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I feel like there’s a bit of danger in describing VV Brown’s music as Pop R&B, because doing so will immediately conjure to mind the rather horrible direction that popular R&B music has taken over the past twenty years, from the nadir of vapid singing sweaty sex jams over hip hop beats, to the full throated warbling of auto tuned and hyper-corrected slickly produced songs that may as well have come from robots for all they have in common with the actual human voice.  Yet that’s exactly what she is, though her execution of Pop R&B is that it pulls from the historical antecedents couching the songs in a variety of different styles, from Swing to 60’s Soul, to early Rock (before white people got a hold of it).

There are times when the music lacks teeth and it emulates the sounds a bit too perfectly as there are pretty standard lifts in beats or individual scale walks, but to be frank, the musical element isn’t what’s important as it is all there to showcase her voice, which while not spectacular, is good enough for what it is that she is doing.

I wasn’t really familiar with VV Brown other than she was headlining Brooklyn Bowl for what appears to be a huge fashion week push for her album “Travelling Like the Light” which was released domestically Feburary 2nd, having been released way back in July in the UK.  Her face has been showing up in advertisements pulling the pompadour starry-faced picture from the album cover and she’s playing at least two free shows this week, one done through Giant Step which should guarantee a pretty good turn out.


I was going more last night for Gordon Voidwell, who I hadn’t seen since October for CMJ and I was absolutely enamored with his band but I never wrote him up, I was using this opportunity to make up for that oversight, as I’d really delved into the Voided Checks Mixtape and I felt I was more familiar with what he was trying to do.  It’s easy, almost lazy, to say 80s Synth Soul Funk Emulation and move onto the next song in the never ending quest to consume music, but when you go in and listen to the individual songs, it’s not your simple AABA song structure.  This music reminds me most of the artists you’d find on Ze Records with elements of early Prince in the singing style, but watching Gordon and his band perform, the artist that he calls most to my mind is Kid Creole and the Coconuts, but Jesus Christ I can’t imagine why that is as they sound and look nothing like that.

Gordon Voidwell does a good stage show, with an attempt to build an element of mystery and each show is treated like “this is going to be excellent” regardless of how you react to it.  There is a bit of a build up by the band before Gordon takes the stage with the synths and drums building to a bit of a crescendo to set the mood before the keyboardist / hypeman introduces “The Man.  The Legend.  Gordon Voidwell” and he take the stage and they immediately launch into song doing “Standard and Poor” (better known as “Bread”) and then the great cover of “Heart of Glass.”

Voidwell shows are very kinetic and all the members of the band have great presence, and the employment of back up dancers is a great touch, as they act as toasters, but I think that they were a bit under utilized last night spending much of their time back against the stage curtain hidden in the darkness.  Once more, each of the band wore coordinated outfits, not in a uniform way, but more in a consistency of message to push that the EXPERIENCE is Gordon Voidwell and you are in a void of their making, where the only thing that exists is the music and your connection to it as a member of the audience.  They probably just wish you’d dance a little more.

Amusingly enough, VV Brown started off the same way, with a musical intro before she came onstage and launched immediately into her first song, resplendent in her red face paint and feathered headband that called to mind a 1930s retro-sensibility, that when coupled with tight black leather pants one piece brought to mind a call back to uniquely fashionable artists.  Finding out later that she is both a sometimes fashion model and she owns a vintage clothing shop it all fit in with her music.  Nostalgic for a past which she her self didn’t experience, but hoping to bring forward, out of the oldies stations where morning zoo crews have a stranglehold on the music and refuse let the past go from their pale dead fingers.

She said she had a great love of music growing up with a Jamaican mother and Puerto Rican father and that she explained that having music around her life drove her forward and introduced a love of all musical genres.  Then she launched into a pretty straightforward cover of Drake’s “Best I Ever Had.”  This display of musical genre gymnastics came when she played the album version of “Crying Blood” and then turned around and did a dubbed out reggae version which fit in perfectly with the multifaceted aspects of the rest of her set.

I kind of wish that she had toured with a bit of a larger band to try to capture some more of what was on the album.  Paring down the tracks to her, a vocal backing track, a bassist, guitarist and drummer revealed how the songs are simple pop ditties at heart written and performed nearly perfectly.  She has a way to go before she will be indispensible, but her next album and the next after that will be well worth watching.

She’s performing again at Hiro Ballroom for free (RSVP Required) and I will probably be there again as she was just that good live.

Category : Show Review