Friday 26 March 2010

not wanting to get sued

and as promised here is that review of last week's Sel-Out gig, keep you eyes peeled cos a cut down version should be appearing in the local rag soonish


Sel-Out 2 @ Bar Form 18.03.10


People that go along to gigs, have a couple of drinks and catch a handful of live acts often have no idea of the time, effort and worry that goes into putting on even the smallest of events.

And the second Sel-Out held at Bar Form is certainly no exception.

Selma Ramadan is having to deal with one bassist not being able to get out of work early enough for soundchecks, DJs that have gone house-hunting, another bassist having to leave the gig early so he can get to his nightshift despite the fact his band are due to be headlining , and a solo artist calling in sick and cancelling completely .

this is just some of the shit that a promoter has to deal with.

which all comes after the initial complications of trying to book bands and chasing bands that don't return your emails, arranging that there will enough kit to be shared onstage and also holding down a full-time job.

and unless you've got a well known and well respected established event that will thrive purely on reputation alone you also need to text everyone in your phone, email everyone in your address book and make all your facebook friends aware that you need them to come out and show their support.

and you also hope that everyone else involved has been doing the same.



And so, at 8 o'clock on a dreary Thursday evening in Enfield Town, the doors are thrown open for the night to begin.

It’s just a shame that a handful of punters are more punctual than the DJs due to kick off the night.

But by the time Benjamin Darius Ralph steps onto the stage some of these stresses are forgotten as his soothing acoustic solo show flits between original tracks and a number of cherry picked covers.

Room 9 usually like to rock out but tonight they are a man down so instead they bring a stripped back set of songs to Bar Form, anyone that thought this would hinder the act are proved wrong as Room 9 swiftly impress everyone in attendance with a laid back sound and astounding vocals that make you wonder if a full-scale set could ever be any better than the unique and intimate performance being put on tonight.


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and in a strange twist of circumstances, Getaway, a band that didn't even have a name when they confirmed to play this, their debut gig, have found themselves plucked from second on a bill of four acts, and have had the daunting task of headlining thrust upon them.

and if there were any nerves, it certainly didn't show as the trio carve themselves a sonic identity that takes its influences from roughly 40 years of rock n roll history filtered down to a memorable 25 minute set, mixed up with diverting aside of self-proclaimed 'Essex hip-hop', and finished off with a rocking bluesy number.

And although the financial rewards are rarely enough to cover costs, the sense of achievement provides satisfaction enough and it’s the risk takers that continue putting on gigs and showcasing bands that keep the music scene alive.

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credit where it's due:

photos by Lauren Knight

Thursday 25 March 2010

marty power


well done to The Enfield Advertiser for actually publishing my bizarre Die Antwoord article, it is in this weeks edition and can also be viewed online (page 26)

and a great choice of picture for it too, i didn't realy think this article would be up their street but they've stuck their neck out, good on em

on the subject of music journalism, i was out in Camden at Frank Turner's sell-out Roundhouse gig for glasswerk that i had got a call about earlier in the day saying they had managed to wrangle me a plus one.

yeah, get me, blagging a plus one into a sold out gig! not bad eh? i feel like a real journalist, and it was a bloody good gig too.

so i've been busy wrapping that up for submition, and if you check back tomorrow i shall be posting up my article of last week's Sel-Out gig ahead of it's publication in the paper.

edit: since i've got this soundcloud thing going on, why waste an oppurtunity to listen to Enter The Ninja again

Die Antwoord - Enter the Ninja stream

Monday 22 March 2010

a minute silence

it is with a heavy heart that i report the sad demise of Flamboyant Bella.

 


readers of my blog will know that i have been a strong advocate of the young group's work and i am sad to say that i saw them far too few times as London seemed to be one of the places they very rarely seemed to pass through.

I covered their biggest ever London headline gig last february and they were also the subject of my first article for The Enfield Advertiser.

and although i was already aware of the horrible truth, the official news broke last week that it really was all over.

but fear not, while the boys are planning on furthering their education, Flo is more reluctant to give up the spotlight and has already been writing and begun looking for new band members.



so i guess since the band no longer exist, no-one will mind if i share this rarity with you, possibly my favourite flambo track, from the now hard to find 2006 self-released debut 'Practically Saintly'

Flamboyant Bella - Break Away

Sunday 21 March 2010

JLS, watch your backs!!

i'm not actually thrilled by this song, i think One Life Stand was head and shoulders above this, but despite that, it does have an amazing, and rather bizarre video to accompany it.

and as if the boyband start to the vid isn't weird enough.... just stick with it



and what attracts me to this video even more is the fact that it is directed by Peter Serafinowicz aka the 'Baddie' from Spaced aka the 'Baddie' from Shaun Of The Dead aka The Shipping Report guy from Black Books aka the voice of Darth Maul aka probabaly countless other british comedy cameos and other such stuff, heck, he even cropped up in last years Rom-Com Couple's Retreat

and after just checking his wiki entry for research purposes i've just found out that he's worked on stuff for Adult Swim and married Sarah Alexander - damn, is there anything he hasn't done??!!

Saturday 20 March 2010

fully furnished

it seems to me that over the winter a lot of the strays that are usually out on the streets may have gone into hibernation, the few times that i have seen sofas i've either not had my camera or not had a chance to stop

so let me use this lull as a chance to play catch up yet again

and how apt that this scenic alleyway near the centre of Waltham Cross with good travel connections nearby, is only a mere stones throw away from a flat that i am considering looking at.

as you can see, this alley is fully furnished with a discarded mattress, a stray sofa and a sewing machine, aswell as a number of suprise goodies supplied in black bags.

an excellent oppurtunity for first time buyers

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Friday 19 March 2010

straight to video

ok, i tried not to give too much away t'other day when i took a quick look at Under The Hood and vented my disgust, and i'm sorry kids but it's comic book time on the Hunchblog again, cos they're gonna be turning the said story into an animated dvd release

and i'll say it now before any of you click play and ruin it for yourselves, this looks like a movie made by comic book fans by comic books fans and you probably should have read Under The Hood before you peep this.... and if you haven't, don't be suprised if this gives the whole game away.... but if you're not a comic book fan i doubt you'll care much anyway

the fact that they seem to be marketing it as a bit of a mystery seems a bit beyond me when it needs to be a self-contained story for the sake of non/casual-geeks, and everything you need to have unravelled it is laid out rather unsubtley - or is it just me?

what am i going on about. does anyone even realy care. who knows?

just don't say i didn't warn you



you still here? want more, go check part two

Thursday 18 March 2010

nope, wrong Jimmy Chan



don't bother looking for I am Jimmy Chan on Youtube.

you won't find him.

you can find him on myspace

and if you like what you hear there you can also find I am Jimmy Chan at Bar Form tonight

edit: he has had to cancel due to illness, instead i shall have to settle for watching a continuous loop of the video above, and i haven't even got any Die Antwoord burnt, oh it really is a sad time for me

it's the return of Sel-Out and this time it is bringing along Form favourite Benjamin Darius Ralph, Getaway, the aforementioned I Am Jimmy Chan and headlined by Room 9.

and helping you get your rocks off between live sets will be DJs Cats Like Felix Like Felix and Who Put The Ram In The Rama Lama Ding Dong (i may have made up their DJ names) and of course the inevitable Bubblegum Stomp collective.

selout2.3

Wednesday 17 March 2010

i can't unread it



if a tree fell in a forest and nobody was around to hear it, would it make a sound?

and if i didn't read 'Batman: Under The Hood' would it realy have happened?

i've taken a couple of years to try and get a little bit more up to date on my comic reading after spending a decade or more away from the DC universe.

i took the occasional trips to wiki when i needed to distract myself from real work, looking up comic book characters out of curiosity (cos this is how i roll) and wasn't always happy with the 'progress' that some of these fictional characters has made.

but regardless i made my purchase of one of the storylines in question, 2005's 'Under The Hood' - which i will avoid spoilers of incase there are any other fools out there that haven't already read a story that they intend to that is now 5 years old

despite my disgust at what was going on i was actually pleasantly surprised by the way the story was handled and quite enjoyed it up to a point, and that point was the final chapter, which supposedly explains everything but instead left a bitter taste in my mouth as i realised that some weak-arse plot device served as a backstory for a half decent storyline

and i kinda wished i hadn't bothered

Monday 15 March 2010

Heads up!! Sel-Out 2!!

so have you got plans for this week?

cos another Sel-Out is gonna be hitting Bar Form this thursday, Bubblegum Stomp will again be handling DJ duties and there are a handful of bands on hand to entertain.

i could go on and on about this, but i think this flyer pretty much says everything you need to know

selout2

obviously you'll hear plenty about it afterwards cos i will be sharpening my journalistic mind in preperation for a review and i am bloody excited about finally getting a chance to see I am Jimmy Chan live!!

but don't just relive it with me, come down and live it yourself. this thursday. thanks

Friday 12 March 2010

head in the clouds

the observant among you may have noticed a new addition over there to the right, yep, my very own soundcloud, quite clearly i am upping my digital game!!

it makes my blog a little bit more like a myspace profile, so you don't have to head off to my other page if you wanted to sample my aural delights (tho you can, cos there are more over there) but unklike myspace that disabled downloading ages ago you can actualy get hold of my tracks simply and easily (and free) if you like what you hear playing

and it will prob be a little easier to keep on top of than keep editing that list of downloads (also on the right, for now)

why didn't i wise up to this sooner?

and let me also use this oppurtunity to herald one of my favourite and best recieved tracks, my very own remix of The Enemy's This Song, a creeping little number that ambles along with an eerie ambience

but why am i telling you this when you can hear for yourself and download it from my fancy soundcloud widget

the enemy cover5 copy

The Enemy - This Song (Hunchbakk's Youth Of Today remix)

and i may as well give my journalistic endevours a quick mention too, as my article on Those Handsome Animals was published in this weeks Enfield Advertiser (page 30) and i've had a couple of reviews pop up on glasswerk (my first in well over a year probably) taking a look at the latest from New Young Pony Club and Gaggle.

Thursday 11 March 2010

i don't blink and i just keep going



so what keeps me away from my blog for so long? i'd like to say it was a holiday but it certainly was not, instead it was that horrible stinking reality that has been keeping me busy... and form filling... and video editing

so i'm just chilling for now, which means you can make do with some lazy blogging, i wouldn't usualy post up so many videos in a row...

but then there is always a time and a place for the tangerine video, i can't decide whether the above is better than this one, but the other has embedding disabled so my choice of which to post was made for me

enjoy

Sunday 7 March 2010

brush my teeth

less than 24 hours since i posted up about the new Pro Green joint and the video has been unveiled, i took a look over at Marvin's blog - and you know what, it's a growing on me, but like i said, i know he's capable of much better

and another music video for you guys, yep, but with a twist.

you've all heard Ke$ha's uffie-biting single Tik Tok, course you have, some of you may have even watched Midnight Beast's parody video, but have you seen the Star Wars parody??

it's truly bizzarre, it truly is beyond words.

featuring the world's least fanciable Princess Leia, the world's unhairiest Chewbacca impersonator and a load of other odd stuff, just watch, ok?

Saturday 6 March 2010

not tonight

having caught an earful of the new Professor Green track in the week i was kind of shocked.

i was at the swimming pool, they were playing radio 1, and then i hear INXS start.

my first thought that they would be playing 'Need You Tonight' soon faded as i realised it must just be a new track sampling the original as i waited for a dodgy dance beat to kick over the top, it didn't realy happen, but the voice that started rapping was unmistakably that of former Beats artist, Professer Green.

Now, to be honest, i have a lot of time for Pro Green, he has an amazing talent and having gleamed his star rising through association with Mike Skinner and caught him live at Camden Crawl afew years ago he seems completely geniune, just a glimpse at his myspace blogs confirms that, but he is still looking for that breakthrough.

last year saw him release 'Hard Night Out', an edgy rock-rap cross-over track, certainly nothing new there but it was a departure from his usual Streets-esque hip-hop beats and i was unsure at first but it grew on me completely but obviously a different tack was needed.

and since he has been recording and touring with Lily Allen and clearly releasing music that is slightly more radio friendly, now i'll give him the benefit of the doubt, the new single feels like a slight cop out to me but i'm still hoping Pro Green can stay true to his roots and make himself a commercial success without 'selling out'.

it's easy to hate on successful artists, but i know Pro Green is capable of much better than this.


Friday 5 March 2010

wash. rinse. repeat.

time keeps on ticking by and i'm trying to keep this blog varied, but if you don't mind i just want to hark back breifly to my Enfield Advertiser articles again, in particular the Tinnitus article

just because Tinnitus Awareness week has been and gone, and my article has been published, doesn't mean i should just let you forget about it now

not only is there plenty of info over at www.tinnitus.org.uk but if you scroll down to the section titled Launch Event you can also download yourself a free mp3 of the full One Tune, One Cause DJ set

One Tune, One Cause DJs - Tinnitus Awareness Week DJ set @ Cargo 08.02.10

and for anyone following (and anyone that cares) this article was published in this weeks Enfield Advertiser which you can read online (page 24)

Wednesday 3 March 2010

stray sofas 7

after a hiatus of about a month the strays are back, for my girlfriend and for all the other people that make their way to my blog... many of whom, just like my girlfriend, moan about the photos of sofas yet find themselves strangely drawn to them and actually inform me when they have spotted stray sofas themselves.

you guys are great.


Monday 1 March 2010

Making plans



I'm always making plans.

some come to fruition, some don't.

some are whimsical and fleeting, others are whimsical and long-standing.

I've been creating music on and off for quite afew years with mixed success, but so far i am proud of what i've acheived.

I don't claim to be anything too amazing, i only hope to be the best i can be and keep improving (which i think is a rather sensible plan)

and later today i am planning on making more plans for my music.

i won't spill too much - i don't always like talking about things before they've happened incase things don't work out...

i planned to make my first music video. and i have already made a start.

i'm planning on recording a few more cover versions.


and i have plans for the blog.

i plan to post up more of the stray sofas, i plan to post up more of my old music, i plan to throw a little light on some of the other blogs that i peer at, i plan to geek out a bit more too, and i was planning on pointing you in the direction of good music, be it local or otherwise.

but i wasn't planning on posting every single day, i don't know how quick my blog should move on to the next thing, but i can't find room for all these plans otherwise.

so i don't know how long it will take for all this to appear.

so maybe afew of you should make plans to check back here and see what i'm offering up.