Ok so time for my regular round up of what I saw. so lets kick off with last Saturday with a rare and indeed very intimate show from one of Bristols most consistently brilliant song writers Gravenhurst. His show at the Thunderbolt was truly spellbinding reflection of a career that has seen him be picked up by Warp records and featured on a variety of film soundtracks with a set that spanned nearly 20 years of song writing. you could pretty much play a game of pick a duff song out his pack and I guarantee you would fail.

Support came from Sean Talbots new project, Landslide Purist which they had to play a largely improvised set due to equipment failure, but still they managed to have a beautiful air of Jan Tiersen  about his playing delicate melodies.

Opening up the night was the rather beautiful Faint Wild Light, the acoustic acid folk project James Ginzburg who is more renowned for his electro house mixes with the likes Empyset.

After the show I then ran down to Start the Bus to check sweet lofi indie poppers from Sweden Simian Ghost 

Sunday saw me head to the Louisiana for a bit of pure old indie pop goodness from London relative newcomers Shy Nature who delivered a briliantly crafted set fo pure indie pop. 

Support came from the kind of Strokes like but good sounding Aussies The Creases. 

It was pretty small crowd but in amongst the crowd I found myself dancing with Micheal from heaven 17 styled pop band MT, which was fun.

Monday saw the first of an absolutely incredible blizzard of gigs and a show that will live long in peoples memories, for it being a rare outing from super psychedelic glam stompers Atlanta’s Of Montreal. who played an absolutely heart stopping set at the Fleece. Who’s set started off really well and gradually grew into a an absolutely sublime psychedelic monstrous crescendo and rapid walls of noise drawing on the likes of Gram Parsons, Bowie and the Grateful Dead. Huge psychedelic projections lit up the stage, causing me to really freak out, I mean I found myself nearly crawling onstage to lick the singers feet.

Tuesday saw me back at the Louisiana to watch infectious power pop of Thumpers

Support came from the rather excellent young pop starlet Pawws

Wednesday saw me head down the Thekla to see Indies favourite Spiritualized / Lupine Howl tribute band and ex Jing Jang Jong people Toy, who I really enjoyed. Mind you I am a sucker for swirling guitars and chiming riffs.

support came in the form of Byrds styled 60’s psych pop of Propper Ornaments featuring Patric Doyle of Veronica Falls.

Because like most Thekla gigs it was over well before 10pm  I found myself wondering on over to Start The Bus to catch James Blake inspired lofi electro pop of Phoria.

Thursday was a show I had been looking forward to for most of this week at Start The Bus, a co headline show from Brighton’s Michael A Grammar and South Londoners Happyness. the arrival of Michael A Grammar to the live scene has been explosive and their debut ep has got to be one of the most impressive things I’ve heard so far this year, and tonight’s show was a real display of breath taking guitar riffing like Tame Impala before they became an Emerson Lake and Palmer tribute act, brilliantly fizzing despite the fact that they had been stuck in the tour van for the best part of 9 hours.

Happyness opted for a much more subtle Teenage Fanclub, Yo La Tengo style of indie.  

Opening up were local good guys Lets Kill Janice who had to play a shortened set due to everything running so late!

So Frday night is usually a big night for most people and so I went for a pretty big show at the Academy especially because Warpaint were playing. The 4 ladies from LA are one of the more interesting bands in contemporary music. atmospheric sound that was slightly ruined by the chattering of voices. If you are going to be down the front of a gig then please don’t ruin it for others by talking all the way through it.

support came from Liverpool’s brilliantly subtle dream pop outfit All We Are. 

Because of the early cerfew it meant i had plenty of times to head on over to Start The Bus and catch brilliant London industrial rave mentalists Gum Takes Tooth, even if it meant having to put up with the hilariously bad At The Heart Of It All, think like an electro version of Spinal Tap. I couldnt help but laugh.

Also on the bill were Jazzy post rockers Hymmel.

All in All a rather mammoth week!