First gig of the year brings us to what is becoming one of our most regular and favorite gig venues in London - The Lexington on Pentonville Road. With its well stocked bar (40 different types of bourbon, Camden Pale Ale on tap) and decent food you could happily spend all evening downstairs, however we were there for the music. So after a few rounds the seven of us (it had turned into a bit of a gathering) moved upstairs for the gig (which was an extremely reasonably priced £6 per ticket).
Woman's Hour were up first - a four piece with a female singer, two guitars and a bass - with no drummer they used a drum machine for their beats. Having heard nothing of the beforehand I have to say that they were pretty excellent - certainly one of the best supports I've seen for a while. Sounding quite a bit like The XX, but also with hints of The Cocteau Twins , they easily held our attention throughout their set - definitely a band you should check out.
For Trailer Trash Tracys this was an album launch gig, as their debut release 'Ester' came out on Monday. Another four piece also with a female vocalist, they did however, have a real drummer, who at times also used electronics.
The songs from the album came over really strongly live, especially 'Wish You Were Red' and 'Candy Girl', although the set did lose a bit of momentum as it went on. I thought they'd finished without playing one of my favorites, but they quickly returned to play what was apparently their first ever encore, a great version of 'Dies in 55'.
Overall a really good night out, and I'm sure you'll hear more about both of these bands as 2012 gets older.
Russell
