Assembly

Photos | 05/03/2004 at 16:11:52

This looks like something from the Wicker Man, or some other psych-fest from the late 60s/70s. It was in fact taken during a performance by Assembly, opening for Four Tet at the Scala in spring 2003.

Hey Joni

Cartoons | 05/03/2004 at 16:11:37

Bovril in Brixton

Photos | 05/03/2004 at 16:08:38

This is probably my favourite hand-painted advert in the neighbourhood - although it's fading fast. The strength in the lettering is wonderfully modern and is quite, quite beautiful. The sign also always reminds me of the character Gordon Comstock in Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying - tormented by ads for the unsavoury product 'Bovex' that he writes the copy for:

"Opposite, next to the Prince of Wales, were tall hoardings covered with ads for patent foods and patent medicenes exhorting you to rot your guts with this or that synethetic garbage...Of them all, the Bovex one oppressed Gordon the most. A spectacled rat-faced clerk, with patent-leather hair, sitting at a cafe table grinning over a white mig of Bovex. 'Roland Butta enjoys his meal with Bovex,' the legend ran."

I've never tried Bovril myself. Marmite will ALWAYS be my extract of choice!

16/02/04 - Explosions in the Sky. The ICA.

Words | 05/03/2004 at 16:07:43

The Explosions seemed tired. Or maybe I was tired. Tired, thirsty and hugging a pile of coats to keep them away from the beer- and-fag-coated floor. I probably wasn't in the best possible 'gig' mood. And the kids standing next to me didn't help. They were terrifying.

"...my last boyfriend was a real asshole. He hated post rock - HATED it!" "Crazy!" "Yeah, I know. I had to dump him."

I absently listened to them talk about their scene, hugging the coats tighter, and watching the band milling about onstage. There was no great arrival. Chris, Munaf, Mark and Mike had been up there a good while before Munaf finally greeted the crowd, off the microphone. He thanked Bikini Atoll, the opening band, "from our hearts to theirs", he thanked all of us for showing up. And then the first song of the set kind of just started...drifting into being. "Fuck you!" a guy yelled from the back somewhere. "Wait, no way," I thought, "WHAT?! This is the sweetest buch of guys in the world! Didn't you hear what he just said?!" But then I rewound and replayed his voice in my head. The guy had yelled, "THANK you!" and 'Memorial' wrapped itself around the audience.

The song builds incrementally from very slight, delicate e-bowed notes, to a simple, repeating melody that grows a moment at a time. It is reminiscent of Radiohead, something i can't quite pinpoint exactly, all minor and hushed. Hushed until it hits its stride, of course, about 5 minutes in and the kids, the girls next to me expecially, go crazy. Hell. I would have gone crazy too, had it not been for the coats. A series of absolutely HUGE-sounding guitars chime in unison over and over at the song's climax and as the guitars chimed in unison, so did the band, each guitarist raising their instrument high in the air to bring it crashing down again as the chords rang out. The crowd matched the song note for note, raising hands and fists in the air in joy. The song is as mesmerising in its restraint as it is fierce in its abandon. And it is utterly triumphant. It's about life and living it. I guess, in a way, all of their songs are. They map out intense emotional moments - moments of stillness and of absolute joy. And explosions mean all of it. Sincerely. "THANK YOU!!!!" yelled the guy at the back again, as they brought the song crashing to a close. It was the best moment of the night.

Some technical trouble - a nasty ol' guitar lead - was the cause of about 15 minutes of intermittant angry buzzing and a whole bunch of bother to the three tech guys scratching their heads and frantically swopping leads around. It certainly killed the pace of the show, although a few favourites from their first two records revived the crowd towards the end. The lights came up on a quiet note, a gentle song rounding off the night. No encore.

Another Sunday night...

Photos | 05/03/2004 at 16:06:34

It's 23.28pm on a Sunday night...another Sunday night. In a few hours I will be once again be bombing down the spiral staircase at Oval tube station and squeezing myself onto a Northern Line train...