Tuesday, June 08, 2004
What's really good in the UK right now....
Brick Lane Author Monica Ali
So I managed to avoid the madness at the airport by a day and got back on Friday from England, the land of really bad boy bands that pose as indie pop and punk groups, where the houses have double faucets ("you can have hot water or cold water but not both mixed together, peasant..."), semi-functioning showers and washers but no dryers (huh?).
I'd love to tell you I was out every night "largin' it" in Brixton with Dizee Rascal, So Solid, the Roll Deep Crew or the Pay-As-You-Go Cartel. Well, I was in Brixton for a hot minute (shout to my man Daniel at Red's record store in the heart of UK's own BX.), but basically all my time was spent learning much Guyanese folk and family history from many of my aging relatives all of whom had gathered to celebrate the marriage of a close second cousin.
That being said, here's a run-down of a few of the things that were poppin which came across my radar while I was over there (more of the news-y political stuff in a following post):
Slum Village Detroit Deli: A Taste of Detroit: the official soundtrack to my trip. I swear I must have played this album over 50 times already since getting it about a week and a half ago which, if you know me, is pretty much unprecedented. I don't know what it is about this album but I'm really loving it. I can't believe XXL only gave it and "L" (3-star) rating.
Euro 2004: it was like the Stanley Cup Finals (sorry, Flames) and the NBA Finals didn't even exist over there.
Brick Lane: no longer just the place in London to get good Indian food.
Abu Hamza: the UK's bogeyman (not without some justifcation, admittedly) in the "war on terror." Hamza on the British: "They want only to look at nude pictures, go to football matches, have a few pints and go to sleep. They have become slaves." Erm scarily, I'm not even sure that's that off the mark.(Independent)
Bollywood Star: inspired by the huge success and influence of Bollywood movies, this four-part reality TV series on Channel 4 follows the search for the first British Bollywood star: an unknown who will go on to win the prize of a lifetime - a part in a Bollywood movie, directed by acclaimed director Mahesh Bhatt.
Gas was at slightly over 80p/liter in the UK while I was there which works out to about $5.56/gallon if I've done all the conversions correctly. People, get some perspective, gas is crazy cheap for us even at current "sky high" levels.
Watching in utter amazement as my eight year old cousin, who looks at nothing but the POP Plus TV channel on Sky TV, sung the hook ("all the chicken head women be quiet, all the independent women make noise...") from Fatman Scoop's cut n paste (read: mash-up for all you folks who think Hollertronix invented this genre of music) club banger "Be Faithful" to herself one day. WTF? Scoop had #1 pop record in the UK with this track if you can believe it.
Seeing Brit indie rock act Eighites Matchbox B-Line Disaster at the Concorde2 in their hometown in Brighton. If you're going "WTF?" to that one too, I wasn't really diggin' them, but my homegirl is friends with the manager so....
Street Teaming by record labels is a wrap in the UK? (Guardian)
Mixtapewrap.com: the site is not up but look out for these mixtapes. They're like quadruple pack compendiums of recent mixtapes with full proper printed artwork and factory made CD's (not CD-R's) with great sound for $10 pounds. That ish is sick. I copped one with Green Lantern's Countdown To Armageddon, Part 2, Cutmaster C Live from The Hamptons, Big Mike & Supa Mario's Ghost Stories: Best of Styles P and the Damon "Cakeaholic" Dash-hosted Warriors Part 5 mixtape.
Reckless Records: great used vinyl shop around the corner on Berwick from famed hip hop store/label Mr Bongo's. There's a bunch of other pretty good used record and CD shops all in the same area which is within a short walking distance of the Oxford Cicrus subway station.
Amy Winehouse "In My Bed": finally copped a 12" of this Nas "Made You Look"-jacking jazz-soul banger.
Expansion Records: the official record label for heads for whom 2-step and soul weekender culture never died. I think my (other) DJ-ing cousin owns just about every title this label has ever put out.
Brazilian/Portugese cuisine: sick. Get up on these snacks: the really tasty Guaranã Brasil soft drink, cochinha de frango (breaded chicken balls), bolininho de bacalhao (fishcakes), risole de canarao (shrimp empanadas) and the pastry pastel de nata. Thanks to Valdir, the husband of my cousin (who the reception was in honor of) for the heads up.
