The Antlers on Daytrotter

THIS IS SO LOVELY. The Antlers have recorded four songs for a Daytrotter session.

Listen.

They do Shiva, Cold War, Kettering and Two.

I’m listening to Two now and it’s giving me chills. I love this band.

Beautiful Star: The Songs Of Odetta

This is a compilation of cover songs curated by Alan Pedder and Charlotte Richardson, of Wears The Trousers magazine. All the profit will be split between The Fawcett Society and The Women’s Resource Centre.

Tracklist:
01 LINDA DRAPER, ‘Sail Away Ladies’
02 ANE BRUN, ‘If I Had A Ribbon Bow’
03 GEMMA RAY, ‘900 Miles’
04 ANAÏS MITCHELL, ‘All My Trials’
05 HAUNTED STEREO, ‘Santy Anno’
06 MADAM, ‘Waterboy’
07 SANDY DILLON, ‘Can’t Afford To Lose My Man’ [live]
08 ORA COGAN, ‘Motherless Child’
09 JOSEPHINE ONIYAMA, ‘The Gallows Pole’
10 PEPI GINSBERG, ‘Beautiful Star’
11 SOCIETY OF IMAGINARY FRIENDS, ‘Another Man Done Gone’
12 MARISSA NADLER, ‘All My Trials’
13 KELLI ALI, ‘All The Pretty Little Horses’
14 KATEY BROOKS, ‘What A Friend We Have’
15 LIZ DURRETT, ‘Chilly Winds’
16 ARBOREA, ‘This Little Light Of Mine’

I think it’s a really beautiful thing. Make sure you show your support and buy a copy. You’ll be able to pre-order through Wears The Trousers in mid-November.

November Allotment

One thing about having my name in my blog title is that I never get to use the royal ‘We’ because there obviously is no ‘we’. Well, as The Allotment, I can say ‘WE’ all I like because there really is a ‘we’. It’s Lynn and I. And on behalf of Lynn and I, I can say WE are really excited and proud to present our second show at The Betsey Trotwood on November 4th. Tickets are £5 and you can buy more stuff and eat free cake and pumpkin (I’m going to be in pumpkin this month, watermelon was weird).

So this is extra exciting because my friend and favourite musician for miles and miles (gotta get at least to Sweden or Brooklyn for any contenders) is playing. Alessi is playing a solo set headlining, with support from The Momeraths, The Dufflefolks and Brooke Parrott. So if you have 2 cakes and a piece of pumpkin you’re paying less than a pound per band/cake/pumpkin. What a steal! The last Allotment show was really lovely and I should think this will be too, so do come along if you’re in the Farringdon ‘hood, and hey- it’s probably worth traveling far and wide for!

Would be lovely to see you. Give Lynn a visit. And Alessi, and The Momeraths, and The Dufflefolks and Brooke. 

December 10th

Come to this show ::::

Isn’t that poster lovely? Drawn by Alessi and the talented Ben Phillips, who also does all the cool Peggy Sue artwork. You can get tickets through Ticketweb via the wonderful Platforms:live.

Everyone has to bring a present and then everyone swaps presents. How fun! I’m going to make something. SHARING IS CARING. Right? Right! Fun times. 

This show is particularly win-worthy for me because I love symmetry through time. I think it’s amazing how you can do the same thing on the same day exactly one year later… the same thing at the same time, but so many things have happened between those two events. I find it really interesting. Anyway. That very same day, December 10th, exactly one year ago, I saw Alessi play for the first time at the Wilmington Arms and knew she was amazing. One year and many a show later, I still think she’s amazing… even more so! What a joy. Double joy, in that Jake Bellows will be playing. I knew Alessi was amazing anyway, but it was when she covered Jake’s song A Man And His Dream at the Wilmington that I thought she was also really cool. Amazing + really cool = good combo. I am excited to see Jake play, and, as if it couldn’t be any more brilliant, Treetop Flyers are playing. Oh, and it’s at the Luminaire, the best proper music venue in London. A lovely night guaranteed…. have a listen to all those brilliant people and buy a ticket.

November Allotment

The second Allotment show is a go!

November 4th at The Betsey Trotwood: Alessi’s Ark + more TBC. Tickets are £5 and there’ll be lots of other tasty treats and surprises, I’m sure. Let us know if you’re coming and let us know if you want to bring cakes in return for our everlasting baked item-centric love. Lynn is at Lynn@forfolkssake.com and I’m at anikainlondon@gmail.com.

I might try and build something fun for this next one. That’s right, BUILD.

The Allotment

A giant, huge, really appreciative thank you to everyone who came, who played, who baked cakes, who bought bags and t-shirts and who supported our first show. We sold the show out with tickets on the door, and sold almost all of our bags and t-shirts. The cake went down a treat (of course it would!) and the watermelon looked… stoic (?). The bands were wonderful and we had a fun time.

It touches my heart that people came and were so enthusiastic and wonderfully supportive. Lynn was the perfect partner in this venture and there will be more Allotment shows soon (!). Keep your eyes peeled for November the 4th. It’s the beginning of a long running thing, it’s exciting.

Thank youuuuuuu.

Mariam Wallentin on Nando’s

Do you want to know this Mariam’s official stance on Nando’s? 

“Where is it?  Really? Nando’s. What kind of food? What’s the difference between Portuguese and Mexican food? [laughs] You’ve never been there but you’re going to ask me? No.”

And now you know. My friend Cian snuck in a Nando’s centric question in his interview for Wears The Trousers. See more views on the spreadsheet here.

Bandstand Busking Tomorrow

1pm is Stairs to Korea and 2pm is Player Piano, at Northampton Square. We just confirmed Loft Heights for 1.30…

He’s good. Listen. Come along!

Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill

This looks pretty cool.

From American Dust:

Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill, is now available! Crayon Angel features original recordings by Beth Orton, Bill Callahan, Final Fantasy, Frida Hyvonen, Marissa Nadler, Ron Sexsmith, Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles, and many more, all covering songs by the inestimable Ms. Sill, including two compositions never before heard.

You can hear tracks on the American Dust website. Nice to hear Frida singing, she was so wonderful live earlier this year. I’d love to see her play again. Love her voice and accent. 

The song Frida does is Jesus Was A Cross Maker. It’s very beautiful and quite epic towards the end with some group vocals. The piano is lovely. I love it. Get the CD from here or Amazon or iTunes. 

Jay Jay Pistolet

From his blog:

Since my last blog a lot has changed. It’s been a frustrating summer.

For now, I’m laying down my acoustic guitar. That is to say, I will not be playing shows or releasing material as Jay Jay Pistolet in the near future. Change is upon us but death is not. I’ll be back. For now though I’m concentrating on a new musical project that will take me in an entirely new direction. I’m incredibly excited. Stay tuned…

For now, I’ve uploaded some of my favourite songs onto my Myspace page. some new, some old and some unheard. I continue to record at home so expect more in the coming days and weeks. Most will be available to download.

I really enjoyed him the two times I saw him play last year and think it’s a shame he won’t be playing anymore, but you can hear his songs on the Myspace. My favourite is Happy Birthday You, there’s a good live version here.