SBTRKT

Cycle up to Simon's arriving early except when he said 7.30 he meant at Brixton not his place. However we tarry awhile as I'm unable to resist looking over his new shed and getting pretty damn envious in the process. We bus down town meeting Young Nick to hear tales of holidaying in Ibiza and the pox. Not related you understand, he must be the only kid in England to not have had Chicken Pox but apparently it's all right now. I won't go into how many tickets Simon bought who he promised them too and who he didn't have them for cos it'll only open old wounds. Needless to say everyone who wanted to got in so alls well that ends well as the bard said. Tired of waiting for Old Nick, I don't mean beelzebub but I need to differentiate the two, and Jules and kids we three go into the gig. Pretty empty in here and I'm surprised to hear the stirring sounds of a band rocking out to Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Raury look and sound like the educated offspring of Bad Brains serving up a slice of solid hard rock and roll whilst jumping around the stage and the man himself looking well stylish in large brimmed hat. Raury (I assume that's the name of the singer) reminds me of Freddie Mercury with his staccato posturing and all too soon they're off the stage. However we'll get to see more of Raury later. Where there was open savanna like spaces at the Academy when we walked in and no queue at the bar there's now a lot of punters and it takes me a good 15 minutes to get served partly because under age girls keep nipping in front of me and it's difficult to yank them back and tell them to eff off at my age without getting arrested. Maybe 20 years ago I would've quite enjoyed it but just now I need beer and I need it fast.

Denai Moore now takes the stage and delivers pretty MOR set of ballads that aren't particularly interesting either to me or the rest of the crowd but to be fair I probably haven't given her a good chance as now chatting to Jules and the others. [I've now listened to her on-line and she sounds pretty good so maybe I'll go see her in a smaller venue without the anticipation of a clubby night out]. Young Nick goes to the bar and doesn't get back to us for ages in fact about a third of the way through the headliner...

SBTRKT delivers a big mish mash of music styles all underpinned by a great drummer and an interestingly timed percussionist. Old Nick has arrived having given face value to a tout and is wondering whether it was worth it. The timing of the percussionist is a bit suspect but I think that it's all going through SBTRKT's synth anyway which smooths out any timing or pitch issues. We are treated to a mix of styles from early 80s post punk electro, rock anthem synths reminiscent of van Halen's Jump (never a favourite of mine but this is half decent although I don't think it's meant to be Jump), samba street partying grooves and then we get into the main meal of funky trippy I guess you call it dubstep [having wikipediaed I find it's actually post dubstep which is a refinement that goes a long way over my head]. Once Young N comes back with the beers, we now know why others are carrying 2 pint glasses, we make our way down front left which is surprisingly easy with enough space to stand comfortably and have a little shimmy when the feeling takes us. By now the strobes are on overdrive and we are hit by a wave of fantastic sounds like a clubby James Blake and with a bit more crowd encouragement from whoever is guest singing. The crowd loves it and a crowd surfer jumps on stage and swan dives into the audience but feet first which is definitely not good form. You wouldn't get that at a Bad Brains gig. Or at James Blake for that matter. Simon & I go get beers and, just like missing a goal at football, our hero plays the best known song at least for us the brilliant New Dorp New York. Ah well catch the end of it and have recognised a few others from his recent releases. Old Nick's disappeared by now and we don't see again tonight. A well deserved (for him and us) encore which goes down well altho it's not a mental crowd tonight. Overall I really enjoyed the gig and at times it was excellent. Maybe too many breaks between songs, as Jules' son warned, and the chopping and changing styles and singers broke up the groove. Maybe he needs to bring us up to a mad frenzied crescendo and play the big hands in the air songs last. But who am I to tell a famous producer how to play a gig. I thought I was listening to dub step and it was post dub step all along. To be fair I've struggled with any dub related nuances since the untimely demise of Prince Far I.

So we squeeze through the crowd and into the fresh Brixton air having lost both Nicks and Jules' kiddies. Bus back up the hill and as Simon's working tomorrow he won't let me and Jules make cocktails so I tootle off home on the bike thinking about what a range of musical styles we've heard tonight and how apt it was at the Academy where I must've seen every genre under the sun over the last few decades whether I realised it or not.

Raury - particularly poor photos this time.

SBTRKT are in there somewhere - I'm sure it's not James Blake on the left