Heading out to Camden’s Electric Ballroom on Thursday for some tasty electro goodness, Sydney’s The Presets, didn’t disappoint. Delivering a storming set to a happy crowd, they demonstrated why they’ve been such an important part of the Modular Records driven Aussie-electro invasion of our dancefloors in recent years. The dance-punk duo consist of Julian Hamilton on vocals and keyboards, and Kim Moyes on drums and keyboards – you can never have too many keyboards......

Pirates and Vikings invaded London late last week for a triple bill of metal, mayhem and melee. It was time for us to cover ourselves with red paint and grab our plastic axes - Turisas, Norther and Alestorm were in town. What are the best Scottish exports - whisky, haggis, prime ministers? Nah, we say. The newest product of Scotland to hit London came in the form of Alestorm, a rowdy troupe playing what they have termed "true Scottish pirate metal" which really describes their sound to a T....

As much-loved venues like the Spitz and Hammersmith Palais closed their doors forever last year, we began to worry that the small gig would one day become an endangered species. One of our favourite things to do in this great city is to pack into a tiny, sweaty club and damage our hearing as much as possible before last orders. Without that in our lives... well, we'd probably be loads more productive with our......

Fed up of the froth, mirth and sentimentality of the Yuletide muzak yet? To bring you an antidote and alternative soundtrack for your Christmas holidays we caught up with the utterly charming Roi Robertson of Mechanical Cabaret over a sorbet and peppermint tea and ruminated on the band's latest single, pastoral London views and the fact that we've never seen him and Noel Fielding in the same room together... Who's in the band? I......

After a quick break travelling the US, this Londonista is back to normality bringing the weekly roundup of whats happening in London. Monday night sees Oakland metal stars High on Fire grace UL. Tickets are available for £12 each on the door or from See tickets. Reformed 90's Brit rockers Shed Seven grace Shepherds Bush Empire, with a few tickets left at £17.50 each, if you really must indulge your nostalgia. Finally, Scritti Politti plays......

Sometimes, Londonist stumbles across fantastic new bands by accident. (In this case getting drunk on wine playing video games.) We were introduced to Mitch. And now we're introducing Mitch to you. Meet Mitch. Who's in the band? Darren - Vocals, Guitars Jason - Guitars, Vocals James - Bass, Vocals Justin - Drums Whereabouts in London are you based and what's ace about it? Darren - We're based in all 4 corners of London -......

Experimental hardcore stars The Locust play The Underworld on Monday night. Tickets are £12 each, and still available for box office collection. Emo favourites Circa Survive play the Barfly, though tickets are long gone. The Ravonettes play Bush Hall for a sold out show, former Japan frontman David Sylvian plays Royal Festival Hall, with a smattering of tickets available at £37.50 each. John Mayer plays the first of two sold out nights at the Royal......

Following last year's inaugural success, the BBC Electric Proms return for a 2nd year from 24 - 28 October. Tickets go on sale today at 12pm and, given the calibre of the lineup, are expected to be snapped up in no time. The posher version of the Camden Crawl, the musical Leccy lineup is spread across Koko, Roundhouse, Barfly, Dingwalls, the Jazz Cafe and the Electric Ballroom, with relevant musical films taking place in......

Monday night sees mad Australians Architecture in Helsinki come to the capital to play Koko after a stop off at Bestival this weekend. Tickets are £12.50 each and still available for box office collection. Faithless play the first of two nights in the capital at Shepherds Bush before moving on to Brixton on Tuesday night, which is mostly sold out though there are some balcony seats left. KT Tunstall plays an instore at HMV on......

It seems that half the country (and Londonist staff) is on holiday at the moment. Still, here's the best of what's on musically across the capital this week.Jazz singer-songwriter Norah Jones  is the highlight of Bank Holiday Monday night, playing with M. Ward at Hammersmith Apollo. Tickets are sold out, however be sure to check out scarlet mist and other providers. Meanwhile hardcore punk stars Bane play Underworld, with £10 tickets available either on the......

Monday sees Portland, Oregon’s new indie-rock darlings The Thermals play Dingwalls with support from Siberia’s SonicFlyer. Tickets are still available from See Tickets at £8.50 each plus booking fees. Tellison play their “disarming melodies and big-hearted guitars” at the Camden Barfly, with support coming from Encyclopedia, The Xcerts and Gavin Osborn, with tickets only £6 each. Popular Canadian singer-songwriter Feist plays Scala on Tuesday night, though tickets are long gone unfortunately – Scarlet mist may......

Monday night sees Tom “Squarepusher” Jenkinson bring his experimental drum'n'bass with a heavy jazz fusion influence to Queen Elizabeth Hall in the Southbank Centre. Evan Parker supports, and this is sold out unfortunately, though be sure to check back for last minute availability or other sources. Lily Allen places her summer session at Somerset house, with support from Mark Ronson. Tickets are long gone, though Scarlet Mist may be useful for some. The Dykeenies bring......

A fair few new tours on sale today at 9am. Kaiser chiefs play Earls Court for their biggest show to date. They come to town on Friday 14th December. Rufus Wainwright tours again, playing the Hammersmith Apollo on Tuesday 30th October. Following their amazing Glastonbury set, The Go team play the Camden Electric Ballroom on Wednesday 12th September. Kate Nash comes to Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Tuesday 13th November, finishing a month and a half......

We've just been sent this: "To celebrate the release of his new album 'Memory Almost Full', Paul McCartney is playing a secret show tonight at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London. A limited number of free wristbands are available now at the venue box office on a first come, first served basis." Go! Go! Go! (and let us know if they've all gone!)......

Another exciting week of music in the capital coming up, with us here to give you the best guide through what's hot and what's not in the indie / pop scenes this week. Want a lazy way to spend your Bank Holiday Monday? Why not see Good Shoes at Morden Park bandstand? They're on at 2pm, and we previewed it earlier last week here. Later on Monday evening The Holloways play The Electric Ballroom......

We've been invaded, albeit willingly, by Vikings recently. Ah, that sounds a bit filthy. What we're trying to say is that London-based fans of Viking metal have been particularly well catered for recently, what with Ensiferum the other week and with Amon Amarth last Wednesday at the Islington Academy. Actually, the AA gig was more of a double bill as far as this Londonista was concerned; with Finntroll providing support, for once the non-headline......

This week One of our favourite London bands Boy Kill Boy release new single Civil Sin today, the third single to be taken from their debut album Civilian. To celebrate the band complete with their very straight hair and swoonworthy eyeliner will be performing at the new Fopp on Tottenham Court Road at 5.30pm on Tuesday Aug 1. Originally released last year on Fierce Panda, you can watch the new video online here which......

One of the many odd pleasures that Britpop threw up was the 12 piece pop orchestra, My Life Story. Six years after Jake Shillingford called it a day he has reassembled all 12 original members for a one off show at The Mean Fiddler on Friday 26th May, to coincide with the release of the band's forthcoming best of: Sex & Violins (with a memory jogging six number one singles). A damn fine live......

Time once again to cast an eye over this week's gig going highlights. Wednesday: If you haven't already been tempted by The Magic Numbers being nicer than is humanly possible at the Shepherd's Bush Empire or Hard Fi being T4 favourites at the Camden Electric Ballroom then why not check out the Tits of Death at the Vibe Bar, Truman Brewery, Brick Lane. Probably best not though if you're of a nervous disposition. Thursday:......

America are going crazy about them, but on this side of the pond we aren't too sure yet. Find out what all the hype is about as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah announce a UK Tour. An art rock band not a million miles away from Talking Heads, you can catch the Clap at their November 22 London date at ULU here (TK) The Fugees play the Hammersmith Apollo on 14th December playing live......

U2, Wirelss, Live 8, B-Live, Queen, REM it's not exactly been about the small shows recently. So the cockles were gently stoked when we finally saw the words intimate show again recently. First off was the news that Elbow are back in September on Tuesday 6th, the day after the release of their new album: Leaders Of The Free World. Guy Garvey may be the human looking equivalent of Droopy but the thought of......

Common sense prevailed today when Londonist's favourite mulletted-twat-punching Deputy Prime Minster John Prescott announced that the plans put forward by London Underground for redevelopment of Camden Town tube station (which would have meant the demolition of Camden Market and the Electric Ballroom) would be refused permission to go ahead. The decision follows an appeal by London Underground against Camden Council's eminently-sensible reaction to the plans in 2003. The report in the Evil Standard said......

The devastating news this week is that Vanilla Ice has had to cancel his gig with Wolfpac at the Electric Ballroom tomorrow night. To help you get over the blow here's a few other things which might just help fill the void. (We try not to list gigs when we know they're already sold out but if you think we should, please make use of the comments section.) Monday 29th Club:Hedonistic is a free band......