Happy Easter vacation everyone!

Right, so, this isn't really one of our proper blogs, if we have such a thing, this is just a general musing on recent happenings in the vaguely literary world.

I'll break this roughly down into the sections of thoughts, it will pan out something like this:

dan le sac VS Scroobius Pip- brief look at the album & tour, and a brief mention of the interview which we'll be playing for you after easter.

Polarbear- RETURN, the tour and a bit o' interview

Kate Tempest- the interview we'll hopefully be getting over Easter, Sound of Rum & things for you to look at

Links!- this I think you should look at, listen to or idly ponder.

LSRAnthology is off-air for the next month, but don't worry, we'll be back soon, bringing you more poetic treats and something beats. Not sure what kind, but some kind of beats.

dan le sac VS Scroobius Pip

Right, so, last Monday saw the release of The Logic of Chance, the hip-hop/rap-spoken-worder's second album, which you can buy from a link here- http://www.myspace.com/lesacvspip

The album has had pretty mixed reviews, but there was one which particularly caught my eye, mainly because it opened with that ever-popular Shelley quote:

'Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world'. ( I really, really hate that quote...). The review basically said that a poet, in the world of music, is being a 'white boy who can't rap', seemingly completely missing the point. In the LSRfm interview with Scroobius Pip (to be played after Easter), I asked Scroobius Pip about this, and you'll be able to hear his answers then. Partly because I've forgotten what he said.

The basic crux of it though, is that, as with all artists we'll be discussing on this page, is that there is no clear boundary between poetry, spoken word and rap. We'll hopefully be looking at this in a show after Easter, so stay tuned!

The album is weighted much more heavily towards the hip-hop/mc side of the le sac VS Pip outfit, whereas their first album 'Angles', sits more comfortably on the poetry side. The Logic of Chance features tracks such as 'The Beat', which is pure drum and bass mc-ing, whereas Angles had poetry-heavy tracks like 'Magician's Assistant'. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH9CxM6o-eI).

The new album is definitely worth a listen, and benefits from more than one, but it trails behind Angles.

Polarbear

Polarbear's RETURN (http://www.bac.org.uk/whats-on/return/) only has one show left at Battersea Arts Centre, on the 25th (if anyone is interested, there are still tickets left as far as I know), and I was lucky enough to see it on the 20th. RETURN is a spoken word screenplay, with roots in storytelling, recounting the story of Noah, a man returning to Birmingham, his home city, to find that although most things feel the same, things have changed.

I was lucky enough to catch an interview with Polarbear after the show, which we'll be playing sometime after Easter, and asked him about his writing style. As is clear from RETURN, Polarbear's writing is focused on the idiosyncrasies of speech, trying to replicate it on stage. RETURN does this perfectly, and the story evolves through humour, references to pop culture and conversation.

The show will be going on tour at the end of Spring, so keep an eye out for it, definitely worth a watch.

Here's a clip to get you excited-

Kate Tempest-

I first saw Kate Tempest on a BBC 2 poetry show with Griff Rhys Jones last year, which you can see here-

Kate Tempest's band, Sound of Rum (http://soundofrum.com/music/) are currently supporting dan le sac VS Scroobius Pip on their tour, and I was completely blown away by them. Unfortunately there weren't many people in the venue when they started their set, but everyone who was there was captivated the band, and Tempest's lyrical genius.

Tempest's passion is clear, and her delivery is impeccable, whilst the music provided by the obscenely talented Archie March (guitar) and Ferry Lawrenson (drums) creates a perfect fusion.

If you get a chance to see Sound of Rum, or at least listen to/buy some of their music, don't pass it up, you'll regret it.

Hopefully, some time this Easter vac I'll be heading up to London to get an interview with Kate, and see her do some straight-spoken-word. Wicked. Keep your ears peeled for the interview on LSRAnthology.

Links-

Videos, lots of them! Watch, listen and enjoy!

Sound of Rum, Icarus, sick.

Scroobius Pip without dan le sac?

The Leano- crazy talented, nice guy

Brilliant reading of Eliot's 'The Hollow Men' from what I think is Apocalypse Now, but I could be wrong-

Definitely have to check out this collective of poets, always growing and changing- http://www.myspace.com/apoeminbetweenpeople

One guy from PiP is Alex Gwyther, check out this video, crazy wordplay:

Yeah, that's probably all you need to hear from me, I might do a real Anthology blog soon, with all of our poems on it and stuff, but I fancied doing this one.

Stay in touch,

Jake.x