After a turn on Glastonbury's West Holts stage that was as dispassionate as it was ponderous, tonight's more intimate setting of the Jazz Cafe brought out the best in California's Odd Future offshoot the Internet. Led by the sylphlike and Mohican-sporting Syd tha Kyd, who was revelling in this time away from her hip-hop producer day job, their set felt like a jazz-infused block party.
Ascending from the stairs with a film camera in tow, Syd was greeted like visiting royalty by the bearded-and-backpacked crowd: she could do no wrong. In fact, it was the band behind her who gave chase to the songs from the Internet's two so-so albums, Purple Naked Ladies and Feel Good. Led by Matt Martians and extraordinary keyboardist Tay Walker, they expanded on the recordings' neo-soul sound, giving the songs a lush, live feel with an improvised edge. They morphed the 90-second Love Song 1 into an elastic funk number worthy of Brown Sugar-era D'Angelo, while Shadow Dancer trilled, recalling Janet Jackson doing one of her best slow-burning, "baby-making" songs.
Syd herself dispelled all notions that she might be a reluctant frontwoman by leading the band in a fun, impromptu version of Tatyana Ali's Boy You Knock Me Out, sounding like a cross between Aaliyah and Sade. Things did gravitate in the direction of The Fast Show's Jazz Club on occasion, with a brief bass solo during Tellem (Intro), an improvised encore that fell apart beneath an avalanche of bongo, and an unfortunate decision to cover acid jazz's very own Waterloo: Jamiroquai's Too Young to Die. Still, there was little reason to quibble with Syd as she told the audience it was "the best London show we've played".
