Next door (in the big room) the newly reformed Happy
Mondays are twisting the melons of hundreds of mums and dads on the old ‘topping
up the pension’ circuit. Meanwhile, here in the Academy 2, the night gets off
to an equally twisty (but infinitely cooler) start thanks to the sinuous ass shaking
of Aluna Francis, one half of new London R&B electronic duo AlunaGeorge. It’s
always nice to see an artist enjoying themselves up there and Ms Francis seemed
quite happy bopping away to the glitchtronic soundtrack, sprinkling sweet as
candy vocals over the top like hundreds and thousands. One for fans of late 90’s
garage 2-steppers Shanks & Bigfoot...their classic Sweet Like Chocolate must
surely be an inspiration on some of this stuff?
Look up cool in the dictionary and there’s a fair
chance you’ll find a reference to Brooklyn’s latest musical offering, Friends.
Despite sharing a name with a ‘90’s sitcom (seriously...let’s have a little
more imagination people) they’re so cool right now people were chipping bits
off ‘em and popping them in their drinks tonight. Fact. Happily the hipness
doesn’t get in the way of a good time though and lead Friend, Samantha Urbani
(resplendent in green fluoro lipstick) quickly connected with the audience by
leading us in some kind of primal scream therapy, “Go on...scream!!!” “Let out
your demons” drawled keyboardist Nikki Shapiro...bearing three week stubble and
black eyeliner...now that’s a brave look. And scream we did. Inhibitions suitably
lifted and connections made Samantha abandoned the stage altogether by the
third song, Friend Crush, and literally leapt into the arms of one lucky dude at
the front of the crowd. After bouncing her around in a mildly provocative
manner (lucky, lucky dude) she played out the rest of the song getting up close
and personal with the rest of us.“Iiiiiiiiiii wanna be your friennnnnd” she
sang breathily. The feeling was already mutual. She went on to win even more
hearts though by bravely attempting to pronounce our city’s name
correctly...always a challenge for our American cousins more familiar with the
Alabama version. “Is that right?” she asked after getting it spot on. The crowd
enthusiastically cheered. “Oh you’re just...taking the piss”. That’s just an
English phrase right? Full marks for learning to speak the lingo.
Musically the band’s heavily influenced by late 70’s,
early 80’s New York post disco scene, perhaps most notably the criminally underrated
ESG (that might explain the mix of older punters amongst the hip young thangs).
There’s funky bass in yo face, cowbells, synths and lashings of street
sass...what’s not to love? Pick of the set was...oh hell... the whole darn
thing. Mind Control was awesome, like Lene Lovich getting it on with Rick James
and Tom Tom Club at Studio 54, and the languidly dreamy anthem to post modern
relationships I’m His Girl firmly cemented itself as one of the tracks of the
decade. This and any other. After the Bonde De Role-tastic Van Fan Gor Du the
band left us wanting more, dispensing with the tired old cliché of the planned
encore. I’d expect nothing less of a band this ice cool. Now that’s how you
win, Friends.
PS: Wot, no merch stand? Shame!
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