The Worship St Irregulars

Slow news week over at Irregular Towers, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to welcome my new niece into the World. She is officially, the new thing. Here’s the Horrors’ track by the same name.

Here’s a challenge; could two songs with the same central theme be any different in terms of message than Nicky Thomas’ “Love of the Common People’ and Pulp’s “Common People”. I love them both equally. Favourite lyrics from each have to be; “it’s a good thing you don’t have bus fares, it’ll fall through the hole in your pocket” and “rent a flat above a shop,cut your hair and get a job. Smoke some fags and play some pool, pretend you never went to school”. Check them both out below:

Nicky Thomas:

Pulp:

“This town, is coming like a ghost town
All the clubs have been closed down
This place, is coming like a ghost town
Bands won’t play no more
too much fighting on the dance floor”

Lyrics there from Ghost Town by the Specials, which, if you replace ghost with eco, may prove an ominous prophecy for the future of Eco Towns. Listen to the track here:

For a blast from the past, click here to listen to Harry J and the Allstars, Liquidator).

What would Captain Planet make of the proposed ‘Eco Towns’ in the UK? Well, I think he’d wouldn’t be too bothered because if he were real, he would now be getting epically BD with the growing hoards of eco-conscious ladies in the UK. Captain Planet would be getting laid on the scale of George Best in the 70s, as the environment has justifiably nudged to the forefront of the minds of those well-off enough to have a choice as to what car they drive, where they source their vegetables and an ability to buy bags that are anything but free plastic bags.

I have digressed from the outset, what I actually want to consider is the following statement from Hegel in the context of the ‘New Towns’ of the UK and the proposed Eco Towns;

“What experience and history teach is this-that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it”

MOAR!

The irregulars looked at this before we knew what blogging was, and dug it out last night. American property prices since records began, modelled as a ‘Theme Park’ rollercoaster (do you remember how full of win Theme Park was?)

Note, it’s actually Rollercoaster Tycoon on the Atari. But seriously, Theme Park was epic

So Field Day has jaunted into the festival season with a well-deserved “fuck you” swagger. The line-up is making my mouth water. It’s like a definitive list of the best djs currently involved in the London music scene bringing heavyweights such as Eat Your Own Ears, Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve (Erol Alkan), Skull Juice, Filthy Dukes and my personal favourite Rory Phillips together in a West End-meets-East End music orgy.

Oh yeah, and Simian Mobile Disco are rocking up as well. If you haven’t already got a ticket, get one because I guarantee you’ll be dancing all day and night finding “your new favourite track” on an hourly basis. Here’s one to get you started:

If you can’t make it today, here’s Skull Juice latest radio installment which puts you half way towards having your own little house party.

Away from the DJ side of things, there are some interesting acts playing. Regular readers will know that Mystery Jets and Laura Marling are firm favourites of ours, so it’ll be good to see them again. The NME hype machine will be in full flow as Lightspeed Champion, Foals and Wild Beasts roll into town, if I’m honest, none of which do a great deal for me (aside from Foals - French Open). By the time Rob Da Bank takes the stage at 7pm, there will still be 12 hours of partying to be had considering the afterparty ends at 7am at the End! Expect to bump into characters like this…

If the sun comes out, I predict Of Montreal will have an epic set with their unique brand of camp experimental rock.

As a sucker for a generous helping of scuzzy guitar, my one to watch is New York rockers Les Savy Fav and ask yourself; what would wolves do?

Guest post

There’s a strong chance I am alone on this, but personally I like my rock venues to be shit scary. Dark basements you would only consider entering when recklessly drunk, on the tail end of a speed binge. I remember in my teenage years at the Brixton Fridge, watching a guy bleed all over a sink as he reset his broken nose and ran back out to mosh in front of Poison Ivy. I like my venues to double as gay bars on Tuesdays, so if you get the wrong day you’ll wind up having a very different experience. These things reassure me that rock is alive and pulsating with the hate and violence of our jilted generation.

Sin, located in the down market end of the West End is not such a place. I must be candid about the fact I do not know what they were playing downstairs. Perhaps you could ask the guy with more piercings than a smack addict, whose name was Harry and he worked in a Sussex architect’s office. It was certainly some shouty combination of drums and guitars, gravely vocals forced out of a middle class throat. I do remember the opening DJ was an extremely hot girl and then when I went back at 2am to ask for Rage Against the Machine the DJ had morphed into a man in drag. It did take me longer than it should for me to realise, but he was facing away from me and wearing a black wig. Really.

But I deviate. My point is about Harry, the man with a shitty face and a charming demeanour. Everyone wore black at this place. In much the same way as The Electric Showrooms, it is easy to feel like you are attending an international ‘I love the Crow’ convention. (I was only at the Camden Electric Ballrooms because I had got the venue confused with the Angel one. The website is confusing, I think deliberately in an attempt to dilute all the Crow fanatics).

No one at Sin scared me, I was by far and away the most unhinged person there. The dance floor was self conscious and no one could quite settle on quite how to rock out in the appropriate manner. People were having a good time, there were plenty of bull horn fists and long ‘Bodyform’ / Timotei hair. From what I could tell they were predominantly revelling in the thrill of being out of the chatroom and in the club, sharing their music without the hindrance of typing. No one intimidated me, which I found disappointing. Trodden toes responded with polite apologies. Newcastle Brown Ale was sold by the bottle, often associate with commercial suicide. A nice big bottle of fight juice you can smash in half when you get to the bottom.

My Dad tells me stories of Nottingham bars where Newcy Broon was served in draught. Outside on the street, the men fought on the right of the door and women fought on the left. The streets were busy on a Friday night. All I have to come back at him with is Harry and that makes me feel like a pussy. My father mocks me with his tales of ‘The Stones’. Of breaking in to Hendrix gigs, standing at the back of the upper balcony and still not being able to heae a person shouting directly into your ear. Let’s get back to basics. Go on Sin, go ahead, ‘Pick up the gun’.

Saw this at Kew Cricket Club, absolutely classic!

Check out his track, Buff Nuff below, it has a sick beat and hefty portion of bass, as you’d expect from Stockwell’s finest. Look out for him at this year’s Notting Hill Carnival at the end of this month.

Cowards die many times before their death

Shoreditch hasn’t always been packed full of languishing artistes, whining musicians and general “cooler than thou” fuck tools. Some of it’s famous former residents include Jeremy Beadle (RIP), Barbara Windsor (watch the infamous Carry on Camping scene here) and none other than William Shakespeare. In fact, if the Bard was still around today he’d pretty much be the next door neighbour of the Irregulars and we would no doubt be big buddies, pulling all nighters dancing to victorian electro mash ups.

As a hat-tip to the ruff-sporting maestro, a number of performance are planned at the Old Blue Last this month. Drop by on either 2,9, 16, 23 or 30 August to be immersed in some wordsmithery which will far surpass the usual sub-normal lyrics that spew out the mouths of the bands who normally take to the stage at this venue. Check out some tickets here. If you fancy a quick read of some of his handiwork, the complete works can be found here.

No doubt the fashionistas of Shoreditch will shortly be sporting this tasty little number…

Spotted down in the Shad Thames area (south side of tower bridge). No idea who the artist is, but I like it.

A brief service announcement from the admin here; we’ve migrated over to a much bigger, fast, better server, and though there were a few teething troubles, it looks like the move went mostly without a hitch.