Roxx Club

Roxx is a 'backstage experience' pop-up club and events organisation currently residing at number 4 Winsley Street in the heart of central London. With a heap of positive press, including GQ declaring it their favorite pop-up of the year, and visits from Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, it's already caused a buzz. The intimate space sees an eclectic, friendly & fun crowd gather every weekend for live bands and DJs playing a mixture of indie, rock and alternative from across the decades mixed with cool dance/house music.

Did anyone else used to frequent the indie clubs in Central London around the time of Panic/Afterskool/Frog/Moonlighting? Well, think of Roxx as a slightly more grown-up version in terms of presentation. The drinks aren't going to break your bank (although it's a far cry from Moonlighting's £1.50 spirit mixers back in the day - oh nostalgia) and the service and staff are both exceptional, whether you have a table or you're just hanging out at the bar, plus it's free entry before 10:30pm. I DJ'd there on the 29th of November and took some photos which you can check out below.

For more information on Roxx please visit http://www.roxxclub.com/

Freeze London

Winter hits London this week – British summer time ends on Sunday; the Relentless Freeze Festival arrives on Friday. The UK’s biggest winter sports event, the festival lures the world’s best snowboarders and skiers to Battersea Power Station for two days of intense competition. Here, competitors will whoosh down the specially installed snow jump as thousands of spectators look on. Friday’s Ski Big Air Comp and Saturday’s Snowboard Big Air Comp are the bouts to watch for the most adventurous aerial displays. Away from the slope, there are musical performances from the likes of Public Enemy, Grandmaster Flash, Mark Ronson & DJ Shadow.

Weekend passes are sold out but individual day passes are still on sale HERE!

I'm looking forward to this! Snowboarding & Public Enemy? AWESOME!

FACE @ W Hotel London

Last Wednesday we moved our new party FACE from the now defunct Kitts Club to the Wyld Bar at the W Hotel London for a one-off evening of creativity and fun featuring a live PA with the hotly tipped Kase Prince who blew us away with five new tracks of upbeat club-ready hip hop/electro, a nail salon by the fabulously talented girls at Nail Porn, tunes from myself, DJ Lukey, DJ BB (Lewis Griffith) and Sean Alto, plus support from Stooki Society. Here are some of the lovely people who came down to mingle snapped by Shama Anwar:

The Voice UK vs. Britain's Got Talent

I must say I'm not generally a fan of televised talent shows but the concept of The Voice UK coupled with the eclectic line-up of judges reeled me in and I've been watching since the show debuted. I think it's great that The Voice only celebrates real talent and doesn't set out to mock, unlike rival show Britain's Got Talent, which mixes the sublime with the truly terrible.

So far The Voice has already showcased some amazing performers, of which Ruth Brown, Jazz Ellington and Vince Kidd are my favorites, and I certainly think these three will do very well after the show is finished, no matter who is crowned the first 'Voice UK'. While I still think these kind of television shows are tacky and not really my kind of thing, I do think The Voice UK has emerged as a unique and highly watchable series that stands firmly above its competition, and if you happened to catch both The Voice UK and Britain's Got Talent yesterday then the difference between the two was perfectly encapsulated by Emeli Sande's strong performance on the former contrasting with that of singer Tulisa, previously of UK grime act N-Dubz, on the latter. Tulisa's cringe-worthy effort rivals Britney Spears' ill fated 2007 VMA performance for awkwardness, although of course she will never reach the same level of fame, which does make me wonder why anyone would want to see this. Surprisingly though BGT is winning the ratings war with The Voice UK according to latest figures so what gives?

There are some very gifted folk popping up on BGT but I just can't sit through the rest, and I find the judges excruciatingly smug and annoying. On the other hand The Voice UK has been a great platform for Black Eyed Peas member Will.I.Am who, during the course of the series, has completely won me over with his bizarre catchphrases and his brilliant anecdotes, and he really has proved that he has a great ear and top producer talent. I do think the show has lost some of its initial spark as the live rounds continue and the cast of hopefuls are slowly picked off, but there are still moments that make it worth watching. The judges haven't always made wise decisions (Harriet Whitehead not being picked has so far been the most infuriating) and the show is still obviously manipulative and exploitative but I do think it's a step up from the usual reality-based dross that graces television screens.

As an aside, I tried watching The Voice US but the judges, including Christina Aguilera and the lead singer of Maroon 5, proved too insufferable to bear.

Here are some of my favorite performances from The Voice UK so far:

Bjorn Borg

Last night I DJ'd an event for Swedish underwear brand Bjorn Borg who held a party and catwalk show at Battersea Power Station, turning it into a winter wonderland with hot tubs amidst a (fake) snow covered landscape. Live performances came from the amazing Robyn and Coco Sumner with myself, Pixie Geldof, Jack Guiness and Jodie Harsh. I almost felt like I was DJing a music festival!

Gorillaz at the 100 Club with De La Soul

Last night Converse celebrated their collaboration with Gorillaz, who designed a new pair of Chuck Taylors, by hosting a private gig at the 100 Club in London for competition winners and select guests. I was lucky enough to attend thanks to my publicity team at Notice (thanks!) and got to witness a pretty cool show from Gorillaz Soundsystem, a Gorillaz-endorsed audio-visual experience that includes music, live percussion, and projected visuals. The icing on the cake came when Damon Albarn sauntered onto stage with De La Soul to perform Feel Good Inc. which I managed to video! You can watch it below and see some photos I took too:

Chromeo Gig & Afterparty

I went to see Chromeo live last night with my friend Julia and my buddy who owns Backyard Records, the label that put them out. They played a great set at the Kentish Town Forum, ending with my favorite track Night By Night. Afterwards we headed to the afterparty at Le Baron where the band hit the decks and DJ'd and gig sponsors Bushmills provided free whisky mixers and cocktails getting everybody suitably drunk for the occassion. Much fun was had. Check out some photos I took and listen to Canadian DJ U-Tern's remix of Night By Night below:

EMA and Zola Jesus at Le Baron London

I went to Le Baron on Tuesday night and was pleasantly surprised to find that EMA and Zola Jesus were both performing live. Browns were having an after party for a press event that they had hosted earlier that I was supposed to go to but unfortunately missed, but the live bands and free Absinthe cocktails more than made up for this and I had a great time. EMA played a particularly fun set, including a cover of Add It Up by Violent Femmes, one of my favorites! I spoke to EMA frontwoman Erika Anderson after they had finished and told her how much I loved Red State by her former band Gowns and she seemed intensely astounded that I had heard it and flattered by my comment, anyway, she was sweet and the whole night was fun so I give a big thumbs up to everyone involved! Thanks to ChiChi and the Le Baron team, we love you! Check out some photos I took, as well as a shot of me looking rather wasted watching EMA (oh dear) and listen to EMA & Gowns further below:

Shabazz Palaces

I went to see Shabazz Palaces live at the Jazz Cafe in London two nights ago and boy oh boy was it an amazing show! Support came from the brilliant Seattle MC duo of Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White aka THEESatisfaction who also joined Shabazz Palaces on stage toward the end of their set. In case you're not familiar with Shabazz Palaces yet they are a hip hop collective fronted by Ishmael Butler, previously of seminal hip hop group Digable Planets, and multi-instrumentalist Tendai Maraire. Their debut album Black Up just dropped on Sub Pop and I can't say enough good things about them. Please do listen to Black Up and spread the Shabazz love. Check out some photos and a video I took at the Jazz Cafe gig plus listen to one of their EP tracks as well: