Blind Arcade
Manchester Antwerp Mansion
Saturday 30th March 2013
Kermit, BB James and Evermean Beats make up Blind Arcade who played their debut gig last week. The night turned out to be quite special, and fortunately Jacky Carroll was there for us to review it.
The venue for tonight’s event is the just the right mix of faded elegance and filth. Antwerp Mansion is stunningly grand but slightly sleazy and spectacularly grubby – it is beautiful in its uniqueness. A dilapidated old mansion house, it has a cinematic quality about it and is the perfect venue for the highly anticipated debut performance of Manchester’s much beloved Kermit and his new collective Blind Arcade.
This impressive trio consists of Kermit, best known for his time fronting Ruthless Rap Assassins and Black Grape : talented, beautiful and soulful young singer songwriter BB James & producer/ programmer Luke better known as Evermean Beats who is carving out a name for himself as a dj and producer at club nights across London. All three have pooled their talents to create an exciting and explosive assortment of truly eclectic and beguiling demos and this audience is primed and ready to hear them perform together live for the first time.
Luke takes his spot at the control panel and Kermit and BB bound on to the stage bursting with energy to rapturous whooping and applause – it has been a while.
A James Brown style funky drum beat drops and with the tweet of a bubbling horn riff we are off – Kermit is all over the stage working the crowd in with his completely inimitable audacious style he has won them over in seconds – the opener ‘Universoul Prayer’ is a love letter to marijuana with a chorus that instantly draws you in …..”I said PLEEEESE Lord help me make it through this day, I know this world is cold and treacherous and it’s hard to find your way”….the beats are booming and the vocal delivery is sharp. 
They have everyone’s full attention.
Kermit thanks everyone for coming and engages with the crowd, It is a friendly feel good atmosphere and he knows that he and his new outfit have already won them over.
Luke fires up a huge reggae dub bass line and the audience is bobbing and swaying in unison to the hypnotic rumbling blasting from the speakers when Kermit and sweet voiced BB launch into ‘Under my nose’ – a tale of your best friend stealing your best girl. Enchanting and enthralling. It goes down brilliantly.
In a complete switch up in a style and vibe, it is time for BB James to step up and showcase her extraordinary talent. ‘Give it Away’ is a deeply profound and personal piece written by Kermit describing how he let go of his own demons but the production road that he and Luke have chosen to take it own transforms his dark words into a blissful sunny day of a tune. BB’s vocal is stunning, reminiscent of a glorious 70′s soul diva and the transcendent strings and laid back funky bass line could fit happily as a backing track on a Roy Ayers album.
BB is a beguiling performer and all eyes are on her as she draws the audience in. 
There is dancing, there is whooping, there is cheering – it is going rather well.
Kermit is bantering with the crowd again to check if they are still with him – they absolutely are.
A bouncy Outkast style drum and bass signals the kick off of the next track and the words ‘beware of this promise’ spiral through the air on a repeat loop. A cheeky punchy saxophone riff pops in and ‘Forever and a Day’ is in full flow. Kermit’s vocal comes in and he is making a proclamation – an out and out joyous celebration of love. The message is simple and heartfelt – I promise to love you forever and a day. It is upbeat and honest. Light and fresh.
The audience is nodding and bouncing approvingly. They are feeling the positive vibe.
The penultimate track is a change in style and pace again with a slightly sleazy 50′s Peggy Lee style bass line and a switch up sample of the Four Seasons ‘Sherry Baby’ performed in a live vocal by BB and replaced with ‘Shady Lady’. It’s a full on MC led track with an early 90′s flavour telling the story of a very Shady Lady who accepts gifts of Jimmy Choo shoes and wears them out on dates with other guys. It is effervescent hip hop at is best.
The crowd are going absolutely wild at this point and are presented with a rolling electro groove which morphs into a full on attention grabbing boom of a riff which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Fugazi record. The mash up of sounds give a nod to Afrika Bambataa and Prince and a wild electric guitar sample that Eddie Van Halen would be proud of flutters over Kermit’s engaging dark rap. He pulls someone out of the crowd to join them on stage – the guy is Boneslimm Forde, an insanely talented dancer and body popper who proceeds to bust some bodacious moves alongside Kermit and BB.
Everyone in the audience is dancing and as the track fades out, the applause and whoops of appreciation are deafening.
This has been an arresting performance and the band has blown them away – they have been drawn into a vibe that Quentin Tarantino would have been proud to create and we all know how amazing his soundtracks are.
The eclectic mix of musical styles married with stagecraft from Kermit which can only come from years of experience and bucket loads of charm, charisma and talent, a killer soul diva vocalist and a wizard of a programmer and producer is a winning combination.
Blind Arcade are on course to fill a gaping hole in current music. The huge one left in the early 90′s for quality beats with intelligent lyrics, quality MC’s and stunningly soulful vocals.
Check them out – you won’t regret it.
You can check out Blind Arcade’s music on their Soundcloud page here. They are on Facebook here and can be found on Twitter as @BlindArcade.
All words by Jacky Carroll all photographs © Karin Albinsson. More writing by Jacky on Louder Than War can be found in her author archive.
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