The Luminaire Events for October 2007

01 October - CHUCK PROPHET & THE MISSION EXPRESS + Bob Frank & John Murry [day 1]

2007-10-01

The Luminaire presents
Our first Annual American Music Festival;
a series of shows from 1-14 October

==========================

CHUCK PROPHET & THE MISSION EXPRESS [day 1]
+ Bob Frank & John Murry

Doors 7.30
£15.00 via WeGotTickets
£17.00 door

Q Magazine: 4/5 | Uncut: 4/5 | Mojo: 4/5

Chuck Prophet started it all as a kid back in the eighties when Green on Red plucked him out of Berkeley, CA and threw him in the van for an eight year ride and the recording of as many albums. Green on Red were seminal purveyors of American Roots-Rock and broke up in 1992 just before an entire movement followed in their wake.

\"He\'s a genius.\" [Lucinda Williams]

Since then Chuck has recorded seven amazing solo albums and toured and recorded with the likes of Lucinda Williams, Aimee Mann, Cake, Alejandro Escovedo and Jonathan Richman. Ryan Adams, Solomon Burke and Heart have recorded his songs, along with a host of others. Chucks never been one to rest on his laurels and ride it out. Hes always manically chopped and changed; with his distinctive panache for a classic tune always in tow.

\"Prophet\'s records always seem to find a way into best-of-lists. No-one layers country, rock and \'60s soul idioms better.\" [The Times]

Its been three years since his last album, \'Age of Miracles\', but Chuck Prophet is not a man to sit about. He revived the band that started that whole goddamn alt-country thing, Green on Red, for a recent spin around Europe. He produced and helped co-write Kelly Willis new album \'Translated From Love\', and is currently collaborating with Alejandro Escovedo on his next album.

Chuck has also made his debut on the silver screen, acting the part of the dope dealer in the new film Revolution Summer (with a fine soundtrack by Jonathan Richman) as well as contributing his own tracks to the Sundance Jury Award winning film Teeth about a woman with a toothed vagina. If that work doesnt make you break out in a sweat, the thought of a toothed vagina should do the trick for the rest of you.

\"One of several good reasons for going to a Prophet show is the opportunity it affords to watch a master of the Telecaster in full flight. Prophet\'s playing is like an instant guide to 50 years of guitar-playing, from the twangy bottom-end tones of Dick Dale or Duane Eddy to rolling barrages of Neil Young [The Guardian]

For his latest album, \'Soap and Water\', on Cooking Vinyl, Chuck was joined by his own band The Mission Express, Todd Roper (of Cake) on drums, and The Spinto Band. Hell, they even drafted in the local Methodist childrens church choir for a few tunes. It saw him blending his twisted soul-country-rock; a Alex Chilton-meets-Waylon Jennings via Dylan thing, with that Fender Telecaster hes had since his Green On Red days, weaving a singular common thread throughout. From the beautiful lyricism and arrangement of \'Would You Love Mey\', the witty and wicked call-and-response of the title track, to the pure rock and roll ecstasy of \'Lets Do Something Wrong\' featuring Chucks well-honed six-string abilities. We goofed on some agitated single coil cubist junk, got serious with the spring reverb on mournful ballads says Chuck.

Bob Frank and John Murry will be returning to the Luminaire in support of their beautiful murder ballads album which Uncut has already called \"a dazzling collection of blasted country folk and grimly haunting murder ballads, shot through with harrowing images of death, damnation and eternal suffering, Legendary producer Jim Dickinson (Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Big Star) describes the record as timeless as death and Frank as the greatest songwriter you never heard.

Rolling Stone says \"Murry sounds as severe and modern as Leonard Cohen, while Frank sings with a deep, gritty authority that may remind you of Warren Zevon.\"

Bob Frank - hailing from Memphis, Tennessee - is a well-kept secret. After living and writing songs in Nashville in the sixties with John Hiatt, he released a solo record in 1972 on the legendary Vanguard Records and shared the stage with Tim Buckley, and Townes Van Zandt.

Half the age of Frank, John Murry, born in Tupelo, Mississippi is a direct descendent of William Faulkner. He has been a longtime member of The Dillingers and Lucero.

02 October - CHUCK PROPHET & THE MISSION EXPRESS + Kathleen Haskard [day 2]

2007-10-02

The Luminaire presents
Our first Annual American Music Festival;
a series of shows from 1-14 October

==========================

CHUCK PROPHET & THE MISSION EXPRESS [day 2]
+ Kathleen Haskard

Doors 7.30
£15.00 via WeGotTickets
£17.00 door

Q Magazine: 4/5 | Uncut: 4/5 | Mojo: 4/5

\"He\'s a genius.\" [Lucinda Williams]

\"Prophet\'s records always seem to find a way into best-of-lists. No-one layers country, rock and \'60s soul idioms better.\" [The Times]

Kathleen Haskard, supporting, will be playing music from her new CD, \'Don\'t Tell\' which was produced by Chuck Prophet and Simon Alpin. The beautiful mystery of this album unfolds in the listening. She\'s been compared to the likes of Patti Smith and her band features members of Willard Grant Conspiracy. Folk Rock Noire that can see in the dark. Kathleen has written collaborations with Stacey Earle (\'Losers Weep\'), Texan Sandy Stewart (\'Into The Deep\') and LA-based acoustic artists Lowen & Navarro (\'My Own Way Of Doing Things\') and recently sang backing vocals for Neil Young.

She has previously toured with Chuck Prophet, Suzy Boguss, David Lindley, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Renbourn, Nick Harper & Glen Tilbrook and Robyn Hitchcock.

03 October - HACKENSAW BOYS + Paul Curreri

2007-10-03

The Luminaire presents
Our first Annual American Music Festival;
a series of shows from 1-14 October

==========================

HACKENSAW BOYS + Paul Curreri

Doors 7.30
£9 via WeGotTickets
£11 door

You see them in the early hours of the morning walking hotel corridors, or boldly traversing rush hour streets. They are sincere, polite but talkative men with instrument cases. They admire the local scenery and appear unfed. By day they seem incapable of action but at night they step onto a stage and with taut fiddle bows, worn cutlery and dirty strings bring you a focused, vibrant and joyful sound. They are the Hackensaw Boys - and they\'re probably after your daughters.

After seven years of relentless touring throughout the United States, Europe and the U.K., the Hackensaw Boys are being recognized as one of the most exciting groups on the diverse Americana music scene. The groups second release for Nettwerk Records, (\'Look Out\', available June 19th, 2007) represents the recorded culmination of the Hackensaws unique vision: a celebratory but defiant sound culled from old-time mountains, backstage doorways and punishing drives through the evolving American landscape. Nine of the albums 12 songs were written from within the group and sometimes Modest Mouse /sometimes Hackensaw, Tom Peloso, contributed two tracks. A pounding rendition of the traditional \'Gospel Plow\' rounds out the package.

All six of them crammed onto the tiny stage and clustered in tight knots around three microphones, giving the show the feel of an old-time radio hour. With banjo, mandolin, fiddle, junkyard procession and occasionally harmonica and accordion, the group produced a full, textured sound that all six members topped off with vocals, often in tight, rustic harmonies. [The Hartford Courant]

In opposition to the fey academic approach of their newgrass contemporaries, their music embodied a gritty realism. Screw the loosey-goosey noodling because these boys played with economy and verve. Raw and punchy, their bag was more about spirit than study. And this spirit had the palpability of an Appalachian mist. [Orlando City Beat]

With origins that effectively pre-date the Smithsonian Anthology of American Folk revolution spawned by 2000\'s aptly titled O Brother soundtrack, The Hackensaw Boys are surprisingly well-steeped in the picked, howled traditions of the American south, and their second self-released record, Keep It Simple, is packed with vigorous, pitchy bursts. Keep It Simple doesn\'t perfectly reflect the band\'s fast-and-fierce live show, but it offers a solid glimpse of their proclivity for catchy melodies, classic harmonizing, and stringy noodling. Somehow, the band infuses their grassy tornado with brazen punk attitude and catchy pop structure, while simultaneously remaining vehemently sincere. [Pitchfork]

Of main support 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 out on Tin Angel Records. \"Spontaneous & poetic, playing unpredictably, altering his phrasing, his routines thankfully haven\'t been hammered into regular shape\" says The Independent.

04 October - SON VOLT + Peter Bruntnell [night 1]

2007-10-04

The Luminaire presents
Our first Annual American Music Festival;
a series of shows from 1-14 October

==========================

SON VOLT [night 1 of 2]
+ Peter Bruntnell

Doors 7.30
£18 via WeGotTickets | £20 door

\"Lead singer Jay Farrar departs from his alt-country roots with this riveting album, featuring Memphis-style horns, piano and strings.\" [Newsweek]

\"A turbulent record, both topically and lyrically. Farrar touches upon foreign, domestic and societal issues.set to melodies and rhythms that are alternately savaging and soothing.\" [No Depression]

Jay Farrar has amassed a sizable and distinctive body of work since coming on the radar with Uncle Tupelo in 1989. The Search, the fifth album by the St. Louis-based artist under the Son Volt nameplate, takes Farrar\'s signature juxtapositions of the arcane and the modern to provocative extremes, contrasting the blue highways of a disappearing cultural landscape with a perilous world in which the center no longer holds - a world of information overload, of clueless leaders carrying out sinister agendas, of \"Hurricanes in December - earthquakes in the heartland/Bad air index on a flashing warning sign,\" as the artist sings ruefully on \'The Picture\'.

\"Jay Farrar seems energized: more driven than he\'s been in years. Simple but effective sonic details - a chirpy horn arrangement, a reverse-looped guitar part - prevent \'The Search\' from feeling either preachy or repetitive. In Mr. Farrar\'s world there\'s always a sun-streaked horizon ahead.\" [New York Times]

\"The sonic canvas is much broader, with echoes of R.E.M., Derek and the Dominos, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris and classic albums. Farrar dresses up his songs with horns, car-alarm guitar, warbling piano, pedal steel and lovely keyboard washes. [Associated Press]

Peter Bruntnell supports.

05 October - SON VOLT + James Walbourne [night 2]

2007-10-05

The Luminaire presents
Our first Annual American Music Festival;
a series of shows from 1-14 October

==========================

SON VOLT [night 2]
+ James Walbourne

SOLD OUT

Doors 7.30

SOLD OUT

\"Lead singer Jay Farrar departs from his alt-country roots with this riveting album, featuring Memphis-style horns, piano and strings.\" [Newsweek]

\"A turbulent record, both topically and lyrically. Farrar touches upon foreign, domestic and societal issues.set to melodies and rhythms that are alternately savaging and soothing.\" [No Depression]

James Walbourne supports.

06 October - BLACK AFFAIR AT MY DISCO\'S BETTER THAN YOUR DISCO

2007-10-06

The Luminaire presents
MY DISCO\'S BETTER THAN
YOUR DISCO

Every Satuday night
with Jonn Kahuna (FC Kahuna /
This Time of Night) and friends

This week...
BLACK AFFAIR [ex-Beta Band front man Steve Mason\'s new project]
+ Paul \'Phones\' Epworth

Doors 9.00, until 02.00
£5 via WeGotTickets in advance, or
£5 after 10.00
£8 after 12.00

And don\'t forget to join our pre-party in The Kilburn Bar next door, from 8.00 [see the foot of the page for more details]

Every Saturday night, Jon from FC/Kahuna and This Time of Night will be joined by friends from the wide, weird and wonderful world of electronic music for an evening of dancing drinking and falling over

The only music policy we have is that we don\'t have one; if it\'s good and makes you wanna dance is all that matters to us.

This week we\'re proud to host a live performance by Black Affair; the new Electro R&B of Steve Mason [ex-Beta Band frontman] with a cascade of synths and beats, in support of his debut single \'TAK! ATTACK!\' on V2, October 8th.

A pouting, sensual electro-pop b-side in \'Blush\' and a remix from Brixtonian beatsmith SuicideDogz, give the first taster of Black Affair\'s forthcoming long player \'Pleasure Pressure Point\' set for release in the New Year.

Mixed with Warp artist Jimmy Edgar in New York, the Black Affair have delivered a collection of atmospheric, catchy, body rockin\' tunes realising once again Steve Mason\'s status as one of UK music\'s great non-conformers.

Steve honed his haunting pop under the gaze of Myspace scrutiny, posting new songs, ideas and studio experiments as and when they happened, to a growing band of online fans.

Along the way an amalgam of musical allies amongst the new generation original artists. From Jimmy Edgar to SuicideDogz, through to London MC MissOddkid who duets on the future Black Affair release Same Same.

Afterwards, an accomplished and varied crew of top DJ talent will be joining in to make sure the party\'s always on. Expect the likes of (in no particular order) Paul \'Phones\' Epworth, Ashley Beedle, Cagedbaby, Nathan Detroit, Barry Ashworth, Richard Norris, Justin Robertson, Dan Lywood, Jon Abblett and many more.

As one half of FC/Kahuna, Jon is one of the true pioneers of electronic dance music and has an impressive body of work behind him. The critically acclaimed FC/Kahuna album, \'Machine Says Yes\', went on to sell over 50,000 copies and includes such landmark tracks as \'Glitterball\', \'Hayling\' and the title track itself.

As a DJ Jon has helped to create three of the most memorable London clubs of the last 10 years. The legendary Big Kahuna Burger from 1995 featured many of today\'s biggest names in music including The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Death In Vegas.

Headstart at Turnmills followed in 1999, a truly groundbreaking club experience that championed forward thinking electronic music. Dave Clarke, Andrew Weatherall, Josh Wink and Justin Robertson each joined Jon as monthly residents and Headstart provided the blueprint for many of the tech-edged nights out there.

Up next was 21st Century Bodyrockers in collaboration with Damian Lazarus and the City Rockers label, and once again Jon was at the forefront of pushing new music; Soulwax, Tiga and James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem all appeared here long before becoming the massive acts they are today.

Jon is currently in the studio working on his \'This Time Of Night\' project and has recently completed remixes for Mika, Ali Love, The Rumble Strips and Armand Van Helden.

Click here for the full-size flyer.

And before MDBTYD kicks off...

EAT, DRINK & BOOGIE: the official warm-up to Jon Kahuna\'s new weekly party at The Luminaire [literally next door] with Edward Adoo mixing up House, Electro, Breaks, Hip Hop, Funk, Drum & Bass and other styles. The action kicks off from 8.00 until midnight, then rolls on up to The Luminaire with Jon and guests to include Paul \'Phones\' Epworth, Ashley Beedle, Cagedbaby, Nathan Detroit, Barry Ashworth, Richard Norris, Justin Robertson, Dan Lywood, Jon Abblett and many more.

A local shindig for those who can\'t be bothered with the West End. Including those who live in the West End...

07 October - DAMIEN DEMPSEY + Alice McLaughlin + Gavin Thorpe

2007-10-07

The Luminaire presents
DAMIEN DEMPSEY
+ Alice McLaughlin
+ Gavin Thorpe

SOLD OUT

Doors 7.30
SOLD OUT

\"...whip-smart lyrical tours de force...his songwriter\'s eye for detail astounds..\" [Hot Press]

Damien Dempsey is from Donaghmede on Dublin\'s Northside. His earliest musical influences were the post-pub singsongs that his parents used to have at their home when he was a toddler. Good, bad or indifferent, everyone had to sing. Today his unique sound reflects the influence of traditional Sean-Nós as well as his musical heroes: Bob Marley and Elvis Presley.

In 1997 \'Dublin Town\', Damien\'s first commercial single, reached No. 18 in the Irish charts. Ireland\'s Hot Press remarked that it was \"..an underground anthem for disaffected youth and closet balladeer alike\". A re-recorded version of the song appeared on Damien\'s first album; \'They Don\'t Teach This Shit In School\' released in 2000.

\"A phenomenal voice...\" [Sunday Times]

His next release, the \'Negative Vibes EP\', (2002) featured Sinéad O\'Connor on the title track and led to an invitation to support Sinéad on her 2002/2003 Irish, UK and European tour.

Damien\'s second album, \'Seize the Day\', was released May 2003 in Ireland on Clear Records via Sony and entered the charts first week of release at No. 5. It has since achieved double-platinum sales. Released in May 2004 in the UK on IRL, the album was awarded \"CD of the Week\" in the Sunday Times and received enthusiastic reviews in the National and music press.

\"...Dempsey\'s arrow-true voice has a liquid quality...this is bold, compelling stuff.\" [Mojo]

Nominated in 4 categories in the 2004 Irish Meteor Awards, Damien walked away with two, the only 2004 double winner.

A documentary, \"It\'s All Good: The Damien Dempsey Story\" by independent filmmaker Dara McCluskey, that followed Damien\'s career progression up to the release of \'Seize the Day\', was broadcast on Ireland\'s national TV station RTE and shown at film festivals in Ireland and New York.

\"...not for the faint hearted...extraordinary\" [Q]

During 2004 Damien toured extensively headlining his own shows as well as supporting Bob Dylan during the Irish leg of his European tour and making his debut appearances at The Fleadh and Womad.

Damien has earned the passionate support of his peers, one of whom is Morrissey who invited Damien to support him on various UK and Irish dates as well as his autumn 2004 US tour. Morrissey went on to sign Damien to his Attack label, and \'Seize the Day\' had its U.S. release in October 2004.

\"This is a hearty, fraternal embrace of an album\" - [Telegraph]

His third album, \'Shots\', simultaneously released in Ireland and the UK in March 2005 entered the Irish album charts at Number 1.

Damien released a live album in June 2006 which went into the top ten in the Irish charts. It was recorded at Dublin\'s Olympia Theatre in December 2005.

Alice McLaughlin and Gavin Thorpe support.

09 October - WILLARD GRANT CONSPIRACY + Bob Frank & John Murry + Doghouse Roses

2007-10-09

The Luminaire presents
WILLARD GRANT CONSPIRACY
+ Bob Frank & John Murry
+ Doghouse Roses

Doors 7.30
£12.50 via WeGotTickets | £14 door

\"Fisher has a voice that has all the gravity of a Cash, a Cohen or a Cale.\" [Uncut]

Willard Grant Conspiracy is the musical collective that surrounds songwriter Robert Fisher. With their last five records (\'Regard the End\', \'Everything\'s Fine\', \'Mojave\', \'Flying Low\' and \'3am Sunday At Fortune Otto\'s\') and their brand new album \'Let it Roll\', the band has quietly gone about putting together one of the most impressive catalogs in the alt.country / post punk-folk rock genres. The records have been met with critical acclaim and have been included in many critical best-of lists.

\"The sound is epic, florid, grandiose; the mood dark; the achievement great.\" [Time Out]

The band has a loose configuration that allows its members to be involved as they are available, in order to support all of their musical and life interests. But make no mistake--this is ensemble playing and a real band no matter how many participants are present. Currently based in the California desert where Robert lives, musicians from Massachusetts, Arizona, New York, London, Holland, and are all part of the whole depending on who can play, when the playing begins and where the tour ends. This flexible lineup along with a dedication to improvisational playing ensures that every show is truly unique.

\"WGC are reminiscent of The Band in all their gothic pomp.\" [Mojo]

Willard Grant Conspiracy was formed by accident in 1995 by Robert Fisher and Paul Austin, while helping fellow band member Dana Hollowell test his new home studio. Robert and Paul had played in numerous bands from 1982 forward and had developed a writing partnership that would last until 2001. Their previous efforts had all shared a singular love of strong songs and unusual musical textures, though the end result was usually something that matched intensity with volume to purvey a more visceral musical vision.

\"We don\'t have a house band at Captain America sadly, but if we did the great Robert Fisher of Willard Grant Conspiracy would be a leading light and mentor. His latest album is a gem of rare distinction, or put it another way, we love it.\" [Captain America Radio]

Although songs and songwriting have always been the basis of their musical focus, volume, attack and more physical elements of sound were explored in the earlier bands they had together. These bands included some of the best musicians available in their adopted home of Boston . Years of playing and recording gained them critical respect and a reputation among their peers and can be considered a direct reason why so many talented musicians pull up a chair under the WGC tent these days. With the birth of WGC, a more delicate, varied and considered sound began to unfold than before. Using a wider collection of musicians and sounds to color the music, rather than the traditional closed ranks a standard rock format allows, a newer yet no less intense version of the songs began to emerge.

The current list of folks at one time or another considered part of the WGC roster is hovering around 30. A live show may be as diverse as Robert playing solo or having as many as 14 members, or any number in between, on stage at one time. Instruments include acoustic guitar, mandolin, pump organ, violin, cello, viola, piano, trumpet, drums, bass, accordion, electric guitar, and lap steel.

The sound can be as quiet and warm as 3am on a winter\'s morning before the last embers in the fireplace or as soulful and boisterous as a Sunday Morning Gospel service. The songs ring out with emotions born of personal experience and observation and are simultaneously universal and personal to every listener.

It\'s the kind of music that seems to have been here forever; brought down out of the ether and channeled through the musicians onstage pure and unadulterated. It\'s music that has been described as causing the spirit to soar and to make the knees go weak. It\'s the music of real life from real people.

Bob Frank & John Murry, plus Doghouse Roses support.

Rolling Stone says \"Murry sounds as severe and modern as Leonard Cohen, while Frank sings with a deep, gritty authority that may remind you of Warren Zevon.\"

Half the age of Frank, John Murry, born in Tupelo, Mississippi is a direct descendent of William Faulkner. He has been a longtime member of The Dillingers and Lucero.

10 October - JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE & JUBAL LEE YOUNG

2007-10-10

The Luminaire presents
Our first Annual American Music Festival;
a series of shows from 1-14 October

==========================

JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE &
JUBAL LEE YOUNG

Doors 7.30
£8.00 via WeGotTickets
£10 door

Justin Earle comes from good stock. His father, the legendary and ground-breaking singer/songwriter Steve Earle must have taught him well. But don\'t be so quick to compare him to his father. Whatever he may have learned from his old man, he continues to prove himself as an individual - always forging his own path no matter where the others are going.

Maybe that is the most important lesson he learned from his father (as well as being the main thing they have in common artistically). Aside from that, you must speak a different language when discussing Justin Earle. Whether it be with his now defunct tin-pan/bluegrass/ragtime extravaganza, The Swindlers, or his loud rocking unit, The Distributors, the songs are always smart. And the songs are always good.

Justin\'s honest voice perfectly reinforces his searing melodies and provocative lyrics. Always above (and beyond) par, his music is rapidly creating a buzz in and around Nashville and elsewhere. As pop music perpetually becomes more and more stale and irrelevant, Justin Earle will continue to forge a path of musical righteousness and great rock and roll. Just watch. And listen. [words; Travis Stephens, 2006]

Jubal Lee Young\'s songs are reckless, deep and spiritual - meticulously crafted, delivered by an amazing voice that can go in a heartbeat from a falsetto whisper to a lions roar. Jubal Lee Young is the only son of singer-songwriter Steve Young (Seven Bridges Road, Lonesome Onry and Mean) and Terrye Newkirk (My Oklahoma, Come Home, Daddy). He grew up around the best of the \'70s and \'80s Country, Folk and Bluegrass artists; his parents amazing circle of famous and infamous friends.

Along the way, he came up with a unique sound - encompassing the diverse styles of the musically fertile Southland, but with a genius for intelligent lyrics and wry humor that is altogether fresh. Jubal Lee Young has learned from the greats, first-hand, right there at the kitchen table. You can hear it - he\'s the real deal.

Here you have one of the finest singers that the Americana genre has produced. He\'s got that elusive thing, a sound. When he opens his mouth, what comes out just sounds good. [Frank Goodman, Puremusic.com]

\"Jubal goes out on the edge and doesn\'t just survive. He triumphs. There is an acceptance of The Great What Is, an unflinching attitude that blossoms into a flat-out joy in being alive.\" [David Olney]

Youngs vocals are strong and one is reminded at times of a young Steve Earle, with echoes of Steve Stills in his heyday. [Paul Kerr, AmericanaUK.com]

11 October - RICHMOND FONTAINE [day 1] + Rachel Harrington

2007-10-11

The Luminaire presents
Our first Annual American Music Festival;
a series of shows from 1-14 October

==========================

RICHMOND FONTAINE [day 1]
+ Rachel Harrington

Doors 7.30
£15 via WeGotTickets
£17 door

\'Thirteen Cities\', Richmond Fontaine\'s seventh and most recent studio recording, sees the band leave their native Portland, Oregon, for the dry desert climate of Tucson, Arizona to produce and record at the Wavelab Studios. Calexico and Giant Sand, whose members contribute to Thirteen Cities, record there; as have Neko Case, Steve Wynn, and The Sadies. Their inspirations and the soul of the South West of America are found throughout the album.

\'Thirteen Cities\' follows on from the sparse, stripped down, \'The Fitzgerald\' (2005) and the alt country classic \'Post To Wire\' (2004). The album was produced once again by JD Foster (Calexico, Richard Buckner, Laura Cantrell), who was at the helm for the last two albums. Working with Foster and the Wavelab studios the band were finally able to get everything in place to realize their vision of a perfect album. Multi-instrumentalist Paul Brainard again steps in for pedal steel and piano and the core line up of Willy Vlautin (guitars, vocals), Sean Oldham (drums, vocals), Dave Harding (Bass) and Dan Eccles (guitars) remains.

While exploring the blurred edges of society, the music has evolved sonically and has added a diverse array of instrumentation and arrangements. Joey Burns accordions on the stirringly beautiful instrumental \'El Tiradito\', a Calexico horn section on the opener \'Moving Back Home #2\', organs, mandolins, glockenspiel, pedal steel, dobro and vibes feature across the album. The sheer range of the record, from the sparse Dylanesque of \'I Fell Into Painting Houses\' to the climaxing theatrical rocker of \'Four Walls\', makes \'Thirteen Cities\' the bands most ambitious album to date.

Vlautins literate lyrical style landed him a publishing deal last year with Faber & Faber which saw the publication of his first novel The Motel Life\' - already on its second print run. 2007 sees \'The Motel Life\' being published in Australia, France, Holland, Germany and Spain.

Supporting this evening is Rachel Harrington who\'s been doing things in the wrong order for quite some time. She had extensive radio play before performing her first live show, and she opened for Grammy winners and nominees before her debut full-length record was even a glimmer in her eye.

A top-drawer Americana debut.\" [Smart Choice Music, UK]

I am absolutely enchanted with this record! A brilliant debut ... already a leading contender for Album of the Year in my opinion. [Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2]

Reared among the Pentecostal pines of Oregon, Harringtons rural gospel roots shone through on her 2004 living room demo. That humble four-song EP spent 13 weeks on the AMA chart and garnered the Seattle siren stellar reviews. By 2006, Rachel was getting songwriting accolades from national folk festivals and sharing stages with national acts like Jesse Sykes, Eliza Gilkyson, Guy Clark, Jim Lauderdale, and Todd Snider.

A roots musician in the truest and purest sense... like reading a beautifully written novel ... haunting. [NetRhythms]

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch...Rachel Harrington. These comparisons dont seem far-fetched at all given the extraordinary excellence of this debut. [Glitterhouse]

Now, from the crossroads of country, folk and bluegrass, comes her debut, The Bootleggers Daughter. Featuring some of the Northwests finest musicians, and co-produced with two-time Grammy w! inner Ga rey Shelton, the disc officially released on SkinnyDennis Records May 1, 2007. In short order, the cd has made its way around the globe, becoming a top-shelf spin on Bob Harriss renowned BBC program, hitting #1 on the Euro-Americana Chart, and climbing into the Top 40 on the esteemed Americana Music Associations radio chart in the US.

Rachels voice is one of the many highlights on this record ... steeped in the past [with] an oddly current feel. [Americana UK]

\"It\'s a cracker!\" [Miles of Music]

Rachel will be joined by multi-instrumentalist Zak Borden on vocals, mandolin, guitar and various other weapons of mass destruction. A solid songwriter in his own right, Zak has toured extensively throughout the US and UK having worked with, among many others, Casey Neill, The Watson Twins and his platinum selling cousin Willy Mason, playing on the latters discs When the Ocean Gets Rough and Live EP. Absolutely brilliant! The best debut since Gillians 96 Revival. 5/5. [Ctrl. Alt. Country]

12 October - RICHMOND FONTAINE [day 2] + Luther Russell + Leona Naess

2007-10-12

The Luminaire presents
Our first Annual American Music Festival;
a series of shows from 1-14 October

==========================

RICHMOND FONTAINE [day 2]
+ Luther Russell
+ Leona Naess

Doors 7.30
£15 via WeGotTickets
£17 door

Luther Russell and Leona Naess support.

13 October - MY DISCO\'S BETTER THAN YOUR DISCO

2007-10-13

The Luminaire presents
MY DISCO\'S BETTER THAN
YOUR DISCO

Every Satuday night
with Jonn Kahuna (FC Kahuna /
This Time of Night) and friends

This week...
DEADLY AVENGER [DJ set] + Chris Summers [Rough Trade]

Doors 9.00, until 02.00
£5 after 10.00
£8 after 12.00

And don\'t forget to join our pre-party in The Kilburn Bar next door, from 8.00 [see the foot of the page for more details]

The only music policy we have is that we don\'t have one; if it\'s good and makes you wanna dance is all that matters to us.

An accomplished and varied crew of top DJ talent will be joining in to make sure the party\'s always on. Expect the likes of (in no particular order) Paul \'Phones\' Epworth, Ashley Beedle, Cagedbaby, Nathan Detroit, Barry Ashworth, Richard Norris, Justin Robertson, Dan Lywood, Jon Abblett and many more.

Jon is currently in the studio working on his \'This Time Of Night\' project and has recently completed remixes for Mika, Ali Love, The Rumble Strips and Armand Van Helden.

Click here for the full-size flyer.

And before MDBTYD kicks off...

A local shindig for those who can\'t be bothered with the West End. Including those who live in the West End...

14 October - MARK EITZEL + David Hurn

2007-10-14

The Luminaire presents
MARK EITZEL
+ David Hurn

£12 via WeGotTickets
£14 door

Mark Eitzel, singer and songwriter of American Music Club will be making his second 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.

Supporting is David Hurn, a singer-songwriter who released his debut single \'Sick Of Hate\' in 1999 on Day Release Records, followed by live performances in London and Berlin.

He was signed to Fire Records in 2001, leading to support slots with - amongst others - Mark Eitzel and British Sea Power. His debut album \'He Was A Woman\' was released in 2002, followed by the critically acclaimed \'No Love\' E.P.

Live shows across the U.K followed in 2003, including an appearance at the Green Man Festival. In 2004 David performed at the SxSW festival in Texas, recorded a number of BBC Radio sessions, as well as composing music for a series of short experimental films. A 3 track CD single titled \'How I Came To Hate My Saviour\' was released at the end of June 2006 on Fire Records. Has also contributed music for \'Chamber Music Project\', a tribute album to James Joyce (featuring Sonic Youth, Magnetic Fields, Mercury Rev, and many others).

David\'s new full length album, \'The Beautiful Trustful Future\' is scheduled for release on Fire later this year.

15 October - KAKI KING + Guests

2007-10-15

VPMG presents
KAKI KING
+ Guests

Doors 7.30
£7.50 via WeGotTickets | £9 door

\"It\'s not hyperbollocks to proclaim that she is to the acoustic what Hendrix was to the electric. [Michael Simmons, LA Weekly]

Kaki King has never been one for convention. Her third album, \'...Until We Felt Red\' (available August 8th), is certainly no exception. Over the last few years, she has enjoyed well-earned status as the zeit-girl of instrumental acoustic guitar; a gifted young ingénue closing rank on the canonized heroes of the genre.

Now, with \'...Until We Felt Red\', she\'s defied expectation again. Like the yarn that graces the album\'s cover, she\'s spun her material out: the haunting melodies are sadder, the lush orchestrations are fuller, and the sharper edges can cut. Much of this can be attributed to the new sonic palate Kaki brings to proceedings: distorted pedal steel, pounding drums, ethereal trumpet, dots, loops, bleeps and other indefinable percussion sounds, and her own voice, disarmingly winsome and sweet for a woman with as much attitude as King.

Kings focused intensity summons up a kind of kinetic power and passion that can stop surprised, slack-jawed onlookers in their tracks. [Acoustic Guitar]

Kaki made a great call in seeking out producer John McEntire (Tortoise, Stereolab, Sea & Cake), who engineered and produced the album at his Soma Studios in Chicago. McEntire called forth some of the sweeter bursts of ear candy on the disc, and the creative chemistry between the two is apparent.

And while seeing her live can be a jaw on the floor experience that changes everything you thought you knew about the guitar, with her third album, Until We Felt Red, a fully formed star is born. [Andy Langer, Esquire]

Her album isnt all shes been up to lately. King is featured on the track The Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners on the new Foo Fighters album (as Dave Grohl put it: \"I showed it to her once and she shredded it 10 times better than I\'ve ever played it.); recorded two tracks for the upcoming WB film August Rush, starring Freddie Highmore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and Robin Williams and was involved in scoring Into The Wild, a feature-length adaptation of the bestselling novel by Jon Krakauer. The film is directed by Sean Penn and is currently in post-production.

16 October - YOUTHMOVIES + Eugene McGuinness + Adam Gnade

2007-10-16

The Luminaire presents
YOUTHMOVIES
+ Eugene McGuinness
+ Adam Gnade

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets
£7 door

\"YMSS are clever, original - and sadistically unpredictable.\" [Kerrang!]

Youthmovies live in Oxford but none of them are from there. They met and formed in late 2002 and there are now five of them. To date they have released two mini-albums, three singles and three limited edition tour-only CDRs.

YMSS take you on a musical journey like no other, taking elements of DC Hardcore and wrapping it in the shimmering glow of bands like Do Make Say Think. YMSS are true believers in the power of music - not as a commodity, but as a way of truly stirring the soul. Amazing stuff.\" [Rocksound]

Amongst others Youthmovies have toured with iForward, Russia!, 65daysofstatic, Hope of the States, Oxes, Redjetson, Adam Gnade and Blood Red Shoes. They have played shows with the likes of Mission of Burma, Biffy Clyro, Bloc Party, Death Cab for Cutie, Trans Am and Cursive.

\"No band in the world comes close to matching YMSS\'s thirst for the deranged; nobody can hold a torch to their genre-splicing glory. Prefixes come and go in YMSS\'s world - post, prog, whatever - but none stick. Only one simple word can successfully clamp itself to this eight-legged beast of a band as it sprints into previously unexplored musical territories: brilliant.\" [Drowned In Sound]

They have played both improvised and regular sets at Leeds (as Saul Williams backing band), Reading, Bestival, All Tomorrows Parties, Truck and Latitude festivals, earning them a reputation as one of Britains best live bands.

\"Like a post-hardcore brainstorming session on where music should go next.\" [Steve Lamacq]

Youthmovies recently recorded their full-length debut, to be released in late 2007.

More on Eugene McGuinness and Adam Gnade, soon.

17 October - FINK + Guests

2007-10-17

Sound Crash Productions presents
an album launch party for
FINK
+ Guests

SOLD OUT

Doors 7.30
SOLD OUT

\"He achieves a brooding power reminiscent of a stripped down Nick Cave. A leftfield delight.\" Observer Music Monthly]

This former purveyor of laidback cool Ninja Tune beats has done what very few recording artists would dare to do. He changed. Completely.

\"Bluesy laments and brooding soul....deep with emotion and intent.\" [Q]

What Fink has achieved is to have been reincarnated as Ninja Tune\'s first ever guitar-toting singer-songwriter. Immersed in a very personal labour of love, the Bristol-bred, Brighton-based artist has written, produced and performed a striking, stripped-down symphony of an album. Like a twenty-first century John Martyn, Fink\'s insistent songs are flushed with bruised basslines and skinny blues licks. And they\'re exceptional.

\"John Martyn with added digital traces... stunning.\" [Uncut 4/5]

Fink was, like so many, enticed away from the brooding sensibilities of the \'90s indie scene towards the illicit free spirited hedonism of the even more \'90s rave scene, and for a long time never looked back. But in the commercial and pigeonholed world of the contemporary music scene Fink has committed the unthinkable. Namely turned his artistic identity inside out, with startling results.

Will appeal to those who succumbed to the charms of Jose Gonzalez. This, if anything, is better.\" [The Sun 5/5]

The veteran of countless remix and production credits with inspirational artists including Martin Taylor, Amy Winehouse, Michael Pitt, and Robert Belfour, this night is an opportunity to see the work of one of Ninja\'s or indeed anyone\'s - most innovative artists on his own terms, fulfilling his artistry with an astounding candour.

\"As albums go this is near perfect and deserves to be an integral part of peoples\' lives.\" [The National Student]

After the roaring success of his tour last year with Zero 7, this is a rare and intimate gig but also an opportunity to see the artist his own label couldn\'t help themselves but offer a deal to. Even though they didn\'t know it was him at the time.

18 October - NATHAN FAKE + Ochre + Echaskech + Special Guest DJs

2007-10-18

Club AC30 presents
NATHAN FAKE
+ Ochre
+ Echaskech
+ Special Guest DJs

Doors 7.30
£10 via WeGotTickets

Nathan Fake exploded onto the scene with the mighty Outhouse on James Holdens Border Community label, one of the most astounding debut singles in a long time which has surely now earned classic status, still receiving regular club and radio plays. His rocktronica follow up \'The Sky was Pink\' (graced with a remix by Nathans main fan, James Holden) looks as though it may even better the incredibly high standards set by his debut.

Nathan has recently unveiled his laptop live set, to rave reviews. Reading like a checklist of the worlds capitals of cool, dates in Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid and Amsterdam form the next stages in the Nathan Fake campaign to take live dance music to levels hitherto unattained. Despite attempts from all corners to persuade him otherwise, Nathan harbours no burning desire to convert his production success into a career as a club DJ, and with a live show like his who can blame him

Ochre is Christopher Leary, currently residing in Newcastle upon Tyne. Late 2004 saw the release of Ochre\'s critically acclaimed debut album \'A Midsummer Nice Dream\', released on the influential Toytronic Records label, which led to national radio airplay, as well as finding its way into US college radio playlists. \'Lemodie\', Ochre\'s sophomore album, recently released on Edinburgh\'s Benbecula Records, sees Ochre perfect his classically-influenced electronica, set to eclipse the success of his debut.

Echaskech have been around for longer than you might think, in various different forms. They may have finally found their sound but took a load of computers, wires, violin lessons, more than 7 different recording fomats and a long long time...

The sumptuous and organic sound of Echaskechs unique style of Electro/Breaks has been born from a spectrum of influences that strangely enough started from classical roots when Dominic Hoare and Andy Gillham first met, playing in the same orchestra during their school days.

19 October - JIM WHITE + Jenny Owen Youngs

2007-10-19

VPMG presents
JIM WHITE
+ Jenny Owen Youngs

Doors 7.30
SOLD OUT

SOLD OUT

Jim White is a southern gothic alt-country singer-songwriter. He has released three albums as a solo artist.

While his music is based in americana, he borrows elements from rock, rhythm and blues, and even electronica, often piecing sounds together in the lo-fi cut-and-paste fashion of artists like Tom Waits. His albums have featured a wide variety of collaborators, such as Victoria Williams, Morcheeba, Aimee Mann, Barenaked Ladies, and Joe Henry.

He is signed to David Byrne\'s Luaka Bop label and appeared in the BBC documentary, Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, which looks at musicians inspired by the culture of the American South.

Supporting is Jenny Owen Youngs

20 October - MY DISCO\'S BETTER THAN YOUR DISCO

2007-10-20

The Luminaire presents
MY DISCO\'S BETTER THAN
YOUR DISCO

Every Satuday night
with Jon Kahuna (FC Kahuna /
This Time of Night) and friends

This week...
NIGHTMOVES [Kinsune]

Doors 9.00, until 02.00
£5 after 10.00
£8 after 12.00

And don\'t forget to join our pre-party in The Kilburn Bar next door, from 8.00 [see the foot of the page for more details]

The only music policy we have is that we don\'t have one; if it\'s good and makes you wanna dance is all that matters to us.

Jon is currently in the studio working on his \'This Time Of Night\' project and has recently completed remixes for Mika, Ali Love, The Rumble Strips and Armand Van Helden.

Click here for the full-size flyer.

And before MDBTYD kicks off...

A local shindig for those who can\'t be bothered with the West End. Including those who live in the West End...

21 October - PF SLOAN + Pete Molinari

2007-10-21

The Luminaire presents
PF SLOAN
+ Pete Molinari

Doors 7.30
£10 via WeGotTickets | £12 door

PF Sloan\'s career is one of the most fascinating music business stories ever. He started his music business career at age 14, making a single for Aladdin Records, the great LA R&B label. In 1964 his group The Fantastic Baggys had a hit with \'Tell \'Em I\'m Surfin\'\' and the album contained the original version of the surf music classic, \'Summer Means Fun\' that was later recorded by Bruce and Terry, Jan and Dean, and the Legendary Masked Surfers. Sloan wrote all the songs on the record and produced it.

He went on to be the inhouse musical force behind Dunhill Records, produced, played on and wrote many of the Dunhill hits including \'Eve of Destruction\', \'Monday, Monday\' and \'California Dreamin\'\'. He had a hit in LA and Europe under his own name with \'The Sins of a Family.

He sang the falsetto lead on \'Little Old Lady from Pasadena\' as well as many other records by Jan and Dean. He wrote \'You Baby\' and \'Let Me Be\' by the Turtles, \'Take Me for What I\'m Worth\' by the Searchers, \'A Must to Avoid\' by Hermans Hermits, and of course \'Secret Agent Man\' by Johnny Rivers.

Those are some highlights of his creative accomplishments, all occurred before he was twenty-two, and they just scratch the surface of an unbelievable story of the history of the pop music business at a big turning point. PF Sloan was there and involved when the rock era was born. He interacted with many of the major musical figures of that time including the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan, Andrew Loog Oldham, Phil Spector, Lou Adler, Terry Melcher, and on and on... The new CD, Sailover, contains several of his old classics plus some new songs that are as good as anything he has ever done. Guests on the album include Buddy Miller, Frank Black, Lucinda Williams, and Felix Cavaliere. It was produced in Nashville by Jon Tiven.

22 October - LAUTREC + NEW TELEPATHICS

2007-10-22

Don\'t You Wonder Sometimes presents
LAUTREC with video-art by Kishida & Maione
NEW TELEPATHICS
with projections by The Research Agents

Doors 7.30
£5 via WeGotTickets | £6 door

A brand new night playing host to bands with a taste for the visual and video-artists whod love to be in a band. Taking its name from the classic Bowie track, Sound & Vision, Dont You Wonder Sometimes brings together acts already working with VJs and photographers as well as specially commissioned sets by newly formed collaborations.

Fresh from his UK-wide solotour of cinemas presenting his avant-electronica soundtrack to the classic horror flick Nosferatu, Darryn Harkness (also of Serafin fame) plays a rare London date as New Telepathics with a selection of fellow researchers in all things Telepathic.

The musicy Cinematic Orchestra (on speed). Morphine (if their drummer had been born in West London, not the East Coast USA). Acoustic Ladyland (with the occasional Ornette Coleman solo thrown in). Fela Kuti (re-born as an agit-punk provocateur).

The factsy New Telepathics is the brainchild of Darryn Harkness, brought into being with the assistance of Sandy Mill (who has worked with the likes of Gary Numan, Placebo, Basement Jaxx, Dick Johnson and Lofty and Bob Jones\'s East West Connection) and Tom Fielding. Together they create a melting pot of afro-beat, punk, soul, jazz and funk with a decidedly alt.rock aesthetic.

Their live set is never the same, with improvisation and rhythmic complexity the key. Slide and Super 8 projections, especially created by a team of their research agents, complete the picture.

Dont You Wonder Sometimes is the latest outlet of song-writer, producer and programmer Ed Simpson, who has previously put on cinema / band events for the likes of Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins), electronica pioneer Biosphere and artist extraordinaire Juana Molina (Domino). His band, Lautrec, released their debut single, \'Caught In Your Headlights featuring Julia Biel last summer on their own imprint, Urbancholica.

Dark and broody yet always catchy, Lautrec deserve to be huge.\" [Metro]
\"Love it.\" [DJ Nick Luscombe]

Theyve been described as being steeped in foreboding, possessing a sound youd expect to hear resonating from a Jeff Noon basement. Like discovering a deconstructed stripped back Xploding Plastix sprayed with a beatsy Four Tet rinse. This summer saw them play various festivals, a highlight being their late night Latitude set, whilst Eds DJ-soundtrack to Wong Kar-Wais Days of Being Wild appeared at Big Chill, Green Man and Secret Garden amongst others.

A dazzling live set. [The Fly]
Delicious sampledelics. [The Guardian]

Their five piece line up of drums, sax/flute, laptop, keys and vocals is augmented by the video-art of the Japanese and Italian artists Kishida and Maione plus their dancer in residence La Morenita.

A heady electronica mix.\" [BBC Collective]
Sultry and versatile. [Knowtheledge.net]

23 October - HALF COUSIN + Guests

2007-10-23

The Luminaire and Blank Tape Spillage Fete presents
Spillage Fete Occasional No. 2
with
HALF COUSIN
+ Tin & Tou
+ Bontakt

Doors 7.30
£6 via WeGotTickets | £7 door

The Orkney Islands, off the north-eastern tip of Scotland, had never been known for their distorted junkyard pop. Not until the debut album by Half Cousin, \'The Function Room\', appeared in 2004, inspired by the islands\' weather-beaten landscapes and off-beat characters.

Sought after singles \'Half Turn / Mrs Pilling\',\'Country Cassette\' and \'The Diary Fire\' EP paved the way for acclaimed shows, supporting the likes of Hot Chip, The Earlies and Boom Bip. Collaborations, also, with Hans-Joachim Roedelius and contributions to the Blank Tape Spillage Fete, all cemented Half Cousin\'s reputation as something fresh and exciting.

Main songwriter Kevin Cormack has teamed up once again with old Orcadian school friend Jimmy Hogarth to record the follow-up album; \'Iodine\'.

As before, junk percussion, cheap electronics and family heirlooms prevail- but the results are far more beguiling, detailed and, at times, euphoric. The subject matter of small town Orcadian characters is also more elaborate: Irish Country groupies, Rat Pack Dads, crofters on the run from the police and teenage pyromaniacs inhabit songs about chip shop photography, Alzheimer\'s, social club show business, absentees and mistaken identities.

Cormack\'s twisting melodies lead the way, giving momentum and focus to the driving ragbag collection of customized sounds. Hints of Captain Beefheart, Arab Strap, Bjork and even early House music emerge, but always as part of something uniquely it\'s own. Essentially, it all still adheres to his original aim of creating \"short, melodic songs made from junk.\"

Also on the bill is Bontakt (featuring Spillage Fete founders Matt Hunt and Mat Fowler) and Tin & Tou (the solo guise of XOXO songwriter Sylva Kay).

\"Half Cousin provokes comparisons with Art Garfunkel, Led Zeppelin and Ivor Cuttler all at oncE.\" [Mojo]

\"Rich in effortlessly lovely psych-folk and instantly bewitching junkshop electronica. Comparisons with Syd Barrett, early Bjork or Devendra Bamahart barely do (Half Cousin\'s) \'Iodine\' justice. It\'s a thing of wild and magical beauty.\" [Uncut]

24 October - ASOBI SEKSU + Air Formation + Kontakte

2007-10-24

Club AC30 presents
ASOBI SEKSU
+ Air Formation
+ Kontakte
+ Club AC30 DJs

SOLD OUT

Asobi Seksu have always been masters at creating musical textures; gauzy, cloudy dreamscapes for their slower songs and squalls of guitar and daisy-chained effect pedals for their barnstormers. What truly distinguishes them, is that the band has now married this ability to a finely honed pop sensibility. The songs here arent just pretty, theyre melodically rich and incredibly catchy. As their captivating live show attests, Asobi Seksu have outgrown the comparisons to My Bloody Valentine and Lush, and have finally realized their potential as one of New Yorks greatest bands.

Main support are five young men from Brighton called Air Formation. Matt Bartram vocals and guitar, Ben Pierce bass, Richard Parks keyboards, Phil Macy guitar and James Harrison on drums. Theirs is a huge sound displays references to Mogwai and Explosions In The Sky, with healthy doses of Flying Saucer Attack and Sigur Ros.

Opening are Kontakte; Ian Griffiths (Bass), Neil Rudd (Guitar) and Ben Worth (Guitar), formed by Griffiths in and around London during the early part of 2006.

Kontakte are informed by all things sonic - with deep passions for Kraftwerk, Neu !, Spacemen 3, MBV and Eno - infused with a knowing sensibility of post/drone/space and krautrock. The band\'s love for distorted beats, transience and star-scraping melodies resonate through every track they play; creating challenging sounds that leave an indelible impression on the listener. They continuously strive to push their sound further, faster and louder; more beautiful is it a thing of movement, never at a standstill, always directed forward.

25 October - TOBIAS FROBERG + Guests

2007-10-25

DMP presents
TOBIAS FROBERG
+ Guests

Doors 7.30
£8.50 via WeGotTickets
or here.

Im honestly starting to think it might be one of the greatest records ever made. I am! [Rob Fitzpatrick, The Word magazine]

Tobias Froberg - once a magazine columnist and writer in his native Sweden - thankfully decided to change the direction of his career and is now hotly tipped by his record label boss Alan McGee to be the next Scandinavian Superstar.

Like his influences [Simon and Garfunkel, The Beach Boys, The Beatles] he certainly knows how to write a good pop tune and his single When The Night Turns Cold\' is already being used in the pan-European ad for Panasonic Lumix cameras. This has drawn obvious comparisons with that other Swedish troubadour Jose Gonzalez, but Frobergs music is more melodic and less melancholic than that of his countryman.

His most recent album \'Somewhere In The City\', released in the UK on Poptones, received rave reviews, including a 4/5 review in Uncut.

Froberg is soon to release a new album which features a number of respected musicians including fellow Swedes Peter and John from Peter Bjorn and John and our very own folk darling Kathryn Williams.

26 October - BABY DEE + Pantaleimon

2007-10-26

The Luminaire presents
BABY DEE
+ Pantaleimon

Doors 7.30
£8 via WeGotTickets | £9 door

Baby Dee was born in Cleveland Ohio. Her father was a fire chief. She loved to play the piano as a child and began her \"professional career\" as a bear in Central Park playing the harp.

She travelled to Paris where she met the wonderful people who called themselves The Shanghai Bureau and played the harp with them in very beautiful places. She then came back to New York.

Having recovered her senses some fifteen years later she picked up the accordion. She worked at the Coney Island Sideshow and toured with the Bindlestif Circus. She met Antony of \"Antony and the Johnsons\" and did shows and recorded the harp parts on his first album. Then she went back to Europe and traveled to Scotland where she met John Kamikaze - The Prince of Pain and benevolent despot of The Kamikaze Freak Show.

After a time she returned to the States, to Cleveland Ohio, where she wrote songs and recorded two albums \'Little Window\' and \'Loves Small Song\'. David Tibet befriended her and released them on his Durtro label. Her latest full length studio work \'A Book of Songs for Anne Marie\' has been presented not as an album but as a book which comes with a CD.

Baby Dee is also a member of the Current 93 live band and she has ongoing collaborations with the experimental band Larsen as well as Marc Almond.

Pantaleimon supports. Sometimes with friends, but mostly alone, Andria Degens creates haunting, beautiful music from her base on the south coast of England. The music is simplistic by nature and summons a meditative grace and stillness.

Pantaleimon have also contributed to projects by Current 93, Susan Stenger, Dirty Three (Andria appears on \'Horse Stories\'), Hobotalk, and her music was featured in the soundtrack to Cam Archer\'s film \'Wild Tigers I Have Known\'. Pantaleimon have, in the recent past, been honoured to play with Bonnie \'Prince\' Billy, Antony & the Johnsons and Six Organs of Admittance. Earlier this year she released the much praised EP \'Cloudburst\'.

\"Andria Degens is based in Hastings, southern England, but the sparse clarity of her music as Pantaleimon seems to exist in it\'s own unique, indefinable space. Three of these four tracks are crystalline instrumentals played on Appalachian dulcimer and bouzouki with a brittle, graceful sense of mood and spatial atmosphere. This is a kind of minimalist instrumental folk with spiritual undertones. The forth track, \'Numinosum\', is sung by Degens with a quietly centred intensity, somewhere between love song and devotional mantra, with a sedate, droning backing. Its vivid simplicity is, in its own quiet way, quite stunning.\" [The Wire]

27 October - MY DISCO\'S BETTER THAN YOUR DISCO

2007-10-27

The Luminaire presents
MY DISCO\'S BETTER THAN
YOUR DISCO

Every Satuday night
with Jonn Kahuna (FC Kahuna /
This Time of Night) and friends

This week...
CAGEDBABY [DJ set]

Doors 9.00, until 02.00
£5 after 10.00
£8 after 12.00

And don\'t forget to join our pre-party in The Kilburn Bar next door, from 8.00 [see the foot of the page for more details]

The only music policy we have is that we don\'t have one; if it\'s good and makes you wanna dance is all that matters to us.

Jon is currently in the studio working on his \'This Time Of Night\' project and has recently completed remixes for Mika, Ali Love, The Rumble Strips and Armand Van Helden.

Click here for the full-size flyer.

And before MDBTYD kicks off...

A local shindig for those who can\'t be bothered with the West End. Including those who live in the West End...

28 October - YNDI HALDA + AUDREY + The Monroe Transfer + DiS DJs

2007-10-28

Pulling Strings and Drowned in Sound present
YNDI HALDA + AUDREY
+ The Monroe Transfer
+ DiS DJs

Doors 7.30
£7 via WeGotTickets | £8 door

A free Stereo Test Kit Records CD sampler to the first 30 people through the doors.

Yndi Halda play expansive and epic instrumental music, with varied sections and movements that rise to crescendo out of subtle, gentle ambience. Melodies ebb and flow, rising to beautiful explosions. Music which could soundtrack a modern day love story, as easily as a mid-century war.

\"That they\'re already greatly impressive is a fact humbled, rather, by the obvious certainty that they\'ve the potential to one day be peerless. If it doesn\'t have critics stunned into adoration at its almost unprecedented beauty, then said individuals are most certainly deaf. That, or they\'ve no heart and soul.\" [Drowned in Sound]

\"Haunting, halting, stunning, beautiful, utterly emotional and overwhelming in all its power and promise ... at times it\'s dread quiet, at others it feels like the world is caving in.\" [Moderate Rock Reviews]

\"Beautiful and shimmering. Expect big things.\" [Rock Sound]

Sweden\'s Audrey create alandscape of sounds, rich and grand. Vocal harmonies mix with dark pop melodies, post-rock sounds and orchestral arrangements. Perhaps one can hear respectful nods to Rachel\'s, Karin Dreijers, Dirty Three, Low and Sigur Rós, but the result is very much their own.

\"A fabulous, shimmering debut, for fans of Sigur Ros, Stina Nordenstam, Björk or Low.\" - [The Sunday Times]

\"Become embraced by an album produced by a band with a lot of promise, then the coming winter months are sure to seem a whole lot warmer for Visible Forms\' existence.\" - [Drowned in Sound]

\"This all-girl four-piece\'s debut is the most original record from a Nordic country since Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós. Gorgeous. Sublime. A long time since Björk released anything this good.\" [The Big Issue]

\"The unbelievably delicate debut from four Swedish girls ... they are bound to charm their way into your day.\" [Subba-Cultcha]

The Monroe Transfer support.

29 October - SIMONE WHITE + Jaymay

2007-10-29

VPMG presents
SIMONE WHITE
+ Jaymay

Doors 7.30
£7 via WeGotTickets | £8 door

For those bewitched by the posthumous small-hours voice of Karen Dalton, here is a living echo of that still, small, intensely concentrated spirit; an intimate prettiness concealed within the rosebud are the thorns of subtly articulated political protest and the warped, eerie gaze on human weakness that has been The Velvet Underground\'s legacy to the modern folk idiom. More on Simone White\'s \'I Am The Man\' is a summer soundtrack of charm and beguiling depths.\" **** [MOJO]

\"The songs drift dreamily between bittersweet romance, whimsy and the political while White\'s breathy, restful tones and Mark Nevers\'s muted production give everything a balmy unified feel of the rarest kind.\" **** [Q Magazine]

\"The Beep Beep Song\" is brilliant whimsy. White sings something like Astrud Gilberto. The languor conceals a sharp, politicized observer of the American wasteland, and White\'s songs counter The Man\'s depredations with becalmed cool.\" [No Depression]

\"Coming out of seemingly nowhere, is Simone White, with a chameleon of a voice that changes shades and colors so naturally as to send you scratching the back of your mind trying to figure out where to place it.\" [LUNAPARK6]

30 October - GRAVENHURST + War Against Sleep + Reigns

2007-10-30

The Luminaire presents
GRAVENHURST
+ War Against Sleep
+ Reigns

SOLD OUT

Doors 7.30
SOLD OUT

\"Utterly magnificient\" [Sunday Telegraph]

Gravenhurst began in 1999. Nick Talbot took the name from a song written by underground guitar-hero Dave Pajo. The first two Gravenhurst albums, \'Internal Travels\' and \'Flashlight Seasons\' were released through Nick\'s own Silent Age label. In 2000, Nick partnered Guy Bartell in establishing and maintaining the Victorian Dancehall Horror-tronica outfit, Bronnt Industries Kapital.

\"Brave and challenging.\" [Independent on Sunday 4/5]

Gravenhurst signed to Warp in 2004, re-released Flashlight Seasons, and quickly followed it up with Black Holes in the Sand, a mini-album of intense, sonic, folk-influenced murder ballads.

\"Quite extraordinary.\" [Mojo 4/5]

Moving sideways into rock territory, Nick and drummer Dave Collingwood recorded \'Fires in Distant Buildings\' at home and at Toybox Studios in Bristol.

\"Gently fucking psychotic\" [Vice 9/10]

Gravenhurst have toured extensively in Europe and the USA, playing numerous festivals and supporting Broadcast and Belle & Sebastian. In 2006, Gravenhurst provided original music for the film \'Ein Freund Von Mir\'. A new album is in preparation.

War Against Sleep - main support - is the brainchild of Duncan Fleming, a true original whose acid-soaked albums elegantly sprawl the tragic and absurd. Live, expect to hear blinding songs, fizzing electronics, and taste the amphetamine sweat beads of your worst porno nightmare.

Sexy psychedelia. [NME]
Gloriously ridiculous stuff. [The Wire]
Classic songwriting. [Record Collector]
He performs complete wonders. [The Big Issue]
War Against Sleep are the audio version of the programmes that used to scare me witless as a child. [Rough Trade]

Opening up are \"Reigns - AKA Wessex-based brothers Tim and Roo Farthing - who deal in epic, daydream-dizzy atmospherics, and spoken word lyrics that send chills down the spine. A treat of dirty surrealism and sumptuous coastal eccentricity.\" [Plan B Magazine]

\"Sinister yet sublime... blessed with a beauty uncommon in any form of music.\" [Drowned in Sound]

\"Sad and pre-literate. Very cool.\" [The Wire]

31 October - ALEXANDER’S ANNEXE + Ruth Wall & Sarah Nicolls

2007-10-31

The Sound Source & Luminaire presents
ALEXANDERS ANNEXE
+ Ruth Wall & Sarah Nicolls

Doors 6.30
£8 via WeGotTickets
£9 door
£5 for SPNM card holders at door

Running order
6.30: Open Source; Alexanders Annexe re-mixed by artists responding to tonights programme, plus an open slot for you to showcase your own music!
8.00: Ruth Wall/Sarah Nicolls
9.00: Alexanders Annexe
10.30: Mira Calix DJ set

spnm\'s experimental bi-monthyl series opens with a bang, with an event headlined by Alexander\'s Annexe. A collaborative performing and writing trio consisting of sound technologist David Sheppard, Warp Records artist Mira Calix and contemporary music pianist Sarah Nicolls, the group aims to incorporate the sonority, beauty, physical energy and impact of live piano performance into a larger scale feast for the ears through the use of live and pre-composed electronics.

\"Decidedly unsettling and extraordinarily seductive.\" [Uncut]

\"The resulting noise is more than appealing, ranging from the minute scratching and squeaking of tiny mechanical creatures to bass heavy drones.\" [9 Lives]

As part of each Sound Source night this series, were also giving you the chance to shape one element of the night that will affect the way you experience the event. Each event well have a couple of options that well ask you to vote on at our online forum. Whichever option is most popular, well then make happen!

For this event the options are:
1. Disposable cameras at the event for audience members to record the event as they see it.
2. Free strawberries and cream served at the event.

Even if youre not going to come to the event, you can vote anyway, by clicking here

For details of to get involved in the 6.30 Open Source slot, email us here. Open Source is in association with Music Orbit and culminates in all audience members receiving a free CD made live at the event at the end of the evening. We are looking for electronic and vocal artists who would like to perform live (using a simple set-up) and artists who have exciting electronic material.

Click here for this evenings flyer.

spnm is a unique meeting point for composers, performers and audiences of new music. The organisation discovers and promotes new music by emerging composers in the UK, with a nationwide programme of events, professional development schemes, an education programme, information and membership services.