We're not scaremongering, this is really happening...

Apologies for the lack of effort in my previous post. It began with my eagerness to write an elaborate post, but unfortunately ended in a half-arsed ramble about Kate Bush and Sister Act. The reason for this was a conversation I was having with a friend at the same time. This 'friend' had never really taken the time to listen to Radiohead, and was asking for some advice about what material to check out before seeing them live at Leeds festival. Our conversation sparked an obsession I had long forgotten and as a result disrupted my train of thought. Let's face it, Radiohead are absolutely brilliant. If you're wondering, the songs I recommended were:

• Creep
• Paranoid Android
• Karma Police
• No Surprises
• The National Anthem
• Idioteque
• 2+2=5
• 15 Step

...among a few others that I can't quite recall. The point is, once he had asked me I could not stop myself rambling on about how brilliant Radiohead are and why Kid A is one of the most incredible things to have occurred to chart music. I still can't believe a remarkable album like that could snag the number one spot. It was of course riding on the success of OK Computer, but it's still a spectacular achievement regardless. Bloody hell, what's with my elaborate use of adjectives?

So today I've had somewhat (I honestly can't leave this word alone) of a Radiohead fest comprising of Kid A start to finish. At the moment I'm making my way through Thom Yorke's solo effort, The Eraser. If you forgive the initial disappointment of repetition which is the only problem I think this album suffers from, then it really is a fantastic achievement. My favourite tracks are undoubtedly The Clock and of course Analyse, which always reminds me of the film The Prestige. I could really sidetrack and begin to write up about how much I admire the works of Christopher Nolan (Radiohead fan and director of such films as Memento, The Prestige and The Dark Knight), but there's only so much I can talk about before boring my readers. If of course any of you exist out there. In fact, if somebody is reading this, do you mind leaving a comment so that I'm aware of a presence? It really does feel like nothing but me and my mind co-exist here, which is probably the case.

Get the bow going, let it scream to me

Wow, the inflow of University and accommodation forms is overwhelming. That's right, it won't be long till I move out of this very room and enter the Uni-life of Lincoln. Anyway, I had quite a selection of films on the television to choose from the other day, and after much serious thought, I settled on Sister Act, because I'm just that cool.

No I'm not going to spend the majority of this post reviewing Sister Act. I like to think I still have enough dignity left to do otherwise. I'll say one thing: I didn't hate it.

Onto other things... You might wonder what the post title references, if of course you actually care. I'm actually listening to the sweet sound of Never For Ever by Kate Bush, which emanates from my record player. At the time of writing the title I was mid-track on Violin. It's not my favourite album, but just talking about nonsense seems to pass the time. Ignore my lack of effort to please readers.

What a bloody waste of a post this has been.

Don't look back, like Bobby Dylan in the movies

So I've heard these thirty second clips that have been released of Muse's new album, The Resistance... Wow. Erm, I can't say that it didn't 'surprise' me, but what a complete load of utter awfulness! Yes yes I know, I can't judge the whole thing having heard just two songs and the rest in thirty second snippets, but considering this is an attempt to promote the album, surely this is the gist of their new sound? If this is what they become recognised for, then I feel almost embarrassed to own some of their music. It seems that Muse are either trying to be what they're not (electro-pop superstars), or taking their traditional sound so far that they're butchering it to the point of self-parody. I didn't intend to review an album I have yet to hear in full, and having got a brief session of whining out of my system, I will move on to more important things.

One of my absolute favourite bands in modern music, Belle & Sebastian, had released If You're Feeling Sinister: Live At The Barbican back in 2005. It was only available for digital download mind, and I had yet to take in the joy of Belle & Sebastian's attempt to recreate their most critically acclaimed album to date, with horns and a string section. Stuart Murdoch had understandably always been disappointed with the production aspects of the 1996 release of If You're Feeling Sinister, so for the first time he decided to take the opportunity to flesh out those remarkable songs he had written all those years ago. The result is a masterpiece, and one could only pray for such a thing to be recorded in-studio. I had always strangely admired the poor production of the original, as I felt the amateur sound added a more personal and delicate touch. I must admit that having heard well and improved renditions of songs such as Me and the Major and Judy and the Dream of Horses, I can see what it is that had irked Stuart Murdoch for all these years. The performances of many of these songs should perhaps be considered the definitive, however I think I'll stick with the humble original sound for songs like Seeing Other People and Like Dylan in the Movies.

On a personal note, I don't think I've mentioned in previous posts that I have, sorry - did have a donkey. Well unfortunately we had to send our farewell to ol' Bailey, and also our beloved Husky Teddy. I hope they live on happier with their lives.

Who wants Crank when they got Bush?

Hmm, it seems that since Kate Bush came into my life, I have lost the motivation to write anything that doesn't relate to her or her work. What I could review I suppose, is the 1971 film The French Connection, but all I really want to do is YouTube Kate all night.

Enough of that. Last night I watched a film titled The French Connection starring Gene Hackman. Funny enough, I already had a poster for it up in my room despite not having watched it until now. Might I say that it certainly deserves its critical acclaim, as I most definitely enjoyed the high-speed action interspersed with gritty humour. Its narrative is supposedly based on a true story, which is that 'badass' cop Doyle (Gene Hackman) is struggling with his latest case involving a French heroin distribution network. Can Doyle catch the criminal mastermind behind such a criminal plan? The answer is not to be told until you watch the film (and its sequel, apparently). I enjoyed it to an extent, particularly its unconventional open-ending, which is not something you see in films these days let alone the fact that it was a rarity even then.

That wasn't the only film I saw as of late. I decided to switch my brain off, crank up the volume on my TV set and tune into the more recent, Crank. Well what do you expect? It's funny, it's violent, it's sexy, and the pace is as speedy as a driving hooligan. For those of you that don't know, Crank is a high-octane action film starring Jason Statham. The plot is simple - Statham plays a gritty bloke that kills for money, only to have woken up one morning with poison flowing through his bloodstream. The antidote to said poison is adrenaline, hence the 'high-octane action' description. At times - yes - the film is really quite stupid, but considering what it is, it's not a particularly bad movie as such. The shooting style involves fast cuts and 'shaky cam' which may be annoying to some, but personally I liked the way in which it represented the adrenaline.

Anyway, Crank isn't the type of film one should spend too long looking into, so I'm going to move forward. As the title of this post suggests, who needs these silly/fun/mindless films to occupy their time when there are clever/thoughtful/beautiful women like Kate Bush out there? Whenever I watch something that I fear may have killed a few braincells, I make sure to counteract it with the works of a genius. I advise you do the same.

The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman

Well I didn't expect to be talking about Sparks again so soon, but it seems that - out of the blue - The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman has already come forth and departed on Swedish radio. If you're wondering what the bloody hell a Bergman is, well I initially didn't know myself. Thankfully, Sparks are here to educate us with a new musical radio production titled - you guessed it - The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, which teaches us listeners all about the apparently famous Swedish film director, Ingmar Bergman.

That was somewhat of a lie, as the story itself is a totally fictional account based around the concept of what if Ingmar Bergman had gone to Hollywood? The results are certainly comical with hilarious track titles such as 'Bergman Ponders Escape'. In essence, it's a bizarre fantasy about misfit-Bergman who unwillingly ends up in Hollywood.

Listening primarily to the overall sound, the musical is often triumphant and is the first time Ron Mael has ever composed something almost entirely with an orchestra. Let's just say that by adding 'Classical Composer' to his C.V, he wouldn't exactly be fibbing. Unfortunately Russel Mael's vocals sound somewhat weaker, but that may have been to do with the fact that I was streaming the production at 96kbps, which is really quite poor. This leads on to my main complaint, which is likely not to be a fault of the Maels. It was extremely hard to follow the story, as the English spoken parts were much too faint for my hearing, let alone the fact that much of it was in Swedish. Hopefully the CD/Vinyl releases will prove that this is merely due to the streaming process.

All-in-all, this is a remarkable departure for Sparks and proves how versatile their talent really is. Talent is an asset, and the Maels really have it (cheeky Kimono reference). I look forward to the release of The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, which will serve well as their 22nd album, departing from their trilogy of 'chamber pop'.

I've also considered banning myself from ever using the word 'somewhat' again.

The Soundtrack to my Life Part Deux

Moving swiftly from Sparks' Exotic Creatures of the Deep, the latest album to have taken a complete hold of me is one titled The Kick Inside, an album by the most spectacular female artist I have ever introduced myself to... Kate Bush! I regret dedicating such a small segment of my previous post to my current favourite singer/songwriter, particularly since Wuthering Heights would actually make an appropriate follow-up in The Soundtrack to my Life. So now is the opportunity to elaborate on her excellence.

First of all, what's the song about? Well it's pretty obvious if you've read or simply heard about the book of the same name. Lyrically, the concept is entirely based on this story and isn't the best choice of song from her debut LP to analyze her affectionate choice of words. On the other hand, the bizarre chord changes, the twinkling outbursts of piano and Kate Bush's surreal vocal range makes this the stand out track on the album. What fascinates me most is the level of success the song had in 1978. As a result of this unconventional commercial release, it was the first time a female artist had ever written and performed a song that reached the number one spot (unexpectedly snagging this impressive achievement from Debbie Harry). But it wasn't the song alone that grabbed my attention. I decided to type 'Kate Bush' into YouTube for the first time having discovered that many people on Last.fm with similar taste to mine were fans of her work. The first video to prop up was of course her most successful, Wuthering Heights. I was a little confused by what I saw initially, but having listened to plenty of Sparks lately I wasn't put off by the obscurity of her movements and high-pitched vocals. I then noticed that there was a second music video known as the Red Dress version. At this point, I was completely blown away - Her bold expressive movements, her mysterious physical appearance, her wondrous vocality! I loved it.

My previous post already featured the Red Dress music video, so here for your viewing pleasure is the original release shot for the UK...



I think I slightly prefer the Red Dress one, but it's still a beautiful song performed beautifully.

Out on the winding, windy moors...

My lack of posting is not due to lack of interest, but rather a lack of internet. To be fair, in a quiet village with a name like 'Dogdyke', you can't really expect top notch technology. I've seen a fair few films and heard a handful of albums since my last post, so I'll make somewhat of a summary of it. You may have noticed that my alliteration is at an all-time high. Totally unintentional, unless somehow subliminal? Now I sound like an intellectual rap artist.

Moving on, upon visiting my Dad in London we decided to 'try something new' by going to the cinema to see... a Bollywood movie!? I've heard that these films at times can actually be quite good and don't deserve the reputation for being shallow sing-song luvvy-duvvy crap sprinkled with an unbearable amount of cheese. What we saw was actually pretty close to this, although the substance was stronger than I imagined (by 'substance' I don't mean cheese, although there was plenty of this). In actual fact, the reason why we were even sat in that screen watching that god forsaken film was because of my Dad's girlfriend's involvement as an extra in the scenes set in London. It's amazing how many times extras are re-used without the audience paying any attention. She'd appeared in the film three times, one of those times filling up half the screen. After our trip to Bollywood (in the Trocadero, London) we decided to settle home with a nice Frank Darabont film based on a Stephen King novel. No, it wasn't The Shawshank Redemption... but rather a horror titled The Mist.

Hmm... What to make of this film I'm not entirely sure. I certainly enjoyed the emphasis on human psychology during a circumstance of utter turmoil, but the problems with the film narrows down to two things. For one, the CGI is piss poor. I can let this one pass since the film focuses primarily on the people and how they cope in a situation of terror. Still though, the CGI creatures did pull you out of the reality built up by the characters. The second problem with the film was script-related. The human psychology factor would have worked had the film been lengthier, but we're expected to believe that people can turn into such savage beings in such a short duration of time, without enough motive to do so. Regardless, I actually enjoyed the film to an extent and would certainly deem it as something that has not been done before in such a peculiar way. What I loved most about The Mist was it's tragic ending that is evidently not at all 'Hollywood-friendly'. No wonder it was somewhat of a flop. It really is hard-hitting.

~~~

Now in terms of music, I have absolutely fallen in love with Kate Bush and everything about her and what she has provided me. I wanted to listen to everything she'd ever created simply from having discovered this one video on YouTube...



That of course is the 'Red Dress' international music video for Wuthering Heights. To think that this remarkable woman was only eighteen years of age when she wrote the song is astounding, not to mention other tracks on The Kick Inside album were written from as young as thirteen. I honestly can't get enough of her. Musically and lyrically it's all so beautiful.

I've been well into ordering rare Belle & Sebastian 12" EPs lately, and have recently received 3.. 6.. 9.. Seconds Of Light and Legal Man in the post. Brilliant. I'll leave it at that.

The Persistence

Excuse me for the awful play on words in the title, but I can't be the only person to think that the majority of Muse fans are stubborn and persistent. Persistent in the sense that they keep telling themselves that Matthew Bellamy is a genius and couldn't possibly do wrong, right? After my first exposure to 'Uprising' and a related three hour debate amongst friends, I unexpectedly 'fell out' with Muse.

So many of us have waited a long time for this new album, The Resistance, and soon the wait is over. So far, Muse have publicly released two songs, the first being United States of Eurasia and the second being that bloody Uprising song. First let me start with '...Eurasia'. To put it bluntly, it would be unfair to legitimately credit this as an original piece written and conceived by Matthew Bellamy. I know this has been said so many times, but rightfully so... United States of Eurasia is Queen meets Lawrence of Arabia. The song's 'outro' (titled +Collateral Damage), is simply an old Frédéric Chopin piece tampered with the sounds of frolicking children, jet planes and missiles. So far, not a brilliant start eh? Not to worry, this is shortly followed by the release of the album's opening track, Uprising.

I'm going to copy and paste a message I left on Muse's Last.fm page, as it best describes my feelings towards what we've heard of The Resistance so far:

I fell out with Muse last night after listening to 'Uprising' and following a debate I had with friends. The 'Resistance' material that has been provided to us so far has been dreadful. 'United States of Eurasia' and the far worse 'Uprising' do not provide anything that has not been done before. In fact, Uprising is evidently a mess of a number of conventions that include an overused electro beat, ridiculous Dr Who synths, musical references to Blondie, and the corny hooligan chants of 'C'mon!'. A good song should relate to its listeners with at least some sense of intimacy, and even though I have been a fan of both 'Origin...' and 'Absolution' in the past, Mr. Bellamy has never achieved such emotions. I would call it an unfortunate obsession for someone with such obvious musical talents to rehash old material and to please people with nothing but meaningless bombastic spectacles. I conclude that Matthew Bellamy is not a genius, but a spectacular musician.

Fans of Muse aren't used to seeing paragraph-length statements on their beloved page, and funny enough despite the popularity, nobody made an effort to question my controversial opinions.

I wish to dwell on the whole 'bombastic spectacle' theory - a term actually brought to a debate I'd had by a friend. Muse can play. Muse can play real good. What they can't do is produce art. There's nothing new, nothing pretty, nothing of an intimate level. I never actually understood this in the past, and since having introduced myself to the wonders of so many artists over the century, I can never return to Muse. They can keep their reputation for marvelous live perfomances, but I pray that justice will be served, and that people will regard Muse as unoriginal songwriters and novice lyricists. Besides, Radiohead are better ;-)

The Soundtrack to my Life

I'm experiencing somewhat of a mild crisis, which is not something I occasionally experience. I find that writing is my cure, but unfortunately I've not seen a film, heard an album or read a book to review and I don't want to ramble on about myself and turn what I hoped to be a publicly accessible blog into one of those awful hormonal journals. I have therefore decided to introduce a new concept called The Soundtrack to my Life, which is when I either review a song that has currently engraved itself into my mind, or one that captures my current mood.

Right now, I am definitely digging the glorious work of Sparks. I've passed through their glam rock and disco-tech stages and am currently immersed in their recent 'chamber pop' phase. I use the term 'chamber pop' loosely because this is what Wikipedia describes the genre as, but I undoubtedly disapprove. It's almost impossible to label the album Exotic Creatures of the Deep for example, which is a bizarre and diverse hybrid of orchestrated strings, distorted guitars and funky electro. It certainly isn't pop in any sense of the word. The particular song that I constantly have on the mind and must frequently play from my iTunes library is the epic finishing track, Likeable.

It would be quite arrogant of me to say that the lyrics apply to me, but as far as musicality goes, I am in love. The sheer diversity in these final six minutes of the album begins with a dreary harmony of the words 'I'm likable!', which is quite reminiscent of the opening to the banned (by the BBC) 2006 single Dick Around. Next comes the catchy chorus that could work as a pop song had it been reworked that way, however Ron Mael's delicate key pressing gives it a more classical approach. The spoken verses reflect one of Russel Mael's new frequent techniques which seems to be less falsetto, more quirky talk! Then comes the delightful 'Noone ever wears a frown, when they see me coming round' segment, which gradually builds in extravagance each time around. The song closes with an extended version of the album's intro that features the comical yet tragically desperate lyrics 'I don't care if you love me, just so you like me... like me, li-ike me, like me, li-ike me...' The perfect way to end the album and without a doubt a seriously likeable song.

In seven days, God created the world. In seven seconds, I shattered mine.

So I'd heard about and seen trailers for this fairly new film starring Will Smith called 'Seven Pounds'. Having read some mixed reviews, I wasn't at all fussed about seeing it, but it wasn't until my Dad informed me that it was actually quite brilliant that I decided it was worth checking out. Fortunately, the film showed up on my Sky Box Office.

Having gotten through over an hour of the film, I had to admit to myself that I was actually with those who were critical of it. The story felt weak, the pacing seemed slow, the dialogue was rather poor and I couldn't quite find myself immersed in its narrative. I began thinking never to take my Dad's advice on what makes a good film, as we evidently have differing opinions. However, as the characters' lives seemed to merge together and the twists began to unfold, I was officially hooked on the film's plot. Will Smith's acting is as good as ever, as well as the supporting cast's such as Woody Harrelson, who's portrayal of a blind man successfully tugs at the heartstrings. On the other hand, one of the main criticisms I have for the film is the love interest played by Rosario Dawson. Her acting isn't anything shameful, but unfortunately the scripting doesn't save this character from a lack in likability. Had we really and truly cared for her as much as our protagonist does, then perhaps the film would have been a far more successful drama.

Indeed, as evident in the above landscape, the cinematography is quite superb. In fact, the overall direction of the film is a pleasant experience, so any criticisms of mine are predominantly aimed at the writers.

As I said before, the majority of the film seems a little lackluster, but the last thirty minutes or so save it from its mediocrity. It's worth a watch and I recommend doing so, but be aware that it is by no means the perfect drama. Not close.

Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie

And so begins my second blogging attempt, the first of which I no longer have any interest in maintaining. Let me start by giving a little info behind the title, Le Charme Discret. You might have guessed its influence from the title of a 1972 French film directed by Luis Buñuel called Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie. The English translation is The Discreet Charm of the Middle Class, but obviously I've merely kept the 'Discreet Charm' part. Suffice to say, that's about as far as the inspiration goes as I haven't actually seen the film, I merely admire it as a pretentious French title, much like Belle & Sebastian's stolen name from Madame Cécile Aubry's novel and television series.

If you're 'craving' to know why I've set up a blog (again), then I ought to fill you in on its purpose. This isn't going to be as personal and self-referential as the previous one, but is more likely to be a tad more 'article-based' in terms of my reviews and opinions on the works of others as well as my own. Don't expect any "Oh I got absolutely smashed last night!" garbage, because I know that nobody really cares about that nonsense.