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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Xposed
Verdict: Unsigned band night
London - Dublin Castle - 16 June 05 - 20:30 (23:00)
The Dublin Castle, 94 Parkway, Camden, NW1 7AN, t 020 7485 1773, t (office) 020 8806 2668
Xposed is a night of 8 live unsigned bands and solo performers. Contact details and the promoter's descriptive notes are at the end. Acts are listed in order of appearance.
Review below, with ratings out of 10. Titles are approximate, as heard. When title not clear, it is shown as (untitled). Tracks are numbered A,B,C... as performed, and rated in order of best track starting with best eg CBA is C best, B second best, A third best:
Ebony Rose - Tracks: (A) Stop It What You're Doin', (B) (untitled), (C) She. Track rating: ACB. Overall rating: 5/10. Strong female vocalist singing to backing track. Elegant and natural movements. First track strong; second less effective, it's a bit slow and dull, voice too quiet for backing track - fairly inaudible, and losing the audience. Ebony Rose has the extra task of being first and warming up the room. Tonight's performance lacked confidence at times, but potentially an intriguing performer, with lots of personal charm.
Lady Haidée. Tracks: (A) (untitled), (B) Sexuality, (C) Shiny Boots of Antique Leather. Track rating: BAC. Overall rating: 10/10. Best act of night. Trio with actress Haidée Augusta on (vocals), plus unnamed male drummer and guitarist. Haidée's in thigh-length patent boots, with long blondish hair, painted face, black satin dress rucked up at the crutch - classic rock chick par excellence. The drummer's around 7 foot tall, with pork-pie hat and a very hard look. The guitarist's a mainly bald guy with long hair at the back, fag in mouth, playing 6-string semi-acoustic body electric guitar. Lady Haidée's voice sounds flat but in tune - it's an exceptionally odd voice but it works. It's very Nico and Velvet Underground plus lots of rampant sex. This is a good dirty rock band with fabulous integration between the 3 performers. Drum work is stunning - it's simple, with complete confidence in the beat, and underscores the band. There's elegant, pungent rock-driven and musically perfect guitar. There's a front-woman skilled in manic dance and hair-tossing, while dispensing stong confident vocals. Shiny Shiny Boots Of Antique Leather is possibly a bridge too far for Lady Haidée's voice - Lou Reed was at his most evil when he performed it, and Lady Haidée's just a touch too nice - but it's lots of fun anyhow. It's an amazing performance all round, with a totally stitched-together band feel. They're what a rock band should be. Easily the best of the night.
Mark Abis - Tracks: (A) Something About You, (B) Might Have Been A While, (C) Feel As Fragile As A Butterfly. Track rating: CAB. Overall rating: 7/10. Mark Abis plays 6-string acoustic guitar with some amplification, and sings. He's a tall man with a moustache, and equipped to croon - with black velvet crooning shirt, white collar and cuffs, and chinos. Track A is calm jazz with his light intimate voice over; his fans in the audience hush the crowd, he waits for them to be quiet. Track B is melodic and sexy with subtle chords. It becomes very repetitive and boring. Track 3 is more adventurous - guitar and voice much louder, but with the volume increase both morph uneasily into Jose Feliciano. Overall it's a professional performance in gentle cabaret style.
Kudzanai - Tracks: (A) See Me, (B) Answer To Me, (C) (untitled). Track rating: Overall rating: 7/10. Kudzanai borrows Lady Haidée's expert drummer for Track A which she sings otherwise unaccompanied (a capella) - the other tracks have a backing track. She has a fabulous voice, with lovely treble topping and a strong middle range. Track B has subtle backing rhythms with which Kudzanai interacts gracefully. It's well-written material. Track 3's backing track is subtly melodic with perhaps vibes in the rhythm section and, on stage, Kudzanai's elegant and intense voice. It's a very strong act from a natural performer.
Vintage - Tracks: (A) Till I See Your Face, (B) Halfway To Paradise, (C) I Need You, (D) So Long A Time. Track rating: ABCD. Overall rating: 7/10. Female singer, male guitarist. The singer's voice is sexy, strong, sharp and very sure, with lots of work in the upper register and an occasionally nasal quality. It's a folk-ish act. The guitarist knocks out simple chord-based backing, and gives support and some lead vocals - his voice is not as adept as the main singer's. Tuning in both voices varies, and by Track C the all-round performance sounds out of tune. Track C feels boring, but it may be the cumulative effect of similar material. Going for a fourth song seems a mistake, and Track D seems to go on forever; the guitarist takes lead vocals, but his voice tonight lacks lead quality. With new, more lively, material and general tightening-up it could be an interesting act.
Mr Redz - Tracks: (A) Oh Cherry Oh, (B) Lovely Lady, (C) SOS. Track rating: CBA. Overall rating: 8/10. 2nd best act of night. 5-strong (2M, 3F) band. Male front-man singer, male singer behind him, female singer, 2 female dancers. There's some aggressive stuff from the front-man to the audience at the start and end, and the he puts across a really offensive attitude to the women in the band. Girls, just say no. It's all a bit alienating - why repel half the audience when the material's so good? All this is ignored for rating scores. As to the content itself, it's excellent. There's powerful and subtle integration of voices. The male singer to the rear has a fabulously melodic voice and the two men work seamlessly together on vocals; there's a subtle poetry to the lyrics (which are mainly about sex). The two female dancers are sublime in their grace. The female vocalist sings on Track C, with a fine voice. Overall it's a complex interplay of lyric, dance, backing track, vocal; very strong in performance. There's a good band feel. A classy act.
The Nipahmen. Leonard Estranero (vocals), Sam Lockyer (guitar). Songs by Lockyer/Estranero. (Tracks: (A) Moral Higher Ground, (B) These Are My Ways, (C) (untitled), (D) Walk Right Out, (E) (untitled), (F) (untitled). Track rating: ACBDEF. Track rating: Overall rating: 6/10. Actor Leonard Estranero provides deadpan, very Oasis vocals, he's a tall handsome man. There's frenetic guitar - never have 6 strings been strummed so frantically - from equally handsome and seated Sam Lockyer. The problem is 6 songs. The songs are all similar, and not particularly interesting. During this set, about 20 of the 100 audience leaves, though it's still 90 minutes before the last tube, and the bar is still serving. Leonard Estranero has a genial presence, pint glass in hand, and calm delivery; his voice is deep-ish with a strong timbre; out of tune at times. The two men's voices harmonise well often, and occasionally miss by some distance. Track A is OK, Track B is when people start to leave - it's not good. Track
C has close vocal harmony, it's quite good, but dull and colourless. It would be a good time to stop, and Track D feels like punishment, with Tracks E and F still to come. The material is repetitive, and monotonous, and the words pretty much inaudible. The act look confident and relaxed, and look under the impression that they are (a) cool, (b) good. Unfortunately, neither is correct tonight, though people probably said that about Oasis, and The Nipahmen will probably therefore become stratospherically successful.
Adeama Tracks: (A) Somewhere After Midnight, (B) We're Going To Turn It. Track rating: equal AB. Overall rating: 7.5/10. 3rd best act of night. Adeama's slim, pretty and elegant, a relaxed and confident performer. She only sings 2 tracks, both to a backing track. Her voice is tuneful and quite harsh - power with a rough edge. Adeama's dance movements are very professional, her performance magnetic. Both tracks are exciting and intriguing. Overall, the impact is her charisma.
Our rating overall: Best Act - First - Lady Haidée. Second - Mr Redz. Third - Adeama.
Performers / Contact Details: (notes are by promoters Pamela Lee & James Cundy): (numbers are in order of appearance): (1) - Ebony Rose - ebonyrose2323@hotmail.co.uk - fast-paced hip hop with influences of rock and new age RnB. (2) - Lady Haidée - haideepictures@gmail.com - (http://www.ladyhaidee.com) - neo-electro 3-piece with influences ranging from Goldfrapp and the Cure to Velvet Underground. (3) - Mark Abis - sam@serpentsounds.com - (http://www.serpentsounds.com) - acoustic singer/songwriter inspired by the likes of the Beatles and the Byrds. (4) - Kudzanai - startalenty2k@hotmail.com - Old Skool soul and vocal garage mixed with hip hop, influences include Janet Jackson and R Kelly. (5) - Vintage - jez_wainaina@hotmail.com - folk-rock duo with influences ranging from Ben Harper and Counting Crows to Sarah McLaughlin. (6) - Mr Redz - mr_redz_1nceinalifetime@hotmail.com - singjay/songwriter with reggae, hip hop and RnB flavas. (7) - The Nipahmen - leonardestranero@gmail.com - (http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~moskollo/) - singer/songwriter duo with uncompromisingly honest lyrics and Iberian influences. (8) - Adeama - sweetsp1r1t@yahoo.co.uk - London-based Solo artist combining funky house and poppy raga in the style of Chaka Khan and Anastasia.
Company Credits: MC - Chris Sweatman. Promoter - Pamela Lee and James Cundy. Sound Engineer - Joel Britto.
END
John Park
reviewed Thursday 16 June 05 / Dublin Castle
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
