On Saturday afternoon I was sitting on the bed typing,  when I heard a song outside emanating from what was obviously someones car stereo. It immediately caught my attention. I leaped to my feet and stared out of  the window.  I saw a car over the road with a family climbing out and doubted this could be it. However, the driver was young, an uncle I suspect. He had mop hair, baggy jeans barely covering his arse, the standard ensemble of the under 25 male. I legged it downstairs, just as Luke and Orla were walking through the door. I bellowed over to this kid before he had time to disappear, and asked him what the track was. “Plan B” was his succinct and only reply before he vanished through the door of the flat opposite. I looked at Luke, “Yeah, Plan B, probably from  The Defamation of Strickland Banks”.  He sat down, got out his Ipad, found Plan B on Youtube, clicked on a track..it was ‘She Said’. “Is this it?”…”YES!!!”

Why had I not heard of this band before, or this track?  How had this passed under my radar?  Who knows!  But, it made me realise how out of touch I have become with a medium that once upon a time meant more to me than anything else, more than art even, and that is…music. I have listened to this track again and again and again. Why do I love it so? Because in the few seconds that I listened to that song coming from outside, I heard something that immediately called to me, Soul.  Even better than that…’Northern Soul’, a music genre that I have always loved.  This lad from Forest Gate (Ben Drew) has truly captured the quintessential sound and spirit of a genre that, it would appear has undergone something of a renaissance.

I dug out my old little MP3 player and have had it jammed in my ears for the last 24 hours listening to songs I love and have not listened to for a long time. Luke has ordered me a new one. And, listening to that soulful sound from a boy too young to have experienced the Northern Soul phenomena himself, but seems be able to create it so beautifully, has  inspired a new site design, evoking I hope that slick and dynamic 60′s look that is becoming so popular again. Judge for yourself. Oh, and here is the track that did it for me from the fabulous Plan B.