The Correspondents: The swinging 30s are back

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting an event called "White Mischief" in London which is labeled as steampunk night. A friend made me aware of that which I never would have become aware of on my own. Having seen fotos of past incarnations of this series with lots of girls in corsets and men in modified Victorian suits there was no holding back for me. The word 'steampunk' at that point was new to me. I was taught that Steampunk is like Cyberpunk - just imagine the 'cyber', i.e. the future, from the point of a English men from the Victorian ages. Replace electric machines with steam power and sophisticated purely mechanic technology in general. Think of books or movies of Jules Vernes and the like and you get an idea of the fashion that is worn on such a night.

As the music from Victorian Engand is probably rather hard to digest for people from the 21st century the scene seems to have decided to replace it with more recent music from the 20th century: swing, jazz but also rock'n'roll was to be heard on the dancefloor. White Mischief is a night of concerts, Djs, Vaudeville shows and very well dressed people.

Musicwise I discovered that night this absolutely awesome band called "The Correspondents", which call their music at times Swing-Hop. I know from Berlin, that there has recently been a revival of the swinging 30s with club nights that have very strict dress codes and where primarily Swing and Charleston is to be heard and danced to.

Steampunk is most probably less true to the original but has a very nice vibe to it.

As said, The Correspondents made the Scala vibrate in the most delicious way. They consist only of one DJ and one singer and entertainer, who really understands his craft. They started of with "I Wanna Be Like You" which is evidently sampled from the soundtrack of "The Jungle Book" (correct me if I'm wrong here). Already a very impressive start they managed to maintain the whole swinging energy during their entire concert. Listening to the music gives you only have of the impression: The singer also dances like a madman - a quite skilled one though.

Upon having been exposed to this raw swing energy I had to get the album the day after. It's only available as MP3 as far as I can tell. The only comparable sound I know to date might be Parov Stelar from Vienna - but not as energetic.

All in all a very recomendable EP and a even more recomendable band to see live. They are around a lot in London and on festivals this summer in England. Again check out their myspace site for details.

> Link to their myspace site which in turn contains a link to the webshop, where you can buy the EP.