Live Review

Young And Lost Club 5th Birthday Party – XOYO, London

• 12th Oct 2010

Fortune tellers of indie stars Nadia Dahlawi and Sara Jade have been using their mystical powers to detect musical greatness for 5 year now and what better way to celebrate than a rollicking good party? These girls, of the Young and Lost Club record label and club night fame deserve a hearty pat on the back for bringing to out attention artists such as Planet Earth, Vincent Vincent and the Villains, Johnny Flynn, Everything Everything and Noah & the Whale. Releasing a staggering 50 singles in the past half decade.

The crowd of XOYO seem beautifully handpicked as if from a Jack Wills commercial but these trustafarian nu folksters prove they have taste beyond their years as the line up does not disappoint.

First up Othello Woolf manages swarve sophistication in Saharan temperatures putting on a characteristically funksome performance. Next comes Planet Earth with their heartbroken anti folk showcasing some new songs which will hopefully find their way onto the much anticipated album due out next year, their live sound lending itself to the occasion as they turned up the volume for a more electric sound.

Ex Lovers, seem to behold the same powers as Othello Woolf when it comes to temperature control, as Peter keeps his thick woolly bobble hat securely glued to his head for the whole set. I think hats are a bit of a thing for him. Their girl/ boy soporific vocals were pleasant enough, comparison to 90’s Brit pop acts such as Echobelly doesn’t seem entirely inappropriate, though as I seem to be the oldest person in the room I doubt anyone else has come to this conclusion

Headliners Noah and the Whale are not surprisingly met with uproarious enthusiasm. Not only are they probably Young & Lost Clubs best known protégés but with their most successfully selling single called ‘5 Years Time’ there are few more aptly named songs for a 5th anniversary party. They do not disappoint and perform a crowd pleasing cross-section of tracks spanning their career to date. More than any other band performing tonight they probably owe the most having surely reaped the greatest commercial success as a result of Young and Lost support, but in return they have also remained loyal and stayed with the label, retaining their independent spirit and are all the better for it.

And so to the DJs to party the night away to the wee hours, I left the young’uns to it, lets hope they stay lost and never get found.