Ambulance-chasing spoken word over electic electronic beats from the UK's top poetry group. A thinking man's Streets.

4 MP3 Songs
SPOKEN WORD: Poetry, ELECTRONIC: Breakbeat/Breaks



Details:
Aisle16 is the UKâs top spoken word act. Their last show, Poetry Boyband, was named Time Out Criticsâ Choice of the year 2005 and entertain audiences at literary readings, comedy clubs and music festivals across the UK and Europe.

I Wish I Was A Gun is aisle16âs third release on the prestigious (and not at all made up) Aisland label and is their most accomplished to date. The four track EP features a poem from each of the boys with production by Chris Hicks.

Despite its relatively short length - the whole thing clocks in at just over 18 minutes - the EP feels more substantial than previous releases; the ideas running through the tracks feel more fully developed; the vocals are layered and are fitted to the subtly twisted beats more closely than on previous efforts.

The sarcastic slinkiness of the opener, Wrightâs Embrace the Wank, sets a distinctly playful tone which is continued, albeit more ambiguously, by Sutherlandâs Essex â94: an up-tempo stomper, best described as âthe thinking manâs Streetsâ. Britainâs First Paedophile Prime Minister, Stickleyâs glowering paean to demonisation, sees his âcrack-house Attenboroughâ delivery set to a backdrop of swooping nursery rhyme loops and canât be listened to after dusk. The finale is Hicksâ Silent Pylons, a sepulchral yet skittery eulogy to electricity.

Wrap all that in the sinewy artwork of long-time collaborator Samuel W. Ratcliffe and you have that rarest of poetry products: a CD thatâs heavy on content but still a great listen.

Aisle16 have raised the bar for poetry/spoken word in the UK with their multi-media shows Poetry Boyband and mock motivational business seminar Powerpoint. Their first collection, Live From The Hellfire Club was published in 2005, (Egg Box / ISBN: 0-9543920-3-5), with forewords by the Independentâs Poet-in-Residence Martin Newell and punk legend John Cooper Clarke.

âHighlights of the spoken word sceneâ¦hot young talent.â The Sunday Times

âPoetry has come of age.â The Guardian

âThey do with words what I try and do with art. Some of my favourite poets.â Ralph Steadman

âCompelling viewing for all inside and outside the corporate equation.â Time Out

âYoung blades in open revolt against consumerism and celebrity. I loved it.â The Scotsman

"Very funny. All of it is slickly delivered and tautly choreographed." The Evening Standard

âI refuse to perform with them anymore because they make me look like a cunt.â John Cooper Clarke