GIG: Wbeezer & George FitzGerald @ Man Make Music, London

Our good friends, Man Make Music, are hosting a FREE event on Saturday 7th August that is gonna blow a hole in the roof of The Star of Bethnal Green in East London. Two of the UK’s most sought after dance music makers will be the ones damaging the aforementioned roof! London’s own Wbeezer will be performing live with his fresh blend of Detroit style house, and fellow Londoner George FitzGerald will be DJing alongside Bruk and Man Make Music residents Sketchy and Another Amit.

Having been described as “one of the most exciting new artists to come out of the UK”, the young man Wbeezer has had heads turning at events like Secret Sundaze and also Sonar in Barcelona. With an EP release on the Third Ear Recordings label – the label who released Kyle Hall‘s ‘Must See EP’ – things are really starting to hot up for him. This is also likely to be one of the only intimate live sets from Wbeezer in London this summer – so don’t miss it!

And who better to have supporting Wbeezer than George FitzGerald?! An old friend of the Man Make Music crew and an artist signed to the well respected Hot Flush Recordings label, home to such luminaries as Mount Kimbie, Scuba, Distance, Boxcutter and Joy Orbison. His track, Painted Jezebel, was also present on the recent Brownswood Electr*c compilation from Gilles Peterson‘s Brownswood label.

This ultra-fresh blend of house, 2-step and dubstep stylings seems to be just what the UK scene needed – what with the recent triumphs from a diverse selection of producers, including; Floating Points, Joy Orbison, Mount Kimbie, Untold, Blue Daisy and Kyle Hall, to name a handful. These artists are pushing the boundaries of that ever-evolving beast; dance music. Transferred back into it’s rightful home, the club environment, not much comes close to it out in London venues right now. That slick blend of hypnotic melodies, driving beats and basslines ensures feet keep shuffling until the late, late hours become the early, early hours.

Don’t You!!? by George FitzGerald

GIG: PoeJazzi with Yungun & Benin City – London

On Thursday 1st July, as part of E4′s Udderbelly series at the Southbank Centre in London, PoeJazzi will be hosting one of the biggest nights of the summer. Featuring performances from revered UK hip-hop emcee Yungun, seven-piece band Benin City and spoken word artist Inua Ellams, it promises to be something special indeed.

To find out more information about this event, and to book tickets (£12), check out the Southbank Centre website.

Here’s a video of a previous performance by Benin City at Udderbelly. Described as a blend of Outkast and James Brown, the guys certainly have a fantastic energy and attitude to their afro-tinged sound…

GIG: Creative Control Coalition Launch Party, London

The Creative Control Coalition (CCC) is a new non profit effort to help independent artists and labels, who want to work without giving up creative control, pool forces and resources together. This Saturday, 19th June, sees the official launch party for the CCC at The New Empowering Church in Hackney, London (E8 3RL). Kicking off at 9pm, you can only buy tickets in advance for £10 either from IfMusic or via The Ticket Sellers website. You’ll also get a FREE copy of the CCC compilation as well.

And what exactly will be waiting for you on Saturday night?! Well, as the flyer suggests, there’ll be a plethora of fantastic acts straddling the boundaries of electronica, soul, hip-hop, jazz and far beyond. Including; Amalgamation Of Soundz, Colonel Red, Dave De Rose, Jay Scarlett, Morgan Zarate, Om Unit, Simon S and Subeena. Quite the line up!

Here’s a stream of the aforementioned CCC compilation which features the artists appearing at the launch party…

REVIEW: Neil Cowley Trio @ Ronnie Scott’s

Long time readers of Jus Like Music may remember when we reviewed the album Loud… Louder… Stop! by the Neil Cowley Trio, which came out in 2008 to much critical acclaim. It was a powerful, energetic and deeply emotional contemporary jazz trio record, with Neil Cowley on piano, Richard Sadler on double bass and Evan Jenkins on drums. Well, recently a new album dropped by the Neil Cowley Trio, named Radio Silence, and I got the opportunity to see the guys perform live last week at the globally renowned Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho, London.

This was a first for Ronnie Scott’s too. The first time they’d chosen to have a performance in the ’round’. I’d only been there once previously – for the press launch for Bonobo’s new album – and ordinarily the band would be situated at the back of the room. However, and as you can probably work out, the band were moved into the middle of the room and spectators surrounded them on all sides! I think that was a good move, to be honest. Particularly for an outfit like the Neil Cowley Trio, who simply ooze energy and passion. So, to have them in the centre of the room acted as a more effective platform for their performance and allowed them to fully engage with the audience.

Given that the energy and passion in their music is already very much apparent in their studio recordings, I wondered what I might learn from the live event. Of course I expected to experience all the same wonderful things that I had from the recordings, but I was genuinely intrigued to see what else I would be offered on the night. A couple of things jumped out almost immediately; Neil Cowley is one funny guy, very much at ease with himself and able to make fun of himself, but also what was instantly noticeable was the chemistry between the three guys. There was a lot of musical sparring going on, particularly between Neil on piano and Evan on drums. Something probably more typical in jazz than any other genre, but there was the regular teasing by playing a few notes, then waiting for a few drum hits to come back in response – met with a cheeky smile between the two players here and there. Almost like a musical version of the game ‘chicken’.

Between tracks, of which they played about 70% new material and 30% old, Neil took the time to talk with the surrounding audience, briefly recounting the stories behind tracks and/or their names. But once the playing again commenced, it was like all three had entered another zone, quickly becoming very deep into the music. One thing I’ve always loved about their music is the peaks and troughs, the steady pace to the frenzied build up, and that transferred to live surroundings perfectly. To suggest that Neil becomes engrossed in his playing would be an understatement. At the furious highs of certain tracks I wondered what would breakdown first, Neil or his Piano! I mean that in an extremely positive manner, of course. But, if you play the piano like Neil Cowley, then you probably don’t need a gym membership.

A couple of hours and an encore later, things had come to a close. What a night. Live music is a funny thing – when people aren’t particularly impressive, it’s easy to make that judgement more or less instantly, but when people are ridiculously amazing, it’s harder to comprehend because it’s almost so good that you can forget it’s a live performance and not just a recording you are hearing! Naturally the stark reminder, that it was indeed a live performance, was that the band were playing literally ten feet in front of me, but I did have to pinch myself a few times!

The Neil Cowley Trio continue to expand on the sub-genre of contemporary piano-trio jazz, with their high energy performances and beautifully crafted songs. To see them perform live was a real privilege and something I would urge everyone to try and do if the guys ever come to your town or city. The new album, Radio Silence, is a brilliant collection of nine songs spanning just shy of an hour, and it’s out right now through Naim Jazz, so give it a listen.

mp3: Neil Cowley Trio – Gerald

VIDEO: Inko – Un Terlude

Check out this visual extravaganza for Norwegian producer Inko‘s track Un Terlude, taken from his forthcoming EP, Melma, which will drop this summer on the Steroptico label.

Inko continues to stride the boundaries between hip-hop and electronica with his own distinct style, and if you happen to be based in Oslo, you can catch Inko live alongside Mweslee at DO IT! on 25th June. It will be Inko’s live debut, so if you’re in town, don’t miss this chance to witness the man in action!

You can also grab the track Komet Kameratene for FREE as part of Jus Like Music & Apple Juice Break present: Oscillations Part 2 at the Jus Like Music Records Bandcamp page.

REVIEW: Oscillations Launch Party @ The CAMP, London

Any regular readers will know that we were very excited in the build up to the Oscillations Launch Party presented by Bridging The Gap and Man Make Music, which was held a couple of Saturdays ago (15/5) at The City Arts & Music Project in London. Well, I’m pleased to be able to report that all in attendance (and there were a lot of them!) had a wicked time as Slugabed, Om Unit, Kidkanevil, Mr Beatnick and the BTG & MMM DJs did their thing and kept the dancefloor moving until 4am!

The limited edition posters, of which there were only 150, seemed to be pretty popular, so I doubt there are any of those left – however, I am in possession of some copies of the limited edition Oscillations Mix CD (mixed by Mr Beatnick). A helluva lot of the 500 hand-numbered CDs were snapped up on the night, but if you didn’t manage to grab one or couldn’t come along, drop me an email to jeejATjuslikemusic.com with the subject line “Oscillations Mix CD” and tell me what your favourite tune from Oscillations was. Don’t forget to provide a name and postal address too! First lucky ten to hit me up will get a copy of the CD sent to them.

Thanks to all of those who came down to show support, it was a great night indeed. I shall leave you now with a pretty dark (literally) video of Om Unit in the mix…

If you don’t have both parts of the Oscillations compilation then you can still grab both parts absolutely free from the Jus Like Music Records Bandcamp page.

mp3: Om Unit – Neptune