Edgar Wright’s The Sparks Brothers is more than a traditional rock doc. A visually glorious pop art paean to the shapeshifting nature of pop music, Ron and Russell Mael, aka Sparks, represent longevity, invention and playful erudition. From their LA childhood on the beach, absorbing their artist father’s paintings, and being driven by their motherContinue reading “DVD Review: The Sparks Brothers”
Author Archives: loreleiirvine
Garlands Is 40
More people seem familiar with later work from Cocteau Twins but their debut album Garlands is still beautiful. Having just turned forty, I thought this record was worth a reappraisal. Featuring the original lineup of Liz Fraser, Robin Guthrie and Will Heggie, the original sound was dark, dense and as tight as a boa constrictor.Continue reading “Garlands Is 40”
TRAINSPOTTING AND GLASGOW
We all know Irvine Welsh’s classic novel, play and film Trainspotting was set in Leith in Edinburgh, but for Danny Boyle’s film adaptation of the mid- nineties, a couple of pivotal scenes were shot in the Maryhill area of Glasgow. One infamous shot of the pub where wee ned psychopath Begbie (Robert Carlyle) casually tossesContinue reading “TRAINSPOTTING AND GLASGOW”
Overlooked Classics: Wisconsin Death Trip
James Marsh’s masterful Wisconsin Death Trip is not like most documentaries. Based on the 1973 book of monochrome photographs by Michael Lesy, it focuses on a decade of bizarre events in and around Black River Falls, Wisconsin in the late 19th century. There’s suicide ; teenage elopement, religious lunacy, errant eccentric opera singers, window smashing,Continue reading “Overlooked Classics: Wisconsin Death Trip”
Album Review: Todo Muere
Be still, my goth heart. This compilation from Sacred Bones is the best of experimental, psych, drone and noise music. It’s a drop of the dark stuff. Boris, the Japanese noise legends do a slinky take on Jim Jarmusch’s Squrl from Only Lovers Left Alive, and like the titular vampires Adam and Eve, it’s faithfulContinue reading “Album Review: Todo Muere”
Album Review: Sound Of Ceres-Emerald Sea
A unique audio visual collaboration between enigmatic NY musician K and legendary performance artist Marina Abramovic, this album falls between the cosmic experimentation of Broadcast and sci-fi emulating sixties production of Joe Meek. Even the artwork points to what to expect: a kitsch image with K looking like a Puckish figure. It suits the symphonicContinue reading “Album Review: Sound Of Ceres-Emerald Sea”
OK Computer Is 25
An unexpected alarm call. To be better. To try harder. To push further. Pre- mobile phones; smart devices, stupider voices. To rail against complacency, the government and mass consumption. Do you trust your leaders? The sleeping leading the half-asleep. Choices, barcodes, receipts. A graveyard of technology, rapid fire jump cuts. A need for something simpler,Continue reading “OK Computer Is 25”
Pink Flamingos at 50
Nothing- now or ever- arguably, will be as outrageous as John Waters’ Pink Flamingos. Celebrating its half century, this film from Waters and his team of miscreants, AKA the Dreamlanders, tackles every taboo you care to mention. Ostensibly a mockumentary gone rogue, the deranged masterpiece still holds up with its questionable mores centring around theContinue reading “Pink Flamingos at 50”
Burroughs’ Advice For Writers
Burroughs in 1959 by Loomis Dean For me- and I’m sure many other writers relate to this – writing is as much an external process as an internal one. I see writing as an essential living, breathing component, something I have to get out of my system. I often have a need to lasso thoughtsContinue reading “Burroughs’ Advice For Writers”
I Blame Robert Smith…
At fourteen, I was a bona fide Goth. Black of eyeliner, crimped of hair, and with a tendency towards a shyness and melancholy. Small-town life in rural Perthshire just wasn’t cutting it for me. I wanted to see bands, dance and theatre, but there was nothing within the vicinity and we were a working classContinue reading “I Blame Robert Smith…”
Hit The North 