Chimpomatic

Adam Green

Sixes & Sevens

Rough Trade

Former Moldy Peach Adam Green makes a return with Sixes & Sevens, marking the prolific 26 year old's 5th solo album ...and as usual it's an eclectic, mixed bag spread over 20 songs.

The album covers pretty much every style you can imagine, whether it's the wakiki sounds of Tropical Island, the beatnik poety of That Sound Like A Pony or the Las Vegas lounge of single Morning After Midnight - which even goes so far as to stray from it's already unusual course and head into Rolf Harris outback territory with a touch of that bouncing spring sound. I'm sure there's a name for that instrument, but it's not one I've ever had to recall for a review before. When relative calm scales back the ambition, Green settles back into a relaxing groove and tracks like Twee Twee Dee have an unmistakable charm, while the seemingly superficial lyrics keep their meanings hidden away under deep, deep layers of pastiche.

Pan pipes are the wacky weapon of choice on You Get So Lucky, while the Hopalong Cassidy twang returns for Getting Led, along with some soulful backing singers. Not unlike letting a wide-eyed kid loose in the music room, Sixes & Sevens can best be described as like loading up a 1950's playlist on your iPod and hitting shuffle.

The female vocals mix things up again nicely on the country-tinged Drowning Feet First, while the lyrical rumblings of When A Pretty Face provide another one of the album's highlights, recalling the story-telling style of Louis Prima.

With your preconceptions set aside this is an album that adds up to considerably more than the sum of it's parts. Green's voice is his secret weapon and along with his lyrics style it's strong sound provides consistency that really ties this album together into a remarkably cohesive listen. Perfect, in fact, for that Aloha!-themed-kabuki-Halloween party you were planning.

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18th Mar 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Operator Please

Yes Yes Vindictive

Australian pop-punkers Operator Please have been knocking around since 2005 after a successful victory in a battle of the bands competition. The comparison with Wyld Stallyns doesn't finish there however, as mid 90's California churned out dozens of Triple J friendly bands from this mould ...with little fanfare and some limited critical success.

The loud/quiet formula that is the band's weapon of choice is so well used that the Pixies even went so far as release a greatest hits by that name and Operator Please's aneamic powerhouse attempts do little to redefine the formula, other than the odd piano or violin here and there. Without the charismatic leadership of Gwen Stefani, or the powerhouse arrangements of the YYYs it's tough to reccomend these guys over some of the other hopefuls.

Last year's single Just A Song About Ping Pong is catchy enough for now, but doesn't have the legs to become a long-term classic. Two For My Seconds is an obvious single here, as the band attempts to slow it down a bit and show their angst with a No Doubt style Don't Speak type number. It's successful enough, but its main attraction is the break in the pace of the preceding tracks. 6/8 tries to stretch out the dominating formula with some success as the arrangement has a bit more stamina and builds up nicely to a big crescendo.

The band's energy no doubt translates well live, as they are nothing if not enthusiastic, but ultimately that's not enough to carry this album too far. Operator, Please? More like "Punker, please."

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17th Mar 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Portishead

Third

Island

After a ten year hiatus, trip-hop pioneers Portishead are finally back with a new studio album - Third. Rumours have been flying around that this was in the works for a good 5 years, so it may come as something of a surprise to actually have it playing on your stereo. Reasons for the hiatus have never been explained, other than the members "keeping their heads down" with other projects. Beth Gibbons had the most notable success with her album with Rustin Man - Out Of Season, while Adrian Utley and Geoff Barrows have been mostly operating behind the scenes, producing and remixing bands as varied as The Pharcyde and The Coral.

The limelight is clearly a place this band don't like to be and the trauma that seems to be involved in them making music seems intense. Stepping back may have been the only answer, although by ducking out you can surely do little more than increase the pressure on your eventual return, which may explain the drawn-out production schedule of this third record.

With the driving drums of thumping opener Silence, the pressure builds immediately before abruptly pulling back as Beth Gibbons' haunting vocals quickly suck you back into the presence of your old favourite band. Where Dummy and Portishead had the big, expansive feel of epic movie soundtracks, Third takes a much more minimal and I suppose 'modern' approach. By modern, I mean 80's rather than 70's - as where the widescreen sounds of Dummy recalled Lalo Schifrin's 60's and 70's film scores for the likes of Dirty Harry or Bullitt, Third has a distinctive 80's sound - recalling the electronic horror scores of John Carpenter or the sci-fi future of Vangelis.

This is a record that makes very few concessions and takes no prisoners, which should be commended for such a mainstream, high profile release. The brash goobledegook electonic interruptions of Hunter, the distorted intro to Machine Gun or the abstracted Jazz solo towards the end of Magic Door do not make for immediate, easy listening - but every sound has its place and nothing feels overcooked. The superb production counterpoints every rough edge with a moment of magic, such as Machine Gun's  desolate, Blade Runner-like finale.

The Rip is the sublime high-point of the album - reminding us of everything that was so ethereal about Portishead's original output, but bringing a newer sound and dimension to the music. Starting with a rising electronic pulse, Gibbons' vocals lift the song up into the clouds before hypnotic, pulstating scales recalling the analog electronica of Jean Michel Jarre or Giorgio Moroder take over, letting the song fly off on its own.

Beth Gibbons' subsequent solo career seems to have upped her presence in the band, with some notable tracks focusing on the less-electronic themes she followed with her solo album - notably the wireless-radio-era sound of Deep Water. An album like this creates a demand for the sound you know, the sound you remember and the sound you love - but this new found eclecticism adds a further dimension. The highlights here certainly tick those retro boxes - but not without the introduction of some welcome new touches.

Bands like Portishead defined this sound, so it's no surprise to hear them pushing it further and moving it on - even with trip-hop at this mature stage. The anticipation for this record may have created a seemingly unachievable sense of expectation and in some ways I can't help but be a little disappointed. Every single track is not a bonifide masterpiece from start to finish, and some feel like they could have been developed further; but there are many highlights and it stands proud as an excellent record. The Rip is worth the price of admission alone and is one of several tracks to suggest that the highest of expectations can sometimes be soundly beaten.

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14th Mar 2008 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

School For Scoundrels

(dir. Todd Phillips)

The Weinstein Company

I wrote an extensive review for this on the back of an envelope while I was watching it a few months back.... but that was misplaced and is probably on it's way somewhere exotic by now.

In this Ealing comedy remake, loser Jon Heder signs up for confidence training at the mysterious School For Scoundrels. Teacher Billy Bob Thornton trains the boys in the ways of being cool, confident and generally picking up chicks - before setting his own sights on the object of Heder's affections.

Long story short: disappointing next to some of Billy Bob's better work, but not bad. The dude from Napolean Dynamite is pretty annoying in most contexts, and he's the main lead here - with Billy Bob more or less in a supporting role. As a bonus, Luis Guzman puts in his usual top-notch supporting role.

Once the actual competition between the two leads hots up things get a bit funnier, but it's a movie that's not quite sure where it's going.

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7th Mar 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Hard Eight

(dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)

MGM

Aging gambler Sydney takes struggling John under his wing  - helping him raise money for his mother's funeral, then taking him onboard as his protégé. Just when things start to go well John's love for an occasional hooker gets him into trouble and Sydney's past catches up with him.

The Reno setting provides a nice downbeat counterpoint to the usual Vegas gambling movie but Anderson's art direction and cinematography style of expensive-looking-normality aren't quite honed yet, and the photography is often a little off the mark with focus and compositions. The movies strives for the unpredictability of something like David Mamet's House of Games, but the script is a little laborious, trying to be twisty-turny like Elmore Leonard but a lot of the characters just don't have the depth.

Gwyneth Paltrow is miscast as the hooker, but Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C Reilly put in calling card performances that would lead them onto bigger things - even if it was Anderson himself who answered the phone. It's Phillip Baker Hall's movie though, and he exudes presence in every scene like a timeless star of the seventies from an alternate universe.

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6th Mar 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet

Band of Horses

Koko, London

February 26th, 2008

Back in the UK for the third time in a year (and with more dates scheduled for July), Band of Horses have picked up quite a following since 2007's show at the Scala. After great support sets from MGMT and Sons & Daughters, the crowd went ballistic for Ben Bridwell's band of hairy truckers. The huge crowd response showed a lot of dedicated followers in the audience - showing that there may be hope yet that a band that has clearly never been made-over by a skinny-jeans promoting stylist can still crack the mainstream.

Cease To Begin opener Is There A Ghost? started the show and set the modus operandi for the evening: amp everything up to the maximum and rock it out. While that worked superbly for the harder rocking numbers like Ode To LRC or Islands On The Coast, the poor bass in the house sound system didn't take it well and pretty much every track was flattened out by the overbearing bass drum and guitar. Only Bridwell's powerful voice could climb out of the rumble, which unfortunately meant a lot of the subtleties of tracks like The Great Salt Lake or The First Song were flattened out and buried. Spirits weren't dampened however and the rock and roll energy of the band carried the show along on a wave of enthusiasm.

It's clearly Bridwell's band and following the personnel re-structuring after Everything All Of The Time that seems like a fairly natural order. Concessions were made to the new members with the first "fake end song before we probably come back on" - a barnstorming rendition of over-looked Creedence classic Effigy - before keyboardist Ryan Monroe stepped in to provide vocals on a new track in the encore, making for a welcome departure and a possible indication of territory a third album might head off into. With Bridwell releasing his grip of iron over the band, things were now flowing fast and loose and foot-thumping party tune The General Specific made for a fine sing-a-long before a flowing cover of Ron Wood's soulful Act Together.

This is a real, working band that are picking up accolades and knocking out good music in quick rotation. Hopefully this is still just the beginning.

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27th Feb 2008 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

There Will Be Blood

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

Paramount Vantage

Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film leaves behind his usual setting of a sprawling Los Angeles, starting off in the unfamiliar territory of 1890's oil county prospector Daniel Plainview silently, tirelessly digs for oil. An accident leaves Plainview with an adopted son and as 'partners' they build a small empire striking big in a remote Californian town, thanks to a tip-off from a local. The town prospers, but so does the church - and preacher Eli Sunday relentlessly pursues Plainview's apparent lack of faith.

The scenery is spectacular and Daniel Day Lewis is an undeniable tour de force, chewing his ways through the scenery and dominating most everyone in his path. Little Miss Sunshine's Paul Dano isn't bad as impassioned preacher Eli, youngster Dillon Freasier is impressive as Plainview Jnr and Ciaran Hinds puts in a good show in a seemingly cut-back role as right-hand man Fletcher Hamilton - and here lies the problem. For a film that's nearly three hours long it's surprising to feel like there's several reels missing.

After finding it's stride and building up a great confrontation between business and religion, the film seemed like it was shaping up as a thrilling analogy of the west's ever-present quest for oil at all costs - including religion. Three quarters of the way through however, things take an inexplicable turn for the worst. The story heads off-course, then jumps forward 20-odd years with no real justification - leaving us with the conclusion to a film we only feel we saw half of.

The score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood deserves special mention - evocative and haunting, perhaps misleadingly building a brooding sense of menace that the film did not live up to. While Greenwood's score never stopped, the plot was deralied long before the finish line. Key moments were confusingly handled - and not in a deliberately oblique way, just in a badly edited way. The best acting in the world can't save a shoddy story and script - and while individual scenes had great merit, as a complete work it was sadly crippled.

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6th Feb 2008 - 8 comments - Add Comment - Tweet