Broken Sound Music

Saturday marked the 5th birthday of one of our favourite labels – the immensely brilliant Transgressive Records. Responsible for some of my most overplayed albums, Transgressive are home to such greats as Foals, Jeremy Warmsley, Iron & Wine, The Young Knives…the list goes on. Birthday celebrations came in the form of an epic night at one of my favourite venues – Union Chapel. The love their artists have for them was clearly evident on the night. Tim & Toby have got it absolutely spot on. Happy birthday Transgressive.

One of the highlights of the night has to be the ever-expanding lineup of Mechanical Bride. I’ve caught them a few times now, but the Union Chapel certainly made for their finest setting yet. Opening song ‘Chapel’ totally set the scene, ethereal brilliance…

- Chris

Another highlight of the Transgressive night was delivered by the combined hands and mouths of Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit. His debut album A Larum was one of my favourite releases of 2008, and the fistful of new songs he played showed that there’s plenty more to look forward to in the future. The whole set was stunning, Brown Trout Blues stood out especially- absolutely love those lyrics…

- Chris

It’s just been highlighted by the brilliantly awesome Hanna that we’ve been pretty lame at updating this blog recently. Got me thinking of a fine soul who’s truly prolific when it comes to the written word – Anika – check out her incredible blog Anika In London, it’s a consistent source of truly stunning finds. Nuff props. She’s genuinely one of the most passionate & inspiring people I’ve met… lives, breathes, eats, drinks and swims in music. I’m almost amazed she doesn’t speak in song. See what I mean by catching her DJing tomorrow night at Moonshine Jamboree. I’m also excitedly awaiting the arrival of The Allotment – a new night by Anika and Lynn (from the absolutely perfect For Folks Sake). It launches October 7th at The Betsey Trotwood, and will no doubt be testament to the inspired ears at it’s helm.

Anyway, I’ve been lucky enough to tag along to a couple of gigs with Anika recently. A recent favourite being Brooklyn-based trio The Antlers. Their album “Hospice” was originally a self-released affair, and recorded at home – an epic achievement. They’re back in the UK from 25th November and are well worth a catch…

- Chris

The Antlers from jamesfeatherstone on Vimeo.