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Email a friendMelodic mastery and a verve that's hard to find
ARTS collective extraordinaire Lazy Gramophone has been craftily conspiring to bring London some of the freshest sounds to be heard in the city and, on Wednesday night, they pulled off this feat with panache.
The MacBeth in Hoxton was graced by an inviting perfusion of beats, salted and peppered with a smattering of poetry from the latest bright young things.
Folk popsters Lucky Elephant warmed up the crowd with their ambrosial blend of vintage synths, ukeleles, guitars, drums and harmoniums, a sound as oodling with charm as the band's talismanic namesake.
But the top spot of the evening was reserved for jazz-funk experimentalists Ashok, and deservedly so.
Ashok's vocalist pair, luscious-locked Leo Nathan and the achingly expressive Sorana Santos, fused biting rap and a devastating soul with the kind of verve that you don't often see.
Nathan's rapping was crisp and so organic that, when he requested the sound system be altered, you could have sampled it and turned it into a tune.
Santos's astonishing voice deftly interwoven with real melodic mastery.
In today's world of digitally tweaked hit singles, where your favourite acts in concert can be a disappointment, watching Ashok, you had to keep reminding yourself that these guys were live.
Absolutely live and absolutely precision-cut.
ROS SITWELL