Tonight brings London’s instalment of the annual Stag & Dagger festival, with over 50 upcoming bands from rock/dance ouevres delighting sozzled scenesters in various Shoreditch sweatpits - or rather De Beauvoir, Clerkenwell, Shoreditch and Bethnal Green sweatpits, such is S&D’s scale these days. Like the Camden Crawl but good, this bruiser involves lots of walking, torturous decisions, hosts of new friends, a surprisingly efficient wristband exchange (well, it was last year), and regular shouts of “OH MY GOD, that’s like.. thingy from that band !! lol !!”.
Below I’ve listed some bands I think you should catch, but first some general tips:
1. Watch out for that Shoreditch Triangle – it gets more like the Bermuda Triangle when you’re trolleyed, and trying to cross it can take days.
2. Wear something light. It’s far better to be cold outside than hotly lugging a coat or heavy bag inside. That’s just not cool.
3. Bring moolah – this is Shoreditch we’re talking about, that infuriating anti-land where ATMs haven’t yet caught on. If you do get stuck. Old Street has a few cash machines around the tube station, and there’s a free one about ten mins down Bethnal Green Road.
4. The bigger names – These New Puritans, Ex-Lovers, We Have Band – will of course attract bigger crowds. If you want to see these guys, you’ll likely need to get to the relevant venue with at least an hour to spare, or it’ll be tears before bedtime.
5. Don’t see Sky Larkin – they’re pants.
Okay, so I veered into band territory there, sorry. Anyway, continuing that theme, here are five acts I really rate, and who are well worth a half-mile slog with grumbling friends in check:
Timber Timbre (Rough Trade East, 6.30pm)
The earliest show of the festival sees Montreal’s Timber Timbre freak the hell out of Rough Trade with their peculiar, pallid woodsmoke-blues-rock, tragic tales told by terrified strings, earnest singing and church-quiet riffs. These are simple and yet very accomplished songs, ones that entrap as much as they entrance.
MP3: Timber Timbre – There Is A Cure
Class Actress (CAMP, 9.00pm)
I blathered on about Elizabeth Harper in a recent post, but something tells me she’ll be so good live it’s worth doing so again. Offering elegant, fizzing electro dance numbers with an air of sophistication and serenity, Class Actress is good for a groove, or merely a gentle n0dding of the head as you sip your pint at the side of stage.
MP3: Class Actress – Careful What You Say
Trailer Trash Tracys (93 Feet East, 9.00pm)
Obviously you can’t do Class Actress and Trailer Trash Tracys, but plump for the latter and you’ll be richly rewarded. The London quartet play a wistful, echoey lo-fi rock, with chanting female vocals buried amid a forest fire of throbbing guitars, fierce feedback and murderous drums. There’s something deeply ambient about it: I want to call it post-disco, but that would just be ridiculous.
MP3: Trailer Trash Tracys – Candy Girl
Mount Kimbie (Scrutton Street Studios, 11.30pm)
Because every now and again you need a little dance epicry in your life. Their anthems building like air-raids from an emotionless enemy, Mount Kimbie will provide ambience, moments of pause and providence, and some hip-shaking garage breaks. The work of Kai and Dom, this is a fluid, very-cheerful dubstep with many a sudden sample.
MP3: Mount Kimbie – Maybes
The Radio Dept. (The Legion, 11.45pm)
This one could require an early arrival but it’ll be worth it. Sweden’s The Radio Dept. play a melodic electro-rock tinged with lush beats, sometimes like to a permanent dance remix of The Streets, sometimes a downbeat UNKLE. You’ll close your eyes, briefly revisiting a cherished memory, before returning to the almost-as-good present.
MP3: The Radio Dept. – David
Also worth catching are Othello Woolf, John & Jehn, White Hinterland, My Tiger My Timing, Spectrals, Sian Alice Group and many more. If you don’t trust me at all (recommended), then Stag and Dagger’s staff have also made their own, very decent, picks on the website.
Frankly, though, you could do a lot worse than have no plan at all. Plans will inevitably get fucked up, dropped down a drain somewhere on Curtain Road, forgotten amid a jive in Jaguar Shoes. Just go, live, and see a lot of great new stuff. Or, as my friend and regular SOIWT inspiration Adrian just said, with brutally perfect simplicity: “I see tonight as an opportunity to see bands I’ve never seen before.”
Have fun - lots and lots of it. Tickets are still available here if you haven’t got on, at an impossibly reasonable £17.
