| New post-rock love: Aarktica |
[09 Nov 2009|05:38pm] |
Recent post-rock discovery, article taken from one I did on http://www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk
Aarktika is a minimal musical project by Brooklyn’s Jon DeRosa, who has been joined by a fleet of musicians from time to time. The project is over a decade in the making, having started life on a 4-track in the dorms of New York University, and album number two has just been released. The subtleties of the music are put as gently in motion as a paintbrush to canvas. When notes build up and ring out, as gradually and carefully as they do in songs like Young Light, the swell of music is almost palpable. This is delicately crafted ambient music. Sparseness is a key to the way songs rise and float. DeRosa conceives his songs in mono, since he has hearing in only one ear, which means he is influenced by ‘audio distortions, aural hallucinations and a reliance on painkillers’. This is guitar based emotional post-rock with reliance on riffs that gain gravity by winding around repetitively and hypnotically like pretty but stuck thoughts. Interesting-to-note influences include: Hood, The Chameleons, and Low; all of which can be detected either in mood or style. There is also a Sarah Records feel to the vocals and indie pop of Seventy Jane, which has crisp 80s keyboards and stunningly beautiful chorus pedal guitar. In Sea couldn’t be a more apt name for Aarktica’s new release, there’s a holy power and sense of rise and fall with the music. The album In Sea is out now on Silber Records, and the back catalogue is available via iTunes.
Aarktica Myspace
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| Digging through the old albums again - Superchunk |
[09 Nov 2009|05:25pm] |
Revisited this Superchunk album today. Nice noisy American guitar music that sometimes necessary. Highlights: grindy bass hunk closer Not Tomorrow, and Slack Motherfucker (excellent chorus for the work angry, though doesn't feel as victorious as it did as a teenager: 'I'm not working for you! 'Cos I'm a slack motherfucker!').
I own this on cassette as well, but it got chewed to death quite early on. Somehow appropriate since it's a chewed up sound already. They're one of those bands that people annoyingly are surprised to hear I like (and yet I've never given a set list of genres I "only" like. How I hate people's music assumptions and boxes, makes me want to physically throw said people into a box).
This was a good buy in a second hand shop in about 2003. Anyway, it's reminded me of my halted mission to own all the Superchunk albums.
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| Dragon Age: Origins |
[09 Nov 2009|08:56am] |
Dragon Age: Origins is a game I've been excited about for more than a year. I loved Baldur's Gate II, and its expansion, and I lost more time to Neverwinter Nights than I ought to admit. So a new single player fantasy RPG by this company, billed as the "spiritual heir to baldur's gate" (spiritual because this new one is their own IP, and not a D&D game - though the mechanics are very similar) got me all giddy with anticipation!
And it's great. I've been having a really good time playing it. It isn't without it's flaws, but the overall experience is good enough that I've been all too happy to overlook the frustrating bugs. The onion AV Club gave it an A though, which I'm not sure I agree with entirely. I wrote a big comment on that AV Club review. And here it is!
The bugs in this game are frustrating.
The two big ones are:
- Quests that don't register their completion can leave you running around an area in frustration after fighting, say, the hordes of bad guys in the Redcliffe castle mission, wondering what small thing you haven't yet done. Only looking on the internet led me to the conclusion that something had gone wrong on their end. Reloaded a save game, fought the battle again, and CLICK - cut scene. Also, it didn't help that while I was trying to figure out what was going on, the aggravating fight scene music kept playing! It's great and cinematic when actually fighting, but while running around in empty areas trying to figure out what to do, it sure adds to the frustration!
- cut scenes sometimes screw up, and you'll go through a cut scene, make one of the games (actually pretty interesting) moral choices, and then suddenly be watching the cut scene again. I chose a different choice the second time, and was then moved forward in the game as though I'd only chosen the first. Later, other characters alternated between acting as though I'd chosen A or B. It sort of took the wind out of that choice. This happened to me in the Redcliffe section, as well.
That said, The game has some very good things in its favour, too:
- the moral choices themselves feel more satisfying. I really like the game's system of having the choices affect the world itself, rather than some arbitrary slider of how good or evil you are. You make a choice, and your companions approve or disapprove, sure, but also you'll find that your future options in the game world have changed, too. It really adds to a sense of immersion.
- The combat's good. Not too simple, but not ridiculously complex either, and the tactics reward the learning curve that comes with understanding how they're interpreted by the game. After playing with the tactic programming for a while, I found my party members acting just how I needed, which was useful for adapting to harder fights and made the combat feel genuinely tactical rather than like a mashfest.
- Some of the characterization is great - Morrigan and Shale are both fun and interesting, and I like the way they fit into the game world, and the major events of the game, rather than just having discreet stories of their own. Some of the characterization is sort of lame, too though. (The voice acting also runs from very very good to characters who seem to change voice actors mid-dialogue, again, in the Redcliffe quest, which led me to have most of my doubts about the game. Maybe the people in charge of the Redcliffe quest
- The skill trees feel well balanced, and it's fun to play as a warrior or mage or rogue (except for some rogue dex issues that they've acknowledged and which are being fixed in an upcoming patch) and for the most part the specializations really give a different feel to your class when you get to that stage. And a couple of the specializations are tied to the game world in a fun way. In a lot of these games, specializations just add a couple generic skills. Extra damage, and such. In this, they add skills that tie into the story sometimes. "Blood magic" being a big one, and that sort of detail really adds to the feel that you're a part of the game.
- The game gets its title from a system where you can choose your "origin" - each of which is a different way to start the game. The origins are a couple hours, before merging with the main storyline, but which will affect the game further down the line, too. Every character has to go to the dawrven city to seek aid, for instance, but that visit has a very different tone if you are a dwarf noble who was falsely accused of killing her brother the heir to the throne and then exiled.
I would give it a B, or a B- (with it moving to an A after a bug patch or two for sure.) A lot of care and love went into the game, and despite the couple frustrating bugs above, I've put in a couple dozen hours since it's release and haven't lost interest yet!
Penny Arcade had a pretty funny comic about how they do downloadable content. There are characters you come across IN-GAME, who describe the DLC for you, and the dialogue options say "downloadable content" right on them, which takes you out of the game a bit. ( I have, of course, downloaded them )
Have you played it? What do you think?
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| Caitlin Rose |
[06 Nov 2009|09:58pm] |
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CAITLIN ROSE RECAP
Yesterday was quite a frenzy. Not only did I open DrunkenWerewolf's email to discover these two kind-of-new Caitlin Rose songs, I also learned from promoter For Folk's Sake that Ms Rose will be playing a series of shows in London this December, dates listed bellow. The songs she sent me - one old cover of "Still Feelin' Blue" to celebrate Gram Parsons' birthday, and one session version of "Sinful Wishing Well" - are more of the heartbreakingly beautiful stuff DW has come to love.
So, hopefully I'll see you at one of the gigs! And while we're on gigs, if you're in Liverpool next Saturday make sure you get to see King Charles at Mello Mello, for free.
1st of December - The Allotment
2nd of December - The Luxe
3rd of December - Pure Groove instore and Windmill Brixton
4th of December - BCH
(Caitlin if any of these are wrong let me know and I'll update it!)
Sinful Wishing Well (LaundroMatinee session)
Still Feelin' Blue (cover of Gram Parsons)
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| Unearthing old CDs I own: Bowery Electric + Clinic |
[06 Nov 2009|05:17pm] |
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music |
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Clinic: kimberley |
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Unearthed a load of CDs I all but forgot I owned due to stuff being all over the place still (my dream is to have my collection shelved in one place, but that would take a John Peel style music room amount of space).
I remember picking up this Bowery Electric album at Music and Video Exchange on the off chance, as I was looking for some new post-rock and I liked the name and the neon lit cover. It's a nice album to put on when I'm writing or making things, it's very textured and goes into dreamy swirls.
I was half tempted to go and see Clinic play in September, though I think it got cancelled in the end. I've lost track of them over the years. I forgot just how perfect this EP collection stands up as a whole. It's a mangled mania of brilliance but with melody through and through. There's all sorts of sounds at work, eery melodica, hypnotic synth and guitar interplay, frantic garage punk, hip hop beats and scratches, post-punk drums, bits of Velvet Underground guitar pleasantry (the Some Kinda Love kind that sounds like palm trees) and undoubtedly the brash racket of early version Fall. And those vocal yelps so otherworldly, sometimes sounding like a Japanese mad man, often incomprehensible. IPC Editors Dictate Our Youth remains one of the best song titles ever. I always used to turn the song Porno right down when it came on when I lived with my parents as a tennager, all that orgasmic vocal writhing from Ade Blackburn.
I remember how mortified I was when I realised Clinic had stolen their look from a Rainbow album cover:
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| Pengilly's |
[05 Nov 2009|09:49pm] |
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PENGILLY'S
It's been a long while since I caught up with Pengilly's, and in that time Ric Hollingbery's solo act has grown into a seven person collective, but his songs have retained the child like charm and subtle experimentalism that originally attracted me to his project. Still unsigned, the band encapsulate Britain's ever growing, ever underrated alt/electro-folk scene; these songs in particular relish in the sound previously explored in "Six".
Read our interview with Pengilly's in Issue #6
The Toy Maker
Ivan Splits In Two
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| Charity shop finds: Volume Ten indie compilation (1994) |
[04 Nov 2009|03:31pm] |
I had a successful trawl through some charity shops in SW London today. Replaced my fiancé's copy of The Pet Shop Boys' Actually, and found this absolute gem of an old indie compilation from 1994!
I nearly fell over backwards at the sight of Disco Inferno on the tracklisting. It's a demo of Second Language, to boot, too! And very fine it sounds too (I haven't yet written about my love of DI on here, actually). Plus, there's a wonderful, plush, colour booklet that accompanies the compilation and includes interviews and in depth info on the bands. I was stoked with the Disco Inferno material, since coverage of them wasn't exactly in floods, and even in the internet era, you'd be pushed to find much more than the odd interview/article or two:
I love collecting indie stuff from the early 90s, because it's the time I most yearn to've been a teenager, I was ever so slightly too late for the times that seemed more innocent and imaginative. There's just a much more pleasant tone to the music journalism of those times; the passions of fandom involved and the lifeline provided. And I much prefer the kinds of bands around then too. Even just reading song titles like Cream Bun or Tinkerbell makes me happy.
I hazard to say that bands were much more of humour and keen on fun then too. The times when NME took bands to the pub to try and outdrink them, or ask them if they're aware of the price of a pint of milk. I love the way that in this compilation's booklet not one indie star can name the current Prime Minister - Ride's excuse being that they're not a political band.
It's interesting to see the centre pull-out in the booklet is sponsored by Select magazine and assuming the readership was all male, included a miniature "sex supplement" with nude pics. You can see how this was the precursor to the "new lad" and TFI Friday (there's a font exactly like the TFI Friday one used in this booklet, in fact).
I love how the magazines of the early 90s would collect really guitarry bands alongside heavy dub dance or rap or trip hop, too. The NME of today has this incredibly strange roster that is very heavy on all male (usually all white) male bands, with the odd coverage of "electro" stuff (eg Crystal Castleswho're the acceptable face of dance music for indie kids, apparently) - also, NME only every so often seemingly pulls out a black act to interview (CF: the coverage not so long ago of a lesbian rap duo, I forget the name, resplendent with the odd bit of nudity on show in the pictures), and of course, the cover stars only feature women about once every two years (twice in one year might have been a record for them) - whereas, the likes of Vox and Select did the decent thing of celebrating the likes of PJ harvey, Belly, Lush, and so on, albeit catering for the male audience rather than the females even if they were in a minority - but at least they got a look in.
Anyway, I went off on one. This CD's a very nice curio to own. I'm enjoying the tracks by The High Llamas, Tiny Monroe (I think I remember them from the mid 90s), Gigolo Aunts (they'd be considered too MOR to cover these days, I'm sure), and also how deep the voice of Martin Rossiter was in early Gene, plus their guitars were more ragged and rock too.
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| Glasvegas @ Parker MacMillan, London, October 30th, 2009 |
[02 Nov 2009|09:33am] |
I was almost as excited at the prospect of my premiere experience of The Ruling Class as I was about seeing Glasvegas in an intimate setting. Though the mood dampened a tad in the wait which became interminable in an uncomfortable club full of pretentious posers. Dour faced bouncers on the door, plus a cordoned off red carpet entrance as if Kate Moss or her ilk were expected, it was the sort of cavernous little den that you're supposed to strut around in as if you're some C-lister. Again, I found myself wondering when the shift happened at gigs whereby a simple tee shirt and jeans are apparently down at heel in the face of looking like you've just walked out of the front window of Top Shop. Because everyone's a rock star these days - to the point where bands themselves look comparably drab. Apart from James Allen, who just brushed past me in his ludicrous leather jacket with almost life-sized Marilyn Monroe transfer on the back, and of course the Ray-Bans-despite-the-dark. His heroes aren't the Top Shop lot, but heavyweight heroes like Elvis and Joe Strummer, back when being in a band meant you were supernatural.
It reached the stage time for The Ruling Class, and it seemed they were not to appear, because within 20 minutes, another band took to the platform. For a good few minutes, I had to do second takes to check that Noel Gallagher hadn't made a secret guest appearance. It seems that from the side, Them:Youth's guitarist is a deadringer for Noel Gallagher circa 1994. It really is uncanny. A trio of unremarkable acoustic guitar rendered songs followed with northern stressed vocals. A hit with the young females down the front, and the large number of people who knew most of the song words. I was sorely upset that The Ruling Class were amiss tonight, although I'm not sure their dance-driven post-baggy would work acoustically.
The stage was adorned with white flowers and a white sheet (which would later project old movie reels, heavy on Marilyn Monroe) and soon stepped on the two brothers Allen to much appreciation. The phone cameras were in abundance as if to underline how priveleged the few were to be at this small club gig tonight. My gig partner described James's singing as 'agressively quiet'. Most of the night, I had to strain to some pains to actually hear his voice on the low mic. Moreover, it was a task to determine his vocals over that of the football match singalong that the crowd kickstarted, which did not let up until the final note rang out. Of course, these are songs rich with raw emotion and melody, it's enjoyable to sing along, but - to every single word of every single song, to the point of drowning out the band you've come to hear? It was like the bellicose hellish brand of fandom at an Oasis concert all over again, including the getting physically jumped on by strangers - I'm one to get deeply and personally affected by music too, but never to the point of that kind of odd madness, can only put it down to the beery boorishness of a Friday night in a club.
Going past the rampant culture of worshipping the 'cool' of rock stars and gig-goers swaggering like rock stars, plus the aforementioned bollocks behaviour, and just concentrating on the euphoric melody and raw emotion of Glasvegas, it was an exultant gig. Not as majestic as a bit of quiet appreciation might have lent it, but still a special place in time to have experienced.
Setlist:
Geraldine
It's my Own Cheating Heart
S.A.D Light
Go square Go
Daddy's Gone
Be My Baby [cover]
Flowers and Football Tops
[snippets of other covers, but couldn't hear over the crowd talking!]
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| Movember 2009 |
[01 Nov 2009|01:54pm] |
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mood |
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 hungry |
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Decided to do Movember again (despite feeling highly embarrassed for having a tash, it's all for charity).
I'd you'd like to sponsor me, please go to this link:
http://uk.movember.com/mospace/210143
Thanks :D
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| Song for Hallowe'en |
[01 Nov 2009|11:19am] |
I just logged in to find 666 comments/messages on my profile. Spooky.
Wasn't online yesterday, so I'll post this today instead:
Parmesian carrots with mushrooms
Frankly that I've never been keen on
It's pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes
That's for my Hallowe'en tea
Pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes
That has always been my dream
Physicians moan about the guarantees of vegetables
But to be frank what I'm keen on is that same old scene
Pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes
That is my Hallowe'en tea
Pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes
That's why I'm always keen
Pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes
They'll keep me clean
Pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes
I'm old, not much, but I'm going mad
Because of the starvation that I've had
Clouds rush by
But I always have my dream
Pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes
That is my hallowe'en tea
Pumpkin soup and mashed potatoes
I love the thought of Mark E Smith sitting down to a "Hallowe'en tea". Brilliant. If I'd been home for Hallowe'en I'd've probably tried to carve a MES pumpkin; the picture at the top is an approximate Google image of MES dealing with a slack band member...
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| Bastard Garland: The Beginning. |
[31 Oct 2009|12:50am] |
|
 Righto. If you enjoy reading my journal (which I know at least a few of you do), you'll be thrilled to know I'm in the process of creating a fabulous zine, with the help of my even more fabulous house-mate Mr JB. We're not interested in just publicising our own work, so we're looking for submissions. Bastard Garland is an off-beat arts-based zine, aimed at and created by young writers, photographers and artists whose unusual subject matter, or approach, may create problems when placing pieces of work. I know loads of you are ridiculously talented writers, artists, illustrators, photographers, musicians, film-makers, and the like, so have a look at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) bstrdgrlnd 's profile (and join if you're even half interested. I promise I won't cross-post shit from here) and consider sending me something to be published; be it flash-fiction, short stories, non-fiction, poetry, haiku, script, sheet-music, film stills, reviews, or whatever the fuck else you've got tucked away on your hard-drive that you think might interest me (sorry guys, but no fan-fiction. We're interested in original characters and settings only). No subject is too taboo. Go fucking nuts. If you vaguely feel like you want to be involved, but it's all a bit confusing/vague/intimidating, just send me an email and we'll discuss what you're interested in writing, what you've already got that we might be interested in, or whatever. Send submissions to aliceslater666@yahoo.co.uk. There's no word limit, no restrictions on content, themes or subject matter. You'll be paid in issues of the zine. Expect lots of tedious updates on this, by the way. |
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