLOW + Guests

2007-04-30

Upset The Rhythm presents
THE BLOW
+ Guests

SOLD OUT

Doors 8.00
SOLD OUT

Khaela Maricich is a pop musician, visual artist, and performer. She works in the cracks between pop music and performance art, bouncing between the genres to suck out the juicier parts of both worlds. She has toured the United States extensively performing her solo monologue, \'Blue Sky Versus Night Sky\', as well as giving traditional concerts of dance-party music with her band, The Blow.

Under the banner of The Blow, Maricich has released five albums of music (on K and Tomlab), crossing styles from folk to electronic radio style hits. She has held a number of exhibitions of drawings and illuminated paper sculptures in Seattle, Olympia, and Portland. A native of Queen Anne Hill, Maricich spent an incubative decade in Olympia, but recently moved from her cosy home there to Portland, in order to be the artist in residence at the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art.

For this tour Khaela will be sans current bandmate Jona Bechtolt, making up for his absence with even more ecstatic dancing.