FKJ at the Roundhouse

Now if I was trying to score cool points, this gig would get me my highest score of the year. But then if I was after cool points I wouldn't have become a pension lawyer. I feel that horse has bolted long ago.

FKJ (which stands for French Kiwi Juice, but of course you knew that...) isn't an act I would have come across. He is hard to categorise. Modern jazz doesn't quite cover it (actually I believe the term is Nu Jazz, yes so hip you have to make up spellings). I have seen him described as French House too, but then since I haven't heard any other French House act (and maybe you haven't either) that doesn't get me much further along.

So he plays multiple instruments, but mainly guitar, keyboards and saxophone, with looped backing tracks, and vocals too. Not my normal indie rock fare. So how come? 

Well I went with one of our trainees. He had sent me a you tube performance of this guy and I thought I would give him a go when I saw he was performing at the Roundhouse. Which is quite a spectacular venue. Normally I would be standing, but Kamen got us seats and to be fair from what I had seen on You Tube, this seemed more a sit down sort of gig, which turned out to be a little misleading. In any event, it did give a rather different perspective to the place, seeing it from high up and to the left.

Also unusually for me, nothing on support act as we timed our arrival for shortly before the main act's appearance. It was the farewell drinks for our current crop of trainees, so we took advantage of that for pre-event drinks. With rather poor timing on my part this was the first time I had really got to talk to Kamen, on his penultimate day in the department. But hey, better late than never. And another cool addition to my roster of possible gig companions.

Anyway back to FKJ (or should one call him Monsieur Juice?). His real name is apparently Vincent Fenton, but he is French, albeit with a rather international accent. The original you tube video I had seen him of him showed him playing his various instruments to a mesmerised and respectful  audience, rather as one might expect of a jazz artist. This however was a rather rockier and dance output.

 Not that it meant anything to me, but Kamen (and the rest of the audience) was most excited that a chap called Tom Misch, who is apparently if anything a higher rated star than FKJ, came on to play guitar on Losing My Way. See below

As became evident, this was a night for guest appearances. A couple of female vocalists towards the end definitely added a lot, although to be fair FKJ's vocals sounded decent, albeit used sparingly. I do like songs more than instrumentals so this appealed more to me. Although the instrumental stuff is very clever. For example he got the crowd to give him a series of whoops which he recorded and then used as a looped backing to one of the tracks. Effective and rather sophisticated stuff.

He finished off with another female vocalist (who was truly terrific) singing a track called Unstoppable. An excellent finale. So I owe young Kamen for bringing me to something different. Well you have to find some use out of young folk, don't you?

White Lies at the Forum

Sometimes I just can't find anyone to go to a gig with. no one seems to like White Lies, but I am very partial to them. So off I go on my own.

i have to say I very much enjoyed this show. A more restrained but appreciative audience than most gigs.

I also quite liked the opening act, who announced themselves as Boniface, from Winnipeg, Canada. Probably best described as a band with promise, and that was sort of what White Lies said about them later. Seemed a nice bunch of lads playing indie guitar rock.

 The Forum if you have never been, is an attractive venue. One probably doesn't spend much time looking up at the ceiling, but it is a pretty one.

 And so to White Lies. I had only got out the previous weekend to buy their latest album, Five, presumably titled because its their fifth album. Had been playing it all week, and concluded that it stood up well against past efforts, by no means their weakest release, especially Tokyo, a fine anthemic number.

 Lead singer Harry McVeigh does a lot of impassioned vocals, a lot with his eyes shut, appearing lost in the passion  of his songs. You might find this pretentious. I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt. Bombastic as some of the tracks are, I just appreciate them a lot.

Charles Cave on bass also does the impassioned look throughout

Jack Lawrence-Brown on drums looks as cool as one can be when drenched in sweat.

To start the encore Harry asks for our indulgence as he does a song solo playing keyboards. Of course we indulge, but don't do it too often Harry. The band really is better than him, and he is not a keyboardist. His voice suits a loud guitar band, not a quiet ballad.