B e a t s , R h y m e s & L i f e
________________________________
____________
More music: find it all, at KAOS.
Talk to me on Twitter.
Showing posts with label David McAlmont. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David McAlmont. Show all posts
Hifi Sean & David McAlmont
BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE
Their album, Happy Ending, is out now.
Hifi Sean & David McAlmont
David McAlmont
beats, rhymes & life
rewound: 1998
Immerse yourself in David McAlmont's jaw-droppingly gorgeous A Little Communication, from his perfect album of the same name.
Review: Faggamuffin + Exclusive Pictures
A PACKED THEATRE WITNESSED a one-off performance of John R. Gordon's sell-out play Faggamuffin on Saturday.I was lucky enough to be in the audience.
The plot concerns the sudden arrival of Jamaican Cutty on a West London housing estate. He lands on Buju, the head of a drug crew he's met just once before a year previously. Cutty doesn't know anyone else in London, but fortunately for him, Buju possesses a keen sense of bredrinship - and motives of his own. But unfortunately for Cutty, Buju's girlfriend isn't too impressed with the new arrival - or her boyfriend's special bond with the Jamaican. And Buju's boys - Spin, Maxie and Gary - have their own suspicions too. What follows is a gripping narrative full of twists and turns, wit, revelation and a truly moving conclusion. Having read the novel, I already knew the story, but seeing it performed by a group of talented young actors at a breakneck pace was something else.
It was thrilling, funny, moving, jaw-dropping and very, very sexy. Depictions of the many different, varied aspects of gay life are so often restricted to white, middle-class men. Faggamuffin opens a window onto the lives of two young, hyper-masculine black men in London, and that is a breathe of fresh air, and something at which Gordon (Noah's Arc) excels. Special mention must go to Nathan Clough and Michael Moulton, playing Cutty and Buju respectively. The sheer energy, range and depth of their performances was amazing. Clough's Jamaican accent also received a big thumbs up from my Jamaican friend Marley, to the extent that he wondered if the rest of the audience understood Cutty's lines.
Faggamuffin was a huge success with that audience (an even mix of ethnicities, sexes and sexualities), with plenty of laughter and hushed, reverent silence in all the right places. It's hoped a full run will go ahead in the summer. Stay posted for news! One last thing. In the audience was David McAlmont. I kept staring at this guy in the bar beforehand thinking "I know him from somewhere." It was driving me nuts. It was only in the Q&A afterwards when he asked a couple of questions that I slowly started to realise that it was he. I even held the door open for him as we were leaving the theatre, and he said thank you. David McAlmont spoke to me! What a night!View Nathan Clough in John R. Gordon's Souljah here.
Previously - Faggamuffin
Previously - Discographic: Diamonds Are Forever
(Thanks to John R. Gordon for the pictures, to whom these images belong and remain the property of. Please, no reproduction without permission!)
Discographic: Diamonds Are Forever
EVERY TUESDAY, A FORGOTTEN VIDEO CLASSIC, AND WHY YOU NEED IT IN YOUR LIFE...
THERE AREN'T MANY openly gay artists in the music industry, and fewer still openly gay black or Asian artists. Hardly any of them gain mainstream success.One openly gay, black artist who gained mainstream success in the 90s was David McAlmont, notching up hits as the voice of McAlmont & Butler. His solo career has been less successful, but generated one of the most gorgeous, and important albums of the decade, A Little Communication.
Before that lush, lost classic, there was his collaboration with David Arnold. It's gorgeous. McAlmont's voice is gorgeous. And oh boy, in this video, McAlmont is gorgeous. The camp is turned up to the max, and fem is redefined. And the lips, my God, the lips... Simmering masculinity and heaving pecs have their place, but sometimes you just want a sleek, pouting fem boy in a white catsuit to get wild with.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Diamonds Are Forever...
Previously - Discographic: Nothing Like The Rain
When Black Music Ain't Black
The British media snubs black artists: that's the gospel according to singer Estelle, and she's preaching to the converted, as far as I'm concerned. The list is long: Justin Timberlake, Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Robin Thicke - artists who are given huge media coverage simply because they're white artists doing soul. Now don't get me wrong - although I don't like white soul artists myself, I don't see why white artists shouldn't rap or sing soul, in principle. It isn't a case of black artists should stick to hip-hop and white artists to heavy metal. But there's a problem when amazing artists are overlooked because Justin Timberfake is stealing the limelight from, say, Nathan. As Estelle says,"I'm not mad... but I'm wondering - how the hell is there not a single black person in the press singing soul? Adele ain't soul. She sounds like she heard some Aretha records once, and she's got a deeper voice - that don't mean she's soul. That don't mean nothing to me in the grand scheme of my life as a black person. As a songwriter, I get what they do. As a black person, I'm like: you're telling me this is my music? F*** that! They keep trying to tell me in the media what soul music is and I'm like, we know what soul music is, stop f***ing around with us! You're taking the p*** out of every black person in the country! And then they say, 'Oh, don't bring race into it.' We're not stupid, stop it."
There's dozens of talented could-have-beens littering the British music scene: Shaun Escoffery, Lynden David Hall, David McAlmont, Kevin Mark Trail (right), Beverly Knight, Tunde Baiyewu, Ephraim Lewis, Omar, Damage, Nine Yards... and the question remains: why would anyone want to waste a second on Justin Timberfake when you can have the real thing?
