I’ll be brutally honest, posh places kind of scare me. I don’t know if it’s some ingrained worry of not belonging or standing out or something but there’s always this nagging worry in the back of my head any time I go anywhere the drinks are more than £5 that someone in a black tie is going to politely escort me from the premises.

Therefore, alarm bells are already ringing as I step into the cavernous lobby of Andaz’s monolithic Bishopgate Hotel. Overwhelmed by the sharp-lines and ultra-modern art, just walking through the door has my pulse going into overdrive, so as I scan the room looking for a desk, a well dressed, black suited individual walks up to me and offers the usual ‘can I help you?’ line. “errmmm I’m looking for the tour of the hotel” I fluster, panicking that I’ve just walked into Morgan and Stanley by mistake. “Oh they’re over there” the usher points out helpfully, gesturing towards a group of group of media types sipping wine. I slyly shuffle off.

As disconcerting as it sounds, that’s the Andaz concept. Rather than going for the usual hotel service of desk, room service and offices, they want their guests to feel like you’re spending some time round your rich mate’s from uni house. Want a orange juice with breakfast? No problem, help yourself from the fridge. Whilst the laid back atmosphere is actually refreshing when you get used to it, to start with the whole free-form aspect of the service is a little off-putting, simply because it seems weird to talk to a dude standing in front of a bar full of spirits rather than over it.

After the usual pleasantries, we’re quickly whizzed off on a tour of the facilities. Like most places built at the turn of the century, the old Great Eastern hotel definitely has it’s quirks. As well as the newly redesigned welcoming atrium, and stair cases that wouldn’t feel out of place in the British museum, almost every room is an awesome example of art deco design, from the grand old ballroom turned high-class restaurant to the impressively chic revolving doors that greet you on the way in.

However, the fact that they have a secret Mason’s Lodge really takes the biscuit. Allegedly discovered by workmen repairing some fittings, it’s literally one of the most impressive rooms I’ve ever been in. Decked out with flag-stoned floors and beautiful carved furniture, it has become the destination venue to destroy all destination venues, hosting fashion shoots, celeb parties and everything in between. ‘We had Lady Gaga hanging from the ceiling the other week’ offers our guide – I suppose the Lodge members didn’t mind.

Following a whistle-top tour around some smart if fairly normal looking hotel rooms, we’re taken downstairs to be shown round Andaz’s dining establishments. The phrase ‘something for everyone’ is bandied about quite a lot in these sort of reviews, but in this case it’s totally applicable. Let’s see, you’ve got a gourmet coffee bar, old English pub showing the Arsenal match, and Sushi restaurant, and that’s not even taking in the Hotel’s 3 lounges and bars.

To start off with, we’re taken to the Champagne bar for sushi and a none-too shabby martini, before we’re taken round elegant 70-seat fish restaurant for the first two courses of the evening.  The food is predictably delicious, but what’s most impressive is the fact that despite it being one of the classiest establishments I’ve ever been too, it still manages to achieve a relaxed and friendly kind of vibe, where nothing seems to be too much trouble.

By the time we’re moved into Andaz’s signature 1901 Restaurant, I’m really getting into the swing of things. Unlike my fellow bloggers, I’m not and don’t pretend to be any expert on the wine and cheeses that were offered to us, but the sommelier’s, bar men and staff are always ready to help and put you at ease. By the time we’ve battled through 3 cheese boards and  several bottles of sherry, wine and port, I’m happy to say I haven’t been this well looked after since I was last round my grandma’s house. The food is superb, but the service is spectacular.

For all it’s good points, it’s worth remembering that Andaz is a City hotel, and is firmly aimed at City types, so don’t expect much change from £1500 if you’re looking to stay a few days. Then again for the feeling the sheer exhilarating welcome and the general feeling of appreciation you get from that rare experience of feeling like you’re a worthy, valued customer, then perhaps it’s worth it.

For more information, check out Andaz’s website.

With the music industry and London alone, overflowing with indie bands, standing out in the market is increasingly difficult to do. PIPES manage to carve out some space with their razor sharp riffs and melodies tucked into 2 minute rock delights. Sounding like a pack of rampant dogs let loose into the wild, PIPES won’t let you stop for a minute, endlessly pounding your head with rapid vocals and thundering drums.

The band has a host of upcoming gigs in the London area as they plan to add a bit of excitement to your summer. Expect an energetic live show as the trio storm through songs such as Mother and D.I.C.K bringing anger but also a sophistication to the hardcore punk scene. Catch them while you can and enjoy the ride.

Tim Thackray

PIPES play Dirty Money at the Stag’s Head on Saturday.

http://www.myspace.com/pipestheband

The band’s driving force is channelled from the energy of front man Rob Howe whose wonderful voice propels the bands upbeat refrains to another level providing a controlling force within the urgent synth-rock. Having already made a name for themselves in the North East and a famous fan in Michael Eavis, Polarsets have won a place to play at the celebrated Wickerman Festival this summer and seem destined to live up to the hype.

http://www.myspace.com/polarsets

Tim Thackray

Our intrepid Music Editor Dominic Haley give us the inside scoop on his final slice of Americana…

Saturday 20 March: Austin, Texas

After four nights of constant booze, Saturday opens with an almighty thunderstorm, and thanks to the mixture of coffee and rum I was necking the night before, one of the weirdest hangovers I’ve ever had. It feels like a caffeine crash and a rotten drink-inflicted headache all at the same time.

To add insult to injury, the weather has changed from blazing sunshine of the past week, to a freezing, almost UK-like grey day that I was totally not expecting. Having not packed a winter coat and finding that all of the jackets in the local thrift stores have skyrocketed in price since yesterday, I put on what feels like all of my clothes to brave the elements.

What I need is more coffee – so heading out to the Spiderhouse yet again, it’s not long before I’m sat outside drinking a cup of sweet black goop and trying to put my head back together in the freezing Texan wind. Luckily, Sacred Bones Records are also at the venue presenting New York Night Train’s 5th Annual Unofficial Hoodang. I spend the next few hours drinking black coffee, eating $1 tacos and watching weird, DIY psych- bands like Eternal Tapestry, Street Cars and Golden Triangle.  After watching an impressive set from LA based shitgazers Dum Dum Girls, I decide that I’ve recovered enough for a trip down town.

Now, this being the last day of SXSW, and the only day of the festival that occurs on a weekend, central Austin is rammed to the extent that the whole of 6th street feels like a cross between the Camden Crawl and a busy day at Grand Central Station.  Walking around the streets with the aim of soaking in as much as I can, I manage to laugh my way through a set from ancient pop punks Sum 41 at a Vans showcase on Red River and see a bizarre performance from a blindfolded rapper who incorporated objects handed to him from members of the crowd into his rhymes. Finding myself in need of a beer, I stopped into Beerland and managed to catch a set from Ty Segall, who have to be one of the stand-out bands at this year’s festival.

I find myself with a few hours to spend before any of the official showcases start, so head down to the Conference Centre and find it to be the exact opposite of 6th Street, there’s hardly anyone around. Finding myself at a loose end, I walk back to Brush Park where the Canadian Blast showcase has been all week, and  find it replaced with a well polished Chop Shop/Atlantic Records party. Here, I manage to catch sets from highly tipped theatrical popsters Marina and The Diamonds, friendly if slightly throw away folk singer songwriter Robert Francis, and the swirling, sea-shanty-esque folk of Fanfarlo, who were particularly impressive.

With 8 o’clock approaching, I walk over to where Panache Booking is ending 2010’s festival in style with a massive showcase that seems to have good bands coming out of every available orifice. Starting off with a spot of dreamy indie pop from The Sandwitches, who are surely contenders in this years ‘Cutest Band in San Francisco’ competition,  I’m then treated to an amazing show from Memphis surf-rockers Turbo Fruits who end their set with former Be Your Own Pet guitarist Jonas Style, hanging from the rafters, shredding a cover of Link Ray’s ‘Rumble’. It just gets better from there really, with John Dwyer project Thee Oh Sees clocking in a brilliant set, Surfer Blood sounding more muscular than usual, and post-Blood Brothers art-punk project Past Lives playing a strange, but interesting set.

All good things come to an end, right, and after wandering around half of downtown Austin looking for a rumoured Snoop Dog performance, I decide that with a ludicrously early flight in the morning, going back to the ranch for a half-decent night sleep will be my first sensible act in 4 days.

As SXSW experiences go, this one has probably ticked all the boxes – 4 days of excellent music, bar tabs filled with Lone Star, numerous margaritas and Petron, bizarre conversations with many Americans and a few lost Londoners and a feeling that I’m not exactly real any more.

All that’s left to do is to thank Mallory for the sofa bed, Lovvers and various other people for the rides and Austin for just being awesome – thanks guys, can’t wait ‘til next year!

Now it’s time for the second instalment of Dom’s manic visit to our friends across the pond…

Friday 19 March: Austin, Texas

Let’s be honest, after all of the weird underground shenanigans and record shop beat downs of Thursday, Friday is going to have to pull something pretty spectacular out of its hat to top what has already been an impossibly good couple of days.

Kicking off with a trip downtown, the official showcase from The XX doesn’t bode well for the rest of the day.  Playing what seems to be a massive hay barn, the band’s sound comes across hideously weak, so that by the time they heave their way into their last song, our interest has been lost amongst the tunelessly echoing guitars and the pipsqueak drums.

Fortunately it gets better from there. After hooking up with a couple of Londoners, I head up to Manor Road on the East end of the city where we catch the tail end of The Smith Westerns at the MFL showcase at a lovely little slice of Americana called Red House Pizzeria. From there, we pile into a van and head back into central Austin to hook up with Lovvers again, who are playing a swanky roof top party sponsored by US music magazine Beyond Race.

After seeing the guys lay down another epic half-hour of messy garage rock, we are treated to the sight of New York hip hop artist Esso attempt to perform his new single through the previous bands reverb unit – making for one of the weirdest rap experiences I’ve ever had. It takes a bit of puzzling to get it sorted, but once the sound is fixed the Harlem native flows through a couple of tracks from his new album, and whilst I confess I’m not the biggest fan of rap, he seems pretty decent, and no doubt he’ll soon be coming to a Rihanna/Beyonce record near you.

After all that, we walk back to the East side of town, where the best of LA’s Smell scene is playing a outdoor party down at Union Park. For those of you that don’t know it, The Smell is a venue in LA that has been sort of like ground zero for the city’s revived music scene in the last couple of years. Whilst being a bit shabby and run-down, it has helped launch bands like No Age, Abe Vigoda, Vivian Girls and the Mae Shi to NME kudos and sold out shows at the Scala, so I’m kind of expecting big things here.

Almost straight away The Beets lure us in with a set of happily upbeat 60s pop, and I catch Sun Araw and Bleeker and the Freaks before my thirst gets the better of me and I sneak round back for a couple of cheeky rum and coffee liquors that some people are inexplicably giving away. After treating myself, I half watch The Mantles and an inventive performance from Happy Birthday that I wished I’d payed a bit more attention to, then I’m back with it to see lo-fi punks Nodzzz pump out an impressive set of understated awesomeness.

Followed by a performance from experimental folk act Woods, the sun has set and another chilly Austin night is well under way by the time the Vivian Girls take the stage to play a packed out car park, that has been made all the more surreal by the fairy lights hung liberally from nearby trees, lampposts and portaloos. Playing their trademark indie/punk/shoegaze hybrid that sounds like the Shang ri Las, The Ramones and The Jesus and Mary Chain all at the same time, they seem to cast a level 9 hypnosis spell on the whole evening, so that by the time they finished, we’re all astounded to find out that it’s almost 1am in the morning – meaning that there’s only one hour of official partying left!

Balls. Realising we’re too far from anything good, we stay sat in the back stage area  sinking a couple more rum and assorted fruit smoothie concoctions, before heading out into the night with the promises of bridge parties and house parties ringing in our ears. Disappointingly (and perhaps understandably) these all turn out to be bogus, so with a heavy heart and heavier limbs we head back to Guadalupe and home. Oh well there’s always tomorrow right?

I’m sure you know by now that Spoonfed had quite a presence at SXSW Interactive Festival this year, but to outdone, our intrepid Music Editor Dom Haley boozed and cruised his way around Texas to find the hottest new acts that will be shaking up the international music scene in 2010.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin.

Wednesday 17 March: Austin, Texas

The saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions never rings more true than at a festival. I had some big aims for my first proper day at SXSW; hang out with cute Texan girls,  eat a burrito and  maybe catch Thee Vicars, Lovvers, Abe Vigoda and Strange Boys. Needless to say I failed on all counts.

Waking up jet-lagged and later than I would of liked, I headed down town to get acquainted with the place, grab some free beer from the conference centre and generally see what’s up. With nothing due to start for a few hours, Alex and I headed over to Jamie’s Spanish Bar (pronounced Haimay’s) for what we had been told were the best margaritas in town. Grabbing a couple of $6 cocktails, we took a seat in the shady patio area to enjoy one of the more unique non-official showcases SXSW has to offer – The Beatles Ukulele project. Originally from the cool cafe-bars of Brooklyn, this mad-cap scheme is basically an attempt to play the whole of the Beatles back-catalogue over a 2-day period using a ukulele player, a cover band called ‘The Eggmen’ and a revolving draft of some of the festival’s many performers and famous faces. As an introduction to live music in Austin, it’ll take some beating.

After sinking a couple more margaritas, we’re starting to feel the pangs of hunger, so after saying our goodbyes, we head round the corner to Brush Park where our friends Canadian Blast are holding their 6th annual BBQ with free food, free beer for us press types and some of the best bands from the Northern frontier. Alas, we arrive a bit too late for the food, but we’re handed a couple of cans of Lonestar and a kick-ass view of You Say Party, We Say Die as they wrestle through a set of theatrical chamber pop.

It’s OK, but we’re still hungry. So sucking up our last ounces of strength we head down to the arse-end of 6th street to a place called Death Metal Pizza, with the idea that a place called Death Metal Pizza can’t fail to be awesome. Pitching up just in time to grab a couple of slices of $3 pizza from a bunch of stoners listening to Slayer, we head out to the garden-come-stage area to watch a band called Restavaunt play a set of ball busting blues rock. Featuring a guy from a David Lynch movie on guitar accompanied by a maniac banging license plates whilst wearing a Ke$ha t-shirt, they have to win the prize for weirdest band of the day.

After meeting up with the rest of the people we were staying with, it’s decided that now is the right time to hit the town proper. We visit The Beauty Bar first, where we spend a couple of hours drinking petron and watching Munch Munch and Jeremy Jay before stumbling through town to see Londoners Fake Blood and Annie Mac throw down glitchy electro with a bunch of drunken Americans doing this strange running on the spot dance. I swear to God, at one point I thought that I had been transported back to a Wednesday night chug-a-thon at Catch, but that might just have been the tequila talking.

Thursday 18 March: Austin, Texas

The Spider House bar is right down the street from the house we are staying, and like everything else in Austin it’s a weird place. One part coffee house, one part biker bar and one part art project, it’s hosting BrooklynVegan’s Day Party today, and seems like the perfect place to sip Mexican beer, nurse our hang-overs and watch bad-ass experimental psychedelia and indie bands. After watching sets from The Beets, Lovvers and Golden Triangle, we’re suitable warmed up for another day of mischief in Texas.

Since I didn’t get round to watching anybody I’d wanted to see yesterday, I decided it wasn’t really worth making any concrete plans and it was better to take things as they come. Cramming myself into Lovvers’ tour van, we head down to the centre of town and first stop was to catch a hardcore band called Total Abuse  make a noise that it somewhere between Born Against and Modern Life Is War at a local library based showcase. Next, we head back to Jamie’s Spanish Bar to watch Ben Kweller romp the Beatles Ukulele show home.

Emerging back onto Red River, I start to walk towards the conference centre for a free beer, but walk straight into an impromptu Fucked Up show outside of Beerland instead. I have to admit that Fucked Up have become something of a parody of themselves in recent times, with a knack of replacing the gut punching hardcore and shredding guitars I used to love with too many in-jokes and stupid covers, and they seem to have reached new lows by the looks of this shambles of a gig, with the guys not even completing one song with out someone messing up. But the whole novelty of seeing a hardcore band play to a bunch of people in a city street more than makes up for the shoddy performance, and by the time they’re fumbling through a cover of the Sex Pistol’s ‘Bodies’, I’m at the front singing along.

Lacking an official SXSW pass means that I’m pretty much stuck to unofficial showcases, which whilst usually being the most fun also normally mean the most travelling around. Hitching a ride with Posy who runs those awesome ‘I Heart’ nights at The Macbeth, we head up the road out of town to the Burger Record showcase at TrailerSpace records. Perched on a hill over-looking Austin and situated between a pizza joint and an liquor store, this place has to be seen to be believed – and we spend the next couple of hours drinking fizzy US beer in between watching amazing sets from Devon Williams, Ty Segall and Wild America and watching the spring sun sink slowly over Austin.

The band of the day has to be Audacity, who played one of the most energetic, craziest and down-right most exciting shows I’ve seen in a good long time. Starting off to the strains of a drunken man banging beer cans together whilst chanting ‘go back to Brooklyn’ to a depressed-looking band called White Wires who have just been kicked off the stage to make way for these guys, they proceed to play a set of fast loose garage rock to a room of flailing limbs and smiling faces. At one point one of the indie kids who had come to see White Wires tries to rush the stage, but it’s all laughed off in typical easy-going American style, and as one guy told the band after the show ‘ when that guy did that, it only made you guys seem better’.

To be continued…

Boy have we got a treat for you today, and it comes in the synth-ridden form of Icelandic electro band FM Belfast. Okay, so their arrival to the music scene may not be hot off the press (having been around for a couple of years), but these kids are definitely worth bringing out into the open.

They play solid down tempo electro, and have knocked out a few decidedly interesting covers on their album ‘How To Make Friends’. Now maybe it’s just me, but you have got to be either incredibly brave or incredibly arrogant if you decide to cover Rage’s ‘Killing In The Name Of’; yet these guys have completely transformed the tune into a barely recognisable indie-electro anthem.

It seems there is nothing these bow-tie sporting guys can’t do, as they record, master and mix all their music themselves, and even create their own album artwork. Lucky for you, what started as an exclusively studio band soon developed into a live act. Catch them at the Hoxton Bar & Grill on March 2nd. See you there.

Washed Out is the solo work of one Ernest Green, a young guy from Georgia who makes bedroom synthpop that sounds like the sparse, distant electro pop of ’80s pioneers Visage combined with the melodic Balearic beats that you hear pumping out of bars in down-town Marbella.

It’s a formula that shouldn’t really work, but somehow comes across like the most amazing thing we’ve heard since Crocodiles. Strange, disjointed and actually quite mournful, it ain’t the kind of stuff you can wave you hands around to, but it is the perfect soundtrack for sitting on your Ferrari Testarossa and just staring out to sea.

http://www.myspace.com/thebabeinthewoods

A three-piece from the flourishing DIY scene in Dalston, Male Bonding have become something of a fixture on the North London warehouse scene ever since they ripped up that insane house party thing called Rage in 2008.

Specialising in violently sprawling dance punk Male Bonding sort of fit in with the whole No Age/Times New Viking thing, but differ in their sheer, unrelenting rhythmical intensity. Watching these guys is like seeing Sonic Youth circa 1981 stuck in some throbbing, cow-bell soaked temporal loop that makes you want to dance like a follower in some weird brain-washing cult.

One of the first UK bands to sign to legendary US imprint Subpop in years, we’re expecting to be hearing a lot about these guys in the next six months.

Dom

Male Bonding have shows in Cargo and the Stags Head this September.

myspace.com/malebonding

Relatively new to the jazz scene, Portico Quartet have been causing waves over the past couple of years with their unique ethereal, unearthly and haunting sound. Their music embraces a world of influences which really highlights the virtuosity of each of the group’s four members. After a couple of years playing small gigs and regularly attracting an admiring crowd busking outside the cultural Southbank, the band recorded their debut album ‘Knee Deep in the North Sea’ in 2007 which was received with celebratory acclaim, being crowned Time Out’s jazz album of the year and described as ‘a phenomenon in the making’ by The Independent. The album was subsequently nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize.

Their distinctive sound is largely due to the use of a new instrument known as the hang, a new invention of the 21^st century developed in Switzerland after years of careful research. It resembles two steel drums welded together, which when struck, seems to sing with a resonant beauty. Added to this the alluring jaunty hooks of the soprano-sax and a range of worldly influences, their music truly defies definition, offering something utterly new. Dancing between jazz and classical music, Portico Quartet succeed in making experimental music accessible and enjoyable for a wide crowd.

Sam