21st December 1997

Earmuffs and The New Musical Express

By Afdhel Aziz

It's cold, bitterly cold, the wind nipping at the edges of my ears as I huddle by the bus shelter waiting for the P11 to take me home to warmth, food and TV. For the hundredth time, I make a mental note to apply for a patent for the invention that will make me famous; stereo headphones with cozy fleece lining and in-built heaters for your frozen lobes .Not only would it keep you warm but distract you from the grey misery that is London during winter.

When the bus pulls up, I see my favourite bus driver on this route. She is in her late twenties, with the kind of punk hairdo that has the sides shaven but is long and floppy on the top. During the day time she wears the large California Highway Patrolman shades , I think they're called Rayban Aviators, the kind that Erik Estrada used to wear on 'C.H.I.P.S'. She has radical piercings all over her face - nose, lip and one particularly long one that looks like a tiny dumbell through her left earlobe. She definitely won't be a customer for my fabulous, royalty generating invention. What I like about her is that at every red traffic light she pulls out a battered copy of Tina Turner's autobiography 'I, Tina' and reads a few lines, keeping one eye on the lights.

When they turn green, she puts it away and accelerates in one smooth motion , handling that big red bus like it was her own personal Starship Enterprise. She always seems cool, in control and calm, above the dreariness of her job. And always reading in every spare moment that she has - maybe she'll move on to other rock biographies next , 'The Lives of John Lennon' or maybe 'Nobody gets out of here alive,' Jim Morrison's violent and spectacular history. Whatever. I slip on the tiny earphones - titchy ones that wouldn't keep out an ocean breeze let alone the stinging East London wind - and turn on my Walkman, seeking respite from the flourescent lighting and musty odour of the bus. I'm listening to Roni Size Reprazent, the album is called 'New Forms' and it's been adjudged the best album of 1997 - and it's easy to see why. It is the highest evolution of the music form known as jungle ....now how can I explain jungle using the medium of print ?

Deep breath.....jungle is a musical form characterised by drums that clock in at around 170 beats per minute on average. To give you an example, Will Smith's 'Men in Black' would be at around 98 beats per minute, while 'Missing' by Everything but the Girl would be around 120. So - mondo speedy in other words. But so much more than merely fast dance music , jungle has learnt lessons well from its predecessors. It borrows liberally from reggae , from jazz and in particular from hip hop. Roni Size's album is an urban soundtrack for the Digital Age, an ambient snatch of crashing railways wheels, a horn riff that would be perfect on a vintage Blue Note jazz album, New Age keyboards that soothe before the nimble agile drums come in with just the touch of a double bass motif that stays embedded in your mind like a worm inside the gullet of a hooked fish. Marvellous, marvellous music that is testament to Britain's justly deserved status as a breeding ground for the musical innovators of tomorrow. Count them - the Prodigy, Radiohead, Jamiroquai, Massive Attack, Portishead, Tricky, the Verve, Oasis.....err , the Spice Girls.

On second thoughts, scratch that last one. I think it's the multi-culturalism and the weather that does it. The first gives them the various musical influences - roots reggae from Jamaica, electronic music from Europe - and the second gives them all the time in the world to stay in doors and absorb them without being distracted by sunshine and outdoor pursuits. Whatever the case, it can safely be said that British music has never been so vibrant, diverse and exciting - and it can only get better. Stay tuned for further updates after this commercial break....................

Long and Lovely

Think pink - and not just for bedrooms and bathrooms. Let it come out of the closet and into the hall, the living room or the kitchen - pink is too versatile a colour to be shut away upstairs. Pink has a welcoming warmth in the home and it's not a demanding shade like the red to which it's related. Because of its prettiness, pink is more usually associated with feminine colour schemes but its potential is too great to restrict to the boudoir. Its use is more general than you may realize; pink makes an appearance in magnolia (the second most popular paint shade after white), in fawn, and in some shades of peach and apricot. There's pink that's right for every room; rose-peach warms up a chilly living room, rose-beige looks distinctive in the hall, and cranberry makes a dramatic dining room. A bright pink is surprisingly successful in the kitchen where it offsets the formality of wood or laminate units, while the palest shades like blossom pink are the classic choice for bedrooms.

You may be surprised to learn that the natural contrast to pink is green and not blue (although it does have a close affinity to green); the two are ideal companions in many colour schemes. Other popular partners are lilac, yellow, and the neutrals brown and grey. As pinks vary from those with a blue tinge to those with yellow, it's important to choose co-ordinates which have a similar emphasis unless you have an expert eye for colour.

Rose by any other name may be baby's breath, lover or blush, candyfloss, cerise or raspberry. It may almost be peach (rose-peach), brown (rose-beige) or cream (magnolia); a pink to suit every style of decor and taste. If shocking pink ceilings or carnation walls are not for you, there's a wealth of paler tones to choose from - perfect backgrounds to set off furnishings, fabrics and other details in the deeper pinks.

Decorating with Pink

• Choose a subtle shade of pink with a touch of beige for maximum versatility in living rooms and halls.

• Pick up the pink in furnishings such as bedlinen, curtains, cushions and rugs.

• Reserve shocking pink and cerise for accessories, or use them to create impact in rooms like the cloakroom where you don't linger for long.

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