Wu-Lu, Audiobooks, Black Country New Road and Sistertalk bring a weird and wonderful night of noise to Hello 2019

Every year, DIY descends on the Old Blue Last for a four-week series of gigs designed to dust off the cobwebs of Christmas, kick open the musical doors of the new year and showcase some of the bands we’re most excited about tearing the next 12 months a new one.

Last year, when London rabble Sistertalk helped us welcome 2018 as part of our annual new year knees-up at The Old Blue Last, they presented a brilliantly jaggedy set of songs that trod a path similar to the earliest days of The Horrors. A year later, opening the second night of Hello 2019, their mission statement is even clearer. The band (still) haven’t released a song online since their last appearance at the East London boozer for us, but tonight’s set does more than enough on its own to suggest that very exciting things are on the way.

Suited and booted, the six-piece are a gang in the truest sense, and rattle their way through songs that are dark and joyous in equal measure. Erratic musicianship is set over booming, ever-present vocals that results in a brilliant juxtaposition, furthered when they fold out into jaggedy, danceable jams, to which the band barrel around the stage like an art school Madness.