So! The London indie festival season has officially opened with the whirlwind passing of Stag & Dagger in London and Glasgow this weekend. With just Friday night in London across ten Shoreditch / Hoxton venues and Saturday night across seven venues in Glasgow (with some one-off gigs in-between in both cities), they have managed to cram in (and cram is the word) some bleedin' good audio treats.
As far as I was concerned from going through the lineup, the dance and electronica tipped the balance this year. As blathered about a little while ago on LTCO, Christian Aids would've been a highlight of all that jazz, but quietly disappeared from the lineup - poopsticks. Not to worry, trip-hoppy dubsteppy housey goodness abounded this year with the likes of Becoming Real, Dam Mantle, Chad Valley and Cloud Boat. Now Cloud Boat were my personal highlight of what I managed to see of the London side of the festival, having played a beautious little set in the basement bar of The Queen Of Hoxton. Have a listen to their forthcoming single on R&S Records, 'Lions On The Beach', below:
This year's lineup also brought to my attention the silky smooth r'n'b sensibilities of Lapalux (pictured at the top) who, as it happens, put his EP 'Many Faces Out Of Focus' up on Soundcloud an hour before I typed this very post; howzat for hot off the press? So here it is boys, girls and cats of all ages:
Many Faces Out Of Focus (2011) by Lapalux
There's definitely a whiff of a trend goin' on what with all this bassy easy-going r'n'b around. Compilation making time, methinks...........
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