Illiterate Thoughts, Unspoken Words

More Drum Work

2010-09-17T03:19:00.000-07:00

Ornette Coleman Meltdown: The Roots

2009-06-15T02:50:00.000-07:00

Sat. 13th June, Royal Festival Hall, London

Open publication - Free publishing - More the roots

Wow. What an evening.

Run By Myth on LA Talk Radio

2009-05-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

dio.com's Troy's Room unsigned rock show:

Click here to listen to the show!

Single introduced around the 0:09:09 mark, further mention around 0:17:26 mark

For more 'Troy's Room' goodness, click here.

PREVIOUSLY: ''...You Take From It What You Bring To It...' Adam B. talks on his Run By Myth project and debut album 'I am Harmony'' click here to read this interview.

Illustrations

2009-05-18T04:05:00.000-07:00

Another one from back in the college days.

Poetry / Animation: Mat Lloyd & Matt Frodsham

2009-05-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Words by Mat Lloyd - www.MatLloyd.com

Animation by Matt Frodsham - mattfrodsham@gmail.com

From the book DEMO TAPE, available from all good bookstores
and online from AMAZON, signed copies from www.MatLloyd.com
ISBN: 978-1-4092-6270-1

Documentary: Cage Fighter

2009-05-16T15:28:00.000-07:00

Cage Fighter from Woolfcub on Vimeo.

Poetry Audio

2009-05-09T10:46:00.000-07:00

Visit the new myspace page to hear audio of 'And Somewhere Else, A Child Laughs', written and performed by yours truly.

Geeking out in front of one of my favourite pieces of art since I was a wee lad...

'...You Take From It What You Bring To It...'

2009-04-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

Adam B. talks on his Run By Myth project and debut album 'I am Harmony'

The cryptic name came to Adam in a dream:

'A huge combustion engine, in a barn, petering out, dying, I asked if there was some way I could save it. What kept it running, I asked, the engine replied that it was 'run by myth'

Psychoanalysts, start your engines

After much soul – searching, Adam played The Riddler, teasing peers, throwing the cryptic phrase out here and there, and leaving people to find their own meaning. He does concede, however, that a few close friends caught on to his own interpretation.

'Run By Myth is an experiment'

‘I grew up on Motown and Sam Cooke, then the first ‘golden age’ of hip hop in the eighties, rock came next, jazz, world music... So whilst there’s a lot of rock elements on I am Harmony, there’s also a lot of diversity. I love going from, say, heavy metal, into jazz...I (love) tangents...’

College – educated, classically trained, Adam spent more than a decade in bands. One incarnation saw him perform at South London’s The Paradise Bar, sharing the bill with an unsigned The Noisettes. Soon after it became clear that, by chance, Adam and co. shared similarities with another new group. ‘Sounding like no-one else’ became ‘sounding like Linkin Park’. The band imploded. Around this time, the idea of Run By Myth was born. The DIY ethic a necessity, it being impossible for Adam to find a band willing, or able, to cross genres the way he wanted. Clear influences include Meshuggah, Led Zeppelin and Jeff Buckley, but I am Harmony has a ‘certain Run By Myth sound’ throughout, encapsulated on the title track, hazy guitar reverbs on a bed of driving percussion, the mantra 'I am your harmony' a mix of both a woeful declaration of servitude and a celebration of belonging, the yin to the yang of tracks like the ferocious 'Body of Sin' and 'Blossom', machine – gun guitars, guttural growls and relentless drumming.

'...Music is a big influence on my life, but life has a big influence on my music...all experiences go into making a Run by Myth song. You’ve got to make music for yourself – if you’re not 100 per cent into what you’re doing, how can anyone else be? I don’t give a shit what anybody else thinks of what I’m doing! But the danger of working by yourself is that you can lose perspective. I’m always trying to write something that’s better than what I wrote before...’

Adam is optimistic about the future of music. Many balk at phrases like ‘... internet following...’, but he counters that it was ‘technology for all’ that gave birth to movements such as punk and hip hop, without which, ground-breaking groups like Black Flag and Public Enemy – other influences - would never exist: ‘...one of the 17 year olds with a laptop and a myspace page might just be the creative genius which comes along and ‘saves’ music...’ he states.

‘...(On touring I am Harmony) very interactive, lots of audio visual, lots of lighting effects, more a communal experience, rather than giving it the big, obvious, ‘rock star’ air grabs, I want the distance between the band on stage and the crowd to be lost...’

So what comes next? ‘Run By Myth has so many elements, rock. Jazz, soul, there is no set end’ he says, laughing, ‘there’s photography... so many different media elements to experiment with...I am interested in ideas about harmony in the universe, harmonious light, melody...’. Collaborations are lined up, Adam is knee – deep in producing with the Wolfkind project ‘that’s a collective, musicians, artists, media being produced in one form or another; though I am taking a backseat, that’s Jay (of Wolfkind)’s baby...shout out to aries7nine, too...’

Run By Myth ‘Essentials’:

Sam and Dave: ‘anything by them’

Stevie Wonder – Songs in the Key Of Life, ‘...of course...’

Star Wars – ‘I got Watchmen fatigue – I’ll wait for the DVD’

Marvel Comics ‘...Marvel over D.C. all day...’

‘This is your brain on music’ Book by Daniel Levitin

‘The cyclical serpent’ Book by Dr Paul Halpern

‘Anything by the late, great, Mr Robert Anton Wilson, it goes without saying...’

myspace.com/runbymyth

Photography

2009-04-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

Pt V.

Photography

2009-04-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Pt IV

From the same as below...

Photography

2009-04-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Pt III

This was part of the 'Cans II' exhibition, Waterloo, 2008. 'Lil Red Ridin Hoody', by Mau Mau

Photography

2009-04-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

Photography

2008-11-23T06:34:00.001-08:00

Short Film: 'Cold Call'

2008-08-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

From the Woolfcub website...get familiar:

Words & Images : Sunday Thoughts / Fifth Sun

2008-08-03T04:11:00.001-07:00

Image & Words by Lee Hodkinson

Images & illustration

2008-08-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

LIVE: LUPE FIASCO: The Cool Wows Somerset House

2008-07-16T02:28:00.000-07:00

All images by Lee Hodkinson

More images after the jump

Prior to Lupe's appearence on Somerset House's compact outdoor stage, the pop - reggae of Ava Leigh was followed by an atmosphere -free spell, causing impatient crowd members to boo / chant the timeless 'why are we waiting?'. The organisers should have planned the warm - up better than they did (reggae at a hip hop gig? NIN being played quietly during sound check? No DJ dropping 'A Millie' a million times?), however, portions of the crowd acting like spoilt five - year olds did nothing but shame those members of the crowd experienced (or mature) enough to respect the unwritten rule: that the headliner comes on at 9:30 - not a moment before, no matter how many toys whiners in the crowd throw from their prams beforehand.

Once Lupe did burst onto the stage (at, wait for it...9.30 on the dot) he did so with an energy that had even the most stroppy audience member forget the whining they were doing just moments before. Looking every inch the GQ Don, Lupe performed crowd pleasers from Food & Liqour like 'Kick, Push', 'Daydream' and 'Sunshine'.

F & F's Matthew Santos was shown much crowd love

F & F's Sarah Green, rock - rocking on...

The superb lighting, capturing Lupe's Manga side

Lupe & Santos double team the crowd

After an energetic hour on stage, Lupe still spit rapid fire lines from Go Go Gadget Flow
and delivered dazzling wordplay from Dumb It Down with apparent ease, to the crowd's amazement

Lupe, Green and Santos sent the crowd nuts with their extended version of Superstar,
the perfect closer to a stellar performance.

From The Archives: Drum Album Reviews and Profile: The Noisettes (UK)

2008-07-13T15:16:00.000-07:00

Originally published in Drum Magazine Summer 2005 edition
All words By Lee Hodkinson (text only).

From The Archives: Saul Williams: Words Of Dread

2008-07-13T14:42:00.001-07:00

Written after Saul Williams had released his first album 'Amethyst Rockstar',
Originally published in Drum magazine April 2004 as part of the 'Dread' issue
All words by Lee Hodkinson (text only).

Saul Williams' Niggy Tardust out now: www.myspace.com/saulwilliams

From The Archives: Music Profile: Goldroom

2008-04-08T01:26:00.000-07:00

Originally published on thebluelightdistrict.com

All Words by Lee Hodkinson

Successfully taking strands from various venerated musical muses (Radiohead , Nine Inch Nails, Mogwai, Four Tet, Ian Brown), ambient / electronic / indie / call-'em-what-you-will four piece Goldroom show their influences yet avoid making music which sounds like an impersonal composite of others' styles, by skillfully weaving together an intimate sound which is heavyweight yet interspersed with sublime moments of light relief.
On the powerhouse 'Ryu' vocalist Joe Bond's voice suggests a young, sleep deprived Lemmy tussling with a sizzurp - sozzled Cobain. A gang of diverse musical movements from the past two decades wrestle each other below his tortured vocals: psychedelic baggy swirls meet drum and bass BPMs head - on whilst contorted rock riffs bend beneath their own weight in a glorious musical mêlée. 'Hooligans of Doom' is Radiohead meets Massive Attack, the calm surface poked and prodded by nagging white noise until the climax, where wasp - like buzzes and frozen synths twist the tormented lullaby into the soundtrack to an Oxide Pang flick. 'Hanoi' hints at a funked - up Four Tet remix to Keith's take on 'La Retournelle' with a surprising spring in step.Disenchanted with 'bunny ear's irony and 'stupid is the new smart' dogma high on hype and short on substance? Not up for neon, instead reaching for darker shades of Radiohead and NIN nuances? Fancy foreboding funk, bleak beauty and a whole other world of goodness? Take a shine to the brilliance of Goldroom.

Up To Speed: JOSHUA REDMAN

2007-12-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Originally published in Drum Magazine Summer 2005
All words by Lee Hodkinson (Text Only)

Poetry: Inertia

2007-12-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

Inertia:

Like two flat
Cracked
Palms
Once - fresh flesh
Pressed together
Clinging to words
Weakly whispered in the vague direction of God
Never quite catching her ear

Like the wet wick
Of the last match of the pack
Which called it a day
Seconds short of glory

Moving everywhere, getting nowhere
Fucking and never loving, getting fucked and never loved

Scratching the paper,
again
Back bent in one day – you will pay – posture
Etching out blueprints
Diagrams
Rough drafts and secret incantations
Never chanted, like the never – planted seeds
Standing in the shower fully clothed
Wondering just when the woman with skin like the moon and passion like the wolves
Will knock on the door
With red wine and demented positions never invented, Clutched between porcelain – coloured fingertips
To test the body and
Invigorate the vinegar stained soul,
Her laughter, spitting in the face and pulling hair from follicles in fresh - folly
A life – line to the outside world
The window to the glories that were never meant to be
Becoming two halves of the same
Psalm
Whole
Fresh flesh
Pressed together
Words and sounds so absurd but profound
That God deafens herself as she hears them spill forth
A life – line to the inside world
The window to the glories that were always meant to be
No longer looking everywhere
and seeing nowhere.