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Rose Kemp's Live shows are phenomenal, such an expression filled and fuelled singer coupled with a tight proficient band make for a blistering combination. Rose Kemp's Debut single, Violence was a particular favourite of mine, a brooding builder it was one of my favourite singles of last year. Hand Full of Hurricane contains some incredible tracks; Rose Kemp's voice soars in Rock Majesty and drops into serene heart felt moments. The music cleverly arranged, played and produced with skill and thought. The songs are raw, open and honest, about feelings and emotions, good and bad, but deeply personal and every word meant. There is a but to this review, although it's a small one. A few tracks are a little self indulgent, in that the songs are too long and some unnecessary, they feel like padding, with Rose's vocal trickery rather overshadowing the feelings of the song. Overall an impressive debut from a talented artist who exceeds all expectations and assumptions.

Went to a most inspiring talk last night entitled "Holy War, Religion and Violence" given by Keith Ward at Gresham College. I hope to get a copy of the transcript to post here but I learnt a lot and had a lot of thoughts implanted in my head including : <br>The Byzantine Empire was a remnant of the Roman Empire (which I knew) but far from being the glorious, free civilised image it liked to portray, the empire was in fact a dictatorship and when the Turks (Muslims) attacked they were seen by many as liberators and welcomed.The supposed 'Dark Ages' were only really in the West; the Muslim world was full of advances and enlightenment at the time.<br><br>The Arab world continued and kept alive the Greek traditions of philosophy and discovery, presumably from their Byzantine conquest, the west relearnt them from the Arab world.<br><br>When the West had caught up after the Dark Ages it commenced a 'colonisation' (Christianisation?) of most of the world, the Europeans were seen as Barbarians by the Muslim world, but we ignored most of that and just drained and destroyed them, turning them into the 'Third World' they are now.<br><br>The Qur'an is a set of principles or rules; there are no 'Clergy' in Islam, but a set of 'lawyers' if you like, who interpret the rules and pass those interpretations on to local followers, these 'rules' were written a long time ago for a nomadic society, so their interpretations have changed over the years. There is no supreme head of the Islamic Faith (The last Kalif was deposed in the 14th Century by Muslims) and there is only one Islamic State (Iran), compare that to Christianity. Mohammed was a political leader, so has influence on Politics, but Christianity was and still is tied in with politics.Most phrases taken from the Qur'an and used against it are taken out of context or presented in an edited form. The same applies with extremists; they even use elements of Lenin's teachings on Violent Revolution being the only solution against what they don't consider 'real' Islam, i.e. Democratic politicians in Islamic Countries.<br><br>Islam is an inclusive religion, all prophets from all faiths are considered valid, as are all paths to Heaven, however Muslims do consider Islam the best route, two quotes that sum this attitude nicely :

When I first listened to this CD I wanted to slate it completely, sounding like a horrendous hash of all my least favourite current musical genres, including Emo, disco-beat shit, Jingle-Jangle Indie Fop and obligatory Northern accents (not that there's anything wrong with that, it just seems that the Industry is almost looking for them!). Whilst there is a little too much of all of the aforementioned genres in Dartz!'s sound I'm glad I gave it a second listen as beneath all the spine chilling scene chasing are some good melodies, lyrics and musicmanship, boys, get original, you can do it!

Despite a promising album name and some splendid song titles such as Let the Blind lead the Blind and Talentless Fuck this album on the whole pretty is terrible. There is too much Emo crap at the moment and far too much Disco beat nonsense (I keep saying this over and over again, I feel like I'm repeating myself far too much!) so why the hell combine the two! Commercial success I guess.

With a name like Duke Garwood I was hoping for some low down dirty blood, guts and spit blues, which this release is to a certain extent, but with an off-kilter, lo-fi edge. However too many times on the album you're left wanting tunes with direction and more of Duke's soulful, gritty voice and less meandering music that sounds mostly improvised, it all starts to drag after a few tracks

I seem to have been sent an abundance of random noise albums recently, I don't quite understand the point of recording an album of meandering melodies that don't really go anywhere. All very nice and pleasant, and a smattering of pretty melodies, but all to no avail.

Despite a name influenced by wondrous family fantasy romp, Willow the band are yet another overproduced slab of boring American influenced trite. I barely noticed the tracks change from one to the other, I was just glad when it was all over.

ULU is full of sweat, teenage hormones and casual day time radio listeners, Jingle jangle and the kids all dance, Uh Oh and the kids all chant, but there's something fundamentally important missing, where are the songs? The Maccabees set is like one long yawn, lots of nice sounding chords all strung together, where are the verses, the choruses, the hooks, the ups, the downs? Where's the stage show, the presence? Where's the Rock & Roll?

Somewhere buried beneath all The Disco Beat crap and Indie-Fop rubbish that plagues the current music scene is an encouraging and burgeoning army of Singer-Songwriters with something to say. Clayton Blizzard is one of it's finest exponents, his lyrics are incredible, he raps, he sings, he improvises, but unlike some of his contemporaries, he can write original tunes, played with skill and ease on his acoustic guitar. He speaks the truth with a dose of un naive reality, the residents of Notting Hill aren't all up for hearing it, but this is what music should be about, Fusion is the future, Black meets White, genre meets genre, Folk and Phat, inspiring and pure genius.

Mira Calix makes no excuse at this being an Art Installation of sorts, an experiment in musical boundaries rather than song writing. Whilst it's all very interesting, I hate to sound narrow minded but I'm old fashion, I like songs, verses, choruses and bits that you want to whistle, an hour of noise is not my idea of fun. There is the occasional beautiful moment, but there's too much fiddling around, too much indulgence and lack of structure for my tastes.<a href='https://www.miracalix.com' target='_blank'>www.miracalix.com</a>

Been rather lame with blog posts recently, you see I'm know self-employed, so not only do I have work to do, but when I don't, I have to look for work... On top of all that I'm arranging my trip to Australia...<br><br>Also, I haven't posted many articles or reviews recently, because I finally have a paid writing job which is taking up most of my time, now it's finally launched I'll start telling you about some of the stuff I'm posting there, more of that later...<br><br>Firstly a few news titbits that caught my eye...<br><br><a href="https://www.musictowers.com/NewsFeed/ViewArticle1969.aspx" target="_blank">New Chart Rules</a><br><br><a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/03/armed_cop_challenge/" target="_blank">Armed Cop Challenge</a><br><br><a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/08/crimean_dolphin_attack/" target="_blank">Dolphin Attack!</a><br><br><a href="https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.01/khipu.html" target="_blank">And this is very interesting...</a><br><br>I took a trip to the Museum of London and think I might have found the roots of the North / South divide in country and London Terms, I was going to post photos, but they didn't come out very well...<br><br>In the museum is a map of Roman Briton, South England is called "Britannia Superior", North England "Britannia Inferior"...<br>As for London, it seems that in times gone past the City, i.e. the North, built a wall round itself, to protect itself from invaders, no thought for the south though...<br><br>Big Brother : Not something I'd often talk about, but I gather some fellah from The Towers of London is in it this time, I wonder if their career will experience the same turnaround the Ordinary Boys did? It may intrigue you to know that both bands share the same press company... And that some time ago I spoke to Preston, after the second album had been released but pre-BB, and he confided in me that he had no idea what was in store for them, the second album, not being that well received...<br><br>Now, me and the Macaca Boys have been recording of late, we should have some results very soon... It was an odd process, a little bitty and isolated from each other, but that was the same way we did the Art Brut album and that came out OK...<br><br>OK then, now it's finally sort of on the way... Well it's in Beta stages, but go and have a look and submit suggestions for improvements, here's the site I've been writing for of late : <br><br><a href="https://www.indieoma.com" target="_blank">www.indieoma.com</a><br><br>At the moment it just has articles from my Australia music special, but very soon it will have stuff on : Antifolk, The Hot Puppies, The Answer, Bass Clef, Billy Ruffian, Brinkman, Dead Disco, The Mighty Roars, The Pipettes, Simon Breed, Twisterbait, Nosferatu D2, Blah blah blah, Rose Kemp, 28 Costumes, Billy Brag, The Indelicates, Alpha Saloon, Ashok, The Hedrons, Passenger, Voicst, The Wednesday Society, Natsuo Chiyoda, Some Velvet Morning, Summer Holiday, Dan Sartain, Indigo Moss and more...<br><br>Unfortunately I can't post the articles here, but I am slowly catching up with all the other reviews I've written, and will get them up soon...<br><br>Chinch out xx

Well then, been a while since I last said something...<br /><br />Christmas was quiet, dull, so I guess that was a good Christmas, sat around a lot, watched telly, ate, argued with the family, typical stuff...<br /><br />Got back on the 28th and did a surreal gig with Jim, just the two of us, tried several new songs I'd written and then we did a few improvised songs together, it was most amusing and there was a fair audience to...<br /><br />We also had a great gig on the 30th at The Pop Art Birthday at Lark in the Park, you can see some great photos <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mapsmagazine/sets/72157594449794529" target="_blank">here</a> taken by Paul Maps... As you can see we now have a new guitarist, welcome 'Dan Lobster'. Jim and I also sat on a Questions panel and took part in Indie win lose or draw, all great fun.<br /><br />New Years eve was an odd one, sat about most of the day, dropped by on Chez Fruitbat to visit Les & Crissi and watch Time Team with them, then off to a party of a guy I used to work with which was pretty cool and I met his three foot Marijuana plant called 'Nicky'. Then Arran and Lydia turned up and convinced me to go to another party, where I never quite felt happy, so left about 2ish but it took ages to get home and I saw so much obnoxious behaviour it really depressed me... New years day was pleasant, took a very long walk from Aldgate to Tooting to meet Jim and a few others for Dinner...<br /><br />Then today I started working my way through the list of places I want to visit before I leave with my old Flatmate Carrie, though Westminster Abbey and St Pauls were stupidly expensive so we only ended up going to The London Museum instead and then a quick wander round the National Gallery...<br /><br />I recorded a new track over Christmas to, at the request of a guy in Australia who wanted to remix it, it's a live favourite called 'AAA', take a listen at <a href="https://www.chinchilla-music.co.uk/music.php" target="_blank">www.chinchilla-music.co.uk/music.php</a> where you can hear both remixes, or at <a href="https://www.myspace.com/chrischinchilla" target="_blank">www.myspace.com/chrischinchilla</a>.<br /><br />Overall though I've been feeling strange the past week, everything is in motion now for my return to Australia, booked the flight, visa is being processed and I can't wait to be there again, not least because I get to meet a lovely Lady again, but also because it has not taken me long at all to become fed up with London again, and be reminded of all the reasons behind this feeling, I'm just killing time at the moment, I can't wait until I can finally start something new and move on from a lot of past. I'm rambling slightly, it's hard to put some of the feelings I have on the subject into words without going into a lot of things from my past, I guess it basically boils down to "That was me then this is me now", I want to live a different life as a different sort of person, but when you're constantly surrounded by the trappings of old you, and some of those trappings refuse to give you a chance as the new you... If that makes any sense...<br /><br />Suffice it to say, I'm very excited, after a while of talking about it, I'm finally leaving the UK to pastures new...

Firstly, a few more bits and pieces for you...<br><br>I am such a geek... <a href="https://video.on.nytimes.com/ifr_main.jsp?nsid=a718aabc2:10f8a83155f:-47f8&rf=bm&fr_story=d14603c1e23e6ce37920a8134a2e27b1405a4991&st=1166261802822∓=FLV&cpf=false&fvn=9&fr=121606_043642_718aabc2x10f8a83155fxw47f7&rdm=47464.51370765665" target="_blank">This</a> will irritate some of you (not least because of his accent), but what the hell!<br><br>Recently I've been investigating <a href="https://www.ilike.com" target="_blank">iLike</a>, it's like a mix between Pandora and Last FM, and is very pretty, though the music database is a little lacking in places at the moment...<br><br>It's been funny since I got back, because my initial plan was to just get back into work (which I have been, and very busy indeed, with all sorts of interesting work coming my way), get the band going (and we're recording next week!) and see what happened...<br><br>But it's funny what life throws at you, as in Melbourne I met someone who I got on very well with, so instead will be heading back there soonish to embark on a new adventure instead...<br><br>Oh well, who was I kidding that I could just come back to London and get on with life again?<br><br>Too much out there to be experienced yet, and I've made no secret of the fact that I've wanted to leave the UK for ages anyway and have just been looking for the right place and set of circumstances (which sounds really sterile, I guess I just mean when it felt right.)<br><br>Which has made the past week a little hectic as I try to organise all the paperwork (and get nowhere with it yet!), figure out when I'm actually going to go and sort everything out around that, keeping my fingers crossed that things will all just sort of come together beautifully as they always seem to when I stop worrying about things. (Apparently I have a guardian angel, but that's a whole other story!)<br><br>Anyway, so at the moment, I'm a little worried, busy, but very happy and excited... Good times!<br><br>Chinch out :-)

Personally I think <a href="https://media.nothingtoxic.com/uploads/4d7d011778fc4d6891bcedbec9710967.swf" target="_blank">this</a> is great...<br />A few odd things seen the past few days... - Bacardi are advertising 0 sugar, isn&#39;t Rum made from Sugar Cane?<ul><li>The new Burger King Angus is certified 100% Beef, do BK feel that their products are mistrusted so much they have to get them certified? And who does that? What a job...</li><li><span style="line-height: 1.538em;">Saw a sign for a Family restaurant... That appealed to my sense of humour... &quot;How would you like your Grandmother sir? Roasted or Fried?&quot;</li></ul>

Bah, my heads all of a muddle at the moment, trying to write songs, but busy sorting all sorts out and can&#39;t quite get anything out, lots of bits and pieces of ideas...

Here are my old shoes...

This was written for <a href="\" target="\&quot;_blank\&quot;">www.mapsmagazine.co.uk</a> so focuses on the playing side of things, might write something in more detail at some point, dunno... Had a lot of fun and some great times, met some great people...

A bubble machine is on stage pumping into the audience, a strobe flashing near the drum kit as the 7 members of Delta Mainline awkwardly squash onto the small stage in front of an already warmed up audience. The venue is too small for their big sound, occasionally hard to define and losing distinction when the whole band is in full swing. Delta Mainline create big epic slabs of noise, building multiple layers of melodies and noise and for the most part without becoming too self-indulgent. Vocally there's not a massive amount going on, enough to hold your interest and a few hooks here and there, but generally too soaked in reverb to pick much out which is probably for the best anyway.

The front row is a mixed bag of hard rockers and country fans intently listening to the similar mix emitting from the stage. A constantly pulsating and alluring cellist, a rake-like singer who conjures an incredible voice from the depths of somewhere not pleasant, a pounding bass player built like a tank and the tallest drummer ever seen build a dark world around them, dragging the crowd in, willing or not.

Chapter 24's intriguing mix of 60's beat combo, jazz and breakbeat drums is the perfect crazy emotional and musical rollercoaster soundtrack to a late Saturday afternoon. Bridging the gap between lethargically recovering from Friday's hangover to bracing yourself for doing it all over again. Raw and rough round the edges but with hearts and ideas in the right place.

I've been following the musical exploits of Ben and Chris for a fair few years as they morphed from their old band (Tempertwig) to this new two-piece. Unlike other two pieces Nosferatu D2 don't rely on heavy overdrive, effects or production to pad out the sound, just the same guitar sound all the way through, one vocal and some of the most amazing frantic drumming I've ever heard. Lyrically it's dark stuff, rejection, being let down, laments to lost youth and scathing commentaries on suburban life all delivered with a dry cynical wit. Not an album to listen to if you want cheering up, but for great musicianship and lyrical brilliance this is the place.

By the way, going to have a few last minute drinks tonight for those who couldn't make the party... 7.30pm at the Green Man in Berwick st...

Will be doing a proper tour diary at some point when I get back but in the meantime just checking in, saying hi...

The Drill Hall is more used to holding Jazz concerts, theatre and comedy performances, this is the first 'Indie' night to be held at the 600 capacity venue but the young crowd are more than making up for the small attendance, constantly dancing, singing along and shouting for more. The Hot Puppies also do an incredible job filling the hall with their grand sound, songs with big sweeping choruses, impassioned female led vocals (a crooner for the rock generation if you like), a pounding drummer and layers of synths and keyboards swooping and surging about. The band looks at home and comfortable on a big stage with the space to perform and show off, and why not.

I've been familiar with the Pipettes for quite a while, watching their fluctuating line-ups and increasing fortunes, this is one of their older songs and the first time I've heard their material in new slicker recording form. It's lost the Punky-Girl-Pop edge they used to posses but lyrically is still of the bitchy, biting ilk the Pipettes do so well. It's a short song, a few verses, and a few choruses and then over, a sweet slice of Pop one which poses the question I constantly ask with the Pipettes, what next?

An eclectic and eccentric bunch, The Hidden Cameras are a bunch of ever evolving Canadians, doing crazy things and not really fitting in. Awoo possesses that clever feel a lot of Canadian music has, fast, frantic lyrics full of witticism and sung in a deep, throaty voice, twinkling, jangling guitars, keyboards and sparkling strings offsetting the vocal style beautifully. Personally though I prefer the B-side, Why I understand, it's more upbeat, more in your face, but does sound like it was made in the 80's.

This is one of the best singles I've heard all year, from the quiet, delicate passages to the ear splittingly overdriven choruses of Violence, to the heartfelt orchestra backed Morning Music and the beautiful harmonies on Tiny Flower, an amazing single that shows the brilliant diverse talent of a promising artist.

A difficult album to review, it starts with a handful of beautifully crafted songs, resplendent in gentle guitar picking and breathy vocals. Then some rockier numbers with awesome jagged guitars, then it all gets a little dull and my attention is lost and distracted to other things. A great shame, it starts so well.

Not a solo artist as the name may suggest, but a New Wave band hailing from New York, and damn it for one track samplers, I like what I hear, but it's not enough to get a fully fledged opinion. Some ubiquitous disco beats and funky bass lines but they simply can't be escaped at the moment, so might as well accept them. Clever dual boy / girl vocals and a great sparse sound filled out with some clever arrangements. Oh and of course they look great to, but that doesn't matter, does it.

With a name like Bass Clef, it was never going to be Fay Indie rock was it? Marvellous dark dub with fat (phat?) synth bass lines, frantic beats and eerie vocal snippets, each track melding into the next in an hour long slab of inventive dance music, a little repetitive in places, but hey, that's the point.