Blue Honey @ Level 2, Kongs, Cardiff
Sat 4 Mar
I’m not sure why the Glasgow-hailing, London-based Brian D’Souza chose for his stage name a euphemism for menstruation; perhaps it’s because his music gets the blood rushing. One blood, you might say, considering his mission to combine rhythms and instruments from multiple continents into a modern nightclub sound, beloved by Gilles Peterson. On his debut record, Goan Highlife, released in 2011 by the label Huntleys + Palmers (itself named after a firm of biscuit makers and one of the world’s first global brands), one side was inspired by Nigerian highlife music, the other by the music of the Indian coastal area which was once a Portuguese colony.
If all this sounds a bit like culturally appropriative, half-arsed fusion, then you should keep reading, and more importantly, listen to D’Souza’s music yourself – it’s got heart. His next release, Oh My Days, blended the polyrhythmic UK funky beat with another touch of world rhythms, splicing in the sampled slang of the title, with all its UK-centric cultural cachet; it was a big hit with DJs of the Hessle Audio, Four Tet and Joy Orbison school.
Five years and two albums later, his most recent work shows how he’s settled into a style that sits near Henrik Schwarz and Âme, but with a bigger focus on jumbled, tumbling drums. The raucous aesthetics of South African kwaito and UK garage have somewhat dropped away for a softer-edged, more meditative energy. He has even been releasing on Japanese label Mule Musiq, one of the most serious and discerning 4/4 dance music purveyors around.
There have been many remixes of his work, and his current tour is meant to showcase a compilation of such. But he won’t be bringing any guests to Cardiff, but rather taking control of the soundsystem himself – perhaps an even more enticing scenario, when you consider a whole night of the handpicked records that have influenced his kaleidoscopic musical mind. And this will all be happening in the back room of Kongs, a newish retro arcade game’n’craft beer bar on Cardiff’s st Mary Street. Let the Blue Honey flow.
Tickets: £5. Info: 029 2022 7974