MJ Hibbett and the Vaidators - Forest Moon of Enderby (2010)

MJ Hibbett is one of those personalities that have a cult standing in London, but is hardly known outside the city. I remember first seeing him play at a small music festival called Pop Fest back in 2012. He was this nerdy guy with an acoustic guitar playing songs about old computers, dinosaurs and nerdy indie kids of the 80s. His act was as much of a stand-up comedy show as a musical performance. The songs are really well made though. I ended up buying this album along with a couple of others in a box set, because they cost next to nothing. Since then, I've seen MJ Hibbet a couple of times at a pub in Fitzrovia, where he had his own club. The other acts in that club were quite similar to his. I remember, for example, seeing a musical version of Jurassic Park in there, that was quite brilliant. I haven't seen MJ Hibbett now in years and I don't even know if he's still performing, but if you get a chance to see him, it's all good fun!

The title of the album is of course a reference to the Forest Moon of Endor from Return of the Jedi. Enderby is a suburb near Leicester. I don't know if this album really has any of MJ Hibbett's "hits", but the style of his comic music is definitely similar to the stuff I've seen live.

The album begins with the song Billy Jones is Dead, which appears to be a autobiographical song about a group of friends recalling where they are now. The grim truth is that Billy Jones is dead. Next up is Never Going Back to Aldi's, which is a sad story of how he had to shop at Aldi's when he was young and didn't have that much money. The Merchant Ivory Punks is a punk song which in a true punk style is very short. Under one minute long. The Other Rush Hour tells small stories about travelling on a bus. Other Band's Setlist is mocking some random other band's song choices. City Centres has a proper 90s alternative rock style and the lyrics are talking about how all the city centres look exactly the same with all the same shops. Leave My Brother Alone, as you might expect, is about bullying. Graffiti on the Cenotaph is a classic MJ Hibbett song where he's mocking wanky people full of themselves. The Primal Rhythms of Bolivian Nose Flautist has spoken word style and of course flute (perhaps played by nose). Let the Weird Band Win is probably a song right from MJ Hibbett's heart where he's pleading to let the weird band win the battle of the bands. Praise the Traffic Warden is a strange ode to traffic warden thanking them for keeping the cities safe. The Drummer's Lament is the most experimental of the songs so far on this album and as the name suggests, it has quite a central role for the drummer. The album ends with even more experimental noise song called Music of the Future (MEGAMIX), which sounds a bit like Revolution 9 by the Beatles with its backwards lyrics and strange noises.

I have to admit that I don't really listen to this album ever. It seemed like a good idea to buy this CD after seeing MJ Hibbet, probably while drunk. This kind of music is really fun live, but I don't know if there's much point listening to this stuff at home. Still, I'm glad I supported this guy as it's good to have strange music like this in the world.

Listen to the album on Spotify.