Paul's London Diary
Paul’s London Diary: 25/01/10
Filed in Paul's London Diary by Paul Artrocker at 19.32pm on 26 January 10I think you are supposed to start a new year, or in this case, a new decade, with some forward thinking ideas and to embark on new projects and challenges for yourself, so here I am, with as close as I am likely to get to blogging ... a regular (lets aim for monthly), diary from London. Before I talk more about the challenge of diary writing I want to return to the subject of looking forwards at the turn or the year rather than, or as well as looking backwards and it was a kind listener on my weekly Resonance FM radio show that informed me it was the talented Greek God 'Janus' that could do both at once. On the subject of looking back, I'd like to simply point you in the direction of Tom Artrocker's recent personal four part look back at the important musical moments of the decade. Everyone loves a list, and an argument about omissions, and his own selection is as provocative as you would expect:
www.artrocker.tv/tracksofthedecade
Following only the second Artrocker Radio show of the year at Resonance, I was filling in the recently requested National Sound aArchive information sheet, Richard, from the station, asked me if I was fully 'onlined' and if I fancied doing a twitter, because he had started one for Resonance. I am a slow-comer to new technology so the appeal of minute by minute minutiae details of my day, or anyone else's for that matter bemuses me and I think my monthly diary is a sufficient project to undertake.
Ironically, I have kept a personal diary for many years now; a rubbish, self indulgent report of each day's happenings with little insight, let alone social commentary. Last week on one of my regular bicycle art-treks (there are art pages in Artrocker Magazine you know!) I visited the 'Identity' exhibition currently at The Welcome Collection. It examines the question of who we really are, or more accurately, how we are, or historically have been, identified or categorised across eight separate rooms focusing on nine characters. These characters include the trans-sexual April Ashley, pioneer of DNA profiling Alec Jeffreys, and identical twins Charlotte and Emily Hinch amongst others including the great diarist Samuel Pepys alongside other diarists. They cover both important events and the trivial, so-called ordinary people and the distinguished or well known. Diaries are personal records, often mundane but nonetheless frank and therefore compelling.
With this in mind I obviously have to re-think my now 'non-diary', published project. No longer a diary, I will endeavour to nonetheless give a taste of the current activities of which I become aware of in London and with luck it will be a readable report.
Christmas in London, for those of us that stay, is an excellent time when you can actually get around easily without having to share your spare square metre of space or air with several other people, and that deserted 'Christmas' period seems to extend further and further each year. Couple that with the unseasonably bad weather, and it appears that many folks have managed to extend
their festive breaks throughout January – quiet is an understatement. This is one reason why normally we would present a 'start of the year' Artrocker festival but this year bad attitudes conspired against us. It has only been this third week that the live scene seems to have awoken with a determinedly forward looking vibe.
Releasing essential new albums this week are These New Puritans and Good Shoes and both celebrated this live. I took a chance to see a stripped down version of the new 'brass-enhanced' Puritans at Rough Trade on Tuesday (the full version to be revealed at the plush and carpeted Bush Hall). A hushed but appreciative audience seemed to reaffirm my own feelings, that These New New Puritans are hugely impressive and challenging but not necessarily as easily enjoyable as before. No-one ever said this was going to be easy though. Their album is vital listening, as is Good Shoes' new offering. I made my first visit to the currently uber cool pub venue The Stag's Head in Dalston for the first night of four organised by Good Shoes. Unsurprisingly rammed, a partisan 'Shoes' crowd was appreciative of excellent new art-poppers Fiction, and the tune-tastic Hatcham Social but ecstatic with the intimate presentation of familiar, older classics and extracts from what is a blinding second album by Good Shoes. The down-tempo side to the bleakly named album, 'No Hope No Future' perhaps is at last a musical response to these hard times. Likewise one night later at Cargo, The dark rock scene never seemed so appropriately named. Factory Floor are sitting on what must be one of the most eagerly anticipated of new releases, and if they can reproduce the sonic threat and intensity of their live repetitive beats it will be a bleak inspiration. HTRK headlined and while they are as stark and frigid as before, some familiarity with last year's album reveals there are songs amongst their atmospheric drones.
Longer, bleaker, moody music reflecting colourless, mundane times perhaps. As dark and miserable-ist as these gigs this week may have been, it has kick started an underground 2010 that promises much and has already invigorated me. Be afraid of the dark ...... very afraid, but very excited too.
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