CAMDEN UNSIGNED PLAYLIST 07.02.2012

Camden Unsigned (John and Kate’s ‘Unsigned Trash’) playlist, 07/02/2012

1. The Cheap Thrills – Live Now

2. Alistair Sherrin – Take it All

3. Nia – Mescaline

4. Little Luke – Puppets

5. Small Horses – The Last of the Likely Lads

6. Chasing Tigers – Take Me Away

7. The Romleys – Singing to a Stone

8. Everything But Arms – My Dad’s a Super Spy

9. Pink Cigar – Strange
10. The Hops - Shudder

11. Van Howling – Hole in the Wall (Radio Edit)

12. White Rose – Black Magic Box

13. The Madding Crowd – A Glorious Comedy

14. Stone Them Crows – 50s Sex

15. Ron Bowderry – Overplay Red Light

16. S.C.U.M. – Whitechapel

17. Black Hay – I Feel Something

18. The Cellophane Flowers – Belinda
19. Black Foot Circle - Racket of the Records

20. Moist – Scared

21. Pink Cigar – The Throat

22. Changing Horses – I Don’t Need It

VOTE VAN HOWLING

Just a very quick post encouraging everyone to vote for the mighty Van Howling on Uni Music League at the link below:

http://www.unimusicleague.com/index.php?rid=66&title=bresult

Van Howling truly is an awesome and unique band. Check out my previous review for a more comprehensive description:

http://trashofcamden.blogspot.com/2011/09/behold-van-howling-hear-him.html


Also, I'd thoroughly recommend catching this marvellous quartet live at The Hideaway on Thursday 15th December.

DECEMBER DELIGHTS

Here's a little round-up of some exciting events going on during December 2011:

1. If you haven't checked it out already, then the first part of The Palace of Justice's sophomore effort, Once and For All is available for your listening pleasure at the band's myspace page so give it a listen via the link below:

www.myspace.com/thepalaceofjustice

For anyone who's familiar with the band's debut, The Album of Justice, this second album is a very different listening experience altogether, and tracks have been tinkered with, remixed and, in some cases, entirely re-recorded with a level of devotion that's pretty damn impressive.

Part Two will be accessible and up for download via bandcamp (http://thepalaceofjustice.bandcamp.com/) on Friday 9th December (that's THIS friday) and will be launched at a gig on the same day at The Good Ship in Kilburn. Attendees will be given a code that entitles them to a free download of the album. Here's the facebook event for further details:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/258863960833181/

2. Following a mighty comeback tour included in which was a gig in the Bowery in New York, Special Needs have released their new single, 'I Agree With Nick' (B-Side: 'Stuck in Human Resources') and it's available for download via iTunes Store and Amazon MP3 store at the link below:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Agree-With-Nick/dp/B006AOUFXC

Everyone should download this exciting single with its storming "Your country hates you and so do I" refrain. It brings together all the vivacity and joie de vivre of classic Funfairs and Heartbreak-era Special Needs with a sense of musical and political urgency that's agitated but, at the same time, full of the indie-pop momentum we've come to expect from both the band's recorded material and incendiary live shows. Plus, the cover art is really excellent.

DOWNLOAD IT. I have.



3. Citing rock n roll stalwarts like Dylan, the Stones and the Beatles alongside literary influences from Edgar Allen Poe to Charles Bukowski, Paddy Griffith is a singer-songwriter of unquestionable quality and well worthy of your esteemed attention.

Check out Paddy's Facebook page for more info:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Paddy-Griffith/203511569666850

Trash was fortunate enough to sit in on the recording of a fantastic track called 'Dream in Sterling' when it was recorded during a twelve-hour stretch at the Turnpike Lane studio. What started as an idea for a song based on a series of chord progressions soon flourished into an incredible psychedelic Tarantino-esque stomp complete with moody guitar solos and group hollering, featuring the musical and recording talents of POJ members as well as 'vocal contributions' from other assorted layabouts.

Have a listen to the result at the following link:

http://soundcloud.com/paddygriffithdemos/dream-in-sterling

What's more, Paddy is playing a gig supporting The Louis Jordan Factory Band at The Enterprise in Chalk Farm this Friday. Yep, it's the venue with the cool sound guy and the shaky floor boards. Just don't head downstairs needlessly unless you need to buy a drink or go to the toilet. It's pretty rank down there on a Friday night.

Again, I hate to be a Facebook whore, but here's the event:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/190855751001448/

4. And for anyone who's been wondering whatever happened to Killer Blob live music nights and promotion, fear not. Killer Blob returns to its spiritual home, The Hideaway, on Junction Road, for a super-dooper Christmas party with a line-up that's practically salivating. Thursday 15th December will warmly welcome back...

...TH'SHERIDANS

...VAN HOWLING

...and THE PALACE OF JUSTICE  for a night of joyous frivolity, top-class music and festive merriment. All for £3. Plus, there are promises of mince pies and rumours of Christmas live-musical chairs.

Here's the Facebook event with more details:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/192765790798944/

Also, Killer Blob is teaming up with Trash and various wonderful friends and compatriots to create a compilation CD of Free New Fucking Exciting Music to be released early next year so keep your eyes and ears open for news about featured artists and celebratory gigs. It's all very exciting. Hurray for December!

FROM THE TRASH ARCHIVES...

Frances Taffinder modelling exclusively for Trash of Camden

Impromptu Turnpike Trash shoot

Ben Mills. Trashed.

Van Howling merchandise

 

Massive thanks to anyone who has ever been forceably/gently encouraged to wear Trash for photographs. You're all absolutely tops.

Behold Van Howling! Hear him roooooaaaaarrrr...

FEED ME at the Hideaway, Thursday 15th September 2011

FEED ME is the latest clubnight to grace the stage of the basement bar at the Hideaway on Junction Road. Taking over from the Killer Blob Promotions nights that are usually held every month at the Hideaway (which are something of a local institution), FEED ME was organised by the members of ghost-swamp rock outfit, Van Howling, who gave the performance of their lives as the headlining act. Compere Mark Tomlinson had the enthusiasm of a small child on Christmas morning, introducing his night and every act with an energy that was contagious...

First on-stage was singer-songwriter and general badass, Eli Cash, whose self-penned punky ditties of 'bad romance' were habitually interspersed by hilarious commentary from Eli herself. Her songs were forthright and honest and hugely enjoyable, her strumming guitar propelling ever song to its often unashamedly bitter end. What was most impressive was the earnest quality of her performance, laying everything down (music and sentiments), warts and all. Apparently, Eli Cash is in some kind of Facebook 'Like' war with someone she knows (and dislikes) so add her page to stay up to date with her activities:

http://www.facebook.com/elicash.is.king?sk=app_178091127385#!/elicash.is.king?sk=wall


Following Eli Cash was Laws of Motion, a four-piece from Bath responsible for some interesting and elegant sound-scapes accompanied by spectral falsetto vocals. The set was varied but structured by extended shoegazey instrumentals, and bar a broken guitar string, the band maintained an atmospheric ambience that was pretty impressive.

http://soundcloud.com/lawsofmotion

Apparently, Van Howling hasn't played a gig in over two months and the only rehearsals its members have had have been completely informal affairs. A CD to follow an earlier three-track EP has been in the works for awhile now and rumour has it that VH has been attempting to translate its incendiary live shows into a fully-fledged record.

If last night's gig was anything to go, the results of this should be hugely exciting. 
Having seen Van Howling play a number of times before, I feel that this was the band's best gig to date. The sound at the Hideaway was fantastic, the rewards of a thorough sound-check that had taken place beforehand. On-stage, it was a very much a DIY sound-job, members of the Palace of Justice sporadically jumping into the sound-booth and fiddling with the dials before re-joining the throngs of fans at the front to heckle for their favourite Van Howling numbers.

And what a set it was, the gothic, Nick Cave-Birthday Party stylings of VH coming through in howling waves of dramatic splendour. Van Howling is original in every sense of the word, presenting 'cheerful songs about death' as frontman Gabriel Balfe has termed them, set against rampant polka beats and latino, carnivalesque rhythms. Van Howling almost reminds me a Victorian music-hall cabaret act - so much so it should become standard to have them perform framed by a red velvet curtain and under a rhinestone chandelier. 

Foot-pedals magnified the psychedelic guitar with shoe-gaze freakouts that added to the richness of Van Howling's songs, underpinned by the trademark pulsating funky bass-lines and superb, energetic drumming that are central to Van Howling. Gabriel is proving to be quite the front-man, shedding his guitar on several occasions to allow room for him to dance and annunciating lyrics with sheer grandiosity, thus lending Van Howling's narratives a sense of pure, Bowie-informed theatre.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get hold of a set-list (and I'm not even sure there was one) but some stand-out numbers included 'Quake' during which the dancefloor at the front erupted into spinning and shimmying, as well as a stripped-down and elegant acoustic version of stellar VH tale of woe, 'Five', during which everyone sat down, VH's John and Julian included, before getting up again for its final crescendo.

Quite simply, it was stunning.

Keep in the loop with VH's future gigs and FEED ME events via the band's Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/vanhowling