It's been a while since I mentioned X-Wife on here, but they're actually playing their first-ever show in the UK tonight, at London's Notting Hill Arts Club. They've got two more UK dates scheduled, and then a few others back in Portugal:

5.30 - London, Notting Hill Arts Club
6.01 - London, Karma Club
6.02 - Brighton, Pressure Point
6.03 - Vila de Rei, Festival Rock Vila de Rei
6.18 - Pedrogao
6.20 - Porto, Casa da Musica
7.23 - Lagoa, Algarve

More details are available on their site. That June 20 gig in their hometown of Porto is an opening slot for LCD Soundsystem, which should make for an awesome show. Any of these shows are worth catching though, I think X-Wife are even better live than on album. Feeding the Machine was a mainstay in my CD player for most of last year, ultimately ending up in my top 10, but I remember them just as much for their mid-November shows in NYC. They were the band's first gigs in the US, and the band was sharp, edgy and super tight. They did a live session on WFMU on the same trip, which is archived here. (FYI - I started as a random fan but lost some objectivity when I helped them with those NYC gigs.)

Try out "Eno" (MP3) and "Rockin' Rio" (MP3) to get a taste of the album, which Other Music did a pretty great job of describing back in November:

This is one of those straight-outta nowhere albums that falls into our laps and dares us not to recommend it to everyone. With the never-ending line of "sounds like the last big thing, but with a little bit more of (blank)," it's nice to hear a decent rock album with songs on it instead just a few trendy ideas. Apparently, X-Wife hails from Portugal and apart from some airplay on WFMU and some upcoming shows in NYC, they've had no other exposure here in the States.

Without coming across as a Clinic soundalike, X-Wife shares that similar quality of having multiple rock influences, well-digested and mixed together to form a full-grown song. Drum machine that's played like a real drummer, vintage keyboard blasts and melodies (with simultaneous nods to Stereolab and the Cars), not-sure-what-he's-saying-in-the-chorus-but-I'll-sing-along-anyway catchiness, and a singer that sounds like some cross between Jim Reid and Johnny Lydon (via Luke Jenner?) with a drop of androgyny for good measure. On top of it all, this album keeps you listening and enjoying the songs, not wondering how much some talent scout was paid to groom their sound. A record you can play at the party, but won't mind on the road trip too! Recommended.

And there's a good chance we'll have some new X-Wife material to listen to later this year - looking forward to that.