Ghostfaceless

At the tail-end of last week, I was due to interview one of The Wu Tang Clan’s most eloquent, passionate and natural vocalists, Ghostface Killah. He, along with his accompanying Theodore Unit troupe, was to appear at the Scala in Kings Cross. Because of the reported nature of the hip-hop interview, I expected some degree [...]

Dananananaykroyd – Hoxton Square Bar & Grill, 2/4/09

With their debut album receiving hype aplenty and most reviews being mondo-glowing thus far (including PM’s, look), Dananananaykroyd seem to be in high spirits. That they’ve been on tour forever, are physically wasting away and ill is of no consequence to their love of the live show. It’s everyone together, squashing tightened pop through the [...]

Drever, McCusker, Woomble – London Union Chapel 13/2/09

Kris Drever, John McCusker & Roddy Woomble – London Union Chapel 13/2/09
 
An admirable focus on the whole prevails this evening. It would have been easy just to have played this Scottish trio’s recent Beyond The Ruin LP in full and have everyone go home happy, but they insist, worthily, on challenging their audience as much [...]

Asobi Seksu – London ICA 19/2/09

 
With their beautiful third LP, Hush, released just days before this show, Asobi Seksu have every reason to be confident. They excel tonight, delicately pacing the set and balancing it with spectral, detailed renditions of new material and thunderous assertion of older tunes. Of course, now that their sound has shifted from the pop glee [...]

Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern – Rough Trade In-store 26/1/09

At the risk of turning PM into a Hayman-only devotion zone fixed with Hefner curtains and pictures of his dogs everywhere while we mark homework that doesn’t exist for children that may or may not have crushes on us in the glow of Teen Wolf coming from the TV, here are some pictures of last [...]

Martha & The Vandellas – London Bloomsbury Ballroom 20/12/08

There’s always a danger with elder acts that any attempts to embrace modernity will come off as a desperate grasp for relevance, and any attempts to simply stick, steadfast, to what they know best will be interpreted as aligning oneself with dying breeds. Think of Tom Jones collaborating with Wyclef Jean. Think of Cliff Richard [...]

James Yorkston/Malcolm Middleton – London St Giles In The Fields Church 11/12/08

Gigs in churches are just ace. No one talks, no one wanders around and gets in the way, everyone’s seated, not drunk and the artists are more likely to play at their best ‘cos of all the upturned faces at their feet. Malcolm Middleton seems very nervous about the whole affair, though, even though it’s [...]

Joel Press in Krakow

As regular readers might be aware, PM was on holiday in Krakow last week. One evening when we weren’t sampling the honeyed vodka, underground salt mines and a weird quivering old woman outside a local supermarket (we didn’t sample her, just sort of saw her…), we found ourselves in one of the city’s numerous live [...]

Asobi Seksu – Shepherds Bush Empire 21/11/08

In a support role for Ladytron, Asobi Seksu showed that, still, they have incredible power. It’s easy to forget that they are a potent live act, what with their seeming inability to settle on a distinct line-up, but they show in abundance this evening why they really should be considered so. With their amps and [...]

Dark Captain Light Captain – London 100 Club 12/11/08

Dark Captain Light Captain – London 100 Club 12/11/08
 
Touring their extremely good and many-layered debut LP Miracle Kicker, Dark Captain Light Captain appear to have grown not only in number (from two to six) but also in dynamic range. Their sound was once almost tiny – not in anyway wimpish – and certainly not as [...]