Radio reel Jan 2012 by Aissetou

A little demo from some things I’ve been saying on Bang Radio Thursday & Friday breakfast: 7-10am at wearebang.com.

I really love Shakka’s music – and listen to his free album – The Shakka Crown Affair ALOT! Getting to interview him on such a beautiful sunny day in West London was an absolute pleasure. Shakka then performed two tracks for us – Driving & Talk To Me. The whole lot was shot & edited by the very talented Thomas Orger. Enjoy!

I am a massive fan of The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl (as I’ve posted before) so I was really excited when Issa Rae – writer & star of the series – agreed to chat with me on Skype. We talked about where the inspiration for the series came from, her plans for the future & getting to meet Donald Glover.

I’ve just finished my first month hosting the breakfast show on Bang Radio. I started off just doing Fridays but the lovely guys at the station have asked me to do Thursdays too so you can catch me there every Thursday and Friday 7am- 10am. Here’s a little selection of some of the stuff I chat about on the show.

Aiss Bang Breakfast taster by Aissetou

I also select a new artist each week that I’m feeling, so if you’d like to be featured holla – contact@aissetou.co.uk

I’ve been doing a spot of gaming presenting for Ace and Vis. For this report I headed down to the Gaming Expo in Earls Court. The report went out in two parts on Ace and Vis’s Saturday show.

Eurogamer – 1Xtra by Aissetou

Streetfighter Review by Aissetou

Epic duo 14th (aka Tracey Duodu and Tom Barber) have an amazing new single out. Hide Yourself has a bunch of influences from 2 step to funky dub and a whole host more. What’s even more exciting is that I know for a fact this is only the tip of the iceberg. The amount of great stuff they’ve got in the bag is too  tantalising. So go download their first single now! It’s free – you can’t go wrong.

14th – Hide Yourself by 14th

We had a brilliant time at the Crooked Tongues BBQ. Free food and drink and great music – can you ask for much more? Catch me and Felicia toasting 30 seconds in. Loving the clickable video player too – very fancy!

My incredibly talented friend Takunda has always been the style leader of the group and has been making amazing clothes for as long as I’ve known her. She’s finally done a shoot to showcase some of her designs and I’m so excited for the world to see her skills. See the rest of the pictures shot by (equally talented photographer) Aderonke Oke here.

Two of my fave musicy types at the moment come together. If Ed doesn’t get a number one with You Need Me, I Don’t Need You I’ll be highly surprised and disappointed.

Me and a couple of friends headed down to Love Lounge at Plan B in Brixton last week. Love Lounge is a bi-monthly event featuring live poetry, music and comedy performances.

The turn out was great and the atmosphere, although packed, was really relaxed. The house band were one of the best things about the night. They were incredibly tight and played some great instrumental versions of hip-hop classics.

The night kicked off with a young new comer; Jack Leon Colton – who had a sweet soulful James Morrison-esk voice . Although his nerves came through the crowd seemed to really warm to him and his Alicia Keys cover was nice.

Next we had KG The Comedian who’s a regular on the circuit and right now is doing great things presenting part of Channel 4’s Street Summer season. I’m a real fan of this guy but I have to admit I’ve seen him on better form. But compared to the other comedian I LOVED him. Ola The Comedian came on towards the end and I could of done without his humourless, sexist nonsense.

By all means the highlight of the night was Cynthia Erivo who is an actress and Singer. She’s recently landed the lead in the West End’s Sister Act – and after watching her it’s no mystery why. She is just perfection. The control and range of her voice is stunning. She’s tiny but perfectly poised and is one of the most together performers I’ve seen. I recored one of her songs on my phone, please enjoy and share.

The organisers did a great job. There was a nice mix of acts and everything was kept moving really well. I have to give credit to the host Kamilah McCalman who was fantastic – relaxed, warm, hilarious and exceptionally professional. Overall we had a good time and I hope Love Lounge continues to grow as an event.

Like a lot of the world I am so in love with Frank Ocean right now. Nostalgia, Ultra is pretty much getting a constant repeat on my iPhone these days.

There’s something about this song that gives me tingles. Interestingly enough quite a few of the comments on this video say they found the song through ABG. I love how big and small the internet is sometimes.

My good friend Segen introduced me to this US online comedy series and I can’t get enough of it. Issa Rae created the series after graduating from Stanford. After realising she didn’t have enough money to make it an animated series she cast herself as the lead and her friends in the supporting roles.

It’s totally low budget and indie but that just adds to its charm for me. The main ingredients of great writing and brilliant comic timing are there. Issa is the star – she’s completely hilarious in a really understated way. She is also just so relatable – I’m sure I’m not the only girl who watches it feeling like she is me! But now I’ve discovered she’s Senegalese (like me) I’ve decided she REALLY is me!

When I’m feeling a little down ABG is my new new go to pick me up and it never fails to put a smile on my face. Yay for Awkward Black Girl I hope to see Issa on my telly box very soon.

I recently saw Tanya Auclair live and have fallen a little bit in love with her.

Performing with a loop pedal has almost  reached fad status these days. Every artist and their mum seem to want to use one in their set and in my mind no one since Ed seems to do it that well. So when I now see someone plug one in on stage I instantly feel a bit over it. But as soon as Tanya started banging random sticks together and playing a weird wind keyboard thing (possibly a melodica?)  I knew she wasn’t one of these rubbish loop band band wagon peeps.

She uses so many interesting instruments and vocal sounds to build her songs in front of you. And then there’s her voice – which is just perfection. It’s so light and warm and beautifully authentic – I love it!

I’ve just purchased her EP, Origami and have been listening to it a lot. It’s weird and cool and all things good as far as I’m concerned. Get involved with Tanya Auclair

Everything about this girl & her voice are beautiful to me.