One of the most surprising albums of the year, Jonny by The Drums, is striking for many reasons. The album cover shows singer and main member Jonny Pierce crouched down, naked and seemingly praying in his parents’ house. The album is similarly raw, intimate and honest. Gone is the easy -breeziness of previous work, whichContinue reading “Album Review: The Drums- Jonny”
Category Archives: Review
Worth Revisiting: Wild Man Blues
‘Grumpy Old Man B!ues’, more like. What a miserable old git Woody Allen is. That’s the takeaway from Barbara Kopple’s 1997 documentary on the legendary but controversial film director. Holding forth on his favourite subjects: New York; himself, jazz, himself, Paris, himself, travel, himself, and, mostly, himself, the camera follows him, alongside his very youngContinue reading “Worth Revisiting: Wild Man Blues”
Album Review: Mary Lattimore- Goodbye,Hotel Arkada
Don’t let the title fool you – the fifth studio album from LA harpist Mary Lattimore isn’t a hippy-dippy concept album. Rather, it invites adjectives like “ethereal” and “otherworldly” . Very much a collaborative project, Lattimore has again created music that exists in liminal spaces, dense but delicate, and powerful even when calm. The blurringContinue reading “Album Review: Mary Lattimore- Goodbye,Hotel Arkada”
Film Review: Beau Is Afraid
Pitched between hysterical mayhem and an eerie calm, Beau Is Afraid makes Get Out look like The Wiggles. This almost three hour epic is trippy indeed, with all the logic of a fever dream.Although written and directed by Ari Aster it’s like a Kafka compendium created by Paul Thomas Anderson, with a soupcon of DavidContinue reading “Film Review: Beau Is Afraid”
Film Review: #Unfit
Directed by Dan Partland, #Unfit :The Psychology of Donald Trump is a compelling, thoroughly absorbing and sobering documentary from 2020, which posits that the Orange Menace may in fact be, as many have long suspected, a malignant narcissist, who is not merely unfit for office, but a global threat. It does allude to The GoldwaterContinue reading “Film Review: #Unfit”
Film Review: Hail, Satan?
There is a HELL of a lot to unpack in Penny Lane’s brilliant documentary Hail, Satan? as it seems quite jocular at first, even rather silly. As it develops though, it seems that tone is a trick to wrong -foot any audience expectations, and a more thoughtful film emerges.Essentially, it’s all a battle of willsContinue reading “Film Review: Hail, Satan?”
Comedy Review: Dylan Moran- Dr Cosmos
Dylan Moran, the famously curmudgeonly connoisseur of misery, seems more playful on this recent stand-up show, Dr Cosmos. He’s almost even- whisper it!- quite relaxed here, where before his stage persona was somewhat more akin to his beloved perma-grump alter ego, Bernard Black. Yes indeed, here, he’s quite smiley, even if the targets remain theContinue reading “Comedy Review: Dylan Moran- Dr Cosmos”
Film Review: Meet Me In The Bathroom
Of course, the title’s a drugs reference as well as a song, but this vivid and compelling film by Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern, based on Lizzy Goodman’s book, focuses on the dizzying rise of early 2000s bands The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Interpol, and many others, with rare footage of wild early club gigsContinue reading “Film Review: Meet Me In The Bathroom”
Album Review: Candy Claws- Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time
Shoegazing as a primary influence is having a late blooming revival of late- witness Chemical Brothers and their comeback single with Halo Maude, ‘Live Again’, which feels woozy and spiky. So it makes sense that this gorgeous, elusive record is being reissued again as it turns a decade old. The Colorado trio Candy Claws –Continue reading “Album Review: Candy Claws- Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time”
Album Review: Mong Tong- Tao Fire
The enigmatic Taiwanese brothers, Hom Yu and Jian Chi , who record as Mong Tong, have created a stunning album here. It’s a blend of traditional “kitsch sound” as they describe it, fused with ambient sounds and psychedelic rock. What makes it so exciting is this description barely scratches the surface. There’s a deeper wellContinue reading “Album Review: Mong Tong- Tao Fire”
Hit The North 