Photo: Erland and The Carnival
Music will fill the East London air on Thursday night for the second Brick Lane Takeover.
A wide range of musical talent will take the stage at seven of East London’s finest venues – The Brickhouse, Rough Trade, Vibe Bar, 93 Feet East, Cargo and Spitalfields Market – all around the Brick Lane area.
Kicking off from 5:30pm, continuing well into the small hours and curated by XFM disc jockey John Kennedy, the Brick Lane Takeover is designed to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Headlined by an unannounced ‘secret’ act, among those performing will be Three Trapped Tigers, serving up a hefty plate of jazz and classical-influenced electronica laden with wonderful glitches, cold IDM beats and flowing improvised piano. Their studio work is impressive and well-polished, but the outfit becomes an entirely different entity on-stage. As Mike Diver of the BBC wrote, ‘It’s music without fear.’
Erland and The Carnival will be making an appearance as well, bringing their weirdly wonderful music to the stage. At times reminiscent of psychedelic rock bands like The Flaming Lips, Erland Cooper and his lively bunch (featuring Simon Tong of The Verve/The Good The Bad The Queen) are more on the folky side with creaking organs, bright acoustic guitars and carnival-esque rhythms married to themes of folk tales and songs. Their astonishing self-titled record is an early contender for 2010 and rightly so.
Photo: Goldheart Assembly
Goldheart Assembly has gained much acclaim and praise for their sun-drenched tunes – their live performances are an absolute must-see. Compared to the likes of Fleet Foxes and The Low Anthem, the folk-tinged pop-meets-rock outfit sings cheerful melodies akin to Maritime and Sparkadia. Comfortably switching between sombre ballads and joyously upbeat radio pop, expect plentiful heaps of glistening guitars, uplifting pop choruses and crispy tambourines.
At the DJ venue Southampton-born DJ Format will be serving up hip hop from the 80s’ and 90s’ together with late 60s-early 70s rock, jazz and funk.
For the party-goers, crowd-pleasing DJ duo Blonde Ambition will be spinning their high-energy mixes, known for giving off that ‘hell yeah, it’s party time’ vibe.
Big beat legend Midfield General will be playing his signature ‘genre-thrashing’ work as well, covering a wide spectrum of dance music from drum ‘n bass to classic 4/4 house; as the owner of Skint Records (of Norman Cook a.k.a. Fat Boy Slim fame, among many others), this is one to watch out for.
Tickets are available for £20, exchangeable for wristbands on the day which will give access to all the venues.
Profits will go to Macmillan Cancer Support. Last year the event raised raised £20,000 and this year Macmillan aims to raise an incredible £35,000 to help improve the lives of people affected by cancer – find out more.
