No denying there’s a DOUBLE buzz in the air tonight. Of course, everyone’s here to toast 10 years of the noughties’ equivalent of Fierce Panda, Moshi Moshi; forever home to your new favourite band and the super savvy launch pad for mainstream bound acts such as Bloc Party, Lykke Li and tonight’s honorary headliners Hot Chip. But as if that weren’t enough, there’s the not insignificant matter of, um, Matter; the brazenly functional O2 based superclub, designed from the ground up by those clever sorts at Fabric and blessed, purportedly, with the killingest sound system in the world. Though a couple of die-hards TLOBF bumps into at the bar bemoan the distinctly “un-Moshi” setting and its distinctly “un-Indie” bar tax (an astronomical £4 for a measly bottle of lager) there’s no denying it’s a bold setting for a Birthday party and makes for an electrifying atmosphere as London’s indie cognoscenti file in for their first peek at the hyped, paint tin fresh venue. Continue Reading

Tilly and the Wall are a band with one of the best gimmicks going. Amazingly though, their gimmick actually contributes to the sound of the band. For the uninitiated, instead of having a regular drummer who skulks about at the back of the stage, Tilly and the Wall have a tap dancer front and centre who clippity clops and step-ball-changes her way through their songs, sort of like a human metronome. Continue Reading

This is Not London, is a series of events that will occupy October. The concept is relatively straightforward – just ask some of the most relevant and interesting artists in music today to curate their “perfect night out in London.” The end result is a series of parties combining live, DJ acts and visual artists.

From Simian Mobile Disco to Moshi Moshi Records celebrating their 10th birthday party with some of their best and brightest (plus some super secret surprise guests!), to Justice stopping by on their world tour and finally Armand Van Helden presenting a mix odyssey like no other.

All evenings will be heald at the new, purpose built venue in London’s O2 called matter (yes, it has to have the small m at the beginning).

So, the confirmed dates at the moment:

FRIDAY OCTOBER 3rd - SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO
SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO (DJ SET) + LINDSTROM (LIVE) + DUSTY KID (LIVE) + SHIT ROBOT (LIVE) + EMPEROR MACHINE (LIVE) + RITON + NADIA KSABIA + FOAMO + ADVENTURES CLOSE TO HOME + MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED

FRIDAY OCTOBER 17th - SOUTHERN FRIED PRESENTS A MIX ODYSSEY 2
ARMAND VAN HELDEN + A TRAK + ASHLEY BEEDLE + CAGEDBABY + PNAU (LIVE) + BLACK GHOSTS + RIVA STARR + MOWGLI + NATHAN DETROIT + JAM WARM

SATURDAY OCTOBER 18th - MOSHI MOSHI RECORDS 10TH BIRTHDAY
SUPER SECRET HEADLINERS + FLORENCE & THE MACHINE (LIVE) + KATE NASH (LIVE) + TILLY AND THE WALL (LIVE) + JAMES YUILL (LIVE) + SLOW CLUB + GRECOROMAN SOUNDSYSTEM + MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED (special ticket price £16/£17.50 adv with £1 of each sale going to Shelter http://www.shelter.org.uk/)

SATURDAY OCTOBER 24th - JUSTICE “A CROSS THE UNIVERSE” DOCUMENTARY RELEASE TOUR
JUSTICE (DJ SET) + BUSY P + DJ MEHDI + SO ME + SOMETHING SPECIAL FROM DURR

Early Bird tickets to all nights are just £15 from www.thisisnotlondon.net

Earlier this year, The Wave Pictures released the utterly fantastic Instant Coffee Baby, TLOBF’s official Album Of The Year Thus Far, and although that’s probably on some level a compromise between the more-passionately loved (or not loved) Fleet Foxes and Johnny Foreigner, its still got some pretty incredible songs on. Witty, ramshackle, vague air of drunkenness, inadequacy and lust… yeah, The Wave Pictures do the whole Literate British Indie-Rock thing to its finest degree.

So this new EP is pretty cool. Basically I guess just five offcuts backing ‘Just Like A Drummer’, an odd choice for a single because its arguably the closest thing the album has to a weak track but STILL, in terms of extra-to-album EPs its not quite ‘Fluorescent Grey’ but what it is is five solid slices of pure Wave Pictures, again relative to the rest of their canon definable in terms of what they’re *not*- they’re not ‘Now You Are Pregnant’, ‘We Dress Up Like Snowmen’, ‘Long Island’, ‘Strange Fruit For David’, etc etc but yeah they’re good.

Essentially what this EP offers is More Wave Pictures, and that’s a really good thing. For the uninitiated, its nowhere near as good an introduction as the album, and for the haters (honestly though, how could you? Is something wrong with you?) its not going to make you change your mind. For the rest of us though, just stick on ‘Dust Off Your Heart’ and smile. :)
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Links
The Wave Pictures [official site] [myspace] [album review] [best of 2008... so far]

So it’s one of THE great debuts by a British band, we’ve established that. But what do The Wave Pictures themselves think of the album? Dave Tattersall (lead singer, guitarist) sat down and wrote at length his thoughts on the classic that is Instant Coffee Baby .

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Lykke Li

The Moshi Moshi record label are celebrating their first ten years in business this year. As part of those celebrations they have just released a rather excellent compilation of releases from their acclaimed Singles Club. Jude Clarke chatted with label co-founder Stephen Bass and found out his views on running a successful label, why he thinks negative reviews of Kate Nash are foolish and rude (oops!), and what acts he particularly rates from the past and present day. Continue Reading

One of the great things about doing reviews for The Line of Best Fit is getting to hear music by bands that otherwise would almost definitely have passed underneath one’s musical radar. This great little album is a prime example. The Wave Pictures have seemingly been touring and self-releasing for five or so years, but until now I had not heard or read anything about them. Hopefully this release will get them the publicity and increase in acclaim that they deserve.

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This April and May on of TLOBF’s favourite new bands, The Wave Pictures, will be playing shows in support of their debut album for Moshi Moshi. Instant Coffee Baby will be released, finally, on May 5th and can be pre ordered from the Moshi Moshi shop. The album includes recent single ‘I Love You Like A Madman’ as well as forthcoming single ‘Strange Fruit For David’, out April 28th on glorious 7”.

The band have also been nominated for an Indy Award thanks to the promoters at End of The Road Festival. To access more details about the awards and vote for The Wave Pictures, please click the following link:

http://www.indyawards.co.uk/2008/artist_voting.php?artists=The%20Wave

Here are those Instant Coffee Baby tour dates in full:

March
28th ‘Tapestry presents’ @ Aloyius Church, NW1, London
30th London Luminaire supporting Darren Hayman
31st The Enterprise, Camden supporting Slow Club

April
7th ‘90 Free cds’ @ 93 Feet East, London
20th Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire
21st Aberdeen Tunnels
22nd Glasgow Brel
24th London Luminaire
26th Leeds Faversham
28th Nottingham Bodega (formerly The Social)

May
3rd Manchester Night and Day
4th Coventry Taylor John’s House
8th Bristol Thekla
10th Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach