ArkT Live Sessions

Bio:

The Ark-T Studio is home to the Ark-T Music Project for young people aged 13-19, offering oportunities to develop, perform and record music. A sound-proofed studio provides rehearsal and recording facilites for young bands and musicians, and regular Live Sessions give performers a chance to play in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere and make a live recording in front of an invited audience. Ark-T has also promoted youth gigs including nights at the Zodiac and the Spark Youth Stage at the Cowley Road Carnival.

The project has taken on referrals from schools, and partner agencies including Oxford YOT and social services, as well as being generally open to any young people wishing to access it. Over 1000 young people have taken part in various activities and events over the past 5 years, producing and performing music including rock, pop, hip-hop, garage, drum & bass, acoustic, classical and gospel. Many of them have gone on to greater things and can be seen playing round Oxford and beyond!

If you or a young person would like more info, get in touch! You can email music@ark-t.org, call on 01865 396778 or send us a message via MySpace.



Ark-t Live Session in association with Love Music Hate Racism July 25th 2008

Review By Sam Shepherd - Nightshift

Youth eh? Forever the bane of society. Always defined as being full of folly. You never hear about the folly of pensioners do you eh? These days it's hoodies, knives, gangs, obesity and anything else you care to mention. Every generation's youth is described as being the worst anyone has ever encountered; but the truth is the young are as bad as they ever were, as good as they ever were, and as talented as they ever were. Isn't that right my little droogies?
Anyway we're not here to discuss the shortcomings of today's youth, we're here to celebrate culture, talent and music.
First up tonight is Victoria and Georgia, who kick things off with a piano led ballad. Victoria/Georgia (we're not sure who's who) has got a sweet voice, and the arrangements remind us of Katie Melua. You can easily imagine this kind of thing on Radio 2, which is no bad thing – really.
Islam is up next and over some pretty laid back beats she sings with an assurance and maturity that is startling. If it's reference points you're after then look no further than Madonna around the Ray of Light period when she went all spiritual and not a bit Gothic. Lyrically you'd struggle to find anything that matches up in terms of depth in much of today's popular music.
SUD hit us with some weighty bits and plenty of attitude. A seeming lack of microphones leads to a little bit of confusion here and there but SUD are strong at heart, and with a little bit of honing could well be onto something.
Aces Down follow the blueprint laid down by the likes of Black Keys and White Stripes (and if you want to really dig for the good stuff RL Burnside). There's two of them, and they're playing retro fitted blues – hell, there's even a bit of playing guitar with the old pearly whites going on. This is vibrant stuff. Following it up with a ballad shows a willingness to explore different musical avenues, but to be honest when they've got their heads down and they're shredding the scales is when Aces Down are at their best.
Among The Giants start off promisingly with some great delayed guitar, which leads us to believe they might have a Battles album lurking in their record collection (or ipod) somewhere. Then they go a bit post-rock on us with a shuddering soundscape, before finally settling down into a Clash/Jam inspired set. Pretty, pretty, good.
The bass slide in the second song. That's what I've got written down here next to The Vibe. We like that a lot. Another bass slide please. Equally impressive is the quality of the music knocked out by this band, who lets be fair, are impossibly young. They've got a good ear for a tune, and we've heard bands that are several times their age who are nowhere near as good as this.
The Bambinis sees Zahra team up with Rosie Roland for a thoroughly inspired set of songs that reminds us of all the best bits of the early 4AD catalogue. Cutesy indie pop at its best, you can't say better than that really. It takes us back to the days when Heavenly were one of the most talked about bands in Oxford.
MA's hip hop is a little tentative at first, but he soon starts gaining in confidence once the beats heat up a bit. These may be short snap shots rather than whole songs, but his flow is impressive. It'd be good to hear him expand his ideas across entire songs, and surely that's next.
Next to Motion In Colour I've got written "check Curious George Soundtrack" although I've no idea why. A quick search on trusty Google brings up Jack Johnson, so evidently Motion In Colour remind us of Jack rather than a cartoon monkey. I'm sure that the case. Anyway, with guitar strapped on acoustic loveliness ensues. "When It Rains It Pours" is a good opener and lays out MIC's stall nicely. We're reminded of James Blunt too, if that's your kind of thing, then this is your man. Regardless, Motion In Colour does what he does, and he does it well.
Hip Hop, Grime, call it what you want (as Credit To The Nation once said) N Zyme does it well. He won't thank us for mentioning it, but his apologising for the language in his songs is particularly endearing. If it's relevant then use it, that's what we say N-Zyme. What we also say is that the G-Funk styling of your final track took us back to the days when Dre was ransacking Parliament's back catalogue for the squelchiest basslines. And for that we salute you.
Baby Gravy are as always belligerent and spectacularly poppy. Iona stomps about as usual telling us things that are far more filthy than N-Zyme came up with, but offers no apologies. Zahra thrashes away at her kit like a woman possessed, while Dale and Dave under pin the whole thing with a reserved cool.
So tonight is a resounding success not just for youth, but for talent.

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