No matter how much hype an artist gets on line, the great leveller can often be getting out there and playing live. Suddenly all that praise from Pitchfork, The Fader, Cracked Magazine as well as being touted as One to Watch by the Guardian can seem pretty irrelevant when you’re playing to a crowd at a music festival that you could quite easily invite round to your house and pretty much fit in the bathroom.
Such was the case for Flohio last weekend at Latitude Festival. Now of course there are some extenuating circumstances here. First Flohio was a relatively late addition to the bill. Second she clashed with main stage headliners Alt-J. Third Latitude is a very white, very middle class, non-urban festival and Flohio’s music probably doesn’t sit comfortably with 95% of its audience.
However, even given all these factors, it shows the lack of big influence the online music press now has on our decisions. The Guardian might be tipping her as One to Watch, but at Latitude (whose audience probably has a high Guardian readership) very few people took its advice.
Which is a shame.
Because Flohio is good. She has a fiery, fast-paced delivery. Plus her music sets itself apart with plenty of streaks of originality. It isn’t exactly grime, it isn’t exactly hip-hop, it isn’t exactly techno and it isn’t exactly trap, but there are elements of all of these on Watchout, which is frankly, a banger of the highest order.
A couple of days ago she dropped a video for Watchout (which has been out for a few weeks now). It has a lo-fi grainy edginess to it and you can watch it below. Ignore the Latitude blip – I agree with the Guardian, she’s one to watch.
Flohio - Watchout (Video)
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