Chimpomatic

What We Do In The Shadows

Chuckle-a-minute vampire documentary. Perfectly pitched and performed.

#JustWatched
#Film
#CSF

15th Oct 2015

What We Do In The Shadows

Riotous NZ vampire doc. Relentless laughs, and a rowdy performance from the Swerewolves.

#JustWatched
#Film
#CSF

23rd Jan 2014

Dark Shadows

Vampire meets 70s. Another Burton/Depp dressing up box: a few gags, but messy plot strands & nowhere to go.

#Screened
#Film
#chimp71

8th May 2012

Let Me In

Sombre, moody vampire horror that effectively clones the Swedish original with little alteration.

#JustWatched
#Film
#CSF

13th Apr 2011

Daybreakers

Disappointing, high-concept, vampire/sci-fi flick. Ethan Hawke should know better.

#JustWatched
#Film
#CSF

13th Feb 2011

Vampire

Painfully underdeveloped modern take on the age-old vampire needs of death and love.

#JustWatched
#Film
#CSF

23rd Jan 2011

Twilight: New Moon

Emo-teenage-vampire-by-numbers sequel.

#JustWatched
#Film
#CSF

4th Dec 2010

The Drums

The Drums

Island

Emerging bleary eyed from the Christmas/New Year haze I was confronted with nothing but talk of immanent financial hardship and the merits of a New York band called The Drums. I laughed off both as mere hype but lo and behold they've both come true and after hearing this debut album the latter certainly certainly makes the former rumor more easy to bear. If you have the Summertime Ep released last year then you'll be familiar with a lot of this but that shouldn't dampen your enjoyment in the least. Swamped in British eighties warmth but infused with a charm and freshness that seems to only emanate from the States at the moment The Drums continue in part what bands like Vampire Weekend started. These are simple songs heavily recalling bands like The Cure or New Order but laced with a rolling surf-rock sensibility. It's a fine mix and one that benefits form a full length format. They've bravely left off two of their most popular songs from Summertime, I Felt Stupid and Submarine, but left their flagship Let's Go Surfing, a song that won them their considerable acclaim on the blogs.

In these dark times I continuously look across the pond for indie-pop alleviation and with The Drums I look no further. It's not reinventing the wheel but who needs reinvention with a record as joyous as this. Highlights include Forever And Ever Amen and I'll Never Drop My Sword.

#Music
#BC

11th Jun 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

82 Almost Best-of-the-decade albums

Various

The 00s have certainly been a turbulent decade for the music industry, from the rise and fall of Napster, through the MP3 and iPod revolution and on to the reality TV dominated close of the decade.

Drum and bass infiltrated pop music so throughly that it's now just part of the furniture, while Hip Hop blew up to dominate the US charts, nabbing a guest spot on dozens of chart toppers.

Filtering through the hundreds of albums released in the decade is no mean feat, so we've kept our final list strictly democratic - with the top 10 derived from those albums most nominated by our reviewers.

Read the top 10 here - but if that's not enough, here's a lazy, sprawling list of 82 others that come very highly recommended, in no particular order:

Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights
Killer track: PDA. More New York cool, a 'go-to' album for so many occasions
TV On The Radio - Dear Science
Pearl Jam - Riot Act
Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
At the Drive In - Relationship of Command
Killer Track: Enfilade. A welcome dose of anger after the fallow years of the late 90s. Added bonus that it was released on the soon to be bust Grand Royal label.
Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
Santogold - Santogold
Smog - Dongs Of Sevotion
Cornelius - Point
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Mugison - Lonely Mountain
Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
Electralane - The Power Out
Radiohead - Amnesiac
Beth  Gibbons & Rustin' Man - Out Of Season
PJ Harvey - Stories From The City
Caribou - The Milk Of Human Kindness
Pearl Jam - Bearoya Hall
Unusual in that it's a live album, this double acoustic set pulls together all that's great about the much-maligned grungers. Spine tingling.
Fugazi - The Argument
Not their best, but still one of the best
Low - The Great Destroyer
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Killer track: Passing Afternoon. We live in noisy times, everyone should have an album like this to retreat to now and again
Bruce Springsteen - The Rising
The only artist capable of an appropriate 9/11 album.
Blond Redhead - 23
Grandaddy - Software Slump
John Frusciante - Shadows Collide With People
The Early Years  - Early Years
Frightened Rabbit - The Midnight Organ Fight
Killer track: Fast Blood. One of those albums that just clicks straight away, some brutally honest songs but never a hard listen
The National - Alligator
Jay-Z - The Blueprint
Despite his fame, his only album that's solid throughout.
The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Portishead - Third
Spoon - Girls Can Tell
Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga
Spoon - Kill The Moonlight
Spoon - Gimme Fiction
Yes, we like Spoon.
Stephen Malkmus - Pig Lib
Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World
CJ: Their strongest album from a solid bunch of releases.
Kings Of Leon - Because Of The Times
7 minute opener followed by track after track.
Electrelane - No Shouts, No Calls
Johanna Newsom - Y's
Band Of Horses - Cease To Begin
Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
Buck 65 - Talking Honky Blues
Common - Like Water For Chocolate
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
David Berman finally made sense.
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
Guided By Voices - Human Amusement at Hourly Rates
Finally a solid album from GBV. One of the best best ofs going - up there with Neil Young's Decade.
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
The Good The Bad And The Queen - The Good The Bad And The Queen
Another surprising side-project from Damon Albarn
TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - By The Way
Titus Andronicus - The Airing Of Grievances
No Age - Nouns
Jay-Z - The Black Album
The Wedding Present - Take Fountain
An awesome return for the Indie legends, embracing a move to the US for Uncle Gedge
Kanye West - College Dropout
John Frusciante - To Record Only Water For 10 Days
Paving the way for Frusciante's magnificent return to form.
The Cave Singers - Welcome Joy
Low - The Great Destroyer
Catfish Haven - Devastator
The Strokes - First Impressions Of Earth
The Invisible - The Invisible
Lightning Dust - Infinite Light
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Coral - Magic And Medicine
Killer track: Liezah. Some strictly Liverpool uncool. A Coral album is a comforting thing.
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Radiohead - Kid A
Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
DJ Shadow - The Private Press
Great at home or on the dance floor.
Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
It shouldn't work, but it does. Comedy genius.
Interpol - Antics
Take you on a cruise. Awesome
The Walkmen - You & Me
Killer track: In the New Year. Band of the decade for Chimpovich.
Arcade Fire - Funeral
Why? - Alopicia
Weird indie hip-hop that just works.
Ladyhawk - Shots
My Morning Jacket - It Still Moves
White Denim - Workout Holiday
Killer track: Lets Talk About It. Chaotic, energetic, sounds like a good time was had making it.

#Music
#Chimpomatic

31st Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Twilight

No surprises from this solid teenage vampire flick.

#JustWatched
#Film
#CSF

22nd Nov 2009

True Blood

(creator: Alan Ball)

FX UK

As a huge Buffy fan I wasn't overly excited by the prospect of another show taking a bite out of the vampire world. But True Blood is strong enough to be a distinct and quite different beast altogether.

The set up is that vampires have finally come out to the human world thanks to a Japanese brand of synthetic blood (Tru Blood - bottled like a six pack) that means they don't have to snack on people anymore. Cue a range of reactions from far-right politicians who want to round them all up ("God Hates Fangs!" to groupies (aka "fang-bangers" in TB-speak) who are keen on getting a closer look for themselves.

It's set in a smalltown in the Cajun south, where waitress Sookie Stackhouse
(Anna Paquin) is excited to find the town's first vampire walking into her bar. Just to add a bit more fantasy to the mix, she's also a telepath who can hear everyone's thoughts around her. She's learned how to block her friends' and co-workers' minds - on the whole - but there are a lot of customers who suddenly find themselves on the wrong end of a drink. But, as she discovers, she can't hear what vampires are thinking...

You can see why Alan Ball was attracted to the Sookie Stackhouse novels that True Blood is based on. Like Six Feet Under, there's plenty of room here to get under the skin of a smalltown community, to discuss smallmindedness, difference and yes, sexuality while telling a great story. Add in a possible serial killer, vampire "drainers", some NSFW scenes, a great cast (including cameos as cops from cult faves Chris Bauer and William Sanderson - aka The Wire's Frank Sobotka and Blade Runner's JF Sebastian) and a strong sense of humour (Sookie's grandmother is thrilled to meet someone from the US Civil War) and you've got the makings of a show worth getting into. Plus the second series has just started in the states so you don't have to worry about it being canned anytime soon.

#TV
#chimp71

20th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

BLK JKS

Mystery EP

Secretly Canadian

After a year of critical acclaim in the UK and the US, South African art-rockers BLK JKS signed to label Secretly Canadian - who now offer The Mystery EP, a re-mastered and re-sequenced re-release, which was initially produced by the Secret Machines' Brandon Curtis.

These days 'Art Rock' seems to mean slightly erratic drums and having a couple of Paul Simon or Talking Heads albums in your CD collection, but it's a term that serves a purpose and provides a reference point to where these songs might fit in to the bigger picture. Less Vampire Weekend and more Brain Eno might narrow it down further, as the band's vocals ebb and flow around the music, becoming more of a sound than a lyric (see "Mystery"), adding another strand of subtle texture.

It's multi-layered and mysterious, and while there may be nothing new as such (Animal Collective and mid-80's INXS could provide further touchstones), there's a nice subtlety and atmosphere here - and the potential is obvious as things gain some focus on "Summertime", progressing nicely with a spiraling tune rising out of the experimental chaotic sounds. While there's not all that much to write home about at this point, this is ambitious stuff - which will hopefully distill down in the future to reap many rewards for the listener.

#Music
#NM

19th Mar 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band

Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band

Dead Oceans

As you may or may not summise from their name, Seattle quintet TMSHVB (for, errr, short) are a mischievous bunch. Naming rights were given to then 13 year-old Marshall Verdoes, as a reward for improving his drumming sufficiently to form a band with his brother/adoptive father (depending on which blurb you read) Benjamin. With obscure name in place, TMSHVB set about creating a buzz for themselves - issuing a number of Public Service Announcements before making a sound available to the wider public.

When those sounds were set free, first in the form of self-recorded and released EP Weepy and now in their debut self-titled full length LP, the mischief remained very much front and centre. Co-produced by Scott Colburn (with Arcade Fire and Animal Collective to his name) TMSHVB walk a tidy line between slick and slapdash, playful and professional. I would guess that Marshall is no longer 13 years of age, as he spares no snare, keeping hard time with the wayward structure of most of the 11 songs that make up the album he titled. Like a more mature Spinto Band (a category which technically every single band in the world falls into) TMSHVB’s tunes are driven by fun and good times - a refusal to be limited by anything as square as traditional structure.

“Who‘s asking?” opens things up nice - with a choral ‘Oooh Oooh‘ heralding in a tune evidently about a disagreement between Ben Verdoes and an old flame. All nice and jaunty then a pair of lead guitars appear from nowhere, perform a quick Brian May-esque dual, then disappear off into the night, allowing the tune to return on its original way and pace. “Masquerade” has those May guitars starting proceedings, building a tasty riff, which this time is broken down into a Waltz after a minute. That’s not to say this is Vampire Weekend type boundary busting novelty fayre, Mt St Helens are indie and no mistake. And they do it well. With obvious talent, they keep the energy high and the mood light, sample lyric from “On a hunt“ “I’m going to spear the mighty Giant Squid, I’ll Steal it’s ink, to write you letters of my adventures.” In amongst all this hyperactivity, slower tracks such as “A Year or Too” or 7 minute string-tinged closer “On the Collar” hold their own - rounding out the album nicely.

Forget the hype. Let the music speak on their behalf.

#Music
#chimpovich

23rd Feb 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Best Of 2008

CSF

It's been a pretty good year for music according to my ears, and I've struggled to prioritise my top 5. The fifth place provided the most struggle and I narrowed it down to two albums I've overplayed and am currently on hiatus from - TV On The Radio and Vampire Weekend. I suspect they will both remain firm favourites, but song for song I'm going to have to bump Vampire Weekend into 6th place. Other notable mentions go to No Age (fuzzed up easy listening), Silver Jews (these guys finally clicked for me), Tapes and Tapes (an uncut diamond marred by shoddy production), Tindersticks (a comeback I would have betted against), The Wedding Present (it's all fours) and White Denim (lo-fi grandeur).

5. TV On The Radio - Dear, Science
Building on all the promise of their previous records, this one delivered a pretty flawless set of songs, all building of each other and rising to a great finale.

4. Ladyhawk - Shots
"Ladyhawke is in the toilet, she'll be here in a minute" joked band leader Duffy Driediger, as the original Ladyhawk launched into an awesome show at the Borderline - cementing beer-swilling, hard-rocking second-album Shots into a place in my list. No frills rock, with a lot of personality.

3. Flight of the Conchords - Flight of the Conchords
On paper, this record had to stink. Who wants to listen to the same gags over and over again? In reality, every song provides a remarkable understanding of music history, picking just the right sounds to serve the story - with so many jokes you hear a new one every time. Never, ever fails to light up Chimp HQ on a dreary day.

2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
Another one that may have been temporarily overplayed, but this 70's throwback has been a pretty remarkable debut. Almost slipping unnoticed when it arrived in the office, it has been a solid player all year and I can't help but feel like it's greatness will soon be overshadowed by an even better follow-up. Unless they crack under the pressure.

1. Black Mountain - In The Future
Since it arrived on my desk in December 2007, In The Future has held the top spot for the year - and it still shows no sign of slipping. After a debut and a few side projects that paved the way, this was somehow exactly the record I expected and it never fails to impress me. Every note, every riff, every drum fill is just when and where I want it.

Some musical clangers for 2008: MMJ - Evil Urges (so disappointing), Weezer - Red Album, Breeders - Mountain Battles (only a semi-clanger), Kings of Leon - Only By The Night.

Best Songs: Portishead - The Rip, Port O'Brien - Close The Lid, Catfish Haven - Set In Stone, Fleet Foxes - Your Protector (for keeping BW running, if nothing else).

Best Gigs: Black Mountain rocked hard (again) at The Scala, Davin Berman's Silver Jews thoroughly proved their worth at ULU, Ladyhawk + The Dudes led the Canadian invasion at The Borderline, Oxford Collapse went under-appreciated at The Windmill and Jim James brightly shone a small light for the future of MMJ.

Live Clangers: Ween were truly disappointing.

Best Movies: In Bruges was a must-see despite an awful trailer, Iron Man andThe Dark Knight proved pretty solid superhero action, while This Is England and Dead Man's Shoes proved to be overlooked gems. Perhaps the biggest shock was the fact that the Sex And The City movie didn't totally suck - and in fact addressed the TV shows many shortcomings to make for a great movie.

Movie Clangers: Indiana Jones was as forgettable as you hoped it wouldn't be, while Somerstown didn't follow it's siblings in quality. There Will Be Blood did follow it's predecessors, with style over substance.

TV: The Wire came to a fantastic finale, Entourage continued to provide lifestyle envy, Breaking Bad took an original direction, Mad Men provided some slow-burning drama, while Summer Heights High provided some simple laughs. Undeclared and Freaks & Geeks finally caught my attention this year, wishing I'd caught both much earlier.

TV Clangers: Heroes just gets more and more contrived.

As a final note, headline of the year goes to chimpovich, regarding Men Called Him Mister's support slot for Foals in Madrid: "Band of Small Horses"

#Music
#CSF

31st Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Best Of 2008

Locochimpo

Albums of the year:
Fleet Foxes - every song's a winner on this doozy. Though it's 'Mykonos (Alternative Version)' that gets my vote for song of the year.
Vampire Weekend - This lot strike me as being a bit smug, but i guess if you release a debut album this good then you're allowed to be.
MGMT - Oracular Spectacular - The hits way outweigh the misses on this one.
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night - Not their greatest work to date, but still very listenable.
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago

Notable Mentions:
- British Sea Power - Do you like Rock Music?
- Soe'za - 7 Obstacles
- Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain

Greatest Hits of the year:
Dr John - The Best of the Night Tripper - a bargainous £5 (on Amazon) for this ace compilation of the best 60's and 70's tunes from Malcolm John Rebennack Jr.

Film of the year:
- No Country For Old Men - awesome
- Iron Man - super duper
- Superbad - McLovin it.

TV Boxsets of the year - Battlestar Gallactica. Frackin good stuff.

Gig of the Year - La bomba del tiempo, Konex Centre, Buenos Aires. (Ha - I had to mention it somewhere).

#Music
#Locochimpo

23rd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Best Of 2008

BC

Looking down my list of the best albums of the year it seems that with the exception of Black Mountain, this year has been all about the debut album. Some fine releases from the likes of Calexico, Okkervil River and Deerhoof but it was the new boys who really stepped up. All the surprises for me came from a very healthy US underground indie/punk scene with No Age heading the lot. The highlight of the year would have to be meeting and interviewing David Berman of Silver Jews, a true artist and someone I could have talked to for hours. With the steady and inevitable decline of the Western World to look forward to next year I am hopeful that some new musical talent will rise from the ashes to guide us through it all.

Albums

Black Mountain - In The Future
We've had this so long it almost seems like last year that this rocked my world. It's had a solid road testing for 12 months and is still as mighty as it's first play. A comprehensive delivery of all that was promised on the first record.

No Age - Nouns
This record really lit a fire in me this year and started a frenzied search into the context from which it sprung. It's a furious and unbridled blend of hazy shoegaze, garage rock and dirty punk and is all delivered with remarkable ease.

White Denim - Workout Holiday
A ramshackle chaotic work of genius that treads a fine line between electrifying soul infused garage punk and utter shambles.

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
The whole conception of this debut in total isolation in deepest Wisconsin gave it a great angle to get the critics chattering but since its release earlier this year it has risen from that chatter as utterly captivating and has introduced Justin Vernon as one of the most beguiling voices of the year.

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
It's been a tough old year for everybody and this 4 piece from New York has brought nothing but warmth and cheer to it from the start. Even way back in January it was obvious that this would feature in this list.

Close seconds
Tindersticks - The Hungry Saw
Four Tet - Ringer EP
Flight Of The Conchords - Flight Of The Conchords
Silver Jews - Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
The Cave Singers - Invitation Songs

Songs
Tindersticks - Intro
TV On The Radio - DLZ
Portishead - The Rip
Bon Iver - Skinny Love
Black Mountain - Stormy High

Gigs
Bruce Springsteen - Emirates Stadium
Silver Jews - ULU
No Age - Electric Ballroom
Black Mountain - Scala
Radiohead - Victoria Park

Movies
The Orphanage
No Country For Old Men
In Bruges

TV
Summer Heights High
The Wire - Season 5

Biggest Disappointment
My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges. I really have nothing good to say about this album. I think I'm done with these guys sadly.

#Music
#BC

19th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Best Of 2008

chimp71

another decent year of pop culture for me, feels like there's been lots of good stuff to get into this year...

TV

The Wire (FX) - season five bowed out in great form. Still the greatest.

Mad Men (BBC4) - convincing, slowburn drama, with fascinating take on early 60s life.

Breaking Bad (FX) Engrossing suburban drug-dealing tension.

Battlestar Galactica (Sky1) - trippy, political, enigmantic, moving sci-fi with some great space battles thrown in for good measure. Don't want it to end, but I do want to find out where they're going with it.

30 Rock (Five) - made even better by Tina Fey getting rid of Sarah Palin. 

Summer Heights High (BBC3) - don't want to be rude, but seriously, did you miss this? That's so random.

Criminal Justice (BBC1) - five nights of proper drama.

Film

Waltz With Bashir - brilliantly thoughtful animation, covering memory, loss and the intensity of war.

Man On Wire - beautifully simple doc about a tightrope walk between the Twin Towers. High tension line, indeed.

Gomorrah - brutal Italian mob chaos. 

In Search Of A Midnight Kiss - lo-fi indie romance

also enjoyed: The Dark Knight, Iron Man, In Bruges, No Country For Old Men

Albums

TV On The Radio - Dear Science an album that sounds like it could only have been made in 2008.

Black Mountain - In The Future retro maybe, but totally heavy and pretty essential

Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes great debut.

Bon Iver - For Emma - as was this.

Santogold - Santogold (and Top Ranking, the Diplo-Dub) - and this!

also enjoyed: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend, Grace Jones - Hurricane, Catfish Haven - Devastator

Gigs

Black Mountain - The Scala (great just after breakfast at Glastonbury too)

Jay-Z - Glastonbury a proper big moment. His cover of Wonderwall was deft, subtle and hilarious all at the same time.

Grace Jones - Royal Festival Hall disco from another dimension. Total legend.

Justice - Somerset House huge, gut-shaking digital rock, great to see in a classic setting.

Bjork - Hammersmith Apollo - still one of the best live acts around.

Also enjoyed: Matthew Herbert Big Band - Royal Festival Hall, Radiohead - Victoria Park

#Music
#chimp71

18th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Best Of 2008

Marmot

Music

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago: best album of the year by far in my book. Every song is great.

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: great songs and manages to sound like Paul Simon in a good way.

El Guincho - Alegranza!: this year's Panda Bear, nearly.

TV On The Radio - Dear Science: their sound came together spectacularly well and they managed to take their song writing up a notch.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Is It The Sea?: does a live album count? Slipped out almost unnoticed but is unbelievably good. Bought new vigor back to past songs.

Honorable mentions:

Pete Molinari - A Virtual Landslide : Chet Baker sings the Medway Blues.

Flight Of The Conchords : Very funny and surprisingly listenable.

Film

There Will Be Blood: for the first hour the best film I ever saw. Not so sure about the ending though.

No Country For Old Men: for the haircut.

The Orphanage: old school scary.

The Dark Knight: a bit long and self important but still one of this year's best.

Gigs

Smog @ St. James Church: even though they didn't play 'Dress Sexy At My Funeral'.

Jamie Liddell @ Koko: really.

Jim James @ St. James Church: hauntingly good.

Bog Log III @ 100 Club: his rendition of 'Clap Your Tits' was quite beautiful

TV

A year without television for me.

#Music
#marmot

17th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Best Of 2008

CJ

Music
Why? - Alopecia. Leftfield hip-hop of a high standard
Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend. Song of the year: "Walcott"
Mighty Joseph - Empire State. As close as we've come to a follow up to the excellent Cannibal Ox - The Cold Vein
Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes. I came to this late having enjoyed them on Later recently
Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid.

Close: Despite a few clangers My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges has been working its way back up my playlists. It also has one of the worst album covers ever.
Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold

Film
No Country For Old Men - gripping
Iron Man - great entertainment

Best gig
Didn't go to enough

Biggest disappointment - The Dark Knight. Didn't live up to my high hopes, especially after Batman Begins

#Music
#CJ

15th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Apparitions

Episode One

BBC1

Spooky atmospherics with Martin Shaw as a Catholic exorcist, fighting off a series of angry demons and the people they've possessed.

The first episode crams in a visit to the Vatican, a repressed novice priest who was once cured of leprosy by Mother Theresa and a dad whose Satanic babbling isn't scoring him too many points on the parenting front. 

Sounds like it's been toned down from the original full-on version featuring a man's skin being ripped off his body in a gay sauna thanks to the kind intervention of the Sunday Express - can't have helped that it's being broadcast so soon after the nonsense of Sachsgate or whatever we're calling it. Which in a way is probably a sign that it's the sort of thing you might enjoy if you're not an Express reader.

With this and Dead Set, looks like horror's back on primetime TV - BBC3's vampire flatshare Being Human is coming in 2009 as well...

#TV
#chimp71

9th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Abe Vigoda

Skeleton

Bella Union

If Vampire Weekend sound like a bunch of private school kids who lace their tales of life on campus with the exotic sounds of their worldwide travels then Abe Vigoda are their less fortunate counterparts from the state school downtown who too embarked on journeys to far off lands but decided to quit school and stay there. While there they became ensconced in the local cultures and were in turn shielded from any notion of cool and their musical need to make loud noises was bathed in age-old, sun-baked traditions, this being the result.

Since their debut Kid City, Abe Vigoda have forged their own route to musical notoriety and in the process have stumbled haphazardly across what can only be described as 'tropical punk.' Hailing from L.A. Abe Vigoda are a four piece that vacate the emerging scene that surrounds the Smell club and along with contemporaries like Mika Miko and No Age are causing quite a stir with their complete musical abandon that comes at you like a black hole that, having sucked in so many musical genres is now spewing them all out the back end in a form so unrecognisable it's thrilling.

Kid City was this band's warning shot, emerging from their camp with abrasion and venom, and having got everyone's attention has paved the way for Skeleton. Skeleton is certainly less abrasive and as a result gives room to the myriad of elements that make up their sound. Having said that it still packs a punch and though the teeth have been filed down slightly it still aims to dominate completely. From the opening moments of Dead City/Waste Wilderness there is little let up as each song is jettisoned with reckless ease. Guitarists Michael Vidal and Juan Velazquez fire off punk ditties that manage to embody their surroundings of either the steel drum of the Caribbean or the gentle melodies of South America. The mix of the hard punk sound with the warmth of these two distant elements is instantly jarring but electrifying none the less. Neither sits well together and with the under production of Vidal's muffled and inaudible vocals this should, in a sane world, be pure noise. But thank God this world is anything but sane.

Skeleton is an album very much unaware of its surroundings in musical terms but all too aware in creative and geographical terms. Unlike with their debut, Abe Vigoda have paced this album perfectly and allowed just enough space to infiltrate their 'blanket' pace to keep the listener interested. Kid City came at us like a record with so much to say and not enough time but Skeleton has more maturity but still manages to retain the sketch-book like spontaneity of their original sound. In a year where Vampire Weekend's debut and No Age's Nouns have unexpectedly delighted my hungry ears it seems all too perfect that Skeleton should fall between the two. The record rolls along like a ball of knotted shoe laces which makes it very difficult to pull out and separate individual elements - but if you stop trying and just appreciate the knot as a whole you'll see it's a pretty amazing thing.

#Music
#BC

14th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet