The London Gig Guide (Page 28 of 58)

Beth Hart @ The Roundhouse. Monday 18th November.

I can't say I've heard of any of these artists but having read the blurb on the Borderline website, I agree they do sound interesting and not the usual blues rock fare. I've pasted the info below for others to make up their own mind and I've added the date into the list on the first page.

Astra were born in San Diego but bred in the mists of Avalon, Astra have fast become a synonym for the ethereal, the sublime, and the genuinely progressive. 2009’s The Weirding put these analog-inflected San Diego visionaries on the map, alongside the likes of co-conspirators Earthless, Diagonal and Dungen.

Think wailing guitars and dulcet harmonies thickened by Mellotrons and given hypnotic qualities by the kind of drumming that borders on the shamanic. Cinematic in scope but frequently yielding to a kind of melodic fragility that can only be the product of genuine emotion, The Black Chord’s musical ebb and flow prove Astra to be a band’s band, capable of an artistry all-too-rare among their generation, and it’s a sound to behold.

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Diagonal who were once ran out of town for playing 3 songs over 90 minutes in a pub in Surrey, are now very much an in demand band. Word has spread about their incendiary live show which manages to combine the righteous indignation of bands such as the MC5 and The Sex Pistols with the cosmic jams of Gentle Giant and Guru Guru and the experimental noise of bands such as Battles and Lightning Bolt. Diagonal is a band borne out of dreams and boundless ideas.

Whilst there are easier and quicker paths to fame and fortune in the music industry, Diagonal have chosen their own. It may be hard to imagine a 10 minute Prog jam on daytime Radio 1 but stranger things have happened and after all wasn’t Punk all about demanding the impossible? After 32 years, maybe its just about time we demanded the different, or at least that our bands learnt a 4th chord.

ZOLTAN

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zoltan

Jose Feliciano, Jazz Cafe 10 & 11 June

Yes, not going to miss this one!

Mott the Hoople!!!! O2 Arena, 18 November

Hammy Apollo would have been a lot better, like last time. Mind you it was 5 nights.

Gov't Mule, Under the Bridge, 4 July.

Tickets on sale today.

Not sure David, still thinking about it. Looks as though I'll be meeting up with Roger in Prague in June though

Larry Miller, O2 Academy Islington, 12 December