Chimpomatic

Black Mountain

Wilderness Heart

With album number three, Vancouver's Black Mountain may be threatening to hit the mainstream ...and with an output history this solid and thrilling, they deserve nothing less.

While 2008's In The Future was a decade highlight for me, Wilderness Heart proves to be something of a departure from it's predecessor - eschewing that early 70's monolithic rock sound for something a little more modern. Circa 1978. Synths and keyboards litter the sound with hidden flourishes, while Amber Webber gets more time in the lime light on these concise, deceptively simple tracks.

Opener The Hair Song exudes a swaggering confidence, while Old Fangs is built around a riff worthy of AC/DC themselves. Empires are smashed, tempos are shifted and War of the Worlds-style synths rule in one of many mini epics on the album - where no tracks head far north of 5 minutes.

Rollercoaster dips before Webber's vocals soar. Let Spirits Ride takes the band on a freight train of their most thundering thrash to date, complete with electrifying guitar and keyboard solos. A calmness decends with the orchestral overtones of Buried by the Blues - but throughout the album Josh Wells' drumming is again a magnificent highlight, running in and out of the layered and intricate guitars and keyboards and providing a muscular and spine tingling backbone.

Title track Wilderness Heart is the highlight, cramming a ten minute epic into just under four minutes as all the elements magically come together perfectly: thunderous intro, duelling vocals, pneumatic waves of drumming and a soaring coda all weaving in and out of each other into a towering, all-conquering masterpiece. Thrilling.

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13th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Once Upon A Time In The West Midlands

Dissapointing sub-Mike Leigh antics from Shane Meadows.

12th Sep 2010

Judge Dredd

Underrated, but far from classic comic book sci-fi from Danny Cannon.

12th Sep 2010

District 9

Disappointingly unsubtle sci-fi, extrapolated from Neil Blomkamp's innovate short 'Alive In Jo'burg'.

12th Sep 2010

Rebel Without A Cause

Beautifully shot, acted and directed - Nicolas Ray's masterpiece is still ahead of it's time.

Halliwell says: The first film to suggest that juvenile violence is not necessarily bred in the slums, this somewhat dreary melodrama also catapulted James Dean to stardom as the prototype fifties rebel.**

8th Sep 2010

Training Day

Twisting thriller with a typically OTT performance from Denzel. Better than I remembered.

7th Sep 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Edgar Wright

A film that's so shallow it's almost deep, Scott Pilgrim is fun, bubblegum matinee viewing. Your enjoyment might depend on your tolerance for Michael Cera's mumbling, videogame references, Batman-style POW! BLAM! ZOM! effects, indie band battles etc etc, but if that's all up your street, you'll enjoy it.

Cera is Scott P, a Canadian slacker who falls for a new hot NY chick who skates into town with a host of evil exes in tow - if Scott wants to date her, he has to get through them first. Meanwhile his band, Sex Bob-Omb is working its way through a battle of the bands contest and his gay roommate Rory Culkin is trying to get him to move out of his flatshare so Scott can stop cramping his style.

It's never really explained why Scott has to battle Ramona's exes: is it all in his mind, the reaction of a post-adoscent brain fried by a lifetime of videogames to meeting someone with a past?

#Film
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6th Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Tron

Disney's innovative & original 80s Wizard of Oz, which unfortunately hasnt got any deeper or less dull with age.

Halliwell says: Complicated science fantasy chiefly interesting for its computerized blend of live action and animation, which isn't always successful.*

5th Sep 2010

The Soloist

Engaging, ambitious, borderline pretentious drama from the director of Atonement, with Robert Downey Jr.

5th Sep 2010

Terminator Salvation

Badly thought out, derivative sequel that ultimately entertains at the expense of the franchise.

4th Sep 2010

Jaill

That's How We Burn

Sub Pop

Sub Pop's newest signings are really lightening my mood of late with this debut album of effortless indie rollers. With lead singer Vincent Kircher's grasp of melody and the ease of which this band deliver their message, That's How We Burn emerges as a record beyond its years. This could be due to the band's stint in relative musical obscurity - a stint that saw them develop their style and form a sense of unity that, well, unites this sound.

Nothing's being rewritten here; there are few stand-out moments and the album works more as a whole as it runs on a pretty even tempo for its entirety. But it's in this simplicity and familiarity that my enjoyment has found its foothold. With songs like Everyone's Hip Jaill inject a certain degree of muscle into the archetypal indie jangle and a good dose of the surf rock vibe presides throughout. Falling neatly alongside bands like The Soft Pack, Jaill have stuck to what they know and done themselves proud.

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#BC

3rd Sep 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Line

La Linea

Pretentious, under-developed clone of Soderberg's Traffic, with none of the class.

30th Aug 2010

Space Cowboys

Strangely lethargic OAP astronaut adventure from Clint Eastwood.

27th Aug 2010

Sufjan Stevens

All Delighted People EP

All's been quiet from the Sufjan camp in terms of new material since 2005 - and out of the silence emerges this 8 track EP. To put it mildly I think I'd prefer to watch reruns of England vs Algeria 2010 than listen to this again. It's equally as dull, but just doesn't have so much riding on it. To be honest I think I'd given up on Mr Stevens somewhere between Illinoise and one of the endless Christmas albums. Bookending the now pretty formulaic delicate and breathy ditties are two songs that stretch out in a bloated and directionless yawnfest. I'm even getting bored of writing this review, I'm officially done with Sufjan Stevens, shame I won't get to see the conclusion of his American States project.

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#BC

27th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

Gomorra

Classy, assured, multi-layered crime drama documenting the urban mafia in Naples.

26th Aug 2010

Doubt

Cerebral nun-as-detective period film with Meryl Streep.

22nd Aug 2010

Adventureland

Superior, 80s-set coming of age movie, with an appropriately killer soundtrack.

20th Aug 2010

Various Artists

Dogs In Space OST

As a big fan of this cult Australian movie, I've been looking out for a copy of the Dogs in Space soundtrack since the early 90's - and only now, thanks to the magic of file-sharing I finally get my hands on it. And it's fan-expanded edition at that.

The film and therefore the soundtrack are set in Melbourne's 'Little Band' scene of the late 70's, with some of the acts from that era reforming briefly to play on the soundtrack - such as The Primitive Calculators and Whirlywirld. Michael Hutchence stars in the film and leads the band of the title, but also provides a couple of more punky solo tracks here, of which Golf Course is pretty fun. Hutchence was inspired by the film and his work with veteran Melboune producer Ollie Olsen and the two of them worked together in the late 80's on Max Q.

Of course the ongoing success of some of the acts highlights their contributions here. Iggy's Endless Sea (from New Values) is a highlight of the movie and the soundtrack, while Nick Cave's Boys Next Door provide a classic in Shivers. Another highlight is the Thrush & The Cunts cover of the same song. Charming name.

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18th Aug 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Big Lebowski

Stellar script, flawless performances and deceptively casual direction. The Dude still abides.

16th Aug 2010

Gamer

OTT Running Man/Truman Show/Matrix mash up from the Crank guys.

14th Aug 2010

The Proposal

Romcom by numbers with Sandra Bullock. I expect to be at a longhaul destination after a movie like this.

13th Aug 2010

Year One

Stupid stupid stupid. A VHS rental for the new millennium.

8th Aug 2010

The Long Goodbye

Rambling, shambolic Philip Marlowe case from Robert Altman, with shoddy production quality.

Halliwell says: Ugly, boring travesty of a well-respected novel, the apparent intention being to reverse the author's attitudes completely and to substitute dullness and incomprehensibility.

4th Aug 2010

Payback

Straight Up

Retrofied reworking of Mel Gibson's 1999 Point Blank reworking. Still sloppy.

3rd Aug 2010

Julia

Engaging and original kidnap movie with Tilda Swinton - that ultimately loses it's way.

25th Jul 2010

My Sister's Keeper

Ambitious, ensemble drama from Nick Cassavetes documenting a family dealing with cancer.

24th Jul 2010

Observe And Report

I observe that's it's crap and report it for being lame.

#Screened
#Film
#chimp71

24th Jul 2010

Bronson

Painfully slow 89 minute prison biopic, which is disappointingly pretentious. Chopper meets Derek Jarman.

23rd Jul 2010

Jerk With A Bomb

Death To False Metal

Last week's Black Mountain gig sent me into a completist spin of Black-Mountain-Army-MP3-domination and as a result I dug up this previously overlooked, very early Jerk With A Bomb album. Before Pink Mountaintops and before Black Mountain it was just One Easy Skag and the Silo - AKA Stephen McBean and Joshua Wells.

While later JWAB efforts - 2001's The Old Noise and 2003's Pyrokenesis - have their moments (Pyrokenisis in particular with stellar stand-outs Fine Health Is At Home and the sublime To The Graves), both could be considered relatively patchy affairs. Death To False Metal on the other hand aims a little lower but maintains a solid, consistent level of entertainment - as well as a healthy live feel. You could imagine these two turning up at your BBQ and wowing the camp fire crowd with this whole album.

That's not to say it's all at one note - and This Broken Heart, New Wave Is Dead and particularly Half Mast provide some momentous highlights. Sure, it's still a lo-fi affair, but the passion and fury unleashed on some of the tracks is astounding and the record serves as a welcome early warning of Stephen McBean's deep reservoir of song-writing talent, not to mention Joshua Wells' epic drumming.

Listen in full over at CBC Radio 3 (Track 5 onwards is this album, the first 4 are from the 2 later albums).

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23rd Jul 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Boat That Rocked

Loving re-created 60's pirate radio drama. Would have worked better at 45 than 33.

22nd Jul 2010

Serpico

Stylish and classy cop corruption with 1970's Pacino, hampered in the action stakes by being based on fact.

20th Jul 2010

The Young Victoria

Sumptuous and stylish biographical romance. A little dull.

18th Jul 2010

The Last Picture Show

Classic Texan coming of age tale, complete with moody photography and great performances.

Halliwell says: Penetrating nostalgia with over-emphasis on sex; the detail is the attraction.***

18th Jul 2010

In The Electric Mist

Overcomplicated murder mystery with Tommy Lee Jones, made worse by shoddy editing.

17th Jul 2010

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Another lazy and unadventurous addition to the sagging franchise.

17th Jul 2010

Black Mountain

The Lexington, London

With a new album on the way and a slew of festival dates lined up, Canada's 2007/8 chimprock staple Black Mountain were back in town for an intimate gig at the perfectly-sized Lexington in preparation for this weekend's Latitude festival.

Pastiche-heavy new song Radiant Hearts opened the show, before new album highlight Wilderness Heart moved the band quickly into a higher gear, storming though In The Future classics Evil Ways, Tyrants, plus Old Fangs, Rollercoaster and Let Spirits Rise from the new record.

Sadly, sound problems slowly encroached into the show -with McBean's increasingly problematic amp hampering the real growth of the performance. While the rest of the band made valient efforts to paste over the cracks - with an extended jam allowing some roadie tech action, before McBean stepped back in with a blistering riff, only to be denied again. Lightning Dust star Amber Webber's wailing vocals provide a much more pronounced appearance when seeing the band live and she provided a real focus for tonights show, holding the stage like a modern day Grace Slick. The keyboard-heavy sounds of the new album also got plenty of time in the spotlight via Jeremy Schmidt, while Joshua Wells' incredible drumming stole the show on several occasions - with the robotic licks of Tyrants never failing to deliver a spine-tingling thrill.

Ultimately, the sound issues were too much to overcome, and like a (muscle) car without gas, Steve McBean sloped off unfulfilled. However, some quick tweaks from a roadie and the band were back for a super-charged encore. The newer big hitters were nearly done, but the super-sub of Stormy High saw the band roar back into action, before chunky live versions of Druganaut and Don't Run Our Hearts Around brought the band's self-titled debut album back into the favourites list.

It would take a lot more than bad electrics to keep these guys down ...and I suspect their the following night may have been unbelievable. Tonight we just had to be satisfied with awesome.

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15th Jul 2010 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet