With Guitar Strings Attached: Tom Waits

Foals. Everything Everything. Alt-J. All three are especially highly regarded and deservedly so; the first two have been nominated for the Mercury Prize (2010 and 2011 respectively), whilst the latter won the esteemed award last year. The correlation? Each have sculpted their own distinct sound.

Probably best Duologue’s highly anticipated debut LP, Song & Dance (which you can stream here and inevitably pre-order here, with a review from us to come on Monday) is shortlisted, then. At the very least.

You wouldn’t, for example, often associate the sweet tunes of acoustic with the aggressive wub-wub of dubstep, and yet front man Tim Digby-Bell tells no word of a lie saying “You could pick some songs and we’d be likened to a folk act, another few and we’d be called dubstep”. Considered by many to be the antithesis of each other, taken on their own both folk and dubstep have their merits. Stitched together, though, and as seamlessly as the London five-piece do? New innovative territory is breached, with the result being what can only be described as the sound of Duologue.

Of course it is not just us at Sofar who think this way. The people at both Clash and Q, who, it is safe to say, probably know a thing or two, also agree that Duologue are not merely content with taking today’s music for what it’s worth, but are instead stretching it in every which way in order to overcome and create new boundaries; the former describes their material as ‘songcraft borrowed from the indie sphere with glitchy, forward-thinking electronica’, the latter deeming the outfit ‘a rock band effortlessly in tune with electronica’.

The absolutely ram packed album launch the band played at Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen last week proved two things. First, their ‘effortless forward-thinking’ is gaining them a fan or two, some perhaps a little more notable than others (Jim Abbiss, who helped produce their debut, has also worked with a real up and coming female singer-songwriter, Adele, and little know Sheffield-based indie-rock outfit,Arctic Monkeys), and second, their live show is just as dynamic as the music it’s built around; making use of vocal manipulation, a drum machine, a projector and the suchlike, their stage presence is a real master class of all that is good in today’s technology and is consequently as much of a spectacle for the eyes than it is for the ears.

Fortunately, Duologue are soon embarking on a tour around the country with fellow electronicistas, Post War Years. Even better, entrance is absolutely free. The likes of Stephen Hawking and Dr. Emmett Brown are nothing less than complicated and confusing when it comes to the future of the world. Be sure to check out the track-by-track guide of Song & Dance written by Digby-Bell, and the band’s #DreamSofar below for, quite literally, the future of music.

Duologue’s #DreamSofar would be:

Nick Drake (Toby Leeming, live programming and beats):

‘Of all the artists I have listened to and read about, it seems Nick Drake suffered from stage fright the most – something we can all empathise with. I think if he were to ever enjoy a gig it would be in the 'Sofar' vibe and to hear him play his songs live at close quarters would be amazing.’

Tom Waits (Tim Digby-Bell, vocals):

‘He's one of my all-time favourite artists. I think Alice may be one of my favourite songs ever; I've been listening to it regularly for years and just not bored of it at all. It has the most beautiful words – it sounds like a Bukowski poem.’

The Rosenberg Trio (Toby Lee, guitars):

‘My dream Sofar gig would have to include Stochelo Rosenberg, a gypsy jazz acrobat performing proper acoustic music with virtuosity, flair and, most importantly, balls!’

Grateful Dead (Ross Stone, bass):

‘Had Sofar existed in 60s California, I'm positive it would have played host to the masters of tripped out, genre defying improvisation. Cram me into an incense filled living room for hours of heady, hypnotic jams. Peace.’

Rodriguez (Seb Dilleyston, violin):

‘I feel lucky to have found Rodriguez's music this last year. His music is sincere and beautiful, his voice unmistakable. It's as if you can feel the journey this man has been on. In an intimate setting, just Rodriguez and guitar: perfect.’

Having played the likes of London, New York and Los Angeles a number of times for us already, Will Knox is somewhat of a Sofar veteran. This is unsurprising, though, for he could not be more ‘Sofar’. Whilst it is obvious, for example, that his honest acoustic musings could not be better suited to our typically intimate settings, it is also his mindset that makes us such a perfect match. He, too, likes to do things a little differently – curry is listed as the sole ‘band interest’ on his Facebook Page (and rightly so), and his video for Cog in the Machine, involving scissors which grow your hair and singing lyrics back to front, can only be described as near-on creative and technical genius. The resulting nomination for an Independent Music Award in the ‘Short Video’ category being justified, then. More importantly, so too does Will Knox believe that, despite all its flaws, the music industry still has much to give, and that it’s simply a matter of having a root around in the right places to find the diamonds in the rough. Like he kindly said at a London Sofar he recently played (if you haven’t already, take a look at the above video), “It’s funny that people say the music industry’s in trouble but then you have nights like this, so it’s obviously not.”

As if doing his bit to help the music industry grow to better times wasn’t enough, Knox has also recently turned his efforts to doing the same for the Horn of Africa; he penned the lyrics for Sami Yusuf’s singleForgotten Promises, a collaboration with the World Food Programme, created and sold in the hope that they can scale-up their operations in that part of the world.

Somehow in between helping to save all sorts of worlds, Knox has had the time to figure out how he can go about releasing his material in a new novel way. Whilst he wisely stuck with tradition for his debut, The Matador & The Acrobat (Shred News voted it to be one of the ‘Top Ten Albums of 2009’), he presented his follow-up EP, Lexicon, in a way that was novel in more ways than one – as a comic book (with a download code inside), which is now available as a free iPad and iPhone app.

Innovative. Alternative. Creativity.

Will Knox’s #DreamSofar would be comprised of:

Nick Drake

‘There's not a lot I wouldn't give to see Nick Drake play one show. What a beautiful Sofar show that might have been.’

Serge Gainsbourg

‘Just started getting in to Serge Gainsbourg. Fortunately there's loads of great videos of him on YouTube, but seeing him live must have been fascinating.’