GOLDHEART ASSEMBLY, BLEECH, THE CROOKES, FICTION AND ARDENTJOHN LINE UP TO BREAK IN THE NEW YEAR!!!

THE PANDAMONIUM HOSTS: fierce panda & Club Fandango (and friends)

THE PANDAMONIUM VIBE: a clutch of new leftfield combos play four cheery shows smack bang at the start of 2010 to nurse Londons concert goers through the perils of the empty New Year gig calendar. As formulas go this one is simple but splendidly effective.

THE ACTUAL PANDAMONIUM GIGS, ACTUALLY:

** Tuesday January 5th: Cool For Cats presents
Highbury Buffalo Bar (259 Upper Street, London N1 1RU. 020 7359-6191)
WETDOG (11.00pm) www.myspace.com/wetdogthebest
+ FICTION (10.10pm) www.myspace.com/fictionlondon
+ SIR YES SIR (9.20pm) www.myspace.com/siryessiryessir
+ CHAPTER 24 (8.30pm) www.myspace.com/chapter24
+ DJs til late (£5.00 on the door / £4.00 with flyer from www.clubfandango.co.uk)

** Wednesday January 6th: The BMI Sessions
229 (Great Portland Street, London W1W 5PN. 020 7631 8388)
BLEECH (onstage 10.15pm)www.myspace.com/bleech
+ CATS AND CATS AND CATS (9.30pm) www.myspace.com/catsandcatsandcats
+ PATCH WILLIAM (8.45pm) www.myspace.com/patchwilliam
+ MAGIC AND FUR (8.00pm) www.myspace.com/magicandfur

** Thursday January 7th: fierce panda presents
The Monarch (40-42 Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 8BG. 020 7482 2054)
GOLDHEART ASSEMBLY www.myspace.com/goldheartassembly
+ THE CROOKES www.myspace.com/thecrookesmusic
+ THEE SINGLE SPY www.myspace.com/theesinglespy

** Friday January 8th: Label Fandango presents
The Wilmington Arms (69 Rosebery Avenue, Clerkenwell, EC1R 4RL)
ARDENTJOHN (onstage 10.00pm) www.myspace.com/ardentjohnmusic
+ COMPLETE SHORT STORIES (9.15pm) www.myspace.com/thecompleteshortstories
+ THE RULES (8.30pm) www.myspace.com/homeoftherules

THE BACKSTORY: Bored senseless by the traditional post-Christmas lull when breakfast is turkey flapjacks and the Quality Street tin has been magically emptied of its precious quantities? Too bloomin right. Welcome then to Pandamonium 2010, wherein fierce panda, Club Fandango and friends put on a handful of shows to shake up those New Year blues. Pandamonium 2009 saw the enthusiastic likes of HATCHAM SOCIAL, THE RULING CLASS, KASMS, PREGO, THE COMPUTERS, THE MOLOTOVS, DEREK MEINS and THE KABEEDIES all playing kickabout with the Pandamonium ball. And in 2010 the aim remains the same, which is to kick all those facile New Years resolutions straight into touch - retox, not detox! - by blasting the system with several doses of melodic chaos administered by some of our very favourite up-and-coming combos. More information sooner than even we think¦

www.fiercepanda.co.uk www.clubfandango.co.uk

THE PANDAMONIUM BANDS TUESDAY JANUARY 5TH @ THE BUFFALO BAR
Super-cool 7¬ù singles clubbers COOL FOR CATS present an evening of angular indie thrills starring sparky traumapop trio WETDOG, who proffer a prim(itive) and proper racket, as evinced by riotous current single Lower Leg. Before then we give you FICTION, who provide a touch of Talking Heads and a glimpse of calypso grooves in their terse, intelligent musical travels. Super-capable support comes from snappy, scrappy all-boy trio SIR YES SIR who deliver a splendidly hectic old school indie mash-up of Seafood, The Wedding Present and Sonic Youth. And up front we have two boy / two girl freakouts CHAPTER 24, who play itchy twitchy noises which have been described as sounding like ?ìThe Slits playing psychedelic rock¬ù. Indeed!

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 6TH @ THE 229
Promoting stalwarts CLUB FANDANGO present an evening of cheerily eclectic leftfield perambulations fronted up by the fearsomely hard-working boy-girl-boy trio BLEECH, who are gothic of guitar and impressively surly of vocal. In vibrant support we have the sweeping swoonmithery of CATS AND CATS AND CATS, all tangled violins and barely suppressed emotional violence; PATCH WILLIAM, who provide spacious and summery indiepop with a touch of the Maccabees and a twitterage of support from Mr Stephen Fry; and MAGIC AND FUR, whose splendidly coolheaded synth antics take us back to the laconic brain-pop heyday of Black and Its Immaterial. Told you it was eclectic.

THURSDAY JANUARY 7TH @ THE MONARCH
Indie dreamers fierce panda records have done the sensible thing and persuaded their newest signings GOLDHEART ASSEMBLY to host An Evening Of Fine Entertainment. This Evening starts with the deep, dark sounds of THEE SINGLE SPY, a seven-strong collective with a propensity for lush, baroque-indie tunes. Then comes the snappy, crackling guitarpop of THE CROOKES, wholl be shuffling down from Sheffield with their tidy fringes and flighty tunes such as Yes, Yes, Were Magicians. And then John and Jim from Goldheart Assembly will continue the New Year preparations for the February 22nd launch of their debut album, Wolves And Thieves, with an intimate acoustic set of bold, Goldhearted tunes. Throw in magical compere Magic Pete (www.peteismagic.com) and COSMIC SLOP DJs until 12.30am and the Monarch is very much your alt.rock lobster.

FRIDAY JANUARY 8TH @ THE WILMINGTON ARMS
Esteemed promotions 7¬ù spin-off record company LABEL FANDANGO takes the reins for an evening of soul-warming, heartstring-tugging gig action with some of its very favourite recent attractions. In top spot we have ARDENTJOHN (yes, its all one word), who are eading down from Edinburgh with their lush, languid orchestral pop noise which makes us think of Doves feeling some sad alt.country love and who have a Label Fandango download single out this very week, ie January 4th, pointing the way to the self-release of their own On The Wire album. In the middle sector we give you THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES, who number seven and play complicated, grown-up songs with swirly bits and swelling choruses and who are plotting a Label Fandango single release in February. And first out of the blocks will be THE RULES, which was started by one Graeme Wylie playing solo a few months ago and then turned into ?ìa band of nice guys who make nice music¬ù who like Death Cab For Cutie. For some reason this makes us happier than a bear in a free bar.