Anna Calvi – 4 x 2 tix to give away!

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas….because a) Anna Calvi is back in town again, and b) I’ve got a bumper crop of free tix to give away. Woohoo! Yes, that would be me in the red jingly hat.

It’s been hard to miss Anna Calvi this past year. She’s ignited both critical and popular interest since the release of her self-titled debut album in January 2011. Mentored by Brian Eno and Nick Cave, with her album produced by Rob Ellis (frequent PJ Harvey accomplice), Calvi’s severe and dramatic persona, almost fierce guitar playing and smouldering voice is wildly seductive and utterly mesmerising. It’s no wonder she was nominated for a Mercury Prize this year. I saw Ms Calvi play at the Montreux Jazz Festival during summertime, and she was, to be completely honest, magnificent.

Watch Anna smoulder her way through ‘Suzanne and I’ (wish there had been more Anna, less ballerinas):

If you haven’t had the (life-changing) experience of seeing the formidable Ms. Calvi, then I urge, nay, implore you to get your hot little hands hands on tickets to her gig at Kaufleuten next Tuesday, anyway you can (see below). I’ll see you there in the front row.

Want some free tix? Of course you do!

Send me an email by Sunday 23.10.11, and tell me the name of your favourite Anna Calvi song. First in, first served!

Anna Calvi plays @ Kaufleuten, 25.10.11. Tickets here.

Anna Calvi is out now on Domino Records.

Download the classical mixtape Anna made for Rough Trade store here.

Live review: Patrick Wolf @ Plaza, Zurich, 09.04.11

There’s a man on stage dressed in an orgy of sequins and glitter, and wearing a Metal Mickey helmet shouting ‘GETURSHIZZITRIIIGHT!‘. Two scantily dressed women are gyrating in the background. Am I at the right gig? I am at the Plaza, ostensibly to see Patrick Wolf, aren’t I? Continue reading

Paléo Festival 19-24th July 2011 – The National, PJ Harvey, Portishead, Anna Calvi and more

Oooh, nice line-up: The National, PJ Harvey, Beirut, Portishead, Anna Calvi, Sheila She Loves You, The Chemical BrothersTame ImpalaThe Strokes, Angus & Julia Stone and more in this year’s Paléo Festival.

Wish I could go, but sadly I’ll be gallivanting about Down Under in July. Would desperately love to see PJ Harvey again, and I never say no to seeing The National and Beirut (although I’ll see them both at Open Air St Gallen).

Portishead and Anna Calvi (I’ll miss her gig in Zurich next week as my twee indie faves Belle & Sebastian are playing the same night) would be awesome, as would Sheila She Loves You (love those Swiss poets, can’t seem to catch them this year).

Will someone go along and bring me back all the sunny, happy, gory details, please?

Full program here.

Tickets on sale from Wednesday 13th April 2011, from 12 pm.

Live review – PJ Harvey @ Olympia, Paris 25.02.11

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Reason #3541 to love living in Europe – Zurich to Paris in a mere 4.5 hours (top tip: book 90 days ahead and get 50% off). I endured the plush velour purpleness of the TGV Lyria for a few short hours on Friday to finally, finally get to see PJ Harvey in concert. Continue reading

Cloud Control – Bliss, Blue Mountains and handclaps

Cloud Control by Daniel Boud

I just got back from seeing PJ Harvey in Paris (more on that later), and it’s a dreary, rainy, miserable Monday morning with nary a croissant or steaming hot Café crème in sight *sob*.

Thank god cheery Australian psychedelic nu-folksters Cloud Control are playing tonight (28.02.11) @ Hafenkneipe to wrench me out of my post-Paris doldrums. After playing with the likes of Vampire Weekend and Tame Impala, The Temper Trap and Local Natives, Cloud Control have embarked on a European/UK tour ahead of an appearance at the massive SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, and the release of their current album Bliss Release in the UK in March.

Hailing from the Blue Mountains, Sydney, I’ve been getting the buzz about Cloud Control from my friends down under for a while now, and they’ve won a slew of awards back in Oz. Now, with a rapidly rising international profile, it could be your last chance to see them in a tiny, intimate venue – that’s the benefit of living somewhere a little out of the music mainstream – bands that would ordinarily play in much larger venues elsewhere play in small cosy clubs here. Love that! So beat those winter SAD blues and get out of the house – prepare to clap along and be charmed.

Clap along here with ‘Meditation #2′:

Cloud Control play @ Hafenkneipe tonight 28.02.11. Tickets here or at the door (if available).

Bliss Release is released in March on Infectious Music.