Showing posts with label Bloc Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bloc Party. Show all posts

Thursday, 24 February 2011

GHOSTFACE KILLAH'S PROUD APPEARANCE + CAMDEN CRAWL 2011 + JANELLE MONAE, GODDAUGHTER OF SOUL + THE CUBAN BROTHERS, SAY NO MORE

WE HARDLY raise an eyebrow when rockstars and famous waifs stumble past us in Camden, but Ghostface Killah? He would turn my head. We hear, in True Wu Tang style, he caused a bit of a ruckus at Mark Ronson’s afterparty at Proud Camden last week – but where were the rest of the Clan?

• The first lot of names have been released for The Camden Crawl. My picks so far – the stunning Villagers who sadly had to pull out last year, former ROTW Frankie and the Heartstrings and Lethal Bizzle. Canadian comedian Tony Law on the Comedy Crawl will be memorable.



• Thanks to Camden’s rock ‘n roll mayor Jonathon Simpson for pointing out the Camden New Journal’s star appearance in Kentish Town’s rockabilly family Kitty, Daisy and Lewis’s 2008 video for (Baby) Hold Me Tight. But which page is being read?



• Show off your music knowledge at the Mayor of Camden’s Charity Quiz at The Monarch (March 2) – hosted by the mayor in aid of the Roundhouse Trust.

• Tiny soul superstar Janelle Monae, whose dancing owes the late great James Brown a major debt, arrives in Camden fresh from the Grammys to play The Roundhouse (March 1). Support from CockNBullKid.

• They’re crazy faux-Latin breakdancers with a penchant for taking their tops off and the Gumball rally - always breathtaking. The Cuban Brothers play Proud Camden on Saturday (Feb 26).

• I may not be the greatest fan of celeb DJs but at Proud does it in style. The club has taken over 02 superclub Matter with Proud 2 - Little Boots, White Lies, Mr Hudson, Hot Chip, Jazzy Jeff, Bloc Party and Tim Burgess are all lined up over March and April. Official public launch on March 5.

Friday, 19 November 2010

TOM JONES' ALTAR STAGE INVASION FEATURING JO WHILEY'S MUM + PULP'S BEST. NEWS. EVER. + BRAINY AKALA + THE REVENGE OF D:REAM

TOM Jones set ageing pulses racing at Islington’s Union Chapel on Monday night as he headlined the first night of the magical Mencap Little Noise Sessions.

At Paolo Nutini’s gig the next night, my spies tell me Radio 1 DJ Jo Whiley confessed her mum stormed the stage when the irresistible Mr Jones was playing – bear in mind the stage is an altar – these Jones fans are wild.


Here's Mr Jones with Green Green Grass of Home, his encore.
• My fave up-and-comers, quirky, Louis le Prince play cult venue The Lexington (Nov 24). If you’re looking for one new band to adopt, this is it.

• The Electric Ballroom’s got a mighty list of gigs on its way – Kele (Bloc Party) plays Friday, The Fall (Nov 23) and The Tallest Man on Earth (Nov 24).

• In case you’ve been living on another planet I’d like to point out that Pulp are reforming and headline Wireless next year – Best. News. Ever. My fave song’s Babies, what’s yours? PS 02 Academy Islington’s great club night Feeling Gloomy hosts Pulp’s Wireless launch party on Saturday – prizes, surprises and rare Pulp records played early.

• Akala’s sooo brainy and a good guy, not like those bad rappers you read about in the papers. He’s been teaching schoolkids hip-hop Shakespeare – check out his cerebral lyrical dexterity at the British Library (Nov 26).

• I’ve not been complimentary about D:Ream in the past and it seems they’re taking revenge. The checky-trousered dance act, which I hold personally responsible for the birth of Blair, (Tony, not the one-hit-wonder of Have Fun Go Mad obscurity), have managed to convince former keyboarder Brian Cox now a widely respected physicist to abandon sanity and reform – songs from new album “In Memory Of...” (I’d stop there) will be performed at 02 Academy Islington (Dec 1).

Saturday, 3 July 2010

RECORD OF THE WEEK - KELE, The Boxer




IF THE purpose of Kele Okereke’s debut solo album The Boxer is to show he’s capable of more than Bloc Party, he manages this with the first few tracks. Sadly they just sound like slightly indulgent over-distorted dance remixes. Kele begins to sound more like himself as the album progresses and this is where he excels. The moral of the story? Persist.