The number 50 is big yet small at the same time. 50 pennies won’t get you a lot. You couldn’t get the bus, buy a bottle of water or even use the toilet on Ryan Air. However, with 50 pound coins you could get the bus to the airport, buy a bottle of water in departures and then fly to Amsterdam with enough change in your pocket to enjoy nice trip to the Red Light District. 50 real elephants would take up a lot of space in your front room. However, 50 miniature toy elephants will provide your young nephew enough entertainment to keep him from irritating you whilst you watch Only Fools and Horses reruns over the Christmas break. In terms of music, to write 50 songs is one thing, however to write 50 albums is quite another. And the latter is exactly what Lightspeed Champion has done.Mr Champion, AKA Dev Hynes, has spoken out about his resolution to put social media, TV and just about anything else to one side to consecrate on clefs and quavers. He told Spinner; "I decided that in every gap in the week that I found myself sitting down, or watching TV or waiting for tea to brew or logging on to Facebook, I would write and record a song instead," Hynes then went onto explain on his blog. "[I'd do it] without any real thought ... by making words up essentially as I went along”. And done that he’s done in abundance.
Hynes is set to release 50 bootleg albums that he’s written over the past 2 years. "Some, I would say, are awful ... But mostly I find it all interesting. It's an experiment. Even some that I don't like particularly, I like the idea behind it”. It should be known that the bootleg series has nothing to do with Hynes second proper album, Life is Sweet! Nice to Meet You, which is due to drop in February.
The first bootleg album is available to download now; aptly titled House Sitting Songs, the album was written during Mr Champion’s extended stay in Manhattan as he was house sitting for a fellow musician. Hynes spoke on his blog; "The person in question was a musician and had a couple guitars lying around, as well as mini keyboards and drum pads for their kid to play on". So as all good musicians do he strummed, hit and pushed his way through house sitting in order to produce the House Sitting Songs.
2010 is panning out to be an interesting year for Lightspeed Champion. With 50 bootleg albums and the release of his second long player confirmed, I’ve got to say, I’m looking forward to it.
