Superfood, Live

I woke up on Wednesday with black and blue shins, a voice not to dissimilar to Stevie from Malcolm In The Middle and covered in sweat from strangers in tent sized vintage shirts. I had the night of my life watching Superfood and Honeyblood at their Camden date on the NME New Breed tour. Watching the Birmingham band for the fourth time in my life that night was a blinding idea by me as after their debut 'Don't Say That' has invaded my eardrums for the last week I needed to know how good their new songs sounded live.

The evening began with probably the coolest band that you've never heard of, Bad Sounds' uncommon mix of electro and indie was almost as cool as what they were wearing. Watching them live was like running into vintage shop Rokit down the road and having an epileptic fit, lead singer donned pin stripe dungarees and looked normal next to his bassist. The music was pretty cool swell, reminiscent of early MGMT and following in the footsteps of new dance bands like Milky Chance. The inundation of cool didn't stop there, Glaswegian two piece Honeyblood were both polite and ruthless. Thanking people for arriving and demanding they 'start jumping' banning the polite head bobbing. This is where I began to feel pain.

The pain continued as I hustled my way to the very front, with just a few monitors in my way between actually being a Superfood member. The next forty five minutes flew by as Dominic Ganderton and co. played a selection of classics from 'Mam EP' and their debut album. To say the crowd went crazy is a huge understatement. I spent the set splayed against the barrier-less stage holding on speakers for my dear life, it was awesome. Security at Dingwalls were stretched to their limits sorting out kit and pushing back Superfood kids who were very enthusiastic. Superfood interspersed their set with conversations with fans throughout, every time they perform it feels like a thank you note to the people who consume their throwback Britpop.

The thank you note finished with the stage invasion which rivals any I have ever seen. As fans no older than 18 bum rushed the already cramped stage Superfood carried on in ecstasy and euphoria as we (yes of course I got on stage) hugged and shared glances to Carl the drummer who carried on despite the anarchy. I finished my night by being hurled off the stage by a burly security guy to my dismay. I now have no voice and will probably have to visit my GP about my neck, absolute blinder.

Wonder Where We Land, Sbtrkt Review

As the year draws into it's final few months, British music still has some gems to release before 2015. This time it's producer Sbtrkt and Wonder Where We Land. Sbtrkt (real name Aaron Jerome) has helped form the careers of Sampha and Jessie Ware and is already a formidable name in the dance scene post his self titled debut in 2011.

However, WWWL is an instantly different album to his debut. Day 1 is a fantastic intro which moods straight into the atmospheric and bizarre title track. Sampha throughout this LP delivers perfect vocals which is expected by him every time. By the two minute mark there are more vocal samples and electronic beeps than a year seven keyboard class, it makes for an uncomfortable listen. Lantern develops from Sonic The Hedgehog into a rave tune in under a minute and is certain to have even the most dreary club on fire. One thing is certain, Sbtrkt is taking risks on WWWL- and they are paying off. Putting almost unheard and nubile southern rapper Raury on his track Higher is brave, but what we see is Raury murdering every single line- like a brash and misanthropic Chance.

The guest spots on the album are varied but each artist manages to provide another facet to Jerome's surrealist soundscape of rent-a-island Osea (surprisingly close to London!).  Christina Polacheck is difficult to understand in her feature on Look Away, which could easily be sung as Walk Away.  As I've already mentioned Sampha is brilliant on this album, with four appearances. Jessie Ware on Problem(Solved) is Drake-y without the corny rhymes, just pure night-time r&b. A$AP Ferg too is fantastic, finishing the album off with a lesson on drug rap for beginners that is stylish and cool. Play this at a party and you've got a full lounge.

I cannot review this album without talking about the single of the year. NEW DORP.NEW YORK with Vampire Weekend's Ezra is as close as we are going to get to perfect musically. Lyrically genius Gargoyles gargling oil and brilliant beat has given birth to a technically great piece of music that you can dance to. Wonder Where We Land is a fantastically weird album, nice to see an album where EVERY song has merit on it's own.

PS. I would highly recommend the Deluxe Vinyl Edition to any record aficionados, picture disks and stickers and secret tracks galore!