Amelia’s Magazine | Secret Garden Party 2011: Festival Review


The Secret Garden Party, buy illustrated by Sam Parr

A playground for all ages, ed The Secret Garden Party boasts a reputation as a festival where you can temporarily seek refuge from the hassles of real life and indulge in a few days of crazy creativity in a temporary community where a surprise lurks around every corner.

In my estimation, medical The Secret Garden Party is the closest you can ever get to Wonderland without reading Alice Through the Looking-Glass (It even has croquet). Held in the Cambridgeshire countryside just outside Huntingdon, this festival occurs on the grounds of Abbots Ripton Hall, home of Lord de Ramsey. These days the festival is a pretty badly kept secret and as many as 26,000 people attended this year, compared to the more petite 1000 or so that partied there back when it was begotten in 2004.

The grounds, as well as the festival goers, function as an impromptu art exhibit with fancy dress encouraged and contributing to the surreal ambience. Although marketed as both an arts and music festival, the lack of well-known bands means that more often than not the attendees are lured to the festival on the premise of the experience itself.


Illustrations by Lilly Allen

Festivals rest in the perilous hands of the weather and although our entrance to the festival was marked by the rain, an ominous start to the weekend, it was hot enough by Friday that we could mosey to the lake and go swimming with hoards of other eager beavers, desperate to wash off the glitter and UV paint from last night’s exploits. The lake is a vital part of the festival atmosphere, not only because you can swim and row across it, but because there is also a temporary stage in the centre that you can only get to by boat. This stage, in the shape of a dragonfly, was burnt on the Saturday night.


Blondie, illustrated by Sam Parr

This is a festival where you go with the flow, whether you choose to follow the trail of glow sticks being left by a person in the distance in the hope that it leads you somewhere, or you want to sit in front of the sand stage and relax burning marshmallows on the bonfire. Each festival experience is unique and as well as being handed some snacks by someone in a Kindness Initiative tabard we were approached by someone who presented us with a piece of paper reading “switch off your alarm clock”; SGP is a hands-on festival if ever there was one.

There are an impossible number of things to do. They say that curiosity killed the cat, but this is a place to satiate your interest, taking advantage of what’s on offer, whether that is life drawing or an introduction to fetishes: in a tent filled with pillows where you are required to take your shoes off at the entrance and a small make shift cinema (complete with popcorn). Forming just a sample of the odd attractions on offer, you’re guaranteed never to be bored. Other more mainstream activities to pep you up during the day include miniature golf and yoga. If you want to watch someone in a wasp spray costume chase a bee around, or throw paint at people you don’t know in the annual paint fight, then this is the place to do it. With so much on offer its impossible to sample everything in one visit and this festival will undoubtedly leave you wanting more.

We got more than we bargained by watching mud wrestling, the climax of the show being impromptu nudity as well as a Mission Impossible style drop for items located in the mud pit. We also checked out Shitfaced Shakespeare, a performance of Romeo and Juliet for which the actors are completely and utterly trollied. Both of which made for unique experiences.

We were totally sheltered from the real world here: with no plug sockets, the news of Amy Winehouse and the Norway massacre filter through the crowds with shock, reminding us that we have to go back to our lives on Monday.


Married to the Sea, illustrated by Nicola Ellen

The majority of bands playing at SGP are relatively unknown and reading down the list makes me feel suddenly lacking in hipster knowledge. There are big names, too: Leftfield, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mystery Jets and of course Blondie. We watched rising stars like Cosmo Jarvis and relative unknowns like Married to the Sea, wandering through the various stages in search of the best tunes. But mostly, we weaved in and out of the tents soaking up the atmosphere, picking up the phone of the random call box that lets you talk to strangers somewhere else on the festival and being glad that we were lucky enough to get tickets.


Cosmo Jarvis, illustrated by Rosemary Kirton
.
There is more to SGP than the music. This is the festival to end all festivals and has a certain je ne sais quoi that other festivals fail to achieve. If you want to dress up as a different animal every day then this is the place for you. It’s an art gallery with its visitors welcome to become part of the exhibit. The Secret Garden Party is one of the few experiences in life when the reality of the festival will no doubt outstrip your expectations.

All photography by Jessica Cook

Categories ,Abbots Ripton Hall, ,Alice in Wonderland, ,amy winehouse, ,art, ,blondie, ,dragonfly, ,festival, ,Glitter, ,Glow sticks, ,Golf, ,Jessica Cook, ,leftfield, ,Lilly Allen, ,Lord de Ramsey, ,Martha Reeves, ,Mission Impossible, ,music, ,Mystery Jets, ,Nicola Ellen, ,review, ,Romeo and Juliet, ,Rosemary Kirton, ,Sam Parr, ,Shitfaced Shakespeare, ,The Secret Garden Party, ,The Vandellas, ,UV paint, ,Yoga

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | Kotki Dwa, Still Corners and Twin Sister at the Lexington: Live Review

Since the first protest over two weeks ago -to use a slightly naff cliche- there has been something in the air; occupation, troche malady occupation, buy occupation! Across Britain students have left the streets and occupied their university halls in protest against the outcome of Lord Browne’s report: tuition fees to rise, the abolishment of EMA’s and the suggested removal of the state funding received by Universities to aid their research and teaching. At the beginning, in the face of the Coalition’s seemingly never ending barrage of cuts, there have been the inevitable attempts to label the student protests as self indulgent, (though what is self indulgent about fighting to preserve access to higher education for all in perpetuity?!) I was disappointed to see this article from Polly Toynbee, personally we should avoid turning the terrifying breadth and width of the cuts into a hierarchical system of which are more deserving to be saved. Yet the students are proving their opposers wrong, one of the demands of the UCLOccupation is for everyone who works in the university to be paid the London Living Wage, which is to be two pounds higher than the minimum wage. The inclusion of this demand has lead to increased support from Toynbee, as they are using their platform not only to campaign for themselves, but to join forces with other groups protesting against these draconian, unnecessary and dogmatic cuts.

Personally, I completely support the occupations of Universities, I’ve tasted the education cuts proposed by the Coalition and the impact they had on my student body was terrible, morale was low, people questioned why there were plunging into debt when they were receiving so little. Which is the inevitable problem when turning education into a market rather than a social right – it becomes about outcomes and fixed measurable points, rather than the continued development and sharing of knowledge. Maybe I was idealistic at what university would offer, but a sly cut in teaching, space and access to workshops was not what I was expecting. During my second year at Goldsmiths we spent the year fighting bigger class sizes on a third of the teachers, the loss of workshops and the loss of studio space to the point where people stopped coming to the studios because there was no room. Goldsmiths was the second university I tried, I left my first in protest against their education cuts. I bring up my experiences because despite Clegg’s lame protestations, it is not only the higher fees that would put me off if I was applying now, it is the slow destruction of our higher education system. The forcing of universities to act like businesses is not working and nor should it. Education is not a marketable commodity and we need to protect it alongside our incredible welfare state (the first hospital has already been all but privatised – Andrew Lansley’s white paper is a slippery slope), why are we allowing free universal access to medical care slip through our fingers? No-one in the Cabinet paid for their higher education and they experienced the best it had and still has to offer. We need to support the student occupations, we need to support the preservation of higher education.

I visited the UCL occupation on Saturday and it was amazing hive of activity (as I am sure all the occupied universities are). This weekend the Slade are mobilising art against the cuts, you can see their manifesto here.
Since the first protest over two weeks ago -to use a slightly naff cliche- there has been something in the air; occupation, illness occupation, approved occupation! Across Britain students have left the streets and occupied their university halls in protest against the outcome of Lord Browne’s report: tuition fees to rise, the abolishment of EMA’s and the suggested removal of the state funding received by Universities to aid their research and teaching. At the beginning, in the face of the Coalition’s seemingly never ending barrage of cuts, there have been the inevitable attempts to label the student protests as self indulgent, (though what is self indulgent about fighting to preserve access to higher education for all in perpetuity?!) I was disappointed to see this article from Polly Toynbee, personally we should avoid turning the terrifying breadth and width of the cuts into a hierarchical system of which are more deserving to be saved. Yet the students are proving their opposers wrong, one of the demands of the UCLOccupation is for everyone who works in the university to be paid the London Living Wage, which is to be two pounds higher than the minimum wage. The inclusion of this demand has lead to increased support from Toynbee, as they are using their platform not only to campaign for themselves, but to join forces with other groups protesting against these draconian, unnecessary and dogmatic cuts.

Personally, I completely support the occupations of Universities, I’ve tasted the education cuts proposed by the Coalition and the impact they had on my student body was terrible, morale was low, people questioned why there were plunging into debt when they were receiving so little. Which is the inevitable problem when turning education into a market rather than a social right – it becomes about outcomes and fixed measurable points, rather than the continued development and sharing of knowledge. Maybe I was idealistic at what university would offer, but a sly cut in teaching, space and access to workshops was not what I was expecting. During my second year at Goldsmiths we spent the year fighting bigger class sizes on a third of the teachers, the loss of workshops and the loss of studio space to the point where people stopped coming to the studios because there was no room. Goldsmiths was the second university I tried, I left my first in protest against their education cuts. I bring up my experiences because despite Clegg’s lame protestations, it is not only the higher fees that would put me off if I was applying now, it is the slow destruction of our higher education system. The forcing of universities to act like businesses is not working and nor should it. Education is not a marketable commodity and we need to protect it alongside our incredible welfare state (the first hospital has already been all but privatised – Andrew Lansley’s white paper is a slippery slope), why are we allowing free universal access to medical care slip through our fingers? No-one in the Cabinet paid for their higher education and they experienced the best it had and still has to offer. We need to support the student occupations, we need to support the preservation of higher education.

I visited the UCL occupation on Saturday and it was amazing hive of activity (as I am sure all the occupied universities are). This weekend the Slade are mobilising art against the cuts, you can see their manifesto here. Since visiting the protestors marched again on tuesday and there are many excellent accounts of what happened available on the internet, this Saturday sees a national day of action against the cuts and I believe there is another protest happening on the 9th. These occupations matter because the students are using their platform to join forces with other public sectors impacted from the lose of Mental Heath workers to the drastic cuts in legal aids that are happening at the same time as the benefit system is being overhauled. This was a banking crisis, this is a banking crisis, the government bailed out the banks and are still paying the price. This type of capitalism continually fails to work, unregulated markets failed. Why would we let people involved in this crisis, advise us that the best model for Universities is one based on the market??

Rather disappointingly UCL Lawyers have been called in to secure an injunction to evict the students. On the 9th December another day of protest – this time with parents and teachers joining in- will be held to oppose the Government’s to raise tuition fees.

During my visit to UCL I caught the end of Billy Bragg, saw the support of the National Union of Journalists in support of the occupation, sat through a book reading and the tutor’s support for the plight of students across Britain and had the opportunity to listen to David Wearing and Dan Hind discuss the history of capitalism and … It was a rather amazing day and if you are free this weekend or at any time, please check out an occupation near you events and the opportunity to speak to the students.
Since the first protest took place over two weeks ago -to use a slightly naff cliche- there has been something palatable in the air; occupation, capsule occupation, stuff occupation! Across Britain students have left the streets and occupied their university halls in protest against the outcome of Lord Browne’s report: tuition fees to rise, what is ed the abolishment of EMA’s and the suggested removal of the state funding received by Universities to aid their research and teaching budgets.

In the face of the Coalition’s seemingly never-ending barrage of cuts targeting every section of the welfare state, there have been the inevitable attempts to label the student protests as self indulgent, (though what is self indulgent about fighting to preserve access to higher education for all, in perpetuity?!) I was disappointed to see the always readable Polly Toynbee state: personally we should avoid turning the terrifying breadth and width of the cuts into a hierarchical system of the most deserving. Yet the students are proving their opposers wrong, one of the demands of the UCLOccupation is for everyone who works in the university to be paid the London Living Wage, which is to be two pounds higher than the minimum wage. The inclusion of this demand has lead to increased support from Toynbee, as they are using their platform not only to campaign for themselves, but to join forces with other groups protesting against these draconian, unnecessary and dogmatic cuts.

Personally, I completely support the occupations of Universities, I’ve tasted the education cuts proposed by the Coalition and the impact they had on my student body was terrible, morale was low, people questioned why there were plunging into debt when they were receiving so little. Which is the inevitable problem when turning education into a market rather than a social right – it becomes about outcomes and fixed measurable points, rather than the continued development and sharing of knowledge. Maybe I was idealistic at what university would offer, but a sly cut in teaching, space and access to workshops was not what I was expecting. During my second year at Goldsmiths we spent the year fighting bigger class sizes on a third of the teachers, the loss of workshops and the loss of studio space to the point where people stopped coming to the studios because there was no room. Goldsmiths was the second university I tried, I left my first in protest against their education cuts. I bring up my experiences because despite Clegg’s lame protestations, it is not only the higher fees that would put me off if I was applying now, it is the slow destruction of our higher education system. The forcing of universities to act like businesses is not working and nor should it. Education is not a marketable commodity and we need to protect it alongside our incredible welfare state (the first hospital has already been all but privatised – Andrew Lansley’s white paper is a slippery slope), why are we allowing free universal access to medical care slip through our fingers? No-one in the Cabinet paid for their higher education and they experienced the best it had and still has to offer. We need to support the student occupations, we need to support the preservation of higher education.

I visited the UCL occupation on Saturday and it was amazing hive of activity (as I am sure all the occupied universities are). This weekend the Slade are mobilising art against the cuts, you can see their manifesto here. Since visiting the protestors marched again on tuesday and there are many excellent accounts of what happened available on the internet, this Saturday sees a national day of action against the cuts and I believe there is another protest happening on the 9th. These occupations matter because the students are using their platform to join forces with other public sectors impacted from the lose of Mental Heath workers to the drastic cuts in legal aids that are happening at the same time as the benefit system is being overhauled. This was a banking crisis, this is a banking crisis, the government bailed out the banks and are still paying the price. This type of capitalism continually fails to work, unregulated markets failed. Why would we let people involved in this crisis, advise us that the best model for Universities is one based on the market??

Rather disappointingly UCL Lawyers have been called in to secure an injunction to evict the students. On the 9th December another day of protest – this time with parents and teachers joining in- will be held to oppose the Government’s to raise tuition fees.

During my visit to UCL I caught the end of Billy Bragg, saw the support of the National Union of Journalists in support of the occupation, sat through a book reading and the tutor’s support for the plight of students across Britain and had the opportunity to listen to David Wearing and Dan Hind discuss the history of capitalism and … It was a rather amazing day and if you are free this weekend or at any time, please check out an occupation near you events and the opportunity to speak to the students.
Since the first protest over two weeks ago, buy information pills there has been something palatable in the air; occupation, viagra approved occupation, approved occupation! Across Britain students have left the streets and occupied their University halls in protest against the outcome of Lord Browne’s report: tuition fees to rise, the abolishment of EMA’s and the suggested removal of the state funding Universities receive to aid their research and teaching budgets.

In the face of the Coalition’s seemingly never-ending barrage of cuts targeting every section of the welfare state, there has been the inevitable attempts to label the student protests as self indulgent (though what is self indulgent about fighting to preserve access to higher education for all, in perpetuity?!). I was disappointed to see the always readable Polly Toynbee state: personally we should avoid turning the terrifying breadth and width of the cuts into a hierarchical system of the most deserving.

Yet the students are fighting back against charges of indulgency, one of the demands made by the UCLOccupation is for all University employees to be paid the London Living Wage. The inclusion of this demand has lead to increased support from Toynbee and her more recent article signaled a change in approach. The Studetns are using their platform of occupation not only to campaign against sweeping changes to the perception of Higher Education, but to join forces with other groups (NHS, Library Workers, Legal Aid etc) to protest against these draconian, unnecessary and dogmatic cuts.

Personally, I completely support the occupations of Universities, I’ve tasted the education cuts proposed by the Coalition and the impact they had on my student body was terrible, morale was low, people questioned why they were plunging into debt when they were receiving so little in return. It made many students question the worth of their courses, which is exactly what this report wants to achieve. Education is not about financial worth, society will quickly become lacking if this thinking becomes the norm.

For me, this is the inevitable problem when turning education into a competitive market rather than an individual’s choice – it becomes about outcomes and fixed measurable points, rather than the continued development and sharing of knowledge. Maybe I was idealistic at what university would offer, but the sly cuts in teaching, space and access to workshops was not what I was expecting. During my second year at Goldsmiths we spent the year fighting against bigger class sizes on a third of the teachers, compounded by the loss of workshops and studio space so small, people stopped coming into the studios. Luckily for our third year, we managed to claw back studio space and instigate a system of visiting tutors, but the depth of knowledge we lost with tutors was unmistakable.

Goldsmiths was the second university I tried, I left my first in protest against their education cuts. I bring up my experiences because despite Clegg’s lame protestations, it is not only the higher fees that would put me off if I was applying now, it is the slow destruction of our higher education system. The forcing of universities to act like businesses is not working and nor should it. Education is not a marketable commodity and we need to protect it alongside our incredible welfare state (the first hospital has already been all but privatised – Andrew Lansley’s white paper is a slippery slope), why are we allowing free universal access to medical care slip through our fingers? No-one in the Cabinet paid for their higher education and they experienced the best it had and still has to offer. We need to support the student occupations, we need to support the preservation of higher education.

I visited the UCL occupation on Saturday and it was amazing hive of activity (as I am sure all the occupied universities are). This weekend the Slade are mobilising art against the cuts, you can see their manifesto here. Since visiting the protestors marched again on tuesday and there are many excellent accounts of what happened available on the internet, this Saturday sees a national day of action against the cuts and I believe there is another protest happening on the 9th. These occupations matter because the students are using their platform to join forces with other public sectors impacted from the lose of Mental Heath workers to the drastic cuts in legal aids that are happening at the same time as the benefit system is being overhauled. This was a banking crisis, this is a banking crisis, the government bailed out the banks and are still paying the price. This type of capitalism continually fails to work, unregulated markets failed. Why would we let people involved in this crisis, advise us that the best model for Universities is one based on the market??

Rather disappointingly UCL Lawyers have been called in to secure an injunction to evict the students. On the 9th December another day of protest – this time with parents and teachers joining in- will be held to oppose the Government’s to raise tuition fees.

During my visit to UCL I caught the end of Billy Bragg, saw the support of the National Union of Journalists in support of the occupation, sat through a book reading and the tutor’s support for the plight of students across Britain and had the opportunity to listen to David Wearing and Dan Hind discuss the history of capitalism and … It was a rather amazing day and if you are free this weekend or at any time, please check out an occupation near you events and the opportunity to speak to the students.
Since the first protest over two weeks ago, store there has been something palatable in the air; occupation, occupation, occupation! Across Britain students have left the streets and occupied their University halls in protest against the outcome of Lord Browne’s report: tuition fees to rise, the abolishment of EMA’s and the suggested removal of the state funding Universities receive to aid their research and teaching budgets.

In the face of the Coalition’s seemingly never-ending barrage of cuts targeting every section of the welfare state, there has been the inevitable attempts to label the student protests as self indulgent (though what is self indulgent about fighting to preserve access to higher education for all, in perpetuity?!). I was disappointed to see the always readable Polly Toynbee state: we should be avoiding the desire to turn the terrifying breadth and width of the cuts into a hierarchical system of the most deserving.

Yet the students are fighting back against charges of indulgency, one of the demands made by the UCLOccupation is for all University employees to be paid the London Living Wage. The inclusion of this demand has lead to increased support from Toynbee and her more recent article signaled a change in approach. The Students are using their platform of occupation not only to campaign against sweeping changes to the perception of Higher Education, but to join forces -as I learnt whilst visiting UCLOccupation- with other groups (NHS, Library Workers, Legal Aid etc) to protest against these draconian, unnecessary and dogmatic cuts.

Personally, I completely support the occupations of Universities, I’ve tasted the education cuts proposed by the Coalition and the impact they had on my student body was terrible, morale was low, people questioned why they were plunging into debt when they were receiving so little in return. It made many students question the worth of their courses, which is what The Browne report wants to achieve – the commodification of learning. Education is not about financial worth and society will quickly become lacking in innovation and discussion if this thinking becomes the norm.

This is the inevitable problem when turning education into a competitive market rather than an individual choice about whether or not to further their learning. Maybe I was idealistic at what university would offer, but the sly cuts in teaching, space and access to workshops was not what I was expecting. During my second year at Goldsmiths we spent the year fighting against bigger class sizes on a third of the teachers, compounded by the loss of workshops and studio space so small, people stopped coming into the studios. Luckily for our third year, we managed to claw back studio space and instigate a system of visiting tutors, but the depth of knowledge we lost with the axed tutors was unmistakable.

Goldsmiths was the second university I tried, I left my first in protest against their education cuts. I bring up my experiences because despite Clegg’s lame protestations, it is not only the higher fees that would put me off if I was applying now, it is the slow destruction of our higher education system. The forcing of universities to act like businesses is not working and nor should it. Education is not a marketable commodity and we need to protect it alongside our incredible welfare state (the first hospital has already been all but privatised – Andrew Lansley’s white paper is a slippery slope), why are we allowing free universal access to medical care slip through our fingers? No-one in the Cabinet paid for their higher education and they experienced the best it had and still has to offer. We need to support the student occupations, we need to support the preservation of higher education.

I visited the UCL occupation on Saturday and it was amazing hive of activity (as all the occupied universities will be). This weekend the Slade are mobilising art against the cuts, you can see their manifesto here. Since my visit the protestors marched again on tuesday and ran circles around the police’s attempt to kettle them or in the words of newspeak, ‘detain.’ There are many excellent accounts of what happened available across the internet or join twitter for live updates.

Rather disappointingly UCL Lawyers have been called in to secure an injunction to evict the students, a move being instigated no doubt by all Universities currently occupied. It would be a breath of fresh air for the University bodies to support the students who fill their halls.

Do check out what events are happening at the various spaces, during my visit to UCL I caught the end of Billy Bragg, saw the rousing support of the National Union of Journalists, sat through a book reading and the tutor’s rallying support for the plight of students across Britain and had the opportunity to listen to David Wearing and Dan Hind discuss the history of capitalism and …

For me the Occupation’s summerise Education, the ability to move between disciplines and try out new lectures on whatever subject that interests you. It should not be the continued separation of courses or a separation of thinking between the Humanities and the Sciences. We should strive for a University model in which debate happens across disciplines.

This Saturday (4th) sees a national day of action against ALL cuts proposed by the coalition and another protest with teachers, students and parents is being planned for the 9th. This was originally and remains banking crisis, a crisis of capitalism, we can negotiate a new space if we work together. The government bailed out the banks and populations across the world are paying the price. This type of capitalism continually fails as do the unchecked belief in unregulated markets. Why would we let people involved in this crisis, advise us that the best model for Universities is one based on the market??
Since the first protest over two weeks ago, discount there has been something palatable in the air; occupation, sildenafil occupation, occupation! Across Britain students have left the streets and occupied their University halls in protest against the outcome of Lord Browne’s report: tuition fees to rise, the abolishment of EMA’s and the suggested removal of the state funding Universities receive to aid their research and teaching budgets.

In the face of the Coalition’s seemingly never-ending barrage of cuts targeting every section of the welfare state, there has been the inevitable attempts to label the student protests as self indulgent (though what is self indulgent about fighting to preserve access to higher education for all, in perpetuity?!). I was disappointed to see the always readable Polly Toynbee state: we should be avoiding the desire to turn the terrifying breadth and width of the cuts into a hierarchical system of the most deserving.

Yet the students are fighting back against charges of indulgency, one of the demands made by the UCLOccupation is for all University employees to be paid the London Living Wage. The inclusion of this demand has lead to increased support from Toynbee and her more recent article signaled a change in approach. The Students are using their platform of occupation not only to campaign against sweeping changes to the perception of Higher Education, but to join forces -as I learnt whilst visiting UCLOccupation- with other groups (NHS, Library Workers, Legal Aid etc) to protest against these draconian, unnecessary and dogmatic cuts.

Personally, I completely support the occupations of Universities, I’ve tasted the education cuts proposed by the Coalition and the impact they had on my student body was terrible, morale was low, people questioned why they were plunging into debt when they were receiving so little in return. It made many students question the worth of their courses, which is what The Browne report wants to achieve – the commodification of learning. Education is not about financial worth and society will quickly become lacking in innovation and discussion if this thinking becomes the norm.

This is the inevitable problem when turning education into a competitive market rather than an individual choice about whether or not to further their learning. Maybe I was idealistic at what university would offer, but the sly cuts in teaching, space and access to workshops was not what I was expecting. During my second year at Goldsmiths we spent the year fighting against bigger class sizes on a third of the teachers, compounded by the loss of workshops and studio space so small, people stopped coming into the studios. Luckily for our third year, we managed to claw back studio space and instigate a system of visiting tutors, but the depth of knowledge we lost with the axed tutors was unmistakable.

Goldsmiths was the second university I tried, I left my first in protest against their education cuts. I bring up my experiences because despite Clegg’s lame protestations, it is not only the higher fees that would put me off if I was applying now, it is the slow destruction of our higher education system. The forcing of universities to act like businesses is not working and nor should it. Education is not a marketable commodity and we need to protect it alongside our incredible welfare state (the first hospital has already been all but privatised – Andrew Lansley’s white paper is a slippery slope), why are we allowing free universal access to medical care slip through our fingers? No-one in the Cabinet paid for their higher education and they experienced the best it had and still has to offer. We need to support the student occupations, we need to support the preservation of higher education.

I visited the UCL occupation on Saturday and it was amazing hive of activity (as all the occupied universities will be). This weekend the Slade are mobilising art against the cuts, you can see their manifesto here. Since my visit the protestors marched again on tuesday and ran circles around the police’s attempt to kettle them or in the words of newspeak, ‘detain.’ There are many excellent accounts of what happened available across the internet or join twitter for live updates.

This Saturday (4th) sees a national day of action against ALL the cuts and another protest with teachers, students and parents is being planned for the 9th. These occupations matter because the students are using their platform to join forces with other public sectors impacted from the lose of Mental Heath workers to the drastic cuts in legal aids that are happening at the same time as the benefit system is being overhauled. This was a banking crisis, this is a banking crisis, the government bailed out the banks and are still paying the price. This type of capitalism continually fails to work, unregulated markets failed. Why would we let people involved in this crisis, advise us that the best model for Universities is one based on the market??

Rather disappointingly UCL Lawyers have been called in to secure an injunction to evict the students, a move being instigated no doubt by all Universities currently occupied. It would be a breath of fresh air for the University bodies to support the students who fill their halls.

Do check out what events are happening at the various spaces, during my visit to UCL I caught the end of Billy Bragg, saw the rousing support of the National Union of Journalists, sat through a book reading and the tutor’s rallying support for the plight of students across Britain and had the opportunity to listen to David Wearing and Dan Hind discuss the history of capitalism and …

For me the Occupation’s summerise Education, the ability to move between disciplines and try out new lectures on whatever subject that interests you. It should not be the continued separation of courses or a separation of thinking between the Humanities and the Sciences. We should strive for a University model in which debate happens across disciplines.
kotkidwa by daria h
Illustration by Daria Hlazatowa

It was a cold Thursday night twixt Angel and Kings Cross, link but about to warm the cockles of our hearts were Kotki Dwa, order opening a sold out RockFeedback night at the Lexington. This was their second “comeback” gig in the space of a week (having appeared at the Hobby Horse the previous Saturday), price after a spot of extra-curricular activity by the trio. I’d never caught Kotki Dwa (so named after a Polish lullaby involving two little kittens) before, though I know that regular readers of Amelia’s Magazine will be familiar with them (they also contributed a song to the Amelia’s Tunes compilation a couple of years ago).

With singer and guitarist Alex Ostrowski bedecked in a decorated waistcoat (possibly homemade, as I believe the guys are a bit partial to the DIY approach), Kotki Dwa kicked off the proceedings in a typically quirky fashion. Musically, they energetically mix up the guitar chops with some beep-tastic synth action, occasionally resulting in some spectacular freakouts, such as on frenetic Kiss and Make Up. I was really impressed by them, and they were cheered on by the faithful who crowded to the front of the stage ahead of the other bands sets. We even got a cordial invitation to a free Wycinanki workshop that they’re running at the Topolski Century Gallery on the South Bank! See our listing here.

still corners singer
Photo courtesy of Still Corners.

Still Corners provided quite a contrast when they took the stage. With the lights down low and myriad images being played behind them, this was a band going for atmosphere with a capital A. And, to be fair, they succeeded. With a lead guitar so drowned in reverb that it sounded like it was coming from another dimension, Still Corners purveyed a woozy kind of 60’s influenced psychedelic pop, like Some Velvet Morning by Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra covered by My Bloody Valentine. Like Kotki Dwa, they too are no strangers to Amelia’s Magazine, having recently been caught supporting Our Broken Garden.

The Lexington had really started to fill up by this point, and the newcomers were treated to the ethereal delights of songs like Don’t Fall In Love and Endless Summer, the latter eerily recalling Joy Division’s Decades. There was even an instrumental number which allowed the band a bit of a Neu! styled workout. Still Corners are being hotly tipped at the moment, and they certainly stand out from the current crop of bands riding the C86 revival. Most definitely worth checking out live, if you get the chance.

Twin Sister by Matilde Sazio
Illustration by Matilde Sazio

Another hotly tipped band are Long Island’s Twin Sister, currently in the midst of a jaunt around Europe. The five-piece took to the stage with breathy-voiced singer Andrea Estella adorned in a voluminous green wig (for reasons never actually explained) and the bass guitar of Gabel D’Amico sporting what looked like a bit of shrubbery.

Twin Sister are a bit more difficult to pigeonhole than a lot of their US contemporaries, navigating a path between the 60’s garage sound of Vivian Girls or Dum Dum Girls and the My Bloody Valentine influenced indie pop of Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Playing a selection of tracks from the EPs Vampires with Dreaming Kids and Color Your Life, they mix up cool guitar pop with an electronic edge though, if anything, they reminded me of the Cardigans (I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not!). Current single All Around and Away We Go throws in another stylistic twist, with a New Wave disco beat sounding not unlike Blondie produced by Barry White. A packed out Lexington was certainly getting its collective groove on by this point, whilst onstage guitarist and co-vocalist Eric Cardona proved to be a master of multi-tasking by taking on some electronic drum pads.

I think there were a few doubters in the audience to begin with, and I certainly didn’t know what to expect as I wasn’t that familiar with them, but after seeing Twin Sister in action, I think they can certainly justify the excitement that’s followed them cross the Atlantic.

Categories ,Barry White, ,blondie, ,c86, ,Cardigans, ,Daria Hlazatova, ,disco, ,Dum Dum Girls, ,Hobby Horse, ,Indie Pop, ,joy division, ,Kotki Dwa, ,Lee Hazelwood, ,Lexington, ,Matilde Sazio, ,My Bloody Valentine, ,Nancy Sinatra, ,neu!, ,new wave, ,Our Broken Garden, ,Pains Of Being Pure at Heart, ,psychedelic pop, ,RockFeedback, ,Still Corners, ,Topolski Century Gallery, ,Twin Sister, ,Vivian Girls, ,Wycinanki

Similar Posts:






Amelia’s Magazine | The Slits – Album Review

the%20slits.jpg

I’ll put up my hands and admit that as a girl, health medications not yet a quarter of a century old, remedy talking about music is utterly intimidating. Yet I try. At some point in my life I’ll make a concerted effort to dance about architecture too. There is an endless wealth of information on bands that have already been, that I am never, ever going to be able to catch up on. Yet I try. As a music fan (enough to write about it), I’m embarrassed to admit that I only really discovered my, now, all time favourite band, Talking Heads within the last five years. I know, shoot me down. My convoluted point is that, as much as I try and piece it together, I can only imagine what The Slits releasing ‘Cut’ meant to the females and general youth and music fans of 1979. Yes there was a sex bomb fronted Blondie, intriguingly androgynous Patti Smith and unconventional Kate Bush, but an all female, punk rock band that posed naked on their album sleeve and generally didn’t give a f***. No one saw that coming and their influence has reverberated ever since.

the-slits-cut.jpg

Fast forward then 30 years and their new album, Trapped Animal, has been unleashed to a society that is certainly far from sorted. But can the music still have the same punch? The garage approach of Cut has inevitably given way to a slicker product all round. That same mixture of reggae rhythms, scratchy guitars, anger and mischief abounds. Rather than sounding like a band thirty years past their prime, as could be said of many a reunion album, there is a freshness that means you could be mistaken for thinking you’re hearing the latest South London council estate collective. This could be explained by the new multi-generational line-up that features Sex Pistol Paul Cook’s daughter, Hollie. You also get the impression that frontwoman Ari Up has as much energy as her fourteen year old self that met original member, Palmolive, at a Patti Smith gig.

the%20slits%202.jpg

Lyrically, the album doesn’t stretch the boundaries of the concept of rhyming but you wouldn’t hear Girls Aloud bemoaning of “Men who want us to be their mother/Men who hate us because of their mother.” Where the Pop Idol-ers are concerned with their “cappuccinos to go-o”, Up and her girls are hollering about ‘Peer Pressure’, “issues with child abuse” and eschewing the shackles of a nine to five: “We don’t pay rent with a passion, and we don’t wanna follow fashion.”

The fact that foul-mouthed Lily Allen launched her career on the wave of reggae-tinged pop is no accident. The Slits invented the model for anti-establishment, men-bashing, unselfconscious pop and even though this new offering will never live up to Cut standards, it’s a welcome return of punk’s finest.

Categories ,blondie, ,girls aloud, ,kate bush, ,lily allen, ,patti smith, ,pop, ,punk, ,reggae, ,rock, ,sex pistols, ,talking heads, ,the slits

Similar Posts: