August
August 5th: Kideko & George Kwali feat. Nadia Rose & Sweetie Irie – ‘Crank It (Woah!)’
When Fatboy Slim is calling your record “one of the grooviest records of the year” and bringing you all the way to Southampton to spin a back-to-back supporting set, life must be pretty spiffy for Kideko and George Kwali. A splendid instrumental that, unlike many dance tracks, picked up a vocal for a commercial push and lost absolutely no magic in the process, we will inevitably look very fondly at ‘Crank It (Woah!)’ as the moment that three superstars got that first whiff of the big time.
August 12th: Porter Robinson & Madeon – ‘Shelter’
In addition to being two of those rare electronic musicians apparently capable of full-length records that are compelling and well-structured from beginning to end, Porter Robinson and Madeon both rank amongst the most compelling performers in the discipline with their augmentation of live sets with breakdowns of their own records. Yet, it is rare to see either on these shores – Madeon played a solitary show at London’s Oval Space last spring around Adventure‘s release (whilst I was across town playing a bassoon) five months after Robinson’s Worlds tour did a similar one-nighter at KOKO (that I didn’t realise was happening until seeing the Instagram posts). Luckily, the supposedly phenomenal joint tour following the release of ‘Shelter’ is coming to town in just a matter of weeks. You’ll recognise me as the one in a ridiculous-for-a-gig jumper experiencing sheer bliss.
August 19th: Petite Meller – ‘The Flute’
- Watch the video.
- Get quite confused.
- Watch more Petite Meller videos.
- Realise that you’re in a new, magical realm.
- Watch the video again.
- Replace all memories of musical garnishes in your brain with that flute line.
- Admire the way she announced the release of Lil Empire.
- Have so much fun it’s slightly scary.
August 26th: Carly Rae Jepsen – E•MO•TION: Side B
Remember when I rambled about annually having a favourite album that was actually released the previous year? E•MO•TION. How good is it? Eight of its offcuts were put onto one collection, named as one of our favourite records of this year, that I had to create an American iTunes account to obtain a few hours before Carly Rae Jepsen’s website would allow me to buy a signed CD. Worth every penny.
