Nobody makes sad synth- pop quite like British bands. Jessica Weiss’s solo project New German Cinema mine the saddest parts of alt-pop from the last forty years to the present day, and spin it into literate, desolate loveliness. It’s haunting and crepuscular, best enjoyed on trains at nighttime. Weiss’ vocals, like Broadcast’s Trish Keenan andContinue reading “Album Review: New German Cinema – Pain Will Polish Me”
Tag Archives: Review
Overlooked Classic : Sonic Youth -EVOL (1986)
The front cover shows Lung Leg, in a still from Richard Kern’s notorious film Submit To Me, doing her typically fucked-up, possessed writhing. Kern of course had collaborated with Sonic Youth on the ‘Death Valley 69’ video, but EVOL, which remains my favourite Sonic Youth album beside Daydream Nation, is a much different beast thanContinue reading “Overlooked Classic : Sonic Youth -EVOL (1986)”
Documentary Review: The Myth of Marilyn Monroe
What an utter train wreck of a documentary, The Myth of Marilyn Monroe is. Directed by Oliver Elphick, it charts her rise and fall, with some historical context of America in the fifties, as opposed to telling her life story with any nuance. Instead, fairytale rags to riches clichés abound. The American Dream symbolismContinue reading “Documentary Review: The Myth of Marilyn Monroe”
Album Review: James Adrian Brown -Forever Neon Lights
Former Pulled Apart By Horses guitarist James Adrian Brown’s debut album is an eerie but slick series of beats, sitting somewhere between Boards Of Canada and Gold Panda. His choppy electronics are heavy but beautiful, warped yet melodic. These paradoxes make his sound interesting. Contradictions in sonics are always welcome with me. He may notContinue reading “Album Review: James Adrian Brown -Forever Neon Lights”
Album Review: Scattered Purgatory- Post Purgatory
Taiwan experimental band Scattered Purgatory, the duo of Lu Li-Yang and Lu Jiachi, gleefully put genres through the mincing machine, cackling as they go. This new album, forthcoming on the excellent Guruguru Brain label, is full of glorious surprises. Essentially, they make giallo rock, deep, dark rock with saxophone cutting through drone and clattering percussion.Continue reading “Album Review: Scattered Purgatory- Post Purgatory”
Overlooked Classics: Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
Years before ‘Trainspotting’ cemented its place in literature and film history, auteur Gus Van Sant, along with screenwriter Daniel Yost, created a brilliant film about a bunch of junkies and the rigmarole of fixing. Here, the setting is Portland and the decade, the early seventies. Matt Dillon is the lead character, Bob, putting his broodingContinue reading “Overlooked Classics: Drugstore Cowboy (1989)”
Film Review: Bjork -Cornucopia Live
On massive screens behind Bjork and her fellow musicians, flora and fauna burst into kaleidoscopic life in Technicolour. Birdsong and insects provide looped natural percussion, reflecting the singular artist’s twin obsessions: the natural world and technology in symbiosis. Bjork herself, in trademark masks and sculptural costumes, is almost a secondary character amid the visual overwhelm.Continue reading “Film Review: Bjork -Cornucopia Live”
TV Review: Girlbands Forever
Following on from last year’s Boybands Forever documentary, produced by Louis Theroux and Nancy Strang, comes the sister companion Girlbands Forever. And it’s equally as fascinating, yet pretty flawed. Suga(babes) and Spice (Girls) is all very nice, but of course, as with the previous three part series, the reality was anything but. As before, ex-bandContinue reading “TV Review: Girlbands Forever”
Film Review: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
Sex is a dance that’s best when it’s improvised. That is seemingly the subtext to ‘Good Luck To You, Leo Grande’. Written by comic actor Katy Brand and directed by Sophie Hyde, it’s a refreshingly honest look at age gap sex. Thankfully the candour means there are no traditional romcom tropes, nor “feeling to healing”Continue reading “Film Review: Good Luck To You, Leo Grande”
Album Review: Debby Friday- The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life
All the best pop bangers have a yearning undercurrent: think Madonna’s ‘What It Feels Like For A Girl ‘, Robyn’s ‘Dancing On My Own’, St Etienne and ‘He’s On The Phone’. This is also true with R & B- any number of artists, from The Supremes to Solange, mine dark corners of the dancefloor toContinue reading “Album Review: Debby Friday- The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life”
Hit The North 