April @ The Slaughtered Lamb & beyond...

Tuesday 1st April


LUPEN CROOK ~ LITTLE LOST DAVID ~ NOUGHTS & CROSSES

LUPEN CROOK is Chatham’s twentysomething Matthew Pritchard, a crafter of sophisticated and darkly compelling folk ballads. Critics have likened Lupen’s songwriting to Devendra Banhart, Ray Davies and Syd Barrett, due to a capacity for clever lyrical irreverance, where he combines vivid melodrama with a rebelleious punk spirit. On the live scene, his character and presence establish him as a stand out force with a loyal following of fans. Lupen Crook is ultimately a brilliant talent who is set to evolve as one of the most original and exciting songwriter artists.

"Lupen Crook stands alone as one of the few artists around who seriously defies categorisation." [9/10 THE FLY]

"Splendidly uncompromising stuff" [CLASH]

"original and highly concentrated stuff." [MOJO]

"A bewitchng talent.” Uncut, 4/5

Melancholy, soul-soaked Americana from Sheffield's LITTLE LOST DAVID: "Every time I hear David he never fails to break my heart. And this is his objective. He does not set out to entertain you in the pleasurable sense. His woeful words are furiously and gently wrought on his lonesome guitar... his voice is just as potent...’

"Most of my reviews contain comparisons with other bands, but in NOUGHTS & CROSSES' case I find it hard to remember hearing anything remotely like the sound he has concocted ... His slightly lucid tone goes from a wail to a growl at will ... showing the potential this young Londoner has" [Alex Moore, Hippodrome]

Doors 8pm | £5 adv / £6 door | tickets
The Slaughtered Lamb | 34-35 Great Sutton St | Barbican | London EC1V 0DX

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Wednesday 2nd April


ORPHANS & VANDALS ~ THE JOHNNY PARY TRIO ~
SHOW WITHOUT PUNCH ~ PAUL MARSHALL

ORPHANS & VANDALS: ' Smash the piano keys with your fists like this is a fight, which it is. This beat is not for dancing, these drums will drive. Play the saw like sunlight through curtains into a dusty room. A violin line scrawled is a winding steel stairway down. Viola the grating rush of a train in a tunnel. Pulsing harmonium, Rothko reds and maroons and depths with black night sky behind. Notes of the glockenspiel like blue windows winking behind the Great Northern Hotel. Guitar drizzles down like fine grey rain from the dirty purple skies over the clocks of Kings Cross. These streets are on wheels, they turn like the workings of clocks. Bass lines crawl like scaffold over deserted hotels. Messages are hidden in the back pages of newspapers. Hidden networks and geometry at work. These numbers which at first seemed random are sequential. Train in the tunnel suddenly runs next to another running parallel, and faces flash in yellow light. Back into the darkness. Stop. And wait. Follow the breath out of your body. Watch for gaps in the traffic. Try to be quiet. Try to make sense of the different silences. Try to join them together. Let the randomness in. Allow the accident to occur. Return to the one note. The right note. Hold it.'

Doors 8pm | £5 | tickets
The Slaughtered Lamb | 34-35 Great Sutton St | Barbican | London EC1V 0DX

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Sunday 6th April @ The Cross Kings

JAMES APOLLO ~ ADAM BEATTIE & THE CONSULTANTS
~ CHRISTOPHER REES ~ EMIL BRYNGE


JAMES APOLLO, the ’latter day troubadour’ and ’twenty-first century hobo’ hailing from Arkansas, via New York, returns after sell-out shows at The Fly last year: ’his songs hint at a (young) life well-lived and the experience of the troubadour is hewn deep in the fabric of his lyrics and music, symbiotically and seamlessly woven. A multitude of genres are there – his is a classic western sound with tinges of jazz, latin, rockabilly and gospel - all topped off nicely with a solid vocal [think Calexico’s Joey Burns crossed with a parched-Tom Waits] and moody pop sensibility. Obvious single "I Got It Easy" resonates in the eardrums for days after the gig, catchy and classy to boot.’ (Whisperin & Hollerin).

Doors 7.30pm | £5 adv / £6 door | tickets
The Cross Kings | 126 York Way | Kings Cross | London N1 0AX

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Monday 7th April


FRIGHTENED RABBIT ~ ALICE {MUSICS} ~ Guests

FRIGHTENED RABBIT are two brothers, Grant and Scott Hutchison, inspired by Ben Folds Five, Nick Cave and Billy Joel, and signed to Fat Cat Records (Animal Collective, Vetiver, The Twilight Sad, Vashti Bunyan, etc). ' They record in bedrooms, cupboards and kitchens. Anyone can be in Frightened Rabbit. They have played some live shows in this city, but want to meet people from other cities, in order that they can come and blow into tubes when they play live. Lets keep pop music alive by getting it out of that dress and into a sweater.'

The sound of ALICE {MUSICS} is piano led and delicately layered, combining the weird time signatures of math rock with a dolloping of fa la las and harmonies. Steve Lamacq played their first, bedroom-made demo, 'Handkerchief Drill', on his Radio 2 show, twice, and said amongst other things "slight off-beat and a little bit unpredictable". Their influences include everything from Don Cabellero to Deerhoof through Sufjan Stevens to Steve Reich. In the past Alice has also collaborated with Youthmovies, playing cello on the single 'Ores'.

"On first listen, a few things'll pop out at you in particular. One, she slips piano lines into nearly every bar of every song. Two, she has a pretty great voice, right? Strong and uniquely mystical and style. I like it a lot when she harmonizes, too. Three, the non-piano and non-vocal lines are especially sparse, but when they do incorporate into a tune, they're much welcomed. Like an extra bonus, a surprise ... sporadic bass lines save these songs in some cases and congeal the ideas into true "songs" as opposed to vocal sketches [BIBABIDI.COM]

Doors 8.00pm | £5 adv | tickets
The Slaughtered Lamb | 34-35 Great Sutton St | Barbican | London EC1V 0DX

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Wednesday 9th April


REAL ONES ~ THE ROSIE TAYLOR PROJECT ~ MY FIRST TOOTH
~ VICTORIA & JACOB

REAL ONES are five childhood friends from Bergen, Norway, adding psychedelic zest to a city that has already provided the likes of Royksopp, and Kings of Convenience. If Lennon and McCartney had devised the concept of Sgt Pepper some forty years later, pulsing with Scandi blood and toying early with the promotion of free love, they would have devised a very basic blueprint for Real Ones. These five close comrades share in that affinity, moulding a magical kaleidoscope of sound. Having known each other for so many years, it should come as no surprise that despite Real Ones’ sound bouncing with tangents, it’s so precise and complete. There’s the hearty, autumnal nature of warm folk, interspersed with a swirling psychedelic brood. Throw in a wave of cute three-part harmonies, and some devilishly intoxicating melodies to result in one fulfilling, head-spinning brew.

"Richly melodic, psychedelic-tinged pop" [THE GUARDIAN]

Born through an ever exciting mixture of boredom and whimsy THE ROSIE TAYLOR PROJECT take country, folk, indie, and pop melodies to fill the listener with summery nostalgia. The soft, melodic tones of this all too attractive group have been flowing quietly from a cosy corner of Leeds for a short, but wonderful period. The various members brought with them a menagerie of influences, engulfing all aspects of the musical spectrum. Their debut single, "Black and White Films", is out on Bad Sneakers Records.

Doors 8.00pm | £5 adv / £6 door | tickets
The Slaughtered Lamb | 34-35 Great Sutton St | Barbican | London EC1V 0DX

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Monday 14th April


NAOMI ROPER ~ STEVE SMITH  ~ BELAKU ~ ROKHSAN

Doors 8.00pm | £5 adv / £6 door | tickets
The Slaughtered Lamb | 34-35 Great Sutton St | Barbican | London EC1V 0DX

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Wednesday 16th April


MOSSYROCK ~ THE GARDEN CITY PROJECT ~ BILKIS ~ BOBBING FOR APPLES

Doors 8.00pm | £5 | tickets
The Slaughtered Lamb | 34-35 Great Sutton St | Barbican | London EC1V 0DX

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Friday 18th April @ The Vortex


LAURIE MCNAMEE ~ Guests

Doors 8.00pm | £6 adv / £7 door | tickets
The Vortex | 11 Gillett Square | Dalston Kingsland | London N16 8JH

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Monday 21st April

~ Boy Scout Recording Night ~
SARGASSO TRIO ~ TURNER CODY ~ THE TOY BAND ~ RED CASSETTE

Doors 8.00pm | £5 adv / £6 door | tickets
The Slaughtered Lamb | 34-35 Great Sutton St