Cobra Krames aka Krames aka Cobra Kai, running out of Brooklyn, is a major player in the Baltimore upheaval of the club scene. His new EP Cracker Jackin, presents a fresh Baltimore twist on songs of old and new, including a cover of Daft Punk’s legendary ‘One More Time’ (warning: this song is addictive) and 50’s classic ‘Lollipop’.
A fresh interpretation of these songs creates a fun sound, Krames has produced numerous mixes including a collaboration with Bird Peterson on Fangs & Feathers: A DJ Mix. Check him out at both his myspaces, you’ll hear plenty more from him, and we’ll try to keep you posted. A taste of him here:
So this weekend was spent in Leeds with a fellow contributor Jamila and friends, a few bands, a venue, and talking to characters like an alcoholic who'd been ripped off by a prostitute and a former heroine addict whilst waiting for the first train home.
It was Nastyfest IX at the Faversham, hosted by the great people of Bad Sneakers and what a weekend it was. In a night where the lesser known bands seriously outshone the more hyped ones, here are some of our highlights...
First up are Bradford ...seven piece(?!) Spodní Prádlo, definitely not your usual sixth-form band. With nods to influences that stretch from Beirut and Os Mutantes to as far as Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, it's astounding to find a band as talented as this - who are all (as far I'm aware) still at school.
hey! Panda are four teenagers from Halifax who specialise in rapid-fire, balls out dance-punk and have a mantra of "We want to fuck shit up." Whilst there is still much room for improvement, I couldn't help but feel my feet starting to move to their sharp guitar work, thumping drums and "don't give a shit" attitude. Ones to watch.
Well... the demos on his page just do not prepare you for the live performance of Matt Bigland & co. aka Dinosaur Pile-Up. Full of passion and energy, and songs that sound absolutely huge. Even this early on in the night, it was a packed room and you got the sense that a lot of people had been looking forward to this performance, they didn't go away disappointed.
And the final highlight were the penultimate band of the night, LA based The Mae-Shi. While I hadn't had the chance to listen to much of their stuff beforehand, I was impressed within seconds of them taking to the stage - albeit from their pre-gig gymnastics - this is a band who are as much about making the event an experience as playing their instruments.
Having been blown all previous bands out of the water, their set involved a voluntary stage invasion, a huge white tarp being draped over the audience whilst various band members play in the crowd, a mass sit down during 7 X X 7, and Slow Club's cover of Run To Your Grave. DIY Footage (Not Mine) Of The Mae-Shi Stage Invasion
Srsly, get their album or even better; go and see them at one of the Dot to Dot festivals in Nottingham or Bristol.
I just cannot seem to get this song out of my head at the moment, it's nothing too ground breaking musically speaking, but it's an inexplicably great song.
Snob Scrilla - Here You Go Again
The alias of 24 year old Sean Ray, Snob Scrilla is a US born MC who relocated to Australia in 2002.
Since then, he's supported the likes of Method Man and Red Man, recently signed to Ivy League Records and teamed up with Sydney-based production team The Blueberry Think Tank for debut single There You Go Again.
With an album soon to come, if There You Go Again makes it over here, it could be big. Here's the radio edit...
But then news spread of a new project, consisting of ex-BAF members Tobias Hughes, Ian William Galloway and Mark Murphy as well as Grant Purser of 586 and friends Michael Tyrrell and Marnie Hollande.
And so Fables were born, an experimental mish-mash of sounds, tastes and influences. While their songs have a dark side to the instrumentation with the spiralling bass and droning guitars in places, it's the child-like enthusiasm of the vocal that pulls me in.
Although it's early days for them, I'm looking forward to hearing more from Fables.
I've been wanting to write about Ipswich born Kieren Dickins aka DELS since I first heard Myself Malfunction, which as well as having some sick lyrical content, has some epic... epic production.
However I was only allowed to stream tracks, but now one of his best songs has been made available for download, so here we are.
See, DELS is one lucky/talented guy, he and his Grime group caught the ear of a certain Mr. Peel at 17 while playing a show in a Chicago Rock Bar and were probably the first grime artists to get mainstream airplay.
On top of this, after the aforementioned The Alliance Underground faded away, DELS decided to concentrate on rap, and he and good friend/producer Eli T laid some tracks down and upped them to Myspace which were picked up by none other than Joe Goddard of Hot Chip , who wanted to work with him.
Lazy, his debut single, and b-side Myself Malfunction were both the fruits of that labour and have been released by Moshi Moshi, and even then there's more... he's also a freelance graphic designer and designed the artwork for that single. Check out the tracks below and look him up.
I don't really remember how I came across Orphans & Vandals but I'm very glad I did.
While it's the kind of music you'd love to be the soundtrack to your life, you could be living in some pseudo-bohemian French art film, or you could just be in the backseat of a car going no where special at all, and this would still sound as good, though less exciting obviously.
The emphasis in the songs has been put on storytelling and Front man Al Joshua's vocals narrate amongst a backdrop of glockenspiel, viola, piano and "musical saw" played by Raven, Gabi Woo, Quinta and Francesca, who are all multi-instrumentalists.
Each song builds beautifully and you get hooked on individual tales which become personal on a level that they could almost be playing to no one but you, and letting you in on all their secrets.
Orphans & Vandals' debut 10" is a double A-side, Terra Firma/Christopher is available from Rough Trade now.
A first live performance is as good an excuse as any, so when 21 year old Tom Harris aka Harris Crumb told me he was playing his first show at Prostitutes + Policemen @ Sankey's in Manchester, I had to give him a shout out.
Especially when he's sharing a bill with the likes of Count Of Monte Crystal + Sinden, Crookers and Mary-Anne Hobbs on 30th May.
He's been producing and remixing for a few years now, it's only since studying at the School Of Sound in Manchester that he's finally ventured in to the live arena, and what a place to start!
Having grown up with the Late of the pier boys, he's also collaborated with Sam Eastgate aka LA Priest under the moniker LA Crumb.
Two of his best works are a remix of Heartbeat.Flicker.Line for his Zarcorp pals, and the other is his edit of my favourite Beatles songs - Tommorow Never Knows, which can be found on his Myspace.
