Chimpomatic

Arcade Fire

Neon Bible

Rough Trade

In 2005 the Arcade Fire gave us Funeral - and with it music was exciting again. No sooner had the music industry heard all 10 songs that it set about desperately trying to find the next source of this feeling. The well timed release of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah saw that band ride this wave with another stunningly exciting debut. So it's 2 years on and Clap Your Hands got in there first with their reply, so what of Neon Bible? Is this a one trick pony? Well, what do you do after such a powerful debut? As we are seeing with Some Loud Thunder, the answer is to play it cool and take it all down a notch. No such idea ever crossed the mind of Win Butler and co. when making Neon Bible. The agenda is clear here, take everything great about Funeral and times it by ten - reveal the iceberg. It's the sound of a band who know full well that they make big music. The best word to describe Neon Bible is massive. If you intend to listen to this album you will need to brush up on 'The Platoon Position', as mid way through the opening track Black Mirror you'll find yourself in need of a suitable body position to justify such grandiosity. It's triumphant music which is surprising considering all the previous themes of death, resentment and wasted life are at its heart and the inclusion of war and the demise of America it's thematically pretty bleak. Musically and stylistically it hasn't changed much from Funeral although it seems quite obvious that someone's been listening to Bruce Springsteen. So with the immortal words of The Boss "Just wrap your legs round these velvet ribs and strap your hands across my engines,"  I will begin with what will undoubtedly become a tired and over-used driving/cars metaphor to describe this album.

If the opening track with its rumble of thunder and deep, pounding drums is akin to the feeling of getting behind the wheel of a high performance vehicle then Keep The Car Running is the point where you come over the brow of a hill and see the open road ahead. The delicate guitar strum at the start hints at the pace ahead and makes your heart flutter with impending excitement.

Title track Neon Bible is the early stop at the service station to refuel when all women and children hear the words they dread. "Get what you need cos we're not stopping again." And with Intervention we are most certainly back at full speed. It's the grandest song on the album, shit it's the fucking grandest song this side of God Save The Queen (National Anthem not Sex Pistols.) Anyone frowning at my use of cuss words will see that they certainly are justified. Starting with a chapel organ the size of St Pauls Cathedral if every hair on your body doesn't stand on end consider yourself paralyzed. I don't know how this song will be played live as no building with a roof could possibly contain it.

Black Wave is pure Blondie with it's sublime melodies courtesy of Regine Chassagne, who until now has been the power house behind the backing vocals. Ocean Of Noise brings things down a notch with it's washes of strings and soft vocals but the driver of this car wasn't joking when he said we wouldn't be stopping again. This was merely a momentary drop in intensity before the full mariachi band bring this song to a glorious close.

The Well And The Lighthouse comes in with rapid pounding drums and Butler's frenzied vocals forever building and with Antichrist Television Blues The Boss really comes to the forefront. With it's strumming acoustic structure, passion fueled tales of working for the minimum wage and unstoppable tempo this would make Bruce wish he'd written it. As do many of these songs this one builds and builds to such tremendous heights then suddenly stops and makes you think that had it not stopped so suddenly you could very easily have shit yourself with joy. Windowsill is more of a slow builder but guess what, it lifts you up on yet another earth shattering wave of sound and rings you out at the end.

The inclusion of No Cars Go is the only questionable element to this album. Having heard its original form on the early EP this feels like all too familiar territory and even though it's been working out since its first appearance its inclusion here still feels a bit unnecessary.

Things are brought to an exhaustive close with My Body Is A Cage and please welcome back on to the stage, the huge fucking chapel organ. "My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love, but my mind holds the key," sings Butler "Set my body free." This song is the end of a movie, it's the unfeasible tracking-crane-shot that lifts from close proximity and keeps on lifting, encompassing everything, showing us the whole picture. And with it's climax your body drops from the Platoon Position and though all your senses try to stop you, you press play again.

So to put this tired metaphor to rest, this is an awesome journey that covers a lot of ground. It never hits traffic, it sometimes slows down for safety reasons while passing through small villages but never opts for monotonous motorway driving and always takes the scenic route.

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7th Feb 2007 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Mudhoney

Under A Billion Suns

Sub Pop

I owe a lot to Mudhoney. Listening to their self-titled 2nd album many years ago, took me away from a West Midlands world of Megacity 4/Neds Atomic Dustbin and onto a beer-fuelled journey into independent American music - a journey that has shown no sign of slowing down over the subsequent 16 years. The superfuzzed bigmuffed mayhem of tunes like 'This Gift', 'You Got It' and 'Flat Out Fucked' opened my eyes to a "Screw you we are going to get loaded" attitude that played soundtrack to much of my teen years.

But, as often happens with many of your oldest friends, you inevitably lose contact after a while. So, on the first listen to Under a Billion Suns, the first new Mudhoney material I've heard in a while, it's something of a surprise to hear a joyous brass section, working its way from the background to the fore in the opening songs 'Where Is The future?' and 'It Is Us' as well as closing the album on 'Blindspots'. Very Californian for these archetypes of the Seattle sound. It's like that old friend has turned up on your doorstep after all these years and, well, he's wearing a dress! At first, you'd perhaps be like 'Err, ok!' But once the shock subsides and you get a chance to sneak a look up that dress - bingo! There's a Big Muff, as in your face as ever. Open up that handbag and - yep! - there's some beers, so fuck it, let's party like the old days.

All those things that made you want to hang out with Mudhoney in the first place, are here. The sleazy, sludgy guitars, underrated solo work, Mark Arm's sneering vocals, Dan Peters driving drums and all the snotty attitude that made them the scourge of parents - before they presumably became parents themselves.

Whilst the sound remains the same, the band (Arm?) themselves seem to have become polticised. It's a pretty damning indictment of George Dubya, when perennial slackers and party animals Mudhoney feel the need to weigh into the debate about how much of a Chief he really is. In 'Where Is The Future?' Arm wonders what happened to the promised future of his late 60's childhood "I want a world run by giant brains, instead of small minded arrogant fools" the theme continues on the faster 'It is Us' "I've seen the enemy and It Is Us!" Muff vs. Bush! Even the war gets a look in, but with a particular Mudhoney spin on things "Hard-on for War" is pro-war in the sense that; with young men serving abroad, it's left to the dirty old men to have the pick of the young girls left behind. Whilst it's nice to hear their take on current affairs, the highlight has to be the instrumental 'A Brief Celebration Of Indifference" - a 2 minute supercharged throwback to 1990.

All in all it's a welcome return to the speakers for these Seattle legends. Whilst they may have lyrically grown up (just a bit though) the sound and energy that blew me away all those years back, is still very much in place.

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21st Nov 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Joanna Newsom

Ys

OK, you're going to have to bear with me on this review as I am breaking a strict rule of mine while writing it - and that rule is to never embark on a review until you know what the album is about. To mislead the hoards of readers we have on this site with knee-jerk opinions would be a dreadful misuse of responsibility. So from the outset I will be honest and admit that I haven't got a clue what the hell is going on on this second full length from the enigma that is Joanna Newsom. The reason I am not waiting until I do know more is that I get the impression that that day will never come, but as I have firmly made up my mind that this is a work of unrivaled genius I think that is justification enough to start the review.

Clocking in at just under an hour and boasting only 5 songs, the longest being almost 17 minutes, Ys certainly is a commitment. Starting this album is an experience akin to standing at the foot of a massive mountain. You know you want to climb it but the view from the bottom makes you question whether you have it in you and it's not until you've completed the first leg of the opening 12 minutes of Emily that you start to realise what an epic journey you have ahead of you but the view from there is so special that to reach the summit fills your heart with excitement and you push on. Those who do reach the top are rewarded in ways too profound to mention. Not only is there the sense of pride on having made it this far but the strange compulsion to go straight down to the bottom and do it all again is overwhelming.

So despite not knowing anything about the meaning of this work we have established that it's quite good and so can distract ourselves with some background facts concerning it's conception and production. It follows in the footsteps of 2004's critically acclaimed debut The Milk Eyed Mender and takes it's title from a mythical Breton city that was flooded as punishment for the decadence of its inhabitants. Newsom describes dreams she had after having written the record that the title had to have a Y and an S in it and should only be one syllable, after coming across a reference to this myth she knew that Ys, pronounced 'Ees', had to be her title. The album features a whole host of stars backstage. It is engineered by Steve Albini, produced by Jim O'Rourke and all but one song is given full orchestral arrangement by Van Dyke Parks, it also has the occasional backing vocal by boyfriend Bill 'Smog' Callahan. But it's Newsom herself that ultimately makes this record what it is. Her voice achieves a much more expansive range here going from booming depth to ear-piercing squeaks to a floating beauty that is simply heart melting. Her debut had her lumped in with the acid-folk of Devandra Banhart which in my opinion didn't do her any favors. This record will undoubtedly put an end to all that as its richness and awesome scope makes it near impossible to label. Comparisons to the work of Bjork and Kate Bush are valid only in terms of vision and shear single mindedness. As time moves on it will be impossible to guess when this album was made, it has a timeless quality and no references to modern times whatsoever. (I thought I found one on Emily when what I supposed was the lyric "The media writes just what causes the light and the media's how it's perceived," turned out to be "The meteorite's just what causes the light and the meteor's how its perceived.") You get immersed in the vivid descriptions of nature and stories that are told with such a beguiling use of language that you stop trying to follow their meaning and sit back content to let your heart dance in the warmth and ease with which these magical words tumble out. There is little point in going through the album song by song as this is a piece of work where each element has to be seen in the context of the whole. It's not just the length of the songs that makes them so daunting, they feature no standard chorus structure, there is virtually no let up in the flow of expertly pronounced poetry or free flowing harp and Park's orchestration sweeps you up and catapults you across his epic cinematic landscape and each song leaves you exhausted. But the profundity of this exhaustion comes from the honesty of the artist, none of this album seems contrived or pretentious. It's one of those rare moments of originality that is self made.

You can arm yourself with as many facts as you like about this album but none of them will help you on your journey, they will only weigh you down. Just as Luke bravely put away his mechanical means of navigation on his assault on The Death Star so must we turn off logical thought on our long trek towards the summit of Mount Newsom and let some other force guide us. To do this is the only way to reach the top and once there the view will be more spectacular than you could possibly imagine.

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20th Nov 2006 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Dosh

The Lost Take

The road that Dosh has chosen or is destined to travel is well trodden and as a result can often be perilous. Instrumental hip hop sounds like a good idea but can often fall into the chill out trap and forever condemned to an eternity of middle class diner parties. Fortunately Martin Dosh skillfully avoids these pitfalls and his third full length for Anticon "The Lost Take" is easily his best yet - and actually has no right to be classed as hip hop.

Having started off playing drums in the avant-guard DIY outfit Fog, Dosh released his debut self titled album in 2003 followed by 2004's Pure Trash which featured assistance from Anticon heavy weights Doseone, Jel and Odd Nosdam. With The Lost Take the collaborations are just as frequent but of a different sort. Dosh has cleverly enlisted the help of a plethora of musicians from Fog's Jeremy Ylvisaker, Erik Appelwick from Tapes 'n Tapes and the wonderful violin of Andrew Bird. This is the key to the success of this record. Proficient on most instruments himself, Dosh has created a record that though predominantly drum based is a homage to the art of live orchestration. "Um, Circles And Squares" is the first instance of this dazzling love for music. Here, Bird's strings form a beautiful cushion for Dosh's rolling Rhodes sequences and drum beats. This prepares us for the album highlight of "A Ghosts Business". This could be a scene from a Disney cartoon about the nighttime goings on in a music shop. After the owner leaves the store, the instruments come alive and jam erratically to their hearts content expressing the unbridled freedom that an instrument would if it was locked up in a shop all it's life. As conductor, Dosh makes us think he's lost control of his orchestra - but expertly brings them into line with Prefuse 73 style cutting and pasting.

This track is very important to the album as a whole. Not only does it let us know what this man is capable of, but gives us a valuable insight into the intentions of The Lost Take. Every song after it seems to work better with this knowledge. By enlisting the help of such talents, Dosh creates a rich pallet from which to work his magic. Appelwick's crunching guitar chords give strength to the piano and drums of "MPLS Rock And Roll", making it a triumphant anthem - while his subtle finger picking weaves softly amongst the textural percussion contributing to the delicate warmth of "O Mexico".

I imagine each of the twelve tracks on The Lost Take as an intrepid group of explorers in the old Tarzan movies bravely making their way through the jungle. Comprised predominantly of toffee-nosed British aristocrats and their native bag carriers, they negotiate the perilous mountain path known as "Chill-Out Pass". To lose your footing here would mean plummeting into the raging crocodile infested waters of Hoxton-quiff-sporting-Foxton's employees, hungry to get their soft hands on the next soundtrack to their upcoming Thai fusion themed dinner party. Sadly, not everyone here makes it to safety. "Everybody Cheer Up Song" and the closing sax horror of "The Lost Take" only lose their footing for a second, but that's all it takes on this journey to fall to the depths of mediocrity. But everyone else bravely push on to the other side. Once there, they find the going slightly easier, as a path of sorts has already been forged by people like Four Tet and Prefuse 73, but armed with the brave pioneering Anticon spirit the remaining members of The Lost Take form their own roads through this wilderness to discover new and rich pastures. One would hope that after showing such courage Dosh won't rest on these green and plentiful lands but will strive on to higher ground.

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3rd Nov 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Cadence Weapon

Breaking Kayfabe

Upper Class Recordings

Imagine if you can: it's the year 2040 and the music scene is in a state of crisis. RnB rules the charts and is all that's allowed to be played on the radio. Since the earliy naughties the hip hop section of the record store became known as 'Urban' and most rap albums had to incorporate some form of RnB just to make sales. Artists such as Common and Kanye West who were targeted by the RnB militia to spread this evil seed in the hip hop community eventually buckled under the pressure and stopped recording altogether. Rumor has it that Common was set to release an album called Strictly Hip Hop but it never saw the light of day due to death threats to his family. So the genre formerly known as Hip Hop disappeared from the public's view completely. But an underground resistance refused to die out and continued to filter quality beats to those in need. There was a great war and the resistance was nearly quashed so in order to put an end to this they developed a group of cyborgs known as The Anti Pop Consortium and sent them back to the year 1985. Their mission was to kill a little boy called Craig David who would go on to popularize RnB in Europe. The mission was accomplished but unfortunately made absolutely no difference to the future at all. The resistance analyzed the growth of RnB and noticed that instead of it being attributed to the evil of one person it was born out of the apathy and boredom of the world at large. So a new plan was formed and a new cyborg crafted, better, stronger, faster. His name was Cadence Weapon.

Canada was selected as the best place to start this attack as the glare of the RnB Eye was firmly focused on America and Britain. Sent back to the year 2005 he unleashed his first wave of destruction, a devastating mixtape called Cadence Weapon Is The Black Hand and then so as not to give the RnB militia time to recover he hit them again in 2006 with Breaking Kayfabe, a collection of hip hop cuts so strong and so forceful that it sent shock waves throughout the world. Breaking Kayfabe (Kayfabe being the Resistance code for RnB scum) was designed using the original blue prints of The Anti Pop Consortium mission. The sound was hard and electronic so as to allow no fertile ground for the RnB 'Good Singing' germ to grow. This new model of machine was equipped with enough skills to become a one man army and the whole Breaking Kayfabe project was crafted by Cadence Weapon himself, from the sterile, impenetrable and chest-stomping beats to the venomous lyrics spat out with such force and machine-like precision.

For a while the enemy was crippled due to the force of this attack but they soon regrouped and retaliated with a double fist. Both Lamar and Usher released records of such dazzling vocal beauty that the world was gripped by their evil tales of perfect love making. Luckily Cadence Weapon's arrival was strong enough to wake many hip hop warriors, including Busta Rhymes and LL Cool J, from their RnB sleep and the war was won. RnB was forever kept under wraps being confined to young girls and those genuinely gifted at love making. There was a brief uprising in France but that was no biggy.

The facts: Cadence Weapon is 19, from Canada and this album is really, really good. Best bits: Oliver Square, Black Hand and 30 Seconds. There's no stopping this kid, it's what he does, it's all he does.

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1st Nov 2006 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Akron/Family

Meek Warrior

Young God Records

This is the third album from the enigma that is Akron/Family and as always it is a weird and often wonderful journey. This New York based quartet do everything they can to confuse you, alienate you, dazzle you and ultimately impress you with their brand of freak folk, post-rock and whatever other genre they decide to drop during this 35 minute slice of madness.

I say madness but for their standards this is quite normal. It's basically a regular alt folk, semi religious record in the style of Danielson or Davandra Banhart that's framed by two crazy, freak out monster jams. To open an album with a song like 'Blessing Force' lets the listener know early that to sit comfortably would be a mistake. Tribal drums, crashing cymbals and feedback start things off, before this turns into group chanting which heralds what we all think is the start of this song, but no. Another whiplash change of direction and the song careers off in another direction, that of head-fuck, twisted guitar and yet more sprawling drum landscapes. Then 3 minutes later we get the free-form jazz section and if you look ahead on your iTunes time bar you realise with horror that you have 2 more minutes of this ear-piercing noise to go. Just as the Rowntrees Fruit Pastel adverts dare you to eat one with out chewing, Akron/Family dare you not to skip this bit. I took up this dare once and finished the track but never again. As ambitious as 'Blessing Force' is, it does sound a bit like a nine minute show-reel and as the beautiful lo-fi folk of 'Gone Beyond' gently follows you can't help thinking that what just went before was nothing but a glitch in the system and somehow a particularly experimental Liars track found its way on to the start of this album.

So from here on in we get the delicate country ditties of the title track, the sparse soundscapes of 'No Space In This Realm' and the fragile finger picking of 'Lightning Bolt Of Compassion'. Then comes the other freak-out monster jam. 'The Rider (Dolphin Song)' is a measly seven minutes though and easier to stomach than its predecessor. It's a dark, brooding scuzz-bucket of noise that explodes erratically into formless improv. It's the evil cousin of Radiohead's 'National Anthem' and finishes you off with a deafening squall that must utilise every instrument in the studio. But the Family don't leave your bruised and pummeled corpse there. No, they pick you up, dust you down and take you to Sunday School with the closing track 'Love And Space'. Here, each band member gets a turn in chanting the "Lord Open My Heart.." mantra and all the craziness from the past 35 minutes is nicely forgotten.

This is another brave example of Akron/Family's talents. By painstakingly constructing their beautiful folk landscapes, only to destroy them in a reckless act of sabotage, they challenge the listener to question what they're listening to. While this is the albums strength it is also its failing. The experimental moments are too few and far between and instead of the annoying wrecking balls they try to be, when put amongst the delicate psych-folk of the other tracks they become the best songs on the album and are so powerful that the others appear out of place. But there is more than enough on Meek Warrior to confirm that Akron/Family are one of those important bands that refuse to be classified and will go on challenging you and daring you whether you like it or not.

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31st Oct 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Blood Arm

Lie Lover Lie

They're a confident bunch, The Blood Arm. One would suppose you don't get nominated for Best New Band in LA (2004) through modesty and reticence. "I told you before, when I was young and obscure, it takes more than an ocean, to keep me ashore" proclaims singer Nathanial Fregoso, on album opener 'Stay Put!' a White Stripesy number, that has forceful pianos accompanying Fregoso, before being joined by crashing cymbals and distorted guitars.

Confidence, doesn't necessarily mean substance though. The piano hammers and cascades, driving all the songs along at a brisk tempo, so that as a whole, the album sounds like a collection of Show Tunes; 'Blood Arm: The Musical' if you will. Here's our hero proudly announcing that "I like all the girls and all the girls like me." 'Suspicious Characters'. Here's the chorus-line, linking arms and belting out an ode to the Road Trip 'Going to Arizona'. Like its theatrical cousins from the West End, 'Lie Lover Lie' isn't going to change the world, but for those times when you just want to get drunk, forget about thinking and have a good time, this could be what you need.

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20th Oct 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Devil And Daniel Johnston

(dir. Jeff Feuerzeig)

A truly incredible film. Daniel Johnston is possibly most widely known for having a piece of artwork adorn a t shirt, extensively worn by Kurt Cobain at the height of Nirvana's success ('Hi. How Are You?'). This prolific artist and musician from West Virginia, achieved notoriety and a certain degree of fame in the 80's and early 90s, through his home-recorded cassettes and subsequent descent into madness. As Daniel was also an avid film-maker, as well as frequently recording his thoughts onto tape - this is as thorough a documentary as you could hope for. From troubled/gifted teen - to the overweight and fragile Daniel of today, you are taken every step of the way. Whilst the journey is exhilarating and exhausting, you can take your pick from the hundreds of sub-stories that make up its whole.

- A worried Thurston and Lee from Sonic Youth, driving around trying to find Daniel, clearly losing his mind on his first visit to New York.

- A typically twisted Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers) conducts his interview from the dentist's chair, recollecting the time Daniel first took LSD

- Or when Daniel tried to force the demons from an old lady (an ongoing obsession, hence the film's title) she was so frightened, she jumped from a 2nd floor window.

One of his friends hits the nail on the head when describing his guilt at having Daniel committed to a mental hospital. Explaining that he had always been on the side of history's tortured artists, such as Van Gogh, here he had shot had helping such an artist, but he simply couldn't handle it. And that is what this film is above everything else: A document of the battle between Genius and Insanity. The last line from Daniel's remarkable parents, looking after a recovering, but still clearly unwell son, is an absolute killer. Awesome.

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20th Oct 2006 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

J Dilla

The Shining

Jay Dee aka J Dilla is known as a producer's producer and was often compared to the likes of DJ Premier and Kanye West. He is a little known character in the Hip Hop world but was responsable for such master works as The Pharcyde's Running and De La Soul's Stakes Is High. His is a story of unrelenting dedication and a story who's end came far too soon - both for him and hip hop. He suffered from illness for many years, performing in a wheelchair towards the end of his career, and finally died just days after his 32nd birthday.

The Shining was the album he was working on when he died and just before the end he passed it on to fellow Detroit producer and long time friend Karriem Riggins. It is a mouthwatering line up featuring Common, Busta Rhymes and Madlib but despite this it is a very disjointed whole. This is to be expected considering the circumstances but when it's good it's great. It would be a crime to give some of these guys a whack beat and Dilla dutifully lays down a beauty for Common on E=MC2. Common is at his best when rhyming over hard and funky rhythms and that is what he gets here. At a glance the best cuts here are the "Love" songs. Love Jones is an all too short instrumental ditty from the man himself, Love featuring Pharoahe Monch is a classic soul groove, Jungle Love is a low down, dirty, beat driven grime-fest featuring MED and Guilty Simpson where we get the priceless line " I got hoe's like firemen." In an album that frequently sways into mushy RnB, Jungle Love has enough dick and hoe boasting to see us through. The last "Love" song is Black Thought's masterfull Love Movin'. The complex clicky beat is like nothing you've ever heard and it flows with the greatest of ease to the hard hitting vocals of The Roots front-man.

Unfortunately these moments are broken up by some less than perfect and often week cuts like the shocking collaboration between Common and D'Angelo and Busta Rhymes' testosterone filled opener that sounds more like a Richard Prior sketch. It's not enough to ruin this great artist's final work, however it does suggest, annoyingly so, what The Shining could have been if Dilla had been allowed to see it through.

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18th Oct 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Lupe Fiasco

Food & Liquor

If Jay-Z was about 10 years younger and hadn't been paid so much or jaded by police harrasment he would probably sound a bit like this. "Food & Liquor" is Chicago based rapper Lupe Fiasco's long awaited debut album. Long awaited due to it's hefty list of collaborators and a troubled record deal that pushed back its release until now. Lupe is only 25 and through most of this album that's hard to believe. Intricate and profound lyrics are woven together so tightly and are complimented by intelligent beats. My enjoyment of Food & Liquor is similar to that of Murs and his 2003 debut for Def Jux, "The End Of The Beginning". Both rappers are young enough to give us a new insight into hip hop but intelligent enough to make it interesting. The times when Lupe's age does show are to his credit. We get so much thug rap these days and whether it's real or not it gets so boring after a while so its very refreshing to hear a rap about skateboarding as on "Kick, Push" and then carried on to the fantastic "Kick, Push II" towards the end of the album. "I Gotcha" is a jazzy little number with a heavy piano based beat while on "The Instrumental" and "He Say She Say" he proves he can deal with more serious issues.

But It's not all skateboarding and fatherless childhoods though, the Jill Scott collaboration "Daydreamin'" has a reassuring amount of references to jacuzzis full of big tittied women but that's not surprising seeing as production duties on much of this album are shared but the likes of The Neptunes and Kanye West to name but a few. Much of the production sounds like a hip hop album from the early nineties with lots of synths and piano but it comes across as intentional and really works. The guest list is impressive yet not allowed to outshine the main star and for a 25 year old and a debut album he certainly has a lot of people to thank judging by "Outro", the 12 minute long 'peace out' dedication song often found closing a hip hop album.

"Food & Liquor" isn't smashing any boundaries or redefining the genre but it's quality from start to finish and due to the recent DJ Shadow memo that he's taking a break from good hip hop Lupe Fiasco is a pleasure to behold. He seems to have come to hip hop from a slightly different angle and provides us with a freshness and honesty that is so welcome after The Outsider's cop out cliches.

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11th Oct 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Pride Of Baghdad

Brian K Vaughan and Niko Henrichon

Based on the true-life story of a pride of lions that escaped from Baghdad zoo during a 1993 US bombing raid, this graphic novel reworks the Disney Incredible Journey talking animals routine into a subtle take on the Iraq War. Zoo-keepers stand in for Saddam's regime, a metaphor that works to explore the push-pull control of living in a dictatorship; while at the same time the casually brutal effects of "shock and awe" blanket-bombing are somehow even more shocking when seen through animal eyes. Avoids the potentially corny Babe aspects you might expect.

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11th Oct 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Pan's Labyrinth

(dir. Guillermo Del Toro)

Excellent, involving, intense fantasy from the Hellboy director, who's moved back into making Spanish language films here. Set during Franco's fascist post-second world war regime, we follow Ofelia (Ivana Baquero), a young girl whose mother has remarried the local commander of a military outpost in a tiny village. While her mother's pregnancy keeps her bedridden, Ofelia finds herself drawn into a Gilliamesque world of tricksy fauns, cricket-like fairies and a complex mythology.

Paralled to this is the stark brutality of the fascists, making snap life-or-death decisions, point blank executions, torturing the communist rebels etc. The violence escalates as Ofelia's journey into a magic world deepens.

The fantasy elements feel organic here, superbly balanced against the real world, drawing you into both without trivialising either the history or the weighty sense of doom inside the labyrinth.

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11th Oct 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

My Morning Jacket

Astoria, London

After missing them in NYC, London (twice) and then Brighton it was a relief to see My Morning Jacket finally walk onstage at the Astoria. Following much of the same vibe as Okokonos they certainly did not disapoint. It Beats 4U was fantastic, Phone Went West, Run Thru, Magheeta and more. They tick all the boxes when it comes to the one album rule, pulling from a huge range of great tracks and turning every one into an extended rock-a-thon. When they finally played my favourite, The Bear, this gig sealed it's place in ossumness. - CSF (4.5 Stars)

After a few cancellations I was highly anticipating this gig. Starting superbly with a string of tracks from the latest album followed by all time classic One Big Holiday it was living up to all my hopes. The latest album (Z) is by far the most accessible with short tracks which quickly move on. Like the back catalogue though, the gig became more sprawling as time went on. Solos and track finales were extendedly played out as the band indulged in some great moments. Unfortunately at times there was a sense that this was getting to be a little too much for much of the audience. Certainly more for the hardcore but a good show all the same. - CJ (3 Stars)

MMJ surpassed all expectations at the Astoria on Friday as they raised the roof with an awe inspiring, riff heavy, rock marathon. Front man Jim James set the pace with an inexhaustible display of energy and enthusiasm, sometimes looking as if he resented his singing duties preferring to rock out with the rest of the boys gathered, worshipingly around the alter-like drum kit as each song was stretched to breaking point. High points were Gideon, One Big Holiday and Run Thru. - BC (4.5 Stars)

As a relative newbie convert to the mighty MMJ I probably wasn't as psyched up as the rest of team chimpomatic for this gig, but I came away on a real rock high, glad that CSF had managed to get me to get over my misgivings about their name and actually get round to listening to them. Wasn't prepared for the full-on epic jam quality, the duelling guitar action or indeed the sheer volume of hair-rocking... almost made me want to grow my hair back (in a kind of bizarro universe Crosby Stills Nash & Young move). Highlights for me were probably all the Z hits - It Beats 4 U, Gideon etc - but I was still pretty much with them by the end when it seemed like they were just really enjoying themselves. And frankly, if you were in such a great band, why wouldn't you want to just keep playing? (4 Stars for me, probably would have been higher if I'd got round to getting into them earlier…) C71

See photos of the gig here.

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26th Sep 2006 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

White Whale

WW1

Like the great ocean herself White Whale have managed to create an album of immeasurable depth that can at times rise to majestic swells of dazzling proportions, drowning you in its drama and carrying you off to far flung places but it can also be a bit wet. I use the ocean as metaphor here as this is the principle theme that punctuates most of WW1. Tales of sea faring voyages, grand ships and intrepid admirals are delivered in style by the breathy vocals of front man Matt Suggs. Drawing comparisons to label mates Spoon, Suggs writes music that is as grand as it is delicate and tells his tales with expertly crafted and slightly surreal lyrical compositions.

Nine Good Fingers opens with the line "Wont you lay your nine good fingers on me but keep that long one wrapped in gauze," and features lots of lyrics about finger finding melodies and toes tapping in time. And tapping is exactly what your toes will do through most of this album especially on O'William, O'Sarah where the anthemic chorus gives way to a long rhythmical interlude where a fantastically raw drumbeat creeps in as if being played in their garage and takes the song past the 7 minute mark. This leads on nicely to the album highlight of The Admiral, a sea faring story from days of old, told with epic grandeur and at times ferocious passion. It's an impeccably crafted gem that is unfortunately followed by the albums lowest point. I Love Lovely Chinese Gal is an ill considered low-fi ditty about East and West and is full of uncharacteristically obvious lyrics. But it's not worth dwelling on as normal proceedings are resumed straight away as the record finds its wave again and sails off into the glorious sunset with many a high point including We're Just Temporary Ma'am and Forgive The Forgiven.

WW1 is a wonderfully rich album combining live instruments with drumbeat and synth to great effect. It's great to see a debut album with its sights set so high and a band not afraid to attempt the epic and the grand. Their devotion is heard on the all-guns-blazing finale of One Prayer where Suggs exclaims, "It's our duty to go down with this ship." Hopefully that won't be necessary and if their maiden voyage is anything to go by this ship is destined for great things.

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26th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Little Miss Sunshine

(dir. Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)

This is the feature film debut for directorial partnership Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and sees them produce a delightful piece of cinema on a par with 2005's Sideways. Like Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine is a road movie that depicts deeply flawed characters in unusual and often forced situations struggling to cope with the pressures of life.

Here we have the Hoover family who are dysfunctional to say the least. Father Richard (Greg Kinnear), a hopelessly optimistic motivational speaker is trying to sell his nine-step programme to being a winner, supported and pitied by his wife (Toni Collette) whose brother (Steve Carell), a troubled Proust scholar, has just failed in his attempt to commit suicide. Meanwhile their Nietzsche obsessed son Dwayne has taken a vow of silence until he fulfils his goal of becoming a pilot while seven year old Olive, a slightly plump, four- eyed little girl dreams of becoming a beauty queen. As if all this wasn't eccentric enough they have a coke-snorting grandfather (Alan Arkin) living with them as well.

The film sees the Hoovers embarking on a long and tiresome journey to California in an old camper van after Olive gains a place in the Little Miss Sunshine finals. What we are treated to along the way is a touching portrait of family dynamics, the difficulties of being young and old and developing the ability to see what is truly important in life. The thing that makes this story so delightful is that the characters never slip into a stereotype, this is largely down to the writing but the subtle and heartfelt acting by everyone makes it compelling viewing. Abigail Breslin, who plays Olive is utterly charming and truly electrifying to watch but the foul mouthed grandfather is the one that really steals the show, one of his finest moments being his life lessons to the 15 year old son to "fuck a lot of women, not just one, a lot." He then goes on to say what a great position he's in being fifteen as he can have any fifteen year old he wants, if he waits till he's sixteen he could be looking at eight to ten.

The film doesn't try to make any judgements or provide any answers to the problems confronting these characters but that's where it shines. It is quite outrageous at times but always retains reality and with a proper belly laugh ending leaves you on a high. We have been swamped with Hollywood big budget movies this summer but with films like this it's important to remember that the American independent scene is, on the whole, a place of real quality and rare beauty.

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11th Sep 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip

Pilot Episode

New show from Aaron "West Wing" Sorkin, applying the walk'n'talk model to a Saturday Night Live-style comedy show. Matthew "Chandler" Perry, Bradley Whitford and Amanda Peet all chat through the super-sharp dialogue like they're really enjoying themselves. Classy, intelligent, angry and a little cheesy, but it feels like this will work as a series.

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28th Aug 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Grandaddy

Just Like The Fambly Cat

I don't know what it is about this band but their strange tales of childlike melancholia told with such charm and unrivalled innocence do something beautiful to me and I am so upset to hear that this will be the last little gem they will be offering the world. This fact considered, it is hard to listen to this without getting all sad and retrospective. This feeling is laid on thick from the first track; 'What Happened..' is a simple yet effective opener comprising of various children asking the question “What happened to the family cat?” This summons up all the emotions necessary to make this album work for you, a sense of regret, loss and a childhood long passed. However we are soon firmly shaken out of this self-pity by ‘Jeez Louise’ and we remember all the good times we had with this band. It is impossible to listen to this album and not interpret Jason Lytle’s lyrics as explanations for the break-up. ‘Rear View Mirror’ hints at the frustration of a journey spent forever looking back and once you get over the initial disappointment that this is not a cover of the Pearl Jam classic of the same name it soon becomes the standout track on the album. ‘Elevate Myself’ is a fantastic casio-drumbeat manifesto on exactly why Lytle is doing what he’s doing. Among his wants and don’t want’s he claims “I don’t wanna be a part of all the quality that falls apart these days.”

Initially I was quite disappointed with 2003’s ‘Sumday’ feeling it lacked the quirky elements I so enjoyed in ‘The Software Slump.’ I soon revised this opinion as the beauty took hold and although a lot of the songs on ‘…Fambly Cat’ would fit comfortably on ‘Sumday’ it does go some way to bridge the gap. It’s a pretty up and down affair in general, with Little feeling sorry for himself one minute then, as in the glorious semi-instrumental ‘Skateboarding Saves Me Twice,’ telling us that everything will be just fine.

I cant help listening to the last track ‘This Is How It Always Starts’ without thinking of those terrible compilation moments that Gary Lineker shows us as England inevitably and unjustly exit the World Cup. The songs they pick (usually REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’) guide us through the highs and lows of a great yet ultimately tragic journey and you could imagine a similar compilation of Grandaddy’s best moments set to this beautiful and soaring finale marking the end to a truly wonderful journey. And this album as a whole could be those highlights. On ‘Elevate Myself’ Little states “ I’d rather make an honest sound, watch it fly around and be on my way.” And that’s exactly what he has done. His sound will continue to fly and I wish him good luck.

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22nd May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Election

(dir. Johnny To)

Slow-boiling Hong Kong thriller about two candidates competing to be the new head of a triad society. Simon Yam's the more businesslike of the two; Tony Leung Ka Fai's the flashy gangster prepared to split the crime family up if the "uncles" won't put him in charge.

Unusually for a Hong Kong triad thriller, Johnny To concentrates on the political behind-the-scenes arguments rather than the bloodthirsty shootouts - they're still there, but this is a much more talky affair than you might expect.

With the two splitting the family, the old boys decide to retrieve the triad's symbolic dragon head totem from its hiding place over the border in China - whoever's got it is in charge.

Some great scenes where the cops have chucked everyone in jail together, and told them to sort out the dispute, a cold twist towards the end (setting up the sequel) and a nice sense of style make up for some of the scenes where you're not quite sure who's trying to run over who on who's behalf. It's also apparently the first time actual triad rituals have been shown on film. Bit like the masons, with more joss stick and less stupid trouser action. Great theme music too.

Johnny To's likely to be the next HK director to break through in the west - films like Running On Karma and PTU have been big hits in Asia - Election won Best Film at the HK Film Awards this year, and the sequel's already out and doing well in HK.

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16th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Archie Bronson Outfit

Derdang, Derdang

These days a record label is not complete until it has a David Byrne inspired vocalist on their books. Rough Trade got theirs with The Arcade Fire, Wichita with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and now Domino have found theirs. Hailing from the West Country, Archie Bronson Outfit are not something you would want to listen to if you were of a nervous disposition, or in the least bit on edge. This is not a criticism, it’s just a pretty stressful experience listening to Derdang Derdang, the groups second album. They have managed to create a real sense of urgency that except for the final track is pretty much unrelenting. The whole album can be summed up in the stand out track Dart For My Sweetheart. On the whole, I frown upon songs that use counting, or days of the week as their structure - but this one is an exception. It starts “One is a gun with a dart for my sweetheart,” and continues up to twelve. All this over methodical, driving and jangling guitar and drums. Arp, the drummer and lyricist says, “There’s a nursery rhyme feel to the lyric, the counting stuff.” His kids ain't getting no sleep tonight.

The band claim this album was written and recorded in a very short space of time while they were all living together - and this comes as no surprise to me. It has a captivating sense of immediacy and the ever building tempo in each song threatens an approaching explosion, but rarely gives in. The tension comes from a combination of repetitive guitar rhythms, screeching free jazz saxophone and distinctive, paranoia filled vocals - delivered with such energy and force you have to either switch off or sit up and take notice. On Dead Funny he orders us, “don’t worry just get your head down.” Sound advice I think.

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10th May 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Green Street

(dir. Lexi Alexander)

Or what Frodo did next. Tired of mixing it with Orcs and the like, it turns out he decided to test his skills against an altogether different fighting challenge; the football hooligans of England.

Promising journalist Matt (Elijah Wood) gets set-up and thrown out of Harvard, so he heads to London to catch up with his sister. Thanks to her brother-in-law, he wastes no time getting in with a West Ham ‘firm’ and into a series of pitched battles with rival supporters. When I say he wastes no time, literally on the same day he sets foot in Heathrow he later has his teeth knocked out by a Birmingham City thug.

It’s an interesting idea, what attracts young men to the world of football violence, but I’m sure it has been done better elsewhere. The shoe-horning of an American tourist into the story doesn’t sit comfortably, it feels that the desire to get a Hollywood name on-board comes at the expense of deeper analysis into the minds of the gang members.

The supporting chavs are believable with special mentions to Mark E. Smith lookalike ‘Bovver’ and Geoff Bell, who gives another fine display of London menace (as previously seen in The Business). However, the film is let down by the casting of the leads. Considering he has a psychotic aversion to ‘Yanks and Foreigners’ the leader of the gang talks like a South African Tim Westwood and Elijah Wood looks as lost as, well, as an American trying to understand the offside rule.

Certainly not a date movie and probably more suited to a well-scripted TV drama, it’s better than a kick in the teeth and there are certainly plenty of those in the 90 odd minutes.

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28th Apr 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet

Elizabethtown

(dir. Cameron Crowe)

After losing $1 Billion on behalf of the Oregon-based sneaker company (?!) he works for, hotshot designer Orlando Bloom thinks about killing himself - before the death of his father leads him on a journey of self-discovery to check out his roots in old Kentucky. On the way he meets a hottie airline steward (Kirsten Dunst), who makes him realise just how swell life can be.

It could have been a lot quicker if he'd succeeded with the early suicide, as this was pretty painful for all involved. The basic premise is a bit cheesy, but could have been really well done in an indie movie. Cameron Crowe's heavy handed recent form just pummels any glimmer of hope into distant oblivion, aided and abetted by the truly awful Orlando Bloom and a pretty average Kirsten Dunst. I only realised quite how bad the acting had been when an OK scene from Susan Sarandon seemed like the best acting I had seen in years.

Musical references are squeezed into the film at every unsuitable moment but the highlight was, of course, My Morning Jacket's appearance as the cousin's reformed band 'Ruckus', who play a blinding cover of Freebird as a tribute to the old man at his funeral.

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20th Mar 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Sympathy For Lady Vengeance

(dir. Park Chan-Wook)

The third part of Park Chan-Wook's revenge trilogy, Sympathy For Lady Vengeance pulls off a similar trick to Old Boy and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance... taking you on an journey that's just out of the realms of the possible, but at the same time, entirely believable on the terms of its own warped logic.

Yeong-ae Lee plays a young woman about to be released from prison after serving time for the murder of a young boy. While in prison she's become the focus for a religious cult, as well as building up a string of alliances in her cell. Once out, she sets in motion her plan… (yes, she's out for revenge).

Like the other two, it's packed with tiny cinematic flourishes that other directors would spend the whole film milking, as well as his trademark capacity for inventive violence that never shies from showing the consequences. It's also beautifully shot, very moving, and funny; has some great performances (although the Australian scenes in English don't quite work as well as the rest), and also has cameos from the stars of Old Boy and SFMV (Yeong-ae Lee herself was in JSA, his take on South/North Korean border politics).

If you've seen the other two, you'll have some idea of where it's going, but only in the sense that you know it's going to be a dark surprise, operating on the edges of human motivation. Be very interesting to see where he goes next, but for this chimp, the vengeance trilogy has been a pretty exhilerating ride.

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9th Oct 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet

Wolfmother

Wolfmother E.P.

One of the hot tickets at this year's South By South-West music thing, Australia's Wolfmother are kicking out retro proto-metal - a la early Black Sabbath, with a tinge of Zeppelin and a psychadelic haze of Iron Butterfly. Like no-doubt every garage band of the late 70's was trying to do.

The first couple of tracks are properly proto-proto metal, with thumping riffs and not many lyrics. Apple Tree still has few lyrics, but is a bit more interesting and makes you realise how metal the White Stripes sometimes are. The White Unicorn is the stand-out track, which actually builds up a bit and changes pace - where the others are mainly one thundering wall of sound. Looking forward to more. Would like to see these guys live.

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21st Jul 2005 - 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