Chimpomatic

Waking Life

(dir. Richard Linklater)

Way back before Dubya tarred it's good name, Texas was occasionally a cool place. The Butthole Surfers, ZZ Top (pre-Mtv) and Richard Linklater all herald from the Lone Star State. Richard Linklater has already made his ode to Texas in Dazed and Confused, and the success of that led to bigger things (The Newton Boys), then due to a lack of success, smaller things again.

In 2001 he kicked out two low-budget movies. First came 3-actor-shot-on-DV movie Tape, which was pretty good, then this film ñ Waking Life. Shot on DV, then animated over the top, the movie features many of Linklaters previous stars including Wiley Wiggins, Ethan Hawke, Julie Delphy and Nicky Katt ñ as well as a nice cameo by Stephen Prince, re-telling his Gas Station story from American Boy.

It is more like a series of scetches and scenes, strung together through technique and the meandering, philosophising thoughts of the main character (Wiggins) as he tries to deal with his dreams. It makes for interesting viewing, but like many of Linklaterís movies it never quite hit the right note for me. Hopefully heís in form with School of Rock, because after that heís got a sequel to Before Sunrise coming outÖ and thatís bound to be another love/hate sitaution.

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29th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Cypher

(dir. Vincenzo Natali)

Never got round to Cube, but from all accounts it was a pretty decent lo-budget sci-fi... So's this, from the same director. Jeremy Northam, doing fine US accent (and miles away from that stuck-up dude he played in Gosford Park) is a bored salaryman datachimp who decides life would be more interesting if he was a corporate spy. Like the way it's pretty much all monochrome (found myself checking I wasn't watching on some not-tuned in properly channel on my tv) for most of the film, with the odd splash of colour, v stylish. In the future too, but unspecified, like it's only about 5 minutes into the future; ie they're still using CDs to burn their data. Lots of corporate brainwashing, general mind-melding, who-am-i? identity confusion, Lucy Liu as a potentially rogue agent hooking up with Northam at Anywheresville conventions and hotel ice machines. Nothing totally new, but it does what it sets out to do: ie make a satisfying, atmospheric low-key sci-fi.

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27th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Brotherhood Of The Wolf

(dir. Christophe Gans)

loopy stuff (yup, literally)... kung-fu, secret orders, one-armed noblemen with way too much fraternal affection, 18th century peasants being savaged by crazed were-beasts on the moors... plus monica belluci. real mess of a film, in the best possible way. just a bit too long. good though.

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27th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Less Than Zero

(dir. Marek Kanievska)

In this movie, based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis (waaaay before the American Psycho hype), three rich-kid friends graduate from school and then move out into the big wide world. While Andrew McCarthy goes of to college, best friend Robert Downey Jr. Stays in LA and steals McCarthy's girlfriend - Jami Gertz.

On returning to LA to help Downey kick his various addictions, all three get mixed up in the dirty underworld of drugs supplied by sleazy James Spader.

Pretty in Pink crossed with Heat as the Brat Pack get serious. Kind of. After a shakey start - highlighted by a David Lee Roth soundtracked 'erotic' romp - this does actually settle down to be pretty good, with Robert Downey putting in a good performance (possibly method acted judging by his later years) as the strung out Julian. The soundtrack has some Brat Pack classics on it too, although every other track seems to be an 80's re-imaginging of some 60's classic - Slayer do "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" anyone?

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21st Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Guided By Voices

Human Amusements At Hourly Rates: The Best Of Guided By Voices

Matador Records

If you remain unconvinced by Guided By Voices:

1) You are wrong
2) This is the album to convince you

Putting together the best Greatest Hits album since Decade is no mean feat, and I don't make the comparison lightly. Hitting the rare mark of a Greatest Hits record that functions on it's own level, Human Amusements At Hourly Rates collates one or two tracks off nearly every official Guided By Voices release into one easy-to-use package, without losing a second of GBV's charm. It doesn't get much better than this.

I Am A Tree, Shocker In Gloomtown, Watch Me Jumpstart, Game Of Pricks, My Valuable Hunting Knife, Teenage FBI ...don't make me spell it out for you.

5 stars. All time top ten.

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17th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sebadoh

Live at the EFDSS

Lou Barlow seems to have a problem with falling out with people. First we had to get over Dinosaur Jr. (minus Lou Barlow) and then Sebadoh (minus Eric, with Eric, minus Eric). Tonight we had "Lou Barlow And Jason Lowenstein Play The Songs Of Sebadoh" - not that Eric was missed too much.

Lou Barlow has always seemed like the leader of this troupe, but Jason got a pretty thunderous applause when he stepped up to the mic. Kicking out a lot of the classics and favourites, the gig played out like a campfire indie session with a couple of friends. Every song seemed like your favourite, with most of the crowd sat on the floor shoegazing and remembering the good old days.

Nostalgia can't last forever though, and there was a slight hint of under-achiever about the whole affair. Sebadoh always seemed like they were only the start, but the rest never really came. Maybe it's not Lou that falls out with people, maybe they just fall out with him.

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15th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Sebadoh

Bakesale

Back in the Generation X boom years of the early nineties, Sebadoh were the sensitive cousins of the grunge beer monster. Perhaps through kidney damage or simply running out of beer, they went on to outlive their Seattle relations. But it was never Sex, Drugs and Rock n Roll with Sebadoh, more heartbreak than heart failure.

Bakesale was the album where they finally got it right. Finding a balance between Lou's stripped down folk meanderings and Eric's scream at the world outbursts, they created a record of low-fidelity pop - catchy riffs one minute, laid bare and beautiful the next, with a fragile soul evident throughout. As ever, Lou's lyrics tell it like it is in the turbulent world of emotional relationships "I'm not a good friend, I'm not a friend at all" providing a soundtrack to a lot of our lives, whether you'd like to admit it or not.

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10th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Bad Boys

(dir. Michael Bay)

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence play two badass, wisecracking, unconventional cops on the trail of some stolen heroin. Jerry Bruckheimer is in full blown, pre-CSI, Top Gunesque brown filter mode. This is crap. Like Beverley Hills Cop III on steroids.

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7th Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Guided By Voices

Live At ULU, London

The band were winding down at the end of their European tour with this final show at ULU - a hint of things to come was made evident by the roadie loading up two crates of chilled beer on the stage. Bob then used that to chase down a bottle of scotch, getting slowly more chatty... GBV might as well be their own support band, clocking in here with a not untypical 2 1/2 hour show. The first hour was relatively slow, but still featured a couple of my personal favourites, such as "Back To The Lake".

"Later on tonight, you'll all be drunk and happy and we'll have played all your favourite shit, but for now you have to listen to our new shit - which should be OK, because it rocks."

The booze kicked in to good effect though, with an encore longer than many bands sets, pumping out all the classics.... A pattern emerges with each new release from GBV as each album contains a couple of 'classic' tracks, which slowly work their way into the highlights - making the last hour non-stop greatness.

"How's My Drinking?" Fully acceptable thank you.

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2nd Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Core

(dir. Jon Amiel)

The core of the earth has stopped revolving. A crew of experts/astronaut types are recruited to fly a nuclear powered train type-thing with laser headlights into the centre of the earth to set off some nukes, kick start the earth and save 6 billion people.

Total action by numbers movie that can be best summed up as Armageddon vs. Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. The only problem with that is no Bruce Willis. Or Steve Buscemi. Instead we have Aaron Eckhart (that dude from Erin Brockovich) and Hilary Swank. Not that that means its actually any worse, just that it makes you wonder who would put $50 or $80 Million into it. And in fact that's part of the problem. Movies like this need $100M, not $50M, for stars and hype and publicity - to generate enough interest to cover the gaps in the plot and the execution.

It's not unwatchable however. Add a few unbelievably heroic personal sacrifices, a pinch of Hollywood luck and 135 minutes of your day have drifted by easily enough.

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1st Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Mars Volta

De-loused In The Comatorium

At The Drive In were one of those bands that I always meant to check out, I just never got round to it. So when I got hold of this album I was expecting quite a lot. And this album does rock - starting as it means to go on. The songs are pretty unconventional in terms of pace / tempo / rhythm, and you have to be in the right mood for it. Headphones are recommended.

Fortunately I have been finding myself in the mood more and more - planning train journeys so we can spend some time together. As a sweeping rollercoaster of jazzy - sometimes progish - rock this would make a great soundtrack for some freaky movie. Sonic landscapes flow out gently, then spin on a dime to be full-frontal aural assualts of conspiracy riddled lyrics. "If you only knew the plans they had for us....."

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1st Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Bringing Down The House

(dir. Adam Shankman)

I had the misfortune of sitting through this pile of crap on a plane, before sleeping became a much better way of killing 90 minutes. I can only comment on the first half of the movie, but a child could plot the undoubted outcome.

Stiff-white-guy lawyer Steve Martin meets sassy-streetwise-homegirl Queen Latifah through a case of misrepresentation in an Internet chatroom. She needs his lawyer help to clear her name. He wants a new girlfriend. 90 minutes of lame fish-out-of-water comedy later they no doubt realise it's what's inside that counts and live happily ever after.

This was such a Steve Martin-by-numbers script, that a computer could have written it. They didn't even bother spening any time setting the scene - the whole chatroom episode was wrapped up before the opening titles finished. None of the side splitting comedy of The Jerk or Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

"Those aren't pillows!"

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1st Oct 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Kings Of Leon

Youth And Young Manhood

3 brothers and a cousin - sons of a preacher man (Leon) who spent their formative years living in the back of a car as Leon spread the word of the Lord around the southern states - or so the story goes.... whether the story goes true or not is of minor importance - what is of major importance is that this is a great great rock and roll album, as if the Strokes stole the White Stripes instruments and took a road trip down to Dazed and Confused (film, not style mag). This is a record of good times and wanting to do what you want to do, wanting to get loaded.

It kicks off with Red Morning Light - a perfect singalong tune, in that the lyrics are hell catchy yet completely indecipherable. The album continues in the same vein throughout as Caleb (Followill - vocals/guitars) screams and yelps his way across tight and crisp seventies riffs - with some sweet licks for axe fanatics. Standout tracks (that is: really fucking good) have to be: Joeís Head, California Waiting and Mollyís Chamber - about some accommodating gal, whoíll take your voice and leave you howling at the moon. Amen. Maybe the power behind this record comes from a Samson style rock 'n' roll strength emanating from four sets of very big hair. Watch the streets this summer, as Fashionistas hurry to grow huge head and facial hair combos. Thank god such cuts canít be ordered on demand - or weíd surely have a wave of stylish casualties in this heatwave, passed out from exhaustion under a Nashville Thatch.

Dream scenario aside, this is a rocking good album, which will sound as fresh in a decade as it would have done 30 years ago. Kings of Leon thank God on their liner notes, I'd like to thank Him too - if He keeps inspiring 40 minutes of sounds like this, then the fight is well and truly on for the best tunes. Watch your back Satan!!!!

Alternatively:
Crazed drummer Animal emerges from years of therapy - folowing the success and excess of the Muppets - to produce a Lynyrd Skynyrd tinged masterpiece.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Love

Forever Changes

No review, just 5 stars. All time top 10.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Neil Young

On The Beach

No review, just 5 stars. All time top 10.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Minutemen

3 Way Tie (For Last)

No review, just 5 stars. All time top 10.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Kazik

Piosenki Toma Waitsa

Kazik is one of my favorite artists - I buy all cds he releases. It was the same with this one. Before the purchase I didn't even know who Tom Waits was,which is a bit shame. All the songs were translated to Polish and of course there are inaccuracies, but I think that some of them were made on purpose. It was a real challenge to translate the specific language used by Tom Waits.

Poland's finest musicians gathered to record this album. This album is worth listening if you'd like to look at Tom Waits' music from a different point of view. It's good if you know Polish but it's not essential.

The best thing is that this cd encouraged me to get and listen to Tom Waits' music - it was a great discovery for me.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Crimony

EP

Creeping under the wire at only 6 songs I managed to pick this EP up in a bargain bin for only £1.99. Recording together now and then, one time brothers-in-law Paul Roessler and Mike Watt put this out in 1988. Paul Roessler wrote all of the songs on this record, and he also sings. His voice, and also the atmosphere of the songs - in particular the opening Life's Too Short - remind me of a slightly less geeky version of John B. Sebastian. And not in a bad way. The EP is a easy listen, with Vampire Party being a pretty cool track. Maybe this sounds a bit like Ben Folds Five.

Pick it up if you see it, but don't bust a gut tracking it down.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Pendulum

When Pendulum was released it was seen as Creedence trying to get in check with the fashion of the times and put out a more produced and consistent album... where as their previous records had usually been a collection of independent tracks.

From the sample-ready opening break of Pagan Baby, this is still great Creedance. Have you Ever Seen the Rain? And (I Wish I could) Hideaway, are absolute classics. Molina and Hey Tonight are great stomping tracks, but the psuedo-experimental Rude Awakening #2 is new style - an epic instrumental, which starts off great but loses direction pretty quickly. Easy to overlook, but unmissable to anyone who is a fan of Creedence.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Mardi Gras

This record is pretty inconsistent. The songs are very much solo efforts, and don't seem to be off the same album. Each member not only writes songs, they produced and sung them also. John Fogerty's songs are the most 'classic' Creedence, Lookin For a Reason, Sweet Hitchhiker and the beautiful Someday Never Comes. Stu cook's songs are more raucous, but not without charm. The abrasive singing on Sail Away seems strange, but this is one of the best tracks on the album. Doug Clifford's songs are different again, and are pleasant but less of a standout.

This album has a lot to recommend it to Creedence fans, but it wouldn't give a new listener a true taste of Creedence.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Band

The Band

No review, just 5 stars. All time top 10.

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29th Sep 2003 - Add Comment - Tweet

Beastie Boys

Paul's Boutique

No review, just 5 stars. All time top 10.

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29th Sep 2003 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet