A gig with a literal back to school feel
A couple of weeks back I went to gig up at the Folk House here in Bristol, which I thought I would write a quick post about.
I think the first thing that has to be said, was the rather peculiar venue (hence the title of this post). They’d laid out the hall with rows of plastic chairs, which gave the whole venue a ‘back to school’ feel. Sitting down, threw me back to my days at primary school and I almost expected a teacher to turn up to say prayers and read out announcements for the week…
Turned out there was perhaps method to the madness since it was an acoustic set on quite a low stage. Which meant if everyone stood up you probably couldn’t see anything if you were standing more then a few feet away. Still, by the end of the evening, most of the chairs were pushed out of the way and most people congregated close up to stage, which helped kick the whole thing up a notch.
The headline act was an artist called Natty, who was playing tracks from his first album ‘Man I Like’ and his new acoustic album. Music was great, that kind of eclectic fusion of reggae, ska, soul and a splash of roots rock (along the lines of Rusted Root or country artist Steve Earle) with the surf style of Jack Johnson.
Anyhow, here is a rather catchy track from Natty called Bedroom Eyes
Natty’s singles and albums are are available to download at . If you’ve got download them all for free!
Third World Cop
I watched Third World Cop last night, it’s a low-budget film following the story of wayward cop Capone who returns to his hometown to crack a gang of arms smugglers - pretty banal stuff really. Also the film lacks a quality finish compared to mainstream flicks, despite this I really enjoyed the story; the difference between this movie and others with a similar story is that it’s set in the ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica.
I found out about the movie while reading about one of my current favourite artists Ninjaman (Desmond Ballentine). Someone had commented that Ninjaman played a character pretty indicative of himself in the film. I’m not sure about that but, he plays a small role as a rude-boy criminal which was really interesting to watch. In fact all of the characters in the film delighted me and I felt it painted a really vivid picture of Jamaican ghetto culture.
So… the film was quite entertaining and interesting but the hugely awesome surprise was it’s soundtrack, arranged by Sly & Robbie it includes songs from Beenie Man, Red Dragon, Buccaneer and Sly & Robbie themselves, it’s totally bumpin’ from start to finish.
If you’re a fan of Ragga, Dancehall or Reggae this film is well worth a watch and remains the number 1 grossing movie to come out of Jamaica to date. Yu waan check it out.
Third World Cop - The Soundtrack
Links:
Bass heavy playlist is go!
Here’s the Nokia/OVI Music Store link to my new playlist featuring my favourite bass heavy and head nod beats of 2009. Perfect for the walk to work, the gym or your usuall weekly drive by. 
Click on the image to get your download on! [Internet Explorer only]
Mama?
Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is already one of the most theatrical pop rock songs of all time, so it takes something pretty special to top it. But this Muppets viral manages it. Plus, the annoying pink ‘n’ purple one with the sunglasses isn’t in it, so bonus.
You can download Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen at Nokia Music Store. Or check out the even more insane (not best for playing in an office full of people) Polka version from Weird Al Yankovic.
- Mike
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About
Music is many things to many people. That’s the mantra for this little blog, as it gathers the random thoughts, opinions and ideas of a handful of music enthusiasts toiling behind the scenes at Nokia Music. We don’t pretend to be experts (OK, that’s not strictly true), we’re just big fans of music, be it [...]