Hudson Mohawke, Glasgow
Hip-hop no longer moves solely from the US to this side of the Atlantic. Of late, major figures such as Kanye West have endorsed MCs from the UK and – more meaningfully, perhaps – employed the skills of British producers. Hudson Mohawke is one such musician, and makes beats for West and his associates. It’s not hard to see why: HudMo would seem exciting anywhere. An artist working in some lively territory between hip-hop and electronica, the Scottish 29-year-old’s recent album Lantern (released in June) effortlessly moves between stirring soundtracks, mesmeric pop and club monsters. His extraordinary track Scud Books manages to do all three at once.
JR
Skepta, London
His Boy Better Know colleague JME (otherwise known as his brother Jamie, who joins him on this date) might have the better jokes and, arguably, the more felicitous way with words. However, of the Adenuga brothers, it is Joseph (who for the last decade has operated as Skepta) who seems most likely to have a profound impact. A grime MC with a great sense of gravity, Skepta’s authority derives less from the fleetness of his bars, more from the way he conveys the seriousness of his mission. After a period chasing chart success, he returned to back-to-basics grime with anthems such as Shutdown and 2014’s That’s Not Me, the latter serving as a manifesto of sorts, with the rapper relating tales of throwing all his designer gear in the bin because it didn’t fit his authentic self. Now his identity is rooted in values: striving to keep integrity, and rising to the challenge of being an artist in an underground medium.
JR
Nelly, On tour
So bullish when young, the rapper in midlife has to be pragmatic to survive. True enough, Nelly, the good-looking, softly spoken St Louis MC was never exactly Ice Cube, but as time has passed he – like any pop star – has had to pull out all the stops to remain contemporary and abreast of current trends. As a member of the St Lunatics, Nelly helped popularise a stylish way forward for 21st-century hip-hop: a juxtaposition of smooth beats and gritty themes, which developed the free exchange between rap and R&B that began in the late 90s. Still a big seller, Nelly’s most recent album M.O. includes some good stuff with Pharrell and Nicki Minaj, but also 1D-style powerpop about cars, something like southern rock, a bit of cheesy R&B, and more than a whiff of someone trying to cover all bases.
JR
Rocket From The Tombs, London & Leeds
Alleviating the cultural Christmas malaise like a gift from the gods dropped in our flabby laps, come two shows from underground rockers Rocket From The Tombs. Fronted by David Thomas (later of Pere Ubu), they formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1974 and only lasted a year, but built a cult following all the same, prompting Lester Bangs to call them “the original legendary underground rock band”. All raw guitars and ferocious vocals, they boast track titles such as Sonic Reducer and Never Gonna Kill Myself Again. Since re-forming in 2003, they have enjoyed a sparkling renaissance.
London Fields Brewery, E8, Sat; Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, Sun
JA
Brad Mehldau, London & Dublin
For the first years of his journey to jazz stardom in the 1990s, the imaginative and technically awesome US pianist Brad Mehldau rarely strayed far from a lineup of unplugged piano, bass and drums. But later in that decade, he began to investigate the art that Keith Jarrett had long dominated, taking on the fearsome challenge of unaccompanied and extensively improvised solo performance. Mehldau has often played London’s Wigmore Hall – the venue’s acoustics suit his delicacy perfectly – and returns for two of these gigs. His range is dizzying: refashioned Beatles songs, Radiohead and Monk tunes, jazz standards and Brahms intermezzos jostle together. But whether he covers famous songs or plays originals, all that encyclopaedic knowledge pours into the mix, a profusion that would be daunting if he didn’t make it flow with such deceptive nonchalance.
National Concert Hall, Dublin, Wed; Wigmore Hall, W1, Thu & Fri
JF
Welsh National Opera: A Christmas Carol, Cardiff
Next summer, Welsh National Opera (WNO) will premiere Iain Bell’s In Parenthesis, based upon the artist and poet David Jones’s epic about his experiences in the first world war. It will be a major event for the company as well as for the London-born Bell, who remains little known as a composer. WNO is providing a foretaste of Bell’s music this week with a performance of his monodrama A Christmas Carol, which was first staged in Houston, Texas, a year ago. It is modelled upon an adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novella that the author made for his own one-man show; Bell has turned it into a 90-minute piece for tenor and chamber orchestra.
Wales Millennium Centre, Fri & 20 Dec
AC
