#11//Das Racist & Blood Orange//XOYO//London//Thursday 1st December

BLOOD ORANGE

The latest guise of Dev Hynes, Blood Orange, for me, is his best to date. Test Icicles was not really my bag and although i saw many great Lightspeed Champion live shows, on record it was sometimes a little twee. Blood Orange is a whole new ball game, Dev is now a smooth R&B superstar with a penchant for guitar heroism! The geek chic look has gone, he's all leather, hip swinging swagger and soulful grooves. Dev writes for a lot of other artists, Florence and Solonge Knowles to name a couple but tonight the spotlight was firmly on him, brimming with confidence he didn't even have a backing band, it was just him, his laptop and his guitar, at one stage he slammed his mic stand onto the dancefloor and sang in the middle of the crowd. i hadn't realised what a ledge he is on the guitar, he was licking out some serious riffs and solos that Hendrix would of been proud of, i dont know who enjoyed it more, Dev or the crowd, even though he was down as support, this may aswell have been billed as a double header, the place was already rammed.

Album Coastal Grooves was more or less played in full:

1, Forget it

2, Sutphin boulevard

3, I'm sorry we lied

4, Can we go inside now

5, S'cooled

6, Complete failure

7, Instantly blank (the goodness)

8, The complete knock

9, Are you sure you're really busy?

10, Champagne toast

11, Dinner

Living across the pond now is clearly rubbing off, Check these bad boy videos:

I'm sorry we lied: http://youtu.be/5dYTi3N4OKI

Sutphin boulevard: http://youtu.be/cTKgC1XSwgY

My fave, Dinner: http://youtu.be/18ew9nwn1HY

DAS RACIST

Tonight's headliners Das Racist sometimes get dismissed as a bit of a comedy rap group but you only had to look around the packed out XOYO to see that there is an audience for them. They're a party band and this performance was a party from start to finish, full of energy and banter with the crowd and for the record, these boys can defo spit some serious lyrics. 'Michael Jackson' and 'you oughta know' were my personal faves but the whole place was bouncing throughout their set. Turns out Dev is kind of neighbours with the boys over in the U.S. and he joined his pals onstage for a version of 'rainbow in the dark' that brought the house down.

SET LIST


1, Brand new dance
2, Who's that? Brooooown!
3, Rapping 2 u
4, Amazing
5, Lakutis in the house
6, Hugo Chavez
7, Shut up man
8, You oughta know
9, Michael Jackson
Encore
10, Ek Shaneesh
11, Relax
12, Rainbow in the dark

Check these:
Rainbow in the dark: http://youtu.be/hdWxo3e3Kzk
You oughta know: http://youtu.be/NzCukmO4fhg

oh fancy bumping into you here....

TOM VEK

Tom, i didn't have you down as a Das Racist fan?
Oh you know, i love these guys, and blood orange too, i'm in London for a while so i thought i'd come check out the show, it's been a great night, i really enjoyed it!


NITTY GRITTY


Venue: XOYO is decent, tiny and dark, just what you want, one annoying thing tonight though they only had two out of four bars open so it was a nightmare getting a drink.

Drinks: pub prices, what you expect.

Crowd: up for a party, very good, very friendly, got chatting to loads of randoms tonight.

What were they wearing???: Dev is cool, rocking the leather tonight including his cap, he gets away with it though, Das Racist? Well they have that American slacker thing going on, basket ball tops and beanies, i approve.

ACE FACE


Gerard Lewer, singer/songwriter, bexley heath

Gelboy!!!!! What did you reckon?

Yeah good mate, i preferred Blood Orange, he reminded me a bit of Prince, good to see someone who clearly loves what he does.

Whats your next gig mate?

Stephen Fretwell at Bush Hall, will be great to see him in a tiny gaff like that

Who else you into at the moment?

Love The Rifles, also loving Dirty goods and Telegraphs at the minute

And finally, what was the first tune on your ipod today?

'Diamonds on the souls of his shoes' by Paul Simon.

Really?! Ledge, cheers dude.

Next up on the Blog another double whammy featuring Spector and Theme Park, should be a goodun.

#10 La Shark//Electricity showrooms//Hoxton//London//Monday 28th November

At a recent Maccabees gig at Village Underground a couple of weeks back i happened to bump into an old friend of mine, Del, after telling him all about this blog he said i had to check out La Shark, a south London based band that he knew from his neck of the woods. Now Del boy knows his onions so when he said they were playing their last gig of the year to celebrate the launch of their latest single 'magazine cover' in Hoxton i knew i had to go along, a bit of Monday night mayhem? why not! it is the silly season after all!

SET LIST

1, Magazine cover

2, Sum it up

3, Mr modern man

4, Animals (death with popcorn)

5, Prison palace

6, Your hole my hole

7, I know what you did last summer

8, Don't be stiff

9, A weapon

Check out these ace videos:

Magazine cover: http://youtu.be/pajzNqq-BWw

I know what you did last summer: http://youtu.be/7CuqH9zMur0

A weapon: http://youtu.be/yaNhk7D88KU

What a great little venue, downstairs in the electricity shoowrooms, it's kind of a small club room, very low ceilings, very dark, the band played in the centre of the room on the dancefloor, a brilliant set of squares that lit up all different colours, very old school, the crowd surrounded the lads in a mass circle creating a really intimate affair. They burst into new single 'magazine cover' a gloriously infectious, stabbing, jerking, track that changes tempo at the chorus, this is defo gonna be a big single for them. The whole set was hyper, i was hearing these tunes live for the 1st time and i couldn't stop myself bouncing and jigging along, each member of the band were really pulling their weight, especially singer Sam, he was in the crowd, he was on the floor, he was all over the place, really interesting frontman (loving the la shark branded dungarees!) 'They ripped through great versions of  fans faves 'i know what you did last summer' and 'a weapon' but all tracks were very well received by the fans with the whole room buzzing off each other, it really felt like a big celebration, it was obvious most of the room were core fans that follow the boys closely and it was a very fitting end to the year for them.

NITTY GRITTY

Venue: downstairs where the band played was great, tiny, dark, sweaty, just what a venue should be, upstairs the pub is hit and miss, i've had great nights in electricity showrooms and jank nights.

Drinks: pub prices and red stripe on tap, i was happy.

Crowd: good crowd of cool kids, not posey though, all got involved, no chin strokers.

Dan, all that matters is was the band cool???:  cool lads, art school chic i would say, lairy haircuts, loving the drummers slicked mohawk and the singers bleached kurt cobain bob and i.m LOVING the band t shirts, go on their website and buy one! www.lashark.com

Bumped into a couple of famous faces in the crowd:

Felix and Sam Maccabees

You dig La Shark then boys?

Yeah we're good friends with them, they have toured with us and we're going to do a bit of djing tonight, top band starting to get the recognition they deserve.

ACE FACE

Georgia Farey, Fashion Press Manager, Sidcup

So what did you think of tonight?

loved the venue, didn't know there was a downstairs! loved that light up dancefloor! i've seen them loads and i thought tonight was one of their best performances, a great way to end their year. i'm really loving drummer nick buxton, great musician, great hair and he's from norwich, whats not to love!

Whats your fave La Shark tune?

A weapon. always.

Who else are you into right now?

Love the maccabees, new single pelican is awesome and i can't wait for the album in january.

Whats your next gig? 

Also maccabees.

And finally, what was the first tune that popped up on your shuffle mix today?

'As she was' Talking heads

So that's it, great band and great gig, thanks for the tip Delboy. Next up Dan In The Front Row is attending the double whammy of Blood Orange and Das Racist, also got Spector coming up, stay tuned for the posts!