Forthcoming Live Shows by A Little Orchestra

Sunday 13 February – London

The Loves Retirement Party @ The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JB

The Loves + Comet Gain + The School + The Lovely Eggs + The Vinyl Stitches + Pocketbooks + + Micktravis + The Werewandas + DJs Paul Wright (Track & Field) + Dan Maier (13th Floor)

Tickets are £8.50 from We Got Tickets and more details are also available on Facebook

After eleven years as everyone's favourite rock'n'roll rah rah band, The Loves are withdrawing from active service - and celebrating the receipt of their metaphorical gold watch with a fine show off. For this, their last ever performance, they will be joined on stage by Claire, Jill, Matt, Nat and Rosie, the string section from A Little Orchestra.

Saturday 19 March – London

Save Our Libraries @ Nettlefold Hall, West Norwood Library, 1-5 Norwood High Street, SE27 9JX

Darren Hayman, Horowitz, Leaf Library, The Give it Ups, A Little Orchestra, Pete Green, A Fine Day for Sailing.

DJs: Scared to Dance and Big Pink Cake.

In protest against proposed cuts to over 1000 local libraries across the UK (including Lambeth's finest), A Little Orchestra will be performing a typically eclectic mix in the time honoured tradition of The Portsmouth Sinfonia and the Boston Pops, joined on guest vocals by a variety of illustrious friends.

Ticket details will be announced soon.

If you would like more information on A Little Orchestra, or might be interested in joining us, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

A January Song: Darren Hayman with Monster Bobby

Throughout January, singer-songwriter Darren Hayman, formerly of Hefner, latterly of The Secondary Modern, has been writing a song a day and charting his progress on a specially constructed Tumblr blog, replete with embedded SoundCloud widgets and video diaries.

Along the way, he has been soliciting collaborations from friends and acquaintances; amongst them people I'm friends with, such as Elizabeth from Allo Darlin' (here, singing Darren's song for January 10th, 'I Know I Fucked Up'), and some people I hold in very high esteem, such as Higsons founder member and occasional Tom Waits/Robyn Hitchcock/Lydia Lunch collaborator, Terry Edwards (here, performing on January 8th's 'Old Man Hands').

What with this being exactly the kind of project that has always appealed to me, I decided to volunteer my humble assistance - albeit at a distance. And so, you wont find me hiding amongst the trains in the video below for yesterday's January song - a wistful paean to the Epping Ongar Railway entitled 'I Want to be a Volunteer' - but you will hear my trembling electronic soundscapes swelling up amidst the choruses and ebbing with the coda.

Follow Mr. Hayman's progress on Tumblr, download the songs from SoundCloud, and then - why not? - subsequently buy them all anyway on BandCamp.

I Want To Be A Volunteer from Darren Hayman on Vimeo.

Monster Bobby Live in London

Reprobate WIG night (Dublin Castle and the X Kings) migrates south of the river, whilst Brighton's Murderdisco (The Hope) roams north for a scuffle beneath the Shard at London Bridge’s The Miller.

Live music from…

Monster Bobby

Mastermind of the Pipettes and “musical Swiss army knife” (Artrocker); Monster Bobby is paying The Miller a very special visit from Paris.

Evans the Death
“Lovely, graceful and sharp” (Artrocker); Evans the Death betray their youthfulness for sophisticated and seductive indie.


Warband
Electro/indie/pop from the three corners of the UK


Yeah and She has Red Lips Too
“Dark and twisted Lynchian atmosphere of the painting from which their name originates” (Canadian Music Week, Toronto)


DJ-ing from DJ Wig (WIG), Gatsby, GGDLUX and Creepy Tennis (Murderdisco)

£5 or £4 concessions
6.45 pm; first band 7 pm
Thai food served in the main bar

Tell the Big Other you will be coming.

In C, live at the George Tavern

On December 5th, 2010, A Little Orchestra brought some friends together to perform Terry Riley's 'In C' for a second time, this time at the historic George Tavern in east London. The line-up on this occasion was: Alex Billig (bassoon); Dan Cameron (tabla); Catherine Carr (flute); Chris Cook (sitar); Nat Davies (violin); Jill Faure (viola); Rosie French (violin); Claire Hadidjenar (violin); Jon Ludvig Hansen (mandolin); Robbie Knight (synth); Chun-Ming Celia Lu (Vocals); Richard Sanderson (accordion); Nicola Burnett Smith (bass clarinet); Gabriel Stebbing (cello); Terry T-Toe (trombone); Matthew Walker (violin); Jerry Wigens (guitar); and Monster Bobby (the pulse, played on glockenspiel). The full recording can be downloaded here.

In c live at the george, 5 12 2010