Dawn of the Dead with Claudio Simonetti's Goblin @ Union Chapel

Demons Vs Angels

My fear when booking for Goblin was bruising that unbeatable image I had of them while watching Dario Argento's Suspiria and Profondo Rosso: A bunch of unorthodox Italian psychedelic adventurers engaging in cult '70s giallo like no other.
Coming face to face with an unadventurous 21st century reunion trying to relive past glories through dead bodies (on the screen people, on the screen!)? A tad too tacky for my taste..
But Claudio Simonetti, co-creator of Goblin and restless music demon, along with a team of new collaborators, still jams like nobody's business. More than that, he knows how to deliver a spirited Q&A when he has to. From laughing to himself reminiscing past "funny" incidents, effortlessly igniting interest and laughter among all of us, to sassily calling...well, basically crap an unsuccessful remake, he was a treat. As it turns out the band have a huge lady fan in the Vatican radio, who plays their music often ("they are pretty open minded"). His response to her invitation? "Are you sure about this? Well, demons and angels - we're in the same business after all!"...
When he took his place behind his keyboards, with two guitars brutally synchronizing in the front opposite him and the drums on the further end, that's when it got intense - with or without the zombies eating human flesh. Romero's flick, as Simonetti pointed out himself, is a political and social commentary way beyond the '70s tacky aesthetics. The walking dead returning back to the mall, that's where their affection lie of all places. Is that all their past lives amount to? Despite its unholy looks, the film knows how to reverse a stereotype or two.
The music was there to poignantly point the finger at the human anomalies in a double allegoric attack of vision and sound. The guitars energized the horror. There were truckloads of talent and brains vibrating behind those dead-eyed killing machines. As a-live as it gets.
It finally dawned on me: Simonetti's Goblin are 21st century innovators that still have a good scare or two under their sleeve. No freaking doubt about that.

Tin Pan Alley or Alley Full of Tin?

London's historic Tin Pan Alley will shut off for utter make-over come October 2014, with the trademark music shops and businesses on Denmark Street having to close their doors, for reconstruction purposes, over a period of at least six months. Chief among them, the historic 12 Club, which wants to make sure that its long history and support to local and international music ambassadors continues for years to come.
An article on this month's Mojo highlights some of the Tin Pan Alley history, which dates back in the 17th century. You can also take the matter into your hands and sign the relevant petition that shows your support. London has seen enough renovation lately with only the rich and the richer in mind.
It's high time we started a revolution conducted under the blitz of electric guitars.

Soundtrack: Iron Man by Black Sabbath, who have recorded, among others, on Denmark Street.

Under the Skin - Meltdown Festival @ Royal Festival Hall

 Silence that heals broken communication

In a largely dark and dialogue-free film about an alien, a lot more than the screening itself bordered on the out-of-place.
Somebody knocked my phone out of my hand, which in turn plunged one floor down, and running to retrieve it, I got to have a quick chat with Adam Pearson - the disfigured man playing one of Johansson's man-victims in the film in question (his friend was kind enough to put back together the scattered pieces).
Then I randomly visited the loo (as you do), and I waited in line with an impressive, black-clad PJ Harvey (as you really never do).

It didn't take much to identify the Royal Festival Hall crowd, packed with indie wannabes and mystic beauties. James Lavelle, Meltdown Festival's curator, and responsible for this eager gathering, briefly came on stage to introduce the composer and her guests. And they sucked us all in..

Mica Levi's beautifully unsettling score for Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin couldn't have attracted quite an ordinary crowd as it was. Like an exotic spider crawling up your skin in the dark night, it was tickling you with quiet questions, enigma and suspense. But you ultimately had to give in.

Photo © theshiznit.co.uk

Urban and nightmarish, it drew from Levi's John Cage and Iannis Xenakis years in Guildhall, peppered with some modern-day urgency and sex-appeal. Minimalist, like the film itself, it equally didn't need to say much. They let the silence speak - and it had a lot to say indeed.

It was understandably hard to tune in to the dj's beat at the after party. One was compelled to walk the London streets in the last glimpses of twilight and see what the coming night holds. Hopefully, not a man-eating seductress like Scarlett - but something extraordinary none the less.

Bleep 10 presents The Photography of Music @ The Barbican

© Alex de Mora

Keep an ear out for Convergence (18-27 April), a music and technology series focusing "on pioneers who use technology to innovate: to break the usual beat rather than getting stuck in a loop"...
It sounds good to me.

Presented by Shoreditch's Village Underground and splitting its range of events between the latter and other key East London venues, the series welcome the likes of  Fennesz, Fuck Buttons, 65 Days of Static, Ben Frost, Digitalism, Mount Kimbie and more - musicians, promoters, producers and technologists.

Gigs aside, I am personally taken by The Photography of Music talk taking place at the Barbican's Fountain Room, Friday the 25th (6-7pm, free admission), where photographers Shaun Bloodworth and Alex De Mora share (I would assume, given their exceptional music background) tips on how to create a larger-than-words portrait and a great record cover.

 Soundtrack: Convergence Mix 2014.

Record Store Day 2014

Music geeks unite

Adam Ant by LunixKing

On the countdown to Record Store Day 2014 the most committed of us have already started making way-too-long lists of what we just have to purchase (at a special price for the day) and all the record shops we need to visit, in the hopes that the queues won't be too long (fat chance) and we actually get to catch a good in-store, or a rare RSD release.
I have my eyes set, pretty predictably, on Soho's Sister Ray for live Adam Ant and Edwyn Collins (those, plus Slowclub will also join Rough Trade West) - and then I'll pretty much head towards any open record store in sight (luckily, the area has a few).
Go prepared, with good coffee, agony snacks and a friend with diametrically opposite music taste along (speaking from experience - I still can't get over that rare Nick Cave/Lydia Lunch live release my friend bagged, within seconds, right before my eyes).
Shop with your ears, a bit of your eyes and your occasional deaf-dumb-and-blind faith to your favourite childhood band.
May the weather and the queues be favorable..

Related viewing: Last Shop Standing: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of the Independent Record Shop.