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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Simian Mobile Disco – Cruel Intentions (featuring Beth Ditto)

One of the strongest tracks from Simian Mobile Disco’s latest album, Temporary Pleasure, this track features the mighty lungs of Beth Ditto and a suitably bizarre video to accompny it.

Every year NME takes over London’s best gig venues to put on some of the best names in the world, live. The month of gigs, which takes place every February in the run up to the awards ceremony itself – to be held this year on February 24 at the O2 Academy Brixton. These are just the first names announced – normally the gigs fill the 28 days of February, often with multiple clashes around different venues.

Tickets for these shows go on sale at 9am tomorrow morning (27th February). We’ll add to this list as we hear of more gigs.

Tuesday 2nd February 2010 – Miike Snow at London Scala
Wednesday 3rd February 2010 – Hadouken! at London Scala
Saturday 20th February 2010 – Simian Mobile Disco at London matter (pictured top)
Monday 22nd February 2010 – New Young Pony Club at London Islington Academy
Tuesday 23rd February 2010 – Yeasayer at London Heaven
Tuesday 23rd February 2010 – Girls at London Scala

Any dance song with lyrics as ace as “I got that grape Kool-Aid filled swimming pool / I got those Roomba robots that clean the floor / I got that mother of pearl oyster fork for sure” paired with thumping backbeats gets an A in my book. And the Naum Gabo remix of Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘Audacity of Huge’ – nearly twice the length of the original – is sure to get you pumped up. I’m ready to run to the dance floor just thinking about it! Have a listen to see if you agree.

MP3: Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity of Huge (Naum Gabo Remix)

From their huge anthems of 2007, Simian Mobile Disco have come on a long way from “Attack Decay Sustain Release”. Their forthcoming release, “Temporary pleasure” offers plenty of pleasure, though it is far from temporary I hope.

Their debut was a fun, funky and just about guaranteed to have you dancing like a loon ‘till the wee hours. Tongue in cheek, it was the soundtrack to my summer two years ago, and still sounds immense.

With this new collection of tracks, SMD have moved towards a selection of more radio friendly tunes, such as “Cruel intentions” (featuring Beth Ditto of Gossip fame) and current single “Audacity of Huge”.They also manage to retain the huge club fillers such as “1000 horses Can’t be Wrong” and “Synthesise”. Closing the album out with “Pinball”, it’s much more of a track to play at home on your own instead of being the track of a night out – a bit more creative, multi layered and artistic than the simple crowd pleasers of old.

So, what have they lost? Well, not much – they’ve just got their sound down to a T. Sure, it’s grown up – we don’t have any “Tits and Acid” on this one – but it was inevitable that they’d want to prove they’re not a one trick pony. It’s almost as if they’ve left their teenage years behind and are settling into their 20s with music that they enjoy making instead of music that the masses will love. And I think it’s all the better for it – a more complex, exciting sound.

Simian Mobile Disco – Audacity of Huge video

It’s hot outside. Summer’s truly here. So what more could you want than Simian Mobile Disco’s Audacity of Huge, quite honestly one of my favourite tracks of the moment, and the video is a great multi-colour explosion of goodness.

Watch, enjoy and then go enjoy the sun.

http://www.vimeo.com/5245067

Those crazy kids that made techno cool again, Simian Mobile Disco, have announced a string of tour dates for September and October around the UK.

Tickets go on sale on Friday (29th May) at 9am.

Thursday 24th September 2009 – Cardiff, Solus (£12.50)
Friday 25th September 2009 – Sheffield Plug (£12.50)
Saturday 26th September 2009 – Leeds, Stylus (£16.50)
Wednesday 30th September 2009 – Brighton Concorde 2 (£12.50)
Friday 2nd October 2009 – London HMV Forum (£14)
Saturday 3rd October 2009 – Manchester, The Warehouse Project (£17.50)
Tuesday 6th October 2009 – Oxford, O2 Academy (£12.50)
Wednesday 7th October 2009 -Newcastle, Digital (£12.50)
Thursday 8th October 2009 – Glasgow, ABC (£12.50)
Friday 9th October 2009 – Nottingham, Stealth & Rescue Rooms (£12.50)
Saturday 10th October 2009 – Birmingham, The Institute (£16.50)

Last week, There Goes The Fear gave you the low-down on all upcoming summer festivals, one of which was Lovebox. The eclectic festival – which takes place over Saturday July 18th to Sunday July 19th in Victoria Park, London – has just confirmed this year’s super headliners.

80’s legends, Duran Duran, will be the main act taking to the stage on Saturday night, while Groove Armada (the band who actually founded Lovebox) will be claiming the top slot Sunday evening. Duran Duran will see support coming from Pharrell William’s rock-rap troupe, N.E.R.D – while other hotly tipped talent gracing Saturday’s bill include TGTF-favourites, Florence and the Machine, Friendly Fires and Fat Freddy’s Drop. Furthermore – Simian Mobile Disco and the awesome Ladyhawke are just two of the acts that will be rubbing shoulders with Groove Armada on the Sunday.

DJ’s and electro acts, such as Horse Meat Disco and Secretsundaze, will be setting aboard the Container Arcadia to bring Lovebox revellers awesome dance sets. Meanwhile, The Gaymers Stage – a mystical tree house that provides a stunning bird’s eyes view of the festival site – will be showcasing live acts in a more intimate setting.

Need some pampering amidst all the partying? No problem! Just head over to Heavenly Healing – a tented village set amongst the Lovebox site providing massage and other complimentary therapies for those looking for a bit of ‘me-time’. Had enough of the music? Then have a stroll around thelondonpaper Sourced Market – the largest farmers market to be visiting any festival this year! And if that’s not enough, why not check out the “entire field of family-friendly stage shows, sideshows and freak shows – all inspired, programmed and produced by some of London’s most thrilling theatre and production outfits.” – to quote the terribly exciting press release!

Music! Theatre! Farmers! What more do you need! Grab a ticket for The Lovebox Weekender now!

Tickets cost £42.50 + Booking Fee per day ticket. amd £75.00 + BF per weekend ticket. Top Photo was taken from garretkeogh’s flickr stream under the Creative Commons License.

To find tickets, we suggest you try using Needtickets Festival search. Needtickets.com offers you the most comprehensive ticket service in the UK. With one click you can search every nationwide online ticket agent and as a result you can find tickets for any live music event that can be booked online. Every ticket is 100% guaranteed as Needtickets.com only offers links to official agents.

We love Simian Mobile Disco. Sure, they may be fairly mainstream as dance / DJ artists go, however it’s great listening to keep you awake driving late at night.

They’ve just released a brand new video to go with new single Sythesise, featuring some crazy visuals. It’s amazing, just like their Justice Vs Simian video was.

Apparently I should warn you it has lots of flashing images, so if you’re the type to have seizures, probably a good idea to not press play.

The sensational Shockwaves NME Awards shows have been announced for next January and February to start off a 2009 in great style. The likes of Franz Ferdinand, The Wombats and Simian Mobile Disco are among this year’s great gigs, with more to be announced shortly.

Franz Ferdinand’s frontman Alex Kapranos said of their opening night honour: “We’re going to play the gig to celebrate ‘Ulysess’ coming out and Heaven is the best place to go and celebrate. The new songs are the type that should be heard in clubs so we liked the idea of playing a show in one. We want people close to us who are dancing and sweating, that’s the vibe that we want. We definitely don’t want polite theatre shows for this record- we want some excitement!”

Tickets are available exclusively at NME from 9am on Wednesday, 26th November and then go on general sale on Monday 1st December.

UPDATE: More gigs added today (2nd December 2008) – full details below.

Catch the full details of the gigs below:

Tuesday 20th January 2009 – Franz Ferdinand @ London Heaven
Sunday 8th February 2009 – The Gaslight Anthems, Frank Turner and The Polar Bear Club @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Monday 9th February 2009 – Howling Bells @ London Islington Academy
Tuesday 10th February 2009 – The View @ London Koko
Wednesday 11th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ London Koko
Thursday 12th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ Manchester Club Academy
Thursday 12th February 2009 – Simian Mobile Disco and Chrome Hoof @ London Koko
Friday 13th February 2009 – Ida Maria @ Glasgow Garage
Friday 13th February 2009 – Mystery Jets and Little Boots @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Sunday 15th February 2009 – Black Lips and Vivian Girls @ London Islington Academy
Monday 16th February 2009 – Secret Machines @ London Islington Academy
Tuesday 17th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ London Islington Academy
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Black Kids, Boy Crisis, Passion Pit @ London Koko
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Tricky @ Manchester Club Academy
Wednesday 18th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ Manchester Academy 3
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Tricky @ Glasgow Arches
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Iglu and Hartley @ Glasgow QMU
Thursday 19th February 2009 – Roots Manuva @ London Koko
Friday 20th February 2009 – Tricky @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Monday 23rd February 2009 – Wombats @ London Shepherds Bush Empire
Tuesday 24th February 2009 – Metronomy @ London Koko
Tuesday 24th February 2009 – Wombats @ Manchester Academy
Thursday 26th February 2009 – Wombats @ Glasgow Barrowlands