Name Musique Risquee. Occupation Innovative record label run by Akufen and friends. What is so special about the label? That fact that it is run by Akufen is a major part of what makes Musique Risquee so great. The beauty of every Akufen record by this electronic genius is that you never quite know what the man will do next. From the thumping, bluegrass-infused work of art that is Morning Dump in the Bush of God to his back catalogue of glitch-tech funky classics like My Way and Deck The House. his ear for anything worth listening to is pretty well tuned to say the least. Along with Vincent Lemieux and two other friends, Stephen Beaupre and Scott Monteith (Deadbeat) Akufen can pretty much release any type of music he feels deserves a wider audience.
Is he willing to take lots of musical risks with this label? Definitely. He has been quoted as saying: 'I won't restrain my tastes or choices to electronic music'. The label's top priority at the moment is to see what happens naturally with the artists involved and just take it from there. No genre is prioritised or left untouched.
Where can I hear some of these releases? As luck would have it there is a Musique Risquee showcase at Freq this month with Akufen going head to head with one of the label‘s hottest artists. Guillaume and the Coutu Dumonts who play live.
What do they sound like? Guillaume is best known for his crazy eclectic influences. so you're likely to experience a mish mash of atrobeat. barbershop quartets and electronic bleeps mixed in with funky soulful house and gospel. (Sandra Marron)
I Akufen and Guillaume and the Coutu Dumonts play Freq at Sub Club, Glasgow. Fri 5 Oct.
32 WE LIST 4-18 Oct 2007
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KATHY DIAMOND
Trouble Ladies' Night, Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh, Fri 5 Oct
It’s ladies' night and the feeling’s right, and those who have been won over by the disco-ball space-funk of Crazy P should brace themselves for celebrated proto- house throwback Kathy Diamond. Debut album Miss Diamond to You is a sparse, intricate and lush affair thanks to the stewardship of maverick underground legend and current Fabric darling Maurice Fulton whose funky, techno-inflected cosmic soul gives a nod to the very roots of house music.
‘Well I’m 3 Sheffield gal despite now living in London and I met Maurice through his wife, so it‘s a kind of Sheffield connection,’ says Miss Diamond of the South Yorkshire musical network that has turned out a historically rich line in pop, rock and club phenomena. ‘We worked on a single called ‘Sunshine’, which came
DISCO ROLLERDISCO Sea and Crystal Lounge, Glasgow. Thursdays
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Miss Diamond‘s soulful trinkets thus boast a deft production that wrong foots and exhilarates at every turn, with acres of headspace in which to lose oneself.
'lt's surpassed anything I could have dreamed of, it just sounds incredible,‘ Diamond enthuses. ‘l‘ve been such a lucky girl to have been able to work with Maurice; he‘s a genius.‘
Now working with Toby Tobias on his new single and collaborating with her boyfriend. Brighton‘s Soft Rocks, Miss Diamond's live PA is a fully mixed set tailor-made by Fulton, which tops Trouble‘s bill ahead of one-time Leith FM stalwart Eclairfifi at a night where women get in for half-price. Later this fortnight, the Trouble- makers return to The Bongo Club with an early interstellar hip hop show from the 30 twitchy-digits of Fingathing and talk of the town Underling.
(Mark Edmundson)