Quite apt, as upon being left awe struck at their mesmerising performance, I am sticking my neck out to say they will soon become very timely and very momentous; words I fear Jools Holland will utter before announcing them on Later.  Made up of members from popular Orange County band Cavil At Rest, this 5 piece utilise 1.5 drumkits, 0.75 keyboards, 3 guitars, 4 harmonic voices plus a broken cymbal that creates a live sound that has energy unbound that takes there agile and cascading recorded sound to another level. Nothing smacks of the usual folky bandwagon loveliness, there is blood, sweat and full on rock’n'roll all over the stage. Stand out tracks ‘Airplanes’ and ‘Sun Hands’ showcase everything I’m getting excited about. I don’t want to, but I keep thinking of comparing them to Arcade Fire meets Simon and Garfunkel, but in a good way.

Local Natives – Sun Hands

[See post to listen to audio]

Support for this outstanding, and apparently quite regular, Rockfeedback evening came from YourTwenties, a fresh and melodic pop band from Devon fronted by ex-Metronomy man Gabriel Stebbing. The very much deserve a praise worthy mention, especially for the much hyped track ‘Billionaire’

Your Twenties – Billionaire

[See post to listen to audio]

More after the jump…

And the obligatory 4:30 am video; sunrise was not a particularly welcome thing inside the club, though most of us did slacken the pace of dancing a little to have a look.

Get involved with the ETA scene, anyway; particularly strong tunes…the remix of Sister Nancy – Bam Bamat the start of the night blew my mind,

And Blackalicious’s Alphabet Aerobics getting dropped at approximately 6am could have been made for me…

You’ll also ge tthe chance to see international rugby stars consuming small mountains of controlled substances and, potentially, at least one of the Irregulars dancing like Suggs for 5 hours solid. Win!

The event is held in Shoreditch Park (head North from Old Street towards Essex Road junction with New North Road and you’ll see it on the right hand side before Gainsborough Studios/Gainsborough wanky flats).

Thanks to 1234shoreditch.com for the photo of their scenester-fest of 2007.

25th July is the date and with early bird tickets still worth a peck at £15 (including entry to 10 afterparties – obviously all running concurrently so not as ideal as it sounds) – so what you waiting for?

With the Horrors and Final Fantasy both at Field Day this year, I might be going for the East London high-jinx hattrick of Lovebox, Field Day and 1234.

Secondly, I have stumbled across something of a horrific nature. Horrific in the sense that it is created by some of the guys from The Horrors. Spider and The Flies is something for synth & sequencer heads. PS. If you think that Dizzie’s latest track is pushing new boundaries in synth, you really don’t get it.

Thanks to Moosleybay.com for the image, heroes.

Having watched a couple of documentaries on the Horrors recently (recommendation – Counting in Fives doc), it’s apparent that this music lark isn’t just a flash in the pan to some of these guys, not just a way of earning some coin and getting some ladies. So yeah, obviously check out the new Horrors album and check out Spider and the Flies whilst you’re there. You can catch the Horrors at Offset Festival and Field Day this year whilst the gig on the 17th June at the Troxy in Whitechapel will be mad.

Finally and probably most appropriately in view of the title, the guys who brought us the best video shop of our lives (Today is Boring – which unfortunately shut down but has been reincarnated (in a way) further up Kingsland Road in Dalston) are pulling together a flesh eating flash mob as they did in 2007 to maraud the streets of London this very Sunday. So what else are you going to do – if you’re hungover from Saturday night’s antics you’re half way to being dead anyway!? Check out their site for details and some shots of their last deadbeat debacle.

Image Courtesy of Digital Spy, nice one.

As a fan of The Small Faces, The Animals and other such epicentres of authentic British music you can understand (once you’ve listen to them of course) why I was pleasantly surprised by The Shoestrung. Drawn in by “I’d Love to See You Get Knocked Down” (which I assume isn’t an inference to Vehicular manslaughter and is shown below) which harks back to the era of said UK greats. However, there’s more here than a simple revivalist movement; “I Only Smoke to Burn A Hole In You” brings it down a notch which suggests their upcoming acoustic gig at the Queen Boudicea (5th May) could hold some surprises. Bleed Steam for Blood will get the crowd going but the stand-out track for me is “I’m Blind You See”.

Check out their myspace here.

My pick would be their gig at the Good Ship in Kilburn on 30th May due to the fact their gig at Proud on 29th June is likely to be full of an unbearably high hit-rate of cunts.

This will eventually be a permanent link somewhere on the site.

Best Bars & Clubs in North & East London

East London, not wanting to be outdone by it’s well-heeled neighbours, has come up with an alternative.

Thanks to the excellent Made In England blog for putting us on to the Oxford & Cambridge Goat Race and for the image above. The event which is in aid of the worthy cause of Spitalfields City Farm, needs no dressing up, it is a race between two goats, one named Oxford and one named Cambridge. My money is on Cambridge as my friend’s sister’s hairdresser is casually dating Oxford (he doesn’t believe in commitment) and apparently he’s partying like it’s 1945 this Saturday at The Blitz Party in the railway arches near Shoreditch High Street.

Image courtesy of Paul Stott’s blog (which we have now linked to on the sidebar).

The Hackney Post was set up recently by some post-grad Journalism students from City University and I quite like it. It has a slick design and ultimately bringing Hackney news and issues into the internet age.

I am currently in self-enforced exile from East London, as a consequence, I am going through a new wave of appreciation of all things East.

So congrats to all involved, we’ve hooked up a permanent link if you should ever feel inclined to get the latest in Hackney goings on.

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Casio Kids are Norwegian vikings of synthy minimalism. Their stand out track ‘Fot I Hose’ has a beat which will thrill you from now til summer – and annoy you by August. Enjoy it while it lasts. Video lulz indeed.

[See post to listen to audio]
Florence and the Machine – Kiss With a Fist
[See post to listen to audio]
Florence and the Machine – My Boy Builds Coffins (live)

Simply the shit. Nothing else needs to be said. Brit awards were right. She’s stunning, she’s red, she’s raving, she’s manic, she’s a maniac, she’s enchanting, she’s vocally gifted, she’s crazy – anti-folk never saw this coming. Even after accidentally seeing 3 of her shows over the last year, there are no signs of laurels being rested upon; the sound and experience just gets better. Totally mesmerizing, captivating and bewitching – catch her live now or regret it when your friends go before you.

Continuing the electro-folk vibes of plenty Moshi label mates, James Yuill blends the melancholy of his words and acoustic strumming with a musical recipe book borrowed from Tom Vek. It grows on you over time and the boy is unfortunate that he is, well, a boy, in a genre dominated by ladies like the above.

[See post to listen to audio]
James Yuill – No Suprise

So thank you Moshi Moshi, keep coming up strong. You can catch the labels latest and not-quite-yet-the greatest acts at regular live nights at the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen, lots of fun and generally awesome sounds for a recession busting fiver entry. We like.