www.mixmag.net[[1L]] february 2013

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theGIGClubland’s Fiercest Live Shows

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Clubland’s fiercest live shows

Since their birth in 2007 the eight-piece Lazy Habits have developed into one of the most exciting live acts to come out of London in some time. Touring their swish, perfectly produced new album, the dexterity of their performance, coupled with a sound they describe as “beats, rhymes and brass of the highest calibre”, has elevated their status to a national level. Tonight they play the retro-styled Bloomsbury Bowling Club, bustling with clinking pool cues, the percussive scuttle of skittles and a posse of jazz-hopping jackers all going spare just feet from MC Lazy, as he and Skin Horse spit lyrics down the lanes. It’s an intimate gig for a band that has supported the likes of Mos Def, Soulwax, The Specials, Chali 2Na and Beardyman, and played festivals from Glastonbury to Soundwave and Bestival, but the intimacy makes for an ecstatic affair. The brassy boldness and horn-hitting melodies of ‘Even Out’, ‘Memory Banks’ and ‘Starting Fires’, delivered like the Rat Pack on rum punch, with a flair of a band who are only getting better. Phil DuDman

fred falke @ kitsuné W i n t e r pa rt y, f i r e

The rave caves of Vauxhall’s Fire club are alive for the Kitsuné Winter Party, packed to the hilt for French house phenomenon Fred Falke. He kicked off his 12-year career with Alan Braxe, making classics like ‘Running’ and ‘Rubicon’, and now he’s one of the most in-demand and consistent producers on the planet, remixing everyone from U2 to Grizzly Bear and Ladyhawke. On stage he’s a filter-phasing menace, demonically possessing the gadgets in front of him, and from opener ‘Last Wave’, through remixes like ‘Talk Talk’, originals ‘Aurora’ and ‘Geronimo’ and the ‘You Stop Loving Me’ finale, his set is awash with chopped- up breakdowns and synthy goodness. “My live set-up has to fit in a cabin bag since I travel a lot,” he says afterwards, describing his Akai controller, vintage NEVE mixing desk and Ableton Live system. He says it lets him tear up tracks on the go without any temptation to “just sit back and press play”. And having watched him plug in his four-string bass and let the French funk fly live over his beats, setting Fire alight, that was never in any doubt. Phil DuDman

l a z y h a b i t s @ b b c , lo n d o n

KINGS OF THEIR CASTLE

Dubstep-rockers Modestep bring their intense live show to Koko on February 14 … Electronic pioneers

Kraftwerk will play albums from their back catalogue with 3D visualisations and effects at London’s Tate Modern February on 6–14 … Benga

will tour his live show with Example,

kicking off at Bournemouth

International Centre on February 11 … Producer/

singer duo

AlunaGeorge will play their biggest headline show at XOYO on February 20 … Manchester alt-poppers Everything Everything tour their forthcoming album ‘Arc’ in February, finishing at Manchester 02 Academy on February

22 … Chart-toppers Rudimental bring their live show to London’s Village Underground on February 22 ... Four Tet will play a live show for the first time since the release of ‘Pink’ at Heaven on February 28.

The Canadians’ blistering live show is a divine revelation◆ It takes an act of God to silence a room full of east London media types, but luckily alice Glass has a track record of performing miracles live. From the second she strides onto the stage, the pint-sized singer has the room entranced.

the Canadian duo may be used to playing larger venues, but Cable’s cramped confines only serve to heighten the experience. tonight, they rattle through a 40-minute set in which stand- out tracks from their acclaimed third album are melted down into a non-stop onslaught of cavernous synths and

thundering beats, the biblically titled ‘Plague’ and ‘Wrath Of God’ transformed into sonic weapons of divine retribution. While on record, Glass’s voice is almost heavenly in its fragile cooing, here it’s often drowned out by producer ethan kant’s korg wizardry.

the origins of the group’s signature goth-trance may lie in the electro-pop and industrial 80s, but their live show proves they have the beating heart of a heavy metal outfit (this is the first time Mixmag has seen a Cable crowd moshing to synths). Glass flails around

like a women possessed, before climbing up the lighting rig. For a moment it seems the power might be cut off, but her performance is so electrifying it could illuminate the whole club.

the finale sees her crowd-surfing, a sea of arms reaching out to touch her. as the final synth chord reverberates into the darkness, it seems the heavens have opened – but it’s just a drink thrown by an over-excited audience member. this was a religious experience so intense it could get the most sceptical hipsters praying for one more tune. James WalDron

L I V EB I T E S

Benga

c ry sta l ca st l e s @ V i c e 1 0 t h b i rt h day, ca b l e , lo n d o n