Preview: Hockley Hustle 2009

Now in its forth year, the Hockley Hustle returns on Sunday 25 October to mash down one of the nicer bits of town with a one-day charidee binge for Oxfam and local NSPCC projects, involving local venues, shops, bands, DJs... everyone. And for a mere ten of your English Pounds on the door - and an even more bargainacious £7.50 in advance – you get a wristband that allows entry in to all of the venues involved. Here’s where you need to go, and what to expect…

If you wear your fringe at an angle and consider hardcore to be a type of music rather than a building material, then the Default This session hosted upstairs at The Bodega Social Club is for you. On the other hand, if you’re in the mood for something more relaxing and cerebral, then just stay downstairs; Farmyard Records will be putting together a fine collection of singersongwriters and acoustic acts.

The Pit and Pendulum may be decked out like the crew from Changing Rooms imagining what Edgar Allen Poe’s study might have looked like. However, with I’m Not From London in charge, the music policy won’t be as dark. Expect some of Nottingham’s finest rock bands to blast away the cobwebs, amongst them Pilgrim Fathers and Alright The Captain! Dogma is one of Nottingham’s grooviest venues and Farmyard Records - again - will be ensuring you dance as if some illicit substance has been slipped in your drink, with an array of the city’s most dancealicious bands bringing the groove direct to your feet. Expect funk, soul, and a reet good time.

Sunday afternoons and jazz go together like Bert & Ernie, Lennon and McCartney, and Benson and Hedges - which is why Escucha will be the place to be at this year’s HH. Go to be gently caressed out of your hangover, as a warm-up to the madness later on, or just head down to hear some fine music in equally swish surroundings. Definitely more Bitches Brew than Special Brew. The toilets at The Old Angel may be haunted, but don’t let that put you off going to what is one of the cities greatest, most unique, and outright sickest live music venues. It may be a small room above a pub, but the walls in this place drip so glisteningly with love and passion for music that any gig in this place is always a good time. It’s all about the ska and punk, here. Get your skank on!

Detonate are one of this finest drum and bass promoters in the land, and Nottingham is fortunate enough to be their home city – meaning they’ll be operating at the Market Bar, where they’ll be delivering a stream of some of Notts’ finest DJs doing their best to make your night go with a bang. Wigflex love electronic music, and at Bar Eleven they will be making damn sure that the Hockley Hustle crowd love it too. Throwing together elements of techno, electronica and dubstep with anything else that isn’t scared to throw out the odd wonky beat, this will be a truly unique experience.

The main bar area at The Broadway Cinema will be taken over by your boys and girls from LeftLion for the second year running, tossing the cinema flyers to the floor to making room for the usual top-notch, eclectic mix you’ve come to expect from us. Our line-up during the day is all acoustic, with the likes of Emmet Brown and Will Jeffery and also a few hours of Write Lion spoken word. Then in the evening we take it up a notch with live sets from Ulyssees Storm and Polymath and Millsy from Bent on the decks.

If things are getting too much for you, then Lee Rosy’s is the place. Folkwit Records are putting on a whole host of folk and acoustic acts for your aural delight. Expect clever wordplay, subtle story-telling, and some serious tea-drinking. If hip-hop is where your head’s at, then you need to head straight for Muse without hesitation. There you’ll find Dealmaker laying on a fine spread of Notts-Hop, which is - without doubt – amongst the finest you will get anywhere in this country. If you pass up on having all of this talent together in one room all on the same day then you may as well find the nearest tram and throw yourself in front of it.

Drowned In Sound are in control at the bottom of Hockley, at Bunkers Hill. Expect to find lurking upstairs all kinds of alternative, indie and heavy rock bands strutting their stuff and throwing all manor of shapes throughout the day and night. The Jam Cafe will be where you can find the creative folk of Craft Off and the gently experimental sounds of Hello Thor!, who will be combining their powers to create a day of wonderful quirky live music whilst letting you get your hands mucky with an array of crafty and creative tasks for you to make and design.

The BBC are bringing their flagship new music umbrella Introducing…to the intimate surroundings of Shaws, with an ample line-up of some of the sweetest, freshest music doing the rounds at the moment. Local recording studio Crash Factory Studios will be putting on a whole bunch of their favourite local acts, many of whom have recorded at the studios, to present an-extra special line-up. They also seem intent on making it the loudest venue of the whole festival, with an ear-shattering collection of some of the heaviest bands in Nottingham at the moment.

Cape will be full to the brim with an abundance of sunny Afro-Caribbean vibes, sounds, and delights as music from the sunnier - and let’s face it, more rhythmically able - parts of the world dscend upon Nottingham. All of this live music is just the tip of the iceberg; if you fancy a break from the biggest gathering of local talent the city has seen, then you can find further thrills at many of the shops in Hockley. For example, Cow will be holding a fashion show hosted by Bangers and Fash, there’ll be live t-shirt printing at Brownes and live illustration from Subism and performance-y thrills from Hatch at Nash. Head along to the website for full information, but the main thing you need to know is: Do Not Miss This.

Hockley Hustle takes place at assorted venues across Hockley on Sunday 25 October. All proceeds go to charity. For more details visit hockleyhustle.co.uk.