It’s Christmas time and that of course means the annual Christmas party. This year as well as the work do we were invited to Radio 1’s Festive Festival at the legendary BBC Maida Vale studios, featuring some of 2009’s hottest stars and some of 2010’s rising luminaries – Marina and the Diamonds, Enter Shikari, Plan B, Simian Mobile Disco (pictured right), The xx, Mumford and Sons and Jamie T were all in attendance as Nick Grimshaw played out an extended version of his radio show.

Opening things up was Marina and the Diamonds, looking rather dapper complete with Christmassy shoulders (not strawberry’s as Grimshaw mistakenly thought). Opening with previous single ‘Mowgli’s Road’ she took a while to get the crowd warmed up, but come second song, the new single ‘Hollywood’, she was in full Florence Welch style arm flowing swing. All too soon she finished with ‘I am Not A Robot’, fragile vocals coming over perfectly. Of course I’ve been hyping Marina here for a while – now that I’ve finally got to catch her, she lives up to everything I thought.

I’ve never been an Enter Shikari fan, preferring to leave their 14 year old teen boy shout alongs to those that actually like them. However, in all honesty they were far better than expected – at times fragile vocals, at time proper stadium mosh pit sized anthems, Lostprophets mixed with Get Cape Wear Cape Fly’s social conscience – far better than I expected, truth be told.

Of course, with the whole show being broadcast live it was incredibly well prepared and things ran surprisingly smoothly – even Plan B’s pizzas turned up on time. It’s clear that the old days of “turning up and playing a record” are long gone – Grimshaw clearly puts a lot of love into each of his shows, and has a great team behind him.

The standout band for many people was Mumford and Sons (pictured left) – following on from being introduced by Greg James (in a very fetching Christmas sweater, giving a humorous intro on how much he loved the band, he’d left his family just for the session!), they provided the only proper dose of Christmas with their current single, ‘Winter Winds’, before also treating us to amazing versions of ‘Roll Away Your Stone’ and ‘The Cave’. To be honest, I finally see what everyone’s been raving about – energetic, humorous and some great modern day folk.

Cramming ourselves into the (tiny) vocal booth of Studio 4, we caught The xx treat us to ‘Islands’, ‘VCR’ and ‘Basic space’. Their album has been the top of everyone’s “best of 2009” lists, however, live they fall pretty flat, providing carbon copies of their album tracks. Maybe one to save for that Sunday night in and not a band to catch live.

Racing back to the main studio, Jamie T surprised us with a guest appearance, playing three tracks from his new album acoustically, which really showed off his song writing abilities – some great stories in his songs I need to go back and listen to again.

Finally, a bit of a surprise highlight for me – Simian Mobile Disco. I knew that live they were amazing, however didn’t expect that much from them from a 20 minute set, without their usual monster lighting setup. For one, I never realised just how hard it was for them to recreate their tracks live – disconnecting and reconnecting cables, switching switches, mixing faders – it was exhausting just watching them create their magic. The crowd loved them – as Grimshaw mentioned, if the weather continued snowing we might just have to have a lock in rave. Now that really would have been cool.

With that, I made a move out into the suddenly snow-swept capital to make my way home – It’s taken me a while to feel Christmassy, but a music festival is all that it took.

All pictures were taken by Nyree Riding. You can listen to the show again on the iPlayer until 11:02pm next Monday, 28th December 2009.

After the jump: more pictures.

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I have mixed feelings about the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hotel. It doesn’t have anything to do with the talent they book: I’ve seen several amazing shows there – Jack Penate / Miike Snow in September for example. The crowds usually aren’t as big or vocal (therefore the vibe’s not as great) as with other D.C. clubs, primarily because of the RnR’s location. It’s a pain to get to without a car and even if you can find a place to park, it’s the kind of place you’re worried to walk around by yourself late at night. But with the auspicious date of 12/12, Saturday night came round with a headlining gig by New York’s Phenomenal Handclap Band and I just had to be there. Before the PHB were two opening acts – unsigned Washington D.C. act Bop Beetle and two cousins from New York-by way of- Providence, Rhode Island, Javelin. I always have a soft spot for local acts that are thrust into temporary limelight as an opener for an out of town band, and I felt this for Bop Beetle. Javelin I’d seen before, as the opener for the Very Best in November at another small club, DC9.

Considering they’re unsigned and I’m thinking most people had never heard of them before, Bop Beetle has nerve to develop hand gestures to a song of theirs, ‘Permanent Premonition’. The singer (who alternated between his guitar and a complicated synth set-up) thanked two women in the center of the crowd who “brought it” and were doing the hand gestures along with him. Both duos must be given props for putting on entertaining sets despite the low number of people who showed up before it was the Phenomenal Handclap Band’s turn. Both acts were similar in that they relied on programming to make up for the lack of band members, and they both had a charming vocalist. But the percussion was different: in Bop Beetle’s case, the drummer was playing an actual drum kit, whereas Javelin’s “drummer” plays on an electric drum pad.

Of the two, I preferred Javelin, because the two of them are standing right in front of you with a table full of electronics and you’re wondering what music will come out of it all, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. And their song lyrics are a lot funnier. I mean, who writes a song about a house cat (‘Oh Centra’) or one that’s titled ‘Lindsay Brohan’? ‘Vibrationz’ was introduced as a song about the innocence of young love and “middle school U.S.A. You know what I’m talking about.’ Yeah, I actually do. They ended with ‘Soda Popinski’, a video game-flavoured tune. I’m hoping for big things for this band and their album that will hopefully be released in March 2010 on Thrill Jockey. (And for those of you who like DIY, Pitchfork wrote an article about them recently offering to personalise a 12″ album jacket for you and will post it back to you with their next single, ‘Number Two’ inside – details here. The deadline for them to receive the jackets is 18 January, so if you want to take part, get cracking. Now just how neat is that?)

23.30 – time for the Phenomenal Handclap Band. Now I’ve written about this band loads because I really dig them. I’ve seen them several times and oddly, only one of those times was outside Washington (in New York with Friendly Fires). (I guess they must like us an awful lot!) A respectable crowd had finally assembled for the band’s last date in America this year, and the band arrived onstage to loud applause. ‘The Martyr’, with its Led Zeppelin-esque guitar work and Daniel Collás’s falsetto, was fabulous live, as was ‘Testimony’, with Joan Tick’s searing vocals. Even though we were in the middle of a D.C. winter, ‘15 to 20′, with its skipping rope-style rhymes, brought out the optimism and sunshine of summertime. The band’s encore, ‘Baby’, sung by the mysteriously/humourously named Bing Ji Ling (whose name means ‘ice cream’ in Chinese…er…huh?), is going to be their next single. The song’s lyrics of “baby / I could rule the world / with a beautiful girl / like you on my arm” is actually pretty spot on what I predict is going to happen with this band. If their star keeps rising, they could very well be ruling the world, the beautiful people in tow, this time next year. Watch this space.

After the jump: set list and photos.

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What’s up with all the gigs I’ve been attending lately? They’re all selling out! Obviously, this is wonderful for the acts themselves, especially for those from the UK or Europe who have traveled to play venues here in America and wondered how they’d be received. But the average punter like me ends up feeling claustrophobic, and the whole experience is a little too intimate for my liking. (If you get my drift!) All this was repeated last night for Fanfarlo’s set at tiny Iota, a venue/cafe combo in Arlington, Virginia, just across the river from Washington D.C.

The opening act was Brooklyn-based Freelance Whales, who I’m very sorry to say I missed because 1) the traffic into Arlington and trying to find parking were both ridiculous, 2) the door policy was confusing so I got into the sold-out venue late, and 3) I was interviewing Cathy Lucas and Amos Memon of Fanfarlo next to canned tomatoes and olives in the basement of Iota during their set (interview coming soon on TGTF). But the London-based folk/pop band’s performance was sweeter than sugar.

The first song they played was ‘Drowning Men’, with just three of their six members – Simon Balthazar (lead vocals / guitar), Lucas (backing vocals / mandolin / violin / and a bunch others), and Memon (drums). I decided this was a nice, smooth introduction to the throng who was made up of people who had read about this gig in the Washington Post and had never heard a lick of Fanfarlo prior to this night. Next, with all of their members, was ‘I’m a Pilot’, the opening track on their debut album ‘Reservoir’ and my absolute favourite of the 11 tracks on it, came in sounding just as it does when you push play on the album, with the stomping, scraping, and piano chords. But the majesty of the song live can’t be compared to the recording. Simon Balthazar and Cathy Lucas’s perfectly harmonising vocals have to be heard live to be believed, especially in the chorus of ‘but kid I’m a pilot / it’s all I believe in‘. Sigh.

What a nice early Christmas present we received: they played us two new songs, ‘Atlas’ and ‘Waiting in the Wings’, which both had the Fanfarlo magic we know and love. On the latter, Balthazar swapped his acoustic guitar for an electric, making the song a bit more rockier than we’re used to on Fanfarlo tracks. ‘Luna’ was another highlight of the set, with Balthazar ditching the guitar altogether for a single drum and later his clarinet on which he serenaded the club with. Simply brilliant.

There isn’t much space to hide in Iota (it’s really that small), so after ‘Luna’ the band tried to disappear into a corner of the club and looked like they were discussing whether to return for an encore. To our happiness, they bounded back on stage to play one final number that which Balthazar prefaced with some jokey banter about there possibly being ghosts in the place. His winsome smile before his band launched into ‘Ghosts’ was quite appropriate for the night: everyone who had been packed into the small Iota venue space left with grins on their faces and the knowledge that they had been treated to something really special in Arlington that night. I have good news for you Brits: they are set to tour early next year with Mumford and Sons. Talk about a dream line-up.

After the jump: set list and photos. Apologies in advance for the darkness of the photos; the venue asked that no flash be used, so I followed their rules. After the gig, Simon expressed his appreciation for not blinding him and his band and was happy to pose for this photo for us. Thanks Simon!

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Habits are hard to break. This particular habit of mine isn’t especially dangerous (I’m not including getting stepped on by drunks in Brooklyn) or detrimental (unless you count lack of sleep). This year, my worst habit of all has been looking longingly and futilely at Friendly Fires’s tour dates and scheming ways to get to their gigs. Most of the time, an event is ridiculously expensive to get to that it’s worthless to even consider trying to go. (Two examples: Splendour in the Grass in Australia and Calvi on the Rocks, anyone?) Why all the scheming? The band has not returned to D.C. since they played here in March with White Lies on the NME Presents Tour, so if I’ve wanted to see them, I’ve had to travel. This time I went for the Nylon Magazine Winter Music Tour stop in Boston, Massachusetts – over 300 miles northeast of Washington. The Fires played a sold-out show there at the Paradise Rock Club with fellow Beggars Group act the xx.

I was lucky that night for a couple different reasons. One, I actually had a ticket in hand, unlike one of my good friends and many other people we met who arrived at the club early trying to find someone who had an extra or two to sell. I’m not sure how many people actually got in this way. Two, Boston was experiencing unseasonably mild weather (although the corduroy jacket I’d chosen to wear that night was still ill-advised, as when I stood outside of the club for a short time before the bar to the club opened, I thought my arms might freeze off). Three, I had seen the xx earlier at their in-store at Newbury Comics, and it sounded like some people at the gig were unaware that there had even been an in-store. Once inside, most people I talked to were most excited to bop along to Friendly Fires but they were interested in seeing the xx because the xx had never played in Boston before. I filled some people in on them, so I think I helped garner some additional excitement for the xx’s set.

The xx - Romy Madley-Croft on vocals and guitar, Oliver Sim on vocals and bass, and Jamie Smith on percussion and programming – came out from under the cover of darkness. A minimal show of coloured lights brightened the stage slightly during their set but kept things dramatic for the xx’s brand of dream pop. I’ve seen this band four times now (if you count the earlier in-store), and I have yet to be disappointed in their performance. The beauty of the vocals and guitar work of Madley-Croft and Sim have to be heard live to be believed. With its steamy lyrics and melodramatic percussion, ‘Infinity’ is my current favourite. If you don’t feel the desire within the song and it doesn’t start oozing out of your pores, you must not have a pulse. Since this was an opening slot, they only played eight songs. But they already have another North American jaunt scheduled for next year.

And then there were Friendly Fires. It seemed incomprehensible to me that I had seen them perform less than 4 months ago in New York; surely more time had passed than that? When Nylon Magazine announced back in July that Friendly Fires had been chosen to headline their first-ever Winter Music Tour to set the winter on fire, they weren’t kidding. For sure, this style of music is great year round but even more so in winter, when everyone’s suffering from seasonal affective disorder and wondering when the sun will shine again. That night at the Paradise, multicoloured lights shimmered brightly from the stage as Friendly Fires played hosts to a lively dance party.

A personal favourite, ‘Lovesick’, with its wicked bass lines from touring bassist Rob Lee and Jack Savidge’s pounding backbeats, got the party started. Singer Ed Macfarlane shimmied like a man possessed on ‘In the Hospital’, the audience cheering him on with gusto. Edd Gibson ran around the stage with his guitar, eager to give every section of the venue some of his precious attention. I admired the way the band powered through the high-octane ‘On Board’. (Incidentally, the song will be available on an extremely limited edition 12″ at specialist record shops and at their dance party at London’s Coronet on Friday.) The band’s energetic routine lasted all the way through ‘Paris’ and ‘Ex Lover’, the band’s last two songs and the ones that received the most applause. But then it was over. Now we wait – rather impatiently I might add – for album #2!

After the jump: set lists and photos.

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So I confess…yes, I travelled to Boston, Massachusetts (a good 300+ miles northeast of Washington) last week to see the xx and Friendly Fires (gig review coming soon). What made this trip even better: an in-store performance by the xx at Newbury Comics, part of a New England chain of stores that sell yup, you guessed it, comics, but also CDs, DVDs, and other alternative pop culture merchandise.

You don’t understand. D.C. never has in-stores. Unless you count book signings like the time Dan Brown showed up at some chichi bookstore in Georgetown to sign copies of the Da Vinci Code, these things just don’t happen in my neck of the woods. So when one of my good friends forwarded me information for the in-store starring the xx, I knew I had to be there. For one, I was positive it would be an intimate performance. (I just never would have guessed just how ‘intimate’ it would turn out to be.) And two, it was a performance just a couple hours before the band played as the opener at the Paradise Rock Club near Boston University.

Thanks to an equipment arrival delay, we were forced to wait outside for what seemed like forever in the cold Boston night. It took almost an hour after the original starting time for us to be let into the store. (Rather stupidly, I’d dressed in a thin corduroy jacket, thinking fashion over function. Never again!) Rather appropriately, the friends I had made while standing in the queue and I ended up standing right next to the Doctor Who and Harry Potter dolls and we spent the intervening time before the band came out to discuss the relative merits of the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors. It was somewhat uncomfortable being crammed into this tiny store, but I had a feeling all the discomfort in the world would be all worth it.

Unfortunately, my view for most of the in-store was obstructed for most of the performance because of several tall blokes in front of me, as well as a rather annoying girl who stood up on a staff ladder without any regard for the people behind her. I thought all hope was lost in trying to describe the magic that was created in that store last Friday night until I happened upon this video. Someone in the front managed to film ‘Nighttime’ and most of ‘Infinity’, the last two songs of the set. Humourously, ‘Taylor Lautner’ appears to be part of the band, hanging out behind Romy Madley-Croft. (If you were wondering, ‘Robert Pattinson’ was to the right of Oliver Sim.) Check it out and enjoy.

Set list
Intro
VCR
Basic Space
Islands
Crystalised
Nighttime
Infinity

Hot up and comers Little Comets have announced a string of tour dates starting next Thursday.

Thursday 3rd December 2009 – Kingston Slang
Saturday 5th December 2009 – Loughborough University (w/ Reverend & Makers)
Tuesday 8th December 2009 – Reading Oakford Social
Wednesday 9th December 2009 – Oxford Bullingdon Arms
Friday 11th December 2009 – Barnstaple Square
Tuesday 15th December 2009 – Hull Adelphi
Wednesday 16th December 2009 – Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire
Thursday 17th December 2009 – Sheffield Boardwalk
Friday 18th December 2009 – Cambridge Junction

The lineup for the 2009 XFM Winter Wonderland in London has been announced.

Razorlight, The Temper Trap, The Big Pink, Bombay Bicycle Club, Local Natives (pictured right), Goldhawks and Cassidy will all play the gig, taking place at the O2 Academy in Brixton on Wednesday 16 December 2009 – just over a month away. With that many bands I doubt there will be much of the usual “standing around looking bored”, which is what we like to see.

Don’t be at all surprised if there are some top-secret “special guests” as well… we might well be wrong, but it’s always possible…

Many of the live sets will be broadcast on XFM.

Tickets are available to purchase for just £25 from the Xfm Xchange 084547 83936 or at See Tickets

Meanwhile the Manchester leg of the Christmas shows has sold out, featuring Delphic, Frank Turner, The Cribs and Echo & The Bunnymen.

Touring in celebration of finishing their debut album which will be released next year, Detroit Social Club have announced a series of dates in mid December.

Tickets to see the Newcastle six-piece are on sale now.

Thursday 10th December 2009 – High Wycombe Bucks University Student Union
Friday 11th December 2009 – Birmingham The Rainbow
Thursday 17th December 2009 – Newcastle World Headquarters
Friday 18th December 2009 – Stockton Ku Bar
Saturday 19th December 2009 – Manchester The Ruby Lounge

The Strokes’ frontman, Julian Casablancas has announced a foursome of UK and Ireland shows for mid December.

Tickets are on sale now for the four shows:

Friday 11th December 2009 – Manchester Ritz
Saturday 12th December 2009 – Glasgow ABC
Monday 14th December 2009 – Dublin Academy
Wednesday 16th December 2009 – London Forum

Following on from their September/October tour of the UK, Bombay Bicycle Club from North London have announced six more tour dates across the UK for December.

Thursday 10th December 2009 – Liverpool O2 Academy 2
Friday 11th December 2009 - Birmingham O2 Academy 2
Sunday 13th December 2009 – Newcastle O2 Academy 2
Monday 14th December 2009 – Glasgow Oran Mor
Thursday 17th December 2009 – Bristol O2 Academy 2
Friday 18th December 2009 – London KOKO