Listen to Joshua Idehen’s tales of city life and you’ll be transfixed by his skill to draw some mischievous detail from the most prosaic subject.
There’s the endless litany of tube stops as the Northern Line rattles your bones on a night time jouney through London. Just turn the stops’ names one by one into a rhyming game and you get the infectious ‘Northern Line’: ‘What do you know about Bank? I put my money in the bank! What do you know about Moorgate? I don’t know anything about Moorgate! What do you know about Old Street? Some of the girls there are quite sweet!’ This is actually more fun than it sounds. I defy you not to chant along to the ridiculously catchy chorus of ‘Morden, Morden, High Barnet!’
Get On The ‘Northern Line’!
There’s the club you know is going to be rubbish as soon as you enter. ‘I’ve only been five minutes, now I’m already ready to go,’ observes Joshua dryly on ‘Past Tense’ over a mellow jazzy vibe.
Joshua doesn’t ignore the delights of 21st century television either. When half the neighbourhood tunes into the ‘X-Factor’ or some similarly insipid talent show fodder, Joshua smirks ‘Now hands up if you give a shit’ on ‘Murkish Delights’.
‘Routes’ contrasts Idehen’s warm voice with cool, detached sounds that call up images of vast public architecture that’s all angles and concrete. LV got credentials on the Dubstep scene. Will Horrocks, Simon Williams and Gerv Gordon, who met at university ten years ago and have made music together ever since. As LV they’ve released a number of classic Dubstep singles on labels like Hyperdub and Ramp before embarking on their debut album ‘Routes’ for Keysound.
The music on ‘Routes’ references Dubstep, UK Funky and Berlin Dub Techno among other genres. Starting with these reference points, LV construct a city scape that echoes the atmosphere of Joshua’s rhymes - From the chugging UKF/Garage that captures the journey on the bustling ‘Northern Line’ to the moody Basic Channel style dub that recalls a dark empty room with only the tv for company on ‘Murkish Delights’.
As an album, ‘Routes’ is a proud declaration of the artists’ London roots. There is nothing plastic or fake about it, just people being inspired by and talking about what they know.
‘Routes’ is out now on London indie label Keysound Recordings. The label was launched by London artists Dusk and Blackdown in 2005 as an outlet for their own productions. Keysound’s declared aim is to release music that suggests ‘an environment, a space, a culture, a city’. Well, ‘Routes’ succeeds in doing all of that in fine style.
Listen Here To Excerpts From ‘Routes’
