Week Commencing: 7/3/05
By: Toby L
Jubilant,
We were... As if observing 2,000+ newly-turned obsessives cheer and pogo and yell and sing along to Bloc Party's impossibly euphoric, triumphant Forum show in Kentish Town on Friday weren't enough, then a hop-skip-jump up the road to Mystery Jets' low-key headline at the Adventures Close To Home night-club (prior guests: Adam Green, Death From Above 1979, Maximo Park, The Unicorns, et al - coupled with DJ-sets from Ill Will Choaf, it's well pukka; more info here...) proved that it was the best night out we've had so far in 2005. Both bands to fall in love with, and adore.
And speaking of the latter - the final fifty copies of the Jets' debut, sold-out 'Zoo Time' / 'Lizzie's Lion' single have just been made available via our associated Transgressive Records - order now here via the website in order for a chance...
Line-up info of The Basement Club at the end of March to be announced imminently; stay tuned.
All the usual:
Gigs this week, London: Biffy Clyro do the low-key thing at the Borderline, Soho on Friday 11th (£8:00); the Camden Crawl returns with an impossibly wonderful line-up on Thursday (Thurs 10th; sold out), featuring the likes of Graham Coxon, Hope of the States, plus rest of line-up - 10,000 Things, Agent Blue, Amusement Parks On Fire, Art Brut, The Black Velvets, The Chalets, Clor, The Cribs, The Departure, Do Me Bad Things, Drive Like You Stole It, The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, The Glitterati, Gravenhurst, Hard-Fi, Hell Is For Heroes, Hot Chip, The Infadels, Kaito, Kooks, The Longcut, Ludes, The Magic Numbers, Maximo Park, Mystery Jets, Nine Black Alps, The Others, The Research, Secret Machines, Sons & Daughters, The Subways, Le Tigre, Towers Of London, Two Lone Swordsmen, Tom Vek, Weapons Of Mass Belief and Whitey... mmm, epic...
Then, additional shows: novelty party tykes Electric Six unleash fire / cheap jokes / fun at the Astoria (Thurs 10th; £14:00); Lemon Jelly go big-time at Brixton's Academy (Fri 11th; £17:50) and slightly smaller-time at the Forum the next eve (Sat 12th; sold out); The Mars Volta are back, and in Brixton (Sun 13th; sold out); Mercury Rev attempt Hammersmith's Apollo (Sat 12th; £17:50); Ray Lamontagne is at the Scala (sold out; Tues 8th); The Cazals are Camden Barfly-ing it (Tues 8th; £6:00); Sondre Lerche opt for the Scala (Weds 9th; £10:00); our new favourite band of the land Arcade Fire sell out their debut UK date at Kings College (Tues 8th); The Noisettes and Mystery Jets play a flawless double-header at the Borderline on Sunday (13th; £8:00); Thirteen Senses perform a sold-out Shepherd's Bush Empire this evening (Monday 7th); The Streets hammer London with two cavernous dates (Thurs 10th / Fri 11th; £23:50 and £17:50 respectively), complete with support from Kano, and - at the former - Babyshambles; Norwegian singer-songwriter Thomas Dybdahl forms a swelling at the Barfly (Wed 9th; £5:00); and a reformed The Wonderstuff return to the very venue where they first re-declared their union, the Forum (Thurs 10th; £16:50).
UK Chart-action, this week - new entries, alt: What a week for Singles - Stereophonics get the top-spot and their not-so-awful 'Dakota'; The Bravery go straight in at seven via 'An Honest Mistake'; last week's number six is this week's eleven - Kaiser Chiefs with 'Oh My God'; and last week's number eight is this week's 19 - The Futureheads'/Kate Bush's 'Hounds Of Love'; Moby prompts to you 'Lift Me Up' by entering at a modest eighteen; 'Typical Me' by Kano is twenty-two; REM's 'Electron Blue' is twenty-six; LCD Soundsystem anthem 'Daft Punk Is Playing At My House' opts for twenty-nine; Bjork's 'Triumph Of A Heart' makes thirty-one; Rammstein obliterate all with 'Keine Lust' at thirty-five; Dive Dive ask us to dial '555 For Filmstars' at 48; 679 Recordings pop hopeful Annie debuts at 50 with 'Heartbeat'; 'Models For The Programme' by Hell Is For Heroes is 58; The Earlies' 'Bring It Back Again' marks a stab at 61; Ambulance LTD manage 67 with their first, 'Stay Where You Are'; and Soundtrack Of Our Lives scrape 70 with 'Heading For A Breakdown'.
Albums-breakdown: the only significant entrants are Arcade Fire at seventy-one (make it higher, damn it), whilst recent, existent entries by Willy Mason, Bloc Party and Doves (last week's number-one, no less) prove that the world isn't totally f**ked.
Thank you for the time.