The Cool Hunter, Roaming the globe so you're in the know
Music
There's a trend sweeping the UK that's so big, even British Vogue in their current December issue felt the need to dedicate a page to òThe Rave Revival", which as they put it, is all aboutòacid grooves and colors being back in the house". Most people are calling it òNu-Rave, and British bands such as Klaxons, Hadouken and Shitdisco are at the helm, powering the music and London club nights such as Anti-Family, Bosh! and NamaleeLovesPop that the fashion-followers feed off.
However, there is one band at the moment who surpasses all of the above- their Nu-Rave sound, their gangsta style, and the blinding amount of neon and glitter they flash really are something to behold, and unusually enough they are not from England, but from Iceland - they're called Steed Lord. A true dance party act, they are equal parts gangsta, rave and glam. On their Myspace page they say their influences range from, 808 state, Prince, The Neptunes and genres such as ghetto tech and house, minimal electro, Chicago house, sensational 90's house music and the old-skool hardcore jungle massive.
They are absolutely a breath of fresh air, one of the highlights at the Iceland Airwaves Festival that ran from October 18th-22nd (the festival is about new music, whether rock, pop or electronic, with international and Icelandic acts playing). Steed Lord are made up of M.E.G.A, Kali, Demo and A.C Bananas and during their performance at local Reykjavik club Pravda they packed the small venue to the rafters.
Their keyboardist, Demo, was reminiscent of a Batman baddie, just dipped into a pot of electric-pink paint. Someone in the crowd told me he's only 17 years old, which will explain why they referred to him as "the whiz kid" on stage. M.E.G.A is the producer of the band and works at the controls at the back of the stage, although he had a stripe of pink painted over his face for good measure. A.C Bananas is a tattooed thug rapper who wore a black hoodie with 'Steed Lord' proudly emblazoned on the back in numerous day-glo colours, worn open with only gold chains adorning his bare chest. He had a fake diamond and gold grill over his teeth, with dramatic eye make up just visible from under his sunglasses, and a painful looking purple diamond, (their logo), tattooed right over his Adam's Apple. From the waist-down he looked very Nu-Rave - lycra black leggings with electric-pink shooting stars on them, the look was topped off with Nike Dunks, he looked like a total hard-nut, but also the sort of man that a fashion designer like Bernard Willhelm would lust over to use as a model in his Paris runway shows. One of the most amusing moments was, when halfway through their act, a camp-as-you-like glittered male dancer appeared with a platter of gold chains for A.C to load up on. Done dead-pan and totally seriously, the crowd went wild, cheering and laughing as he loaded up his neck with gold of proportions that even Mr.T would have been proud of.
The hardness of A.C was counteracted by their female lead singer, (and star of the band), Kali who, resplendent as she was in an electric blue flower fairy top, neon leggings and peep-toe black high heeled boots, could give Kylie a run for her money in the 'petite, blonde and seriously sexy' stakes any day. However, it's her relaxed yet tough chick attitude with her mˆtley crew of band members on stage that clearly sets her apart from anything too poppy. This girl is street. Then there's her voice, which is incredible, at times sounding like Eartha Kitt as she purrs to the crowd "He's a very dirty mutha fucker" in the menacing electro 'Dirty Mutha' and in the uplifting sexy old-skool rave anthem 'You' she drove the crowd crazy when she started singing "Yooouuuu! Make me feel so good boy you're making me high! Yooouuuu!!! Make me feel so high, boy I feel so alive! Cos every time I'm near you I really wanna touch you and hear you say, you'll always be mine!
By the time she finished singing the atmosphere was charged with a sexy electricity, the crowd were sweating, salivating, grabbing each other and reaching out to this gorgeous chanteuse on stage and loving the feeling of the pounding baseline throbbing through them.
Hopefully they will start touring soon for sure cities such as Berlin, London, Paris (and maybe even New York) would just eat them up given half a neon-coloured chance. by Elizabeth McGrath
www.myspace.com/steedlord
November 12 2006
There's a trend sweeping the UK that's so big, even British Vogue in their current December issue felt the need to dedicate a page to òThe Rave Revival", which as they put it, is all aboutòacid grooves and colors being back in the house". Most people are calling it òNu-Rave, and British bands such as Klaxons, Hadouken and Shitdisco are at the helm, powering the music and London club nights such as Anti-Family, Bosh! and NamaleeLovesPop that the fashion-followers feed off.
However, there is one band at the moment who surpasses all of the above- their Nu-Rave sound, their gangsta style, and the blinding amount of neon and glitter they flash really are something to behold, and unusually enough they are not from England, but from Iceland - they're called Steed Lord. A true dance party act, they are equal parts gangsta, rave and glam. On their Myspace page they say their influences range from, 808 state, Prince, The Neptunes and genres such as ghetto tech and house, minimal electro, Chicago house, sensational 90's house music and the old-skool hardcore jungle massive.
They are absolutely a breath of fresh air, one of the highlights at the Iceland Airwaves Festival that ran from October 18th-22nd (the festival is about new music, whether rock, pop or electronic, with international and Icelandic acts playing). Steed Lord are made up of M.E.G.A, Kali, Demo and A.C Bananas and during their performance at local Reykjavik club Pravda they packed the small venue to the rafters.
Their keyboardist, Demo, was reminiscent of a Batman baddie, just dipped into a pot of electric-pink paint. Someone in the crowd told me he's only 17 years old, which will explain why they referred to him as "the whiz kid" on stage. M.E.G.A is the producer of the band and works at the controls at the back of the stage, although he had a stripe of pink painted over his face for good measure. A.C Bananas is a tattooed thug rapper who wore a black hoodie with 'Steed Lord' proudly emblazoned on the back in numerous day-glo colours, worn open with only gold chains adorning his bare chest. He had a fake diamond and gold grill over his teeth, with dramatic eye make up just visible from under his sunglasses, and a painful looking purple diamond, (their logo), tattooed right over his Adam's Apple. From the waist-down he looked very Nu-Rave - lycra black leggings with electric-pink shooting stars on them, the look was topped off with Nike Dunks, he looked like a total hard-nut, but also the sort of man that a fashion designer like Bernard Willhelm would lust over to use as a model in his Paris runway shows. One of the most amusing moments was, when halfway through their act, a camp-as-you-like glittered male dancer appeared with a platter of gold chains for A.C to load up on. Done dead-pan and totally seriously, the crowd went wild, cheering and laughing as he loaded up his neck with gold of proportions that even Mr.T would have been proud of.
The hardness of A.C was counteracted by their female lead singer, (and star of the band), Kali who, resplendent as she was in an electric blue flower fairy top, neon leggings and peep-toe black high heeled boots, could give Kylie a run for her money in the 'petite, blonde and seriously sexy' stakes any day. However, it's her relaxed yet tough chick attitude with her mˆtley crew of band members on stage that clearly sets her apart from anything too poppy. This girl is street. Then there's her voice, which is incredible, at times sounding like Eartha Kitt as she purrs to the crowd "He's a very dirty mutha fucker" in the menacing electro 'Dirty Mutha' and in the uplifting sexy old-skool rave anthem 'You' she drove the crowd crazy when she started singing "Yooouuuu! Make me feel so good boy you're making me high! Yooouuuu!!! Make me feel so high, boy I feel so alive! Cos every time I'm near you I really wanna touch you and hear you say, you'll always be mine!
By the time she finished singing the atmosphere was charged with a sexy electricity, the crowd were sweating, salivating, grabbing each other and reaching out to this gorgeous chanteuse on stage and loving the feeling of the pounding baseline throbbing through them.
Hopefully they will start touring soon for sure cities such as Berlin, London, Paris (and maybe even New York) would just eat them up given half a neon-coloured chance. by Elizabeth McGrath
www.myspace.com/steedlord
