LIVE: Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard, Bowery Ballroom, New York. 20th June, 2009

The small but perfectly formed Bowery Ballroom was host to the delicious Jeffrey Lewis, his brother, a friend, and the friend's boyfriend - otherwise known as the Junkyard, Jeffrey's band, at the end of June. Playing tracks from the recent 'Em Are I album as well as songs from his back catalogue, his two hour set not only kept my jetlagged eyes open but had me dancing to "If Life Exists," and "Something Good" like I'd actually had some sleep in the last 20 hours.

With such an intimate vibe Lewis was clearly happy to be playing his home town, and if you erase the almost painful support acts (Diane Cluck & Pepi Ginsberg) from memory this was the perfect introduction to NYC; please do "keep on strumming like you don't know what's coming" Jeffrey Lewis.

Amy Honda

FESTIVAL: Field Day

WHEN: 1st August. Victoria Park, London

WHAT: Now in its third year, Field Day brings a summer fete and this years best line up to Victoria Park tomorrow. Field Day is definitely the music lovers festival; so much so that it's impossible to pick between the tents - Bugged Out! tent is hosting everyone's favourite DJ Erol Alkan, over in the Adventures in the Beetroot Field tent there is The Big Pink and Micachu; Mumford and Sons are a highlight from the Village Mentality stage and headliners Mogwai will be playing their only UK festival set of the year on the Eat Your Own Ears stage.

If you can prize yourself away from the music, there is all the fun of the fayre in the Village Green, where you make up rude words during a game of scrabble, try your luck with the tombola or gorge yourself on homemade cake.

WEAR: Something presentable, you don't want to look a state picking up your egg and spoon race winners prize.

Tickets can be bought online or on the door.

http://www.fielddayfestivals.com/

Claire Evans

FESTIVAL: Hop Farm Festival

WHEN: 4th July - 5th July. The Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, Kent

WHAT: The festival season is fast upon us; after next weekend's Glastonbury follows the Hop Farm Festival. After the success of last year's Neil Young headlining show Hop Farm has extended to two days. The ethos is simple - everyone gets the same treatment - there's no VIPs and branding is shunned in favour of a purist festival experience of music, music and more music.

2ManyDJs are almost worth the entrance fee alone, but head to the smaller stages for White Denim, 65 Days of Static and Rumble Strips.


WEAR: What difference does it make? This is a back to basics affair so t-shirt and jeans will do nicely.

Tickets are still available

http://www.hopfarmfestival.com/

Claire Evans

FESTIVAL: Standon Calling

WHEN: 31st July - 2nd August. Standon, Hertfordshire

WHAT: Our favourite small festival, Standon Calling returns for another weekend on 31st July. Fusing art and design with music (and a swimming pool,) Standon Calling is a tiny 3000 capacity festival with a big pull. Its small setting offers a great chance to see little bands who will soon be big bands, like Golden Silvers, Michachu and this year's headliners Friendly Fires. Other highlights are Son of Dave and Femi Kuti and the, frankly odd addition, of Tony Christie if that's your thing.

As well as the music, there will be literature, theatre and of course art - look out for the large Eidophone, a machine that turns music into paintings.

Standon Calling should be the benchmark for every other festival out there.

WEAR: As the theme is Space, it has to be those Moon Boots I thought I'd never be able to wear

Tickets are still available.

http://www.standon-calling.com/

Claire Evans

LIVE: Bishop Allen, David Cronenberg's Wife, A Classic Education. The Windmill, Brixton, 10th May, 2009

The best thing about the Windmill isn’t the ramshackle barbeques, the affable crowd or even the headline acts that squeeze into this tiny venue, it’s the fact that no matter who it is you go there to see, there will always be a surprise gem to take home. Last night that crown fell on A Classic Education, an Italian alt-pop band touring their recently released single, the excellent Jeremy Warmsley produced ‘Best Regards’. With swathes of epic, American styled orchestral indie, they are a fun, dark and beautiful bundle.


David Cronenberg's Wife, up before the headliners, are another one of those great bands that not nearly enough people know about. Sounding like they've been transported from the 80s, their macabre lyrics are smoke tinged with a bitter, honest, comic edge.


Before heading back to America tomorrow Bishop Allen have just one last show to play and it was a treat to have them play it at the Windmill. Live they have boundless energy, relentlessly playing song after song without pausing for breath. With each new song they flutter between emotions – boisterous; angry; poetic; melancholy. The new songs sound bigger than they do on the stripped-back-to-the-bone sound of ‘Grrr’ and they delved into their past with oldies like ‘Busted Heart’ and a few tracks from their EP collections.



Bishop Allen are not big on banter, speaking only to introduce themselves, but that didn't make them any less charming and the little area in front of the stage was packed with a satisfied bunch of people by the end. It's just a shame they don't come to these shores more often.



Claire Evans

SINGLE: Lily Allen -Not Fair (EMI Records)

How do you review a song about premature ejaculation? The whole idea of it ends up outgrowing the song itself so every time I listen to it all I can think about is how it’s Lily having a good laugh at a guy who can’t hold it in. One thing that ‘Not Fair’ makes really clear is what a good songwriter Lily Allen is – the lyrics flow so easily you’d assume that she talks in songs and the deadpan delivery adds even more ironic hilarity to some already hilarious lyrics. Add the instrumentation which sounds like backing track to some low-budget western and the single has me bursting into near-lethal giggling fits. Even if you’re not taken in by its catchiness you have to respect her talent with words and unflinching honesty.

Ollie Khakwani

SINGLE: The Siegfried Sassoon - Muscle Beach/The Al Gore Rhythm (feat. Laura-Mary Carter) (Natural History Records)

A-side ‘Muscle Beach’ is perplexing – running from chorus to different chorus and patched together by completely different sounding verses, which while all well constructed individually (especially the counterbalancing of guitar chords and bleeps at the beginning), makes the song a bit hard to follow at first. Then again, the first chorus where the mariachi trumpets and harmonies come in is charming enough to win over the hardest-hearted of listeners. Still, it leaves you with a ‘what the hell just happened there?’ feeling.

AA-side ‘The Al Gore Rhythm’ is more of the same, featuring at the beginning a vocal battle between the lovely Laura-Mary Carter (of Blood Red Shoes) and what sounds like Wall-E, which in case you’re wondering is something definitely worth hearing. The once again crazy irregular beat and erratic guitar lines give the song a School of Language intelligent guitar pop feel, which if not catchy at first is at least pretty intriguing.

Ollie Khakwani