Dan Deacon - True Thrush

Baltimore electronica wacko Dan Deacon has announced a new album, “America” , out via Domino on August 27th. “True Thrush”, streaming below, is a taster of what’s to come; by Dan’s standards, it’s positively laid back, but by most people’s standards that still makes it a spaced-out hyperspeed alt-pop sugar rush to get your heart beating a dizzy arrhythmia.

10 Jul 2012

Dead fish in London's river Lea caused by pollution after a storm

Artists impression of a fatberg on the 4th plinth

London home owners, private renters and social renters 1961-2011

Lilo Evans and Tristan Stocks in the Mikado

Chart showing how Londoners get to work across inner and outer London

Chart showing how Londoners get to work by mode, 2011 data

Chart showing how the way Londoners get to work is changing over time

Map of empty homes or second homes in London

London borough population changes 2011-2012

Map of red kite sightings in London, May 2014

Artists impression of the "Teardrop", as seen from Ridley Rd, Dalston

Poster against Chatsworth Rd market in London

Tim Cresswell's poetry collection Soil, published by Penned in the Margins

London agenda for Tuesday 10 July 2012

1. See a special headline show at 93 Feet East from Joe Innes & the Cavalcade

2. View the hidden world photography of Gered Mankowitz [Le Cool]

3. Listen to Luke Wright, Steven Bayley, Geoff Dyer and Dr Michael Jump debate at an old filling station [Run Riot]

4. Discover Shoreditch’s newest contribution to the fringe, the Shoreditch Fringe Festival [Flavorpill]

5. Mark the 800th anniversary of the great Southwark fire with explosives in the sky [Ian Visits]

6. Visit the Irish Cultural Centre [Tired of London]

10 Jul 2012

The first paragraph of Zadie Smith's new Willesden-set novel 'NW' has been released

Exellent US books site The Millions has obtained the opening lines of NW, the new novel by Zadie Smith.

“The fat sun stalls by the phone masts. Anti-climb paint turns sulphurous on school gates and lampposts. In Willesden people go barefoot, the streets turn European, there is a mania for eating outside…”

There’s more, go to their site if you want to read the rest.

NW will be released in September. Here is the publisher’s spiel, copied and pasted from Amazon:

“This is the story of a city.

The north-west corner of a city. Here you’ll find guests and hosts, those with power and those without it, people who live somewhere special and others who live nowhere at all. And many people in between.

Every city is like this. Cheek-by-jowl living. Separate worlds.

And then there are the visitations: the rare times a stranger crosses a threshold without permission or warning, causing a disruption in the whole system. Like the April afternoon a woman came to Leah Hanwell’s door, seeking help, disturbing the peace, forcing Leah out of her isolation . . .

Zadie Smith’s brilliant tragi-comic new novel follows four Londoners – Leah, Natalie, Felix and Nathan – as they try to make adult lives outside of Caldwell, the council estate of their childhood. From private houses to public parks, at work and at play, their London is a complicated place, as beautiful as it is brutal, where the thoroughfares hide the back alleys and taking the high road can sometimes lead you to a dead end.

Depicting the modern urban zone – familiar to town-dwellers everywhere – Zadie Smith’s NW is a quietly devastating novel of encounters, mercurial and vital, like the city itself.”

10 Jul 2012

Scraps - 1982

Here’s a nice wonky stagger of a song that sound like a bit like a White Town track made from a Casio keyboard demo, or a polished up version of über-obscure French no-fi pop girl Lispector. It’s by Scraps, about whom we know little more, other than that their “Secret Paradise” EP comes out in July on the promising Critical Heights label.

09 Jul 2012

Transport for London slammed for "cluster bomb" producer adverts

Transport for London were slammed today for accepting advertisements for a controversial manufacturer of “cluster bombs”.

Arms manufacturers Lockheed Martin have been blacklisted by a number of banks and businesses for their continued production of the devices.

Cluster bombs, which are banned by the UK government, are known for disproportionately killing and injuring civilians.

Campaigners today urged Transport for London to reconsider the advertising deal with the company.

Director of Handicap International UK Aleema Shivji told The Scoop:

“As long as cluster bombs continue to be produced, they will continue to kill and maim innocent people, with civilians representing a staggering 98% of recorded casualties. Handicap International teams witness the terrible impact of cluster bombs every day and meet victims unable to access the support they need to rebuild their lives. We are therefore saddened to see that TFL is earning advertising money from a company that makes cluster bombs, particularly when the UK banned these weapons in 2008 by signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”

London mayor Boris Johnson intervened during the election campaign to prevent adverts for “gay conversion” from appearing on the transport network.

He was also heavily criticised after TfL accepted New Years’ Eve sponsorship from payday loan company Wonga.com.

Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon said today:

“This sends out the wrong message as to the type of business that London welcomes and the Mayor should instruct TfL to cancel Lockheed Martin’s bookings of ad space on London’s transport network.”

Green Party London Assembly Member Darren Johnson added:

“The tube is no place for advertising arms manufacturers.”

Transport for London today defended the advertising deal with Lockheed Martin. A spokesperson said:

“All adverts proposed for display on London’s transport network are considered by the relevant advertising contractor in relation to compliance with TfL’s advertising policy and the Advertising Standard Authority’s (ASA) Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code. Lockheed Martin is a legitimate company and as such is entitled to purchase advertising on public transport from TfL’s advertising contractors.”

09 Jul 2012

You have one day to see this exhibit. Today.

CAN.IS.FACE/BOX
BoxPark | Shoreditch | 55DSL | E1 6GY | London
A one-day exhibition on Monday July 9th, 1 – 7pm

In an era of rising youth unemployment and arts funding cuts, the collaborative arts network, CAN, is an incubator for creative enterprises, ideas, events and collaborations.

FACE/BOX explores interactions, consumption and self-image in the digital age, using the box as a format to represent virtual worlds and comment on mediums, using everyday, historical and fictional narratives.

The show’s curator, 19 year old Tottenham based creative, Monique Todd, is motivated to create a legacy for art by transforming spaces. “From alternative worlds to “lonely hearts” ads for obsolete objects replaced by modern technology, FACE/BOX spotlights the little nuances of our pixilated lives whilst offering light-hearted alternatives.” She explains.

Ten of the network’s artists use graffiti, illustration, and graphic art to question their online, everyday selves and the nature of collaboration for the youth of today, in this one-day exhibition on Monday.

09 Jul 2012

London agenda for 9 July 2012

1. Hear a singer with a voice like Nina Simone and plays a badass Prince-esque funk guitar, Lianne La Havas [Le Cool]

2. Visit the smashing new Marylebone Gardens for stylishly droll raconteur, David Mills [Run Riot]

3. Listen to Rowdy Superstar at Madame Jojo’s [Don’t Panic]

4. Wear some special microphones and smart phones and look at bats [Ian Visits]

5. Listen to music in Wilton’s Mahogany Bar [Tired of London]

09 Jul 2012

Chatsworth Road: the front line of Guardian gentrification essays

Gentrification essays occur when Guardian journalists become sufficiently attracted by an area’s juxtaposition of hardware shops and upmarket delis that they want to go and write there.

There are some upsides to gentrification essays, such as increasing the profile of local businesses. In this case it’s interesting that the businesses which get named and linked to are the upmarket delis and restaurants (Shane’s, L’epicerie, Venetia’s). The “Kashmiri takeaway” remains, sadly, nameless.

But gentrification essays also have downsides, such as the perpetuation of a false dichotomy between “the area’s traditional demographic”:

“On the nearby Clapton Park estate, Chatsworth Road prices are not the only issue. They want useful, everyday commodities available locally – a fish shop, a Chinese takeaway. Sourdough and comté cheese are not part of their grocery lexicon.”

and “newcomers”:

“…who attend arty happenings such as a ‘site-specific event in an old newsagent shop’”.

These caricatures create the illusion that there exist clearly defined, discrete blocks of people incapable of sharing space, shops and aspirations. They are pernicious.

So, how should you respond to gentrification essays if you think you see them in action? There’s very little you can do to stop them happening, so it’s probably best to skip all the cliche and caricature and go straight to the academic’s quote at the end.

“In London, everyone feels like a victim.”

Says Rowland Atkinson from the University of York. Finally, someone trying to bring people together.

Wild Nothing - Shadows

Hazy US indie-pop merchants Wild Nothing are back with a new record this year. The new single “Shadow”, streaming below, is a suitably slight and dreamy taster, with the beautifully artworked, multi-cover album “Nocturne” following on August 28th, via the eternally ace Bella Union label. They play the Forum on November 1st.