Love Supreme : 4th - 6th July

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Love Supreme, 4th- 6th July

Tucked away in a beautiful village in Sussex, England is a fledgling Jazz and Soul festival called 'A Love Supreme'. It's sponsored by Jazz FM and for the second year played host to some international stars of the genres as well as some local heroes.

Upon arrival you can tell it's all pretty plush. The grass is green, you walk under an villagey clock tower and of course, there is a country manor in the background - although it was fenced off to the riff raff, aka me, of course.

Despite the over-zealous bag searching and security, once inside it was a decent experience. The campsite was not over crowded, you could pick a spot, and the people all seemed very friendly and laid back.

During Friday night's initial perusal of the site i bumped into an old friend working at the Rough Trade shop and we scarpered off site to watch the Brazil quarter finals.

Saturday morning and some delicious columbian coffee was served from one of the stalls. It was good stuff, i had to go back Sunday morning!

So to the music. Midday Saturday and the first act i saw was Matthew Halsall. It walked straight into one of my gigs of the year. As a live experience his band play what Mojo mag described as if “Grooving through time on the spiritual sunship.”  It's modal, it's spiritual jazz, there was a harp, the musicianship was incredible and to be honest, nothing else could top this moment. When the band took it in turns for their solo's i would smile at the summit. Even the drummer gets involved on Patterns taken from new album 'When the World Was One'. Buy the album, it does not disappoint. That's what I did after the gig.

After that the Computers came and conquered the event stage with their rollicking, sweary Rock & Roll that had the whole audeience dancing. Not jazz but well done them.

Incognito on main stage got the crowd up and remembering some of their hits and later on the Saturday Lalah Hathaway (Donny Hathaways Daughter), was okay but such a slow pace, she seemed slightly pre-occupied at times. The 15 minute version of Gershwins summertime was just too long to hold attention. I needed something more upbeat ahead of Earth Wind & Fire so i snuck out after 45 minutes.

Earth Wind & Fire ripped through some of their classic songs which had the crowd dancing whilst Laura Mvula i thought was a bit dull, though pulled a huge crowd to sign her album afterwards.

After 11pm i went dancing in the jungle/dub reggae tent before Ty and Harleigh Blu played. 2am and exahusted i crashed.

Sunday started off with the playback of the Miles Davis Jazz classic 'Feeling Kinda Blue' which was presented by the Jazz writer for the independent and a Jazz FM DJ, a good start to the day.

Later on Brighton local Alice Russell got the crowd going ahead of sets by Courtney Pine, Jose James and later on Gregory Porter.

All in all a super festival and one which will only get better!

http://www.lovesupremefestival.com

★★★★

The clock you walk under as you go in

Campsite

The on site record shop was run by Rough Trade and did some very good business

Campsite at night

Best coffee around was this Colombian blend

Inside one of the tents

Daptone Soul Revue : 27th June 2014

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A packed Shepherds Bush Empire witnesses 3 hours of top notch soul and afro Jazz from some of America's biggest soul artists.

It's 8.13pm on a warm Friday night in West London. As we enter through the doors on 1st, on stage is Charles Bradley, a man who has inspired many to keep chasing their dreams and never give up. His first record deal was only signed when he was 62. Down and out in New York City and living on the breadline, Bradley had lived a tough life. He was looking after his elderly Mother whilst he was continuing to live with the loss of his brother who was gunned down and murdered. Having acted as a James Brown covers act for years just to survive and having lived through many an ordeal, Bradley was spotted and asked by Thomas Brennick to cut a single record with the Menehan Street Band. The rest is history and inspiring history at that.

Now on his second album 'A Victim Of Love', Charles Bradley moves, dances some decent jigs and manages a decent low split that would leave some 40 years younger struggling. His stage craft is bore of 40 years of gigging experience. In short he learned through experience and stacks of difficult crowds. London is simply bowled over. With an audible sweat his songs groove and his voice and story are so powerful and full of emotion, it's hard not to get caught up and both celebrate and cry with him. "Why is it so hard to make it in America" rings out in the auditorium but seconds later he says 'i love you all' . A man of faith too, Bradley uses a 5 minute jam to tell part of his story. He talks about roses and gifts of God before he says "and then there was one more rose, a black rose!". The crowd cheers and the band start up again. The soul fans are dancing on the seats and applauding, not just because of the outstanding quality, but because Charles Bradley epitomises the person who never gave up, who's being blessed and getting his reward. Watch 'Soul of America' for more.

So a tough act to follow, the bridge between the former James Brown impersonator and Daptone legend Sharon Jones, is Antibalas, a group who i'd heard of but didn't know much about. Flooding the stage with a 12 piece band, the afro-jazz groove was often hypnotic and built the audience into a different type of frenzy. The only thing the venue was missing at this point seemed to be a big dancefloor, a low ceiling and free flowing rum but it was of good stuff. An especial highlight had to be Sáré Kon Kon a 10 minute opus Fela Kuti would have been proud of. Had to buy the album after the gig too!

Finally it was Sharon Jones who came on and to be fair was following two acts of an exceptional standard, but she is a pro. Having battled health issues 12 months ago she still had more energy than alot of youngsters, dancing across the stage, firing the crowd up and belting out some classic songs from her catalogue.

The encore involved all the bands on stage singing Sly & Family Stones 'It's a Family Affair' , a true soul vintage and great way to finish the evening.

★★★★★ 

Drift

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Recently I visited Totnes, a small Devon town that has a railway station,  one high street, lots of independent shops, at least 3 churches, more bars and plenty of tea rooms and coffee shops. It's also on the river Dart which makes for some picturesque scenery. There's a kooky-ness to it and in a Napoleon dynamite way they have a shop that just sells 'crystals', reminding me of the line in the film when Napoleons uncle buys a 'time machine' off the internet and Napoleon quips "have you put crystals in it yet?" .

No sooner had I arrived by train that i set out on my mission to visit the only indie record store within ten square miles - Drift. The store itself has also meandered up from it's previous location of left of the high street, to more left of the high street and across the road on the right.

As you walk up the high street there's a Morrisons, Holland & Barratt, whs and a Spar, 'nothing unusual there' you might say, but that's as far as locals will allow the big brands to invade as recently they have protested against a Costa opening there. Morrisons, whs, Spar and the other chains must be chuffed they got in when they did. 

Inside the shop everything is neatly laid out and categorised by genre including plenty of new release titles and there was a good selection of vinyl and dvds. There are write ups next to releases both old and new- good for discovery- and local artists such as Metronomy were afforded decent displays.

I had a good time chatting with Jenny who was behind the counter and a local called Jez who walked in. We had discussion about the Tame Impala listening party that night, van dyke parks, dylan and local musical luminary Ben Howard involving a little bit of controversy over selling his record a couple of days early because he signed the copies and people wanted to buy it. (Apparently EMI rang them up to tell them off for selling a handful of copies a couple of days early, prompting Howard to ring his label to plead their cause). They also played the Seapony album over the speakers which was a bonus point.

Heading back for the album playback that evening the counter doubled up as a bar with the options of hot drinks (tea or coffee, or coffee with a dash of whisky) or bottled beers. I arrived halfway through the Metz album (via Sub Pop) and stayed all the way through the excellent Tame Impala. I had a good chat with the store owner, Rupert, and we exchanged stories across all manor of subjects from the state of the music industry to fantasy football, writing for music press and where the nearest chip shop might be. Rupert has a big passion for music and for the record business so no surprise that the shop is as good as it is. He spoke about the constant tinkering including questions like 'are those blue lights right for the shop?' and all the changes he'd brought in plus the challenges of running a small business on a tight P&L basis, plus the visits to SXSW to promote new artists and running his own label too.

All in all a very worthwhile visit and a shop well worth checking out if you're in the South West.

Check out their website here (and buy something you like!): http://thedriftrecordshop.net

Flyer for the Listening Party

Bag for CDs to go in

Film: Searching For Sugar Man

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London underground tube poster

One of life's worries can often be the questions 'will people remember me when i'm gone?', will people know i'm here when i'm here. Will there be a lasting legacy from my life?

From a Christian perspective, watching recently released film Searching For Sugarman threw up some interesting answers, amongst lots of questions.

So last weekend I went down to Cineworld Fulham for the first time ever and parted with £11 to see this film.
Before you read further, please note this article contains some spoilers >>

Mottled with beautiful shots of the city, amazing music, poignant interviews and archive scenes, this music expose documents the life of Detroit born singer Sixto Rodriguez.

Sounding a bit like Bob Dylan, Rodriguez' lyrics are steeped in love, politics and telling it how it is.

His debut album Cold Fact was produced by Motown's Dennis Coffey and released in 1971. The album was a commercial flop in his native US, but a single copy of record made it into South Africa, where it went on to shift 'half a million copies' either via bootleg or sold. The word of mouth was incredible and sold the record, even with todays media machine this is one of the ultimate examples of a recommendation from a friend being worth more than any advert.

By the mid nineties Rodriguez was still none the wiser to this, in the 20 years since he'd released an excellent follow up which also didn't move in any great volume in the US and had consequently continued to raise his family and work on building sites as a tradesman.

He simply had no idea how famous he was in South Africa. Luckily he had some super fans who tracked him down to let him know that he was a star out there. And in 1998 sold out shows ensued as he played in front of 20,000+ people. All those record sales, which he was never paid for, started to earn him some money which he promptly shared amongst friends. It was great to see him get the recognition so many people thought his album deserved, a real good moment in the film.

There is so much more to this story, but it's well worth watching. And Rodriguez's music? Timeless.

Menahan Street Band Announce New Album

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Leading with a deliciously snowy arctic tundra as their cover art, Daptone's Menahan Street Band took to Facebook today to announce new album 'The Crossing' will be released October 30th. This is the follow up to their acclaimed 2010 debut Make The Road By Walking, an album i'm a huge huge fan of and which has gained the band an authentic fanboy following since. More recently the group provided the backbone to Charles Bradleys excellent 'No Time For Dreaming' as well as touring with Bradley to various festivals in the US and Europe.

"Recorded over a period of nearly two years, The Crossing is an 11-track sonic testament to the fruitful creative relationship that exists between the band, which consists of Brenneck, drummer and band co-founder Homer Steinweiss, bassist Nick Movshon, trumpeter Dave Guy and tenor saxophonist Leon Michels. " - KVUE.com

The title track is available for preview on Rolling Stone's website and, if this is anything to go by, the signs are very very good already. Expect more undulating, beautiful, spine tingling instrumental funk from this talented Brooklyn based troupe

Mp3 here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-crossing-by-menahan-street-band-free-mp3-20120801

Film: Charles Bradley- Soul of America

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Without doubt one of my favourite albums of last year, Charles Bradley's debut album was steeped in soul and real life grit. Backed by Daptone, the LP was recieved positively and created a very decent amount of media attention. Great news for a man who slept on the street for a part of his life and been through very tough times. Today I was very pleased to see there's going to be a whole film about his life, premiering at SXSW next week. Check out the trailer here :

those Alabama Shakes : Gig Review

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Alabama Shakes live @ Boston Arms 23/02

With Brittany Howards voice turning alot of heads, Alt-Country/Rock/Soul group Alabama Shakes took to a 3 night sold out stint at London's Boston Arms, the same venue that White Stripes cut their wares in the UK the first time round. I was lucky enough to be there to check them out (and report back to y'all!).

Newly signed to Rough Trade this 5 piece very much meet at the crossroads of country, rock and soul, and have already had exposure from a couple of TV syncs and the release of a 12" EP.  This and various pieces in the national press, have made this college start up from Athens Alabama the hottest property of the moment.

With her corkscrew hair and commanding song, singer Howard is the centre of attention with heavily bearded bass player Zac Cockrell and second lead guitarist Heath Fogg playing around her, eyes closed, as if dreaming about their native hometown. The music spills out in this texan styled venue to the expectant crowd. On the drums Steve Johnson adds extra frills in here and there, breaking up the beat where it was necessary and rolling to retain the groups jumpy groove.

In the quieter moments Britanny Howards voice moves from that of a street preacher in full flow to the quavering, fragile and world weary. Her ability to control her oration in this way is what sets her apart- that and her excellent guitar playing skills were mesmerising.

Half way through the gig I smell playdough, then i look down and remember that I was holding a fistful of tic-tacs given to me by my friend Pete and the sweat on my palms had reacted with it. That was really the only distraction to this compelling gig, alas I digress :)..

The hammond organ (one of my favourite instruments ever), sounds as powerful as if it was stolen from a James brown gig circa 1963 and not returned. By the hour mark, almost everyone was in the mood for a bit of a jive and dance around. Their first record Hold On gets the biggest reaction through association, and the band construct songs from quiet murmurs to the full rock out on every other track. Before the encore a cheeky T-Rex cover then a final flourish: two rock & roll tracks just to send the message home, that this band are rock, roll, soul, funk and country, rolled into one heck of a tight outfit.

Alabama Shakes debut LP is released on April 9th::

Zelda Symphony

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On the 25th of October at Hammersmith Apollo I did something that i've never done before at any gig, a couple of tears actually rolled down my cheek. My brother had spent much of his teenage years playing on Zelda and i'd picked up a tune or two off the N64 game and his ocarina.

2011 marks 25 years since the first carnation of the game released in cartridge format on the NES, which spawned versions on the 64, DS, Gameboy, Gamecube and currently, Nintendo Wii. This night was to be a timely celebration of the game but more so, of it's legacy of music. The Royal Philharmonic took charge of the proceedings for a concert which had previously only been performed in Tokyo and Los Angeles. This was to be the finale of the trio of performances worldwide, and as such, tickets had been selling fast for up to £100 each.

Behind the orchestra was a humongous screen, on it during the performances were to be clips (including battles) of gameplay from Zelda's finest moments across different formats. From the cute blocky Zelda's of 25 years ago, to the slicker more grown up player he is now.

Throughout the night we were treated to the themes of Hyrule Castle, Princess Zelda, Kakariko Village, Ocarina Melody suite, and lastly the theme tune to the new game Skyward Sword which as it ended prompted a few whoops.

On any other night, grown men walking round in Link costumes would have been an odd occurrence, not so tonight and i've never felt more akin to Big Bang Theory as I did here.

For purely nostalgic reasons, and even though i've never played the game before, this was a brilliant concert. Shame I didn't get better pics..

The Nirvana Exhibition

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It was the opening night of the Nevermind exhibition at the Loading Bay Gallery in London and I managed to get a look round! 20 years have passed since the now seminal album was released. This week the album was re-issued in a deluxe package with extra live footage and songs, so thought it the ideal time to post up some pics from the gallery.

Old Magazines featuring the band and rare formats of the album

Posters from gigs and a framed whiteboard (bottom right)

Lyrics from the album adorned the stairs and walls of the gallery

A famous photo of Kurt

That picture from the album, but bigger, and £500(!)

It was a privilege to go but overall I was slightly disappointed by some of the items on display, maybe 20 years isn't so long ago and seeing a framed whiteboard or one of Kurts hoodies wasn't enough to induce nostalgia. Nevermind still powerfully speaks to the listener and has kept it's relevance; is it too early to look back on it with a rose tinted fondness?

The exhibition will be running for two weeks only from Tuesday September 13^th to Sunday September 25^th at The Loading Bay Gallery, Brick Lane from 1pm-7pm daily. Entry is free. 

Big Chill Festival 2011, 3 days of music, sunshine and camping

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The big chill campsite, looking towards the main stage from the guest area

This was definitely one of those trips where the journey was an integral part as leaking what smelt like a large quantity of petrol from Bristol, we shambled our way down the motorway towards the picturesque Eastnor deer park with most windows open and the small black Fiat threatening to be driven apart into pieces at any moment (mum don't read this!). We actually managed to put the tent up in daylight, a step forward on last years pitch black pitching, and tented ourselves near a tree (theory being a good landmark makes it easy to locate).

Having done the transporting and pitching, we made it down into the main stage for Chemical Brothers Friday headline slot after being drawn to 'cubehenge' for some jungle. Chems put on a fantastic show though, dropping their hits in all the right places and with some expansive visuals on the big screen to support the Djing and samples. Our tickets were a kind gift from Vodafone so we were amongst the few who made it into the TV gallery, looking over the 30,000 strong crowd, it was a great experience.

Janelle shakes her Monae maker

A 3am finish, we woke on the Saturday and hastily set about making a plastic cups worth of tea, and eating disco's (the crisps). First up after we'd managed to get down to the main stage was Janelle Monae, who put on a great set once again (I was lucky to have seen her at wireless festival earlier in the season). Towards the end of her show she likes to put people to sleep, the aim being everyone at the front sits or lies down, as the band wind down and pretend to go to sleep on the stage, then kick right back up again with some rawkus. This also brought rain, which amusingly resulted in the guy in front hastily shaking his fist in anger at the sky. Luckily this year an umbrella was to hand.

Saturday night and we went to see Aloe Blacc play in the Revellers Tent, he created very much a lounge vibe and enjoyed one of his best album tracks in Green Lights before we skipped out to see if Kanye had turned up yet. Half an hour late he did but the performance, or what we saw of it, was fairly flat. Starting out singing from the tv tower, which turned heads (literally), he moved to the stage and sang a further 3 album tracks, before launching a 10 minute monologue about being lonely, persecuted, picking up a dud award at the German MTV awards and complaining he had lost his voice to 'bring y'all a great show, a great product'. It was a strange but also a sad moment. The crowd had been upbeat; now those who had been seeking to hear a carousel of his hits were leaving in their droves. From there we went to see Buraka Som Sistema with some samba house and set about finding a fire to sit round in the guest area.

Sunday AM heralded sitting in the tent rustling up some fish sandwiches,  getting through the remaining supplies and reading the newspaper whilst listening to the excellent Delta Swamp Rock compilation on SoulJazz. We wondered down the hill to the stage area and the sun really did come out with DJ Derek's brilliant reggae set and Norman Jay before that with his mix of dnb, house and good times. On the Saturday a hyperactive but enthusiastic Craig Charles brought us some of his favourite records on the cubehenge stage, the former Red Dwarf actor and Robot Wars host turned 6Music DJ and funk champion.

Wearily returning to London late on Sunday night meant I missed Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings which was a shame, but for what was to become a week of riots and madness, Big Chill did not disappoint, and is still one of the UK's best festivals for dance, pop, soul and reggae fans.  ****

DJ line up in the guest area

Sunset over the site

A magical setting for Aloe Blacc

Cubehenge, where DJ Derek & Craig Charles played

 

 

Record Store Day

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For the last 3 months things have really been ramping up for Record Store Day, a day where independent record shops get the much deserved spotlight. Excited queue's form outside record shops and extra staff are laid on. Now in it's sophomore year and whilst still fledgling, it's getting more support as it goes on with an increase in stores joining and more in the US, Canada, the EU and beyond. This year musicians such as Ozzy Osbourne recorded messages of support for it, acts like Primal Scream and The Fratelli's were interviewed on TV,  and reporters flocked to some of Soho's finest indie shops. Because of the prominence this is receiving labels and artists release limited edition records (mostly vinyl) which sell out quickly.

So I set off from the breezy Parsons Green station at 9.30 this morning, cup of coffee in hand, tired but intrigued. My destination was Sounds of The Universe on 7 Broadwick Street, a shop i'd not been in before but had wanted to visit for quite a while. Their close affiliation to SoulJazz records means it's pretty much the shop for me, recent excellent releases and re-issues made sure of that- two Bossa Beat compilations, a Delta Swamp comp and a Roy Ayers vinyl amongst them. They don't stock indie rock (Guitar bands), but do stock crates of Disco, HipHop, Rare Soul & Jazz LPs a bit of techno, reggae and plenty of Funk. There's also some educational music dvd's and books.

Outside, it's 10.15 and a motley set of punters had started to form an orderly queue - "An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one."- (George Mikes), and so i joined 9th in line awaiting opening. Whilst there several of us, who hadn't previously known each other, started chatting about records we liked, what we wanted to get on the day and also traded some music stories. One remarked that the queue outside Rough Trade East was '500 strong' with a 2 hour wait, so it was quite nice to know that there was only 20 or so of us standing outside this shop.

At 11am there were over 30 in the line queuing just around the corner and then the wood framed doors were opened. Most of us went straight to the till to ask about the exclusives, no Beastie Boys but a decent number of 'Ubiquitous' by Dennis Coffey which I picked up along with the excellent Charles Bradley album on Menahan (Daptone).

Later and journeying back home to write this and listen to some music, I was quite chuffed to have been a small part of Record Store Day. In these times of uncertainty, with the news about HMV and the decline of physical sales, Record Store Day could yet be the fulcrum that the wider music industry would do well to take further note of.

Record Store Day : http://www.recordstoreday.com/uk
Sounds of The Universe: http://www.soundsoftheuniverse.com/

Ninja Tune XX

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The much followed label behind Roots Manuva, Mr Scruff, Ty, Amon Tobin, Herbaliser, Bonobo, Andreya Triana, Cinematic Orchestra and many more are celebrating their 20th Birthday this year.

I found myself at their exhibition near Islington last week where amongst the trinkets and oddities were all of the album covers, Roots Manuva's plaster head from the Slime & Reason album, the Ninja family tree, The little ninja dude and the vinyl stack from Big Dada's Well Deep album.


If you're in London you can catch the Exhibition from now until 16 September 2010 Mon - Fri, 12-5pm, 10a Acton St.

To celebrate those 20 candles or 'XX' in roman speak, the label are releasing three different box sets and have made this pretty cool (and well mixed) video. Now where's my Mr Scruff branded mug?..