Thursday 28 January 2010

I just liked your earlier stuff



No Words by Karl-Oscar Ollson, 2007

Ungainly Goings-on




"The implausibly named Lord Magpie & The Prince Of Cats offer guttersnipe rockabilly that can hardly be called tidy, but has the clumsy alluring grace of a newborn foal. They have tiny amps that probably came from a Kinder Surprise, atrocious backing vocals, a strange ungainly vocalist who camply croons like a cross between Andy Warhol and Waylon Jennings, and enough energy to outweigh any amateurism. Some of the greatest rock and roll is primal, and whilst Lord Magpie isn’t angry, or sweaty, or sexy, the music does seem to come from the very core of the performers. They’re also fascinating: how did this weird lotmeet? How do they rehearse? Hang on, have they ever rehearsed? If there’s one thing missing in rock music today, it’s mystery; Lord Magpie is a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a butterfingered “Hi-Heeled Sneakers” cover. Seek them out."


David Murphy, Nightshift, February 2010

Friday 22 January 2010

Part Two




* * *

Now featuring a 'Michael Bleach' soundtrack

Your Torch is Burning Brightly... (2008)

Your Torch is Burning Brightly... was a project by Emma Leach that I was involved in. It was part of a week of live art at the Chelsea Space called Temporary Agencies, curated by Sonya Dyer.

I played the role of inside informer in the college, recruting others and arranging spaces for meetings. This lead to a live event at which myself and the other students were both the gallery attendants, guarding the work, and the work itself. There was nothing else there. There's more about the project here and Emma's extended statement about it can be found here.

This was an odd and interesting experience. It seemed like it would be a fairly quiet affair until we started receiving abuse from recent Chelsea graduate and perfomance artist Ian Giles. At this point Oscar and I were forced to physically remove him from the space.