The Luminaire Events for February 2007

01 February - DAVID THOMAS BROUGHTON + Guests

2007-02-01

Knom Music presents
DAVID THOMAS BROUGHTON
+ Emma Tricca

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets

David Thomas Broughton is a spellbinding performer the like of whom doesnt exist elsewhere. Out there on his own in a kind of \'quietly angry, weird genius inventor of sounds\' kind of way, and yet songs written so exquisitely well. And a beautiful voice to boot.

\"One long improv set, no breaks, involving holding carrots up to the microphone at one point, keeping several hundred people transfixed and getting the second biggest cheer I heard the whole weekend at the end of it\" - cartilage.livejournal blog, Live at the End of The Road Festival

02 February - SCANNERS + Royal Treatment Plant + Lynch Rider Lulu

2007-02-02

The Luminaire & On The TV presents
Girls! Girls! Girls! with...
SCANNERS
+ Royal Treatment Plant
+ Lynch Rider Lulu

Picture by Julius Beltrame

Doors 7.30
£5

Signed to US label Dim Mak, Scanners spent much of 2006 conquering the USA's West Coast, supporting The Rakes, Juliette & the Licks and The Bravery, and touring with The Presidents of the USA. After Radio 1 and Xfm airplay, their takeover of the UK begins after their debut single 'Low Life' sold out after release on Tiger Trap records last year.

"A little bit of everything: a strong base of rock, a touch of electro swagger, some fashionable angst, a tender moment or two...pop rock with heavy emphasis on the keyboard hook and tough-girl attitudes." (Prefixmag, 2006).

2006 saw Royal Treatment Plant's debut single, 'Carry Me', released on Human Condition, the very same label having launched the careers of such bands as Mogwai, Idlewild and The Vaselines. Kicking off 2007 with a tour of North England and Scotland, and with competing interest from industry types, this'll be RTP's year.

Artrocker called them "aurally delectable", the-mag said "ready for a starring role" and RTP say "rawk".

Recording their first album in a barn during last year's weathery storms, Lynch Rider Lulu are back this year to give more good.

UKMusicSearch said, "Lynch Rider Lulu are a low-slung indie rock outfit in the vein of Pavement, Slint and Smog; all moody guitar scrawls and smoky atmospherics. Frontwoman Lucy Underhill cuts a subdued but enigmatic figure, cruising through impressive sounding songs like 'Smoke & Mirrors' and 'Was The Killer' delivering her vocals with a mixture of cool detachment and searing conviction."

03 February - HUNDRED HANDED + You & The Atom Bomb + Billy Wobbledagger and his Two Noble Kinsmen

2007-02-03

The Perran-ar-Worthal Bridge Club Presents a farewell soiree for the now dispersing Hundred Handed with some of their favourite bands and DJs along the way

THE HUNDRED HANDED
+ You & The Atom Bomb
+ Billy Wobbledagger and his Two Noble Kinsmen

Doors 7.30
£4.50 via WeGotTickets
£5 door

Hundred Handed offer a distinctive brand of soulful melodies, howled/crooned vocals and off kilter rhythms.
"Aloof, sophisticated, elegant and erudite; hiding a steely edge which they flash with a subtle, buccaneering aplomb, like Cary Elwes' character Westley in The Princess Bride giving the merest hint of a sword sticking out from under his cape, accompanied with a dry, witty comment. [Josaka.com]

Main support, for your edification, are You & The Atom Bomb; an intoxicating aroma of Talking Heads, Stereolab, Fugazi, and these cats are generous with the civet. A must-see band, and "one of the indisputable beauty spots ofBristol's musical landscape"' (Venue). Get with the programme, poindexters.

First up are Billy Wobbledagger and his Two Noble Kinsmen; "an inspired blend of the sublime and the ridiculous" about which poet Ingrid Andrews once remarked: "verily sirs, thou art inimitable and beatific!".

04 February - ENON + Ill Ease

2007-02-04

The Luminaire presents
ENON
+ Ill Ease

Doors 7.30
£tba

Oh shit!

Enon are back with their long-awaited 5th album, and this time they brought the can of whoop ass! Blasting through 12 tunes lodged between your conscience and the red lights, \'Grass GeysersCarbon Clouds\' is chock-full of topics all over the map, and theyre not stopping for border checks either.

Enon can mean either cloud or fountain, depending on the context. Its from this sky of opposites that this new record gushes out. By the time youre through listening, what will Enon mean to youy

\'Dr. Freeze\' is a sci-fi pie in the face about a mad super villain (or heroy) who sets a planet back into an ice age in response to a plea for help with a global climate epidemic. \'Peace of Mind\' recommends a partial lobotomy, or at least trephination, to subdue some brain swelling due to chronic information overload. \'Pigeneration\' rocks all over the effects of free dumb and disposable culture on our lives.

While this record is ever the rollercoaster of moods that characterize much of Enons output, this is their most consistent and striking work yet. It builds you up from Mirror on You before burning you down in Ashish.

John Schmersal (gtr/key) and Toko Yasuda (bass/key) are often singing together on songs instead of independently, and Matt Schulz (drums) pushes up the BPMs on this record for a manic and fast paced punch in the neck.

\'Grass Geysers... Carbon Clouds\' is the kind of record that will be over and on deck again before you can say mirrormirrormirrormirror.

Supporting are Ill Ease

Sounding like an entire band while being a solo artist is one accomplishment, but this hot thing is making bad-ass bluesy rock that would make the whiskey-soaked Jennifer Royal Trux proud! [iD]

Think The Breeders with added funk or an analogue, spikier Peaches smart, gritty and sneakily compulsive. [Kerrang! KKKK]

05 February - JASON MOLINA + George Byrne

2007-02-05

The Luminaire and Knom Music presents
JASON MOLINA
+ George Byrne

Doors 7.30
SOLD OUT

Jason Molina headlines.

Molina is not one to settle. Throughout his musical career of 12 plus years under his given name, Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co., he has lived in 9 different locations and has had a dozen different backing bands on record in as many different recording environments.

His new album, 'Fading Trails' represents 3 of these incarnations and 4 of these environments. Composed of recording sessions Molina and company did with Steve Albini at his Electric Audio Studio, David Lowery at his Sound of Music Studio, and at the famous Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, Fading Trails also features songs from the home recorded Shohola sessions. The essence of these recordings were extracted to create one cohesive being and thus defining what Magnolia Electric Co. truly is. Something that is hard to define.
One head, multiple bodies...the opposite of a hydra head.

Support is courtesy of George Byrne, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter from Sydney, Australia.

"A yearning acoustic gem" [Mojo, #1 Playlist]

Having released his debut EP 'Iron Skies' in 2005, George has since had a busy year supporting such acts as The Church, Missy Higgins, Lior, Katie Melua, Thirsty Merc, Alex Lloyd, Epicure, Dan Brodie, Old Man River and Jen Cloher. While touring solidly, George has also penned and performed (the bulk of) his debut album 'Foreign Water'.
"A stunning debut of quietly beautiful songs" [Daily Telegraph]

With trace elements of early Pink Floyd, Ryan Adams and Beck, George has continued his exploration into loose flowing and richly layered melodic folk-rock with the help of respected producers Tim Powles (The Church) and Jonathan Burnside (The Sleepy Jackson). "Offering achingly intimate moments, Byrne reveals an ability to blend the comfortably familiar with the cutely quirky." [Rolling Stone]

07 February - HAL + Gavin Thorpe

2007-02-07

The Luminaire presents
HAL
+ Gavin Thorpe

Doors 7.30
£10 via WeGotTickets
£11 door

HAL are a hymn to blissful isolation, their eponymous debut album both populist and arcane, modern yet infused with an old school quality. This much you will know if you heard their first single, Worry About The Wind', a tribute to The Band's Rick Danko, which not unlike the aforementioned 70s folk-rock gods married the kind of harmonies that never go out of fashion to a sylvan verve and otherworldly sensibility.

Except The Band, or indeed any other outfit, weren't endowed with vocals as breathtaking as Dave Allen, whose falsetto-voiced delivery adds to HAL's songs a saintly lustre and evokes the days when rock was blessed with a sun-kissed innocence.

It's this respectable distance from the conveyor belt pop culture that makes HAL' such a sublime, inimitable album. That and their glut of delicate, potent melodies. Shot through with a young man's preoccupation with love in al it's myriad incarnations, HAL' belies their tender years with eleven supremely crafted songs. What A Lovely Dance' is a poignant, multi layered ballad shot through with a heady brew of longing and despair, while Play The Hits' is a joyful jolt of new wave euphoria, like Steely Dan racing Saint Etienne down Route 66. Indeed from the optimistic mantra of Keep Love As Your Golden Rule' surely the best song Neil Young never wrote to My Eyes Are Sore'.

HAL' is, for all it's accessibility, awash with the kind of esoteric touches that separate the exceptional from the everyday. It's Van Morrison in his blue eyed soulful heyday, it's Brian Wilson jumping out of the sandbox. It's both a perfect piece of pop joy and an aching heartbreaker of an album.

Tonight, HAL will unveil what comes next...

08 February - JOE LALLY [Fugazi] + Zu

2007-02-08

The Luminaire presents
JOE LALLY [Fugazi]
+ Zu

Doors 7.30
£7 via WeGotTickets
£8 door

Joe Lally is primarily known as the bass player [and occasional lyricist] in Fugazi.

He has worked with John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer on the album Automatic Writing as the group Ataxia.
In early 2002, Lally joined ex-Frodus members Shelby Cinca and Jason Hamacher on a project originally called The Black Sea, which would change its name to Decahedron and release an EP and an album before Lally left the band.

As of January 2006, Mr. Lally has gone solo, His new album on Dischord 'There To Here' The songs appear to be features Jerry Busher, Ian MacKaye, Amy Farina, Guy Picciotto, and many other luminaries of the DC music scene.

Main support comes from Zu, who've gained a solid reputation worldwide thanks to a hectic, never endinng schedule that's had them playing all over the world more than 700 times in the last six years.

With little or no media support and coverage - given their status of not-catagorizable punk-freejazz-headbangers-sunrafreaks - Zu has nevertheless been able to give birth to ten albums [two recorded by Steve Albini ('Igneo') and Bob Weston ('Radiale' on Atavistic ), a few singles and several compilations on labels such as Atavistic, Red Note, Frenetic, Wide and more.

Open to adventure and risk and musically insatiable, Zu has embraced new partners along the way and has collaborated with the likes of Mike Patton, The Melvins, The Ex, Dalek, Peter Brotzmann, Hamid Drake, Alvin Curran, Ken Vandermark, Mats Gustafsson, Amy Denio, Damo Suzuki, Eugene Chadbourne, Nobokazu Takemura, Paal Nilssen-Love, Dj Olive , Han Bennink, Okapi, Fred Lonberg- Holm, Han Bennink, Mary Oliver, Walter Wierbos (ICP Orkest), and shared tours with The Melvins, Fantomas, Lightning Bolt, The Ex, The Ruins, Dalek, Nomeansno, Vandermark 5, Karate...

Massimo Zu also teamed for one year with dutch legends The Ex and plays in Original Silence with Thurston Moore, Jim O' Rourke, Mats Gustaffson, Terrie Ex, and Paal Nilssen-Love.

09 February - S.W.A.N.K. + Scarlet BLONDE + Suzerain

2007-02-09

Scarlet Blonde presents
S.W.A.N.K.
+ Scarlet BLONDE
+ Suzerain

Doors 8.00
£4 via WeGotTickets
£5 door

S.W.A.N.K. (Special Weapons And Nice Keyboards) formed in November 2004 by two founder members of the punk rock band that was Flying Buddha. S.W.A.N.K. played their debut gig three weeks later at London's top neo-rave night Bang Face and since then they've rocked top nights including Uncharted Audio's Uncharted Sessions, Client's Being Boiled and have supported Cursor Miner and the Sohodolls. S.W.A.N.K sound like The Pet Shop Boys meets Bikini Kill on crack. Singing songs about A.S.B.O kids and sex offenders, nothing can prepare you for the council estate chic of S.W.A.N.K.

Opening proceedings are the amazing Suzerain. Singer Tom Pether commands the stage and whips up the crowd, frequently leading to audience chanting. Expect amazing Electro-indie, showing - some would say - The Killers how its done. Either way, this band deserve to be absolute stars.

Your hosts for the evening are Scarlet BLONDE; Radio 2 XS A-listed and instigators of the coming Rocktronica revolution. One guy, one tiny girl with a very big voice, a synth, two guitars and lots of attitude, like Skunk Anansie in an Electro-punk blender.

"Up-tempo and exciting with electrotica and dirty guitars mixed into the overall sounds, 9/10." [Record Scout]

"We caught them kick-starting the girl fronted Electro revolution." [Electrowerks]

And you can look forward to the usual shenanigans of visuals from the awesome Fade In Fade Out, sweets, freebies, sticky food stuff and special Scarlet Blonde drinks.

And...after the show... be the first to hear Scarlet BLONDE's album 'Bedroom Superstars' fully completed, and see the premier of the video of their first single 'Electric'.

10 February - THE ANGRY SHEEP + Simon Gibson + Theatre De Cunt + Gypsy Girl + Matt Lloyd + Guy J. Jackson + DJs DeBaron & Henry

2007-02-10

Lazy Gramophone presents
THE ANGRY SHEEP
+ Simon Gibson
+ Theatre De Cunt
+ Gypsy Girl
+ Matt Lloyd
+ Guy J. Jackson
+ DJs DeBaron & Henry

Doors 8.00
No advance tickets available
£5 cash before 9.00
£7 cash after p.00
£4 cash in fancy dress

Lazy Gramophone serves you a second eclectic night of music, theatre & poetry at the venue of venues. Graeme Moon will be displaying his sublime photography and we will also be celebrating the launch of our second publication, Sam Rawlings 'Circle Time'. We have prints of our artists work to give away as well as cakes and maybe even some rare spun penguin teeth.

The Angry Sheep sound is distinguished and emotive: foot-tapping rhythms, heart-fuelled lyrics, all wrapped up in a jazz induced bubble.

Simon Gibson plays a lush involved acoustic set reminiscent of John Martyn, Ben Harper and CSNY. Accompanied by virtuoso percussionist Pax Amphlett and having been voted best upcoming act of the southwest Mr Gibson is not to be missed.

Theatre De Cunt is a theatre company whose work is mainly comical, and has been known on occasion to include some witty satirical moments. Gypsy Girl the previously elusive poetess is ready to share. She has performed at open mic nights in both London and L.A. writes mainly poetry, some songs and sings the odd line when words aren't enough. Although she's ready to perform, Gypsy Girl is often busy entertaining other hobbies and different pursuits. Gypsy has recently performed with Lazy Gramophone and also alongside Joy Silva @ The Love Movement.

Matt Lloyd has been writing poetry since he discovered Ice-T and he took his Poetry to the stage in his early twenties and has been there ever since. With short spells in various funk rap acts his first love is poetry and the unaccompanied flow of words.

Guy J. Jackson writes stories and then performs them, a foolish cross between Garrison Keillor, Mick Jagger, and A. Whitney Brown. Biographically speaking, Guy is a male, lives in London these days, and has written a lot of other stuff besides short stories.

DJs DeBaron & Henry will round the night off with a selection of deep funky house and carefully selected D&B, so bring them dancin' shoes.

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

12 February - THE YAYHOOS + The Surgens

2007-02-12

The Luminaire presents
THE YAYHOOS
+ The Surgens

Doors 8.00
£10 via WeGotTickets
£12 door

The Yayhoos' Jerry Garcia-meets-Ronnie Lane vocals run riot around Georgia Satellites-fronted, 100% proof rock and roll.

Expect messed-up, tore-down Texan rock grind.

The Surgens have been unfairly depicted as a demented novelty act recently escaped from the country blues mental ward, but are in actuality a top-notch rock and roll combo. Playing primarily twisted blue rock and roll in a surfing honky tonk style, so popular of the time, they are of course very much part of the nu plastic hip generation.
Pa Pa Ooh Mow Mow, You betcha!

"Absolutely magnificent. A truly unique sound!" Mark Lamarr, Radio 2]

"Brilliant! **** 4 Stars" [Mojo Magazine]

"Absolutely blistering!" [Marc "Lard" Riley, 6 Music]

"If Captain Beefheart could release a new record in 2006 this might just be it." [Blues Matters Magazine]

Please note that Honky are no longer playing this show.

13 February - SAROOS + Sarah Nixey + Infantjoy DJ set

2007-02-13

The Luminaire presents
SAROOS
+ Sarah Nixey
+ Infantjoy DJ set

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

With members of Lali Puna, Console and Contriva - and often guest appearances by Saam Schlamminger [Chronomad], Max Punktezahl [Jersey/Contriva/The Notwist] and Volker Zander of Calexico - and music released on The Notwist's own label, you're be getting an idea of what to expect from Saroos:

An electronic smorgasbord of textured melodies, staccato beats and clearly structured hip-hop rhythms, leaning toward Anticon territory.

Sarah Nixey made her show business entrance as one third of the darkly glamorous pop group Black Box Recorder. She was in the severe, dreamy centre, singing scheming songs that were deadly serious about trivia, and deeply frivolous about important matters. She sang the songs as if they were bruised lullabies, as if she was soothing the 20th Century to sleep.

"...a heady mixture of love, obsessive weirdoes, [and] philosophical musings about the nature of the universe..." [Stylus magazine]

Sarah is now solo. She sings smart pop songs that tell heady, half-crazed stories about minds and bodies, flesh and spirit, memories and illusions, desperation and passion. She sings them on her debut solo album 'Sing, Memory' with that tough, tender combination of explicit English detachment and cryptic European emotion thats all her own.

Sing, Memory is as listenable as it is addictively seductive, the perfect soundtrack for when the curtains are drawn and the sheets are black satin. [musicomh.com]

14 February - LETCHER + The All New Adventures Of Us + Bruises + Sam from Get Cape Wear Cape Fly DJ Set

2007-02-14

The Luminaire presents
LETCHER
+ The All New Adventures Of Us
+ Bruises
+ Sam 'Get Cape Wear Cape Fly' DJ Set

£5 via WeGotTickets
£6 door

Tonight we present The All New Adventures of Us' single/label launch on Mannequin Republic; Sam from Get Cape Wear Cape Fly's new label.

Our headliners are Letcher, led by Chris Letcher, a South African-born singer songwriter and film composer based in London. His is a wonderfully literate, immpecably arranged pop music.

Witness:

"A 16-track album, Frieze is everything that Letcher promised in those early years -- keenly intelligent, musically dense, utterly memorable, always sliding through any attempts to nail it down to a genre. In its expansive musical vision that is unafraid to hook in experimental sounds - Letcher's solo offering could be called art rock or art pop even but even then these descriptions really don't do justice to Frieze... It's impossible not to be drawn into the highly visual and moody lyrical content." [Entertainment Africa]

And there's more, and they are right:

"This is simply a great album. Truly world class. Intricate, complex, melodic, ambitious, funny, literate and so damn listenable it will make you gasp... Probably the best songwriter this country has produced for years" - [***** Jeremy Daniel, The Star]

"The album Frieze illustrates that Chris Letcher is one of the greatest songwriters to grace the shores of this southern-most tip of Africa. Its 16 tracks are typical Letcher fare -- intimate literary excursions. But, these new songs are transformed into a mature collage of sound " **** [Mail & Guardian]

And so to The All New Adventures of Us: Imagine the Secret Seven going to music school and running away with all the instruments before the lesson even begins. Mandolins, pianos, guitars, strings, casiotones, trumpets, theremins, boy/girl vocals, melodicas, harmonicas, lapsteel guitars, organs, glockenspiels, tambourines, ba bas, oohhhs and HEY!s all set the back drop for stories that wouldnt be out of place in a book by Eric Carle.

The All New Adventures of Us is about making people see clearly with their eyes closed, vivid imagery and attention to detail firmly intact. The goal is simple; to tell a story through song. No hidden agenda, simply to explain. And in poetry cooed in the sweetest of contexts, explanations are what Tanaou stands for.

Far from the headquarters of Northampton, England, the landscapes and narratives are constructed deep in the Umea snow, in the north of Sweden with the northern lights glowing overhead and eighth member/producer Magnus Lindberg behind the desk, ready to capture every defeat & every victory, as and when it falls from their fingers and lips.

The intrepid seven will kick off 2007 with a Maida Vale session for Huw Stephens in February following on from their storming shows as part of the BBC Electric Proms Next Stage Tour and they'll be releasing their debut single St Crispins Got Our Backs/The Art Of The High Five on Get Cape Wear Cape Flys newly launched label The Mannequin Republic, on 5 March.

Main support are Bruises

"You know that Bloc Party song, yeahy
The one with that bit in it, yeahy
You know, the long bit, yeahy
You know the one, yeahy
Well Bruises sound nothing like that."

15 February - THE FLOWER-CORSANO DUO + Voice of The Seven Woods

2007-02-15

The Luminaire presents
THE FLOWER-CORSANO DUO
+ Voice of The Seven Woods

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

If this isn't gig of the week in London then Aphex Twin and Johnny Cash must be playing somewhere together:

a frankly fucking incredible mix of wide-eyed hardcore, ecstatic noise, free rock, Indian drone, sweat and bone as two underground music makers who have gelled as duo to a startling degree, seemingly able to enrapture audiences of all persuasions.

Chris Corsano - a kinetic DIY drummer [one of the world's most exciting] - uses this project to inject some punk tabla-type rolls into being while Mike Flower - an incendiary guitar player - also plays the "shaahi baaja" or "japan banjo" from India in an amazing solo style and transcendent manner.

As a powerful and loud guitar/drum duo, Lightning Bolt comparisons come cheap, but the Flower-Corsano Duo are something else; more like a punk-jazz-trash Konono No1, they have that special power to elevate through noise, rhythm and special harmonies. This is an experience the audience wants to have, an exhilarating sight/sound that shudders the body and cleanses the mind.

Michael Flower is best known as a member of Leed's Vibracathedral Orchestra, a lynchpin of the improvising rock/noise/drone world. He has also has played with legendary artists such as Tony Conrad and Jandek as well as in projects such as the trio with Matthew Bower + C. Spencer Yeh.
Vibracathedral's close relationship with Sunburned Hand Of The Man has meant MF has toured with them across the USA and Europe, both as a member and solo.

Despite never having seen someone play one, he bought his electric shaahi baaja and started to discover his own way of playing the instrument. Discussing his use of the instrument Michael says, "I suppose I'm just jamming my own versions of ragas. Hopefully there's a similar purity there, although a more naive/ham-fisted one in the music I play. When I was a teenager we used to listen to the Velvet Underground, Indian classical, flute music of Papau New Guinea, primitive blues. I guess all the music I make is vaguely informed by that period."

Chris Corsano drumming has to be seen to be fully appreciated. A brave musician who collaborates with a huge range of artists and can still pull off mad solo shit. It is a rare drummer that can hold his own with his customized kit, clatter practice and circular breathing drone exhortations but retain a dynamic and structure that works. He then self releases a CD of distorted and spiked keyboard pieces on his Hot Cars Warp label to confuse those that try to pin him down. Loose-limbed, intense, even melodic, he exposes the audience to sounds and rhythms that defy normality. Recently he has toured or played with Jack Rose, Wally Shoup, Nels Cline, Six Organs Of Admittance, and Dredd Foole.

Coming from a drumming family, and heavily influenced by Minor Threat and the Minutemen, he fell under the spell of Byron Coley at Yod headquarters and started tearing into free jazz with the amazing Paul Flaherty on a series of records and tours, not to mention mind trips of the bizarre with the Sunburned family and messed up noise battles with the Sonic Youth camp. Recently a move to the UK has brought him into silent hush hush drum battles above pubs and playing with Taurpis Tula at huge Breakcore raves. He moves in magical ways. The Flower-Corsano duo album comes out on Textile in early 2007 as does the limited 7" on the No-Fi series.

Pictures courtesy of Federico Bernocchi [Corsano] and mt.tribunalrecords.net [Flower]

Main support is Manchester's Voice of The Seven Woods, aka Rick Tomlinson, who spent 2006 hoovering up new fans all over the place with his beguiling use of guitar, sitar, oud and saz. On the back of a flurry of sought-after and sold out limited 7"s, CDRs and cassettes, 2007 sees the release of Tomlinson's debut LP alongside collaborative recordings with the likes of Sunburned's Hush Arbors and UK twelve-string wizard James Blackshaw.

16 February - DAEDELUS + Shadow Orchestra + Gadi [DJ]

2007-02-16

Soundclash presents
DAEDELUS
+ Shadow Orchestra
+ Gadi [DJ]

Doors 7.30
£10 via WeGotTickets

"His music vibrates with 21st century invention." [Q]

Daedelus aka Alfred-Weisberg-Roberts returns to the fray with 'Denies The Day's Demise', a new album of electro-tropicalia. The LA-based musician and producer always tries to do something thematic with every release and the contrast with his first Ninja Tune record could hardly be more stark.

"Fabulously eclectic in stylings and moods Uncanningly dreamlike and resonant." [Mojo]

If 'Exquisite Corpse' was his hip-hop album, this is his techno record. There are no collaborations here, Daedelus choosing to strip right back to his own music and voice. In a further departure, this production focuses on the live elements of his previous recordings rather then his well-known sampling style. This is Daedelus naked, so to speak.

"A feast of many different favours from one of Ninja Tune's finest." [Spill]

A thematic and musical tour de force which repays repeated listenings, Daedelus' 'Denies The Day's Demise' released on Ninja Tune, is all about raging against the dying of the light, the romance of the night and the sheer arse-waggling marvellousness of latino rhythms. Don't dorm

"Words aren't wholly appropriate. Only repeated listens will do Daedelus justice." [Rock Sound 8/10]

"The addictive avant-garde splice-maestro turns the music world on itsxz head as past and present sounds magically meld into the future. Witty, endearing and alternative 21st century mood music." [Flux]

"Daedelus remains one of the outstanding producers out there right now, every track fizzes with ideas, pushings hip-hops parameters beyond their outerlimits. Dazzling." [Fact]

"Daedelus twists, cuts and flips samba rhythms and acid bursts into an intoxicating brew. Bleeping good." [Dazed and Confused]

"An impressive showing from a multi-talented artist." [Music Week]

17 February - THE RUMBLE STRIPS + Kubicheck! + Alberta Cross + End of The Road Djs + Clash DJs

2007-02-17

Clash Magazine presents
Club Clash supported by Oakley
THE RUMBLE STRIPS!
+ Kubicheck!
+ Alberta Cross
+ End of The Road DJs
+ Clash DJs

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

Clash Magazine returns for their first event of 2007 at The Luminaire with The Rumble Strips hailing from Devon, with a look and sound that's completely their own, they mix thundering brass and drums with singer Charlie Waller's [former member of Vincent Vincent and the Villains] soaring vocals. Their music is born out of brilliantly self-deprecating lyrics underpinning glorious, uplifting melodies and pop-hooks. Two limited singles released earlier last year set tongues a-wagging and cemented The Rumble Strips' place as one of the most exciting new bands for 2007.

Main support Kubicheck! are the creators of this years best indie rock debut and make no mistake; they're a devoutly special band. As incendiary as the intentionally explosive exclamation mark that doorstops their moniker, like all the best bands, they come armed with a musical manifesto a mission statement if you will that encompasses their lust for uncompromising DIY punk jitter, noir tinged, New Wave tainted atmos, and feedback swamped melodic sass.

Said debut, Not Enough Night is evocative of their variety in palate; a record that perfectly plots their brilliance over twelve explosive, contrasting melodic assaults, announcing their arrival to the world with aplomb. It is a stunning debut missive.

Alberta Cross are a London based band that were formed just over six months ago and in that time have received an inordinate amount of critical acclaim in the lead up to their debut mini album released in early 2007. They mix the earthy sounds of Americana folk rock with distinctly British indie sensibilities to create something truly amazing.

The eleventh 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 and Bobby Cook.

Clash, the groundbreaking and award-winning bimonthly music and fashion magazine, is proud to continue its association at Londons Luminaire in Kilburn.

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

18 February - COMANECHI + Vile Imbeciles + Shimmy Rivers And And Canal + DDD + Lots of DJs

2007-02-18

White Heat presents
A Feast of Trumpets
with...
COMANECHI
+ Vile Imbeciles
+ Shimmy Rivers And And Canal
+ DDD
+ Lots of DJs!

Doors 3.00
FREE ENTRY

White Heat take the helm today and promise a succession of aural treats to bewitch and wow.

Feral growling backed up by some pounding drums that defy her size, plus metal riffs chunked out by a man that befits his, Comanechi have been kicking up a stink in the London scene for what feels like forever. But hey, they've got international previous too, playing gigs in Berlin and Austin plus touring the UK with likeminded fans The Gossip. A sound that shouldn't make you dance but does, a tune that shouldn't stick in your head but is totally pop. This is the sound of Comanechi, Black Sabbath meets The Shonen Knife. Look out for The Comanechi Storyteller Seven, out on White Heat soon.

Vile Imbeciles: if The Cramps were 'free' they'd sound like this, no question. Metallic sheets of rock-a-billy noise played over a crushing back beat and fuzzed up Mingus bass. Vile Imbeciles let you crawl into this tiny space in your head where you can stay happy for hours and lose all sense of time. Only by achieving this can you then understand what has been put before you. They contain distant echo's of Neils Children and 80's Matchbox B-Line disaster but sound like neither. They've just announced that they'll be doing their debut album and single with us. We can't wait. Where Shimmy Rivers And And Canal are concerned, the second 'and' is deliberate and quite frankly essential. What do they sound likey Well, like the second 'and' it's impossible to explain. The drummer plays a spade, they have the best horn section in London and one of the best front men. Another band we're proud to release on White Heat Records with 'Work It Out' coming real soon. First started picking up props through supporting Afrirampo at their legendary Cargo show and through their own show on Resonance FM. That's the company they keep and if London gives us any justice all the kids at Klaxons shows will start dancing to this soon.

DDD has started his own band, label (One Hundred Records) and genre (OCD Rock). The fug lifted enough for us to work with him and just this second right now we've got an initial mix of new single 'Trojan Horse'. It was put on in the 'office' (Matty's room) and we were blown away. For reference points see Sentridoh, Thom Yorke (back when he were good), Mark Beer, The Normal and amphetamines. Nice.

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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 3.00pm to 8.00pm 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.

19 February - THE EARLY YEARS + Wolf & Cub + The Strange Death of Liberal England

2007-02-19

Live Nation presents
THE EARLY YEARS
+ Wolf & Cub
+ The Strange Death of Liberal England

Doors 7.00
£7 via WeGotTickets

The Early Years vision is to create washes of psychedelic guitar noises meshed in with feedback, drones, distortion and wah set against a strong metronomic beat. The Early Years take influences from everywhere, but they remain influences and nothing more. Originality is the key to beauty.

The Early Years have been on the radar for a while but are still relative newcomers on the scene. Having signed to Beggars Banquet early last year, they wasted no time in putting out two limited singles and an outstanding self-titled debut album, which Drowned in Sound praised for its noisy majesty, NME labelled an explosion of unbridled sonic pleasure and Artrocker decreed to be most definitely the right side of prog.

The Early Years sneak into the new year with the EP release of 'The Great Awakening', consisting of four brand new tracks including Say What I Want To, which was only introduced to their live set towards the end of 2006. The good news continues with them hitting the road once again for another UK tour, tonight at Luminaire.

Main support are Wolf and Cub who hail from a very distant place - Adelaide, Australia to be precise. Yet word about their adrenalised take on darkly psychedelic, danceable noise is spreading far afield.

"Wolf & Cub rip a hole in the rock scene." [Dazed & Confused]
"Wolf & Cub meld every great moment in music ever into the hottest new thing on the planet." [NME]

First on are The Strange Death of Liberal England, a five-piece from Portsmouth with a penchant for primal rhythm and chaotic melody. The music is both foot-stompingly rampant and passionately tuneful - with influences on display that are reminiscent of Wire and Magazine. The band members swap instruments during the set, while remaining silent in between songs giving proceedings a joyfully chaotic atmosphere.

20 February - LOGH + Air Formation + Malory

2007-02-20

Club AC30 presents
LOGH
+ Air Formation
+ Malory
+ DJ Ulrich Schnauss

Doors 7.30
£5 via WeGotTickets
£6 door

Logh was formed in 1998. It took the members a good three years to assemble the different characteristics that would make up the bands distinct sound. A sound which was, and still is today, based on minimalism and the idea of every notes importance. Not a stroke too much. Or too little.

Glacial, melancholic, uplifting, and one of Lumi's favourite bands of recent years.

Supporting are five young men from Brighton called Air Formation. Theirs is a huge sound displays references to Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky, with healthy doses of Flying Saucer Attack and Sigur Ros.

First on are Malory, formed in 1995 by three former school friends under the influence of the so-called indie/wave era - are the german incarnation of the shoegazer generation. Find out what kind of sound walls you can build without synthesizers. Total effects, all guitar, a concentric stream of desire and melancholy. Guitar vs. guitar. His voice against hers.

21 February - HAWNAY TROOF + Pre + Special Guest Ana da Silva + Upset The Rhythm DJs

2007-02-21

The Luminaire presents
HAWNAY TROOF [of XBXRX]
+ Pre
+ Special Guest Ana da Silva
+ Upset The Rhythm DJs

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

"A hyperactive partystarter with some serious jones for early Beastie Boys records and wrestling outfits. Hawnay Troof has a knack for transforming crossrarmed crowds into seas of aerobicizing scenesters" said Jimmy Draper of San Francisco Gate.

Either way, you can assure yourself of his raw and sophisticated beats and intelligent and nippy raps.

Hawnay is also Singer of californian punk band XBXRX.

Main support are Pre, bloody-fisted, Japanese-fronted, churning trash-rock, from the lady who brought you Comanechi and her destructive cohorts. Stop-start drums, shock-therapy vocals, and duelling, no-frills riffs that scrap for centre-stage.

"PRE are taking things fwd in the messed-up gonzopunk party action tradition. Attitude not too far away from the recent excellent work of the likes of Les Georges Leningrad, but with the sonic difference created by a jet plane flying through the mix; no oxygen, only noise." [Rough Trade]

Or, "A livelier Wives fronted by a tiny Japanese girl.' says Drowned In Sound.

Opening proceedings is our special guest Ana da Silva. As the singer for The Raincoats she was no stranger to making ornery, delicately nuanced music. And her first solo release, which she wrote and recorded by herself on a mini-keyboard and sequencer, is as difficult to pin down as anything she has done. But it has a lighter, more luminous quality, woven from hovering ambient effects, faint ripples of guitar and her tremulous voice, which manages to evoke both childlike innocence and sly drama. The songs tremble and tip toe along, but always rest on a foundation of resonant melody.

Thanks to Sarah Tomlinson for Rockpile for the words and to Upset The Rhythm, in advance, for their DJing onslaught.

22 February - THE HEDRONS + Grace + Tyler + Tilney Sky

2007-02-22

The Hit Sheet and BMI present
THE HEDRONS
+ Grace
+ Tyler
+ Tilney Sky

Doors 7.30
£5 door
Advance ticket requests here

At the inaugural Luminaire Hit Sheet, here's what you can look forward to: The Hedrons formed in 2005 in their native Glasgow. With a relentless gigging schedule capped by several sell out performances, a Top 20 Indie single and back-to-back Top 5 Indie chart success with recently released singles I Need You and Heatseeker, the four-piece have established themselves as one of the countrys foremost emerging rock bands.

A blistering force to be reckoned withoutstandingoriginal [The Fly}

The bands music can be described as one part Ramones-esque brawn, one part femme-fatale roar, and one part ruthless guitar-driven nerve. The Hedrons have been the subject of many a new band feature and live review in the likes of the Sunday Times, The Times, The Guardian, NME, The Fly, Rocksound and Metal Hammer, to name a few. And you may have heard them on the likes of XFM, Radio 1, Radio 2 and 6Music.

Sensational - joins the dots between PJ Harvey and The Runaways. [Sunday Times]

By the end of 2006, The Hedrons had completed in excess of 120 dates a number that combines two full UK headline tours in addition to a special guest spot for the only Alice In Chains UK date this year at the London Astoria and a handful of summer festival dates. The band released their debut album One More Wont Kill Us to much acclaim on 5th February 2007 and have just completed their third headline UK tour. Next up is a North American tour which will include dates at South by Southwest and in New York, LA and Canada.

A self assured and deliciously energising pedal-to-the-metal affair. [Mojo]

Main suppor are Grace, led by the enigmatic JP Grace, a band that are going places in 2007. Beorfe that we've Tyler, for whom we predict a very rosy future indeed and Tilney Sky - imagine a rockier U2 and Coldplay with attitude. Tilney Sky are ones to watch this year.

23 February - LOS PISTOLEROS + The Tender Hearts

2007-02-23

The Luminaire presents
LOS PISTOLEROS + The Tender Hearts

Doors 7.30
£9 via WeGotTickets
£10 door

Los Pistoleros are a fantastic western swing band, led by singer/writer Bobby Valentino, and play an upbeat mixture of Western Swing, Rhythm and Blues, Honky Tonk and Cajun styles, featuring the finest pedal steel player in the world; B J Cole.

The Tender Hearts support. More soon.

24 February - THE ACTIONETTES + Lucky Soul + Friends of The Bride

2007-02-24

The Actionettes present
Motown-a-go-go
A sixties-themed club night with live bands, synchronized go-go dancing, Actionette and guest DJs
THE ACTIONETTES
+ Lucky Soul
+ Friends of The Bride
+ DJ Warren
+ Actionettes DJs

SOLD OUT

Doors 8.00
SOLD OUT

Ladies and gentlemen, The Actionettes are supremely excited to present a night of sophisticated entertainment in celebration of the legendary Motown record label in the suitably lush surroundings of the Luminaire.

The dapper trio of Friends of The Bride will kick off the proceedings in style. Described as a "perfectly balanced cocktail of finger-snapping, Ratpack croon and irresistible fuzz garage stomp" by Kitten Painting, they had only been in existence for a few months when they were hand-picked by a panel of Alan McGee, Chas Smash and Gary Crowley to share the stage with The Who at the BBCs Electric Proms.

Not to be outdone on the cool front Lucky Soul are five suited-and-booted skinny guys fronted by a glamorous honey-voiced chanteuse. Their classic pop sound and shimmering harmonies already have the British press swooning in ecstasy "Almost indecently fabulous", raved The Guardian while Metro purred "pure, unadorned loveliness".

Last but not least, the dazzling Actionettes will shake and shimmy to the catchiest numbers ever committed to vinyl by the likes of the Velvelettes, The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas.

Later in the evening hep cats and hot mamas can take part in a dance contest: can you do the Mashed Potatoy Do you know how to pony like Bony Maroniey!

Guest DJ Warren (Boogaloo Soul, 100 Club, Crossfire) and Actionette DJs spin foot-stomping soulful, garage, punk and rock 'n' roll tunes until the early hours.

25 February - THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW! + The Hair + National Snack

2007-02-25

The Luminaire presents
THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW!
+ The Hair
+ National Snack

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

"Detroit spazz-rockers TAN! jettison Jagged guitar lines and fractured beats amidst a hearty offering of sociopolitical commentary." [CMJ]

'Make History', Detroit band Thunderbirds Are Now!'s 3rd full-length and second on Frenchkiss Records, does away with a band in full tail-chase and depicts one at it's peak: no longer stressing about what people might expect, but rather wearing their influences better than one of Interpol's tailored suits.

"We live off of pop music," says singer/guitarist Ryan Allen. "Some Beatles for breakfast, a little Smiths for lunch, and the Pixies for dinner. Sometimes we'll have a little New Pornographers for a midnight snack, shooting for an album full of melodies, actual choruses, songs in major keys..."

The band started off as a five-piece in the suburbs of Detroit, eventually trimming down to drummer Mike Durgan, bassist Marty Smith, keyboardist Scott Allen, and singer/guitarist Ryan Allen. The band released two EPs and one full-length record (2003's rambunctious Doctor, Lawyer, Indian Chief on the Action Driver label), before signing to Frenchkiss Records to release their 2005 breakthrough Justamustache. The record garnered praise across the board from tastemakers like Pitchforkmedia.com and others.

After Smith left the group to become a married man the band drafted bassist Howard Chang and hit the road with fervor, touring with the likes of Enon, Minus the Bear, The Hold Steady, The Constantines, These Arms are Snakes, Supersystem, and Rahim. Summer 2005 saw the band make their first appearance on the American summer festival circuit playing the Pitchforkmedia-curated Intonation Music Festival.

To cap off their year the band visited the UK for the first time. In early 2006, Durgan left the band, so new drummer Matt Rickle (of Detroit faves Javelins) stepped in to the fray, joining the band for their first-ever Australian tour alongside Les Savy Fav and the Hold Steady. 2007 promises more of the same upward trajectory for TAN! starting with Make History in the fall and their patented brand of unrelenting touring and inspiring live shows around the globe to follow. The opening bars of Panthers In Crime, the first track off of Make History, are tender and folky, with dulcet vocal harmonies hanging in the air. Have Thunderbirds Are Now! gone soft on usy Fortunately, fans of the Detroit spazz-rockers dont have to wait for long for an answer, as the song eventually gives way to a jumpy, call-andresponse chorus against capitalism. In their follow-up to 2005s Justamustache, tackles issues like violence and the ravages of human nature, littering the disc with images of lifeless bodies. Who created the monstersy/Are they born or are they madey/From the densest cities to the Everglades/Their eyes are like knives, words like grenades, singer Ryan Allen charges in Why We War.

Main support are The Hair; "upbeat foot-stomping punk-funkers, whose set is often interrupted, as all four members clamber on to the drumkit to smash out tribal techno breakdowns. Awesome. [NME].

The band's musical guise encapsulates an exciting, poppy and danceable rhythm...all in one intense throng of expressive sample-led funk gluttony. Their songs range from intricate tales of broken relationships to full on baggy instrumental breakdowns.

"In a word, they are fantastic, everything a band should be. Young, enthusiastic, loud, practically fizzing with animated passion and in possession of a bagful of great tunes." [GigWise]

During 2006 the band built up a substantial following in Yorkshire and developed a national reputation with approval from the bands they played with over the past 12 months including The Sunshine Underground, The Maccabees, The Pigeon Detectives, Mumm-ra, The Longcut, Infadels & Good Shoes.

"The guitars are set to maximum fuzz, the keyboards verge on tropical and the vocals shriek rather brilliantlyThe Hair create spasmic brilliance it seems, as this reaches the kind of convulsing coda which could easily fill Indie discos with juddering masses." [DrownedInSound]

The Summer of 2006 also saw The Hair play the 02 Wireless Festival in Leeds, Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire and Leeds Festival. Debut single Ghosts will be the first release on new Fierce Panda imprint Cool For Cats Records when released on 12th March 2007. The single will be available on 500 limited edition 7 vinyl and all major digital and mobile download networks.

27 February - CHERRY GHOST + Polytechnic + Channel One

2007-02-27

Live Nation presents
CHERRY GHOST
+ Polytechnic
+ Channel One

Doors 7.30
£7 advance here
£8.50 door

Emerging from the wreckage of several acclaimed local bands, Simon Aldred said bye to the back of a van and his hairy-arsed band, locked himself in a room and brushed up his production skills to bring us the life affirming recordings of Cherry Ghost.

"Songs of staggering beauty, the best kept secret in Manchester." - City Life

Cherry Ghosts songs are, given their bedroom birth and recording, remarkable. They shimmer and swell, echo not just the major influence of the Flaming Lips, but also touches of Bowie, Wilco and Mercury Rev, and have the potential to steal your heart as soon as you hear them. Put bluntly, a major talent has arrived.

Polytechnic came together as The Conversation in March 2005, playing to a packed house at the Academy 3 within days of forming. Since then the band have gigged around Manchester, earning a rapidly growing fanbase and a name for high-energy shows.

"With the lush falsetto tones of singer Dylan leading the way, the Polytechnic brand of lo-fi plucky jangles is as addictive as a bucketful of brightly-coloured candy hearts." - Carol Hodge, BBC Manchester

28 February - SPIZZENGERGI + Cop on the Edge + Eastfield

2007-02-28

Complete Control presents
SPIZZENGERGI
+ Cop on the Edge
+ Eastfield

Doors 7.45
£6 via WeGotTickets
£8 door

Spizz is, if such a thing exists, a bona fide member of Punks aristocracy. 1979s 'Wheres Captain Kirky' was the No.1 on the very first published independent chart and stayed on it for literally years. That song and the band's cult legend status was sealed for good years later when a little group from Georgia called REM covered it.

More massive selling indie singles, Peel sessions, sell out tours, major label albums, line up and name changes and the rest of the mad rock 'n roll circus followed. Through tours with the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees and friendships with The Clash and The Pistols, lifes been a massive adventure. An adventure which took an exciting twist in 2006. Spizz Energis World Cup anthem 'Were The England' caught the imagination of radio and TV everywhere and our hero became the subject of a series of mini documentaries for Channel 4.

Just on the verge of a new career high what happensy In an unimaginably cruel and ironic twist of fate our hero sustains a horrific arm injury PLAYING FOOTBALL. This puts him out of live action for months. You cant keep a good man down though and were honoured and delighted that Spizz Energi have chosen to get back into the saddle, unbowed and with their incendiary Warp 9 sci-fi Punk energy fully intact, with us.

Cop On The Edge remind us of Pulp, Magazine, Can, Gang of Four, New Order and any number of the great underground Euro-Funk acts of yore without actually sounding like anyone but themselves. Truly original and very exciting. See them now. By the end of the year theyll be huge.

We begin with a mighty urban rail punk knees up from Complete Controls dear friends Eastfield. Noisy hardcore with something to say but never forgetting how to have a brilliant time, theyve honed themselves through years of hard graft and constant gigging into one of the best live punk bands in the country.

Theyve become such legends in their native East Midlands theyve even had a Real Ale named after them. Its a high strength, nutty bitter brew which must be treated with respect. Those brewers up there got it just right we say.