Kids come out to play
The Neighbourhood breeze in from Hackney to play at the Electric showcase at In The City. They create an instant impact, not least because they have a four piece string section on stage (all female & all decked out in black hoodies) to accompany the dual vocalists, DJ and more traditional guitars and drums.
Early track 'Party Animal' is a bit clichéd but the vibe they create is great, the vocals work well and a hip drum beat coupled with funky guitars and some well timed scratching impresses. It's good to see a real band playing this kind of music although having said that you'd be hard pushed to categorise it, urban would be too broad and really much of the appeal comes from the fact that they dip into numerous genres. They interact with the crowd well and receive good applause in return. The whole performance is just great to watch, it's groove laden and entertaining with the two vocalists feeding off each other throughout.
At times they inject a bit of dub and ska and if pushed you'd have to say they were a little like Audioweb, which is no bad thing! Highlight of the set comes with 'Kid Comes Out to Play', which is already getting some rotation on Ch4 Music and it's not surprising, it's catchy and just an all round good tune. Due to tight schedules I have to leave half way through the set but The Neighbourhood have already done enough to impress, they're just a good band putting their own twist on all that's gone before and having fun at the same time. Good stuff.