Last night's gig was

Ducks Ltd - Sneaky Pete’s

6 months delayed from the mini scottish gig lockdown at the start of the year (which feels like a million years ago now). Very fun gig - just non stop jangly indie gems with some nicely observed lyrics thrown in. Vocals were a bit rawer than on record, but no worse for it - and they clearly seemed happy to be there and a bit baffled to have been caught up in Queen-gate. Got a bonus fuck the monarchy cheer from the crowd too.

Already had the album so got the EP and had the boys sign it. Grabbed the clear version instead of the forest green one. but think I’ll survive that minor annoyance

Support from the local sixpeace (aptly named) - very solid Martha-esque teen punk-pop, with some great dual girl-boy vocals

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Late to the party but this was so good eh? Think I’m still hungover now mind (I think I bought the band all a pint downstairs after… but I’m sketchy!)

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DakhaBrakha - London Magazine, Greenwich

They were playing at some random Turning Tides free music festival. I got worried that it would be cancelled, and the festival did post a message saying that they had considered doing so, but decided not to because of the international bands coming over. So they moved it to an indoor location due to “respect to our local neighbours”. I was happy with that!

I first/last saw them at the Barbican in January, just before the war started. They were obviously even more vocal against Putin and the war in their country. It seems like they’ve been pretty much constantly touring Europe and America since then, donating earnings from their gigs and merchandise to help back home. Definitely didn’t mind spending a bit extra (£30 each) for each t-shirt afterwards.

They were absolutely great again, and it was good to be able to dance along to their songs this time. If Bristol wasn’t such a faff to get to and back from on a Sunday then I might have thought about seeing them again tonight.



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Noticed this place when I was in Falmouth - there wasn’t anything on during my trip but I’ve been noticing more and more bands playing there. Really nice to see!

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Last night I had tickets to a sold out Osees & Automatic show (21+, second night was all ages) and we didn’t go because we’re still not comfortable going to crowded places and also we’re not used to going out that much and we just weren’t up for it.

DakhaBrakha - SWX, Bristol

I saw DakhaBrakha open for Океан Ельзи’s Independence Day show at NSC Olimpiyskiy in Kyiv four years ago. Back then, they didn’t quite have the same profile in Ukraine as they had somehow managed abroad, but they were clearly more than comfortable playing to a very big crowd. Independence Days were cherished with the knowledge of what had happened with Maidan, the occupied territories, the nearly occupied territories, and the general few hundred years of being colonised from all sides. They mean a hell of a lot more now.

Anyway, last night’s gig starts with Jakabol, a Bristol-based instrumental five-piece featuring violin and harp. They are a mixture of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tool and Krobak, and are super tight. Violinist taking solos with a wah pedal. Very pleasant surprise, and very much looking forward to hearing their record, which should be out in a few weeks.

Industrial-hurdy-gurdy-and-beats duo tAngerinecAt are on next. The first song of the night has technical problems where the sound cuts entirely a few times. An older man standing next to me openly heckles them between songs and a young woman behind him openly tells him to keep his disrespect in check. Tracks from Glass translate really well live. Was glad to meet the band pre and post-show; they’re lovely people and they’re doing something that deserves a lot of attention.

DakhaBrakha come on stage to set their instruments up before they’re in their stage clothing and it threw me a bit. They came back onstage post-dress up to a yellow and blue image of No War, Stop Putin. From the off, they are magnificent and the audience receives them rapturously throughout. Marko introduces the band “from free Ukraine” and the response is the loudest thing all night. First half of the set is fairly similar to what I saw four years ago in terms of order, and there’s quite a lot of slow jams, but there’s still a lot of energy and passion at every tempo.

Can’t remember what they played that was to a backdrop of Reuters footage of Mariupol, because I am still going to be fucked up whenever I see what the bastards did to that city and it wiped my mind for the entirety it was on screen.

(A thought - a year ago, the idea of a Ukrainian band coming on stage with footage from the war in Donetsk and Luhansk and asking to donate to help arm Ukraine through charities, or their T-shirt and CD sales, would have pushed a lot of people away. I can imagine a lot of people coming to DakhaBrakha from the hardcore WOMAD or Glastonbury hippy-style crowds and being averse to the idea that maybe some of the money spent at the merch table might end up going to bulletproof vests and army medical kits…and more besides. A year is a very long time indeed.)

Gig would have been incredible on its own outside of the events of recent history. Bittersweet, but brilliant.

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They didn’t have their backdrop at my gig, possibly due to it being a last minute change of venue and not being setup. The previous backdrops they had in January were obviously before this war. It must have been pretty hard-hitting with any recent footage they would have used this time.

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They had a lot of new, very ominous visuals specially made for a few songs, along with news footage from this year and other things I saw in Kyiv. Whoever was doing stage lighting was doing a 7/10 job, which sometimes hindered things.

Rafael Anton Irisarri – OTO, London

If you’re a drone/dark ambient fan then you probably know who this guy is. This was 50 minutes of the absolute best he does, culminating in a massive, body-shaking, reverberating performance of Empire Systems that was such a physically intense experience I almost thought I was going to scream. Followed by an incredibly delicate 10-minute piece with a guest pianist (not sure who it was, the introduction was drowned out by applause) that was an absolutely perfect and moving coda. Incredible.

Here is an exciting picture of Raf fiddling with the dials on the mixing desk in almost complete darkness.

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Second everything you’ve said, and this was the pianist… https://twitter.com/James_H_Ninja/status/1569452900233154562?s=20&t=AbQzawjPmr8nTulHFolwtg

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Ah, fab. Didn’t realise it was all improvised – fantastic!

Forgot to post this last week. Down in London, was supposed to see Arcade Fire but binned it off and caught up with a pal instead. Did manage to see Lael Neale at St Pancras Old Church on Wednesday though

Good gig, although I was a little out of it for various reasons so mostly sat on the floor and spaced out. She played a few new tracks which had a nice psych-tinge to them (more Velvet Underground than Tame Impala). Gf is a big fan so spoke to her after the show and she seemed lovely.

Only weird thing was when she mentioned Bath some guy thought it was appropriate to correct her pronounciation by saying ‘It’s Bawth, babe’. It was so condensending that the fact the entire audience didn’t boo him almost ruined the show.

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Did you catch any of the support Rachika Nayar? I was tempted for last night but timings didn’t work out work-wise.

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Yeah, I thought she was great! Simple but effective visuals and a nice clubby undertone to much of it; thought she was really well chosen as a support.

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Sounds like a great double bill.

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Technically tonight but…

Jasmine Myra @ The Crescent, York


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Thank you so much to whoever in the new releases thread at the time reminded me that this album was out.

Her debut record came out in the midst of my dad being in hospital all while preparing for a move 200+ miles away from home for my first proper contracted, permanent job having only just moved back home down south from the East Midlands. I was (and still am) all over the place and while I wasn’t listening to too much new music, I turned to this album for 45 minutes of respite from everything else going on in my life.

All of it came flooding back tonight - it hit me halfway through and the tears of joy never stopped. Tonight was a soul-cleansing experience. I’m tearing up typing this now while still in the venue. One of the new tracks had such depth and weight in its beauty that it blew me away.

Also the support Awen Ensemble we’re phenomenal. They reminded me of a jazz-leaning, female fronted version of Black Country, New Road at times.

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Katy J Pearson at Olby’s in Margate


Had a great time. The new album comes across really well live.


Support was Naima Bock, so a bit of a bigger name than your average small indie gig support act. She went down really well. She played a ‘solo’ set with just her and a fiddle player rather than a full band. She is playing Margate again in a few weeks as a headliner.

Sound was great which is pretty much the norm for gigs put on in this part of the world. Art’s Cool, who promoted the show, do a great job, as do Ramsgate Music Hall down the road. Only downer was the loud chatters at the back near the bar but it only really mattered in the quieter tracks like ‘Sound of the Morning’.

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Katy J Pearson at The Electric Ballroom

I’m not the biggest fan despite it being the third time I’ve seen her this year. The new album was ok. Saw her at Rough Trade East during its release in July I think and thought she was a better live act than she is on record.

Tonight was the same. She has an impressive voice and the band again got a better sound live than they did on record for me. Her band are pretty good too.

(Edit) Her voice was strong enough for the enjoyable cover of B-52s’ Roam that she did tonight. Maybe she did the cover as B-52’s Kate Pierson and her name sound very similar. Decent gig.

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Your photos are much better than mine.

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Oh dear, my hair is really thinning at the back…

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