The Windmill

The Windmill/Rockfort Xmas Party/Vanessa & The O's/Laetitia Sadier:- I braved the dark streets of Brixton in search of a tiny music venue, down a back cul-de-sac, called The Windmill.As I arrived, a pair of girls in gingham mini-skirts or some-such get-up and a male accordionist were cavorting through the very Frenchest of melodies, the guy swaying from side to side and the girls doing the mini hand-actions and other mock-actorly gestures: him in time to the music and them in the style of the lyrics.Then came Vanessa and her O's; all three of them strumming electric guitars. Demurely dressed and blonde, the young woman seemed to me the archetypal French blonde: an oh-so-cool stage manner yet warmly friendly as she spoke. And what awesome star quality! She evaporated classiness; tightly nailed-down sassiness, of an international order. Put it this way (and bear in mind, my pop-culture references are on the whole sketchy, broad and mostly obscure) so put it this way: if Lou Reed were a French woman...Next a guy with a guitar and one of those new-fangled sample-and-delay pedals, with an improvisation. Now I know this takes skill, but to my ear the technique, which I've noticed several musicians adopt, becomes quickly samey: the 'playing over that already played to build up a sonic soundscape' - a band in one person - imprisons music. If you truly want the sound of an ensemble, then form one. If you want to play alone, there's no music more beautiful than that sung acapella. The final act I heard (I left before the 'erotic poetry reading' as I assumed it would be in French and therefore somewhat wasted on me) was Laetitia Sadier and friend, both with guitars - it was an evening of French village summer fete and guitars - playing and singing the most difficult harmonic sequences imaginable. Sadier, better known as part of Stereolab, displayed her obvious maturity with and skill in pushing musical boundaries, although in a subtle enough way. There was one false start, but her friend grinned so sweetly at this that it sealed a 'between friends' rather than 'in front of an audience' atmosphere to the entire proceedings.This is the atmosphere in small-venue gigs I love and entirely different in psychological dynamic to medium-to-large venue gigs. For example M.I.A. who I finally saw at the Arches in Glasgow a few days ago. One helluva talented woman and she knows crowds and can handle them consumately, but the brooding aggression of the forming mob at the front simply unnerved me (I swiftly moved to the very back, where one could at least dance and then M.I.A. climbed on top of the massive PA stack at the left where I could see her again - ta honey, heh.)

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All types of music, all types of people. Lovely brixton place that has bands from all over London and sometimes beyond Europe. Great place to catch new bands or see something different. Great DJs and a great owner. If you around Brixton Hill, head up Blenheim gardens and its just past the sorting office. The ancient windmill that gives the pub its name is located 100m away. Check it out.

The Windmill is an excellent alternative venue, with live music from bands and DJs throughout the week. It also does a good trade as a bar, serving a good variety of drinks and having a most handy garden in which to catch some rays over a pint of cider. The Windmill is a consistently great night out, just the place for a drinking sesh with friends. I love it's ambience, unpretentiousness and friendliness as much as the prices and the music, which is always worth catching. Ten out of ten on a bad day, come down soon!