Tag: Music

I Went To See Daughter at The Forum in Kentish Town and it was Really Good

Last week I went to see Daughter at the Kentish Town Forum.

They’re a band fronted by Elena Tonra, whose voice is the aural equivalent of securing a free seat on the tube during rush hour when you’re a bit hungover.

Yep: she’s that good.

I did my usual thing of buying two tickets without checking if anyone wanted to come first, because successfully getting tickets for gigs in London is stressful enough without the added suspense of waiting for a double blue tick to decide your fate, and because someone is bound to want to go and see some live music if you tell them it’s free, even if It’s Not Really Their Cup of Tea Or They Think They Might Have Something On That Night Not Sure Can I Let You Know.

And that person is usually Harriet.

Me and Harriet 40 years from now

Harriet and I have been gifting each other gig tickets for about two years.

Not only is giving and accepting free tickets with other people a good way to see live music that you otherwise wouldn’t, but it also ensures that your friends consider you a valuable addition to their social circle, a bit like if you’ve got a mate who also happens to be a lawyer, or has a dog, or works in McDonalds, or can swipe you freebies from the make up counter at Selfridges*.

*if you would like to be this friend, pls let me know

The gig also coincided with Harriet’s 30th birthday, and I knew her ideal way to celebrate would be an evening of gloomy, slightly depressing yet relatable music, accompanied by several hundred pints of beer and an ill-advised G&T nightcap in the only pub still open at 12am in Kentish Town on a Thursday.

And to be fair, I wasn’t wrong.

Once inside, we managed to find a spot 100% unhindered by tall people.

This area was also seemingly free of Annoying and / or Noisy Bastards, who often have a habit of positioning themselves near me at music events.

We also made friends with a girl who was either Finnish or Flemish, and was there on her own, and therefore had no choice but to listen to Harriet talk about her love of Copenhagen and save our space on trips to the loo.

And oh, the music was really good.

Daughter have that knack of making the entire audience do a collective happy sigh within the first few notes of each intro, and even though the new album is, well, new and unfamiliar – somehow it already seems like you know each song.

Plus, it’s always a good thing when everything performed live in front of you sounds exactly like it does when you listen to it in your room, in bed, gently weeping at the fragility and unfairness of life in between episodes of Making a Murderer.

There’s just something about her music that you can relate to.

It was later the next day on Wikipedia that I found out why.

The reason it all seems so real to me is that the lead singer Elena is from Northwood, which is just one tube stop from where I grew up in the suburbs of London.

So now I’m even more sure that when we eventually meet and become best mates, it won’t just be a shared passion for beautiful music that bond us, but also our painful experiences of a youth spent waiting unknown amounts of time on cold platforms for Metropolitan line trains in and around north west London.

Just another normal day

Ah, that familiar zone 5 existential crisis. It all makes so much sense.

2nd February 2016
April’s Music Thing: Koreless + Jacques Greene at St John’s Church, Hackney

There are 567,087 music events happening every night in London.

That’s complete bollocks, obviously, but the fact remains: after Staying a Bit Late at Work Because You’re So Busy (isn’t everyone so busy these days?) and negotiating the Tube Strike Which Is Going to Really Bugger Up Commuting for the Next Two Weeks, most of us are too knackered to attend any of them.

Are we busy though? Are we? Really? Because personally, busy for me could mean working through lunch, or it could also be time allocated for watching True Detective in bed on a Sunday – so, swings and roundabouts you might say.

Anyway, in an attempt to win the War Against Being Busy, I’ve decided to go to one music-y / gig thing (am I cool enough to say “gig”?) per month. Aim low, and all that.

So far this year I’ve done alright.

Nothing in January. Nothing in February. March was the Broken Bells at Shepherds Bush Empire, so that was good, and now here we are in April when – SUCCESS! – another gig was got.

Last night me and Harriet went to one of a series of “music + technology” nights called Convergence. This one was at St. John’s Church in Hackney which, as the name might suggest, is a church. In Hackney.

This isn’t just any church though. No, no.

It looks like a normal church, doesn’t it? All religious and clock-wielding, all those concrete pillars and crosses and stuff – there are even normal church-like pews inside and everything.

But if you think this is just your bog standard church, I’m afraid you’re very, very wrong.

You missed the clue, guys – it’s in Hackney.

Hackney’s in East London.

Therefore in Time Out’s eyes, this can never just be a church.

No. It must be a Hipster Church.

So off we went to East London’s Premiere 221-year-old Hipster Church™ for a Hackney Hipster Gig™ full of Hackney Hipster People™ who are really just people with age on their side who like music, but hey, don’t let that stop you painting an entire swathe of society with a lazy moniker.

Tell you what though, that Hackney Hipster Church™ was pretty good.

They’d cleared the pews away and shoved all the Hipster Hymn™ books into a cupboard – apart from the one that Hipster Harriet™ realised she’d been standing on the whole way through at the end – and we watched Vaghe Stelle, Koreless and Jacques Greene do their thing while the speakers, screen, lights and lasers did theirs.

It was most enjoyable.

I know it’s difficult for you to tell how good it was because I failed to capture every moment on camera, and that’s how you can usually see whether someone had a good time or not.

Unfortunately I didn’t take any videos either so you won’t know how it sounded; you’ll just have to make do with me saying that if you like loud music and lasers and basslines and beats and stuff, you’d probably have liked this.

I’m assured that everyone else in the Hackney Hipster Church™ was having a good time too.

How do I know? Because of the attendee to iPhone Screen Glow ratio: look! Not a Facebook update in sight. Anyone would think it was 1992 down there or something:

So there we go.

April’s music-y thing all wrapped up in a brilliantly different kind of venue. Thanks Koreless and Jacques Greene for the right little ear-treat, and Hackney’s St John Church for being Hipster enough to venture away from hymns and into electronic music. If this sort of thing is your bag, then there’s still more Convergence stuff you can catch this weekend.

I’m currently missing a Music Thing for May, so currently my next stop is Field Day in June.

If you know of anything happening in May that I can shuffle along to, then give me a shout. (Hipster credentials optional).

Image: Fin Fahey via Flickr

25th April 2014