Live review: Mike Joyce presents... featuring Flo and Emily Capell @ Proud Camden

It is a strange crowd that Camden attracts these days.

In fact, the strangest thing about this crowd is that they don't seem so strange at all... the musical tribes that were once disparate now mingle, and the spotting of Indie Cindys that were commonplace are now much rarer due to the migration of Leicester Square partygoers.

Much like these observations on the streets, the line-up at Proud for it's Friday night blow-out is just as diverse. I first stick my head into the main room to catch something loud, grungy and uninspiring and instead choose to resume people watching below the warmth of the outdoor heaters on the terrace bar where lads and ladies neck beers, tourists order pizza and the entertainment is provided by an acoustic performer running through Ed Sheeran's back catalogue.

An hour or so later I head back inside as one of the few bands influenced by Jet's antipodean retro-rock wind up their set and Emily Capell picks up the baton with a bluesy spin on rockabilly which mixes up Amy Winehouse with Paloma Faith, delivering truth inflected foot-tappers that finally gets the room into full swing.

As the live selections draw to a close, Flo steps up to the stage, a UK hip-hop and soul songstress that leans on laid back beats with echoes of Erykah Badu, she traverses the stage with grace as her vocals lift and fill the room, between just herself and a turntablist she easily holds her own with an onstage personality that flits from humbled and shy to sultry and completely in control at the drop of a beat.

And with the live acts clear of the stage at not far off midnight the beats do drop, with 90s hip-hop classics amassing great reactions on the dancefloor I cut the rug for a while before filing out into the night to beat the streets of Camden's cultural melting pot once again.

 

Losers, live at Proud Camden: 11th July 2013

Everything must change.

Evolve or face extinction.

And so it is with Losers.

What brought me to be stood inside a hot, sticky Camden venue on a balmy July evening was the promise of witnessing the live incarnation of the second album from Eddy TM's band, the Xfm stalwart and all round nice guy trading decks for a bass guitar, and a curiosity and passion for anything this guy touches had not prepared me for what came next.

'Beautiful Losers' the debut album was reconstructed beats, a dance-rock hybrid tailor made for Eddy's longstanding Remix show, practically filtering his playlist for influences.

I knew what I wanted, I wanted to dance.

And as the amps were all turned up to 11, I had to put my expectations aside.

Opener 'Acrobatica', was a heaving, unrelenting beast of a industrial rock track, being played by a industrial rock band as if they were facing oblivion and could only ward off the end of the Earth with use of an extremely loud P.A system.

I was shocked.

I presumed that the guitars would subside into some oozing electro-samples and squelches, I presumed wrong, the guitars did not subside, and as the set progressed I realised that I was watching an adept band and not just some meandering side-project.

What I was witnessing was a band purpose built to slot into the middle of any major UK festival, the type of band you stumble across on an unspecified stage, a band that commands attention with their stage presence, absolute passion and unquestionable skill set, capturing imaginations with their blend of Nine Inch Nails and UNKLE swallowing Placebo's Brian Molko whole.

A handful of the tracks offered up dip their toes into the dance arena, but rather than mourning the lack of hands in the air moments, instead I swooned at the fine crafted set that built to rapturous crescendos and euphoric highs.

Losers have evolved, from a collaborative remix project, to releasing a guest-laced album, and now taking up the mantle of a uniquely enigmatic tech-rock act that play is if they have scores to settle.

With so many bands resting on their laurels, lapping up airplay, selling their souls and watching the money roll in, Losers once again cast themselves as the outsiders, choosing to embrace change, facing a turning point and embracing it whole-heartedly.

If the music industry is really in decline, expect Losers to adapt and survive by any means necessary.

I don't want the party to be over: Flaming Lips @ The Roundhouse, 21.05.13

The atmosphere was at the very same time geeky and jubilant, a mixed crowd of ages filled The Roundhouse in Camden as mirrored domes were brought out and piled up upon the stage and Wayne Coyne's tin foil-wrapped podium was wheeled into position.

It was certainly an unsuspecting crowd that had parted with cash in order to see their heroes or for newer converts to witness what others have so long talked about when it comes to a Flaming Lips live-show.

But this was a changed band and a number of circumstances could have led to this new incarnation of a long standing favourite.

The previous night's performance had been cancelled due to illness that had struck down the psychedic-rocker's usually flamboyant leader, and overnight news told of a devastating storm that had ripped through the band's home state of Oklahoma.

Coyne decreed that he felt 'a lot fucking better' as the sound check progressed into an impassioned speech about how wide-reaching disasters and the loss of lives put things into perspective, that silly rock shows really don't matter in the grand scheme of things, but they were here to put on a show regardless.

Another change of perspective came with the band's most recent album, The Terror, their least commercial offering in recent memory that felt as if all the doom, the doubt and the death that can be found bubbling under the surface of even their most upbeat songs had finally fought its way loose and manifested in droning soundscapes and extreme experimentation.

And it was this outlook that informed the tone of the gig, drawing heavily from the new album, any concessions to former releases were equally dark and mired in waves of glacial electronica and a sense of the morose.

Crowd pleasers and huge bouncing singalongs have gone the same way as fancy dress adorned acolytes and confetti cannons (though hopefully not forever), and the absurd sight of Wayne Coyne cradling a baby doll in his arms with tender care as strobing fills the gloom and dirgy psychedelia blasts from all around, just doesn't seem like the party that I came here for.

perhaps this is a turning point, or perhaps this is just a transitional moment that will pass, but when 'Do You Realize?' no longer sounds like a joyous celebration of our fleeting lives and the ticker tape that rains down is as black as the veil of death itself, it is clear that those gathered here have witnessed a new, altogether different chapter in the Flaming Lips live history.

9Blind: Live @ Camden Underworld

'We're 9Blind'

Those unacquainted with the North London rock band were served the briefest of introductions before the four-piece lunged headlong into their opening salvo of all new tracks, played in celebration of the 'Union EP' that had been uploaded to stream earlier in the week, ahead of its forthcoming official release.

Those that have followed 9Blind and contributed to their ongoing success had already familiarised themselves with the likes of Sincere Regards and Deleted Scenes, avoiding potentially embarrassing scenes of eager crowds shuffling awkwardly to dreaded 'new songs'.

The tracks played from the EP held no real surprises, and I doubt their fans would have it any other way, a change of direction would have been unwelcome, soaring guitars, drums being pounded into submission and vocals that flit from a screamo tendency to heartfelt and rousing singing are all part of the 9Blind signature sound that stands firm and these new songs bolster an already impressive arsenal of metal standards.

The wrapping up of new tracks laid out for those gathered was quickly followed by a diversionary blast through The Killers' Mr Brightside, given a testosterone injection and cranked up to 11 so that all the indie sheen falls away, leaving a chugging, metal monstrosity of a cover version.  And the singalongs continued with a brief clutch of familiar tracks plucked from last year's Negative Response To Change rounded out the night, headed up by my personal favourite, My Heart Bleeds.

One lowly drunk's careless and selfish moshing sadly halted the band whilst he was quickly ejected by the close-knit North London Bromance Core that follow 9Blind, this hold-up, combined with over-running supports and an impending clubnight in the same venue vastly truncated the headline set.

Having time for just two more songs before having to leave the stage, the evening was a joyful exhibition of a band's creations, though also troubled by minor inconveniences along the way, the most inconvenient of all being that physical copies of the EP that was due to be launched this very night, was sadly unavailable due to unforeseen circumstances.

Watching a band that hail from the same suburb as I do, facing such adversity when given an opportunity to shine is frustrating, but it is rewarding to watch 9Blind admirably battle on regardless.

credit where it's due:

photos courtesy of Chris Lawrence (DotCLP)