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Rated and Retarded – Camden Crawls out of the Ashes of the Hawley Arms
I heard a sweet story this week that reminded me that the blitz/7-7 Londoner solidarity happens on small scales too. As has been well-publicised, Camden and specifically the Hawley Arms was subjected to minor tragedy in the form of a fire. Check out this flickr feed for the images. Anyway, my friend who is a regular in the Wilmington Arms (just off Exmouth Market) informs me that all the Hawley Arms staff have been taken on there (whilst keeping on their original staff), meaning that it’s definitely the quickest place to get served in London. Last time I went past they had a Hawley Memorial going-on along with good food and good music…their proposition is so tempting we nearly left E2 to visit it, nearly.
In a month or so Camden will burst into life once again like a Phoenix from the flames as the Camden Crawl, the two day musical bender, swings into town once again. Being the benevolent soul that I am, I have assessed the long, long line-up (what’s been announced so far) and given you a brief pointer as to a who’s who of the crawl.
Image courtesy of this chick
Cat the Dog – I dusted off my Nirvana collection the other day and grunged-out whilst we tidied Worship Towers (we are so rock n’ roll it’s fucking painful). Sometimes, only Nirvana, Foo Fighters or Queens of the Stone Age can fill the mosh-shaped void in my aural environment. I’d say that Cat the Dog creeps in through the cat flap of the ears like a grunge-inspired, Brighton-based Vagabond and stays in your head like an unwanted, unwashed lodger with tracks like I’m a Romantic. I also love their use of old school British propaganda poster – “Loose Lips Sink Ships”, indeed. They have been kicking around for a while but bring a necessary shot of heavier stuff to the bracket against what is an essentially pop-twee twinged line-up.
Elle S’Appelle - From the grungey end of the spectrum to the twee end…I can’t imagine these guys partying much, it’s probably all fairycakes, and bedtime stories. I’m a cynical old bastard (well compared to most of the Shoreditch skindies) but in this time of moral bankruptcy, where we demonise today’s youth, we should probably champion twee powerpop as a shining light of wholehearted, boppy happy times. The musical equivalent of The Happy Elves in the Simpsons if you will. It’s not my bag but that’s because my World view just won’t allow me to accept music that is so overwhelmingly chirpy!
Johnny Flynn - I like most acts that come out of the Transgressive Label, but Johnny Flynn has to be my favourite that hasn’t ‘broke’ significantly. I don’t need to surround his music with flowery words and superlatives, it speaks for itself…I discovered this song whilst I was reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go’, a combination I’d thoroughly recommend:
Noah & The Whale – I have to drop these guys some props else one of the other Irregulars won’t be too happy! I thought their track ‘5 years time’ had been used in an advert, then I realised it was probably just because it’s had so much airtime at Worship Towers! They fit in nicely with the Marlings/Emmy the Greats/Devendra Banharts of this World…
Fanfarlo - Music for those of a romantic bent. Their melodic ramblings could melt the heart of the most hardened double-hard bastard and have him skipping down Kingsland Road like a ninny.
The Ghost Frequency - Tres bien, tres bien indeed! If this is the frequency that the Ghost’s are on, zap me with a proton pack ASAP! To quote their myspace page, “Ross has a degree in Computer Science and is a BADASS MOTHERFUCKER on synth and guitar” – I tend to agree. I think these guys are mostly to cause a scenester riot at the Camden Crawl. There’s something for the synth heads in their tracks, Money on the Fire is a dance floor killer. There’s some Transformer-esque distortioned soundbites/some Zombie-esque beats, and an over-arching, slightly harder ‘We Are Scientists’ guitar action. Their artwork/aesthetic reminds me of the ‘Sick of Nature’ artwork and a lot of the stuff that’s been building up around Shoreditch club night/zine scene for a year or so. All of the four tracks they’ve got up on Myspace are decent, definitely my tip for great things.
They reminded me of Enter Shikari, which is odd, since they don’t sound much like them…Enter Shikari’s Sorry You’re Not A Winner, continues to pwn all:
Hatcham Social – hmmmmmmmmm, Jabberwocky? Really? Derivative stuff.
Eugene McGuiness – of all the artists/bands I’ve listened to on the line-up for 2008 (some of the produce made me want to slit my wrists and rip off my ears), this has to be my favourite lyrically. I’m a sucker for clever, societal lyrics and they are nailed by McGuiness. Between the tight, jangling riffs on Nightshift and the floaty organ on Bold Street, this isn’t just “man + guitar = music”, there’s some variety, some originality and some feeling – looking forward to seeing it all in the flesh.
The King Blues – We like protest music. We like punk music but grew up in the Countryside so are far too soft to actually be punk, but we admire it from a safe distance, behind our Georgian floor-to-ceiling windows. The King Blues are a big bouncy ball of ukuele-backed politicised posturing. None of this glittery jackets/make-up and art project bollocks, this is revolution baby, vive la revolution! I expect their set to go off in a big fashion, maybe the whole crowd will go out and start an alternative living commune in Essex…oh hang on…that’s happened before..Here’s a video of their song, “Fuck Bob Geldof”. It’s not just Geldof that get’s told to fuck right off, it’s pretty much anyone famous that’s ever tried to do anything to do with charity.
It seems the Geldofs just get endless amounts of shit, someone wrote something along the lines of “keep your slut daughters away from here, they’re not welcome” on the Old Blue Last a couple of weeks ago apparently. To be fair, Peaches et al stood behind us once at a gig there and they were fucking annoying. Anyway, Fuck Chris Martin…
Tags: music
Good on the Wilmington.