A Life In The Day

Jesus, these old BBC reviews get worse and worse. Should I be depressed at how bad I used to be, or happy that wahetever else may have happened, at least I've improved slightly? Or should I have another cup of tea and then go and do something useful?

MAYFLY, South Park, 4/5/03

It almost seems churlish to start being critical about a free family fun day in the park. Then again, Blind Date is free family fun, and who could watch that and hold back a (probably violent) critical reaction? Also, I'm insecure enough to need to see my half-formed opinions in print. Not that this website is precisely "in print". Unless you print it.

Oh no, I've wasted all these words and I haven't even started to talk about X-Hail...which is lucky, as I didn't see them. I've got a good excuse though - I had to go and buy beer. Sorry.

I did, however, see Eeebleee, the wild card in the day's line up. Take one part shimmering guitar, one part double bass, and three parts crunchy loops, then shake until barely recognisable, and that's the 'bleee, as they are surely not known, and never will be. When it works, it's an unexpectedly poppy cocktail; when it doesn't it sounds like an old OMD B side. This performance is about 50/50.

Let's be honest, Chamfer are pretty much Kula Shaker, albeit a less pompous version. Plenty of rock riffs, keyboard hooks and Indian percussion. This sort of thing probably works better in the (intermittent) sunshine, but it sounds mighty fine, the band turning in a tight, spirited performance, irrespective of amp troubles. Unashamedly positive music played by unpretentiously decent people is pretty hard to dislike, especially on a bank holiday.

Nation open up the covers half of the afternoon, cracking out some rock chestnuts, from Elvis to Oasis, interspersed with a few originals. They're a pretty neat little unit, although they do take on vocal hurdles that are a bit beyond them: Michael Jackson? The Beach Boys? The keyboardist takes over vocal duties for "Heard It Through The Grapevine" and proceeds to sing better than the frontman...and he's not wearing a lino dressing gown, whihc is also in his favour.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch The Cheesegraters, but seeing as their slogan is "Right about now, the funk-soul covers", you can probably draw your own conclusions.

I don't know how many of your days out end up with people dressed in 19th Century bathing suits playing skiffle versions of well known tunes, but for me The Boxhedge Clippers was a first. Talking of things sounding better in the sun - we were earlier, do keep up - The Clippers are made for a whimsical summer afternoon. The call it "skuffle", I call it hilarious. They're very much in the vein of earl Bonzo Dog Band, and to me the sight of an old chap, resembling a drunken badger, accordioning his way through "Anarchy In The UK" is more than satisfying. If it's too silly for your tastes, you may wish to focus on the tight tempo changes, and the lush harmonies. Or you may wish to go and have an overpriced burger instead.

All in all a varied and well-chosen line up, with some excellent sound from a man called Mark Kelly, made for an enjoyable day in South Park. Let's see if we can repeat this line up later in the year, in place of Fox Fm and their hordes of Atomic Kittenettes...

One Horris Race

This is a review that went down well. not only did The Fly quote some of it in their review (lazy beggars, they only have about 50 words to fill & they have to borrow some of mine!) but MC Lars himself referred to it, I'm pretty sure, in a later song about his visit ot the UK: "I got mad props from the BBC". MC Lars (he dropped the Horris) used to be ace, but he's not quite so good now. He got all professional and that, how dull. Still, good luck to him.

MC LARS HORRIS/ CHAMFER - Port Mahon, 3/03

Is The Zodiac too noisy for you? The Wheatsheaf a little too dingy? Try spending a evening at The Port Mahon, one of Oxfordshire's most unusual venues. Imagine a cross between a Victoruian parlour and an Irish scouthut, and you might be halfway there. Bands play through a tiny PA in front of an old fireplace, whilst the audience lounges around on old dining chairs. Any musicians that can't produce an intimate, relaxed armosphere in this setting shoud probably start updating their CVs.

No danger of that tonight, though. I had doubts about Chamfer unplugged, Gabbie's joyously silly keyboard lines being my favourite element of thier music heretofore, but I was happily proved wrong. Frontman Nick sat centre stage (centre hearth?) flanked by bassist and percussionist, and proceeded to play a warm semi-acoustic set, revealing far more subtlety than the electric Chamfer show.

True revelation of the gig, however, was the neat tabla work of the man they call The Guru, whose fluent rhythms are normally lost in the full band line-up. "Some Day", a lightly spikier song thatn their usual roster, stole the show, highlighting the slight predictability of the other tunes, but this is a minor quibble. A friendly, enjoyable set.

If you haven't caught MC Lars Horris during his short stay in Oxford you're a) too late, and b) a fool. This is white collegeboy hip-hop of the highest calibre, with consistently hilarious wordplay and overwrought theatrical delivery. Not that it doesn't get quite funky at times, too. Lars has the irrepressible energy and wondrous expression of a six year old in springtime, and his style is the boho wordsmithery of MC 900 Foot Jesus, Earthling, or any laidback rapper from a decade ago, when the term "trip hop" couild be employed without sniggering.

Sometimes Lars comes on like an engaging streetwise teacher, rapping about important issues: "Certified" is about poolside safety, for God's sake. If Mike D had stood in for Robin Williams, Dead Poets' Society could have sounded like this! And it's not hard to imagine "Rapbeth" roped in to educate 7-11 year olds about Shakespeare. Such Legz-Akimbo-Meets-ninja-Tunes antics should, of corse, be an embarrassment, but Lars' work with the crowd is impeccable - I don't recall ever seeing an audience so fired and involved at an Oxford gig - and he more than gets away with it.

MC Lars is a superb performer, strictly from the street. Sesame Street, that is.