Benin City has arrived!

Apologies for the fashionably late arrival of this video post but hopefully absence has made your heart grow fonder. Click to relive our April 2^nd show where Headline act Benin City managed to shake a few tail feathers (and heads at a slightly cringe worthy joke) .

Named after the largest city of the Edo state in Nigeria, Benin City are a London five-piece band fusing funk, hip-hop, Afrobeat, poetry and jazz into real feel good music.

Fronted by Joshua Idehen, Our April headliners have been described as a hybrid of ‘Outkast-meets-James Brown’.

Having already raked up accomplishments ranging from  appearances on BBC3’s “The Verb”,  BBC 6Music with Huey Morgan of Fun Loving Criminals and  Reuters’s Africa Daily programme, we’re feeling pretty go0d about having them headline.

Mind The Gap is a Don!

Where the Magic happens: Carnivale

Despite our trials and tribulations we managed to pull it out the bag once again for our April 2^nd show.

We had a feast of a line up including new MTG crush Mercedes, word wizard Harry baker and the ever charismatic Benin City.

We must admit we are feeling (slightly) smug after the April 2nd show.

In case you missed the Mind the Gap April Experience (or want to relive it’s awesomeness..) stay tuned for video uploads!

Till then compadres

Last month no cars this month mercedes

RUN DMC MTG MERCEDES

We’re sorry to say that Oats have had to pull out of this Saturday’s show at Carnivale. This is a bummer because they were going to be excellent but it looks like we’ll have to wait for their MTG debut.

Luckily the good news is equally as good as the bad news is bad, i.e. that Mercedes (abv) has just confirmed that she IS available. If you don’t know Mercedes then check her out here.

Also, if you’re a dj and live in London and are between the ages of 14 and 25, and want to be in with a chance of performing at a major London festival this summer then keep your eyes here as we will be announcing something pretty exciting pretty soon.

See you Saturday

MTG

Mind the Gap’s March Marvels!

Join Mind The Gap for its joyous shindig of homegrown British music on Saturday, 5 March 2011! With a line up to kill and a venue to match you’d be mad to miss it.

Expect:

No Cars, a quirky Japanese female trio who are obsessed with food and sellotape.

(Interesting fact : ‘‘No cars” means farmers in Japanese. How’s that for general knowledge?!)

Burnt Toast poet Adrian Lawrence describes himself as an eclectic collective of ‘ a Raymond Chandler detective with the subtleties and unsurpassed surgical spirits of a Martin Hannett production circa Joy Division and Section 25’. The result is an infectious cocktail of American paranoia, Canadian objectivity and a very English obsession of introspection and the fly on the wall documentary.

Closing the line up will be Headline act:  Mikill Pane.

With arguably the best sense of humour you will ever come across – just look at his Twitter timeline and you’ll end up laughing out loud – he has quoted ‘meeting his first ever groupie’ as one of his  greatest  music career memories  in addition to performing alongside  Omar, Shola Ama and Terri Walker. Expect laughs from this Mind the Gap Legend!

All presented by King of the compeer and spoken word artist Simon Mole.

And as if life couldn’t get any sweeter expect a DJ set from the one and only DJ ACKTDJ.

It truly will be a sugar rush Saturday!

Same place. Same time:

2 White Church Lane

London

E1 7 QR

18+

7pm +

 

Evryone

Evryone

Consisting of Chris Banner, Tom Andrews and Nicholas Bovill, the painfully cool trio headlined Mind The Gap’s Xmas session.

Reminiscent of The Hoosiers, The Beatles and all that is good quality music, the three piece band will be releasing two lovelies on the 24 of January 2011 on itunes.

Look out for ‘Flamingos’ and ‘Thrill Seeking’ via their website and iTunes.

Mademoiselle Mademoiselle

Mademoiselle Mademoiselle

Despite only being together for six months, the band have already been noted as one a ‘BBC Introducing’ act  by Tom Robinson.

Keep a close eye on them and their EP coming out next year.

Simon Mole

Simon Mole

Described as a ‘bonafide emcee’ by hip-hop royalty Jonzi D, Simon Mole is quickly establishing himself as a commendable wordsmith. Flirting occasionally with periphrasis, personification and polyrhythmic verses he composes intriguing and witty narratives which are influenced by his environment and those around him. Having refined his talent through open-mic battles in Brighton, he moved to London in 2003.

In 2008, he was commissioned by Brakin Arts Festival to create a piece challenging the boundaries between hip hop, theatre and spoken word. To Slough and Back was described as witty, accessible and imaginative. Simon is undeniably an ‘about to blow ‘talent.

Watch him do his thing at Mind The Gap’s Xmas session!

Mind The Gap have done it again!

 

Music at its best

Mind the Gap once again proved themselves worthy for applause at their Xmas bonanza at Carnavalie,Whitechaple.

Just to shake things up a bit from written reviews here’s a visual representation of what went down.

One word: Amazing

Check out the video’s to follow!

Can’t wait to rock my socks off at the next  session!

Season’s greetings

X

Mind The Gap’s second dose of Homegrown goodness!

Please Mind The Gap.

Sorry to keep you waiting folks but the review of Mind The Gap’s November shows finally arrived!

Hope ya’ll like it!

An incredibly intriguing night with intimate performances; Mind The Gap brought commendable homegrown talent to Carnivale,Whitechapel once again.

Kicking of the night was the new MTG favorite, Redwings. Dressed in a printed cardigan with ruffled hair, his acoustics were filled with sentiment as he narrated the tales of a man and his lover. His riffs and vocal lifts were intense, keeping the audience in a trance. Sunday Painter and Bless every corner of you were personal favorites because of their ability to use silence effectively for impact. A true performer.

Keeping up the high standard was the extremely charismatic Martyna Baker. Sporting green and pink Reebok high-tops; her soulful voice flooded the ridges of every ear as she gracefully climbed to falsettos. Love Fast was filed with quirky lyrics and intricate melodies whilst Addicted and Don’t take my eyes kept everyone’s mouths ajar at her vocal ability.

Alma No Fear was puzzling yet strangely captivating. Completely different to anything (probably anyone’s) heard before, the musical cluster comprising of an accordion, saxophone, occasional tambourine, female singer and what appeared to be a tenor drum had everyone clutching onto their seats.

The female singer in particular was entrancing and almost daunting (but in a good way….if that makes any sense…) demanding silence with the lick of every lyric. Their cover of Sinner man by Nina Simone was refreshing and upbeat reflecting the folk sounds they promised on the night.

Not forgetting the man of much wisdom, Dean Atta had the audience in deep thoughts and tears as he performed an amalgamation of poems. Ranging from identity to family divides his use of literary devices and levels allowed him to convey the pain of each individual character.

Discussing the growing issues of a Fatherless Nation made many contemplate their personal relationships with their fathers and families.

Mind The Gap once again  excelled and continues to provide fresh homegrown music .

Massive thanks to our performers on the night: Martyna Baker, Redwings, Dean Atta and Alma No Fear.

Not forgetting the dynamic duo – Jessica and Barny Barratt – I salute you!

Make sure you make it to the Xmas session on December 4^th – it’s going to be LEG-END-ARY!

Back to Barny with his cheerful A1’s and A2’s !

MTG afterglow and X Factor musings

Once again a big thank you to everyone who came down to Carnivale last night. We had a lovely time… a fully comprehensive review will be up here shortly courtesy of our very own Bianca, but in the meantime we just wanted to give another big round of applause to all of last night’s performers – Alma Nofear, Dean Atta, Martyna Baker and Redwings – that’s a pretty high calibre of artists right there and we were privileged to host them all.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the line-up for our MTG Xmas Special coming very soon (Sat Dec 4th is the date for your diaries), but until then we leave you with the heart-wrenching emotions of Louis Walsh, who has now become officially the most entertaining thing about this year’s X Factor. (Oh and Shayne Ward covering Nickelback??? Really???)