In case you don't already know, Belfest is happening (in Belfast, of course!) this week. All the details are here. The free showcases take place on 10th and 11th and feature Kidd Dynamo, Go Commando, Drat, Torgas Valley Reds, Desert Hearts, Basic and an awful lot more.
Haven't been around London much, therefore I'm pretty much out of touch with what's been going on. There are a lot of big gigs this week - Tindersticks at the Royal Albert Hall, Spiritualized, Sparklehorse, all on Fri 12, but then there's also a tube strike that day.
Also at the Royal Festival Hall there are some shows as part of the 'Mind Your Head' season - Hawkwind accompanied by Arthur Brown (!) and Graham from Blur (!!!) are on tonight (10th) with lovely Add n to x in support, and Faust will be more than likely setting fire to things at the same venue on Fri 12th.
One smaller show of interest is the first date in the Amazing Pilots residency at the Windmill SW2. It's on Sunday night (13th) and will cost £2 to get in. All I know is that they're originally from Northern Ireland and they come highly recommended. 'Rootsy' was how someone desribed them to me. I think that the residency will run every Sunday for a few weeks, and precedes their first releases on the very fine Easy Tiger label. More on them soon.
I'll be in Dublin this weekend, so I'm on the lookout for anything interesting to do there.

New releases this week:
Fugazi - The Argument. Yep, they've still got it.
Royksopp - Melody AM. Rough Trade sez "analogue warmth,the harmonies of film music and classical composers and the fatness of the eighties - stunning"
Pulp - The Trees/Sunrise. First single from the new Scott Walker produced album.