No Pain In Pop

2OO8 ≠ 32

Photo: Tom King

It’s hard not to feel berk or beast when attempting to cram 12 months into 700 words, so we won’t even try. This late in the day there’s going to be omission to an extent that outstretches the impatient collateral of memory loss, especially as the mind wanders back to recall a year of live music that’s without peer in my 23 on this earth.

So, there’ll be no divvying up of 2008 between movements and moods here. Just a necessary trawl through the shipwreck, flotsam fished from choppy waters and beacon buoys twinkling in the ocean of our terrible collective memory.

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Tags: 20jazzfunkgreats, abe vigoda, aids wolf, alice coltrane, apple pips, arch m, baby venom, bo diddley, bradford cox, darkstar, flowdan, flying lotus, harmonia, harvey milk, health, holy fuck, mark brown, martyn, my bloody valentine, nite jewel, no age, no shows forever, oneman, panda bear, primavera sound, ramadanman, rustie, sam butler, skull disco, teengirl fantasy, telepathe, terrence dixon, the bug, the dovers, the samps, theo parrish, trg, wild beasts, wiley, zomby

!!!No Shows Forever!!!

21/09/08
PENS, Graffiti Island, Banjo or Freakout, Gentle Friendly w/Ponytail
@ The Crown and Sceptre, London SE8
(!!!No Shows Forever!!!)

All photography by Louis Hartnoll.

Words and sound here.

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Tags: banjo or freakout, gentle friendly, graffiti island, no shows forever, pens, ponytail

New Totems, Rituals

Sunday night was a rare one. !!!No Shows Forever!!! inched tentatively into the tepid, sulky light of Deptford to make its debut play and won so emphatically. Around 160 copped legion bangs, broken glass and four of the city’s finest; PENS, who you should know about already, as you should Banjo or Freakout, Gentle Friendly, Ponytail and (imminently at least, at last) Graffiti Island. A review of sorts lurks after ‘the jump’.

MP3: Graffiti Island - Head Hunters

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Tags: banjo or freakout, gentle friendly, graffiti island, no shows forever, pens