Doctor's Orders present Blitz the Ambassador & The Stepkids (STONESTHROW)

"A blindingly bright clarity drives Blitz the Ambassador. With a spot-on sense of flow, he name-checks Basquiat and Lumumba, evokes lovelorn sighs on Accra buses, émigré alienation, history’s shadows. All set to swirls of brass, distorted guitars, and the crackle and pop of old amplifiers.

With a lightning-fast mind, the political boldness of Chuck D, and the sixth groove sense of Fela Kuti, Ghanaian-born, New York-based MC, composer, and producer unleashes psychedelic Afrobeat colors and triple-time rhymes with a sound clearly born in Africa but honed on New York Streets.

Blitz grew up when the fierce promise of Afrocentric, intellectually discerning rap was at its peak. In the Accra of his youth, the golden age of Hip-Hop lived on long after rap began to go (Dirty) South in the U.S. Blitz and his brothers and friends became avid fans of groups like Public Enemy, one of the few major Hip-Hop names to tour Ghana, memorizing raps verbatim to impress the cool kids at school, studying the flow of masters from Rakim to Q-Tip.

Surrounded by a profusion of other music in Accra, from the highlife swaying at a nearby soccer field to the kora and drums played for chiefs and sub-chiefs. Marvin Gaye and Michael Jackson, and local reactions to rock and funk all made their mark, spinning on the sometime unreliable family record player.

Stone’s Throw Records’ latest discovery The Stepkids are a psych –soul outfit that have drawn comparisons to Rotary Connection & Animal Collective fusing Soul, Funk, Punk, Jazz & African Rhythms into a psychedelic sound for the 21st Centaury. All three members write, sing and engineer their sound as one with a focus on the whole. “What excites us about this band is this band itself; it’s about creating an entity where the entity itself is what’s important.”

Having all cut their teeth on the East Coast Jazz / R&B Scene they have all individually recorded solo projects, score movies, share stages with the likes of Alicia Keys, 50 cent & Laryn Hiil but is as this collective with a common purpose and unified voice that they are set to take the world by storm as The Stepkids step into the spotlight.

Tonight presents a change to hear two of the freshest and most exciting acts to hit London for a while. With both having such unique takes on such established sounds this is the chance to look into the future’s exciting re-interpretation of the past."

Support DJs Spin Doctor & Charlie Dark

8pm-Midnight
Wednesday 3rd August 2011
@ Cargo Courtyard, 83 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3AY
(Old Street Tube)

http://www.thedoctorsorders.com/diary_blitz.html