Sunday 31 January 2010

street furniture

the blog hasn't found much time for the strays recently, the first sofas of 2010 are coming (in fact they are from 2009, there is quite a backlog)

but i'll ease you back in with afew pieces that i found furnishing the streets of Enfield last summer









Thursday 28 January 2010

Giggin' Enfield

ok, things didn't go quite to plan with this review - for a start my original draft was 500 words plus, which i then had to hack away at to get it within the 350 word quota.

when i went online yesterday to view the final piece in the digital version there were pages missing (from a digital newspaper??!!) so i had to wait til i could get my hands on a printed copy

and when i do i found that they forgot to credit a talented young photographer!!

so lets put afew things straight with my 'director's cut' of the article....

Giggin' Enfield @ Milfield Arts Centre 16.01.10
or as the paper titled it
Rising talent gets a run of the Millfield
which isn't a bad headline actually

Back at Millfield Arts Centre for their first gig of 2010, Giggin' Enfield shows that it means business with a saturday night billing crammed full of young local talent.

opening proceedings and representing Broomfield, Winchmore, Highlands and Edmonton County Schools respectively were Decade, Nothing To Display, Hidden Agenda and Faded Parade, treating the receptive audience to two cover versions each.

Renditions of recent hits by Kelly Clarkson, Kings Of Leon, Fall Out Boy and Black Kids all featured among the two song sets prompting sing-alongs from the gathered audience of peers and proud parents and perhaps even Enfield's Mayor, Cllr Eleftherios Savva, who was in attendance felt moved to get his groove on to a crowd pleasing cover of Micheal Jackson's Beat It delivered by Hidden Agenda.

the stage was then taken by the raptorously recieved Turin Grove alumni, Unforgiven, the popular band upped the ante by previewing two new and original tracks, playing with plenty of rock attitude as they brought a close to the first half of the show.

Unforgiven - Stephanie Brown

after a brief break the second half showcased dance troupe Swift, popping, locking and breaking to a soundtrack that was a musical journey through time that encompassed everything including disco, upfront R'n'B, James Brown, funky house skanks and Elvis, treating Millfield to a little Diversity style entertainment.

An absolutely show stealing turn was put in by Paris Rabone and The Rainchecks, strictly motown influenced in terms of sound, style and naming of his backing band, visibly elated by being on the stage and performing,Paris is adored by the crowd and returns the amore.

Paris Rabone and The Rainchecks - Stephanie Brown

Giggin' Enfield veterans Worst Case Scenario formed in '05 and are all still ridicously young and amazingly talented which makes me feel horrifically old, but i won't hold that against them nor will i not heap praise on their short set consisting of two original songs before bowing out and raising the roof with a rousing rendition of We Will Rock You.

next up were newcomers, Unexpected, a group that only formed just over three months ago but already show signs of giving some of Enfield's heaviest bands a run for their money as they kick off with a Queens Of The Stone Age cover before turning their attentions to Metallica and closing with a track of their own.



and the whole affair was rounded off with a super performance from a superband fronted by 5 different female vocalists and encompassing members of local acts The Fiestys, Unforgiven (again) and No Less, they all shared the stage and shared the glory as they brought proceedings to a close dressed up as thirty years worth of musical stereotypes and covering noughties anthems by Pink, Wheatus, Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne (complete with a health and safety baiting skateboard onstage).

Superband - Stephanie Brown

even with an extended review (the article appearing in The Enfield Advertiser had to be squeezed down to 350 words) i could still never do enough justice in detailing any of the acts involved, and it wasn't even just the bands, the sound engineering, lighting and stage management were also overseen by young people and the dedication shown by all those involved and the fact that these oppurtunities exist is vital to the future of Enfield's vibrant music scene.


credit where it's due:

photography by Stephanie Brown

Wednesday 27 January 2010

talk with your hips



blogs!! it is all going on!

Akira The Don is dropping cartoon strips every day of the week, Faded Glamour is counting down the top british albums of the decade. ok, ianbyfordart has been a little sparse recently but even he noticed that Marvin The Martian dropped a new download before i did??!

and if you check back here in the next couple of days i'll be posting the full and unedited Milfield review that appeared in today's Enfield Advertiser.

so while i'm busy digging out a ton of old pop CDs for a DJ set coming up (i own too many CDs, i'm so thankfull of mp3s, for a start they take up a lot less room!!) why don't you track down these recent offerings that were posted respectively on devil in the distance and ian byford art

Marvin The Martian - Loose Change

Hunchbakk - SoundArt7 (incomplete)



credit where it's due:
photo by Ian Byford

Saturday 23 January 2010

Requiem

i was going to dig out some old poetry for posting, but i wrote this last night so i thought i might as well release it to the world


Requiem for a dream
about a computer screen,
as evening slips to night,
i wonder if your dream took flight,
because i think that you've given in,
as i watch the roullette make one more spin,
the back-ground noise of a channel-hop,
all i want is this cycle to stop,
but i won't raise my voice
although in my mind i pretend to
this is the choice
i made so that i won't offend you

Thursday 21 January 2010

get on with it


in theory i've probably taken nearly a whole month to do about a weeks worth of blogging.

yep, i'm still taking a look at where i am, what i'm doing and what i intend to do.

2008, put bluntly, was a pretty great year for Hunchbakk.

I'd got my first ever airplay (not only in England but also in New Zealand).

I had music featured by afew blogs.

And i think alot of it mainly came down to my remixes of The Enemy and Radiohead.


Other than those two i also knocked up remixes for Akira The Don (twice), Marvin The Martian, The Freewheelin' Troubadour and Komakino
.

but enough harking back to the good ol' days of '08.

if 2008 was my Year of the Bat, 2009 was my annus jason toddilis in that i wasn't entirely disheartened by the whole thing, in fact some bits were better than i imagined they ever could have been, but it did not live up to what had preceded it and by the end of it it just felt that more effort should have been made to keep standards high

(and if anyone made sense of my own personal allusions to a comic book storyline that i read last year, then well done you, you great big geek)


i didn't even release any remixes last year, i started a fair few that are sitting on my hard drive


unfinished re-workings of Adele, The Noisettes, The Rakes and Master Shortie are all in some state of limbo or another when it is these tracks that i should be dedicating my time to, since these are the likeliest jump-on points for people to hear the name Hunchbakk

It's hardly been an un-productive year, the SoundArt tracks have been ticking over, even if there are dreadfully behind schedule and another couple of oddities have surfaced in the form of Base Element and (saturday)

so i obviously know what i've got to do, but saying it is easier than doing it. i intend to give this blog a little make-over, spruce up the neglected myspace page and continue posting poetry and photography, along with the few irrelevant asides that interest me, and of course (hopefully) more music.

talking of progress and getting stuck in, SoundArt8 is in it's planning stages and i've got afew ideas floating around for what to do with it...

expect that... march?

and next up? i might dig out a bit more poetry

Saturday 16 January 2010

Published at last!!

so my latest review for The Enfield Advertiser finally saw the light of day! written up and submitted before christmas and kept on hold til now

oh well, these things happen

and for those allergic to newsprint (or just not local enough to recieve the paper) here is a link to the digital copy (flick to page 22) and the full article runs below

The Shindig Addicts @ Bar Form's Christmas Carnival 18.09.09
or as the paper titled it
County Girl back in town for a Shindig

P1010467

Joan was once a school girl, adorned in a familiar green blazer.

then known to family, friends and teachers as Natalia Anderson, she grew up in Tottenham and attended Enfield County Girl's School.

but she now fronts the upbeat indie scenesters, The Shindig Addicts.

the line up is completed by Bruno and Dimitri, currently holed up in East London, practising, perfecting their sound and preparing to head into the studio to record their debut EP in January.

already making waves across London, the unsigned band were back on Joan's old stomping ground performing at Bar Form in Enfield Town as part of a free Christmas Carnival bringing together a number of local bands at a price that is much appreciated after all that recent wallet busting gift shopping

on a bill that also included singer-songwriter, Ben Darius Ralph, beat-boxer Dee Sharp and bands G.I. Joseph, Broken Mile and The Black Tricks, Form's promoter, Jade’s House, packed alot of talent into the small bar in just one night.

Kicking off with Select My 6, the pace and energy of the band throughout the short set was rampant, with all eyes on Joan as she bounced around with an energy that commands your attention instantly.

The strong female fronted group is reminiscent of Skunk Anansie blended with the early punkier incarnation of No Doubt, an influence referenced by their choice of festive singalong, a cover of a cover of The Vandals '96 Christmas rarity Oi To The World!.

with a playfull demeanor and an anarchic yet melodic sound, Shindig Addicts certainly capture the spirit of partying that their name alludes to, with Joan seemingly unable to stand still and constantly dancing, and when the audience acts coy and won’t come to her, she insists on going to them.

The short set is highly charged and jovial and the fun comes to an end all too soon as they bow out with the lively Not Long Now, a rollicking catchy indie number and a suitable set closer.

And despite the fact that those that remember Natalia will now find Joan in her place, i’m certain Enfield won’t soon forgot The Shindig Addicts.


credit where it's due:
Photo by Vandana Patel )

Wednesday 13 January 2010

space odyssey

last night i was knocking up something to post today, a little look ahead at the upcoming M.I.A album and links to the articles NME had run so far, while checking back for reference something blooming amazing happened, it turns out she'd only gone and posted a video of a brand spanking new track!!

and those comments made by diplo about an animal collective sound don't seem far off when you give this a listen



no doubt this will be everywhere by the time i've scheduled this to run, in fact i'm pretty sure its already spread across the internet like wild fire as i type, but regardless of any of that... it's here... new M.I.A.... and it is still amazing.... rejoice

Saturday 9 January 2010

Sound Art Experiment Number 7 (a work in progress)

ok, so i debuted this last night and my brother (and SoundArt collaborator) was quick to pick up on it and post it on his own blog.

so i thought perhaps i should shed a little more light on this track and explain the thought process behind it aswell as showing the artwork that inspired it



the initial look at the image brought with it ideas of medieval bloody battles, but i wanted to try something to bring it up to date

and with this thought buzzing through my head it struck me while listing to Notorious B.I.G's Ready to Die that the track Everyday Struggle threw up the right mentality that i intended to achieve with the track, when every day feels like a battle

so i set about disecting the track before moulding it back together again as best i could, but i didn't want to just regurgitate the beat, i wanted to add to it so i set about smashing a ferocious drum beat out on an old metal heater with a hammer to tie it in with the idea of fighting and the damage the shield would be subject to, and then threw in some chopped up gregorian monks just for good measure to realy hark back to the medieval imagery

and at the moment the track is mainly instrumental, apart from the choruses, and i idealy want a rapper or two to do a little something over the track based around the idea of their everyday struggles

i'm not sure if the harsh pounding metallic drum beat will remain in the finished version or if it will be too much of a distraction from any vocals...

so it needs a little working on and i need to recruit someone or sometwo (or possibly somethree?) to rhyme over the beat but for now i wanted to share the work in progress as a kind of first draft, just to show my ideas as they originally were as when it is finally completed some things may have changed

SoundArt7 (incomplete)
Free file hosting from File Den

Friday 8 January 2010

light of day



so these early posts of this new year are about getting things settled, putting last year behind me before looking further forward.

i now know that my Shindig Addicts review will see the light of day in The Enfield Advertiser, my festive little write up of the festive little gig will be published upon the very festive date of wednesday the 13th of january 2010...

don't expect warm fuzzy feelings when reading it, the christmas experience will have long faded from memory by then

this also means my look at She Is Danger which would have been well suited for the first or second week of january when every other publication is touting new names for 2010 will be with us in two weeks time...

oh well, better late than never i guess


which does lead on very nicely to the main reason of this post...
the long delayed and still completely incomplete SoundArt7

SoundArt7? yes, 7! which in theory should have been available as of last july but the whole project is a little bit backed up, but i'll see it through - in fact i'm waiting on the next artwork before i can get started with the next piece

so SoundArt7 had been bothering me a very long while, it took ages to get it where i thought it was right and even then i was unsure, i've taken some advice on it and want to change it a little, try and get it as close to perfection as an amatuer possibly could and possibly get a collaborater to add vocals to it

and while the timescale of any of that actually happening is likely to be blooming ages i thought i'd post up the work in progress, just as a way of getting it out there and allowing myself to move onto the next piece instead of continually dwelling on this one

incomplete, ok?
work in progress

this is it...
SoundArt7 (incomplete)
Free file hosting from File Den

Sunday 3 January 2010

either way



happy new year and all that. back to business i guess then.

and should i be blogging reflectively on the things that have passed?

i don't know.

so i thought i might use a few posts to blog about some of the things that should have passed.

i've got a couple of articles that are awaiting publication in The Enfield Advertiser highlighting a couple of exciting bands, they should be soon coming, as for some strange reason my review of The Shindig Addicts got bumped from last weeks edition, so here's hoping it surfaces this wednesday.

i'll soon be posting the unfinished work in progress SoundArt7 that has been a bother to me for far too long than originally intended, its nearly complete but still needs work so i thought i'd throw it out onto the interwebnets in its current state as a stop-gap filler

other tracks that never quite got there were my ambition to record a new christmas single for '09 and another track i started work on pre christmas and thought i may give away as a present, that one will happen, just give it time

something else that remained firmly in the pipeline was my idea of a Buy One Get One Free single to ease people's wallets in this difficult financial climate

I wrote some poetry for one track, working hard to make it longer than my usual poetry and thus more suited to layer over a decent backing, although the backing track completely eluded me whenever i attempted it and the second instrumental track of the package didn't make it an awful lot further


so i thought with the VAT back up this year and a single cash bus fare gone up to £2 (?!) and the idea remaining just that i thought i might as well post up the poetry, which i think stands up in its own right as a piece of work


I decided that I was not a poor man

Minimum wage has made me richer

Knowing that my life doesn't begin at 9 and end at 5

with one hour for lunch and two fifteen minute breaks

And I haven't stopped working
for the material world i build around me
knowing that everything bought
has been paid for by the hour

Pound shops and Primark
Purge your wages
Pile up your basket with bargains
With Buy One Get One Free
Because you fear the end is nigh

Recession
Administration
Repossesion and
Depression

The four horsemen of the apocolypse

all riding into town
on a wave of fare increases
as prices march relentless
cost of living creeping higher
petrol prices fueling the fire
and damn inflation
fanning the flames

Are you sweating yet?

How can we face
a financial meltdown
How can we not listen to the media
when the front page
and the second page
and every page
and the 6 o'clock news
and the news at ten
and every bulletin
on every channel
tells you
that you're losing your jobs
and you're missing your repayments
and you're losing your home

And you're losing your minds

And i don't wanna hear your
fake tales of VAT reduction

you want to increase spending
you want to increase affordable housing
you want to play politic or treat
you want to count your cash
as the credit crunch becomes
the ultimate marketing tool

because I can't be advertised to
without being reminded that my money
isn't worth anything

because sales are down
and unemployment is up
and job losses were reported
as more shops and more factories
are forced to close
and we flock to feed on the festering
carcasses of failing businesses

And we smile
proud of our 90% reduction

and I am happy
knowing there is not a price on my soul
knowing that I am not a poor man