George Is Short For Georgina Apparently

In the absence of John Peel and Steve Lamacq, Radio 1 has felt increasingly pointless in the evenings. There is one glimmer of hope remaining though, in the form of Huw Stephens who partly fulfils the Peel remit of providing a forum to the type of lo-fi indie acts who wouldn’t get played anywhere else. As with Peel, you have to wade through a lot of crap to find the gems but it’s better than nothing and a million times better than Colin Murray playing theme tunes from TV programmes you liked when you were six.

Back in August, Huw started running a monthly band night at the Social on Little Portland Street to tie in with his radio show. artslondon haven’t been able to go down there yet, but the lineup for this month’s show on Thursday week may prove an allure too hard to resist.

George Pringle (see above) is half art school joke, half Black Box Recorder style genius. She also sounds unnervingly posh. She actually reminds us of Pulp spin off band Venini. The Guardian described her as “Shoegaze-pop, poetry and electronica”. Definitely worth having a look at. And headlining is Gideon Conn (see below) who may just be the most lo-fi alt-folk singer songwriter you’ll ever come across. Whch isn't a particularly complimentary way to describe someone but we're currently addicted to his myspace site and desperate to see him in the flesh.

The good thing about these nights is the opportunity to take a risk and see some new bands with the safety net provided by knowing they’ve been chosen by Mr. Stephens. It’s only £4, takes place in one of the West End’s cosiest venues and has to be better than staying at home and listening to this prick rap to himself for two hours. See you there.