Suede – 0. Thought they were dreadful. What is the point of
rehashing that?
Laura Mvula – 3. OK. It’s clever-clogs in many ways with
handclaps on first offering, and then percussion and savvy arrangements for the
second: Mvula has a good vocal but in a market of many other good female
vocalists she understandably needs a niche sound/look and I think the more
peripheral of those two aspects gets the focus – and why oh why that affected
staccato enunciation in the vocal? It isn’t scat, it is a formulaic hiccup.
The Strypes – 3. Genuine raw energy of youth [how
patronising of Jools to say well done
after their performance] and genuine skilled garage via the Beatles and Arctic
Monkeys.
Charles Bradley – 2. Lot of shouting really, but interesting
to see the reincarnation of Mick Fleetwood playing late 60s fuzzed guitar.
Biggest plus was the amateur but earnest sound of a college band.
Cat Power – 5. Class. Absolute class. The simplicity of that
piano accompaniment and then the class of her vocal, the potent lyrics [debut of new song Bully, here], and the
mesmerising reality of her nervous creativity in performance.
