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SoundsXP Presents

Pictures from some recent gigs we've hosted:

29 March 2013 - Brixton, London

Viv Albertine, VuVuVultures, Left Leg, Mickey Gloss, Big Wave, No Cars, Arthur Gunn, Simon Love (Pictures)

8 March 2013 - Lexington, London

R.Ring, Golden Grrrls, Slushy Guts and Equinox (Pictures)

On Our iPod

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (album)

Hard Skin - Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear (album)

Black Angels - Indigo Meadow (album)

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin (album)

R Ring - Fallout and Fire 7”

Royal Headache - self-titled (album)

The Mariner’s Children - Sycamore EP

Can’s Ege Bamyasi played by Stephen Malkmus and Friends(album)

The Fall - Sir William Wray 7"

Lord Huron - Lonesome Dreams (album)

Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds - Conjure Man 7”

Lightning Bolt - Oblivion Hunter

Robyn Hitchcock - There Goes The Ice (2x 12")

Latest Forum Posts

Gig Review

Dan Michaelson/ Babak Ganjei
London, St Pancras Old Church

Article written by Ged M - Dec 29, 2011

It’s said that Dan Michaelson’s last album Sudden Fiction is named after an American literary movement that values economy of expression, but hearing him play those songs live you can equally detect an economy that reflects Austerity Britain; songs are pared back, reduced to the essential notes and tones, because extravagance is no longer the order of the day. Tonight the men formally known as Coastguards colour in Dan’s spare songs with a blush of pedal steel, a sprinkling of piano notes and a slash of cello, while Dan brings a murmur of guitar and his voice, a deeply expressive instrument in its own right. And just as that sound works for those songs on Sudden Fiction, the church is the perfect place for Dan and band to play them; it might be chuffin’ cold but the acoustics and natural stillness of this sacred spot (a place of worship for 1700 years) are the ideal setting for Dan’s latest batch. Being in church doesn’t preclude all the humour though, like Horse’s impressive “horsefacts” and his rendition of ‘Silent Night’ on an instrument named “Alan Bennett”, or Dan’s mildly surrealistic banter that warms chilled souls like a flask of soup in midwinter. But being in church almost makes you want to testify how good Dan and band are these days.

Support is from Dan’s former Absentee mucker, Wet Paint frontman and cartoonist Babak Ganjei. He’s incredibly funny but totally deadpan as he sings the most melancholy breakup songs with the grace of the Go-Betweens, and his chronic underachiever persona is dispelled by his skill of scattering infectious little hooks throughout his songs. We glean from his self-deprecating comments that this is the first time that he’s played his songs solo this way and on this evidence it’s clearly a winning way.

Links:
http://www.danmichaelsonandthecoastguards.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/people/Babak-Ganjei/572742272