Natalie Grace Alford

  I saw Natalie Grace Alford last Friday at Cole's. She was releasing Type Of Wound....Is she fucking awesome or what?  I think the official release will be at Empty Bottle 17 August. I bought the poster and download code but my mac is too delicate right now for me to download it. So here I'm going on from memory. Friday sees so much congestion on Milwaukee I park on California near Township. It does not really matter where I park that ass, I'm lucky to have the spot I found. My mom must have prayed the fucking rosary or something 'cause Jesus just gave up a spot not too far away. In her is a deep well of creativity. Each song I heard is its own cool creation that does not betray or telegraph the other. She puts beats together that are dance-floor worthy, without pandering or telegraphing. Original and just barely familiar enough. She is always energetic on stage. Natalie bounces all over the place, kicked over a speaker. Worry not....no speakers were actually harmed. Her voice is deep and powerful, and she's beautiful. She has a stage presence and seems to have an awareness of it. The audience was for her, and for the band before was big. I've seen her play with a full band and also by herself. This time she is alone with a keyboard.....or something that looks like one to me. She has a pedal board as well. Her music is just beyond what a keyboard does. When I say familiar....I mean there are styles of music that I detect that Natalie Grace just reverse engineers into something cool, new and alien. She has that full commitment of a gospel singer, I hear elements of that in her music, hip hop as well. These are just engine parts that she uses to make something new and real cool. They are not the only engine parts, just the fleeting bits of sand I can grasp with my fingers. I don't know if she had gospel training. People that have, often know how to apply it to whatever something else they choose. This has nothing to do....she knows Natalie Ribbons from Telenovela!

 So she played from Type of Wound as well as some covers. Afterwards, when I went to buy the poster and download code, she reminded me that I was there from one of her earliest performances at Beat Kitchen. I asked for the CD whatever music she played that night years ago and she had it. Shock Through Benediction!! Thats a song on that CD. I don't know if anyone else has that CD, its never been made available again as far as I know. It felt great for me to hear this reminder from her.
Zig