While the thought of spending an evening with dancers in bamboo cages, loud rockabilly music, and flamboyant burlesque routines in a swirl of fake jungle mist may sound completely asinine to some, a group of London event promoters are attempting to forge a scene for the crowd who consider this a perfect night out....
Organizers of the Short Circuit festival originally targeted well-known electronic musicians/composers like Vangelis, Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, but its organizers opted instead for a more diverse, exhaustive, obscure lineup that may be household names to the devoted but will provide an impressive history lesson in electronic arts for the less electronically-inclined. A slew of...
The Banksy buzz is getting old. For years, we’ve debated the identity of this British graffiti artist, whose work began appearing on Bristol streets in 1993 and now sells for record prices. (Though his auction prices have fallen between 30-50% in the recession.) Is he a talented prankster from Bristol? A subversive art collective?...
I met the most polite skateboarders in my life on a cold, windy day in North London in Finsbury Park (Seven Sisters Road and Stroud Green Road/Blackstock Road). Tweens, almost none of them wearing pads or helmets (technically, helmets are required) would call out “S’cuse,” as if to say “Excuse me,” when they wanted...
I have a sort of love-hate relationship with large music festivals. On the one hand, they provide a chance to spend an entire day (or two or three) seeing a slew of disparate music acts, usually outdoors, and there’s great people-watching. But the thought of weaving through crowds upwards of 60,000 just to get...
Through a nondescript storefront door on Greek Street in London’s Soho district, several decades worth of pop culture crash together in a dingy club the size of a living room. Actually, calling the New Evaristo a “club” is being generous. It’s more like a hideout, a secret hangout; a speakeasy-flavored watering hole. The full...
When Flying Lotus came on, a few minutes after the dubstep artist Kode9 finished a heavy, tight DJ set, there was a noticeable shift. Suddenly the crowd didn’t know what to do with itself. No one seemed to know how to dance. Most dance music has a clear beat, and gives cues as to...
Our server, a young woman with an Eastern European accent wearing a bright yellow T-shirt and a sombrero, was no more familiar with refried beans than she was with different brands of tequila. But we had as much fun poking fun at the lack of authenticity as we did diving into our burritos and...
Playdoe is difficult to describe in standard hip hop terms. The group lacks the gangsta bravado of NWA, and has none of the political urgency of Public Enemy. There’s no Wu-Tang Clan brashness and little of the slick, polished production of Jay-Z or Kanye West. Don’t expect smooth lyrical flow like Common, or DJ...
Busking’s unique social dynamic suits Matthew “Harmonica Matt” Griffiths, a harmonica-playing blues man. Wearing a black leather jacket with missing buttons and a crumpled black fedora, Griffiths perches on a low stool and holds an old, round microphone. A few self-recorded CDs are sprawled on the ground next to his amp. At his waist,...