Camden Crawl 2011

This was my first time attending the annual Camden Crawl music festival.  I only went on the Sunday evening due to work commitments so next year I’ll definitely be booking the whole weekend off so I can do the whole thing.

We started off by heading to the plushly decored Annie’s Bar to see Polarbear’s set.  He delivered his songs/poems as spoken word pieces or rapped them backed by his DJ and collaborator Session, as the mood took him.  He was my highlight of the evening and quite possibly the year so far as well.  He rhymed tales of bitter-sweet nostalgia and his spoken word reading of ‘Fade To Black aka Jessica’ got the biggest cheer at the end (Enhanced by the fact that you could’ve heard a pin drop during the tale).  At the end he handed out free 12″ EPs to the front row (Including lucky old me) because his missus is apparently sick of them being piled under their bed!  Here’s a taster of that very EP:

Session & The Bear – Fade To Black mp3

I also filmed him on my iPhone performing ‘Keep It Simple’:

Next up we went over to the backroom of The Dublin Castle to see The Cocknbullkid.  We got there just in time to see a set from an Indie band with the intriguing name of The History Of Apple Pie. The muddy sound in the venue didn’t do them any favours but beneath that I could detect a rich seam of melodic C86 Indie-pop.  I suspected they would be better on record and Indeed they are, but you can judge for yourself:

The History Of Apple Pie – Malory mp3

After a swift pint of Guinness to cleanse my palate The Cocknbullkid waded through the audience and took the stage.  I confess I haven’t listened to one note she’s released since her ace 2008 debut single.  Judging by this set she’s been busy in my absence since song after song sounded like a hit and they all had a big instant soul chorus.  I’m looking forward to her imminent debut LP ‘Adulthood’ with bated breath. Checkout this Soul Pop stomper:

The Cocknbullkid – Hold On To Your Misery mp3

Our next move was to grab some fast food from Macky-D’s (On the way we noted the huge cue for Tinchy Stryder outside the Jazz Cafe) before stepping into the darkened confines of  The Black Cap. Team Ghost were onstage as we walked in playing an enthusiastic Metal take on Krautrock.  The lead singer and guitarist delivered a great histrionic show with his fingers dancing across the fretboard while feeding the guitars back against each other.  Unfortunately at that point I had to get the last tube home for an early start at work in the morning while my fellow crawlers went on to an apparently excellent set from Paris Suit Yourself back at The Dublin Castle.  Oh well, we all have to earn a crust…

Team Ghost – High Hopes mp3
Paris Suit Yourself – Craig Machinsky mp3