CULTURE CRASH: Entry By Troops

Rapper Shin Shin (left), Producer Darsh (right). Photography - Ronnie Yousefzadeh

Entry By Troops: A duo that span and fuse the genres of hip-hop, indie and electronica in a true musical ‘culture crash’….

“This is an open message; to rally up groups of people, to explore music which strikes a common purpose and release vocals which aim higher. Beyond rap for rap’s sake, and beats designed for clubs”

The opening few lines on the Entry By Troops music myspace page speaks volumes – both about the bands attitude and aim when creating their own music, and also how it differs from the majority of mainstream music that is out there today. It’s not difficult to notice that most of what you hear when you turn on your radio or TV revolves around materialism, or as it says in the quote, music that seems to be made for musics sake rather than with any other aim than enterprise. This is why it’s so refreshing when bands such as Entry By Troops come along with a positive message and who ‘aim higher’, as well as having good beats and vibes.

“A wonderful song giveth wings to the spirit and filleth the heart with exaltation…”

Music and the arts play such a big part in everyone’s lives and are proven to be extremely influential. It seems that a lot of the mainstream music we hear relects, or even encourages, the plight of the society we live in- sex obsessed and money driven. Those that look up to these artists will take what they say and feel it is acceptable to act in certain ways – even if the artist didn’t really think about the message that’s being given and only intended to create tracks that make them a lot of money. So what is the difference between the music that deeply moves and uplift us, and the music that does not? Maybe if we start turning our ears to music that’s otherwise inspired, there’d be a more positive effect on the individual, and society as a whole?

“Music is an important means to the education and development of humanity…”

You can see that in the past, the one off songs with positive messages have been hugely successful – for example ‘Where Is The Love?’ by the Black Eyed Peas. It goes to show that society doesn’t just need, but wants some positivity. Entry By Troops is one band that has this to contribute to humanity, which in my opinion makes them more original and worth listening to than some of the other music out there.

Presently, Entry By Troops are creating ‘Comfort In Conflict’ -their first EP- and there are currently three tracks available to listen to on myspace, facebook or youtube. ‘Comfort In Conflict’ will be released later on in 2009.

Have a listen to ‘One by One’ below & check out these links to hear Entry By Troop’s tracks:
Entry By Troops on Myspace
Entry By Troops on Facebook
Entry By Troops on Youtube
You can also get involved through these links.

‘Till Our Dreams Come True, We Live On Avenue Q…’

Before walking into the Noel Coward Theatre, I wasn’t 100% sure of what to expect. I had heard some of the songs from Avenue Q, seen some videos and listened to various opinions and had gathered, in all, that it was going to be a fantastic night of comedy theatre…with puppets!

However, it was so much more than i had anticipated – it may have been like ‘The Muppets for adults’ but it was concurrently incredibly satirical…

“Sometimes people need time for learning. People always learning all though their life. Look at Mama Bird; she push Baby out of nest and that’s it. If Baby Bird fly, good for Baby. If Baby Bird fall and crack head on ground and get eaten by Cat, then he need to do better next time.” – Christmas Eve, Avenue Q

To give an idea to those who haven’t seen it, the story line follows Princeton, who fresh out of university, moves into Avenue Q in downtown New York. He tries to discover his ‘purpose’, whilst meeting the many quirky residents of Avenue Q – with all their hopes and dreams – along with dealing with life’s distractions and falling in love with Kate Monster. This fun bunch manage to cover issues and topics such as relationships, homosexuality and racism, usually through the form of hilarious songs.

Lucy The Slut

Some of the distractions that Princeton meets come in the forms of ‘The Bad Idea Bears’ and ‘Lucy the Slut’. I’m sure you can imagine the distraction and chaos Lucy the Slut brings into Princeton’s life, as well as Kate Monsters, so i’ll leave it at that and you can find out if you see the show!

The Bad Idea Bears

The Bad Idea Bears seemed to represent the bad influences there are in all of our lives, that can sway us into unconsciously making less responsible decisions. It also doesn’t help that the bears look so cute and cuddly, as the other characters get lulled into a false sense of security -just goes to show that influences that seemingly look good may not be trustworthy, or have our best interests at heart. In Avenue Q, they manage to persuade Princeton and other characters into thinking that spending their rent money on alcohol is somehow logical – and if they buy a whole crate it saves money in the long run! These bears could symbolise the effect of the media on our lives, or furthermore what society tells us is acceptable and how we should act. We have to realise that it’s us as individuals who should take it upon ourselves to decide whats really best for us, and should be detached from all the pressures that society places on us. In the end the troublesome Bad Idea Bears become scientologists – enough said!

The bears are just one aspect of the show that comments on society – all the way through there are songs and dialogue which i hope people saw as more than just comedy. In the finale, Princeton realises he still doesn’t know his purpose but is reassured by the whole of Avenue Q who conclude that ‘everything in life is only for now’ and he should appreciate life with all that it brings, even if he’ll be ‘faced with problems of all shapes and sizes.’ After all, isn’t it through the difficult times when we learn the most about ourselves, the world and whats important to us as human beings?

“The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be…”

All in all, Avenue Q was wonderfully clever, witty and entertaining (& a bit rude!) and generally a feel good musical that will leave you smiling and laughing for days! I definitely recommend you go and see it before it finishes in March: www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk

This is the promo video but I recommend you listen to: ‘It Sucks to Be Me’, ‘If You Were Gay’, ‘Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist’, ‘Schadenfreude’ and ‘For Now’.

The Beauty Behind the Balloons

Volunteers infront of the Baha'i Temple, Langenhein

Over the 7th and 8th of February, I was lucky enough to attend the Baha’i Regional Conference held in Frankfurt, Germany, in order to serve in whatever capacity I was able. Along with a few other English Baha’i youth, I was given the brilliant opportunity of helping with the children’s programme on the Sunday – and it turned out to be an amazing day!!

At around 9:00 in the morning we set off from the conference centre to the Temple with around 200 children in tow – children from all over Europe, from diverse backgrounds, all speaking different languages and yet all filled with the same bright energy and bustling with life! The language barriers seemed nonexistent among the children as they played together – amazing to think that these barriers could soon enough be nonexistent for the rest of the world as well!

When we arrived, we first attended a devotional inside the temple where there were prayers and songs by the children, followed by a magicians performance at the National Office. It was all great fun (but probably a little intimidating for the magician) watching the kids unite together to boo when they saw through parts of the acts, that were being performed infront of a large picture of A’bdu’l-Baha.

This got me thinking of the many stories there are of A’bdu’l-Baha’s love and kindness to children, and the quote,

“Every child is potentially the light of the world” – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

The 200 children who were in that room are going to be the future…and they are going to have such an important part to play – The way these children are brought up, educated and treated should, as stated by ‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘be accounted as of primary importance’ and this is why childrens classes form a core activity of the Baha’i community. Personally, it has inspired me to participate and serve more within this core activity because with training in virtues and in consultation, the youth of the future will truly be able to ‘move the world’.

Before Lift Off

The visit to the temple was rounded off with the release of 200 balloons by the children, with decorated postcards attached. The conference was unique, and it was amazing to witness the happiness and excitement of all – children, youth and adults alike – who made this particular aspect of the conference so wonderfully possible.

The Beauty Behind The Balloons Video, Facebook.

Auto-Tuning, Auto-Living

Mr Hudson without his Library

Auto-Tune corrects pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. It is used to disguise inaccuracies and mistakes and has allowed many artists to produce more precisely tuned recordings.
In addition to being used to subtly change pitch, with some settings it can be used as an effect to deliberately distort the human voice.
- Wikipedia

Mr Hudson & The Library have been a firm favourite in my books ever since i saw them supporting Amy Winehouse a couple of years ago – since then i’ve seen them numerous times, never missing a Birmingham gig. I loved their uniqueness and soulful vibe, the eclectic mix of genres they seemed to capture and the energetic, diverse band that i saw before me…it’s a shame that since then Mr Hudson & The Library has become simply just ‘Mr Hudson’, and what was even more of a shame was the latest discussion board on Mr Hudson’s facebook fan page.

It read: ‘Auto-tune on the next album? Y/N’

I wondered if it was inspired by Mr Hudsons recent collaborations with the auto-tune master Kanye West on West’s new album, or the fact West is producing Hudson’s new album, but Hudson’s soulful voice certainly shouldn’t be covered up or masked with distortion effects. I appreciate Mr Hudson is doing some amazing things and working with some great people, but i guess this may be my lack of being open to changing that ‘eclectic mix of genres’ he created with his first album as it was so fresh to the ear – Maybe Mr Hudson could keep both of these styles? It just seems nowadays everything is being ‘auto-tuned’, and we are losing that originality. After all,

‘ …A fine voice when joined to beautiful music causes a great effect, for both are desirable and pleasing. All these have in themselves an organisation, and are constructed on natural law. Therefore, they correspond to the order of existence likesomething which would fit into a mold. A true voice fits into the mold of nature. When it is so, this affects the nerves, and they affect the heart and spirit…’
-’Abdu’l-Baha

It generally seems to me, that we’re doing this with our lives as well, on so many different levels. We humans, as a race, seem to think we can just ‘auto-tune’ the worlds growing global issues out, or ‘disguise the inaccuracies and mistakes’ rather than actually getting rid of the root causes of the problems. We may feel by doing this we are making an actual genuine attempt to make life better (the same way Mr Hudson may think using an auto-tuner all over his next album may add to his music), and that another way maybe more difficult and tedious. However, maybe if we tried we would find we ended up with a much more beautiful ’song’…

Not accusing Mr Hudson of trying to make things easier for himself, but is this the case why so many things in life are being put on ‘auto-tune’?

Mr Hudson & The Library performing on Later with Jools Holland