Untitled Document

Killa Kela @ Jazz Café, London

Wednesday 1st February, 2006

By Jeevan Panesar

On Wednesday night I was lucky enough to witness the UK’s gift to beat boxing in his element: Killa Kela live at the Jazz Café. With a new album ‘Elocution’ on its way, Kela was home with his Spit Kingdom crew, living up to his huge live reputation and showing off some new tracks to an intimate crowd of fans.

DJ Porge 1 started things up for the evening with some hip hop treasures for the crowd. The String Quartet soon made a swift entrance onto the stage and brought out the main man to a beautifully haunting piece. Wearing a black cap and blazer, Kela poeticises over the music, “Perfectly in tune with the atmosphere of the room, apocalypse hits… Ladies and gents of the Jazz Café, it’s time to perform.” On cue, Spit Kingdom arrive to accompany him on the first track, an ethereal and heavily based song titled ‘Rave of the Future’.

Next up we were introduced to ‘Supergrass’, which shows off some of the unapologetic hard sounds of UK grime/hip hop. It was here we were exposed to the first of Kela’s many multi vocal talents. When he called for a rewind, mic to mouth he rewinds. The best performance was ‘Slipping in the Rain’ – on this track not only do you get Kingdom’s first lady Rookwood’s soulful vocals at their best – but Kela sings too – and he has a surprisingly beautiful voice.

‘Secrets’, the first single off the record, is a catchy garage themed song. After this performance, he drifted into one of his infamous skit sessions. Kela multi layers the likes of J.Lo, Missy, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg – a crowd favourite was Noreaga’s ‘Superthug’. When he starts layering the songs, it can come across incoherent and often abrupt – like he’s trying to talk to you in his language. It’s not until you hear the final piece that the crowd goes crazy with appreciation for his skills. If you can’t see him you think all of it is being put together on a keyboard. “This is where I came from,” he tells us.

The session ended with the crew breaking into ‘Jawbreaker’ and MC Trip stayed on with the DJ to treat the fulfilled crowd to some jungle beats.

Kela’s music is undoubtedly rooted in hip hop and beat boxing, but his multi vocal talent will not (as his last album proved) have the same impact on wax as it does live. This session however, introduced us to other influences: rare groove, soul, grime, drum and bass and jungle. It’s technically amazing and the string quartet brings a whole new quality to the sound. As a collective, it is clear that the Spit Kingdom movement is tight; this lot seemed so in sync with one another and it was reflected in the class of their performance. Totally unique, raw and soulfully enchanting, he will be critically acclaimed with this one. Best of all, he’s from Billinghurst, West Sussex - UK music at its best.

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	Killa Kela @ Jazz Café, London Wednesday 1st February, 2006 By Jeevan Panesar On Wednesday night I was lucky enough to witness the UK’s gift to beat boxing in his element: Killa Kela live at the Jazz Café. With a new album ‘Elocution’ on its way, Kela was home with his Spit Kingdom crew, living up to his huge live reputation and showing off some new tracks to an intimate crowd of fans. DJ Porge 1 started things up for the evening with some hip hop treasures for the crowd. The String Quartet soon made a swift entrance onto the stage and brought out the main man to a beautifully haunting piece. Wearing a black cap and blazer, Kela poeticises over the music, “Perfectly in tune with the atmosphere of the room, apocalypse hits… Ladies and gents of the Jazz Café, it’s time to perform.” On cue, Spit Kingdom arrive to accompany him on the first track, an ethereal and heavily based song titled ‘Rave of the Future’. Next up we were introduced to ‘Supergrass’, which shows off some of the unapologetic hard sounds of UK grime/hip hop. It was here we were exposed to the first of Kela’s many multi vocal talents. When he called for a rewind, mic to mouth he rewinds. The best performance was ‘Slipping in the Rain’ – on this track not only do you get Kingdom’s first lady Rookwood’s soulful vocals at their best – but Kela sings too – and he has a surprisingly beautiful voice. ‘Secrets’, the first single off the record, is a catchy garage themed song. After this performance, he drifted into one of his infamous skit sessions. Kela multi layers the likes of J.Lo, Missy, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg – a crowd favourite was Noreaga’s ‘Superthug’. When he starts layering the songs, it can come across incoherent and often abrupt – like he’s trying to talk to you in his language. It’s not until you hear the final piece that the crowd goes crazy with appreciation for his skills. If you can’t see him you think all of it is being put together on a keyboard. “This is where I came from,” he tells us. The session ended with the crew breaking into ‘Jawbreaker’ and MC Trip stayed on with the DJ to treat the fulfilled crowd to some jungle beats. Kela’s music is undoubtedly rooted in hip hop and beat boxing, but his multi vocal talent will not (as his last album proved) have the same impact on wax as it does live. This session however, introduced us to other influences: rare groove, soul, grime, drum and bass and jungle. It’s technically amazing and the string quartet brings a whole new quality to the sound. As a collective, it is clear that the Spit Kingdom movement is tight; this lot seemed so in sync with one another and it was reflected in the class of their performance. Totally unique, raw and soulfully enchanting, he will be critically acclaimed with this one. Best of all, he’s from Billinghurst, West Sussex - UK music at its best. Return To Concert Review Archive
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