I don't find too many reasons to go to the Kings Cross area of London and when I do, it's usually to just to catch a train. Last weekend though, I finally found a reason to make a trek to the neighbourhood: The IKTOMS Wired Festival 2008, and boy was I glad I went.

Crammed with over 70 acts performing on two stages at The Cross Kings from noon till well past everyone’s bedtime on Saturday and Sunday, the Wired festival 2008 provided a fantastic opportunity to catch some very talented artists and bands. This was no Glastonbury, taking place in a pub, there wasn't a bit of mud in sight and the toilets were lovely and clean (anyone who reads this blog regularly will know this is very important to me.) Another positive was the fact that the goal of the concert was to raise money for a wonderful charity: Educate for Life.

Now, I'm not going to review all 70 acts for a few reasons: one - I didn't watch them all and that would have been pretty impossible unless I was able to be in two places at one time (haven't figured out a way to do that yet!) and two I don't think you'll read it! Now I'm not calling you lazy, but I know I wouldn't read it all and I'd hope we're not THAT different. So I've handpicked some of my favorite acts from the two days and am going to write a couple of lines on each with loads of links for you to find out more if you like what you read.


Lail Arad

Her songs are like short stories with a hugely entertaining dollop of theatrical wit. Think Martha Wainwright with a little Mel Blanc thrown into the mix.  Lail was randomly picked form the crowd by Devendra Banhart during his concert at The Forum in London at the end of last year to sing one song in the middle of his set. He described her as "Leonard Cohen meets...Velvet Underground". In fact Devendra went so far as to say her impromptu performance was "the best of the tour".

This girl is an immense talent and I can't wait to see her perform again. I'm sold!

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lailarad


Gideon Conn

Taking to the stage with buckets of energy, this five piece band stole the audience and made a party of it. Their sound has been described as geek-hop. Trombones, up beat pop sounds, a slow rap style lyrical delivery and overall tight sound. It was fun to watch the audience enjoy this band and lead man Gideon (who reminded me a little of Alexis Taylor from Hot Chip) knew exactly how to work a room. Full of vitality and eccentric banter he would jump into the crowd to sing in their midst or pester everyone to sing and dance crazy little nursery style songs with him. It was fun and I feel we're going to be hearing a lot more from Gideon Conn.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/gideonconn


Nick Mulvey

Nick Mulvey is a very talented man. He's played his guitar with such skill I finally felt I could put to rest any notions I ever had of picking mine up again. This guy blew me away. Not only can he play, he can sing. His sound is reminiscent of Jose Gonzalez and Paul Simon's Graceland. When he's not impressing the pants off audiences with his solo performances, you'll find him playing amongst other instruments, the hang with 2008 Mercury Prize Nominated Portico Quartet, a jazz /instrumental London based band. I hope to be interviewing Nick shortly, watch this space and this video:

He said he had a bad cold and was considering dropping out up until the last minute, so I'm glad he made it. Supported by whisky and shear motivation Ali gave a blinding performance. If you are partial to a little Jacob Golden or Elliot Smith, I reckon Ali Whitton might be your man.


MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/aliwhitton


Kal Lavelle

TLS is not a stranger to the charms of Kal Lavelle. Check out the last review here. Once again, Kal delivered an outstandingly heartfelt performance, this girl captivates me every time. Fresh from a performance at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and a tour with the IKTOMS crew, I'm happy to see Kal go from strength to strength, there's no stopping this Irish gem (yes, I do love a cliché from time to time).


MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/kallavellemusic


Music is the main focus of this blog but I feel I should also mention two excellent spoken word artists who also performed at Wired. E. Amato and excentral tempest. Check out their MySpace sites.


With two hugely successful festivals under their belt, I hope the IKTOMS team will be back with more next year. Kevin?


(Sorry for the poor quality of these photos, I need a better camera or at least to get to know someone with a better camera- anyone?)

More Story Fours

Ali Whitton

http://terriblelovesongs.com

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Kevin Molloy says:

thanks for the amazing review chalky :)

Posted about 1 month ago | Delete

In what now seems like another life I was once a 16 year old grunger. I wore scuffed up doc martin boots, black jeans and thought Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and Faith No More were cool. I cried when Kurt Cobain died. Whenever possible I would take a bus to London and would see bands play at The Camden Palace (now Kokos) and spend a lot of time on Oxford Street buying terrible clothes and obscure records. My parents’ friends used to tell me to polish my boots and my auntie used to look despaired when she saw me turn up in black yet again. It all made sense to me, I was wearing my musical taste and anyone who dressed differently was just not cool. Hundreds of miles away, my future husband was busy growing freaky hair braids and wearing huge boots. This all changed within a couple of years and as I began to introduce brighter colours into my wardrobe (and music collection), made new friends and gained more freedom, life and my musical taste were never the same again.

I often think music collections can tell a lot about peoples’ lives, like soundtracks to different phases. A lot of people talk about how a certain song reminds them of a feeling or a time in their life maybe in the same way certain smells can fill us with fear or comfort.

On a recent trip to see my parents, I picked up some of my old record collection and came across a 10" record called 'Locked' by a band called 'Mutha’s Day Out'. Never heard of them? That’s because they only released one album before they disbanded.

Mikal, Brice, Chuck, Jeff, Rodney, Lance and Randy from Batesville, Arkansas, (a town with a population of a little over 9,000 people) described themselves as "a cross between Stone Temple Pilots and just a regular bunch of guys."

I saw them play at The Camden Palace because I fancied one of the guys from a photo I had seen in a music magazine; I think it might have been Rodney. They wore dungarees, had long hair and their songs had a lot of shouting and Faith No More type guitar sounds; all the ingredients I thought necessary to make a great band.

I had long forgotten about them so thought I’d look up what they are up to now.

Mikal is married, has two daughters, and is in a christian rock band called Gazer.
Chuck and his brother Phillip are in a doom metal band called Deadbird.
Jeff is in a doom metal band called Rwake, but has reportedly returned to Batesville to nurse his ailing son back to health from heart problems, but will return soon to Little Rock.
Brice has a band called Nite Time Flu and jams with Jeff and Rod every now and again.
Rod is "doing great," according to Brice.
Lance now owns a recording studio in Batesville and does work on farms with chickens.
Randy is a bank teller.


All grown up with kids and 'real jobs'. I hope Jeff’s kid gets better.


Here’s the video for 'Locked' the 10" I found in my record collection:

Mutha's Day Out: Locked

Amazingly I don’t think this song has dated too badly.

For more Mutha's Day Out Info:

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/muthasdayout
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutha's_Day_Out


There's even a petition to get them to reform: http://www.petitiononline.com/LoyalMDO/petition.html

What did you listen to when you were 16?

[Source: MySpace]

[http://terriblelovesongs.com]

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vannatta says:

GREAT post!  Let's see, I was listening to _tons of stuff, but standouts for me would have to be: Wendy/Walter Carlos, Brian Eno, Men At Work, Squeeze, various Classical Compilations, Music from the Hearts of Space on New York Radio, Kraftwerk, Devo, early Genesis, Rush, Sugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Peter Gabriel, Todd Rundgren and Utopia, etc... etc...

Posted 2 months ago | Delete

Jo says:

What did I listen to at 16?  Pretty much everything!

Until then I had been trying to dress like a 'metal girl' spraying can-loads of hairspray in my candyfloss hairdo, heavily applying black eyeliner and red lipstick, while officially only listening to rock, metal, funk punk/funk rock, and punk (although, in the privacy of my bedroom, I could from time to time not resist a bit of the 70s/80s soul, disco, funk, reggae, ska and new wave that I'd loved as a little girl - but at the time I would have never admitted to that to anyone).

At 15 or 16, I happily abandoned the extreme appearance in order to land what was my teenage dream job, working in an small independent music shop, selling and genre (classic, modern, religious, etc) in every format (paper, vinyl, cassette, CD). I only got paid for Thursday nights and Saturdays, but eventually I spent every day after school there, not just serving customers at the check-out, but trying to listen to virtually every recording available in the shop, usually accompanying and encouraged by the regular customers sitting at the 'listening bar' at the back at the shop where customers could sit down and 'try before buying'.

Eventually, when I was 18/19 the shop owner retired; he asked me (and others) to take over the shop but I had no means to, the lady who did shut it down and re-opened at a new location, axing the most precious of collections leaving only mainstream drab; just months later, as I'd moved away to "get smart and go to college", the place went bankrupt.

I never managed to hear quite everything.  Still, fond memories, never to be forgotten, impossible to ever re-live. <sigh>

PS: As for the grunge era, I don't think I ever really made it beyond Nirvana and Soundgarden; as for Faith No More, I only ever liked one of their earlier songs, "We Care A Lot"; besides that, in my eyes/ears they were trying too hard at being like the Chili Peppers (who I had loved since the 80s, and still love to this day) and miserably failing at that... sorry...

Posted 2 months ago | Delete

Neill says:

I looked like a Twat when I was 16; I look like a twat now...and still listen to the same rubbish.  Please call me a ambulance.

.

(You're a Ambulance!)

Posted 2 months ago | Delete