Upcoming Gig: Broken Bells at Royal Festival Hall as part of Richard Thompson’s Meltdown

As part of Richard Thompson’s Meltdown Festival Broken Bells will play a very special Royal Festival Hall show. Broken Bells are superstar producer Brian Burton, and James Mercer, acclaimed songwriter in Albuquerque indie rock band The Shins.

Mercer and his band achieved international success with three albums of hook-laden literate songcraft, receiving little less than cinematic eulogy in Zach Braff’s 2004 indie hit Garden State. Burton has been the often hidden hand behind some of the decade’s most important records, initially attracting the attention of the blogosphere and some high-priced lawyers with 2004’s The Grey Album a track for track mix of The Beatles White Album with Jay-Z’s The Black Album, Burton went on to produce Gorillaz’ hugely successful second record Demon Days and Beck’s acclaimed Modern Guilt. As a performer Burton is one half on electronic gospel-soul duo Gnarls Barkley whose huge 2006 hit ‘Crazy’ was the soundtrack of the mid-noughties, in recent years Burton has collaborated on musical and multimedia projects with the likes of MF DOOM, Banksy, Sparklehorse and David Lynch.

The High Road (Live in Session)

Free Mp3 Download of single ‘The High Road’

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With the pair’s second album reportedly already in the works, we may well get a taste of this new material at what will be only the band’s second ever UK show this June at Meltdown.

Book tickets for Broken Bells live at Royal Festival Hall this June as part of Richard Thompson’s Meltdown

Upcoming Gig: Nigel Kennedy’s World Cup Project

This Bank Holiday weekend, Nigel Kennedy’s Polish Weekend bring a festival of Polish culture to Southbank Centre. Spanning everything from Highlander Punk Pop from Zakopower to Jazz reworkings of Chopin from Nigel Kennedy’s specially assembled supergroup. They’ll also be plenty of traditional Polish cooking courteousy of Polskie Jadlo, Nigel’s eatery of choice in Krakow.

With World Cup fever already in the air Nigel has something a bit unusual planned for Sunday evening, he’s putting on a FREE screening of the epic 1973 England vs. Poland match to which he and a hand-picked band of Polish musicians will be improvising a live jazz soundtrack!

Find out more about Nigel Kennedy’s World Cup Project and all the weekend’s activities here.

‘I am really excited about this concert – this is a different type of night, but it perfectly represents what the whole festival is about, which is bringing Polish culture into England. There’s a similarity between music and football in that football brings a lot of people together and music is obviously designed expressly for that purpose. They are also both shared pursuits across all nations.’ – Nigel Kennedy

Post Show: Basquiat Strings + Olivia Chaney at the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre

An intimate show of string-lead dark jazz from Basquiat Strings with support from harmonium wielding folk singer Olivia Chaney.

Post Show: José González with support from Tom Kerstens’ G Plus Ensemble at Royal Festival Hall

Photography: Jason Williamson

The softly spoken and softly-sung Swedish songwriter José González proved a fitting headliner for London Guitar Festival, González’ deft fingerstyle playing ably blending Bossa with European folk styles.

Post Show: Joanna Newsom with special guest Roy Harper at Royal Festival Hall

Photography: Philip Ryalls

Over two unforgettable sold out nights at Royal Festival Hall Joanna Newsom kept the audience spellbound as she played material from 2010 triple-album Have One On Me as well as old favourites ‘Peach, Plum, Pear’ and ‘The Book of Right On’.

Support came from English folk legend Roy Harper personally coaxed to pick up his guitar once more after two years of retirement by Newsom.

Reviews

The lively arrangements have an exhilarating quality that still delivers a delicious shiver. – Holly Williams, The Independent

Coming soon, a slice of Brazil on the southbank

Bringing the vibrant, dynamic culture of contemporary Brazil to the heart of London, Festival Brazil at Southbank Centre will celebrate the country’s rich cultural heritage – including music, visual arts, dance, literature, debates and food.

Performers will include cultural icon Maria Bethânia, superstar singer song-writer Gilberto Gil, the legendary psychedelic rock band Os Mutantes and tropicália star Tom Zé. And look out for the many free performances that take over the Southbank Centre site during the Festival.

View all Festival Brazil events here

Check out the Festival Brazil vid for a taster of what’s to come…