street spirit 6

and now for the final installment of the inaugarel Street Spirit fanzine that never realy made it out of the traps

some out of date live reviews, some out of date track reviews and a possibly slightly fictitious interview with The General (of babyshambles infamy)







credit where its due:

live reviews: Glen Byford and Jaylee Miguel
live photos: Ian Byford and Aiden Austin

track reviews: Glen Byford and Deano Sharp

General Interview: Deano Sharp

street spirit 5

this was to be our forum for people's voices to be heard and points to be raised on certain topics that are relevant to Enfield

we present to you...

The Village Idiots



credit where its due:

page design by Ian Byford
special thanks to our contributers for their views

street spirit 4

today i bring you Street Spirit's cover story, a feature and interview with The Super Nashwan Kids, obviously bear in mind that the article is now over a year old and that any information there-in is hardly up-to-date

enjoy



click article to enlarge

credit where its due:

article and page design by Glen Byford
photography by Ian Byford

street spirit 3

possibly the contributer allowed furthest of his leash, Leedsy of local band, Retro Crooks, turned an article choc-full of humour, drinking and swearing...



click on article to view larger

credit where its due:

article by Leedsy
photography by Charlie Barnard
design by Mike Love Korner

street spirit 2

welcome back for page 4 and 5 of last years doomed fanzine, Street Spirit...

below we have articles on Enfield Funksters, Fuzzy Logic, and an overview of '08's Camden Crawl






click on articles for a larger view

credit where it's due:

Fuzzy Logic;
article by Carly Twyne
photography by Ian Byford
design by Mike Love Korner

Camden Crawl;
article, photography and page design by Glen Byford

street spirit

While i'm probably battling with extreme weather conditions at Glastonbury, i thought i'd leave you with some pre-scheduled posts and the remnants of a project that was taking up a lot of my time early last year

Despite being (and still virtually remaining) non-musical, in the sense of being able to pick up an instrument and competently play, i readily admit my obsession with music and have tried to involve myself in anyway possible, initially by going to so many gigs that i've probably done lasting damage to my hearing, i also set up a shortlived club night alongside my Bubblegum Stomp compadres and although dwindling in numbers we have continued to DJ when we get the chance and had a good innings with Red Griffin Records and their live music nights. My obsession has also manifested in my musical tinkerings as Hunchbakk, and my search for a pulse in the borough of Enfield has since led me to volunteering at a Youth Centre Music Project.

The above mentioned association with Red Griffin Records and friendship with Deano Sharp also splintered into plans for an Enfield based fanzine, there isn't room here to go into all the trials and tribulations that troubled the birth of the 'zine, but by the time it was all plotted and planned and had overcomed so many other problems, it fell flat on it's face when it came to the printing process

i think the whole idea has been shelved now, but so much time and effort went into what should have been the first issue of Street Spirit that it seemed a shame to jus leave it tucked away on my hard drive, so while i'm not around i thought i'd leave you with a kind of serialisation of an out of date fanzine as a testament to the hard work that went into it





ok, not much to see here today, just the front cover and contents (including a rather cheesy intro) but keep coming back to see what could have been...

click the above pics for a larger view

credit where it's due:
cover photography by Ian Byford
cover design by Ian Byford/Glen Byford/Mike Love Korner
intro written by Glen Byford
intro page design by Ian Byford

tick tock

it seems that i'm fast running out of time to post anything before i go Glastonbury tomorrow, my time has been spent worrying about if i've packed enough, ordering photos that i should have ordered for printing six months ago, getting information for my brother to be able to put on a small exhibition, burning road trip CDs, wondering if my waterproofs are still waterproof, helping out in the community, choosing BBQ food, packing my poorly computer off for an overdue check-up, trying to set-up an ISA that pays a half decent interest rate and treating myself to Frank Miller's All Star Batman and Robin, among other time consuming pursuits.

check back for perhaps a blog that is bordering on back to normal next week, but in the meantime i have scheduled some special posts to appear regularly while i'm away...

meet me after school and i'll beat you like gorilla

more music??

i've no intention of giving this blog over completely to chucking mp3s of hotly tipped bands at people, but i will point you in the direction of good music and let you know where to pick up afew tracks for zilch, recent examples being The Bathtub Sophist, The Northwestern, Flamboyant Bella, erm Example and of course, my good self.


and now, i bring you a full live set from a band that epitomise summer and fun and having a good time, Bonde Do Role!! ok, so it's not exactly new, the set is actualy two years old, and the band have been knocking around a while and have lost pivotal member, Marina Gasolina, and since replaced her in the bizarre fashion of hosting a show on MTV Brazil to recruit new members.

i have not had the chance of catching the new line-up live, and am wary of doing so since i have such fond, sweat drenched memories of Marina, Pedro and Gorky together.

so follow the linkage to find a live set from Bonde Do Role at the peak of their powers at '07's SXSW, download it, listen, and lie back and think of Marina

Bonde Do Role @ SXSW '07



credit where it's due:

this live set, and more can be found on lullabyes.net

photos of Bonde Do Role by Mediaeater

my sentiments exactly

in blackest night...

D.I.Y has changed alot, before it was merely putting up afew shelves or any other household maintenance while trying not to injure yourself in the process

but the digital age has brought with it wider possibilties for people to Do It Theirselves, using computers i am creating music from my bedroom without a band, i also favour photoshop for messing around with a little visual manipulation for messing around with artwork and pictures

but the following is one of the most amazing feats of D.I.Y i have seen, a fan made trailer for a non existent Green Lantern movie!!



The skill and creativeness that must have went into that is staggering and it all comes off with such a polished sheen that it could easily be mistaken for a real studio effort, everything was just so right about it

the likelyhood of a real Green Lantern film has been bouncing around for a while although nothing seems to be set in stone just yet, and even tho Green Lantern is hardly recognised outside of geekier circles the same could have been said for Iron Man prior to his big screen debut not so long ago

and if it does make it out their and make the big bucks, i'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more Green Lantern sequals and Green Lantern Corps spin-offs

Stray Sofas 3

and on we go with the Stray Sofas, it was a few weeks ago that i found these two huddled together, perhaps they were clinging together through fear of mutilation, or perhaps they were just new to street life since being discarded, but at least they had each other.

You Are Here

So perhaps it's time for a little update of where i am and what i'm doin, and for the most part everything is generally the same, filling up my time with photography, reading and trying to make music.

to break it down a little more tho:

i think the stray sofas project has been coming along nicely and have recently found a few new additions, including possibly the daddy of all stray sofas on my way to The Northwestern gig on tuesday, all of which will be making their way onto the blog in good time.

i also seem to have been gorging myself on Alan Moore graphic novels in the past couple of weeks, ploughing through The Killing Joke, Swamp Thing and two volumes of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen... I'm ready to move on tho, perhaps a Grant Morrison binge next...

and musically? its mostly been SoundArt taking up my time. a re-edited SoundArt5 will be making an appearance once i've completed re-jigging it, SoundArt6 shouldn't be too far from the horizon, although i do need to spend some time beefing the track up so i'm entirely happy with it. I'm also gonna be juggling the production of SoundArt7, since its predecessor is nearly complete and i'm trying to play catch up.

unfortunately, all this hasn't left much time for my remixes and my own album tracks, which have fallen by the way-side a little while i try and balance all of the above and everything else in my life, but the SoundArt project is helping me to experiment and develop a sound which should ultimately be a benefit to everything else i do.

orgiastic riot

it is a curious thing when certain interests and aspects of your life intertwine themselves together when before they were seemingly unconnected

my love of music and adoration (too strong??) of Akira The Don are probably apparent to even the casual observer, a fascination with masks probably less so, and since childhood i've been drawn to mythology in its many forms

and the whole lot came crashing together in a drama that has been unfolding on Akira's website...

to fill in the gaps: a pan mask was found and rescued in a break from band rehearsals, it turns out that the mask is actually the property of hotly tipped band, Crystal Fighters, and features in their latest music video and was to feature in their touring plans until it was lost...

a meeting time and place for a handover was planned, a ransom was discussed, and the story continues (in highly entertaining fashion)...

i don't need groupies, this is the only rock 'n' roll lifestyle i need...

that jammy Eddie Argos!! gettin a guided tour of DC Comics New York HQ! and all because he wrote a song on the new Art Brut album called 'DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake', entirely pre-empting the track i intend to compose as an ode to my favourite comic book company and scooping a load of comic books and graphic novels to boot while he's at it.

hang on DC, i'll get there eventually, i'm still a good couple of tracks off getting it done, and the SoundArt project is kinda keeping me pretty busy, but it's coming... ok...



credit where it's due: i originally read this story on NME.com

check out all the photos at Under The Radar

Kanye discovers Emmerdale

ok, maybe he hasn't, but look what i found as i was perusing Kanye West's blog on saturday, trying to waste some time by looking at a bundle of things that probably only Kanyeezy can feasibly afford (honestly, check out the fashion, the furniture, and his taste in architecture) and as a red blooded male he also has an interest in women, except this time he featured the UK's very own Roxanne Pallett alongside his obligatory 'where are you yeezy???' speech bubble



i'm not in the habit of posting girls in their underwear on my blog (although it has happened before) i just find the thought that after jetting off around the world and making autotune and funny looking shades popular, there is nothing Mr West likes more than getting home and catching up with the Dales' latest goings on in an omnibus edition rather amusing

Kanye West's full Roxanne Pallett post can be found here

how romantic...

for some bizzarre reason that is unknown to me (probably because i'm male) my girlfriend takes great delight in looking at diamond rings and pictures of wedding dresses, and, erm, wedding hair, so i know this post will thrill her...

because nothing says 'i love you' quite like a star wars themed wedding!



but what is most impressive about this geeky display of affection is just how spectacular the whole thing looks, it had the potential to be a real shambolic sham full of geeks and weirdos, but even when the bride is wearing a dress based on a stormtrooper uniform the whole thing is executed with class and comes across as unique, rather than freak.



quite how classy a star wars themed wedding reception that includes Las Vegas style entertainment for the guests and dancing stormtroopers can only be answered with a little bit of imagination, tho there are afew photos of that too.

but on the whole, the wedding photographs strike a beautiful balance between the weird and the wonderful and are a wonderful reminder of a union between two people that is likely to stay with you, whether you attended the wedding or not



credit where it's due, i first read about this over at great white snark

and all the photos can be viewed on the website of patdy photography

everybody needs good neighbours

earlier this week my neighbour moved away, he's been my neighbour my entire life and now he's not, which is kinda strange.

it's not like i realy talked to him very often, not in recent years anyway, but you just knew he was there and accepted that. in fact the most memorable conversations seem to be discussing the squirrel that used to live in his loft and had moved into ours, and when he banged on the door to tell me to turn down a DMX track that i was playing at excessive volumes when i was sixteen or so maybe

he knocked on the door earlier this week, simply informed me he would be leaving the next day, i asked him where he was going, and he told me, he asked me if i got some good photos of his sofa and i told him i had, tho he didn't realy seem to understand the concept of stray sofas as i tried to explain

and that was that realy

i guess my new neighbour will be someone else that i don't talk to, much like the other side and much like many other people and their neighbours

Mutilated Sofas

after this past week of zombie obsessing it seemed kind of appropriate to feature an un-dead sofa

hacked to pieces, and sitting morbidly in my neighbour's front garden last week

dawn has broken...

... actually it broke last week, but these things take time y'know!!

Dawn Of The Don!!

what an amazing night!!

although walking into a venue when everyone outside smoking looks decidedly un-zombie like while you're caked in make up leaves you feeling slightly uneasy about making so much effort

thankfully, once we were inside we weren't the only ones and soon, being a zombie drinking £3 pints of fosters in such dark and inviting surroundings seemed quite natural

and tonight seemed like such a special occasion, the anticipatory dressing up and the fact that it had been a stupidly long time since i had seen Akira The Don or Marvin The Martian live, all thrown into the mix with the filming of Akira's new music video...



first up was Marv the Martian, joined by Pixel (looking nothing like the Pixel of the old days!) and by his DJ/producer Jack Nimble for a short set of brand new material, no looking backwards for these guys tonight!!



what started as a slow burning performance soon saw Marv and Pix hit their stride with a performance full of swagger, showing huge promise for the new mixtape (my particular favourite, Tin Can) and setting the tone for the rest of the evening



But tonight was all about The Don, taking to the stage in a pink fluffy hooded dressing gown bearing his adopted moniker and leading his newly formed full live band into a cut from his forthcoming album, before hurtling into more recognisable material from recent mixtapes for a buoyant crowd.

a rather, ahem, relaxed approach to touring has seem Akira missing from the live circuit for some time, but you wouldn't know that the tracks played weren't tried and tested on the strength of the performance given tonight, and the whole shebang seems to suggest that things can only get better...



Mixtapes were plundered of their gems, a brass section trumpeted along, unheard material was given all due respect and fans that have been around a while (i count myself among them) were thrilled to bits by a throwback mega-mix of hits that encompassed the debut album and earlier

there was never gonna be much chance of me knocking this gig, but Akira is an incredibly charismatic performer that could never prove to be unlikeable, with his boundless energy and ca-ca-eating grin he could win over the sternest sceptic



and i mustn't forget the reason that so many re-animated music fans had gathered in Holloway tonight, the filming of I Am Not Dead (Yeah!), geddit, with it's obvious zombie theme and the encouragement to lurch forward and moan a deathly moan along with the choruses refrain and hope for our five minutes of fame as an undead extra covered in fake blood, honestly, what more could you want from a friday night out?

can't wait to see the finished video, i'll post it up as soon as it hits the interwebnets!



next up? a free solstice gig in the Natural History Museum!!

special mention must also be made of my brother, who had a particularly prosperous evening considering i only managed to convince him to come earlier the same day:

Upon introducing him to Akira, he turned to him and said 'so you're the famous Ian Byford, of Ian Byford Art!'. He was also picked to be a rather prominent zombie by the person filming the music video. And the photo's he took of the performances are now all over Akira's website and flickr set and on Marvin's blog.

before dawn

before we could get on our way to last friday's dawn of the don gig came the process of applying face paint and fake blood and ripping clothes to create the perfect zombie effect, so before i give you my recount of events and afew more photos tomorrow, i thought i'd give you guys a look at the full horror of me and my brother ready for a night on the tiles in all it's gory glory!!

tongue firmly in cheek

Christian Bale has killed people while dancing to Huey Lewis, he has helped revive Batman's hollywood reputation, he's shouted at people that 'trash his scenes' while filming and now he's gonna save the future/past/whatever as a growned up John Connor

the film's out today and later this month we have the likely to be stupidly overblown action sequal to 2007's stupid overblown action Transformers movie, so what would happen if you crossed the two together?

Sound Art Experiment Number 5

SoundArt5
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ok, 2 months over due and i guess you must be expecting something pretty spectacular after all that waiting, erm, i'm afraid i may be about to disappoint a lot of people...

SoundArt5 has been a particularly challenging track, and i think that much is fairly obvious when you hear the end results, but the SoundArt project as far as i'm concerned has been all about challenging myself and pushing myself to think about my practices and inspirations differently

and what exactly are you meant to do when you're presented with a defaced Chris De Burgh Live double LP as the corresponding artwork to the music you are gonna be producing??

i took inspiration (and a few samples) from the live album that had been picked up from a charity shop and chose this as a starting point for producing a track with a 'found sound' concept and has been made using some rather redundant formats including vinyl, tape and minidisc.

working on the 'found sound' concept i took bits and pieces that i had stumbled across accidentally and wove them into the track, so aswell as Chis De Burgh there is also an anonymous reggae track that i found on the cassette i had recorded the vinyl onto while trying to transfer it to minidisc, the slowed down effect was exactly what i heard back and i haven't tampered with that at all, and as the track progresses it seems to work itself out, i also started reconstructing the beat of the track using the beeping of a minidisc player on pause and tape deck buttons being pressed.

the final track is messy, overlong and is a bit of a hotch-potch, which ultimately is rather representative of the artwork provided, it has given me an insight into different practises tho, and i may work on an edit of the track without De Burgh, but for now (try to) enjoy April's SoundArt while i try to play catch up.

SoundArt5