Lydia at the Nelson's Heads

Despite being in the big smoke, pubs with strong characters can sometimes be tricky to source. So imagine the collective rapture when we happened upon the Nelson's Head just off Hackney Road last Sunday.

A house pug named Lydia, the fattiest dead bits of pig pub food in the world ever, wifebeater and Kate Bush on the juke box. It was only after one of the patrons tipped me the wink on the way in that I realised it was yet another gay hotspot that we'd stumbled across. My social circle is currently revolving like a fly around a fist. Almost too strong...



Tude



Instant death



Boy



Young love

Nose nose mouth mouth nose nose mouth mouth

Valentine's weekend is when custom dictates you get out yer best slacks, put a rose between your teeth and romance 'the stone'. That sort of behaviour is certainly appropriate for some. But maybe not for others.

So for us, we journeyed south of the river to visit notorious Vauxhall hot spot, The Eagle for their Saturday night do Carpet Burn. I may have been slightly naive regarding the title of the night before I entered. But that bubble of stupidity was popped by stepping inside the Eagle's guts. Room odouriser for sale at the cloakroom from a chap with a tache. Erasure on the soundsystem. Kiss the wrist, smell the wrist.



Despite the music veering into Student Saturday night town, manning up (so to speak) was the order of the day. As it stretched on deep into Sunday morning, afternoon and evening. We left Brixton at 6.30pm prompt.

Sunday eve was spent proving manning up doesn't have to come wrapped in a vest. Grunge and fish and chips proved to be suitably sufficient...

Still sizzling after all these weeks

Alreadey - It's lazy to throw up some videos on a blog and dub it summat more than it actually is. But there's some fresh hype being rolled out there at the moment and I want in on it.



Dj Zinc is undergoing a right old rival - having been the mainstay of drum n bass nights during university days, he's had a serious word with himself and re-emerged with a satisfyingly contemporary wobble. He's dubbing this new flex "crack house". Not crap house. Crack house. First time I clocked this new effort with Ms Dynamite on lungs I admit I wasn't so bothered - Predictably now one listen just isn't enough. So big it's needs its own conservatory...




Jammer is the original murkle man. First time we saw him in the flesh was a C90 at Sharkeys in Sheffield. He rocked up with a mad entourage with blacked out windows and Shadetek's missus in place. She looked as hard as a wrestler with her braids. Rumour has it, one of da crew were packing - who knows but it was tough and gnarly and the first night of its kind to hit Sheffield.

Fast forward five years and the Murkle is much more polished. Like a real popstar he's packing videos and nice garms rather than fire arms. Shiiiiiit, we even saw him play a little set in an art gallery just the other week. He was wearing a particularly nice coat, then posed like JLS for some photos afterwards. Awwwwww...



By comparison this is what was happening in Sheffield back in 2006. Joe Ruckus on the camera flex...

Babe Rainbow, Teenagers in Tokyo and the Tune-Yards on a Fact tip

I had no idea who Babe Rainbow was until Fact asked us to spin out some verse on his work. He is one the big things for Warp Records in 2010. And suitably eerie...

Check out what I had to say for myself over here...

I also had time to give Teenagers in Tokyo a slagging for being too shit here

Although the Horrors remix (to be streamed here) is surprisingly hype.

The Tune-Yards have also got daubed in my reviewery brush. Here's the flex on their latest release. The video is proper silly front room vibes as well...

Kiss the muscle

I've spent the week with my legs wandering about the place and these ears glued to the latest Aeroplane mix for January. And I can't get enough of these muscle kissing vibes.

Ali Love's new tune - Love Harder - is this dude's big sort of come back. He collaborated with the Chemical Brothers, was picked up by a major label and then unceremoniously dropped when his singles didn't do the business so to speak...

Whatever happens to him this time round, the Mighty Mouse remix is fresh yet fleeting. I'm anticipating being sick of it within a week. But for now - big tune...

Culinary delights

It's been a hectic trio of days in which shit, unhealthy food appears to have played a large part. Serious. I'm almost on first name terms with the chicken dealer at the bottom of the road while the lady behind the counter in Percy Ingle's reaches for the sausage rolls before my shadow has even darkened the door. Having an indepth knowledge of local pastry dealers wasn't one of my ambitions for my late twenties, but I guess that's just the way a chicken bake can crumble.

The shit fodder wasn't just a binge ting. Energy levels needed to be high due to being embroiled in a house move on Friday. Turns out that the new gaff is right in the thick of a vibrant rave ting. Whilst toasting the new household, we discovered a ridiculous party was going off in the building opposite. We spent a good hour watching wreckheads staggering around the street while vaguely attempting to catch the attention of James Ford from Simian Mobile Disco, who was djing at the do.

We didn't breach but it did look like a hype bash. Here's the jump off...

Video Portraits

Tesco in Hackney - Carribean style stodge at knocked down prices



A simple buttery, supper

A smidgy lunch

No artists in clogs please.

Mentioning SMD and food in the same breath is also a good excuse to embed this mother. When the Arctic Monkeys enjoyed a jolly knees up with PDiddy. It's still funny as fook and suitably uplifting for a bleak and cold Monday...