When a label like Ninja Tune sign up an artist, you pretty much know you are going to get a certain level of quality. And so it is with Jono McCleery, a musician who is hard to pigeonhole into one musical genre. When you first read this, you may be forgiven for thinking that an artist that doesn’t fit into predefined categories is a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none. You’d be wrong. Dead wrong! For me, the joy of listening to McCleery is taking the time out to hear the myriad of influences coming through both his vocals and instrumentation.

Many when writing about McCleery have said his sound is similar to that of Jamie Woon and James Blake, two artists I rate very much indeed. My concession to such statements is that if we are talking about the use of electronics in music making, then yes, to a degree McCleery is like these guys. However, the truth is that to group such a diverse set of artists together is sloppy and a convenient way to write about musicians who cannot easily be categorised.

This sort of ‘sloppy’ critiquing is closely linked to another of the things I find tragic at the moment, the current trend in musical ‘short hand’. We all know that there are ’nuff artists out there who don’t really seem to be saying anything, who don’t even try to bring something new to the table, or indeed, allow themselves to be themselves! What I am talking about is the fact that much of what we hear produced today is too accessible. Even what we would call ‘good’ music is very predictable, following all too familiar rhythms, patterns and structures. Yet, without making his music inaccessible, McCleery defies this fashion. To get the true joy of this adept musician, you must take time with his music. Listen with patience and let the sounds and their accompanying associations take you where they will. The complexity within each song reveal new things each time you return to them. This, for some, might be the primary ‘weakness’ of the album, many might easily dismiss it because they have not paid it the full attention it deserves. More fool them…

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After hearing Tanya Auclair’s reworking of Roy Davis/Paveen Everett’s ‘Gabriel’ right here on PinBoard, I was on a feverish hunt to track her down at a live gig. My mission came to an end last Thursday at the launch party for her new EP Origami held at Servant Jazz Quaters in Dalston. What can I say? I am in love with Tanya Auclair! Not even two songs into a set of 10, Auclair had already played five instruments. This is a woman who loves to play with music to see what she discovers.

It’s worth mentioning that I was stood in the midst of some hard-core Hip Hop fans who had been talking about seeing Mos Def and Talib Kweli live and who were sad to hear about the death of the legend, Gil Scott Heron. It was, by anyone’s standards, a tough crowd. By the middle of her set, standing pretty much under her nose- not a psycho fan, I promise- I turned around to see a packed room of people swaying to the good vibes coming from Auclair’s beautiful and at times, haunting music.

It’s easy to dismiss an artist like Auclair as merely being about the gimmick of using the loops. I’m sure many of y’all have been to gigs and open mic nights where the loop is used as a sure fire way of proving musical worth and breadth of talent. But, the fact is, not many, really only very, very few, can match the rich musicality of Auclair. I felt like a kid seeing ET for the first time watching her create music from seemingly nowhere.

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DELS. Definitly on the scene and one to watch. The hype machine is slowly, too slowly if you ask me, getting into gear over the young man from Ipswich. Some have called him a cross between Dizzee and Bjork, personally, I didn’t hear that on his debut album GOB. To me he seems a, very worthy, pretender to Roots Manuva’s throne as the UK’s number one MC. Unsurprising as they share the same label, Big Dada, home too of Mercury Prize winner, Speech Dabelle. Read the review after the jump…

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