Laura Marling at Westminster Central Hall

On Wednesday night I went to see Laura Marling at Westminster Central Hall.

I had seen Marling very briefly once before when she performed a song with her pals The Pins at The Hawley Arms earlier in the year/last year (can't really remember) and was looking forward to it, though not blown away by her new album "A Creature I Don't Know"

There was no beer -4 points and no support act -2 points, so straight into Marling. 

The venue was pretty unusual and good, as we were told by LM, it was the only venue not a cathedral on the tour, but still really nice. +7 points.

"Ghosts" went down very well with the crowd. One geeky looking lady started getting really into the gig and headbanging, which made me laugh quite a lot +10 points.

Marling was endearing in between songs, blushing the same colour as her jumper at the applause as she joked after "Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)". I didn't like her jumper though -1 point.

She also got her band involved, with each member revealing a fact about the venue (mostly researched on Wikipedia by the sounds of it). It was entertaining and I noticed that one of the band members was quite attractive. +2 points.

The headbanging continued and was accompanied by some swaying which got a bit annoying as I had to move about a bit too in order to see (I'm pretty short) -6 points. It also got really hot -9 points. I then chuckled when I realised that in fact it wasn't a woman headbanger but actually quite an effeminate man. +1 point.

I was enjoying the gig but I was starting to feel that some of the songs were a bit samey. Luckily Marling turned it around with some whistling. First it was regular whistling, then through the teeth. An underrated talent +7 points.

Before we knew it the gig was coming to an end, with Marling explaining that they don't do encores and they are starting a an anti-encores movement. She teased "If you don't like encores, then this is the penultimate song. If you do, then this is the last song".

Overall I thought it was a nicely thought out gig in an unusual venue, bit dull in parts but Marling is a very talented lady with a lovely voice. She also has a cool first name.

A-

DJ Yoda + Curb Your Enthusiasm

You can't go wrong with this combo:

Rediscovering Black Cab Sessions

Haven't perused this site in a while but noticed a new video posted by Eat Your Own Ears on the ol' Twitter of Zulu Winter.

Billed as "Presenting the best bands in the most iconic vehicle in the world", there are some corkers here, especially loving Lykke Li "I'm good, I'm gone"



Enjoy.

Duck Sauce 'Big Bad Wolf' video

Wow this video is immense - funny, disturbing, I'm pretty taken aback. Watch it. Nice tune too.

Duck Sauce 'Big Bad Wolf' from Somesuch & Co. on Vimeo.

Silly but cute

You've gotta have cats on a blog right?

Saved by the Bell + Kanye West

http://kanyedbythebell.tumblr.com via @derekboateng

Miles Kane at Electric Ballroom

Tonight I went to see Miles Kane at the Electric Ballroom in Camden.

My experiences of the Electric Ballroom to date have been a grimy night out 5 years ago and a Man Like Me gig, neither leaving me with fond memories.

I wasn't over familiar with Miles' work but had read a few good reviews of his recent album and following some last minute Spotify research I was quite looking forward to it.

We arrived to no entry queue and went to get a can of Red Stripe. Longish bar queue -9 points. We missed the support band Folks unfortunately (heard they are good, maybe I'll go see them at The Lexington soon) and went to settle in the crowd.

We thought we had a good spot but then unfortunately a man with a bad ponytail stood in front of us. -5 points.

Miles came on stage and we could see through a gap next to ponytail man. His stage presence was great (Miles, not ponytail man) and the lighting really added to the atmosphere +10 points. Sound was also good and could only occasionally hear some of the crowd's sub par singalongs. +4 points.

Overall the crowd were decent, only a few cups splashing drops of beer were thrown -2 points and not many giants at all +8 points. There was one quite fat man with dodgy hair who was a bit over enthusiastic with his girlfriend but we moved away quickly -0.75 points.

I was impressed with Miles' performance - he had great energy, interacted with the crowd and seemed genuinely pleased to be there, exclaiming "I know it's a Tuesday night, but let's blow this fucking roof off!" Ending with "Come Closer" then an encore of "Inhaler" the atmosphere was happy and left us liking Miles. +22 points.

Overall the gig was better than anticipated and Miles can't help it if some of his fans have bad hair.

B+

Slightly blurry, semi-artistic I reckon