Common Decency

From New Orleans to Rajasthan, via remote Romanian villages and north-of-England colliery towns, there are brass bands playing all over the globe. Now add Hackney to that musical map. While we’re uncertain about E8’s mining past, this nine-piece certainly extract an impressive bounty from the brass-band coalface.

The name suggests tongues planted firmly in cheeks, but these are some seriously great musicians playing some seriously great music. And while they take a trip to Eastern Europe on the spiralling ‘Hitched’, they’re far from simply another Balkan facsimile. Their razor-sharp jazz chops are clear throughout, while the funk comes both heavy and effortlessly. Aside from numerous New Orleans outfits, there are also echoes of Chicago’s Hypnotic Brass Ensemble in the unwaveringly direct lines produced by the HCB’s ensemble blowing. Aside from the impeccable playing, this bunch also have a few festival-friendly tricks in their bag, courtesy of a cover of Goldie’s ‘Inner City Life’ and a Prodigy medley. And with some scuttling drum’n’bass rhythms supercharging things even further, this is the capital’s contribution to the nation’s brass band tradition. Not a Davey lamp in sight.