Larrikin about in the Water Rats

I defy you to watch the Larrikin Love live and not become a tiny bit infatuated!

Ok they might be slightly underwhelming when you first hear them on vinyl, but their live show takes us on a joyful jaunty romp around Ye Olde England.

Larrikin's performance is shambolic and eurphoric, getting heads a nodding from even the most jaded arms foldy types stood at the back. More Pogues-lite than Levellers, they also have a secret weapon in Rob Skipper (with his fabulous fiddle, on loan from the Holloways). But they're not just sub Libertines wannabes, they are folky, they are punky, they are reggae, they are crunky! (well ... ... maybe not that last one.) They are more than any single influence, bringing gypsy style and a 'ragga'-muffin poetry to the tired London sound that permeates absolutely everything else we seem to hear.

Oh yeah, and a bit of calypso.

Earlier on we heard a bit of Sheffield four piece, Little Man Tate. A band with a buzz who were good, but not quite the 'next Arctic Monkeys' they're being sold as. And then it was south London's very own Roland Shanks, bless, who were sandwiched between the two acts most people there had probably come to see. Still they do get better and better, maybe one day they will be the ‘band with a buzz’. (also singer, Jamie Shanks, previously described by someone as "physically box like" is starting to look a bit cute. What's that all about? - he's still a short arse tho.)

Luce was unusually quiet and a bit 'head down' before the gig. Can't think why.

White Rose Movement @ Kings College Union

Ohhh, all the kids from Trash have relocated for the evening!

To Kings College Union for a bit of pretendy 80's synth rock.

This fringey has been up from 6.30am and been in work all day, and still, I don't think I look that awful. But there's nothing like a haggle of coked up twentysomethings, with unlikely haircuts and dirty looks, to make you check yourself in the mirror that one extra time. And I hate them for it.

(Oh and I've still got alcohol poisoning from the weekend, so I can't even have any vodka. Pants.)

But, I'm ready to overlook all that, and begin loving the White Rose Movement. They have released some of my favourite indiedancerock tracks of the past 6 months. They seem to be quite genuine in interviews. They are (mostly) lovely to look at. So why are they so artificial and actually a bit poo when they get on a stage?

oh - here's why

Still, they did what they could to make themselves look good, by roping in a couple of exceptionally crap support acts. Can't tell you about the first lot, I've forgotten them already, but the Violets were shockingly shite. Cheaply dressed in tight black and with a fright of bleached hair, trying for Debbie Harry, but achieving a (poor) Toyah Wilcox, Alixus, screeched, shrieked and shouted her way through the Violets set, like realife a Shoreditch harpy.

The only thing stopping me from flinging myself off the balcony (a selfless act - intended to end the suffering of an innocent audience) was the hilariously crappy jigging and dancing about. Managing to - somehow - stay completely out of time with the music, she was pulled about the stage on invisible strings.

The rest of the Violets seemed competent enough. Except when the guitarist, wearing a rubbish pork pie hat, lost his balance and keeled over into the speakers. By that point, it wasn't even funny anymore.

Still, everyone there looked good, or thought they did. And that's what really counts.

A dandi time at the shitdisco!

“rave is the refuge for the mentally deficient. It is made by dull people for dull people” - Morrissey. (hmmmmm.....)

Coming all the way from Montreal to play a half empty Metro, DANDI WIND didn’t just play - they PERFORMED for us! The shouting, singing, dancing and kicking front woman, Dandi, channelled the spirits of Patti Smith and Karen O with a gymnastictastic display of whirling sequins and face paint. Cool.

Last summer I thought the Test Icicles were the future of music, mostly because I’d never seen anything quite like it before and I'd been drinking lots of gin. Well, the KLAXONS are taking what the Testies have done, and made it slightly more 'novelty act'. They've removed most of the the 'metal' influences (and incidentally any edge) and then mixed in a bit of – “your names not down, you're not coming in” – rave! Chr*st how awful!

I really can’t be doing with glow sticks and rave whistles. Not even ironically. Not only do they borrow their gimmicky accessories from the nineties, their thumping lo fi dance music is a mindless rehash of 'old school' hacienda - done with real instruments. Any tunage or melody is purely accidental. I might like them more if they just did music and left the toys and the 'too cool for old school' attitude at home, but that's not likely. The kids down the front, in the Klaxons fan club, were absolutely LOVIN' it tho.

Hmmmm.... all the cool kids loving a band who claim to be unironically 'revisiting' a shit genre of music from their youth? ... ... The Klaxons are this years Darkness!!

SHITDISCO must have been ... ummmm…... bricking it, having to follow on from the over hyped Klaxon frenzy, so they kicked off their set with “I Know Kung Fu” a track that, in previous gigs, has inspired some members of the audience to dance like loons and drop their keks in excitement! (not fringey though!) And it worked 'an all. The leftover Klaxon kids went mental for it. Hurrah!