KING KRULE
Archy, the peoples South London boy is back in a big way. Rarely playing UK concerts, and often announcing them with no more than an instagram post on the morning of the show. To little surprise it has taken me 5 years to see the elusive musician, who has gone under a multitude of different aliases- Pimp The Shrimp, Edgar The Beatmaker, Zoo Kid, DJ JD Sports, Archy Marshall- And finally after years in awaiting I caught my break to see the Innovator at a gig in his hometown of London at his two night sold out show at Koko.
My love for Archy started at a time when I’d just skimmed the surface of Hip-Hop, listening to an album like 6 feet beneath the moon opened my mind to the stylistics and fusion of genres. The album is a beautiful introduction to beats and free flowing verse, with elements of Hip Hop, Jazz, Rockabilly vocals and Punk. Through listening to Archy’s music and reading interviews, I found the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, listened to the music of Bill Evans, been introduced to other music from the hotbed of the South London music scene. There is so much culture and depth to his music to be explored.
Among my favourites of the night- ‘A Slide In (New Drugs)’ the song is reminiscent of the early Zoo Kid demos, a strummed guitar with wailing vocals over the top, however it changes when the song transitions into this booming fusion of saxophone and bass. The song is the essence of what Archy’s music is to me. I feel there may have been a lack of simple, stripped backed songwriting on The Ooz, in some places I feel like his artistic freedom and control has exceeded the basis of the way the songs are written.
However seeing the King at Koko reinforced the essence of Archy’s music, the songs were very stripped backed, and the saxophone was improvised and the music was direct and off the cuff, he sang in his moody gritty baritone voice.
At Koko it was obvious how devoted his fanbase are, there's a feeling amongst his fans like we've grown up with him, he was only mid-teens when he started uploading music under the alias Zoo-Kid- we’ve seen his music evolve and change. Also Archy’s honesty and musical integrity, is a reason people feel such a connection to the young man. This was evident in his performance, his grit and passion, his intensity was infectious, the crowd fed off of his energy.
Another favourite he played off the new album, was ‘Half Man Half Shark’, the rhythmic section of the drums and bass were hard hitting and bellowing- initiating this automatic sway to the beat in the audience. The guttural vocals ‘Racing through my body’ created a feeling amongst the audience that was electric.
One of the first songs in the repertoire was ‘Has This Hit’, the anger and desperation in the singer's voice could be cut like a knife in the venue, everything sung was so sincere. It felt as if despite the success he’s had and the arrival of the new album, he’s exactly the same as where he left off with 6 feet beneath the moon, still pushing for something better, still uncontent. The build up was beautiful, with this huge crescendo of symbols, and repeating guitar riffs, until Archy’s vocals just belt over the top in this wailing clarity-‘Has This Hit’?.
OBONGJYAR
The set was full of deep ambient sounds, the beats took you by surprise- never quite knowing how it was going to develop next. The live instrumentation really added to the ethereal beats. The guitar was drenched in thick reverb sounds. The beats and bass lines were beautifully interwoven.
Steven’s presence was commanding on stage, he would get into this frenzied dance of shaking his head, against these rhythmic flows in the music. Stephen’s range is deep and soulful, but he also has this edge, this gravelly tone almost like a growl, he plays on this with such ease.
My favourites from the set were ‘Creeping’, the build up is this sparse beat, which eases you in, and then Stephen’s humming lulls you into this false sense of security and then smack, these wiry violin sounds merge with all the instruments heading straight into free flow verse.
The execution live was fantastic, there was a part where the lyrics ‘Reason i'm up late plotting my escape’ are sung, and it just sums up the new artists thirst and determination, maybe this is what resonates with Archy and his will in artistic integrity.
Also, ‘Spaceman’ was started off with piercing vocal lines until Stephen starts to shriek, it was definitely the most commanding and honest out of the set. It's this raw objective tale of love and loss- ‘Lose my faith on a weekend’. In Obongjyar’s set you can hear elements of Afrobeat, Soul, Hip-hop and Jazz, the beats were complimented with the live instrumentation. Fantastic introduction to his music.
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