Eastgreen - Working the Night Shift - Review

Allow me to introdce you to Eastgreen.

If you haven't discovered the sound of 2015 yet, then "Working the Night Shift" is the right place to start.

His follow up to his first promising album "Take Two" is an exemplary piece of urban hip-hop.

"Working the Night Shift" is an enlightening and intelligent look into the head of a fiercely clever 16 year old poet. From the rain-soaked title track we are drawn into the dream and waking world of Oli "Eastgreen" Cox; his overactive synapses firing us between the heartache of the beautiful "Missing You", to the frustration of "Gangsta", via the snarky joy of youthful inebriation in "I don't know my name", before smashing us into the nightmare of "Dark Mirrors". It is by turns joyously parochial "Welcome to Reading", deliciously mundane "Cravings" and mischeviously saucy and gloriously juvenile "My Clock". Eastgreen also reveals a beautifully British sense of self-deprecation (most notably in "50 Shades of Green" and "I Don't know my Name") that bursts the posturing and groin thrusting bubble that we associate with the world of rap. There is a wonderful use of soundscape and sound effects throughout the album that make this more than just a series of songs, this is an immersive and exciting journey that goes beyond all expectation.

Eastgreen is also happy to collaborate with some other exciting artists who he clearly respects and gives equal voice to. The duets with fellow spoken word artists Esa Kwame ("Welcome to Reading" and "Charlie"), Shock ("Gangsta") and Finker ("Instead I'll Sing") are beautifully realised and they fit perfectly into his vibrant and fractured world. A litte bird has told me that there are some huge collaborations coming this year and it appears that this album is rattling all of the right doors.

So check it out.

Join Eastgreen on his nightshift and let's see where this journey takes us.

A Selection of Halloween Mixes by superb mixers and artists - Part 1

This is my favourite time of year.

Here are a few fantastic mixes for you to enjoy that have been created for Halloween 2014.

The first is this brilliant mix by The Ephemeral Man.

Samhain Seance 3 : Better Dead then Never by The_Ephemeral_Man on Mixcloud

Then we have this new discovery by Songs of Silver. Love this. A fantastic mix that will definitely be accompanying my pumpkin carving on Friday.

A Sacrificial Feast by Songsofsilver on Mixcloud

Happy Halloween!

Black Meadow: Black Meadow in Shindig! (Issue 43)

Black Meadow: Black Meadow in Shindig! (Issue 43): This month in groovetastic magazine Shindig you will find an interview with Black Meadow curator Chris Lambert about the ongoing Black ...

Shadows Between the Shelves - Coming in December

Very excited about this.

Reading Libraries have invited me to create an interactive show in the run up to Christmas.

As well as spooky writings brought to life by talented actors this will also contain some MFZ magic.

As a taster check out this promotional trailer.

Can you tell what is being sung backwards (it is revealed after about 40 seconds...)

Shadows Between the Shelves

Wednesday, December 10 at 8:00pm

A Haunting Christmas Experience in Battle Library

By Chris Lambert

This December ghosts, spirits and supernatural phenomena will break through the skin of our reality, pouring from the pages of old tomes, from within the brick and plaster of Battle Library to carouse, entertain and frighten in the first few nights of Yule. Celebrating the history of this incredible building in the heart of the Oxford Road community and revelling in the stories and tales hidden within its shelves, this will be a night to chill the bone while the mince pies and mulled wine warm the flesh.

Written and directed by local author Chris Lambert, creator of “Tales from the Black Meadow” a book that Starburst Magazine described as a “paranoia-inducing sucker punch…”. He has written over 20 plays including “The Simple Process of Alchemy”, “Ship of Fools” and “Loving Chopin”.

Mix from the Black Meadow - Part 1 - 4th July - Garden of Earthly Delights

Coming next Friday (4th July) on Garden of Earthly Delights on CRMK) The Mix from the Black Meadow (Part 1).

A mix of spoken word extracts and tunes influenced by Black Meadow - including tunes from Ron Grainier, Bob Dylan, Storm Corrosion and many more... this will be followed by a mix created from tracks by the contributing artists to "Songs from the Black Meadow" later in the year... listen in!

Black Meadow: Songs from the Black Meadow - Artist of the Week

Exciting things going on in Black Meadow...



Black Meadow: Songs from the Black Meadow - Artist of the Week: To build up to the launch of "Songs from the Black Meadow" we will be celebrating the work of all of the contributors to this albu...

Discovery - Concretism

I must sing the praises of Concretism. The brain child of Chris Sharp, this is a musical experience that is hard to match.

Utterly evocative of a lost time, an intangible sense of nostalgia pervades throughout its dark industrial heart. Haunting. If Vangelis and Kraftwerk had a soundbaby together that was wet-nursed by Goblin and weaned on a diet of Jarre and Broadcast what it produced would be nothing compared to this.

Float inside disused power stations, haunted hospitals, abandoned 70s industrial estates, avoid pylons and slavering dogs, watch Open University programmes in your kipper ties and wide collars. Place yourself in the testcard. You are entering the world of Concretism.
 

Stonewatching with Joe Kapp - A mix for "The Garden of Earthly Delights"

I was contacted a few months ago by Shane Quentin the showrunner for "Garden of Earthly Delights" a groovy mix show on CRMK. I had been mulling over mixes for a while having experimented with a live mix at Reading's Doubledotbash festival a couple of years ago (see Radio Vincent). I had finally managed to catch up with The Quatermass Conclusion (1979) of which the second episode "Lovely Lightning" is an utter classic. I used this as a basis for my mix. I used sounds captured from my father's old reel-to-reel tape recorder. In order to make a record of a church service sometime in the mid-eighties he recorded over Joe Loss and his Orchestra. because that tape was the wrong format and played at a different speed Joe Loss's work can still be heard underneath the sermons and calls and responses at a very reduced speed. 

This mix includes work from Billy Murray, Sleeps in Oysters, Ennio Morricone, The Soulless Party, Funk Cinematique, Kemper Norton, The Bobby McGees, William Burroughs and REM, Olan Mill, Electronic Encounters (Chris Lambert and MFZ), Kid Galahad, The Tiger Lillies, Joe Harnell and Cliff Richard (Singing Larry Norman's apocalyptic classic "I wish we'd all been ready"). It is peppered with a few tracks from MFZ including tracks from "Night of the Living Dead (for Kids)" and "Deadman's Lane".

It was broadcast on CRMK on Friday 23rd May 2014.

Stonewatching with Joe Kapp - The Garden of Earthly Delights 23rd May 2014 by Chris Lambert Mfz on Mixcloud

Keith Seatman: Something Interesting this way comes

Test Transmission all things Keith Seatman and more: Something Interesting this way comes

Discovery - Unearthing Forgotten Horrors

Hosted by Darren Charles this is my new favourite show. Superb - if you love your Giallo soundtracks, strange lost movie soundtracks and up to date weirdness then check this out. Visit the site here and check out some fabulous mixes below.

Unearthing Forgotten Horrors Radio Show 16-4-2014 by Darren Charles on Mixcloud

Unearthing Forgotten Horrors Radio Show 5-3-2014 by Darren Charles on Mixcloud

Unearthing Forgotten Horrors Radio Show 26-3-2014 by Darren Charles on Mixcloud

A strange sound from the Black Meadow - "Our Fair Kids"

Made this with my children today. It is inspired by the tune "Our Fair Land" taken from "Tales from the Black Meadow" (composed by Kev Oyston). Am doing some work around this tune for a new project called "Songs from the Black Meadow". The use of loops is nicely spooky and for some reasons reminds me of something by Goblin. I wonder if anyone knows of the tune of which I am thinking?