Tonight I cannot write for shit.  I had this wonderful passage all worked out in my head, a well written piece about the birth of the teenager, mods and rockers, through to  punk and acid house, with interesting and insightful comment about why we’ve had no great revolution to call our own.  But I’ve sat in front of this big white screen for the past fucking hour and it ain’t happening, so you’ll have to put up with my general ramblings about the past week instead…

Someone released a list of BNP members online!  Oops! I had thought that it was simply a list of members names, which would be information enough, but on closer inspection, it turns out we’ve got full access to members e-mail addresses, phone numbers, postal addresses, the lot.  I’d thought about posting a link to the list but actually, we’re not here to harrass anyone, we live in a country in which we’re entitled to free speech and thought and this should be respected.  However…..we can have a damn good laugh at their expense….I got this from a website of a well known lifestyle magazine…I’m not going to pass it off as my own but it made me laugh….I present to you……THE BNP AWARDS 2008…

BEST EMAIL ADDRESS:
Mr Tim Rudge. scrotaljakhammer666@*******.co.uk

BEST EMAIL ADDRESS (Runner up):
Mr Doug Thwaites. douggyfresh@*******.co.uk

USEFUL SKILLS AWARD (1):
Mr Vernon Atkinson. Activist – Makes kites with BNP logos.

USEFUL SKILLS AWARD (2):
Mr Ronald Anthony Frankland. Activist – Qualified firefighter, farrier, equine dentist. Semi-retired.

BEST ALL ALL ROUNDER AWARD: Mr Rod Chapman. Window cleaner. Former pig farmer. Pagan prison chaplain. Hobbies: growing mistletoe, rune making (wood).

THEY’LL LET ANYONE IN THESE DAYS AWARD: Paul Shaddick. Report from Mike Howson 2/8/07: member describes himself as a witch: potential embarrassment if active.

THE ARISTOCRACY IS ALIVE & WELL AWARD: Lord Adam Murray. angloantiquities@msn.com Activist – Business owner (antiquities). Pubic speaker. Has two suits of medieval 14th & 15th century armour and can joust for rallies.

Can Joust for rallies!?  Brilliant!  Of course, we should make it clear for legality’s sake that the BNP is a legitimate political organisation and not in anyway affiliated with the National Front.  Just like Sinn Fien is a legitimate political organisation and not simply the IRA with a different badge…hmm…

Anyway, moving on before I get myself shot (anonymity, yay!), its nice to welcome Rachel to the DCR team this week.  Its good to have a female perspective on things, the 5×5 basement that Liam keeps the DCR team locked in was getting a bit too cock-tastic even for the most open minded amongst us.

Maybe next week I’ll have another crack at the whole revolution essay I was due to bore people with tonight…maybe I’ll just take the piss out of the BNP some more…its decidedly easier.

Much love.  Seb. x

So Hip-Hop’s dead right? It’s not what it used to be, there’s no Public Enemy, no Grandmaster Flash, no Afrika Bambaataa and there’s definitely no Sugar Hill Gang, so with the ageing of those pioneers the down-tempo, melodic, ego boosting genre died…………………………….no…………………it…………….didn’t.

Just take a little time out to look up: El-P, Dan le Sac & Scroobius Pip, Roots Manuva, Metaform, Sage Francis and definitely Cubbiebear to name but a few.

Cubbie A.K.A Joshua Bailey contacted me last week after a shared interest in Sage Francis, so I listened to his work and was knocked for six by a truly original artist. Cubbiebear sets himself apart from the HH main-set, not fussed whether he’s in the club or not, he’s doing his thing, his way, his style. A mix of guitars and dark beats with scathing vocal samples and of course the lyrical dexterity of bear. His debut album ‘The Rape’ sets itself up for the high profile position it deserves, a rapper with something to say, well I never, the album title refers to the disintegration of Hip-Hop, the money involved with big artists and subsequent financial starvation of fresh blood.

He’s a rapper that hates rap and that single mindedness cannot be ignored, expect big things because they’re here.

Listen to two tracks from Cubbiebear in Liam’s show:

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Download it

LT

Let’s get the support acts out of the way so we can bask in the glory of Mount Eerie.

First up was High Places, if you’ve read my previous review I’m sure you don’t want to hear anymore of my praise for them, but once again they were fantastic.

Then it was the effeminate ethereal indie of Parenthetical Girls. The skeletal lead singer stalked the stage, and into the crowd, miming the movement of a string puppet, which genuinely made it look like he had just been sown together and brought to life.

I enjoyed their set but all the impassive and aloof posturing left me slightly confused. I’m still not sure if it was middle-class pretensions of art or pure emotion crafted into lovely pop songs.

There can be no mistaking the emotion in Phil Elverum’s live set, playing here on his own as Mount Eerie.

Armed with just an electric guitar, soft distortion and a true voice he invaded territory held by Neil Young and Daniel Johnston.

He unleashed a breathless cascade of meditations on love, loss and nature, sometimes dragging heavy sounds out of his instrument and sometimes plucking softly at the strings.

By the end of his set I’m glad the friend I had gone with had already left and no one else I had invited turned up so they couldn’t witness obvious lump in my throat.

If you missed the gig I feel for you, it was Elverum’s only UK appearance on this tour and he mentioned he might not tour in Europe for a while, citing his guilt at having to travel from the US on carbon spewing planes. However serious you took his musing he certainly won’t be back for another year, so you’ll just have to do with the tracks I’m planning on playing in a couple of show’s time.

The problem with going to a gig on your own is that you have no distractions to keep you from intensely focusing on those around you, the bands and drinking. The problem with going to see High Places at the Old Blue Last on my own was that the venue is owned by Vice magazine, the gig was to celebrate the launch of the latest issue of Vice and it was full of Vice reading idiots.

I am not a fan of Vice. Anyone who has seen Nathan Barley will understand who their target reader is.

On two separate occasions I was standing next to a group of girls minding my own business when they started pointing and giggling at me. I can only assume it was because I was there to watch a band rather than huddle in a pack wearing ridiculous clothes and talk loudly about my inane life like everyone else was.

But it was a free gig and the wonderful High Places were headlining so I persevered.

The first band on were a grindie outfit. That’s right grindie, the bastard offspring of grime and indie. I will give it no more space in this review.

The second support act were tolerable, kind of like what the Brian Jonestown Massacre would be like if you sucked all the fun and God-like arrogance out of them.

And then it was time for High Places. If you have haven’t heard them they are the sixth track on my current show, so put it on right now and enjoy. Think Animal Collective, Holy Fuck or Black Dice, with a hint of tribal drumming, a splash of 80s pop and soft school girl vocals floating through odds-and-ends percussion.

By this time the portion of my night spent intensely focusing on drinking had kicked in and I was dancing away, as were a good chunk of Vice readers. Good for them, or maybe good for me as they seemed to have accepted me by now.

The two band members looked pretty tired, this was the first stop in England on their current European tour and they had arrived in the country that day, but they kept the drum machine pounding well into the night. Every time they looked up at the crowd they smiled back and despite informing us they had one song left they were cheered on and played another three.

They raised the night out of Shoreditch monotony and took it to a higher place.

Catch them if you can on the last few days of their UK tour or listen to my Debris Slide show as I’ll definitely be playing more of their tracks on upcoming broadcasts.

HAHAHAHA!  The best one yet!!

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I should get in for free because……..”I’ve worked with Muse”….

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Ten pounds please.

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I havn’t laughed this much in ages, touch me and see what happens:

http://www.27bslash6.com/overdue.html

I’m watching Renaissance on filmfour it’s pretty good, not as good as Spirited Away or that new one, first time watching Spirited Away is like wow the Japanese know how to harness their imagination, instead of thinking of winning the lottery or having a big Primark voucher, well anyway it’s better than the usual shite films they pump out.

What a difference a couple of days can make. One day, everything’s pear shaped, I can’t book a band for shit, disillusionment with the business and 14 hour days sets in and I’m thinking of running off to some soulless little bar in the West End. One blinding weekend at the venue later, some slick Monday action in the booking department and everything’s back on track. So I’m doing my best to make this a positive blog rather than the usual rant about the state of the earth and potty mouthing the nation’s much loved mobile phone brands.

So what’s good this week?…..some fella called Barack did quite well in a recent survey carried out in the United States. Good news indeed but I think quite enough has been mentioned about that in the last seven days without me having my two pence on that topic.

The annual volleys of fireworks that start weeks before 5^th November and generally continue for a good week afterwards are just about coming to the final rounds. You can’t moan about fireworks, the kids seem to have a good time firing them at each other and they’ve certainly been keeping me entertained. Anything that mixes loud sounds and a decent light show is good with me.

Halloween passed us a couple of weeks ago, which I won’t go into in too much detail as it would simply turn into a rant about the ridiculous commercialism/Americanisation of what was actually a Pagan (and then later Christian) festival…….“Where are your decorations!?”…….the punters cried, as they came through the venue doors on October 31^st……I lose track of the amount of times I had to explain we’re running a rock n roll venue, not a cheesy high street bar. But, it gets the girls dressing up and people seem to enjoy making an effort and get in the mood to go out and have a good time so, again, I’m gonna let it go and call it what it is……a damn good party.

What else is making me happy this week? Well I seem to go through fazes musically and at the moment I’m going through a definite electronic phase, so despite the lack of a new show from 10Rapid for the last few weeks (a bit like this blog), I’ve been enjoying listening to the previous 10Rapid B-sides show for probably the 10^th or 11^th time and I’m still not bored of it, which has got to be a good thing. I believe the man himself has just got back to the UK after a sustained absence, hence the delay with the next instalment of …presents B-sides, but I’m sure looking forward to the next one.

Getting the phone number of a nice girl is a good feeling. Not in an egotistical way but who doesn’t feel good when you get some attention from the opposite sex – everyone likes to be complimented – so to the girl who shall remain nameless – thank you.

AND FINALLY! Killing the up-beat nature of this post, today is of course Armistice Day, marking the end of the First World War and giving us all time to reflect on the soldiers who have laid down their lives or have been wounded in conflicts over the years so we can enjoy the freedom we have today. And indeed the men and women to this day who are prepared to give their lives so that you and I can live in peace and prosperity in our Country. Regardless of your view on the various wars and political situations in the world, we owe these people everything, so please give just a moment of your time today, tomorrow, or any time you get a minute, to remember those who never got the chance to grow old and those who continue to serve us today.

Much love. Seb. x

After being handed The Erased Tapes Records Vol. 1 there were two songs that stood out like dancers nipples on a bitter morning, they were by The British Expeditionary Force and Canon Blue, but it was the Re mixer that really stole the limelight, those error prone beats and laser tangent sounds turned the Indie housemates heads.

So i got the E.P and played forth the tunes, most wonderfully The Decadent, available at www.myspace.com/rivalconsoles, stream the tunes and embrace the dark edge coming out of Leicester.

The live sets infuse illegal head twitching and bolshy lights, with hoots, wonder and bemusement from the crowd, totally well worth seeing, the longer he goes on the later he’ll play and that’s good for everyone.