A Weekend Of Muzik

Yes that's right, i had quite a tuneful weekend. It all started on friday when my posse and me headed Farringdon-wards to the bright lights and expensive beverages of Fabric for my 21st b'day celebrations. The line-up was pretty special, featuring Cut Chemist, DJ Format, Adam F, Roots Manuva to name but a few, so the queue outside was long but it moved quickly enough and before we knew it, we were inside and glow-sticked up. The place itself is a bit confusing for a Fabric virgin, like me, so i got lost a bit and only saw a few acts, but they were excellent. Adam F blew the roof off the room, the beats and dirty bass-lines were flying everywhere, and with a little help from some fantastic laserwork, the entire room was going mental. Roots Manuva was pretty cack, it was his b'day apparently, which he and his crew kept having to mention before, after and during most of the tunes he played, but a rendition of Witness made up for it... slighty. My night ended at about 3am after witnessing some turntable wizardry from vinyl sciencist himself, Cut Chemist. Some of things he was doing with two decks and a mixer were just unbelievable, i was in awe and when i wasn't in awe, i was dancing. It was a super night.

On Saturday, i let my ears and body recover from the pounding the d'n'b had given them but Sunday was back to business. Me and the 'rents heading up to the Brick Lane Festival for a bit of Indian speciality and some good music. We were here to see Acoustic Ladyland, my dad's favourites, who were playing in the Vibe Bar courtyard. We missed the first ten minutes of their set due to bad service in the restaurant so the band were in full flow as we got let in and that means lots fo energy. Even with no main singer or their usual drummer, they're more of a jazz group than anything else, they produce so much kineticism, Saxophonist and sometimes singer Pete Wareham is a great frontman, full of attitude, power, stature and passion when he's playing his instrument, he poses like all good rock stars and gets the crowd moving, its a shame he doesn't have the same presence when he tries vocally, its just sounds a bit weak and lacking, maybe he should just stick to blowing his horn coz thats when the magic happens. The musicianship on show is amazing, each track is full of little complexities, even on the raw, in-ya-face tracks where they sound more like a punk band than a jazz band, and thats why they're so darn good. They mix the genres into such cohesive, intriguing and powerful ball of goodness thats waiting to explode and today it did as the whole front section of the crowd turned into a little pit of youthful energy and aggression. It was great.

Just listen:
Adam F - Circles
Cut Chemist - What's The Altitude
Acoustic Ladyland - Deckchair
Acoustic Ladyland - Ludwig Van Ramone