Standard Saturday night on the Northern line. A boozy bloke sat opposite me strikes up a conversation: “Do they ever have sniffer dogs at Chalk Farm station?”. He has a gnarley set of teeth, scraggy long hair tucked into his cap and a poorly concealed tinny on the go.

I tell him I’ve never seen dogs there and change the subject to Roots Manuva, who I’m on my way to see at the Roundhouse. “Yeah mate, I’m heading there too, s’posed to be on stage with them in fifteen”, he slurs. “Sure you are” I think to myself. We get to the stop and part ways. It’s snowing and I drop into the Enterprise for a cheeky pint and a jager for some pre-gig cockle warming.

Once in the upmarket surroundings of the Roundhouse I start to question its suitability for hosting the UK’s most revered grimey hip hop act. However when Rodney Smith bursts onto stage sporting a bowler hat, bow tie, cape and cane, I realise this is a different breed of hip hop artist. He is accompanied by a full band of synths, drums, bass, DJ and backup MCs, including… a man with scraggy long hair tucked into a cap. Trampy man is in fact Big Daddy Kope, one of Rodney’s latest collaborators.

Roots’ latest album ‘4everevolution’ is an absolute banger, bursting with genre defying tunes that are so phat they would give Rik Waller a very slow run for his money. The show kicks off with some of the album’s highlights, gradually warming up the frostbitten crowd, before slipping into a mix of all the old winners. And by the time we get to the inevitable inclusion of Witness, the audience is in full party mode and the venue is transformed.

Thoroughly boozed up and danced out, the contents of the Roundhouse spills out into a snowy Camden Town for the obligatory snowball fight.

Roots Manuva are a surprisingly excellent live act with some very tight musical performances from the band. I highly recommend catching them at one of their shows, or at the very least go and buy their latest record immediately. You won’t regret it.

Words: Dickon Drury

The night itself marked the launch of ‘Tins on Toast’, a collaboration between Abolish Confusion & Club Bandangos, featuring DJ’s such as Steve Harris from XFM. Support came in the form of NME and Q favourites Dexters, who recently headlined Club NME at London’s KOKO with rave reviews.

There is quite obviously a lot of love for the Camden four-piece, as the place was packed out with fans both old and new. A huge roar came up from the bulging crowd as three of the lads came on stage to play a short acoustic set comprising of songs from their debut album, ‘Baby’. The band opened with Coming of Age which, even with the absence of drums, sounded as great as ever. The sing-alongs continued from the audience as they powered through favourites including Sappho, Corner of an English Field and Nightdriver, ending on the ever popular We Were Children.

Only time will tell for the Tins on Toast team whether this new venture will take off, but it certainly goes to show that bringing in big names like Tribes will draw a welcome crowd. I for one hope that each week can better the last, because it’s the most fun I’ve had on a Monday night in a long time!

Words: Ceri Dixon

You’d have to be living down a very dark hole not to have heard that The Maccabees have a new album out this month.  Their third offering, ‘Given to the Wild’ has attracted huge attention in the music press, with mixed reactions.

Some have hailed it a ‘renaissance’ album within which the band has found its artistic groove, while others worry that their marked change in sound might be an attempt to please bigwigs looking to cash in on the fail-safe mass appeal of the likes of predictable crowd pleasers, Coldplay.

Whatever your opinion, there’s no denying the fact that it is a finely crafted and musically accomplished record, with a number of stand-out tracks that keep you listening right to the end, such as Feel to Follow and Pelicans.

We imagine these could sound rather spectacular in a live setting, and we’ve not long to wait to find out as the band will be playing Camden’s Koko tonight, at MTV’s Brand New for 2012 show.

Today sees the release of First Aid Kit’s shiny new offering, ‘The Lion’s Roar’. The precocious pair already have one very charming album under their belts, in the name of 2009’s ‘The Big Black and The Blue’, so we’ve been intrigued to hear how their sound has developed since then.

On first listen, they still do a great line in compelling sisterly harmonies, and the frequently haunting lyrics remain. Yet their overall sound has taken on a greater depth with the support of a new band, and their clear affection for Americana pervades in a host of country styled songs, in particular the ode to their heroes Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris – the video for which was filmed in Joshua Tree on Parson’s birthday. We’re pretty smitten with it.

It sounds like an album that could be the stepping stone to even greater things, so we’re looking forward to seeing them perform live in the Camden borough at The Scala on February 23^rd.

At long last, today’s the day! Monday 16^th January is the official launch date of Tribes’ hotly anticipated debut album, ‘Baby’.

As Camden’s most recent breakthrough act, you’ll have been hard pushed to avoid these guys over the past year. Spotted at pretty much every festival going and with their own headline UK tour, the band have been peddling their wares in earnest to gain poll position across a plethora of ‘top tips for 2012’ lists.

The album comes packed full of ready-made indie rock anthems designed to appeal to the children of Britpop, with highlights including We Were Children, Sappho and When My Day Comes. Whack these tunes on your personal play-list now to give your Monday morning an immediate boost.

The band are playing  a special show on their home turf tonight at Camden Barfly, with tickets reserved for some very lucky competition winners. Don’t forget to drop us a tweet (@thecamdenstore) if you’re in the audience tonight!