The other day I went to Kilburn. It’s not very often I’m in northwest London. In fact, the last and only other time I went to Kilburn, was to linedance with hardcore cowboys in some sort of community centre-cum-wino den. But I like Kilburn, the air seems cleaner there for some reason.
Anyways, the reason I dragged myself to that end of town, was because I had a date with Daedelus at The Luminaire. Never been to the venue before, and apart from the ridiculously sticky floor that made me walk out of my shoes a few times, I quite liked it. Particularly the little ladies’, where I went rather bananas with my camera (check out my Toilet Scribblings before you start playing around with that thought).
But back to the main man. Daedelus definitely hangs out in the right circles – MF Doom, Prefuse 73 et. al. are amongst his many collaborators. But his work has never really caught my attention beyond ‘yeah-great-stuff’. However, I was told he was a firecracker live, and decided to check him out.
LA-based Daedelus is not your typical man-plus-mac act. He looks Edwardian in his vest and tie, he dances like I imagine the Tin Man would, and he sports a massive pair of sideburns.
And he makes friggin great music! At The Luminaire, Joe Jackson samples, bird twitter and funky beats were shrewdly mixed together with hard techno and high-pitched female vocals. Smooth one moment, and delightfully frantic the next. And after an hour filled with dancing, ‘whoh’-ing, a few technical problems (which Daedelus tackled with utmost elegance), and two encores, the Daedelus gig sails in on my Top 5 Gigs list. For a taster, check out Daedelus live in Chicago below.
