King For a Day, Fool For a Lifetime

Well honestly i feel like my best friend threw a party and i wasn't invited, what a bitch!

i was aware that Faith No More were reforming to play download and some european festivals this summer but i had NO IDEA they were doing this Brixton warm up gig. Incase you are unaware (which most likely you are) FNM was probably the first 'alternative rock and roll group' that i ever obsessed over from the age of 14. unfortunately they have been hailed as responsible for spawning the blasphemous music genre known as 'nu metal' this is unfortunately true, after one listen to 'angel dust' and all is forgiven.
obviously the band were long dead by the time my ears started to listen to 'the real thing' and 'angel dust' but hey i still got to see Mike Patton perform with Peeping Tom and Fantomas!
i even dedicated part of my GCSE english project to a mock review of one of the bands albums, AND named them (along with old metallica...eurrrgh) as my fave band when i had a brief cameo in a girly magazine- everyone else seemed to go for beyonce and natasha bedingfield. but not me, nuh uh- FNM were number one!
I was in two minds when my friend informed me of this reunion. it must be greed, i assumed at first, pattons gone bankrupt and needs funds to support his record company Ipecac and his many many many many 'side projects'. but nah, im guessing he's pretty loaded thanks to the track 'epic'.
what i would have given though in hindsight to stand there at the front singing along to 'Midlife Crisis' and 'be Agressive' ah an opportunity wasted. shame they couldnt get jim martin back on geetar plus original vocalist chuck mosely singing 'we care alot' would have been the icing on the cake...ah well a girl can dream. sigh.

Sud Afrika

SHARP SHARP!

Having been in South Africa for the past few months i figure it might be appropriate to try and write something about the music over there. thing is, there isn't a huge scene over there and after watching the SABC music awards on the tv, i realised that they do have a lot of shit music! in terms of live scene, cape town in parituclar had little to offer, unless you have your contacts and you're willing to dig deep, it's almost impossible to find live stuff going on, very unlike london. when i was over there i missed out on the cape town international jazz festival where i think south african jazz legend hugh masekela performed and mos def made an appearance, alongside other jazzy types.
BIG MISTAKE, looked like it was the only thing goin on in cape town at the time.
in terms of whats popular in the strange country Kwaito is massive, it's a fusion of hip hop, trance/ techno and traditional south african rythyms and a huge bassline- usually punctuated by the MCs or rappers shouting repetitively over the top of the tune. anyone who has seen the film 'TSTOSI' will have heard Kwaito- you see guys dancing about with 90's fashion and what looks like fisherman sunhats on their heads- that's Kwaito. Every time i got into a minibus taxi (which does exactly what it says on the tin) the driver would have this sort of music cranked right up and i think it was the best music i heard in the place. speeding through the streets of cape town and durban with this stuff blaring out is a common sight and sound in the country. so expect a little article on south africa my experience there!

R.I.P Plan B

After returning from the Bermuda Triangle, i attempted to rebuild my contacts and my short lived stint at Plan B Magazine ( i spent a day at there cool little scruffy office in london on 'work experience and did some flyering around camden for them).
After emailing the editor and seeing if i could continue my time at the magazine i was saddened by the news that the magazine has folded and the june issue was the last of it's kind! here's a link to the Stack subscription website where the news was broken. Plan B had some of the coolest articles, features, illustrations in the land so i shall miss looking upon it's perfectly crafted pages. too sad. i shall now conduct a 2 minutes silence in honour of Plan B...

On another note STACK is damn awesome. although i'm not a subscriber the concept behind it rules and i managed to bag a freebie magazine from them a few months ago which was damn cool. the idea is that each month they send you a different magazine on rotation, you don't have any control over what you get but you are guaranteed a super cool, beautifully presented publication that may well change your life...or your choice in reading material at least. dooo it!