XOYO?

Songkick keeps telling me about gigs at a place called XOYO.  I’m like, where?  Then this weekend, Field Day had a XOYO stage.  WTF?  Have I somehow missed a London mainstay all these years?  Is it KOKO’s dyslexic brother?  Hell is going on?

Do a Google and all that comes up is a Japanese site full of squiggles, an album by The Passage and various booking sites promising the earth and delivering Epsom.  However, dig a little deeper, tap in some random URLs because you’re cool like that, and ask the right people the right questions in a (hopefully) Chandler-esque way, and more details slowly emerge…

XOYO will be a warehouse/loft-type place, and will open at the end of August.  It’s located just off Old St, close-ish to Favela Chic and Aquarium (see map below).  Imminent gigs include Kisses, No Age, Primary 1, Errors, Dan Deacon and Mount Kimbie – not bad huh?  And they don’t seem to cost much – the Kisses show is just £6.75.  The website is http://xoyo.co.uk.

As someone on one forum commented, it could be just another bar with “overpriced bottle bar and rubbish sound”.  Wise words mister, if a smidge cynical.  But SOIWT retorts thus: London hasn’t got very many venues specifically offering genuinely upcoming, genuinely good musicians at genuinely low prices.  There’s Madame JoJos and Village Underground, but after that it becomes hit-and-miss, with as much chance of seeing your neighbours’ ”ska” band as some soon-to-sign hot totty.  So, to me at least, this XOYO place is to be anticipated.

New London nights

Some neat-sounding nights are kicking off right now in London.  Trendster culture mag Who’s Jack has started a monthly “live embodiment of itself” at Proud Camden called Jack Comes Alive, with acts and arts amid the arches.  With talk of installations it sounds a bit wanky, but the bands – who you’ll never have heard of – promise to be okay, plus there will be two things which can only be great: pole dancers and cupcakes.

Meanwhile, cider brand Kopparberg is continuing its recent hipsterish behaviour – a cool blog, The Joy Formidable doing a video – with its latest Kopparberg Klash Music party next Wednesday at The Old Blue Last.  This will see three selected finalists from the Klash competition (sponsored by Vice mag, for extra coolness points) playing live.  And if you attend, and like the stuff, then there’s free Kopparberg to be had.  Eat you heart out, Magners…

Radfest returns

Radfest is returning for its third appearance next Sunday at Corsica Studios in E&C.  For the trifling £5 entry fee you get to see the likes of  A Place To Bury Strangers, Ganglians, Bo Ningen and, you guessed it, much much more.  There’s much more about it on organisers Sexbeat‘s page.  It sounds sweet.