Many apologies for my absence last week but I was otherwise indisposed, or as my housemate far more bluntly put it, I was on my period. The reason for this sudden rush of female hormones (just to clarify for people who are reading this for the first time I am in fact male) was totally laptop-related, hence the lack of blog post.
I was intelligent enough to leave a half open water bottle in a bag containing my laptop and various other important studenty paraphernalia and everything got covered. Thinking my laptop was destined for the scrap heap, I followed the sound advice of a friend and popped it in the boiler cupboard for 48 hours and hey presto it's miraculously fixed, albeit with a whopping great water mark in the middle of the screen. I just want to add at this juncture that I point blank refused to follow the advice of just about everybody in the world and cover it in FUCKING RICE. Next thing we know we'll be using cooked pasta to cure broken legs. If rice does in fact work then I'm highly apologetic.
In other news... The Pope retired. This is a piece of information that isn't exactly going to set my surrounding world alight with sadness but has instead been met with a flurry of paedo/ex-Benedict jokes. Also, I've been spending the week telling anyone who can be bothered to listen that, as a youngster, our Mr Benedict was in the Hitler Youth so I reckon the papal system could maybe do with a bit of a reform before we end up with one of Stalin's grandsons or the like.
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Been meaning to cover these guys for a while. I first saw this raunchy reggae troop on a freezing night at Sheffield's Tuesday Club around about two years ago and they made a cracking impression on me. General interaction with the crowd is fantastic, they got us moving like crazy and their highly-rated mix of old-school reggae fused with modern dub was of the highest quality. The reggae-dub mix is especially notable in 'Ruffneck For Real', a tune which packs an absolute punch if ever I've heard one as old-school reggae slides breezily into fast-paced dub then smoothly back to reggae.
Forming in Leeds in 2009, EPRC's rise to cult Yorkshire fame has been quick and painless and they have released a stream of records since. With ten official members, including Joel Borkin now we're talkin' (the man with the world's craziest nickname) on 'Sound Science', a word has to be said of vocalist Anna Stott whose quirky voice with a Jamaican tang shines through on each track and colours each with a slightly different feel. She's undoubtedly one of the best female vocalists I've heard for quite a while.
Modern reggae that isn't shit is incredibly difficult to come by so it's an absolute testament to these guys that they've achieved so much. The critics are full of praise, Time Out gave EPRC some seriously high praise, 'Could well be the first band since The Specials to bring reggae to the massive' while Rockers Revolt described them as 'Sensational'. What they have to say about themselves via Facebook is almost as impressive. Speaking of their live shows they claim, 'No heart is left untouched. No foot remains unmoved'. Having experienced one of their live shows, I am in total agreement.
Have a butchers at their soundcloud and you won't be disappointed. They regularly tour around Yorkshire and the North-East and you could probably get a ticket for under a tenner (I get the feeling profit matters very little for these aficionados). I've linked 'Ruffneck for Real at the bottom along with another of my favourites, 'Build a Wall'. Soundcloud exhibits a far wider range of their stuff.
This photo makes them look pretty fucking cool.
Away from Yorkshire, I've been rather pre-occupied with The Foals new album 'Holy Fire' this week. Foals have now in my mind officially established themselves in the Max Goldbart top 5 with a record showcasing their sheer musical ability- well worth a listen. Also, swinging back to Yorkshire, Hot Since 82 who I covered a few weeks ago has just released 'Hot Jams Volume 2' and had a 15 minute takeover of Pete Tong's Radio 1 show the other day. Watch out for this house connoisseurs' continued rise to stardom.
Until next week (save for me chucking another gallon of water over my laptop and experiencing a speedy build up of oestrogen).
Max
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