« March 2008 |
Main
| May 2008 »
I switched on Classic FM in the car the other day only to hear Schoenberg being played. Things were looking up. After a few seconds it was turned off though - it seems it was a quick illustration of how all atonal music is "rubbish". The presenter was one Alex James, a blurry sort of fellow.
On the subject of populist opinions, it was amusing to see Andrew (The Lord) Lloyd Webber "getting angry" because of the public's poor opinion of who should or should not be Nancy. Doesn't it occur to him that it's the public's shit taste which has put him where he is?
Sad news: Humphrey Lyttelton has died, aged 86, following surgery for an aortic aneurysm.
The host of Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, the panel show game that gave rise to the Mornington Crescent phenomenon, "Humph" was of course a legendary jazz musician too.
Radiohead's South Park, Oxford gig featured a set from him, and his improvisational style was said to have influenced the band's Kid A and Amnesiac jazz stylings.
Just a quick note for fans of dour expressions and long fawn trenchcoats: mid-90s paranoia is back this summer and, despite the odds that it'll seem pretty irrelevant now that the millenium's long gone, we've all got the chance to relieve the jangly electronic chords and spooky lighting of the X-Files with the release of a new film in August.
The news of the film has been around for a while but the title was only released today. Fans will remember the subheading from a poster in super-credulous FBI agent Fox Mulder's basement office: The X-Files: I Want To Believe.
Series creator Chris Carter assures us that this isn't a sequel and it doesn't tie into the show's long-running mythology: it's meant to be open and accessible to all. That said, the idea that it'll tie up and stand on its own seems pretty unlikely...
We're all in our best recovery positions following the Camden Crawl, and writing up the evening reviews in fits and starts. In truth, and I don't know about the others, but more sleep would have been good. And lots of detoxinating juices. And a foot massage. Can we have masseurs next year please?
Some of the queues on Saturday night seemed to exceed Friday. The Earl of Camden in particular seemed to be queued up all night, and the Barfly's downstairs had spirals of queues. NW1 and the Dublin Castle also seemed, at various times, to have as many people outside them as inside.
Pull Tiger Tail were last-minute additions to the Dublin Castle bill for a slot that had been mooted as being everyone from Madness to The Enemy. They attracted a big crowd.
As ever with these things, set clashes were inevitable and there were several bands we wanted to see but didn't. Between us all we did see a lot of bands and artists though, many for the first time, and almost everything seemed to go like clockwork. The Camden Crawl's status amongst the year's music events burgeons every year, and this year was the biggest and best yet.
This is the last Camden Crawl live blog update. Head over to the festivals section from Monday for the full reports.
Blearily, we're awakening to the second of the Camden Crawl's two days and nights. The Wombats headline tonight.
Last night, for the most part, ran smoothly. Full night reviews will appear on Sunday.
The festival's mobile text queue alerts thing informed of venues with queues so wristbanded wanderers could better plan their time, and queues were building as the evening progressed. But there was plenty of room early on.
Soko attracted such a crowd that one of the festival's organisers couldn't get in to see her at the Crescent, while expectant queues were also facing one-in-one-out situations for Ladyhawke at the Earl of Camden and, predictably, Crystal Castles at the Purple Turtle.
Surprise of the evening was exactly how closely Sam Sparro resembled Jamie Lee Curtis...
Thus it was that wristband wearers were shoehorned onto a bus bound for the northern climes of Kentish Town and lo! they did see Enter Shikari.
Who seemed like nice quiet boys in the car on the way to the venue. Manager Keith (the lead singer's father, I was told en route) was in boisterous mood, clearly looking forward to the gig which began just after 3pm in the blacked-out Bull & Gate, next to the much larger Forum.
Mr Lead Singer said: "Remember, this is not the Babyshambles. All the other bands are shit indie bands. This is the only time you're going to have fun." And so they did, Mr Lead Singer resembling the Honey Monster with his metaller howls and blond hair. They claimed not to have rehearsed, but the moshpit at the front didn't seem to mind. Enter Shikari had just provided the most energetic hour of the day so far and, unpracticed or not, they gave good value to their MySpaz backers.
And so to the evening's entertainment, when I mutate to become two (or maybe three) reviewers and we produce a joint epic of the evening's festivities when we're sober enough to try. Amongst the acts on tonight are Sam Sparro, Thecocknbullkid, Crystal Castles, The Wombats, Post War Years, Hatcham Social, Lykke Li, Ipso Facto and Youthmovies. It's going to be busy...
Until tomorrow then.
Iron Man is featured on the Onion at the moment in a particularly fine video article, entitled "Iron Man trailer to be turned into full length film." As with most Onion stories, it's a great joke spun out to a neat two minutes. Take a look here.
The wind has picked up and it's bloody cold. Could there be a storm brewing?
A storm of a different kind could well be in the offing, but it's possible we may be warming up in it. Later this afternoon we hoof it (or perhaps take a bus) up to Kentish Town for MySpaz's "secret" gig at the Bull & Gate.
Enter Shikari are the not-so-secret-at-all band being offered in the 100-capacity boozer. Already wristbanded wanderers are to be seen pointing their feet in a northward direction.
For now though, time to get out of the vox pop media circus and see some of the afternoon's events. At the moment I'm listening to The Good, The Bad & The Queen - a band I first saw in Camden, up the road at the Roundhouse - on the Buck's Head's jukebox. The people from Bloody Awful Poetry are programming the afternoon's festivities - every table has a laminated poem for our delectation, and heartfelt strumming by boys in hats seems to be the order of the day.
As for the schedule for this evening, there are some unfortunate clashes, but we'll do our best.
Yoav has just been setting up for what's billed as an acoustic gig, to a handful of media people.
Of course he's an acoustic artist anyway, and his acoustic set still involved setting up his various pedals. As he laid down his backing tracks though, it was clear his way with a fretboard is not based n trickery. He's playing Adore Adore as I write this. The guy is just incredibly talented.
We interviewed Yoav recently, in which he talked about his pedal set-ups that allow him to play something like trance music on an acoustic guitar.
More soon...
So here we are at the seventh Camden Crawl. The weather is so far cloudy, but the rain's staying off.
Already early birds are queueing up for their wristbands behind the Electric Ballroom, and the media centre is a buzzing hive full of busy bees, with various TV companies lining up chats with Lykke Li, Does It Offend You, Yeah?, Hadouken! and Ipso Facto, so name just a few.
Acoustic showcases this afternoon include acts playing with full mains electricity this evening and tomorrow. Once we collate our schedules we'll have a better idea what we might manage to see.
Last year I must have walked between Mornington Crescent and Chalk Farm at least three times. Alas, Camden Council have still not built a monorail.
More updates as the day progresses. If you're at the Crawl, let us know...
| | | | |
Recent Comments