Hype: In My Dreams I Know You'll Never Leave

London four-piece Babe Shadow are already becoming something of a force of nature.

Tom, David, Mark and Ben have been gigging like crazy in recent weeks and have dates coming up at institutions like The Flowerpot, Proud Galleries and The Lock Tavern and that's just in the first two weeks of September.

Full of warm guitars and sounding like the soundtrack to retrospective, late summer Sunday afternoons spent lazing around in the park, it's indie-folk at its best.

Jamila at Fucking Dance has already given them her seal of approval and I couldn't agree more.

Babe Shadow - Sea Serpents (YSI)

Exclusive: Said Your Voice Is Made Up Of E's, F's and G's

Hailing from North East London, singer, multi-instrumentalist and multi-talented Elan Tamara is about to self-release her debut EP.

Gold Fishes EP is produced by the always excellent Kwes and sees Elan play piano, saxophone, flute, xylophone, Balinese gamelan, bass, guitar, percussion and drums at various points throughout. I don't think I need to say much more do I? It's brilliant.

If you'd like to invest in one of the amazing handmade (and hand-drawn by Elan herself) EP's then pre-order at Rough Trade here and if you want to find out more about her then check out an interview she did for the elusive Interplanetarians.

Elan Tamara - Oranges (Limited Download)

Hype: It's The Little Thoughts That Fuck It All Up

Firstly, apologies for the horrendous lack of posting this month. My laptop is a smouldering wreck and has seen better days, so I'm having to use a battered family PC. Here's what will be the beginning of a backlog I've wanted to post for a while.

The Nofairs are a Trans-Atlantic duo who formed after a chance meeting at Victoria station many years ago.

N was shooting a short film, Peter was coming home from his family's late Christmas gathering. Having just been ditched by her lead actor, she asked him to take the role. On New Year's Eve they played their first song together in a dirty hostel kitchen.

It's taken them some time to find their feet though, due to living thousands of miles apart (N moved to Chicago, IL; Peter stayed in London). However, they stayed in touch and continued to influence each other musically and in late 2008, they reunited in a flat in New Cross to become The Nofairs.

With a first meeting that almost sounds like something out of a Richard Curtis film, these two were practically destined to produce some sort of delicately stripped back acoustic goodness, and they do.

They will be performing at The Cross Kings on 29th August, so if this is your thing and you're around, get down and show some support.

The Nofairs - Cities And Closed Doors (YSI)
The Nofairs - My Favourite Name (YSI)