jai ho!

while this blog may spend a lot of time featuring a whole bundle of music, i am also something of a pop-culture sponge, soaking up as much useless info and and cultural reference points as my porous brain can possibly handle

although i'm not the greatest fan of over indulging on too much television, i have given a number of (sometimes geeky) observations over the course of my blogging career, but my love of movies is something else entirely.

being a subscriber of a rather handy unlimited card for my local cinema, i tend to see quite a few films, and the unlimited card provides a sort of safety net, fully knowing that i can take a chance on a possibly risky film and being aware that i have not paid, primarily and solely, for a film as entertaining as a steaming pile of horse shit.

one such risk that paid dividends was watching the recent Tamil movie, Endhiran - The Robot, an absolutely crazy Bollywood flavoured romp that could never quite decide what type of film it actually wanted to be.

now, i have been known to occasionaly give a number of (mostly geeky) observations on films over the course of my blogging career, but i decided to offer up my writing this time to the quite spiffing music and movie blog, Faded Glamour, that i have followed for longer than i have blogged myself, and that has recently had a resurgence of activity following occasional fallow spells.

so be sure to catch my review of Endhiran - The Robot, over at Faded Glamour, and if possible try and catch the film before it has completely disapeared from the few cinemas that chose to show it.


and in keeping with my efforts to make my blog a music blog to be reckoned with, i thought it may also be a good idea to treat you to a cut from the soundtrack that is one of the bizarre and beguiling faccets of the film, in particular, the track that i described as:

'appropriating Black Eyed Peas' 'Boom Boom Pow' and the Western love of autotune, while also seeing the film's gorgeous female lead, Aishwarya Rai, seemingly morphing into Fergie.'


 
Endhiran (The Robot) - Irumbile Oru Idhaiyam

ice cold

it has been a very long time since i was buying NME week in and week out, i'd had a long love affair with the magazine, keen to find out what was new and what was happening in the world of music

but with the proliferation of music blogs and the rise of the internet aiding tastemakers instead, NME has become increasingly stunted, the medium being no longer relevant as the only place to turn to for information on new artists, gone are the days when NME could tell you that 'so and so' is the next big thing and generate all of it's own hype until it had proved itself right

it obviously didn't help that NME stopped employing journalists, instead they seemed to be manned entirely by a staff of list makers, and every single issue carried another excuse for a list, to the point that there was nothing at all worth reading

and the epitome of this dire practise of repeated list making was NME's annual Cool List, even at the point that i was shilling out for the magazine every week, i still found the Cool List to be a completely cringeworthy idea, in that a magazine that the cool kids read and told you who the cool bands are, would actually make a conscious decision to determine just how cool all of these cool people are, as if it would actually be cool to be vying for a high position in the Cool List.

and the reason i mention this, is my long arse way of getting round to talking about Janelle Monae, who graces the cover of this weeks NME (above) and weighs in at number 2 in the prestigious Cool List and who i had the pleasure of seeing back in september, after being turned onto her by a couple of completely separate friends, fuelled by intrigue and knowing that there was no way they could both be wrong about her i gave the latest album a spin on spotify and jumped at the chance to see her live when the opportunity arose via glasswerk.

and as something of an underground buzz artist coming out of the leftfield, i thought i would also knock out an article for The Enfield Advertiser as a bit of a heads up on someone to keep an eye out for, to try and mix it up a little with the features on local bands, as well as using the opportunity to flex my musical knowledge for the whole of Enfield to see.

of course, that was before the profile raising stint on a recent Jools Holland show and the NME cover, so by the time it actually sees print Janelle Monae may seem a bit like old news to some people but i am glad that she is getting the attention she deserves.

the album, ArchAndroid, is a unique offering in these days when 'popular' music is exceedingly bland and most songs a merely a mimic of the last pale imitation of an already un-inspiring chart-topper and i'm sure with an ever growing fanbase she will soon be living up to the immense promise she has already shown.



Janelle Monae - Cold War stream only



credit where it's due:

mp3 stream by Atlantic Records
and i was tipped off onto Janelle Monae by Cortz's Blog 

if you love me, let me go....

i think i'm over my little whinge, glad to have got it of off my chest, but the reaction to the article so far has been positive from everyone but myself

i can be quite critical of my own work, and when writing reviews i don't feel that i am just representing myself, i am also representing those being reviewed and those that have witnesses the same gigs that i have.... i feel it is my duty to best document a moment in time and relay my views to readers, whether they were there or not... it needs to stand up to both

it gets to me slightly that i don't have the creative control i wish i had for the Enfield Advertiser articles, but i guess that is what an editor is there for, whether i feel he has made the right decisions for my pieces or not


lets move along shall we?



i was tempted to squeeze everything i wanted to say into one post, but i've changed my mind and will instead tease things out (and hopefully keep finding the time to blog)

the intention is to keep bringing music to your attention , and plough through a few artists and thoughts that have been needing a release


so let's shift todays focus

shift it back to my time spent in tokyo last year

most people experience their holiday blues within a few weeks of returning but mine seem to have had a second wind, and recently all i can think about is how the slightly muggy and warm air of october in tokyo seemed to have it's own distinct smell and weight to it, that made it feel completely foreign and comforting at the same time.

it was possibly the hardest working holiday i have ever had, despite trying to get to grips with a few japanese basics before leaving, the language barrier was enormous and occasionally overwhelming, particularly when trying to ascertain whether my vegetarian girlfriend would be able to eat anything

i miss all the experiences of the trip tho, it was an adventure and i'm glad that i found time to post a few short blogs about it, because reading them back has reminded me of some things that i had already forgotten

so maybe check them out for yourselves...


tokyo: the GodBox has landed
tokyo: the update
tokyo: a few of my favourite things
and my personal favourite
tokyo: hey hey, you you



now, i don't know if my reminiscing is because it has been a year since or because the time spent in tokyo was the last real holiday i took (although the glasto sunshine could almost count) and was our last big blow-out, knowing that a lot of money would be sunk into buying a house and that we wouldn't be going overseas this year but my nostalgia feels even more powerful, being compounded by it's own theme song

yep, i haven't been able to get the latest single from The Wombats out of my head at all and have found myself singing it virtually all of the time and thinking back to 500 yen JD and cokes in a pokey basement bar in Rophonghi......


The Wombats - Tokyo (Vampire & Wolves) stream only

no me gusta!

how on earth does Enfield's defining musical moment become a rather average newspaper article??

perhaps it may have been down to the way i hacked away at my full length 'director's cut' of the feature to make it fit the restrictive word quota.

the first draft was something akin to a celabratory call to arms for all those that have been fighting hard to make Enfield's music scene what it is today, and i'll admit it was an unbearable task to strip it of so much that i had put in.

or perhaps the blame lays elsewhere.

perhaps it was the rather awful sounding headline that they tacked onto what was meant to have been a momentous occasion.

perhaps it was the fact that they decided to use the same live shot of 9BlinD that had been used just a few weeks previous, despite the fact that i had handpicked a number of photos taken by Laura Harvey on the night.


who knows, perhaps i am the one that is being a little bit precious about the whole thing.

so i can only apologise to anyone else that feels a little let down by the published article, as i hoped it would be a glorious documentation of our 'scene without a scene' and all that we managed to achieve with Bushfest, rather than a sloppy hatchet job that has had little thought or effort put into it at all.

:-(

Alright Mate!

i am so excited that i can be the one bringing this to the masses, and it was worth the wait.


for a very long time i have been a very stern supporter of Enfield's music scene, it hasn't always been perfect... far from it in fact, and it still has a long way to go if we wish to cement the current reputation we have enjoyed recently.

since the early days of Bubblegum Stomp, through to the time spent commandeering the Enfield Music myspace page and the resurgence of live music in the borough with Red Griffin Records, volunteering at a Youth Music project, landing myself the role of music journalist for The Enfield Advertiser and right up to Rock For Change's successful gigs.

i've been there, through the dips and the peaks, and Enfield's scene is on the rise once again.


and as this is a music blog, run by an Enfield boy, i sometimes feel the need to give the tracks featured a slight Enfield skew and hope that the music being made in my home town can reach just as far as any other track by any other artist, regardless of geography and the constraints of a small town mentality

not long ago i featured a track by 9BlinD, followed swiftly by System of a Down, and in keeping in the same vein i now bring you an exclusive download from local boys, Deeds of the Dying.

those from Enfield already know of Deeds of the Dying, those from further afield may not... but i shall save all the spiel for an upcoming Advertiser article, for now i shall let you revel in the first track they have unleashed upon the world.


Alright Mate! was posted on Deeds' myspace page last week as a taster for their debut EP, it clocked up 150 plays within the first few hours and the band delivered on their promise of uploading a new track when it had reached 300 plays.  The teasing of the EP continued with Cannibilistic Virtues being the second song unveiled by the band while their fans wait eagerly to get their hands on the full EP...

but right now they have agreed to allow me a great privilege, and  i am proud to offer my readers the first ever download of Deeds of the Dying ahead of their full debut EP release

Deeds of the Dying - Alright Mate!


credit where it's due:


mp3 download agreed by Deeds of the Dying
photo by Laura Harvey

Bespin

things haven't quite gone to plan around here, i thought i would have something to bring you that i don't actually have yet, and i decided to hold off knocking out a post yesterday, and i was considering reminiscing on my tokyo adventure (since it is a year ago today that i was on a flight back, still rather intoxicated and in trouble with my girlfriend after bursting into song while waiting to check in), i also want to keep on upping my game as a music blogger, as well as bringing you more poetry, photography, stray sofas and all the other stuff that makes this blog the unique blog that it is.

all this shall happen, stick with me....


but for now, a blacksploitation style trailer taking a look at star wars' smooth brother, Lando Calrisian and the geek fantasy of femtroopers, for those that are soooo over slave leia and don't mind getting down with the Empire

if this could all end

and welcome back to Hunchbakk - music and musings, the music blog.

except it isn't today.

i'm very excited about bringing you guys even more new music and have hopefully got something real special in the pipeline, direct from from one of Enfield's brightest hopes, but for now we're gonna take a slight diversion from revelling in past glories and the posting of mp3s.

i've stalled slightly on the poetry front lately, perhaps i am too content, perhaps it is other things that have meant i have not put pen to paper.

sometimes when i do put pen to paper there is neither a pen or paper involved, just typing and my blog, since it is there when i needed it and i could get my thoughts down quick.

i got my thoughts down quickly the other day, so i thought perhaps i should post it now, i don't think there is much more that needs saying about it really, i don't always like giving poetry an introduction, and i'm not going to take it upon myself to explain my own poetry, as i am now sharing it and want people to make of it what they will and take from it what they feel, i just thought the fact that i am posting poetry deserved a little mention for anyone that has been tuning in recently since Bushfest set the Enfield community ablaze and perhaps wasn't expecting such tender thoughts.

enough.









sometimes it feels like the world could end


there is no panic
no fear


but there is a pounding of anxiousness
knowing it will be over


and i can't squeeze the minutes out of the day
nor the fingers in my ears
nor the words out of my mouth
and my head


it feels like a scream
yet it lives in silence
buzzing round my head
and gripping my throat
clutching my mind




if this could all end
if the sky would drop
if the earth could crack
it would all be over




but it never is




it never is








.

rollover DJ

the fact that i haven't recently found the propensity for proper blogging means that i shall probably afford myself one my post for revelling in the glory of Bushfest, even as the embers of the event are already burning themselves out in people's memories i find myself trying desperately trying to cling to that sense of abundant euthoria at what we had achieved.

on the drive home and the whole next day i was completely buzzing from the whole thing, despite still being in recovery from friday night, a severe lack of sleep and not having had a drop of alcohol throughout the entirety of Bushfest.  it felt like an energy built up inside of me, a huge sense of pride and a sense of possibility.

because if Bushfest could prove to be such an unmitigated success, then perhaps we are now capable of anything...

i guess as reality kicks back in for everyone we shall see how the passing of time effects the Enfield scene and if the momentum gained by Bushfest can be capitalised and built upon...


but one thing i have barely had the chance to touch upon, as i hadn't wanted to take anything away from the bands, is Bubblegum Stomp's triumphant DJ set which even surprised me....

not that i didn't think we could rise to the challenge, i was just surprised that having spent a day collating new material, heavy hitting tunes, big bangers and a handful of the hottest dubstep tunes around and burning an mp3 disc, i only actually knocked out one new choon the whole night, dispensing with a Nicki Minaj track early on.

i was flying solo early in the evening and enjoyed getting stuck in and exploring my own CDs, which have been consistently added to since Bubblegum Stomps good ol' days at Rattlers and Club 19, not once in the whole time we have been doing this do i think i have ever dropped B2K's 'Bump Bump Bump' and it was a great chance to create a party vibe and cut loose my own tastes without flexing my eclectic taste in new music and fashionable dollops of filthy electro and wobbly bassline.

and when i was joined by my fellow Stompers, the good times continued, indulging our own personal preferences and digging in the crates a little, all to tremendous effect and my own utter glee.

it perhaps all went to my head when i got a little giddy and decided to take the risk of following a band's live set by throwing down Hanson's 'Mmmmmmbop' and when the pop-shit didn't hit the fan and clear the floor we kept running with it, following with Britney's 'Womanizer'.


we've been out of the game for a hot minute so i guess for many people, Bushfest was also an introduction to Bubblegum Stomp, and i think it showed exactly who we are, hitting the floor with classic Foals and Bloc Party, Basement Jaxx and Major Lazer, a dash of Wiley and Afrikan Boi, and killing it with Will Smith, Foo Fighters, Simian and  System of a Down.

i hope we don't outstay our welcome, but i can't wait to do it all over again!

System of a Down - Chop Suey

more candid shots of the Bush

it's hard to resist these puns when the opportunity arises

and since i didn't want loads of Laura's great shots detracting from my Bushfest write-up i kept the images to a minimum, but it hardly seems fair since all the bands put in such great performances and some of the photos really reflect the atmosphere on display that night

so here are a handful more....

so, that's ten photos of nine bands!! phew! still a couple more great ones in the weekend's write-up, along with a 9BlinD track from their latest album to stream...

and it also appears from these pictures that joe from 9BlinD can't actually stand up straight.

credit where it's due:

all photography by Laura Harvey

a whole lotta Bush

What was simply a plan to put on a handful of bands in a pub’s function room swiftly escalated into a packed bill and the daunting task of squeezing nine bands into just one evening as Bushfest'10 took shape.

Started as the brainchild of 9blind’s Mark Seibert in 2008, this year’s third annual Bushfest took on a new life with the involvement of myself and Rock For Change and evolved into an all-encompassing, 6 hour phenomenom.

With 9 bands performing, there really isn’t enough I can say here to really sink my teeth in and dissect the gig properly, but there were enough people there to experience it that I shouldn’t need to go over the whole thing for them.

Even such an early start, with doors opening at 6pm, wasn’t enough to dissuade the eager crowd that had been gathering outside from as early as 5, keen not to miss a single moment of the action.

I began warming up the audience from behind the decks before the evening’s live entertainment was kicked off by a double whammy of new-comers, Twisted Hearts and Hurricane Season, both recent additions to Enfield’s ever growing list of bands and both attracting enough fans that anyone could quite easily forget how early it was, with another 7 bands still to come.

Deeds of the Dying followed swiftly, along with New Conscience, Room 9 and The Anonymous, all setting the bar high and impressing the throng of people that had continued to gather over the course of the evening with an array of sing-a-longs, moshpits, crowd participation and over enthusiastic dancing between them..

Enemy Planet and Kids Uncanny both held up the high standards that had been set before them, the two female fronted bands on the bill had nothing to prove to their male counterparts whatsoever, as both bands are already well enough known by local audiences to pull out a number of fan favourites and keep the evening moving without losing pace.

And as the night was eventually drawing to a close, 9blind's late headline slot was like an epiphany.

Stood by the side of the stage watching a room of devoted fans sing back every word to 9blind and I realised then just how important tonight was.


Bushfest wasn’t just a gig.


It was a celebration of some of Enfield’s most promising talent.


It was a chance for young fans not to worry about being 18 in order to enjoy a Saturday night out.


It was a landmark occasion that many music fans in our ostracised suburb never thought they would get the chance to see.


Because amazingly, for a town without a legitimate music venue, Enfield has cultivated so many exciting bands, and seeing 9 of our local acts playing back to back it became clear that we have created our own scene without a scene, where enjoying the music is more important than any singular musical tribe, and where we have had to strive to do it all ourselves because nothing has been given to us.



We achieved all this without any light at the end of the tunnel, campaigning for a music venue, asserting that younger fans should be able to get into gigs, and not wanting to travel into Camden or even further afield to see a band that came from our home town when we can't even see them locally, it brought us all to this point.

The fact that a small metal band hailing from Edmonton can inspire such devotion among a fervent fanbase and that a small local festival can breathe life into a backroom-cum-venue might mean that Enfieldians long dark days may finally be drawing to a close.

9BlinD - Promises   stream only

credit where it's due:

photography by Laura Harvey
mp3 stream kindly agreed by 9Blind

Frank Sinatra once said.....

'I feel sorry for people who don't drink.

When they wake up in the morning,

that's as good as they're going to feel all day.'

i've never really done quotes on this blog before, i was just gonna give you an update but then when i found this quote as i was skipping through other blogs recently, it felt quite apt

it is apt because on friday night i probably drank my own weight in alcohol, weighed everybody else that came to me housewarming party and then also drank their weights in alcohol too

i arose for a bacon roll at some point saturday morning, i also crawled to the door while wrapped in a duvet to greet a bemused jehovah's witness

yes, friday night was my idea of 'not having too much' since i'd got Bushfest that i needed to survive on saturday and because i like my house and am only just getting used to it and didn't fancy seeing the whole place spinning just yet... if it did spin i have no recollection of it, much the same as i have no real recollection of the striptease i supposedley performed in the garden and falling asleep in the shed.

but time and tide wait for no man, and before my body was really ready to, i was off to the Bush Hill Park Tavern to prepare for the evening kicking off.

now i know you're gonna wanna know how it all went, and trust me, i am working on a write up of it, but it has been a super busy week for me, and i'm still not properly hooked up with internet access at (new) home so it's been hard to find the time and means to dedicate to it, which is why you also haven't had any blog posts since last thursday, poor form i know, but it couldn't be helped

so i think today goes some way to make up for that, you've had an update on why i have been m.i.a, you've had a quote, and, as promised, here.... help yourself to some downloadable (and relevant) music....

Eels - That's Life (Frank Sinatra cover)