Natalie Willaims + Shlo. . . I might need to change my pants

So, I've noticed that all (I'm using hyperbole) my entries (I don't like calling them blogs) contain a magnanimous SO and a life changing BUT.

SO, I went to see Natalie Williams for the first time back in January. It was one of those rare nights where someone else said "I've got something awesome for you" which I love. So we went to the ORIGINAL Pizza Express in Soho, i think it's officially called Jazz @ Pizza Express and I think you can guess that they play live Jazz and other such musical delights there. Couple that with TASTY food as well as being there with the girl I loved (yeah there is a D and the end of that one - turns out that some people aren't who you think/hope they are no matter how much you wish and try). It was set to be a WONDERFUL night.

Enter Nat. I met her now so I naturally I am on first name terms despite blushing like a schoolboy and turning more bashful than I've been. A sticking redheaded amazonian woman with a smile larger than life. She sang, she talked, she moved and she shaked. All in all. AWESOME night.

A wonderful friend of mine (the same fella who invited me to the Nomad Chef Restaurant) calls me up and says I got tickets to Ronnie Scotts, it's a night recommended by a friend of ours (she has extraordinary taste) and Shlomo is the special guest. As you know. I think he is the template for the modern individual. AGAIN, it was one of the those rare occurrences where I was slightly clueless BUT extremely excited.

Imagine my elation (and it's rare I get to use it so you'd better start imagining) to see that it was Natalie Williams and the Soul Family. I suppose they are a little bit like Shlomo and the Vocal Orchestra. A bunch of very talented people in their own right. There was guitar, bass, piano, drrrrrrums, three backing awesome vocalists, sax and trumpet/flugel horn. Terrific. TERRRRRRRRIFIC. Each had their own moment to shine. There wasn't a song where they each got a 20second bit to show off but, throughout the two halves they sparkles in unison with beautiful moments where each put themselves on a well-deserved pedestal.

I like Natalie. She has that silky smooth, rich voice with a balance of depth mixed in. Somehow (mainly because she was most of the time) she sounds like she is smiling while she is singing. I could write for hours about her smile but my main goal would be to get you to experience it for yourself. So do that.

The first half was fairly dedicated to her and her new album and everything she liked. She has good chat, there is great chemistry between all those on stage. Easy. A highlight was the cover of Bjork's Hyperballad. Never been a fan of Bjork until then.

I would say we were eased into the second half but that's a lie. Shlo wonders out sheepishly (as usual). His humility fills the room. There is silence because most people have no clue who he is or what they are about to see. I say this every time I see him BUT. Oh dear Lord. That is not right. The is something NEXT LEVEL about him. He does his bit on the loop sampler and builds a a few tracks. He claims that they will get better. He apologises when he finishes his improvised jazz/dubstep hybrid mashup - far better than most musicians could dream of doing with real instruments... I got the shivers running around and around my torso. I was blown off this planet (once again) by his genius. 'Part Time drop out gets better and better every time, especially when he hits those crazy high-notes. It is properly mindbending and induces a euphoric calm (in me at least).

The rest of the show consisted of a standout track from Brendan Scott Reilly called Little Black Cloud. BEEEEAUTIFUL. I think everyone in the room could empathise a little with that. Forgive me for now remember all the names BUT Annabelle Williams was KERRRRWALITY. Amazing presence and 'girl got PIPES'. A cover of Cannonball sent me into a happily reflective trance... That night was what I had been looking for. I'd lost me way in the world of creating reasons to have tremendous Mondays. This was a Sunday night that rekindled my love for Monday.

I would love to talk more about what happened but I fear that the more I say the less people will belive me.

We got a miniclip of Nat and Shlo's collaboration at the SouthBank - Music Through Unconventional Means series

The Soul Family in all their glory

This says it all really.

The Nomad Chef

I was honoured to befriend a good man (then a boy) 22 years ago. I am lucky to still have him in my life. He was born on 15th June 1983. As a result he celebrates his birthday each year on the 15th June. This year he celebrated at the Nomad Chef Secret Restaurant (Facebook group - HERE). I am not sure if you are aware of the idea of a secret restaurant BUT (token but as usual) it takes the notion of the home chef and in this case Shelly + Bruno = SUPER CHEFs. It takes their home and again, in this case - a beautiful apartment in Holland Park with a magical garden and a PERRRFECT conservatory that seats 18(ish). Add a little bit of decent company and combine... You have a secrect/underground restaurant. (I was tempted to do the whole, review as though it was a recipe but then I grew some taste.)

On a 'normal' night there is a mishmash of couples, small groups and singles all there to feed on the details that come from the adjoined kitchen. Having flicked through the previous menus, this wanders from Mexican and South American (haddock cerviche got me VERY curious) through Europe to India and the Far East. There is a large Californian feel to every part of the meal, be it eating family style for some elements or the eclectic spice influences in others.

A simple yet fitting premise is re-introducing the idea of the nomad to the seating plan. Everyone is welcome and encouraged change seats between courses and this keeps the atmosphere fresh and heightens the relaxed yet central social side of things.

It's been a while since I was that at ease wit dining out while still having the benefit of excellent company and noteworthy food. The hosts and the 'server' were pivotal to this. Their smiling happy demeanour were spot-on. They were keen to help and proud to serve while the interjections of detail and information on what we were eating and why were most welcome.

I will definitely go there again. The only reason I don't want to recommend it is to help maintain it's quiet secret romance. If you want in then go. BUT, once you've been you'll understand why I want to keep it a secret but can't help but tell you all.

I am sold. No matter what the weather, it is always warm inside.

Annie Mac (re)Presents

I might have said this before BUT.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

I was in a foul mood. Angry, pissy, shizzy mood on Saturday 5th June (forgive me for the slowness of this but I didn't realise I hadn't posted it).

I'll keep it short and sweet.

I eventually turned up, full of barbecue food and little else, it was POURING with rain - god bless the British summer. So I was wet. That's what rain does. I was going with a friend and her fella, and their mates (one of whom I had met before but only tenuously).

Enough scene setting.

Venue: Koko

Had a beer and watched the forgettable (Sam Sparro on mescaline) band who were on. So, then, Annie wonders out and starts playing her musics, still, not completely enamoured but i defeintely wasn't complaing, I was toward the back (at the bar end for those who know). The bass was meaty but the mixing was a touch sketchy. Her music choice was fairly difficult to dislike with a bit of RusKo and I THINK some Sleigh Bells but don't hold me to it. Around this time, i started to dislike the crowd. So, happy two-stepping away, i was minding my own business.

THEN

*pauses to build anticipation*

THEEEN Alklan wonders out in his YEAH TECHNO! t-shirt and thick formerly-geeky-now-trendy black rimmed, NHS glasses. He was WOMPIN' We wondered up to the front and stood bang in front of the speaker. The bass was shaking my hair and rattling my brain. He was on for an hour and a half but it disappeared in a beautiful-bass/eupohira induced haze. My only criticism would be that there were a smattering of serious low points. 75% of what he played or how he played it was AWESOME if not a little formulaic but that is no complaint. If you were to ask me to name the tunes then I have no idea. I could try and describe it but I would probably have to slightly aspergic. Go on. Ask. I dare you.

Next time you get a chance, go to Annie Mac Presents BUT go late... if that's advice then I am giving it

This is a photograph.

Sleigh Bells Treats - Santa goes for a summer break

Sleight Bells. Their album does exactly what is say on the tin. TREATS!

I once woo-ed a girl with the profound statement:

"Isn't is amazing how far apart the definitions for the words TREAT and TREATY are but they are only one letter different..." (the same applies for goat and goaty). In this case there is not a whole lot of relevance to the Sleigh Bells' debut album Treat BUT musically it is an absolute treaty.

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOOOOOM WAAAOOWW WAAAOOOOWWWWWWW *pretty si-i-i-i-iiiiingiiiiing* - clip taken from the title track - Treats on the album Treats (which is treats)

Sleigh Bells - Treats by thegravenative

That pretty much sums it up.

I was fortunate enough to first stumble across A/B Machine created by these beauties when randomly browsing. Apparently she left her "A machines on the table and her B machines on the floor"

I was first lured by their electro ruffery. Then I found out as I proceeded to pur-chase Crown on the Grown that there was a meaty guitar element. At first I was worried the vocals would be repetitive and annoying. I was gratefully wrong. They sound a little bit like what Coldplay would sound like if they grew a pair and Chris was married to Justine Frischmann from Elastica instead of Gwyneth Paltrow.

It's one of those albums you could put on when you had a bunch of friends round who were feeling energetic and you needed to keep them entertained while you went out to walk the (excitable) dog you recently bought... because you like the dog more than your like you friends anyway.

So. If I were Aesop, and these were my fables, the moral of this story would be. Buy a dog. Then, buy this album.

Johnny Flynn @ Rough Trade East = Enraptivating

First of all, please don't not read this because I hybridised two words to make a new word

I went to Rough Trade East the other day. Monday if we're insisting on specifics. Monday, 8th June 2010 (around 6:25pm) if you're a cock. I went on the Waterloo and City line to Bank and then walked the rest of the way. Now enough with the questions... If you want, email me and I will happily talk about tube routes and walking throughout London.

I bought Johnny Flynn's new album (two copies, one for me and one for a friend) along with Sleigh Bells - Treats, Surfer Blood - Astro Coast and Noah and the Whales - First Days of Spring. I was fortunate enough to be presented with two 'wristbands' which entitled me to return the following day (I came via the same route and arrived slightly later and met a friend on the way, and went for a drink at The Water Poet - awesome pub).

We wondered in to the venue - which, I would like to iterate, was a record shop, still with rows of records and stuff on the shelves... to the wonderful noise of Johnny Flynn and his guitar. Just that. Nothing else.

The standouts for me were The Wrote and The Writ... easily one of my favourites from his first album - A Larum - alongside Ghost of Donnaghue and Hong Kong Cemetry. If you want to read an excellent biog for this fine young man then go ----------->

"When he was a boy, Johnny Flynn used to poach trout. If this sounds like a scene from Roald Dahl's Danny The Champion Of The World, it's because Johnny Flynn's life would make for a great Dahl adventure.... Ever since discovering a copy of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in a junk shop aged 13, he has known what he wants to do with his life: to take off on a path of discovery, and write poetic, lyrical songs that document the journey." - Rough Trade East

I shall now cite myself from my own notes (a trick I learned all those years when i had to write essays but wasn't so hot on the research). As usual I shall quote word for word and letter for letter.

"Wrote an the writ descended the group(not) crowd into a melacholic mesmerisation- emanated that feeling in your stomach that 'everything is good"

"Churlish may- no trumpets? Were they missed? Na. Fraid not"

"Surprisngly - been listening was the riches, most apitvating and self explanatory (if you were using his music and not common words to explain what Mr Flynn sounds like and epitomises."

I think that says it all really. Spend a little bit of time with this be it on your morning commute (it'll take the edge of things) or the evening commute (it'll add to the serenity of leaving work) or just listen to the wonderfully slow, rhapsodies that this boyishly handsome and similarly boy-ish humility. His comparability to his name sake (Johnny Cash) is well earned through the richness of his story telling and the dialect/vocabulary he chooses to use.

A few words on the crowd. Like I said before, it was more of a group or a gathering than it was a crowd. There was a warmth and a comfort in each others company. Maybe I am just being wanky BUT the silence was rare and golden; the complete stillness created by and pure concentration on the our protagonist for the hour was something i had not seen in a long time.

Bravo.