If September and October (FKA autumn) has taught us anything, it is that global warming is in full swing. What with the warm summer days and mild nights we probably should have kept the slushie machine out! Since the world is quite obviously coming to an end you might as well spend what little time we have left enjoying some amazing bands. Here’s the best of November at the Lexington.
Merchandise
Wednesday 2nd November
Merchandise is a band fighting against the easy categorization reserved for abbreviated biographies. The project is equal parts punk misanthropy, maudlin balladeering, fine art, low humor, classical study, psychedelic spacecasing, mad science and pop genius.
Tickets: https://tickets.songkick.com/events/27277874
Nap Eyes
+ Robert Soleto + Lads
Monday 7th November
Hailing from Nova Scotia, Nap Eyes makes crooked, literate guitar pop refracted through the gray Halifax rain. Recorded live to tape with no overdubs, their songs are equal parts shambling and sophisticated, with one eye on the dirt and one trained on the starry firmament, inhabiting a skewed world where odes to NASA and the Earth’s magnetic field coexist easily with lyrics about insomnia and drinking too much.
Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/367833
Sarah Neufeld
+ Kristin Mcclement
Tuesday 8th November
Sarah Neufeld is a violinist and composer based in Montréal, Canada. Best known as a member of Arcade Fire, she is also a founding member of the acclaimed contemporary instrumental ensemble Bell Orchestre, and most recently as half of an exciting new duo with renowned saxophonist Colin Stetson.
Tickets: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/241341
Charlotte OC
Thursday 10th November
If the tremendously talented Banks made grandiose dance pop songs, they would sound an awful lot like the music of Charlotte OC, who has a similar flair for haunting melodies and insightful lyrics. “If my house was burning / Would you run or stay?” she asks during the lead track “If My House Was Burning,” which will either have you bouncing around, dancing with fervor, or render you perfectly still, following the lyrics closely. It especially reminds me of Florence + The Machine’s danceable tracks like “Dog Days Are Over” and “Shake It Out.” And it should come as no surprise that it’s killer: production was handled by Rich Cooper (Banks, Friends), Paul O’Duffy (Amy Winehouse) and Tim Anderson (Solange, Sia).
Tickets: http://www.ticketweb.co.uk/event/MSF10111
NOEP
Friday 11th November
A delicate and infectious blend of stripped back electronica and near harrowing pop work accompany Andres Kõpper for his debut strike for Sony, bringing a weird but wonderful fusion of worlds to the table that speak for an exciting example of blending genres and bringing new energy into the electronic dance space. Sitting somewhere between Beirut and Chromeo, NÖEP is an emotively charged musical force of the highest calibre.
Tickets: https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/noep-live
Horse Lords
Monday 14th November
Baltimore’s Horse Lords are a truly exciting rock band, fusing West African influences with avant-garde tendencies to create an exciting and powerful polyrhythmic sound, as heard on their latest and greatest record to date “Interventions”. Following in the steps of krautrock, jazz rock and post-punk greats, Horse Lords have found their own expressive musical language based on minimalistic structures and dense, whirling textures of instruments and electronics blurring together in fascinating ways.
Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/377189
M. Craft
+ Pavo Pavo + J. Bernardt
Tuesday 15th November
M. Craft – Following his third album Blood Moon, released to much acclaim earlier this year, Heavenly’s M.Craft completes the line-up for the final [PIAS] Nites event of the year. Having decamped to a log cabin on the edge of the Mojave desert, Craft discovered that isolation loves a soundtrack and Blood Moon is a score for seclusion. Inspired by witnessing the titular lunar event twice during his stint as a desert resident, the album propagated in a nearby Los Angeles studio, unstructured, experimental piano pieces evolved into the album once back in his desert setting. Occasionally echoing the ghost forms of Talk Talk’s peerless Laughing Stock and the hymnal beauty of Sufjan Steven’s Seven Swans, the music is mainly Craft’s own unique meditation.
Tickets: http://www.seetickets.com/event/pias-nites-m-craft-pavo-pavo-j-bernhardt/the-lexington/1036399
Into It. Over It – Playing Intersections and Standards in full
Wednesday 16th November
It comes alongside news that Weiss will be returning to the UK for another run of full-band shows following on from his hugely successful co-headline tour with the Hotelier in the spring of 2016. The autumn dates include continental appearances in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, before Weiss returns to the UK for a handful of dates that include a special treat for long-time fans. Across his three London shows, Weiss will be performing special curated sets covering the vast majority of his already bulging back catalogue, with nights including full performances of Standards, alongside its predecessors, Intersections and Proper, as well as an assortment of EPs and rare tracks. It’s a not-to-be-missed opportunity for fans to be reminded of just how much vital music he’s been behind over the past nigh-on decade, as well as a drool-inducing chance to catch those deep cuts you thought you might never see in the live setting.
Tickets: http://myticket.co.uk/artists/into-it-over-it
Into It. Over It – Playing Proper in full, with 12 Towns, 52, EPs and rarities
Thursday 17th November
It comes alongside news that Weiss will be returning to the UK for another run of full-band shows following on from his hugely successful co-headline tour with the Hotelier in the spring of 2016. The autumn dates include continental appearances in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, before Weiss returns to the UK for a handful of dates that include a special treat for long-time fans. Across his three London shows, Weiss will be performing special curated sets covering the vast majority of his already bulging back catalogue, with nights including full performances of Standards, alongside its predecessors, Intersections and Proper, as well as an assortment of EPs and rare tracks. It’s a not-to-be-missed opportunity for fans to be reminded of just how much vital music he’s been behind over the past nigh-on decade, as well as a drool-inducing chance to catch those deep cuts you thought you might never see in the live setting.
Tickets: http://myticket.co.uk/artists/into-it-over-it
Matthew and Me
Friday 18th November
Matthew and Me create alt-pop of a delicate nature, serene and intimate at times with an unnerving ability to enter the titanic and bold.
Tickets: https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/matthew-and-me
Stats
+ Park Hotel + La Roux (DJ)
Monday 21st November
London funk punks Stats and Park Hotel have put together a special Lexington show launching Stats’ debut album ‘Temping’. Elly Jackson of La Roux, who sang on Stats’ debut EP ‘Where Is The Money’, and whose song ‘Cruel Sexuality’ Stats remixed in turn, will be DJing rare disco.
“the slinky-sexy halfway point between Bowie, Talking Heads, early Duran Duran, and Clor” – Noisey
Stats are a minimal-maximal pop band of five people in London, led by Ed Seed (musician with La Roux, Dua Lipa). The band are launching ‘TEMPING’, a nine-song dance-punk debut LP, about private parties and ring roads and unwanted babies. Cassette tape albums with download codes will be sold exclusively at this night.
Tickets: https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/stats-park-hotel-la-roux-dj
Bat and Ball
Friday 25th November
The homecoming is marked by an enigmatic and surprisingly adventurous left turn on dynamic new cut ‘Cruel Cats’. This protean approach reveals a fresh and syncopated sound from the band, in all respects it’s an evolution. Choppy beats interact with bits of guitar, snaps and crashes of synths and twisting vocals. In every sense, it is an explosion of ideas and creativity. Bat and Ball come in heavy, and at any level this can easily be seen as risky, it’s not for the weak-hearted listener or faintly interested. While ‘Cruel Cats’ is a unique portrait of a band who are making music for their own wild amusement, not to fit into a box or a genre block.
Tickets: https://billetto.co.uk/bat-and-ball
Tellison
+ Doe + Grieving
Sunday 27th November
Tellison play an intimate show at the end of the year. Expect songs from new album “Hope Fading Nightly” as well as previous albums “The Wages of Fear” and “Contact! Contact!”.
Tickets: https://billetto.co.uk/en/events/86676