I have just returned, breathless and flushed, from Raymond's Revue Bar in London's glamorous Soho where XL Recordings were launching a load of new stuff.
Simon Amstell Off The Telly hosted. That's him. No, it really is. Sorry, I was stood at the bar, so these pictures are a bit crap. Jo Whiley came in for a verbal beating, as did Amstell's successors on Pop World, especially Alex Zane. Which, fundamentally, is fair, no?Anyway - pop, to whit:
New Dizzee Rascal single. It's called Maths (or is that the album?) and it is uh-mayzing. I've always liked the idea of DR more than the reality of him before, but this track was incredibly good. Proper, huge hip-hop belter. After the viewing, Amstell mentioned to Dizzee - who was stood up near the bar with two huge bouncers - how much he'd enjoyed seeing his nipples in the video. Everyone looked at their shoes. Doesn't he know you're not allowed to make homosexualist remarks to young hip hop chaps? It makes them terribly batey...
New M.I.A. tracks. One was breakbeat-y and it had a proper video filmed in what appeared to be Sri Lanka (ie, she's from Sri Lanka, so that's good enough for me). It was ACE. Then they played a more 4/4 one which was not as ace, but still good (this on-the-spot reportage is the stuff, no? Exciting times as LCFTHSE!)
New Devendra Banhart stuff. DB mucking about in a studio with a bunch of long-hairs. Good.
New White Stripes stuff. The album's called Icky Thump. Literally, how mad is that? As for the tracks - the first one sounded like The White Stripes (plus stylophone). The second one sounded like The Raconteurs. The third one was all mariachi'd up and had the world's most painfully intense key change.
Adele. That's her on the stool! Played live. Everyone liked her. She's like a council estate Beth Orton - that makes her sound like the worst thing ever and she isn't. Honestly. She's rather good, in fact.
Jack Peñate. He's one eight Spanish and seven eighths cockney. But then, who isn't. He was great - geezeh pop, innit. Band a bit Smiths-y. He's one eighth Billy Bragg, two eighths Morrissey and five eighths Mike Skinner. And I likes him, I do!
*There wasn't any pole dancing. The most erotic thing I saw was a fat bloke in a hat chewing a sausage and dropping gravy on his shirt. Sorry.
3 comments:
Were there any fights?
Pole dancing and the Raymond Revue Bar mmmmmmmmmmmmmm
To be fair, there wasn't any pole dancing! There weren't any fights either Ant. The turnout was so strong, if someone had dropped a bomb on the place that lunchtime the entirety of Britain's music magazines would have closed on the spot. Whether you think that's a good thing or not is up to you...
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