Upcoming Gigs

Get The Blessing always put on a great show - I've probably seen them a dozen times or more since we started working with them here at AirMTM - but their album launch for 'Bugs In Amber' last Thursday at Cargo in Shoreditch was one of the best yet.

However, it wasn't just GTB supplying the treats - the crowd was introduced to a group from Brighton called John The Savage (www.myspace.com/johnthesavagemusic) who played the opening support slot. A wonderfully brooding mix of epic post-rock textures and swelling soundscapes, there are certainly some jazzy influences in their sound (shifting time signatures and chord structures) but it's obvious this quartet keep their ears open to a very wide range of music - Tortoise are a group that spring immediately to mind in terms of comparison, but I can only recommend that you check them out and make your own mind up. Keep 'em peeled for further John The Savage news in the future.

While John The Savage certainly proved a tough act to follow, Get The Blessing handled the challenge with ease. Their set included a few older favourites from 'All Is Yes' (closer 'That Ain't It' was a particular highlight), as well as a good helping of new material - this was an album launch after all - plus a few surprises. 'The Unnameable' was given an amazing revamp courtesy of live vocals from Tammy Payne - the tune had been a firm favourite on the road for several months and appears on 'Bugs' as an instrumental, but the lyrics gave a brilliant haunting edge to the track. If this is a direction the band are increasingly pursuing, based on this evidence it can only be a good thing - the lyrical version of 'The Unnameable' is up at the band's official website, www.gettheblessing.co.uk

The band are on tour for the next few weeks, with gigs coming up in Guildford, Glasgow, Birmingham and Swanage. Catch them if you can...