Crack

“Wow – Ramadanman, dropping all kinds of select plates!” Coming back on stage after another great 30 minute slot in-between two of the many eclectic, visionary artists gracing Koko’s stage, Gilles Peterson spoke to an appreciative crowd at January’s Wolrdwide Awards, 2011.

A night that included guest appearances from Thom Yorke and Jerry Dammers (picking up his John Peel award) shows the credibility associated Peterson, whose late night Radio One show and mixtape releases from around the world have garnered an interest in everything good and exciting about music in our age.

In fact, an evening (did I mention we got there at 8pm?) that can flex filler sets from the aforementioned Ramadanman (under the Pearson sound moniker), Scuba and some quality house from Michael Cleis to name but a few, should be making heads turn.

Koko was lucky enough to be graced by some amazing performances – from the outstanding Mount Kimbie, to the man of the moment, James ‘I’m not pop’ Blake. The former, who get better with every viewing, creating more atmospheres than a GSCE physics lab, whilst the latter creating the expected furore, especially when Limit To Your Love was played. Blake’s impressive voice and obvious musical talent have put him on par with Mount Kimbie, who created such amazing in-roads in 2010 during this ‘post - ‘insert genre here’ musical era we’re moving through.

Like any good awards show, Gilles’ night was as much about bringing a lot of the crowd’s favourite artists together as it was a celebration of all what his show has offered us in 2010. After Brandt Brauer Frick had got things off to a flying start, Four Tet (whose services to the scene were credited at last year’s awards) treated us to something new and exciting alongside Rocketnumbernine (watch out for more of that collaboration in the next couple of months).

There’s a few things you need at an awards night when the music is as niche as the Worldwides. It needs some cultured music heads for an appreciation of the most diverse performances; it needs an enthusiastic MC (they don’t come much more deeply involved than Mr Peterson himself); and it needs something different to light up and excite the doting crowd.

That excitement came late on when it was much needed. After the more downbeat sets from Mount Kimbie and James Blake, a good few consumptions had fused with the post-Blake anti-climax and the night was (sadly) starting to run dry. And then Cubic Zirconia came on.

In some ways I wish you were reading this off an iPad. Not because of a desire to see print to come to an end, but because the statement ‘and then Cubic Zirconia came on’ should automatically be followed by a video playing this gig in some slick, integrated medium that blows your mind, just as Cubic Zirconia did everyone else’s at Koko (alas, technology prohibits). They blew everyone’s mind. They’ll blow yours. Watch them. Sure, the singer’s cute, and they’re housey as suburbia, but the energy they played with was unrivalled and will be hard to beat on this summer’s festival circuit.

After this treat, DMT loving, LA beat making, freaking king of the LA beat scene, Flying Lotus, treated Koko to his second show in as many months. Ok, it might have been his third, but who’s counting? The ticket price alone would have covered his performance. I know this was a memorable performance because I was talking about it in my sleep during a conversation I don’t even remember having on my phone on Sunday morning. Sleep-calling: the new memory benchmark.

The excitement was clearly evident; everyone was thinking the same thing, ‘he’s going to come on stage with him. Thom Yorke’s going to get on stage with him’. Alas, And The World Laughs With You was a solo performance, special all the same as The Radiohead front man watched on with an affectionate smile as the beat-maestro played out to the ever crowd-pleasing Astral Plane.

The man sort of summed up the night really; on the one hand he was celebrating Cosmograma (undisputedly one of the best albums of the past year), whilst his presence at the awards cemented the truism that in its tenth year, the Worldwide Awards symbolises the talent the UK is producing with every passing minute.

If you didn’t like any of the above (and even if you did) you can check out Gilles' own review of the night here: http://www.gillespetersonworldwide.com/2011/01/gilles-p-reviews-worldwide-awards-2011/ as well as the listed winners.

But just to make this look vaguely legit, here they are:



Track of the Year

**James Blake – CMYK (R&S)**
Jay Electronica – Exhibit C (Decon)
Quest – Smooth Skin (Deep Medi Musik)
Cee Lo – I Want You (Demo Version)
Jamie Woon – Night Air (Cadent Songs)


Session of the Year

Mount Kimbie
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
**Flying Lotus**
Matthew Halsall
Andreya Triana


Album of the Year

**Flying Lotus – Cosmogramma (Warp)**

Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part Two (The Return Of The Ankh) (Universal Motown)
Fourtet – There Is Love In You (Domino)
Darkstar – Gold (Hyperdub)
Gil Scott Heron – I’m New Here (XL)


Jazz Album Of The Year

**Jyoti – Ocotea (SomeOthaShip)**
Esperanza Spalding – Chamber Music Society (Heads Up)
Miguel Atwood Ferguson – Mochilla Presents Timeless : Suite For Ma Dukes (Mochilla)
Finn Peters – Music Of The Mind (Mantella)
Nick Rosen – Into The Sky (Porter Records)


Label Of The Year

**Hotflush**
Warp
One Handed Music
Jazzman
Analog Africa


John Peel Play More Jazz Award

Jerry Dammers



Words: Thomas Wiltshire

http://www.gillespetersonworldwide.com/

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