Kalakuta and United Vibrations @ New Cross Inn 4 June 2012

I saw United Vibrations last night again. again I'd planned no such thing. I seem to be somehow subconsciously stalking them but I can't help believing it's them stalking me. it's not that I don't love United Vibrations. I love United Vibrations. I think they are one of the best live acts around when it comes to the vibe they create, very few bands can do it like they do it, they just smash it every time, pure joy! every time I see them I am exhilarated in a crowd of exhilarated people! If you haven't seen them U must u must u must!

it's just that I've seen them many times. I have counted seven possibly more. And I think twice out of those seven I actually meant to go see them. They just keep showing up! I even went to Brighton once to see Aloe Blacc and there they were Ahmad and Wayne playing horns with Aloe!!



Kalakuta were a bit disappointing last night, I didn't dance at all :( zero. to afrobeat. to my friends' afrobeat....the sound system let them down, Emeka's mike was shit, but not only that they didn't seem to be on the same air waves, the rhytm section just didn't seem to work. it got slightly better when Bola finally showed up with the cowbell - came in late and didn't even play drum which for me was the most disappointing bit obviously I am a helpless sucker for the drum, what can I say... the backing singer girls were very good though, really nice. also there were four horns and I'd never seen any of them before! they seem to go through a lot of horns, when I said that to Bola he just laughed.

we ended up hanging out there till about 5 a.m and had a really great time. I did say to Wayne and Ahmad I thought they were stalking me though which I could have kept to myself. Emeka was pretty unhappy with how their gig had gone but I think we managed to cheer him up a bit, me and Bola kept discovering really cool things we had in common. I love them boys they are such good people! I wish ___hadn't decided I was going to become his african wife and mama of his children as a result of it though...........it's very sweet and flatterning and all coming for once from someone I like and admire and even more so because I know he likes more than just my looks and the fact that I am nice (people are not used to it. sad. i hate moments when I am forced to think I should be less nice) but still, awkward. I've been in this situation before several times when god meant me and a guy to be together and me saying no was just me being unreasonable and me don't like it the smallest bit...hope this time it will blow over quick, I'd be really really upset if I had to avoid him.

big dada takeover at the boiler room tonite. how will I manage to be so close to Wiley and not throw myself at him I just don't know......

dabrye: free to stay?

I've not been so excited since 1949 which means I really need to sart working on working out some likely reason why it could go terribly wrong and becoming pessimistic about it ... if I find time...

if it does go terribly wrong it will have to be for resons other that the gig being avarage - dabrye doesn't do avarage I don't think, though he has only been djing (as dabrye spinning hip hop that is) since last year apparently and it was only last year that he came back after disappearing for a long while (his label Ghostly International launched the FREE DABRE movemen to get him work on Three/Three. looks like they have like eh! fingers crossed) .

I remember very well the moment when after watching can't remember what on youtube I clicked on one of the sugestions on the right, someone I'd never heard of, no video, this picture

spent the rest of the day listening to dabrye's marvelous creations and decided he was one of my favourite beatmakers EVER. then there was kutmah's all dabrye mix on NTS - he's just put it out for a free download here.

if you are in london or within reasonable distance you may want to check in here on thursday 24 may for the man's FIRST EVER UK SHOW

oh. OH. OH.  O H !
if I hear Count Bass D on thursday which is more than likely isn't it? omg omg omg omg omg omg omg I shall die a happy person. and probably make a scene in the club. don't worry I have no intention of actually dying. not until I've seen CBD

robert glasper experiment at Barbican 14 May 2012

went to see robert glasper experiment tonight at Barbican with high expecations I guess but too much has been happening, a lot of it exhausting, some of it very very good, a lot of it bad so I didn't really have mindspace to think about it and be excited. I did have hight expectations though and I was right. it was a totally amazing experience, some bits of it otherworldly. sure there were slower less rousing moments. of course. can't fly all the time and actually I did fly a lot for one sit down show. hope I didn't break the chair I was jumping on. I usually find still audiences hard but this time I didn't pay any attention to anything just me and the music. don't know how people do it though. I guess they go to a fraction of live gigs I go to and are not used to dancing like maniacs. one of the girls - there were about 12 of us there it turned out, almost all usual gig people came out for this one all together - hated it apparently, was disappointed because she expected...album versions? how can you prefer versions tamed for a recording to the monsters these amazing people created of some of those tracks on stage tonight. of course a song at a good gig is often only a pretext to going wild in any direction it will take the musicians! It is funny coming from someone who apparently studied music and is apparently a singer. she really likes kittens though, keeps posting pictures of kittens on fb. something must be wrong with someone who likes kittens quite so much. I understand people who love their own cats ok? understand, but am ok with them. random kittens off of internet though? not right. anyways anyways I have recorded about half of it I guess maybe two thirds didn't quite see where the recording stopped. they went on for 3 hours! and videod some too, not much and not the stuff I would have wanted some of it, it's hard for me to force myself to take the camcorder out, and even when I do I fail to concentrate on it enough so end up recorging some corners of stage or the musician's legs. I am hoping for a couple of good ones to post, not seen or listened to any of it, was about to and was also going to write some more about the concert and the experiment (maybe) but got a text message saying 'tomorrow at noon'. If I do see Bankole tomorrow at noon or after I will be very surprised (it's not easy to make it to his busy schedule) but very very happy so time to bed. can't see sleeping happening after last night (8am-2pm) but I'll give it ago, It seems I'm as likely to fall asleep now as at any given time before 6 am after any sort of day: not very likely.

***

you don't have to believe me

I figured out how the juju can fuck up glasper and bilal for me!!! I get this totally sick day/night the day before and end up at the sit down gig at barbican - you with me? - at the end of like 45 hour long day. now. now that I figured it out is it gonna use it? no. also I found half a spliff in the bathroom.

oh and my heart went mushy I know you don't believe me but t-boz of the TLC tried to talk to me. I'm serious t-boz tried to talk to me. it may have been a big mistake and if it was my heart will brake

oh and I was offered the position of residential dancer (I had already been offered one last week) at my currently favourite jam. ok I wasn't gonna show you coz I don't even know the names of the people yet but that would be not sharing which is wrong



oh and I saw Marco earlier, just after having suddenly  and to my total surprise made a huge progress on the skates. remembered again after quite a long break that sky was the limit and lost a thumb in the process (temporarily), which had me dicover I had a perfectly working rear brake - a completely new experience I don't I think I ever had one. I didn't (use to!) bother to keep one attached. looks like I might be working on that left grip for the next couple of days till my right thumb grows back. perfect. Did I mention how I loved my bike? If I never it's coz I keep looking for the right words. I'm in the process of writing an ode to my friend Sikor the mechanic who built it, whom you absolutely have to get to check your bike, fix your bike (in either sense), build you a wheel, build you a custom bike, build your girlfriend/boyfriend/daugter/son/friend/hamster a bike. whatever you may ever need someone to do for you, your girlfriend/etc etc to do with bikes I suggest you get in touch with this guy anyways anyways
saw Marco and didn't even blink, behaved like we were still good friends, like his knife wasn't sticking out of my back at all. maybe we will be who knows.

so yeah that's me. over to juju i'm really getting into this game



I will post something that is not hysterical gibberish or/and juju bullshit at some point I promise, recently i been churning out stuff like barely never ever but I can't even keep up with what I AM writing at any given moment let alone what I HAVE alredy written (have I?)

what's for breakfast

disclosure and sbtrkt at koko

I've been trying to be as negative as I can about this one so as not to jinx it. I have this superpower you see, i can turn anything into shit just by really looking forwad to it, having high expectations or simply planning. i should be in misfits. I am though aren't I? the real life misfits...... no complaints there, last thing I'd want is to fit with the majority of the lovely but lost human race for now anyway until it wakes up. anyways anyways,  it works in reverse too, my superpower does, if I have low expectations and am pessimistic about something it usually turns out ok or very very good. so I have mastered being positively negative about things I really want to be good and somehow it seems to be working... this time though it would be a real struggle - i've been quite excited about it for a while - if it wasn't for the fact that I am really knackered. more and more people seem to have realised that it is possible and ok to come round at any time they fancy and recently 2 a.m has increasingly been the time of choice... I had a very good morning discussion with a friend that I really like but my head is very very heavy and the fact that I have to be in Morning Crescent in less than two hours makes me want to growl.

***

the gig was avarage. nothing to do with superpowers, shit venue (koko) shit sound, I expected more than just the more popular songs from the album. not very adventurous but I guess it wasn't meant to be.

mumagi at jazz re:freshed

I've not been to jazz re:freshed since before christmas. so. first time this year! and what a good good if slightly late start of the year it was! no surprise there, of course, I've never been to an average jazz refreshed gig, they don't do average. if you don't know this yet then pay attention and make notes now: jazz refreshed at mau mau bar is the best weekly night in this huge amazing town full of great things. by FAR. if you are down and jazz refreshed can't lift you right up, high to the sky, then nothing on this planet can help you. anyways anyways

dahu mumagi. i wasn't going last night either (I keep not going to things and ending up there anyway, I guess deep down I believe one or two of the people I've been loving and supporting and helping and serving - which is what i live for, don't get me wrong - will help me when i'm out in d out in d out in the streets...) but I usually check out the artist there in case it turns out to be someone I have to see, which is often the case. so I spent the entire day Wednesday listening to dahu mumagi's music. nuff said really, given that there being too much music I have to listen to NOW is a constant headache of mine and i sometimes catch myself trying to listen to more than one thing at a time. wednesday was not that much different in this respect but it was a predominantly mumagi day. and a magical day. it's hard for me to describe how I felt listening to this music, it did strange things to me. you know the feeling when someone verbalises your emotions so exactly you feel like this is what you have been trying to say all along but could never find those exact words? it was a bit like that only with sounds rathen than words. and sometimes words too - felt almost like i was talking to myself, like the inner voice i've been trying to get out was out and talking back at me, telling me exactly how I felt and taking me places I wanted to go. like the music was played directly on my soul, as pretentious as it sounds, this is as close as I can describe how I felt listening to dahu mumagi that day. check him out and fall in love.

last night at mau, he was accompanied by a group of (very!) talented and (very!) young musicians called psylus. check them out too, they are bound for Greatness no two ways about it! an amazing experience. it took me a while to get back to reality. i'm not sure I have. or want to.