Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Ikonika, Mr Cake & Nunhead

Hyperdub artist Ikonika has a new album out later this month, Aerotropolis. Rob Walker's video for the track Mr Cake features a virtual city that seems to owe more to LA or Las Vegas than London, but in an interview in The Fader, Ikonika reveals that inspiration for the track title came from Nunhead:

“Mr Cake” is a funny title for a song. Where did it come from? 
'I saw it in a shop one day, but I didn’t buy it. It was a small cake at the counter in a shop in Nunhead. It looked shit'.

Ikonika

I guess she must be referring to Ayres the bakers, though it could have been a cake in another non-cake shop. But note she said the cake looked shit, not the shop. Everyone knows that Ayres is a great bread/cake shop, 'Master Bakers of Nunhead since 1955' no less. Katy B once chose it as one of her top shops in an Evening Standard 'My London' interview, saying: 'Ayres the Bakers in Nunhead Lane, SE15, sells amazing sausage rolls'.

Katy B

Not sure what Ikonika was doing locally, she is usually described as a 'West London producer', but I know she played out at Peckham Palais earlier this year. Whatever she thought of the cake, it is pretty clear that with her and Katy B both coming through the doors, Ayres can claim to be the number one bakers for the London post-dubstep scene. Watch out for Kode9 buying an apple danish there soon (actually I think he does or did live in Camberwell), or Benga waiting for his rye loaf to be sliced.


update: Ikonika has now cleared Ayres of all charges of stocking shit cakes - apparently Mr Cake was actually in Nunhead newsagent:
Later Ikonika confirmed on twitter '@ayres_the_baker I've just been told I've eaten your cakes loads for family members' bdays :)'

Mr Cake is a great summer track by the way.

1 comment:

Daniel said...

She might be driving through New X at about 2 mins into the video though - a sign saying Peckham one way, Hackney the other...