American pop stars don’t venture to British shores all that often, and hardly ever to play tiny 250-capacity venues. We decided to check out the girl who, at the time of writing, has been at the top of the UK charts for 5 weeks with her single I Kissed A Girl. Perry has an obvious gift for performance, and this evening’s show is anything but dull. She struts and slithers her way across the......

We loved folk disco boy Rod Thomas a couple of years ago and we're still impressed with his songs which are just crying out for a mainstream release, particularly now in a world where Noah & The Whale can go top ten! Tonight he plays Water Rats as part of a triple headlining bill featuring the equally talented Sam Issac and James Yuill. Catch them for just £6 from 7pm.......

The New York university system seems to be doing well at the moment - first they turned out the amazing Vampire Weekend, and now Syracuse, New York, has turned out the brilliant Ra Ra Riot who played a headlining set at Monto Water Rats last night. Things got hot and sweaty as they ploughed through their 45 minute set in the tiny backroom, playing with so much energy you'd barely believe they've played a gig......

Good new girl groups are far and few between. While we may have loved Sugababes back in the day and Girls Aloud are still owners of our heart, for everyone of them there's also been a Clea, a Mania and a Frank. Now, more than ever since the time of Spice Power, new girl groups are trying to make it, with Red Blooded Women being one name in a long list. Put together by......

Foxy new girl group Red Blooded Women will be touting their wares tonight at Water Rats from 8pm. Continuing the 80s theme of the last 18 months, they're not afraid to be pop and mainstream, never more so in the Yazoo sampling 'Color Me Bad'. Download a megamix of their album for free here and if you like it come and join us on the dancefloor tonight. Tickets are £6 here.......

Like your pop music big, loud and bouncy? American #1 Katy Perry is coming to town for her first UK gig this September. Tickets have just gone on sale for the tiny Water Rats and we're pretty sure that once people clock on it'll sell out really quickly. Added to iTunes yesterday she could be looking at a UK #1 on Sunday with the trashy 'I Kissed A Girl'. Tickets are £7.50 here......

Love your Scandanavian synth pop as much as we do? Well get ready to squeal because Annie is back in town. If you were a fan of her 2005 album 'Anniemal', we're guessing you are probably a blogger, a Norweigan or a serious music head, because bugger all people bought it. Those of us who did have been waiting with baited breathe ever since and now she's back with new Xenomania / Richard X......

It's been a strange ol' week for Londonist music-wise. On Monday we got worried about a rise in nightclub violence, on Tuesday caught Goldfrapp at Union Chapel, on Wednesday caught Nick Cave at HMV and on Thursday got excited about a new-ish club night at Three Blind Mice. Looking ahead to this week however, Monday sees Panic At the Disco and Kate Nash play sold out shows at the Roundhouse and Hammersmith Apollo respectively, whilst......

This week saw Londonist get incredibly excited about a few live music events. First up, was French pop sensation Yelle, who played an intimate show at the Old Blue Last. Then, we had the Camden Crawl line up which, as ever, is pretty amazing for those of us who value music over sleep. Finally, Sally got (understandably) excited about The King Blues @ the 100 Club. Once we've come down from our excitement of last......

Talia has already covered the more common places to go dancing tomorrow night, but for a more alternative music New Years Eve, then wander over to Kings Cross’ Monto Water Rats to catch Brighton rockers Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster play a special New Years gig with support from Gingerbread Men, The Foxes and a few others. Alternatively, there are still a few tickets available for Super Fury Animals at Royal Festival Hall. The fun starts......

To be honest the rain and coldness is kind of making us not want to go to gigs at the moment, preferring instead to wrap ourselves up warmly at home. But if we did, this is what we'd be bouncing at. Monday: The biggie tomorrow is of course Led Zep at the O2, but you've more chance of meeting Santa than getting tickets for that. So instead, forget the dinosaurs and try something new......

Every so often we come across a band from overseas that we love. We listen to their album 100 times in a row and then check their live dates, only to discover their last UK date was about a week ago and there are no more planned. This happened a few months ago when we finally got round to listening to Thirteen Tales of Love And Revenge by The Pierces. The band is made up......

Tonight start the week by going to see massive Swedish popstar Marit Bergman at Hoxton Bar & Grill. She's playing a one off UK gig in an attempt to get signed in the UK. (£6, here. Former Hefner frontman Darren Hayman teams up with fledgling band The Wave Pictures at The Luminaire (£8, here). Plus the awesome Cold War Kids play Shepherd's Bush Empire. On Tuesday, German dance kids Digitalism are at the Scala......

As reported last week, Monday should see you going crazy to hear that one good song (are there others) by Peter Bjorn and John at the forum. More importantly make sure you get there in time to see support act Those Dancing Days. We caught them at Water Rats on Saturday and are pleased to report they combine cuteness and moodiness with alarming grace. The much loved Beirut play an instore at Rough Trade......

Some of our favourite Scandinavian bands are coming to the UK in the next couple of weeks and we thought you better know about them. First, the most mainstream, Robyn will play her first live dates since everyone woke up and realised she was actually amazing, at The Scala on Thursday. The gig is unsurprisingly sold out but there are tickets currently knocking about for face value on Scarlet Mist. The weekend is filled......

Kick off the week tomorrow with Stephen Fretwell at Cadogen Hall (£15). The singer songwriter is touring his 3rd album "Man On The Roof" and by all accounts it's pretty good. Or if you like your things with a bit more soul (or rubbish pop depending on your point of view) then the 'legend' that is Craig David begins the first of four dates at Ronnie Scott's (£25). The Mercury nominated one man dream-machine......

Editors start a three night residency at Brixton Academy on Monday (17.50, here) but the real treat has to be Reading's squelchy electro boys Does It Offend You Yeah? shuffling their stuff at Barfly. Campy London trio Palladium are at Madame JoJos (£7, here and dreamy Canadian shoegazers Stars play The Scala . The incredibly bouncy Operator Please have flown in from Australia on Tuesday to take part in the NME Freshers tour alongside The......

Just after seven, and we're arriving at the Monto Water Rats, rushed and slightly late having dashed across London, expecting to see an already performing Crispin Mills et al and a small crowd of appreciative and nostalgic thirty-somethings. Instead though, there's a sign announcing that the band wouldn't be playing for anoher two and a half hours. Having split just three years after their seminal record, K, in 1999, the various members of Kula......

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......

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 summer is officially over now (though it seems to have never properly arrived really…), and with that the early autumn tours start to make an appearance. First on Monday night are two bands that are playing at this weekend’s Connect festival, Modest Mouse and the Polyphonic Spree. American band Modest Mouse play the Forum, with standing tickets sold out, but still with seats available at £18.50 each. The Spree brings their triumphant show......

Remember those heady days back in the late 90’s when Feeder were good? 'Just a Day', 'Buck Rogers', stuff like that? Well, if you miss those brilliant pop-rock crossover tracks then look no further than Mute Math, a New Orleans fourpiece who manage to combine the pop-rock of Feeder with the strength and musicianship of Biffy Clyro into their live shows. Playing last night at Monto Water Rats, Mute Math were the last to......

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......

Bit of a slow week for live music with most larger bands travelling around Europe doing the festival thing. However, what better time to go and see a band you haven’t heard of – you might get a nice surprise! Monday night sees Dwarves bring their simple loud, yet nuanced punk repertoire to Monto Water Rats. Tickets are still available at £13 each.  If free things are of more interest, woman of the moment Kate......

Busy week across the capital as tours come to a close and album-preview shows take a hold. Interpol play a one off show on Monday night at the Astoria, with support coming from the wonderful Maccabees. As you can expect, this one’s been sold out since XFM announced it a few weeks ago. Bournemouth based Air Traffic play ULU, with Jacob Golden and The Sonic Hearts as supports. Tickets at £10 a pop are still......

Busy week for music as bands start to warm up for the massive festival known as Glastonbury next weekend. Monday night sees Pearl Jam grace Wembley Arena, with support coming more than ably from the brilliant Idlewild. Tickets are sold out; however as always check for a last minute allocation or Scarlet Mist for a fair deal. Doors are at 6pm. Everyone’s favourite Liverpudlians The Coral grace the Astoria as a warm up for Glastonbury,......

The Water Rats Theatre kick started last week for Londonist with some stunning vocalist and singer/songwriter performances ranging from the unsigned to the recently signed. First to the stage were My Last Mistake, whose vocals provided by Leah Newcombe absolutely blew us away. Leah hails from Kent and is slightly reminiscent of Shirley Manson in her appearance. With a beautifully dark and mellow voice she's accompanied by Richard Norton on second guitar and also......

Protest: Where do you stand on the great lads mags debate? This is a perfect week to take sides - or at least engage in some spirited argument, because back-bench MP Claire Curtis-Thomas is kicking off a debate in Parliament about whether lads mags and newspapers such as the Sport should be classed as pornography. Meanwhile, Object will be holding a protest outside Parliament on Tuesday 27th June, and distributing 'porn flakes' to passers-by......

Just as we were thinking the festival calendar was full along come those MySpace folks announcing MyFestival. If you haven't encountered MySpace before then you're probably not reading this, but just in case the offical blurb goes:MySpace.com is the premier lifestyle portal for networking online. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music, film, photos, classified listings, events, groups, chatrooms, and user forums, MySpace has created a globally connected community where users put......

It's been a good year for guitar pop bands and a good year for the folk and anti-folk scenes. So how did the Londonist music dungeon find itself rediscovering the joys of good heavy thrashing noise somewhere between Maximo Park and Sufjan Stevens? No idea, but it's been fun being pumelled by the likes of TODD, Part Chimp, Motorhead and Dinosaur Jr this year. One band we haven't managed to catch up with yet......