Field Day line-up – first bands announced

The first chunks of this year’s Field Day festival line-up have today been announced, and heck it looks good.  Phoenix have been revealed as headliners, with Caribou, Esben & The Witch, James Holden, Memory Tapes and Pantha du Prince.  Fill line up so far is here.  More updates here the moment I get them.

The date is Saturday 31 July and earlybird tickets cost a cute £33.33 + booking fee via See Tickets.  Expect all the extra staples – quirky food, tug’o'wars, egg and spoon races, hay bales, bandstands and extortionately-priced programmes – as per usual.  Here’s my review of last year’s Field Day.

Now, Field Day is an eternally unlucky festival: after a first year of too few toilets and bars, it’s been cursed in its last two incarnations by seriously heavy rain.  Not only does that make you wet, but it means the tents fill, and it’s then that much harder to move between stages and get anywhere close to a band.  This video of Phoenix a few years ago shows how busy the dance tent gets…


Other charges levelled at the occasion include a lack of atmosphere, ill-scheduling and – yes, still – a lack of bars.  But it’s undoubtedly zesty, and brims with talent – especially so in 2010, it seems.  It’s full of fun-seekers, and has an eternally friendly atmosphere.  At some point things simply must fall into place… and I have a real hunch 2010 will be that time. 

Best bring an umbrella just in case not, though…

Hot new music – 8 February 2010

Each week I stumble across lots of great music that I can’t post because there’s no London connection – and this is a London music blog, after all.  In frustration at that, and simply to share things that make me happy, I’m aiming to post five songs I newly love every Monday.  And here’s the [...]

Shunt – a brief update

Bit of an update on my update on Shunt: the new venue will be called The Shunt Vaults and apparently “for the opening two weekends there will be a programme of solo work.  This will be an entirely new, as-yet-unnamed project.  The only other bit of information?  “There will be more tables.”  Always good news.

More soon, hopefully…

Axel Loughrey

Funny, how it happens sometimes, isn’t it?  Not romance, silly – I mean discovering new music.  I spotted Axel Loughrey’s name on an email shout-out from the Flowerpot, randomly* decided to listen to his stuff and now feel rather fond of his sullen, beefy folk-rock.  Loughrey offers ambling, agonised songs about difficult girlfriends and, well, difficult girlfriends, lined [...]

Freelance Whales to perform London dates

One of my tips for 2010, NYC’s Freelance Whales are in London next week for a few dates ahead of debut album Weathervanes’ March release.  An endlessly inventive, experimental fivepiece, Freelance Whales can do dainty pop (Starring), swaggering alt-folk (Generator^2nd Floor) and enthralling rock (Hannah).  There’s a touch of Mumford & Sons via wholesomely plucked banjos and echoes of Duke Special [...]

Oh yes – Oh No Ono returning to London in March

Copenhagen quintet Oh No Ono are returning to the UK on Wednesday 3 March (at The Relentless Garage, tickets here) to support their latest album, Eggs.  Purveyors of a dense, elegant pop that occasionally gets psychedelic – think wacky Beatles mixed with Yes, or Miike Snow’s older brother - Oh No Ono come armed with boy-girl falsettos, funky hooks, keys, woozy strings and suddenly grandiose peaks.  Theirs [...]

New London music – Jont

Jont is a London-based singer-songwriter who’s being tipped for success in various circles.  His is a perky, feelgood kind of pop, slightly blissful and very earnest.   It’s not going-out music, but definitely suited to Sunday snoozes or doing the ironing.  Jont’s obvious problem are the amount of fairly similar artists out there already – he [...]

The National playing the Royal Albert Hall in May

Much-liked Anerican rockers The National have announced a special-sounding Royal Albert Hall gig on Thursday 6 May, in support of their fifth album.  Providers of elegant, rich guitar songs, and particularly known for their very personal lyrics, The National are, I think, little known on these shores.  But a gig at the RAH and a Gigwise [...]

Salt? Pepper? Marthas & Arthurs?

Thanks to Daily Candy last week for alerting me to vocal harmony group Marthas & Arthurs.   Apparently, if you can convince the quartet of your worthiness, they’ll perform at your private dinner, launch or whatever gratis.  To get the ball  rolling, you merely need to e-mail Marthas & Arthurs three good reasons as to why they should [...]

The Phenomenal Handclap Band returning to London in March

One of the most wacky, divisive, inventive and potentially irritating bands around, The Phenomenal Handclap Band have announced some UK dates in March, following on from their October 2009 visit.  

Formed by New York DJs Daniel Collás and Sean Marquand, The PHB offer a chaotic melee of synths, keyboards, female vocals, guitars and percussion.  Their sounds [...]