Courtesy of ©STEREOSANCTITY
Corsica Studios is cool. Tucked in the railway arches behind Elephant and Castle Station, the intimate venue continually boasts an impressive diary packed full of up and coming artists and quality DJs. When looking for a place to listen to a high standard of electronic music, the venue is a reliable source. When I heard Noga Erez was performing at Corsica, it seemed like a fitting location.
On a slightly grim and drizzly Thursday evening, we ducked into the venue and took up position to wait for support act Morgan Hislop to take to the stage and kick off the gig. Clad in a highly amusing Ricki Lake tee, the producer and DJ performed an enthusiast set of his own tracks that feature heavy bass-lines and auto-tune vocals. Perhaps it’s fair to suggest that the tracks weren’t sitting on the cutting edge of electronic music, but Hislop delivered an entertaining and enjoyable start to the evening.
After a brief hiatus and switch of equipment, the audience filled up and edged closer to the stage in anticipation. Drummer Ran Jacobvitz appearing first on stage, followed by Erez’s co-writer and producer Ori Rousso and then Erez herself sporting a stylish black cape dress that seemed to move perfectly with the rhythmic and punchy movements that accompanied each song. The first remixed track followed by the atmospheric ‘Toy’ built slowly before a catchy an almost trumpet like hook dropped periodically.
Excitingly, much of the set was made up of new and unrealised tracks sandwiched between songs from her album ‘Off the Radar’. New piece ‘Be Nice’ followed by ‘Noizy’, a track that sent the super fans in front of the stage jumping. Erez’s raspy, raw vocal is reminiscent of the artist M.I.A and ‘Noizy’ seems highly influenced by her sound. The handle Erez, Rousso and Jacobvitz have over their equipment and the skill with which they perform is evident and very impressive to watch. ‘Off the Radar’ got the audience moving and by the eighth number the room was very warm, leaving Erez perhaps regretting the thick cape dress. Once the ventilation system began blasting cool air the audience and band appeared invigorated ready for the brand-new track ‘Cash Out’, a scathing attack on big corporations, featuring particularly compellingly performance from Erez as she crouched down and leant towards the crowd.
Courtesy of ©STEREOSANCTITY
The finale of the gig was two tracks from the album, ‘Balkada’ and the first single released ‘Dance While You Shoot’. ‘Balkada’ was met with much movement and excitement but it was the final number that produced the most cheers of approval. ‘Dance While You Shoot’ is dynamic and bold track that rounded off the set perfectly. There was no encore but an offer from Erez of a chat and a hug from the band on our way out. I’m sure the next time Noga Erez performs in London the audience will be far too big to provide hugs for all.
