Where do we start? With London's rich musical history, stretching from the mod and northern scene in the sixties, through punk and post-punk in the seventies, indie pop and shoegazing in the eighties and Britpop in the nineties, right up to the city's thriving underground in the present day? With a live circuit that boasts any number and range of gigs on any day of the week, taking in indie pop, art rock, lo fi, post rock, haircut indie, and whatever else can be mangled from six strings and an overheating amp? With an equally as vibrant club scene that encompasses small scale fan only gatherings in pub back rooms and garguantuan multi-room nights in state of the art venues that will assault your wallet as well as your senses? With online communities based in London, magazines based in London, radio stations....? It's impossible to cover everything, but here are our favourite things about our hometown....

How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Canterbury Arms in Brixton and The Phoenix, Cavendish Square, every first Friday and third Saturday, £3 members, £5 non members, 9pm-2am
Run by our good selves, so we're a little biased. Why not take The Guardian's word for it instead? "Absolutely the best night in the whole of the world!" Phew. We play indie pop, northern soul, Tamla Motown, girl groups and sixties heartbreak, and every two months we put on live shows at the Windmill pub in Brixton. If you want to dance to The Smiths and The Supremes in a friendly, unpretentious setting, then we might just be able to help...
(www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk)

The Beat Hotel
Buffalo Bar, 259 Upper Street, London N1, every fourth Friday, £3, 9pm-2am
Fortuna Pop DJs and guests serve a melting portion of soul, psych, punk and indiepop. Expect the likes of Television Personalities, The Monks, Graham Coxon, Cornershop, The Standells, Bearsuit, Alternative TV, Syd Barrett and loads more. Plus live bands.

London Loves
Push, 93 Dean Street, London. W1D 3SZ, every first Saturday, £4, 8pm-1am
Britpop still reigns at this cool monthly night. DJs promise "a mixture of non-crap indie-pop old and new, soul, motown, new wave, The Human League and Nancy Sinatra", but really they're happiest playing their old Supergrass and Bluetones records. Bless 'em.
(www.londonlovesmusic.com)

AC30
Times and places vary
Excellent shoegazing and post rock night. AC30 also promote gigs, usually at the Water Rats and the Marquee. Cool club and good people.
(www.clubac30.com)

Spiral Scratch
Times and places vary
Superb new indiepop and electropop club night, run by HDIF regulars Marianthi, Ian and Alice. They also promote gigs, and so far have put on shows by the likes of Pipas and Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. Always worth checking out what they're up to.
(www.spiralscratchpop.com)

PopArt
Times and places vary
London's indiepop pranksters, responsible for some of the most fun nights out in town. Previous events have included the Pop Art Pirate Party, held on a boat on the Thames, and Bowl & Sebastian, a B&S-themed night at the Bloomsbury Bowling alley.
(www.popartlondon.co.uk)

Stay Beautiful
Purple Turtle, 61-69 Crowndale Road, NW1, first Saturday of the month, 9pm-3am, £7
Co-run by Manics biographer and pop critic Simon Price, Stay Beautiful does its best to recreate the wrap party for the Rocky Horror Picture Show with a glam, punk and indie soundtrack and a crowd that likes to dress up. Definitely the most glamorous indie party in London.
(www.staybeautifulclub.co.uk)

The Gin Palace
Push, 93 Dean Street, London. W1D 3SZ, every fourth Friday, £4, 8pm-1am
A gloriously eclectic mix of indie pop, metal, Eighties pop and whatever else is close to hand. The promoters claim that they'll one day have a dancing bear grooving to Saturday Looks Good To Me, David Bowie, AC/DC, Solomon Burke, Buzzcocks, Girls Aloud, Byrds and so forth. Update: currently on hiatus.

The Penelope Tree
Bartok, Chalk Farm Road, NW1, every second and fourth Sundays, free, 8pm - midnight
North London's coolest indie night out. Kicks off with a quiz and then continues with post punk, indie pop, northern soul, bedroom pop and whatver else Chimes and Hatty feel like throwing at us. Update: TPT has now left Bartok. Hopefully they'll announce a new venue soon.
(www.thepenelopetree.co.uk)

Venues

The Buffalo Bar
259 Upper Street, London N1, prices vary, 9pm-2am
North London's finest small venue. Gorgeous 150 capacity basement bar, home to Artrocker, Crimes Against Pop and several excellent club nights. The original base for How Does It Feel To Be Loved? - you'll find the coolest, more inventive small club nights in London here.
(www.buffalobar.co.uk)

The Windmill
22 Blenheim Gardens, Brixton, SW2 5BZ, prices vary, 8pm-late
South London's finest small venue. New music seven days at week at this atmospheric pub just off Brixton Hill. Don't be fooled by The Windmill's rough'n'ready exterior - inside lie fairy lights, wooden tables with candles and Brixton's freaks and hipsters determined to have a good time.
(www.windmillbrixton.co.uk)

Bush Hall
310 Uxbridge Roadm London, W12 7LJ, prices and times vary
West London's finest small venue. Well, relatively small venue. This early 20th century dance hall is elegance personified - chandeliers and red velvet carpets are the order of the day here. When the likes of Nick Cave or R.E.M want to throw a stylish secret gig, this is where they come.
(www.bushhallmusic.co.uk)

The Luminaire
311 Kilburn High Road, London NW6, prices and times vary
North west London's finest small venue. A brand new addition to the London gig circuit - a converted cinema that's been turned into a sophisticated live music space with superb sound, great lighting and a cute little photo pit. The glitter ball in a domed recess behind the bands is a lovely touch.

Barden's Boudoir
38-44 Stoke Newington Road, London N16 7XJ
Super hip indie venue in the wilds of north London. Fans of avant noise, left field indie and forward thinking underground music will find something to delight them here.
(www.bardensbar.co.uk)

The Spitz
109 Commercial Street, Old Spitalfields Market, London E1 6BG
Once avant indie bands have moved on from the smaller likes of Barden's, they graduate to The Spitz - a cool 250 capacity venue a short walk from Liverpool Street station.
(www.spitz.co.uk)

ULU
Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY
Short for University Of London Union. A mid sized, 800 capacity, rites-of-passage gig for any band heading seriously for the big time. Ricky Gervais of The Office fame was once Events Manager here.
(www.ulu.co.uk/ululive/)

The Pleasure Unit
359 Bethnal Green Road, London E2
Bethnal Green's answer to the Buffalo Bar, a mod-themed 150 capacity venue renouned for new bands and small club nights.
(www.pleasureunitbar.com/)

Nambucca
596 Holloway Road, London N7 6LB
Hipsters keen to stumble across the new Libertines would do worse than set up camp at Nambucca, a rough and ready yet charming 350 capacity pub smack bang in the middle of Holloway Road. New hopefuls The Holloways are reputed to live above Nambucca.
(www.myspace.com/nambucca)

Metro
19-23 Oxford Street, London W1D 2DN
Way way back in the day, this was the centre of indie dancing in London - Thursday night's Syndrome club was the place to be seen in the late Eighties/early Nineties, and the shoegazing and Britpop hopefuls would regularly gather there to drink, dance and plot world domination. Blur's "Popscene" is pretty much about Syndrome. These days, Syndrome is long gone, but the venue remains, hosting the long running mod/indie club Blow Up on a Saturday night and gigs during the week.

The Boogaloo
312 Archway Rd, London, N6 5AT
Proclaimed "London's greatest rock pub" by Time Out, and supposedly boasting the "number one jukebox in London" (Time Out again), The Boogaloo is a coolly unpretentious drinker in the leafy middle class borough of Highgate. Famed as much for its events as its day to day ambience, The Boogaloo hosts spoken word nights, a movie and pop quiz, live music nights with the likes of Shane MacGowan and Pete Doherty, and anything else with a tinge of rock'n'roll.
(www.theboogaloo.co.uk)

The Prince Albert
418 Coldharbour Lane, London, SW9 8L
Much loved Brixton boozer, despite having a bright orange frontage. Relaxed atmosphere, excellent music ranging from indie to punk controlled by a laptop on the bar, and a cool patio beer garden out the back which hosts poetry evenings and the occasional gig during the summer.

The Phoenix Theatre Bar
Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H
Known to some as Shuttleworths, this atmospheric basement bar is often packed with indie musicians and music journalists taking in a pint or seven either before or after catching a show at the nearby Astoria, Mean Fiddler or Borderline venues. Admission is restricted to members after 11pm, although guests can be signed in.

The Good Ship
89 Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR
Swanky new bar on Kilburn High Road. Entertainment comes in the form of live bands of all types, a 100 CD jukebox (including Tom Vek, The Smiths, Sly and The Family Stone, Interpol and a load of Nuggets and Rough Trade compilations), a pop quiz, a general knowledge quiz, open mic night and DJs on Friday and Saturday.
(www.thegoodship.co.uk)

Rough Trade
130 Talbot Road, W11 1JA/16 Neals Yard, WC2H 9DP
Legendary record stores that spawned not only the Rough Trade label but also highly regarded indie Wiija (named after the postcode of the Talbot Road stores). The larger Neals Yard branch also hosts live shows at lunchtime.
(www.roughtrade.com)

Selectadisc
34-35 Berwick Street, London, W1F 8RP
Cut price indie store in the heart of Soho stocking a decent range of underground and alternative sounds. Cool range of t shirts too.
(www.selectadisc.co.uk)

Reckless Records
26/30 Berwick Street, W1V 3RF
New and second hand indie rarities abound in this famous Soho record shop.
(www.reckless.co.uk)

Local Bands

The Postcards
Perfect pop played on big red guitars. Indie pop as it was meant to be, effortlessly delivered by this cool new foursome from Brockley in south London. Think The Lucksmiths, think Postcard records, think guitars that jangle and harmonies that soar.
(www.myspace.com/thepostcards)

Spencer de Vere
A brand new band, from London. A duo who met at the Central School Of Drama, Spencer de Vere won us over with a one song demo. That track, "London Feels", is a gorgeous, slow paced paean to our fair city that sounds like The Clientele bristling with the potential of early Suede.

The Gresham Flyers
London-based sextet The Gresham Flyers are the hybrid of their diverse geographical backgrounds (north, midlands, south and Slough) and the best bits of your record collection, all sprinkled with a little sugar - David Gedge fronting an unruly combination of Sparks and Pulp. Classy, energetic pop, boy/girl singers, handclaps, and hooks you can hang your duffel coat on.
(www.thegreshamflyers.com)

Wintergreen
Classy pop music with chugging guitars, bloopy analogue synths, tinkly pianos and shiny, sunny harmonies as though Mercury Rev were dirtying up Belle & Sebastian with ideas of Aphex Twin and Stereolab.
(www.iwantwintergreen.com)

The Red Stars
A brand new band from Islington and Lambeth, The Red Stars inhabit a quietly stylish dreamworld where Roddy Frame fronts the Tindersticks, and indiepop is equal parts poetry, sophistication and a perfectly strummed guitar. Formerly members of the 1940s-tinged (and Actionettes-associated) Heist.

Lucky Soul
A female fronted five piece from Greenwich, Lucky Soul sound like The Pipettes flirting with Saint Etienne (them again!), all sleek sixties melodies and songs to make your heart melt.
(www.luckysoul.co.uk)

The Albemarle House
The trio of The Albemarle House create clattering, folk-shanty hymns to burning houses, excessive drinking and the horrors of the working week while musically joining the dots between diseased waltz-time, distressed flamenco, marching band rhythms and eerie acoustic-drone. Featuring ex-members of Rhesus and legendary Nottingham kraut-garage loonies The Standing On Tables.
(www.myspace.com/thealbemarlehouse)

Fanfarlo
Fragile, romantic orchestral pop.in thrall to Sufjan Stevens, Olivia Tremor Control and Arcade Fire.
(www.myspace.com/fanfarlo)

Michaelmas
Michaelmas play pop music and are not ashamed to say so. In the last eighteen months, the north London four piece have supported Calvin Johnson, Cass McCombs, Jens Lekman, The Would-Be-Goods, The Eighteenth Day Of May, Jeffrey Greene and Herman Dune. Expect 'big-hearted, big-chorused songs about love, lust and the weather'.
(www.michaelmasnet.com)

Shimura Curves
An all-female four piece from London, Shimura Curves play pristine electro pop in the vein of Stereolab and St Etienne.

Strange Idols
A five piece influenced by Orange Juice, Elastica and The Long Blondes, Strange Idols play cool, clever, indie pop.

Pocketbooks
Pocketbooks are an indiepop group from London, brought together through a shared love of tambourines, handclaps, glockenspiels, jangly guitars and boy/girl harmonies. Think Tindersticks, Belle & Sebastian, The Boy Least Likely To.

Urban75
Brixton based online community that takes in political protest, music, sport, travel, education, relationships, the lot. Also hosts a club night, Offline, at JAMM in Brixton, where Indietravelguide DJs have been known to spin the odd tune. A vital part of south London life.
(www.urban75.com)

Bowlie
Excellent indie pop online community, with rooms covering gigs, club nights, record releases, current affairs....in fact all indie life is here.
(www.bowlie.com)

London Gig Guide
The pick of the capital's live shows, as selected by HDIF's Ms Tricitybendix. You'll find the coolest gigs happening in London listed here. Updated weekly.
(www.howdoesitfeel.co.uk/londongigguide.html)

Main London photo © Urban75

If you'd like to recommend a club, bar, record shop, band or any indie delight for inclusion in the Indie Travel Guide, please email us. If we've included a link to your band/shop etc, it would be lovely if you could link back to us. Thank you!