No mere
monkey business

By JACK OATMON

You never really know which good albums will translate well in the concert hall. Electronic musicians pressing play instead of playing up the show, rappers who’ve got more stammer and glamour than solid lines on stage, endlessly sound-checking, name-dropping rockers and somnambular indie acts abound. But this week I’m ecstatic to report that I’ve got an absolute, positive, unflappable sure shot for you to bank on, plan on, groove on and bring your techno-hating cousin to so that you can prove him wrong. The Guardian called James Ford “the busiest man in rock” for his production and drumming for both Klaxons and the Last Shadow Puppets, along with his production on the Arctic Monkeys’ Favourite Worst Nightmare, among other things. I wouldn’t go so far on the rock side, but I will say that, along with James Anthony Shaw, he’s half of the most exciting, groundbreaking and forward-looking acts in the club for the past three years, not to mention that the duo mastermind a live analog techno performance style that, without hyperbole, equals Daft Punk in sonic quality and proportion. Simian Mobile Disco is arguably the very best house and techno production team alive right now. And if their show this Sunday at Club Soda is anywhere near as mind-blasting as their 2007 appearance at Sala Rossa, you better hope that you’ve done everything in your power to be there for a taste of the future of psychedelic R&B and electro.

In other noteworthy details this week, the We Blast Out night moves from Gymnase over to the SAT this Friday night for a jam headlined by France’s latest funky, fashionable electro export, Leonard de Leonard, who follows in the footsteps of Thomas Bangalter’s more groovy, shuffling Trax on da Rocks moments and Para One’s infrequent forays into steady, downtempo electro.

GONNA GO NUTSO SUNDAY…
jack.oatmon@gmail.com