For the past week, all talk has been around Prince’s fantastic secret gig in Camden and rightly so. But perhaps you were one of the lucky few to attend Starcount’s Be Discovered Live at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden.
Be Discovered is the musical brainchild of Starcount, a “global social media discovery engine” and their February edition of the live gig was their second outing. The venue was as cosmopolitan as you could imagine in the West End and a quick trip up the lift to the fourth floor sent you to the main event.
Arriving slightly late, I could only catch the tail end of Ray Jones‘ but her strong soulful vocals were enough to take my breath away. Amongst the throng of plastic pop voices, this was heaven sent. After a warm comical interjection from host Julie Adenuga, she introduced Manchester singer/emcee Blizzard, a talented musician who has been laying relatively low on the radar since he shot to fame with his renowned rap battle appearances.
But at The Hospital Club, he showed a more mature side to his artistry with a mix of singing, hilarious lyrics on “The Megabus Song (Fast Car Cover)” and the moving vocals of his latest track, Kids Of The Night.
Cameron Bloomfield was up next and what was so striking about his performance was the contrast of his demeanour and his voice – his seemingly unassuming air hid a raw and mighty tone, a quality used to full effect when it came to hitting the money notes and his unwavering melisma. Much like Blizzard before him, Cameron decided to do his own take on Chaka Khan’s classic Ain’t Nobody and only armed with a mic and guitar, he transformed the funk into velvety smooth acoustic soul.
But that wasn’t the end of the night or the increasing level of talent as Little Simz (below) entered the stage and arguably performed the set of the night with the spitting of a rap battle scarred veteran. There was attitude, charisma and razor sharpness to her ever word and movement on the stage. Needless to say, there were stinkfaces and rap-a-longs from all over the crowd. We’ve previously had her marked down as a One To Watch and at 19 years old, she’s set to explode any day now.
Jody Brock was the final act of the night, accompanied by a four piece band, and his opener “Stormy Weather” summed up the overall style of his set with dark and rumbling melodies and the strongest bluesy vocal delivery this side of West London. If there was ever a way to make the dank weather outside seem almost sexy, Jody managed to pull it off with style.
The beauty of Be Discovered Live comes in its conveyance. All the artists who performed on the night were chosen via the realms of social media and nothing else. There was no major label favouritism involved because there were no major labels involved. But in terms of conveyance, this wasn’t evident at all. Between the setting, the performers and the atmosphere, Be Discovered Live could have been mistaken for an intimate label gig if you’d walked into the wrong room. What’s more, because social media was the pool from which BD had fished from, it makes it easy for other musicians to find their way onto the stage for the next outing. For anyone looking to get noticed, Be Discovered is the perfect platform.
Social Media Links
- Ray Jones on Twitter: @RayJonesJukebox
- Blizzard on Twitter: @iamblizzard
- Cameron Bloomfield on Twitter: @CameronSVB
- Little Simz on Twitter @LittleSimz
- Jody Brock on Twitter: @JodyBrock
Brock has an affected voice. Just be who you are. Such an irritating timbre.
Fair enough. Different strokes I guess.