tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-171087732024-03-14T04:30:06.113+00:00inuit panda scarlet carwashI like Pandas, but I could never eat a whole one.ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.comBlogger2147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-75673531389496334132024-01-18T08:59:00.007+00:002024-01-18T08:59:00.129+00:00Le Guess Who 2023: epilogue<i>You can read my previous Le Guess Who post <a href="https://wp.me/p8DfSl-zi">here</a> and all my 2023 Le Guess Who posts <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/le-guess-who-2023/">here</a>.</i>
<p>Monday saw us making a long, depressing, and surprisingly stressful journey home by plane. The possibility of travelling back overland next year was discussed, though I suspect it would be a bit impractical. It was however nice to receive a welcome at home from cat name of Billy Edwards.
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<p>Some Le Guess Who things I did not see but wish I had:
<ul>
<li><b>Caterina Barbieri + Space Afrika with MFO</b>: partly just for the name.</li>
<li><b>Decisive Pink</b>: someone who was formerly to be in the Dirty Projectors and someone who was not. </li>
<li><b>Alan Sparhawk</b>: I think this could have been quite emotional. Plus Low were always one of my favourite live bands.</li>
<li><b>The Good Ones</b>: My beloved saw them and said they were great, as did a guy we were talking to at Le Feast. They are from Rwanda but were not playing traditional music of their country, but instead tunes of a somewhat more globally informed variety. </li>
<li><b>In Solidarity With</b>: This was not a performance at all but a gap deliberately left empty in the programme in which people could sit in Hertz and think about all the bad things happening in the world. If I remember correctly the time slot was meant to be filled by a Palestinian musician from Gaza but he is now trapped there and fleeing for his life from Israeli bombing.</li>
<li><b>Model/Actriz</b>: As previously noted, this Brooklyn bunch were recommended over brunch. I will investigate them.</li>
<li><b>Stereolab</b>: I have seen them many times and while I do not regret seeing other things instead of them I would still like to have seen them at Le Guess Who. </li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks to anyone who has made it this far. If you want more you can see all my terrible Le Guess Who pictures <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720312649752/">here</a>.ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-88508864803737552582024-01-17T17:56:00.007+00:002024-01-17T17:56:00.139+00:00Le Guess Who 2023 part four: Sunday<i>You can see my previous Le Guess Who post <a href="https://wp.me/p8DfSl-zc">here</a>, and all my Le Guess Who 2023 posts <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/le-guess-who-2023/">here</a>.</i>
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<p>Sunday morning at Le Guess Who means it is <b>Le Feast</b> day, where you go for brunch in the home of someone who lives in Utrecht and have fun interacting with strangers, if you have signed up for this (my beloved and I always sign up for this while our friends never do). This year we were hosted by a Brazilian-Dutch couple (with the Brazilian woman doing all the cooking I think) and their delightful dog. Delicious food was served. There was quite a large group present, to the extent that once we sat down to eat you could only really talk to the people in your immediate vicinity. I found myself chatting to an Irish woman (small world), a guy from Portugal who lives in Liverpool, and a woman who appeared to be from a number of different countries, one of which was the Czech Republic. We talked about David Lynch films and the <i>Twin Peaks</i>; I felt sad about the fact that I still have not seen the recent <i>Twin Peaks</i> series. We had such fun that some of us repaired afterwards to Café Derat, which has become our Utrecht local to the extent that we met more people we know there, including a visitor from London who wasn't even over for the festival.
<p>Tempting as it was to spend the day skulling pints (or whatever passed for pints in the Netherlands) we had music to see, so we bade farewell to our new friends and went back to the hotel to freshen up. Then it was music time. The first thing I saw was <b>The Harvest Time Project: A Tribute to Pharaoh Sanders</b> (who I am going to stop referring to as Finbarr Saunders). This saw loads of people playing jazzy stuff. I liked it. It reminded me of the <a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/2012/05/jeff-mangum-atp-part-7-final-programme.html">all-star jam</a> that closed off the <a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/search/label/Jeff%20Mangum%20ATP">Jeff Mangum-curated All Tomorrow's Parties</a> in 2012. Later I would realise that to some extent this was basically a very expanded version of Irreversible Entanglements, although I am guessing that the various other players present might have had their own views on this. But certainly Moor Mother's very deliberate beat poetry was an important element here. I was struck by R—'s query about how long some randomer who gate-crashed the stage would take to be found out.
<p><b>Memorials</b> sounded like a good idea (with the presence of Verity Susman of Electrelane being the big draw for me), but I found them underwhelming. The big problem for me was the amount of recorded backing material, which undermined any sense of this as a live performance. Not everyone would see things this way and I can imagine that they might still be worth investigating on record.
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<p>So I cut my losses and raced down to grab a place near the front for <b>Irreversible Entanglements</b>. This lot are great, managing to make weirdo art jazz that you can dance to. I'm sorry I don't have more to say about them, considering they were one of the weekend's highlights.
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<p>Afterwards I tried to get into the Pandora stage to see Model/Actriz, who had been recommended over brunch by the Liverpudlian Portuguese guy, but it was way too full up there. So I drifted into the Grote Zaal to see <b>Faiz Ali Faiz</b>, some Pakistani Qawwali lad. Holy fuck this was pretty full on. He was onstage with a load of other guys who were either joining him in testifying about how great Sufi Islam is or else playing instruments (drums and harmoniums) or doing handclaps. It was all pretty in your face but definitely the kind of thing that would have you deciding to become a whirling dervish. At an intellectual level I find the whole thing of devotional music being played for the entertainment of the non-religious a bit weird, but you can't argue with the awesomeness of Faiz Ali Faiz and his buds.
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<p>Following that we looked experimentally at trying to sneak in to see some of <b>Stereolab</b> but it was too crowded and I did not fancy being stuck at the back. Instead after a quick nightcap we repaired back to our hotel, though I did pick up a Stereolab t-shirt. And that was it for another year of Le Guess Who.
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720312649752/">More Le Guess Who pictures</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-40515968761239667692024-01-16T17:44:00.007+00:002024-01-16T17:44:00.328+00:00Le Guess Who 2023 part three: Saturday<i>You can look back on my previous Le Guess Who post <a href="https://wp.me/p8DfSl-yY">here</a>, and you can see all my Le Guess Who posts <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/le-guess-who-2023/">here</a>.</i>
<p>By now I was getting the hang of the hotel breakfast and was carefully balancing my intake of bread, rolls, egg, poffertjes, croissants, coffee, and cava to ensure an optimal start to the day. I think we may also have visited the St. Catherine's Museum today, educating ourselves on some of the more entertaining aspects of Dutch religious history (in particular the secret Catholics who had to build hidden churches for themselves while feuding with the Vatican over definitional issues). An early dinner in the afternoon saw us washing down a tasty Tilt veggie burger with some Belgian beer. Then we went off to The Drain, one of the faraway venues to the south of Utrecht, outside the moat that protects the city from attack by barbarians.
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<p>We were there to see <b>Khorshid Dadbeh</b>, an Iranian musician. We kind of assumed that relatively few people would make their way to such a remote location, arriving just before she was due to start, but sadly we were wrong and had to queue to get in to where she was playing. We then found ourselves stuck at the back of a venue without a raised stage, which meant that although we could hear Dadbeh playing we never actually saw her and I am still not entirely certain she was actually there. Music was pretty good, if you like the sound of people playing Middle Eastern stringed instruments similar but not quite identical to the oud.
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<p>Back in the Tivoli Vredenburg I saw <b>Moin</b>, a band featuring drummer Valentina Magaletti (of various other bands) and some other people. They were pretty good but looking back on it after a couple of weeks I fear they might have been one of those acts you enjoy seeing at a festival but who leave no lasting impression. Maybe I should check them out on record.
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<p>Who definitely left an impact was <b>Colleen</b>, a French electronic musician based in Barcelona who has adopted an Irish (or Irish-American) name. She was playing in the Janskerk. She was playing on a Moog and her music seemed very analogue, with a lot of having to patch through wires between pieces. It was all very enjoyable in a wibbly wibbly way, making good use of the Janskerk's acoustics. It also can't be denied that Colleen radiated such an appealingly pleasant personality that it would have been hard to dislike her music. But there was still a sad moment, with Colleen reporting that she was playing the last ever Le Guess Who concert in the Janskerk. Perhaps the Dutch Reformed Church had put their foot down after <a href="https://wp.me/p8DfSl-yY">ATTILA CSIHAR</a>'s invocation of the day before.
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<p>And then when she finished, a funny moment: the stage was rushed by members of the audience who wanted to inspect the kit and ask Colleen how it all worked. God bless them.
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<p>That was already quite a lot action for one day, but there was more. Next up I saw <b>ESG</b>, the minimal dance sensations from New York. They only have one original member left now, a somewhat frail Renée Scroggins, with the line-up filled up by her daughter on bass, a son on percussion and dancing, and a session musician on drums. Scroggins herself did vocals and played some guitar. And it was amazing, with the grooves being totally infectious. My friend R— was saying that he finds ESG a bit thin on record and sees their being endlessly sampled as indicating how their music suits having more stuff built on top of it, but that it still works live. I'm not familiar enough with their recorded output to judge but they definitely work as live performers. They are definitely one to catch if they ever come to your town.
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<p>That was kind of it for me on Saturday night. I saw in Hertz for an electronic set by <b>ZULI</b> & <b>Omar El Sadek</b>, who are I think from Egypt and then caught a good chunk of <b>Nihiloxica</b>. People were very enthusiastic about the latter but once I start thinking it is time for bed I find it hard to engage.
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720312649752/">More Le Guess Who pictures</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-47717167038354341932024-01-15T17:39:00.007+00:002024-01-15T17:39:00.425+00:00Le Guess Who 2023 part two: FridayAnd so we come to the second day of 2023's Le Guess Who. You can look back on day one <a href="https://wp.me/p8DfSl-yV">here</a>.
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<p>The first people I saw on the Friday were the <b>Pankisi Ensemble</b>, who were playing in the Jacobikerk. They release music on the <a href="https://oredrecordings.bandcamp.com/">Ored Recordings</a> label, who I recommend investigating if you are interested in weirdo folk and and folk-adjacent music from the Caucasus or the Circassian community. The Pankisi Ensemble are a mainly vocal group of Kist women from the Kist, with Kists being a Chechen or Chechen-adjacent people living in the Pankisi gorge area of Georgia. I had previously heard one of the Pankisi Ensemble's songs on the <i><a href="https://www.discogs.com/release/5180366-Various-Mountains-Of-Tongues">Mountains of Tongues</a></i> compilation of music from that part of the world. My beloved was particularly interested in catching this lot; she has an interest in Georgian polyphonic music and although the Pankisi Ensemble are from a different tradition, there is a definite air of cross-pollination here. The music features the members of the ensemble sometimes singing on their own and sometimes in the kind of multipart choral harmonies with long sustained notes that to my untrained ears sounded very like Georgian or Bulgarian choral music. Sometimes one of the women accompanied the others on a guitar-like instrument or accordion and sometimes she didn't. The music was beautiful and deserves a wider audience… check them out on <a href="https://oredrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/pankisi-ensemble-music-of-kists-chechens-of-georgia">Bandcamp</a>.
<p>Following the Pankisi Ensemble there was a general sense that the place to be was the Stadsschouwburg theatre, where <b>Kali Malone</b> was going to be playing her <i>Does Spring Hide Its Joy</i> album with Lucy Railton and Stephen O'Malley. Malone was going to be starting very soon after the Pankisi Ensemble finished so I felt that speed was of the essence if any of her set was to be caught and I headed off to towards the theatre with some despatch. My colleagues headed off with somewhat less despatch and so I found myself arriving at the theatre on my own, whereupon I joined a long queue. That moved off pretty quickly but alas the venue filled before I gained admittance. However, I was now sufficiently near the front that I reckoned I would gain admittance before too long when attendees started leaving after realising that Stephen O'Malley being in the line-up did not mean they were going to be getting a Sunn-O))) greatest hits set. And while I did have to wait for a bit I was able to get in time to catch an hour or so of Malone's long set, and to sit in a comfy seat while doing so.
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<p>So, Kali Malone. Readers may recall me saying that initially I was not quite so impressed with an <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2020/06/13/kali-malone/">album of her organ music</a> but that I grew to like it during the early days of the Covid pandemic as its gentle sounds proved quite soothing in that difficult time. This time she was not playing the organ and she was playing with her buds. The three of them were widely spaced out on the big and largely dark stage, Malone in the middle and the other two on the flanks. Malone was playing some kind of synthesiser thing while Railton was on cello and O'Malley played occasional guitar. It was all very drone and beautiful in its restfulness. And I was amused by how O'Malley was probably the most famous person on the stage but the least essential (unless he was doing more than I was aware of), with his guitar only coming in very occasionally as an augmentation to the wider sound. Definitely a highlight of the festival for me and I was glad to have caught as much of it as I did.
<p>The curse of Le Guess Who's massively multi-tracked programme meant that I had to miss various interesting-sounding things in order to catch Kali Malone, but I did manage to get up to the front of the Janskerk for <b>ATTILA CSIHAR, VOID OV VOICES</b>. Mr Attila is a Hungarian grunty metal vocalist who spent some time performing with evil Norwegian band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayhem_(band)">MAYHEM</a> (managing to avoid committing suicide, eating any of his bandmates' brains (so far as we know), murdering any of his bandmates, or being murdered himself) and has more recently provided vocals for Sunn-O))) (I saw him performing once with them in a tree costume). When he came on he was in full corpse paint and wearing a costume whose hoody top seemed to merge into his hair. His set was almost entirely vocal, exploiting the amazing acoustics of the venue. He used some electronics to treat and loop his voice as he went along, but beyond that it was all pretty minimal. The overall effect was like being present at some kind of Black Mass, particularly as he was performing behind what looked like an altar bedecked with some occult symbols, and I did find myself looking over into corners in case some obscene horror was starting to manifest. I also wondered if there was any danger of a Dutch clergyman storming in to denounce this blasphemy (while also wondering if the non-English vocals might contain some controversial content, given MAYHEM's association with disturbing far-right sentiment).
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<p>The concert ended on a funny note however, with ATTILA responding to the rapturious applause by giving us a big cheesy grin and two thumbs up. He didn't quite say "Thanks! you've been a lovely audience!" but he might as well have done.
<p>Friends had bigged up the <b>Rắn Cạp Đuôi Collective</b>, another orthographically challenging act who had played the night before and were on again tonight. So I went to see them. This lot are from Vietnam and they were playing in Cloud Nine, the highest of all the venues in the Tivoli Vredenburg (although there are rumours of a secret venue above it, so high that attendees sometimes complain of altitude sickness). And they played on the floor with the audience around them. It was good fun, with guitar sounds that reminded me of heyday Sonic Youth. Their recordings might be worth investigating.
<p>After checking out <b>Rachida Nayar</b> in Hertz (interesting) I repaired to my bed like the lightweight I am.
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<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720312649752/">More Le Guess Who pictures</a>
ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-29865806431305275382024-01-14T17:34:00.008+00:002024-01-14T17:34:00.136+00:00Le Guess Who 2023 part one: Thursday<a href="https://wp.me/p8DfSl-yS">Previously</a> I wrote about my journey to Utrecht for the Le Guess Who festival. Now at last I can start to talk about the festival itself
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<p>The festival starts on Thursday. That meant we picked up wristbands and did a bit of strolling around before slipping into Café DeRat, where I met a beer snob who berated me for my pedestrian choice (I was drinking an Orval). We also checked out the two DeRat cats, one of whom came over for pets but then complained because I was doing it wrong. Wisely we opted not to stay and lorry strong beers into ourselves and instead went off to catch some music.
<p>And what strange music it was. The Le Guess Who organisers had come up with the crazy idea of having some of the performers play inside an opaque box onto which images were projected, with the programme not telling you who the performers were but hinting that they were probably someone really famous that you would definitely want to catch. There were three performance of this Anonymous Project, all on the Thursday evening. I caught two of them, the first and last, and I broadly enjoyed the experience. The visuals were pretty trippy, and in the latter case the lighting occasionally made the performer inside the cube semi-visible, suggesting to me that he was a black bloke playing keyboards and possibly also singing (if the singing was not by someone else). And they were different to each other, with the first anonymous performer being kind of spacey ambienty while the last lad featured a bit of piano and some non-verbal vocals that annoyed my friend K— so much he had to leave. I was more forward thinking and enjoyed being able to relax in a nice chair and let myself be mesmerised.
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<p>But I did not just watch people playing music inside a box. For I journeyed over to the Janskerk, where <b>Brìghde Chaimbeul</b> was playing the small pipes. These are a Scottish pipe instrument but not the big bagpipes the country is famous for, rather a device where the air is pumped by the elbow rather than being blown, so somewhat akin to the Irish uilleann pipes except sounding a bit different. They are quieter and softer than the big bagpipes ("better suited to indoor playing" as Wikipedia puts it). Chaimbeul is a Scots Gaelic speaker from Skye but is not some died in the wool traditionalist. Rather she pushes the envelope while remaining rooted in the tradition, emphasising drone and pushing the music in new directions. The Janskerk is an atmospheric venue with great acoustics and it suited her music very well, making this an exciting first concert of the festival where I was actually able to see the performer. Consider investigating her <i>Carry Them with Us</i> album or her guest appearance on Caroline Polachek's "Blood and Butter".
<p>Beyond the Anonymous Project and Ms Chaimbeul, Thursday was a bit quiet for me. I saw some of <b>African Headcharge</b>, who did a bit of raising people's consciousness. I particularly liked the bit where the singer talked about how happy to be back in Belgium because he just loved Belgium despite everything (that everything probably being a reference to the Belgian Congo, the official most horrendously terrible European colony in Africa); debate ensued as to whether he was actually mixed up as to what country he was in or whether he was taking the piss in some way. Both of these are possible; all those European countries are kind of the same. I also caught a bit of <b>Rəhman Məmmədli</b>, who is from Azerbaijan, where they use the Roman alphabet but with a couple of extra letters thrown in. He plays the guitar in an appealingly liquid way, but part of the fun came from his accompanying musicians (on piano keyboards and a hand drum), who were his sons. The pianist in particular had great chops and kept threatening to overshadow his dad, to the extent that we were imagining him getting a clip round the ear backstage once the concert was over.
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53330440166_2e9e1d503a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53330780850_8d5d5bb011.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>
<p>Peaking too soon is never a good idea at Le Guess Who, so after that set I made my excuses and repaired to bed.
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720312649752/">More Le Guess Who pictures</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-7879218090045104702024-01-08T19:20:00.010+00:002024-01-08T19:20:00.150+00:00Le Guess Who 2023 prologue: Journey to the East<p>Somewhat belatedly I am now going to start telling you about my annual trip to the Netherlands for the Le Guess Who festival. In this instalment I will mainly be talking about my journey to Utrecht, so come back tomorrow if you want to hear about music and stuff like that.
<p>This year we decided to once more travel over to Utrecht without flying. The first leg was a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead, although in practice it felt like the journey had really begun when we boarded the special bus to the ferry port. Our friend Mr B— was also travelling on our ferry. The journey over to Wales was a lot of fun.
<p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53355210044/in/album-72177720312649752/" title="We had a lot of fun on the ferry"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53355210044_9e1edcca09.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="We had a lot of fun on the ferry"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>From Holyhead we got the direct train to London. Some slight Holyhead dawdling meant we weren't able to grab a four seat table, so poor Mr B— was stuck on his own for a bit. But in London we went out to Drummond Street for tasty South Indian food (dosas for the others, thali for greedy me) and then to the Doric Arch for a couple of ales.
<p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53355104723/in/album-72177720312649752/" title="Heading out for dinner"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53355104723_eaae53e1fe.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="Heading out for dinner"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Like a crazy person Mr B— got up super early the following morning, but our Eurostar was at a more leisurely hour. Check-in and security flowed much better than last year… they might have resolved the post-Brexit post-pandemic staffing issues. This time we took steps to make sure we weren't caught by the onboard bar shutting down at lunchtime for a staff changeover at Brussels: we bought sandwiches in London and then picked up wine on the train to lay into when lunchtime arrived. And so like debauched plutocrats we drank French wine and ate sandwiches on a train for our lunch. We also like how the train announcer from Brussels had a great "<a href="https://youtu.be/DPmkILhKXi4?si=_lHESdtVxCes4uWY&t=155">in reality perception</a>" accent.
<p>Arriving in Utrecht we checked into our hotel. No view of the station this time round, but we could star out our window at the cycle track heading up to the Tivoli Vredenburg, which was almost as mesmerising. For dinner we went out for a fancy/expensive meal: a vegetarian rijsttafel (big spread of Indonesian food). It was tasty stuff and we ate it all (or almost all). I'd be on for something similar next year again, but might try Blauw then instead, as it seems to be Utrecht's premier Indonesian restaurant while only being slightly more expensive. But I think what I would really be hoping for is more in the way of Indonesian ambience, by which I mean gamelan: I was a bit disappointed that our restaurant (Selamat Makan) was not treating us to the ringing sounds of the popular music.
<p><a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53355333725/in/album-72177720312649752/" title="Rijsttafel: before"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53355333725_b704973cb8.jpg" width="500" height="500" alt="Rijsttafel: before"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>And so to bed, in preparation for the musical onslaught to come.ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-66657323371811108082024-01-07T19:09:00.000+00:002024-01-07T19:09:36.110+00:00The best short films I saw in 2023I saw some interesting short films in 2023 and these are the ones that impressed me the most. Most of these were shown by the IFI in their Archive at Lunchtime strand of free screenings, while two came up in the Stoneybatter Short Film Festival.
<p><b><i>The War Game</i></b> (Peter Watkins, 1966) Shown as part of the IFI's nuclear season, this was made for the BBC in 1966 but not broadcast for reasons. The most effective parts of the film are the faux documentary scenes looking at the lead-in to and aftermath of nuclear strikes against Britain. As can be imagined, it is pretty intense, with the most troubling scenes for me being the child screaming after being blinded by the flash of a hydrogen bomb exploding 20 miles away or policemen shooting patients a hospital has deemed untreatable. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/47MpKr5Fb1k?si=lbjYt2wbvWOJtFB-" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>The Family</i></b> (Bob Quinn, 1979) This was made for RTÉ but not broadcast until the 1990s. It looks at the Atlantis community in Donegal, who were better known as the Screamers, for reasons that rapidly become apparent. It is fascinating but some of it makes for hard viewing.
<p><b><i>The Unusual Inventions of Henry Cavendish</i></b> (Andrew Legge, 2005) Around the time <i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/04/10/lola-2022/">LOLA</a></i> was out the IFI showed some earlier shorts by the same director. This one is done in the style of an early 20th century silent film and follows the travails of the titular inventor. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v0-fHZnfcxM?si=hvXgA4Gf3ccgdexF" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>The Chronoscope</i></b> (Andrew Legge, 2009) In <i>LOLA</i> the heroines invent a device that allows them to see the future. The 1930s inventress in this short creates a device that allows her to see the past, with disastrous consequences. This highly effective faux documentary presents a mix of talking heads, doctored footage, and filmed segments. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SCKYtPBVeuU?si=x-Hs4Wj3s7pF7HnG" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>Meet the Quare Fella</i></b> (Fred O’Donovan, 1960) 2023 was the centenary of Brendan Behan's birth and the IFI marked this by showing various films associated with the writer. In this one Eamonn Andrews interviews Behan, in a pub. It's funny and engaging, not least because the two men have a clear rapport. But there is an undercurrent of sadness. At one point Behan talks about how he will be viewed when he is in his 70s; he was dead four years later, just 41 years old.
<p><b><i>Brendan Behan's Dublin</i></b> (Norman Cohen, 1966) Made after Behan's death this presents the writer's Dublin, with a posthumous voiceover purporting to be from Behan himself, delivered by Ray McAnally. Aside from the Behan content is is an interesting look at the city just before I started to become familiar with it. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uXhEZN6O02c?si=Fq15IvoEphfs6gJd" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>Flips</i></b> (Luke Corcoran, 2020) A man gets into an argument with his brother at the funeral of his wife. A two-hander with strong performances. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kWCeca-7HRw?si=iW2BaM-qmALNuyZO" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>The Tell-Tale Heart</i></b> (Max Hendrickson, 2023) An impressive animated adaptation of the Edgar Allan Poe story, all the more so because the director was only 16 or so when he made the film. I look forward to nominating this for a 2024 Hugo Award. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s4MuGLJRQbo?si=YSHeoNhu6AWwwBhp" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-68565233686858116472024-01-03T20:30:00.000+00:002024-01-03T20:30:01.028+00:00Great older films I saw for the first time in 2023Here are the most impressive of the older films I saw for the first time in 2023.
<p><i><b>Black Narcissus</i></b> (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1947) Stunningly beautiful film about nuns having problems operating a convent in a remote Himalayan location. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CZRzcLK1Ar0?si=nAeQJ2GEvA41_UzO" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>Don</i></b> (Chandra Barot, 1978) Classic Bollywood film about badass gang boss who is replaced by a doppelganger as part of a complicated police plot to turn the criminal underworld upside down. Features many twists and turns and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUFitnpPihs">amazing</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60LJ1HqNwKM">musical</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyqhPYe0vew">numbers</a>. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/znzNyRVXl2I?si=5eaBJT1Y7vyBUonS" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>Fail Safe</i></b> (Sidney Lumet, 1964) Shown in the IFI as part of a season of nuclear themed films, this basically has the same plot as the better known <i>Doctor Strangelove</i> (US nuclear bombers set off by mistake to attack the USSR and cannot be recalled for reasons) but is not played for laughs and is actually pretty grim. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/owqrRoZMcjs?si=C_hObyKjL1KqSMcp" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/02/08/bowie-film-festival/">The Hunger</a></i></b> (Tony Scott, 1983) Catherine Deneuve is a sexy immortal vampire who wants to recruit Susan Sarandon as her new vampire lover now that David Bowie is starting to rapidly age. Possibly the first film to successfully move the vampire genre from the past into the present; also may have established the idea that real vampires would love hanging out with goths. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g7DzTgy6_Vk?si=5dpw-4i6x2XZhsKA" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>The Muppet Christmas Carol</i></b> (Brian Henson, 1992) Michael Caine stars as Ebenezer Scrooge in a surprisingly faithful muppet-featuring adaptation of Charles Dickens' novella. Actually very moving. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/euz-682_mjo?si=3yB49uLJosXnuici" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>The Outcasts</i></b> (Robert Wynne-Simmons, 1982) Legendary but long lost folk horror film set in Ireland just as the Famine is about to break, centred on a possibly autistic girl discovering magical powers. This restored version might be getting more screenings next year. In the meantime the entire film is on YouTube in not great quality (I couldn't find a trailer). <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tvfKR7Ym_vE?si=5RxyZHyqejtiYB5s" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>The Quare Fellow</i></b> (Arthur Dreifuss, 1962) An adaptation of Brendan Behan's play that apparently takes some liberties with the plot but still struck me as an impressive evocation of Dublin of yore and an indictment of capital punishment. Also features strong early performance by Patrick McGoohan. Another one I could find no trailer for, despite the entire film being on YouTube. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ap-CB3Zi-oY?si=4k0oh8yuwMk66bQD" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>The Red Shoes</i></b> (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1948) Dark but beautiful film set in the world of ballet, centred on a ballerina and the men seeking to control her. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xRV6LPtRUyc?si=l-aHoEqvfFk19hO0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>Serpico</i></b> (Sidney Lumet, 1973) Al Pacino plays an undercover cop who gets into a lot of trouble when he tries to blow the lid on systemic police corruption. Based on a true story but surprisingly funny thanks to Pacino's ever more bizarre undercover cop outfits. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hSZz5RI7KRQ?si=S2i6uBvaAOW0XJ9_" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>Three Colours: Blue</i></b> (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993) Many years ago I saw <i>White</i>, the second of Kieślowski's Colours trilogy, but I think I was too young for it and didn't get it. I'm old enough for Blue now, a beautiful film about grief and the creative process with some very impressive sound work. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hoh3SiB5Lmo?si=uNp0b0CCaQxI4k82" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/08/28/tommy/">Tommy</a></i></b> (Ken Russell, 1975) The plot is nonsensical (kid develops hysterical blindness thanks to childhood trauma before becoming very good at pinball and founding a religion) but the combination of Ken Russell's visual flair and The Who's music makes this a most striking piece of work. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qEWkJRiTp7I?si=IDgahkcUgq8VPtj7" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b>Uptight</i></b> (Jules Dassin, 1968) The original source material for this was Liam O'Flaherty's novel <i>The Informer</i>, set during the Irish Civil War, but Dassin's film is set among African American radicals in the aftermath of Martin Luther King's assassination. The protagonist grasses up a leading militant, but then finds himself being hunted by the other militants and his own guilt, soundtracked atmospherically by Booker T. & the MG's. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kjnEVs79sUU?si=3e_Whp7DFFyMDYOD" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><i><b><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/08/31/ziggy-stardust/">Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars</a></i></b> (D. A. Pennebaker, 1979) Pennebaker's stunning film of David Bowie's last Ziggy Stardust concert, turning the limitations of the technology available to him into a strength. If you've seen <i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/02/08/bowie-film-festival/">Moonlight Daydream</a></i> you will have seen clips of this, but it was great seeing it in full on the big screen with a big sound system. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sc39uFmVQB4?si=jX4hQvCWmkpHHw45" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-32774467191509856562024-01-02T22:43:00.001+00:002024-01-05T19:05:28.493+00:00My favourite new films of 2023Hey look, it's my favourite films of 2023. Included here are films that came out in 2022 that I only got round to seeing in 2023, or films that premiered earlier elsewhere and only hit the big screen in Dublin in 2023.
<p><b><i>Apocalypse Clown</i></b> (George Kane, 2023) A group of clowns find themselves stuck in the Irish midlands when society unexpectedly collapses. Will they be able to survive and achieve their personal goals, or will they fall victim to their sworn enemies, the human statues? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gQ4xIi_-xPI?si=mz5HygB-jSItkz1C" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>Aurora’s Sunrise</i></b> (Inna Sahakyan, 2022) A beautiful film combining interview footage and rotoscoped animation, but about a terrible subject: the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by Turkey around the time of the First World War. I saw it at the IFI's documentary film festival.<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HW1XrO2qUfw?si=HnFU_51FiltgWJ70" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>Asteroid City</i></b> (Wes Anderson, 2023) There's a predictable and comforting quality to Wes Anderson films, although his work is definitely something that people either love or hate. I think the sheer beauty of his films should be more remarked upon. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9FXCSXuGTF4?si=8shCiiiN-THi0_9r" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/02/26/scannain-gaeilge/">An Cailín Ciúin</a></i></b> (Colm Bairéad, 2022) For a quiet girl she does talk a lot, but the film neverthless packs a considerable emotional punch and may single-handedly have rehabilitated the terrible mikado biscuit. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LGWyqty2m-A?si=I2TtCa7QegUiRQgY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/03/11/diff-2023/">Cairo Conspiracy</a></i></b> (also known as <i>Boy from Heaven</i>) (Tarik Saleh, 2022) Tense political thriller set in the Al-Azhar mosque and university in Cairo and the Egyptian government's attempt to rig the election of a new Grand Imam.<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_9p-2k-EaGU?si=wRJw8ISm0yaaq1wf" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>Fallen Leaves</i></b> (Aki Kaurismäki, 2023) A romantic comedy, Finnish style. Funny in a droll way, also moving. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aGxbEmcXLco?si=zOKtbCaONi69PZ5V" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/08/16/king-crimson/">In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50</a></i></b> (Toby Amies, 2022) Somewhat niche music documentary about long-running prog band King Crimson, which mainly focuses on the oddness of their only permanent member, Robert Fripp. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kg3osMG5yK4?si=druwg3kcBweB4i9L" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>Lies We Tell</i></b> (Lisa Mulcahy, 2023) An at times quite intense adaptation of Sheridan Le Fanu's heiress-in-danger novel <i>Uncle Silas</i>. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a8Gc7EB0Bj0?si=q95jCXPVr2khSIMv" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/04/10/lola-2022/">LOLA</a></i></b> (<a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/andrew-legge/">Andrew Legge</a>, 2022) Appealing low budget film about two sisters in 1940s Britain who invent a device that allows them to see the future. Initially they are able to use it to help in the war against Nazi Germany, but then things go horribly wrong. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8uSa8XkogRE?si=n9xKVNGKFHkdgXkm" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/03/11/diff-2023/">Modelo 77</a></i></b> (also known as <i>Prison 77</i>) (Alberto Rodríguez, 2022) Intense prison drama set during an upsurge of prisoner activism during transition to democracy in 1970s Spain. I saw it at the Dublin Film Festival and am surprised that it has not thus far received a general release as it is a stunning piece of work. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L_e8Dp0b_Lg?si=q1ifWZimPgPGxNQ6" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/08/26/four-films/">Pray for Our Sinners</a></i></b> (Sinead O’Shea, 2023) Documentary about the long period of Catholic dominance of Ireland, centred on one town, but a bit less miserable than these things usually are thanks to its focus on resistance to Church power. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wR1OvhIrqls?si=RQjP_rTyQNVBak8q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i>Reality</i></b> (Tina Satter, 2023) Film reconstructing the interrogation and arrest of Reality Winner, who had leaked confidential documents on Russian interference in US elections, with all the dialogue taken from transcripts of her conversations with the FBI agents. Features a stunning central performance from Sydney Sweeney. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pZKeY3Tw6SI?si=9x3dsduz1Md5HG-N" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/02/26/scannain-gaeilge/">Róise & Frank</a></i></b> (Rachael Moriarty & Peter Murphy, 2022) This was the other big Irish language film that came out in 2022 and deals with a bereaved woman who becomes convinced that a stray dog is the reincarnation of her late husband. Poignant and funny. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fFjlffMovgY?si=YvyhI3MiRsbMLjxj" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/04/26/three-colours-rye-lane/">Rye Lane</a></i></b> (Raine Allen-Miller, 2023) Likeable romantic comedy set in south London. Notable for its avoidance of stereotypes about its almost entirely black cast of characters and for moving beyond manic pixie dream girl clichés. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LZ9dZBfo4zY?si=uG2oBoQRfq7SayHt" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/08/26/four-films/">Sick of Myself</a></i></b> (Kristoffer Borgli, 2022) Funny but dark Norwegian film about a woman who starts faking ever more bizarre illnesses to upstage her boyfriend, a popular but terrible artist. It feels like it is set in a similar milieu to <i>The Worst Person In The World</i> but is far edgier. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v_bomXt64MU?si=IzmfDHseB0jWf2LQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><b><i><a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/09/01/hipgnosis/">Squaring the Circle: the Story of Hipgnosis</a></i></b> (Anton Corbijn, 2022) A documentary about the guys who designed almost all the memorable 1970s rock album covers. Features lots of cool music from the 1970s. Also features Noel Gallagher for no obvious reason. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O1OuRErYtqc?si=-5vqNYwf0ixcYR24" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>Readers may notice I have not included either of last year's event films, <i>Barbie</i> or <i>Oppenheimer</i>. I liked them both well enough, but I liked other things more.ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-79616240011510071482024-01-01T18:38:00.000+00:002024-01-01T18:38:07.491+00:00My most played music of 2023<p>Because no one asked for it, here are lists of my most played music from 2023, according to iTunes. Please note these are my most played pieces of music, not my favourites.
<p>First of all, music released in 2023, in reverse order by how often I have played these tunes.
<p>10. <b>Unthank | Smith</b> "Red Wine Promises"
<p>This is from the <i>Nowhere and Everywhere</i> album released by Rachel Unthank (of the Unthanks) and Paul Smith (of Maxïmo Park). The song is a cover of Lal Waterson's song from the criminally unavailable 1972 album <i>Bright Phoebus</i>.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1eh7bhBeSHU?si=NUq3efxp357ja4mQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>9. <b>Natalia Beylis & Eimear Reidy</b> "Pour upon the Sky"
<p>This is from the album <i><a href="https://nyahhrecords.bandcamp.com/album/she-came-through-the-window-to-stand-by-the-door">She Came in Through the Window to Stand by the Door</a></i>, which was recorded in a church in Leitrim, with Beylis on organ and Reidy playing cello.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3SbQdRzGwD4?si=qny-lZiN5GjQIMXN" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>8. <b>Roger Doyle</b>"This The Way To The Museyroom"
<p>And this comes from <i><a href="https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/album/finnegans-wake-suite-of-affections-volume-2">Finnegan's Wake | Suites of Affection volume 2</a></i>, the second of albums on which veteran Irish electronic music star Roger Doyle combines music to actors reading sections of James Joyce's widely read novel. This track features the voice of Dearbhla Crotty.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NLsMAaWTBoQ?si=NZWMSfPfmO-XkD5t" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>7. <b>Brìghde Chaimbeul</b> "Banish The Giant of Doubt & Despair"
<p>From <i><a href="https://brighdechaimbeul.bandcamp.com/album/carry-them-with-us">Carry Them with Us</a></i>, Chaimbeul's album of music for the Scottish small pipes.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l-2YeHwAjjc?si=6qnrGRVvAlGBko07" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>6. <b>Lankum</b> "Go Dig My Grave"
<p>The opening track on <i><a href="https://lankum.bandcamp.com/album/false-lankum">False Lankum</a></i>, Lankum's wildly successful third album under that name.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qhqpQiXnFx0?si=_x4KC25sGf6oG_X4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>5. <b>The Anchoress</b> "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
<p>A cover version of the popular Joy Division tune, downloadable from <a href="https://iamtheanchoress.bandcamp.com/track/love-will-tear-us-apart">Bandcamp</a>.
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 442px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=3108108703/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://iamtheanchoress.bandcamp.com/track/love-will-tear-us-apart">Love Will Tear Us Apart by The Anchoress</a></iframe>
<p>4. <b>Blanca Paloma</b> "Eaea"
<p>Spain's weirdo pop entry for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. It didn't win.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NGnEoSypBhE?si=AValpeHPgCibBQ-u" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>3. <b>Orbital</b> "Ringa Ringa (The Old Pandemic Folk Song)"
<p>The opening track from <i><a href="https://orbitalofficial.bandcamp.com/album/optical-delusion">Optical Delusion</a></i> sees the Hartnoll brothers joined by The Mediaeval Baebes, an outfit I had always written off as belonging to the "Lovely Girls" end of folk music.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DNxGpMySziQ?si=JfTgwOZxdr0arka0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>2. <b>Mombi Yuleman</b> "Fellowship of Heretics"
<p>From the compilation album <i><a href="https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-abandoned-monasteries">Music for Abandoned Monasteries</a></i>.
<iframe style="border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1916374076/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/track=1690768400/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://eighthtowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-abandoned-monasteries">Music For Abandoned Monasteries by Mombi Yuleman</a></iframe>
<p>1. <b>Ursa Major Moving Group</b> "Reverse Invisible"
<p>This is opening track to the self-titled album by <a href="https://ursamajormovinggroup.bandcamp.com/album/ursa-major-moving-group">Ursa Major Moving Group</a>, the trading name of multi-instrumentalist Ursula Russell. I think it was hearing this or another track from the album being played by John Kelly or Bernard Clarke on Lyric that turned me onto UMMG. As yet their appeal remains selective.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j6p2W-A0T7s?si=jl94jnVfDGdMwWnm" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>And here are the 10 pre-2023 tunes that I added in that year and I listened to the most in 2023.
<p>10. <b>The Free Music</b> "Free Music I"
<p>From the <a href="https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/">Habibi Funk</a> album <i><a href="https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-021-free-music-part-1">Free Music (Part 1)</a></i>, this is a reissue of funk music originally released at some point in the past in the band's native Libya.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dD6l5WpIaok?si=-u1FeMWpm4Y14aoY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>9. <b>Roger Doyle</b> "Chalant"
<p>From his 2014 album <i><a href="https://rogerdoyle1.bandcamp.com/album/time-machine">Time Machine</a></i>, on which Doyle combines newly composed music with old answering machine messages.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GRzW_7syNh4?si=m6Qo00pvNInfSOo3" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>8. <b>D-Shake</b> "Techno Trance (Paradise is Now)"
<p>A 1992 classic I tracked down after hearing snippets of it in Jeremy Deller's <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Thr8PUAQuag">Everybody in the Place</a></i> documentary. Come on!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GZrGawpPKZg?si=088UztFZRkebi3U2" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>7. <b>DEHD</b> "Control"
<p>From their 2022 album <a href="https://dehdforever.bandcamp.com/album/blue-skies"><i>Blue Skies</a></i>. I was impressed by Dehd when I saw them supporting Dry Cleaning, but have been a bit underwhelmed by them on record.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5m4prNd0llI?si=Z-7RbiNVQY0mxj8d" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>6. <b>Richard Pinhas</b> "Metatron/Shaddaï/Chabbataï"
<p>From the 2006 album <a href="https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/metatron"><i>Metatron</i></a>. Not sure how I first of this record… I suspect it was recommended by one of my Frank's APA buds.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mAbAyIevRpg?si=WtOQo_dewJR7YKwa" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>5. <b>Desire</b> "Black Latex"
<p>From the <a href="https://italiansdoitbetter.bandcamp.com/">Italians Do It Better</a> artists' 2022 album <a href="https://primitivedesire.bandcamp.com/album/escape"><i>Escape</i></a>.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/40jz6tpuGBM?si=IANHI5wJILs6jfmw" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>4. <b>The Incredible String Band</b> "Chinese White"
<p>From the 1967 album <i>The 5000 Spirits Or The Layers Of The Onion</i>.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EvPP1uHz7xg?si=XNXAURKDlrRIM3MZ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>3. <b>Pankisi Ensemble</b> "Deli Rezi Khilva Shuna"
<p>From the 2022 <a href="https://oredrecordings.bandcamp.com/">Ored Recordings</b> album <a href="https://oredrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/pankisi-ensemble-music-of-kists-chechens-of-georgia"><i>Music of Kists, Chechens of Georgia</i></a>. I'm no anthropologist, but I understand the Kists to be a Georgian resident community related to the nearby Chechens. They are particularly associated with the Pankisi Gorge area of Georgia.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DpIoY2s5fy4?si=vY-YQ4Q0R2ZLVQ_b" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>2. <b>Weyes Blood</b> "A Lot's Gonna Change"
<p>This is from Ms Blood's 2019 album <a href="https://weyesblood.bandcamp.com/album/titanic-rising"><i>Titanic Rising</i></a>.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7OrVUk61wHE?si=iN4RwUafoDf20slt" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p>1. <b>Aoife Wolf</b> "The Woman Who Shot Andy Warhol" The Wetlands
<p>From her 2022 mini-album <a href="https://aoife-wolf.bandcamp.com/album/the-wetlands"><i>The Wetlands</i></a>. Aoife Wolf has the air of someone who might break through into the kind of minor fame that people I like sometimes enjoy, so perhaps I will turn out to be ahead of the curve.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WKVQaexnRUI?si=rKkuBAeQIUUZ0CU_" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-83214549257619864002023-10-29T13:58:00.002+00:002023-10-29T13:58:29.434+00:00The first marathon and the runner's strange encounter<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53294060186/" title="Marathon runners"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53294060186_66f0e47c76.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Marathon runners"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>I went out to have a look at the people running the Dublin City Marathon this morning as they came through Stoneybatter. I think Marathon runners are barking mad but you have to admire the effort they put in. Sadly I managed to miss all the people I know who were taking part.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53294310373/in/photostream/" title="Team Rory"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53294310373_8364033b9e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Team Rory"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyridon_Louis"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Spyridon_Louis_1896.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>If you know anything about marathons you have probably heard the story of the original marathon. In 490 BC the Persians had their first go at invading Greece, but were defeated at the battle of Marathon by the people of Athens. After the battle, the Athenians feared that the remaining Persians would sail around the coast to Athens and trick the Athenians into letting them into the city by pretending to have won the battle. To forestall this, Pheidippides ran the 26 miles from the battle site to Athens, informed the citizens that the battle had been won, and then died of exhaustion. In honour of Pheidippides the first modern Olympic games introduced the marathon race, with Spyridon Loues of Greece emulating his forebear by winning the race (he managed not to die of exhaustion).
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; " src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/Phidippides.jpg/770px-Phidippides.jpg?20160521163237" border="0" alt="" /></a>The only problem with the story of Pheidippides running to Athens to bring word of victory is that it is almost certainly a complete fiction. The only ancient source for it is in the writings of Lucian of Samosata, who wrote some 600 years after the battle. Surviving sources that are much closer to the event do not mention Pheidippides running to Athens; writing around 60 years later Herodotus actually says that the entire Athenian army hurried back to the city, with no runner sent ahead.
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/detail/22984/Peter-Baczek/Pheidippides-Meeting-Pan"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px;" src="https://www.annexgalleries.com/images/items/large/22984/Pheidippides-Meeting-Pan-by-Peter-Baczek.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Herodotus does however mention Pheidippides, who seems to have actually been a runner. His story is so bizarre that I feel it should be better known. Before the battle of Marathon, he ran from Athens to Sparta (c. 240 kilometres) in two days to seek the aid of the Spartans. The Spartans were unfortunately unable to help because they were enjoying a religious festival (a recurring theme), so Pheidippides had to run back home to tell the Athenians that they were on their own. On arriving back in Athens however, he reported that as he ran over the Tegean mountains he met none other than the god Pan. Pan called Pheidippides by name and then asked why the Athenians did not honour Him, despite the fact that He was friendly towards them, had aided them in the past, and would do so again in the future. The Athenians took heed of Pheidippides' message. After defeating the Persians, they erected a shrine to Pan and honoured Him each year with an annual ceremony.
<p>I have seen this shrine myself, so Herodotus's story must be true.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/20970893984/in/album-72157658488355459/" title="Sanctuary of Pan"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/749/20970893984_b206e8f8e4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Sanctuary of Pan"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><i>images, other than my own:</i>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyridon_Louis">Spyridon Loues</a> (Wikipedia)
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides">Pheidippides bringing word of victory to Athens, by Luc-Olivier Merson</a> (Wikipedia: Phedippides)
<p><a href="https://www.annexgalleries.com/inventory/detail/22984/Peter-Baczek/Pheidippides-Meeting-Pan">Pheidippides meeting Pan, by Peter Baczek</a> (The Annex Galleries)ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-76858867290158775802023-09-14T17:19:00.014+01:002023-09-14T17:19:00.134+01:00film: "Squaring the Circle: the Story of Hipgnosis" (2022)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://filmforum.org/film/squaring-the-circle-the-story-of-hipgnosis"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://filmforum.org/do-not-enter-or-modify-or-erase/client-uploads/_1000w/SQUARING_THE_CIRCLE_slideshow.png" border="0" alt="" /></a>This is the film about those guys that did all those great prog record covers in the 1970s. It is fairly straightforward formally, with an interview with surviving Hipgnosis guy Aubrey "Po" Powell intercut with older footage of the late Storm Thorgerson and contributions from other people (some more relevant than others), all combined with images of the record covers they designed and music from those records. There is no interview footage with Peter Christopherson, who joined Hipgnosis in the mid-1970s, which might be just as well. The trailer had suggested that the film was going to be a lot of boring talking heads droning on about record covers, but that proved to be misleading. Instead the film combined the interview footage with music and images to make for an appealing <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_%28Pink_Floyd_album%29"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px; " src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Pink_Floyd-Animals-Frontal.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>gestalt. If you were broadly familiar with the Hipgnosis story then perhaps the film would not tell you too much, but listening to Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd blasting out on a big cinema's sound system while watching the album covers roll over the screen makes for an enjoyable way to spend time.
<p>One thing I wondered about while watching the film was the presence in it of Noel Gallagher. Hipgnosis did none of his record covers and in any case his band were releasing records long after original Hipgnosis had folded (split up by monetary differences and concerns about how to navigate the changing artistic climate of the 1980s). Every time Gallagher appeared on screen I felt like shouting "What the fuck are you doing here?". It is a well known fact that music documentaries often have irrelevant but well-known figures shoehorned in by the production team on the basis that it will be easier to secure distribution if the film features Bongo yapping away, so initially I was wondering if that was what was going on here. And <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houses_of_the_Holy"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 350px;" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Led_Zeppelin_-_Houses_of_the_Holy.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>yet <i>Squaring the Circle</i> features contributions from a Beatle, two members of Led Zeppelin, and all surviving former members of Pink Floyd, as well as Roger Dean and Peter Saville. That's such a high yield line-up that it's hard to see why it would be felt necessary to pad it out with Noel Gallagher. So why was Noel Gallagher in the film?
<p>After the fact I found myself thinking that maybe Gallagher's presence was a bit less irrelevant than I had initially thought. The other people in the film all talk about the creation of album covers, but he was the only person who really talked about how someone buying records engaged with them. I think that was a perspective worth having, even if Gallagher did occasionally find himself approaching "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N66OWMQqsxA">And now I've got to make my own tea</a>" territory.
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<p><i>images:</i>
<p><a href="https://filmforum.org/film/squaring-the-circle-the-story-of-hipgnosis">Aubrey Powell & Storm Thorgerson</a> (Film Forum: "Squaring the Circle (the Story of Hipgnosis)")
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals_%28Pink_Floyd_album%29"><i>Animals</i></a> (Wikipedia)
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houses_of_the_Holy"><i>Houses of the Holy</i></a> (Wikipedia)
ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-78084880685648697562023-09-13T17:16:00.004+01:002023-09-13T17:16:00.136+01:00film: "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" (1979)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-night-ziggy-stardust-died/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/GettyImages-592345464.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Another anniversary screening, but this time the anniversary of the concert the film records and not the actual release of the picture. It was made by D. A. Pennebaker and the 1973 concert filmed was the one where <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/david-bowie/">Bowie</a> made his "this is the last show we will ever do" announcement from the stage, retiring the Ziggy Stardust persona and breaking up the band, but suggesting to the audience that he was giving up completely.
<p>The story behind the film's shooting is fascinating: originally commissioned to shoot a few of the concert's songs for a short promotional film, Pennebaker was so impressed by the music and Bowie's charisma and decided to shoot the whole thing, with Bowie's management company stumping up the cash. In shooting he faced some severe problems, in particular the low lighting of the stage (he attempted to get round this by focussing on Bowie himself, who was spotlit, and encouraging audience members to take as many flash photos as possible; the finished product still looks very dark). Sound was also a problem, I suspect because the recording of live concerts was still rather in its infancy. Then after the film was shot, Bowie lost interest in it: having retired the Ziggy Stardust persona he wasn't that pushed about revisiting the final Ziggy concert, so he did not devote himself to the musical post-production the film needed, with the result that it languished unmixed and uncompleted for years. I think some of the footage appeared on television but it was only in 1979 that a completed version showed up at a festival and only in the early 1980s that it received a limited theatrical release, at which point it must have seemed like a relic of a forgotten past.
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://variety.com/2023/music/news/david-bowie-killed-ziggy-stardust-1235660172/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Ziggy50-Trailer-V8-stills.00_00_07_21.Still005.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>And the film itself is AMAZING. Whatever about the limitations Pennebaker had to contend with, the finished product is a stunning evocation of a peak Bowie concert. The somewhat grainy images feel almost like a deliberate attempt to create some distance from the slicker concert footage of more recent years, while the reaction shots of the overexcited members of the audience give a sense of Bowie's emotional hold over his audience.
<p>There were some odd moments. Later in the concert the band were joined by <s>Nigel Tufnell</s> Jeff Beck on guitar. You get the sense that Bowie and the Spiders are all "Fuck me, it's Jeff Beck!", while the audience are more "Who's this old guy?"
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<p>Watching it in the cinema felt as close to actually being there as can be imagined. It was fun sensing the distinction between gig and film screening dissolving for people in the cinema. After the first song or two people were starting to applaud between songs, while the end of "Ziggy Stardust" saw salutes for Mick Ronson and his soloing. I know some people are all "but why would you clap at a film? the people in it can't hear you", but I think they miss the point that seeing films in the cinema is a collective experience.
<p>And yet it is a sad film. This is the concert where Bowie announced that he was breaking up the band (causing dismay to members of the original audience, who thought that he himself was giving up). It is quite poignant watching this amazing performance when you know that these musicians would never play together again. Mick Ronson and Bowie in particular seem to have a telepathic link and it feels like it is against the natural order of things for them to have gone their separate ways.
<p>For technical reasons the cinema was unable to bring us all the introductory crap that was meant to precede the film, which was nice.
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<p><i>images:</i>
<p><a href="https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/the-night-ziggy-stardust-died/">Arrival</a> (The New European: "The night Ziggy Stardust died")
<p><a href="https://variety.com/2023/music/news/david-bowie-killed-ziggy-stardust-1235660172/">Backstage</a> (Variety: "Why David Bowie Killed Ziggy Stardust, 50 Years Ago Today")ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-80927648292999300732023-09-12T17:11:00.003+01:002023-09-12T17:11:00.136+01:00Some further thoughts on "The Wicker Man" (1973)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://warped-perspective.com/index.php/2021/11/24/the-willing-fool-the-spectacle-of-the-wicker-man-by-robert-j-e-simpson/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://warped-perspective.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/The-Wicker-Man-feature.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>There is a bit of a vogue these days for 50th anniversary screenings of films, but it's never enough for them to just show the fucking film: they also force you to sit through the kind of bonus feature material that on a DVD you'd probably choose to ignore or maybe watch once some rainy afternoon while bored. So in this case an anniversary screening of <i><a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Wicker%20Man">The Wicker Man</a></i> was preceded by a recording of a concert in which some musicians (all of whom were born after the film came out) played songs that appear in it, together with a series of interviews, including with Britt Ekland, two of director Robin Hardy's sons, a film critic, etc. It was in fact not uninteresting, with Britt Ekland in particular giving good celebrity bantz, but I don't think I would describe any of the bonus material as essential.
<p>The film itself… well obviously it is amazing; it's not for nothing that I never turn down a chance to see it. And there's always an element of version bingo when you see <i>The Wicker Man</i>, with different versions varying in length and featuring unique scenes.
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<p>This I think was the final cut version, which giving Howie two nights on the island. This is good as it means we are treated to "Gently Johnny", probably the film's best song. But it also meant that there was a pointless mainland scene at the start, in which we see Howie doing some religious stuff in a church (especially pointless as the same scene appears in flashback later). It still left me pondering one of the great unanswered questions of <i>The Wicker Man</i>: to what Christian denomination does Howie belong? His in-your-face god bothering comes across as stereotypically Presbyterian, but the mainland church scene looks a bit high church. Could Howie be an Anglican or even (shudder) a Papist? I suspect the filmmakers were not being too careful in their representation of Scottish Christianity.
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://rogersmovienation.com/2022/06/14/classic-film-review-they-shouldve-known-better-than-to-try-and-nic-cage-a-classic-the-wicker-man-1973/"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; " src="https://rogermooresmovienation.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/wicker2.jpeg" border="0" alt="" /></a>One other thing struck me about the film, which maybe occurs to me every time I see it and is then forgotten afterwards: even in the two day version of the film, there is something a bit odd about the timescale. Think about what we are shown of Howie's actions. At the start of the film Howie lands on the island. After an initial conversation with the harbourmaster and a bunch of old lads, he goes and briefly interviews Rowan Morrison's mother about her daughter. And then it is dark, so he goes to the pub for his dinner and to bed down for the night. But it's summer in the Hebrides: it wouldn't be getting dark that early. What does Howie do between meeting Rowan's mother and going to the pub?
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<p><i>images:</i>
<p><a href="https://warped-perspective.com/index.php/2021/11/24/the-willing-fool-the-spectacle-of-the-wicker-man-by-robert-j-e-simpson/">The Wicker Man</a> (Warped Perspective: "<i>The Willing Fool: the Spectacle of the Wicker Man</i> by Robert J. E. Simpson")
<p><a href="https://rogersmovienation.com/2022/06/14/classic-film-review-they-shouldve-known-better-than-to-try-and-nic-cage-a-classic-the-wicker-man-1973/">Islanders</a> (Movie Nation: "Classic Film Review: They should’ve known better than to try and Nic Cage a Classic — <i>The Wicker Man</i> (1973))ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-68581435758255584792023-09-11T17:57:00.005+01:002023-09-11T17:57:00.134+01:00Hurry on Down to Music Town (The Complex)Music Town was a series of concerts taking place around a weekend in various venues within The Complex (a new-ish venue just off Jervis Street). It was billed a festival, but each event was ticketed separately, making it easy to cherry pick the concerts that most appealed to your taste.
<p>The first event I saw a concert on the Thursday evening saw a collection of acts that would not have been out of place at the greatly missed <a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/search/label/Hunters%20Moon">Hunter's Moon</a> festival. First up was <b>Aoife Wolf</b>, who was probably the person on the bill I was most interested in seeing, as her recorded work suggests she is an artist of great promise. Unfortunately for me, her set started at 7.00 pm and I arrived at 7.20, which meant I missed most of her short set. I did at least catch her doing a song written on a haunted piano and an impressive cover of Sinéad O'Connor's "Mandinka". Check her out on <a href="https://aoife-wolf.bandcamp.com/">Bandcamp</a>.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53079356298/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="Eimear Reidy & Natalia Beylis"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53079356298_b910c47d49.jpg" width="500" height="425" alt="Eimear Reidy & Natalia Beylis"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Next there was <b>Natalia Beylis and Eimear Reidy</b>. Reidy played cello while Beylis played keyboards and electronic stuff. This was an amazingly immersive piece of work that I would have happily listened to all evening. From chatting to other attendees I sensed that this collaboration had a strong impact on everyone who heard it, even those who were unfamiliar with the previous work of each musician. "Oh my God, that was amazing, what was it?" was a typical reaction. Their album <i><a href="https://nataliabeylis.bandcamp.com/album/whose-woods-these-are">Whose Woods These Are</a></i> is worth the time it would take you to investigate it.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53079055604/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="Adrian Crowley sits down"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53079055604_eb778979a6.jpg" width="483" height="500" alt="Adrian Crowley sits down"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Then came <b>Adrian Crowley</b>, playing on his own but with some pre-prepared accompaniment. He is an odd figure: a fixture on the Irish music scene but someone who has neither become very successful nor slunk away into the margins as an embittered eccentric muttering about how the business failed him. Instead he just keeps going on, playing to his fans and popping up at events like this. To some extent I find the idea of Adrian Crowley more interesting than the music he makes, but it's not as though I have ever properly investigated it. His stage demeanour is intriguing, an odd but appealing blend of nervousness and confidence. He has an extensive <a href="https://adriancrowley.bandcamp.com/music">back catalogue</a>.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53078286772/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="Anna Mieke"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53078286772_092dfed530.jpg" width="496" height="500" alt="Anna Mieke"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>And finally <b>Anna Mieke</b>. She sings songs and plays guitar and she had other musicians playing with her. For me she suffered from being so late on the bill at a point where I was a bit *tired*, but I think her work might replay further investigation. Her guitar playing in particular is very impressive. She is also on <a href="https://annamieke.bandcamp.com">Bandcamp</a>.
<p>I should note that I was somewhat star struck during the above concert as I think I was sitting across an aisle from <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/cormorant-tree-oh/">Cormorant Tree Oh</a>, hardly a household name but an artist of singular talent who would have fitted well onto the night's bill.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/53139742348/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="IMG_7911 I Dreamed I Dream 01"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53139742348_61be95560f.jpg" width="500" height="462" alt="IMG_7911 I Dreamed I Dream 01"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>I sat out Music Town on Friday, but did go to another concert on the Saturday. This turned out to be a mistake as instead of the Hunter's Moon adjacent stuff of the Thursday this was all entry level music for young people. The draw for me was <b>I Dreamed I Dream</b> being on the bill, as I found them entertaining when I saw them supporting the Wormholes in the National Concert Hall. They are an all woman punk-influenced band from Cork with terrifying hair and an appealing art-rock ethos. I quite enjoyed their set but after they finished I felt increasingly out of place and left for the comfort of my pipe and slippers.
<p>On the last night of the festival I saw <b><a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/search/label/Crash%20Ensemble">Crash Ensemble</a></b> performing Philip Glass's <i>Glassworks</i>. This is a six movement piece from 1982 written by Glass to push his music to a wider audience. The individual movements are fairly self-contained and the piece is album length (originally the cassette release was mixed specifically for Walkman listeners). The opening piano piece sounded familiar without feeling like it was doing the Philip Glass fast-slow thing, and was then echoed by the closer. The middle sections were doing the fast-slow thing, combined with non-verbal vocals and the like. The instruments used by the small ensemble involved both traditional instruments and synthesisers; I would love to know how the scoring worked for the latter.
<p>Maybe now when you know <i>Koyaanisqatsi</i> backwards this all feels almost cosily familiar in style terms, but you can see how <i>Glassworks</i> would have blown people's minds back in 1982. Even with the familiarity Glass's music enjoys now this still packed a punch, making this a candidate for live performance of the year.
<p>So that was it for Music Town. I felt I only scratched the surface with the festival, as there were other evening concerts I missed, as well as ones happening in the afternoon. There was also a whole jazz strand that I completely failed to engage with, for all that I wuv jazz. I'm not sure Music Town entirely gelled as a festival, feeling more like a series of disparate gigs with not much of an overlapping theme. I would be curious as to how much overlap there was between the audiences of the separate concerts; my impression is not much. That might perhaps be addressed in future Music Town festivals by the introduction of all-in ticketing, though that might lead to its own complications.
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720306055871">More concert photos</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-52775755993321944462023-09-10T17:52:00.004+01:002023-09-10T17:52:00.129+01:00Film: "Tommy" (1975)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/22/tommy-review-ken-russells-the-who-rock-opera-pinball-wizard"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/79de936bf0c2ab6662204f7a141e52ecc9bd1127/0_0_1811_1087/master/1811.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none" border="0" alt="" /></a>Ken Russell's film adaptation of the Who's rock opera appeared recently in the Light House for one night only, perhaps as a tribute to the recently deceased Tina Turner. It feels like the kind of film everyone in the world has seen before, but if I managed to reach my advanced years without previously seeing it then maybe this is also true of other people. The plot is fairly nonsensical: childhood trauma gives the eponymous Tommy hysterical deafness and dumbness, but then it turns out that he is very good at pinball and he somehow becomes a messianic figure for the young people (and seems to appear in an advertisement for jeans). The music is great though, the Who's power pop sounds leaving me wondering why there isn't more of their tunes in my life. It is also very impressive visually, with the various striking images and surreal presentation generating a desire for the IFI to present a season of Ken Russell works (hopefully also featuring <i><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p025nr86">Your Honour, I Object</a></i>, the BBC <i>Arena</i> documentary about his legal difficulties with Bob Guccione of <i>Penthouse</i>, one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen on television).
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<p>It is actually amazing to think that there was a time when this kind of surreal nonsense could find its way into the cinema. But there were other aspects of the film that marked it out as a film of the past. In particular, having Tommy's kiddie fiddler Uncle Ernie being played for laughs by Keith Moon fell heavily into "you wouldn't be able to do that now" territory.
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://movie-villains.fandom.com/wiki/Uncle_Ernie"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px;" src="https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/movie-villains/images/c/ca/UncleErnie.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>After seeing the film I listened intensively to <i>Who's Next</i>, the only one of the band's albums I have. It's great, obviously, but I was struck in particular by the drumming. It is strange how Moon was such a complete fuck up of a human being and yet capable of such incredible playing. To some extent you could say the same about Pete Townshend, someone with pretensions towards being a serious artistic figure who at the same time engaged in the puerile trashing of hotel rooms (without getting into his various later "research interests"). In general though I am really struck by what a tight band the four of them were, to the extent that I am now contemplating buying Live at Leeds (on vinyl, so that I don't get all the extra crap).
<p>I also found myself thinking of the film of <i>The Wall</i>. I have never seen that, but I am familiar with the record and remember watching the televised concert Roger Waters did in the Berlin to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall (he is very literal). I'm going to be hardline here: the music of <i>The Wall</i> is mostly terrible, with all the good stuff on the first side of the first vinyl disc. But as with <i>Tommy</i>, I could imagine the film working as spectacle even while Waters' endless moaning about the travails of the rock star life might result in me shouting "well jack it in and get a proper fucking job then".
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<p><i>images:</i>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/22/tommy-review-ken-russells-the-who-rock-opera-pinball-wizard">Wrangler mania</a> (Guardian: "Tommy review – Ken Russell's mad rock opera is a fascinating time capsule")
<p><a href="https://movie-villains.fandom.com/wiki/Uncle_Ernie">Uncle Ernie</a> (Movie Villains Wiki)ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-48822389329991289402023-09-09T17:50:00.006+01:002023-09-09T17:50:00.131+01:00The Young'Uns (Pavilion Theatre)As you may know, <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/the-younguns/">The Young'Uns</a> are a trio of singers and musicians from the north east of England. Their background is in folk music, the name being given to them by the old lags when they were starting out in the folk clubs. While I associate them primarily with sea shanties and unaccompanied tunes featuring close vocal harmonies, a considerable chunk of their oeuvre is made up of original songs, with these taking up most of the night's setlist. These ones are typically accompanied by members of band playing piano or guitar and are much less driven by vocal harmonies. I used to grumble at the preponderance of the original tunes in the Young'Uns' sets and recordings, but I have come to really appreciate them and like the contrast they present to the shanties.
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.irishnews.com/arts/music/2023/04/01/news/sean_cooney_of_the_young_uns_on_immortalising_lyra_mckee_and_richard_moore_on_powerful_new_album_tiny_notes-3173574/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://binaries.irishnews.com/2023/03/29/181707771-d96ec8ac-4deb-491a-bb9c-24c7d041a912.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>The original Young'Uns tunes are often about real people, recounting poignant or uplifting stories about their battles against adversity or their efforts to make the world a better place. So you have songs about a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/paige-hunter-sunderland-bridge-suicide-b1859195.html">woman who leaves little notes</a> on a bridge encouraging would-be suicides not to jump, <a href="https://www.folkradio.co.uk/2017/08/the-younguns-ghafoors-bus-strangers/">a man who makes meals for refugees</a> stuck outside Calais, a young guy who was flying to meet his girlfriend in New York when his plane was brought down by the Lockerbie bombing, a <a href="https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2020/09/07/news/derry-man-blinded-by-rubber-bullet-immortalised-in-song-2058010/">Derry man blinded by a rubber bullet</a> who went on to meet and befriend the soldier who took his sight, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/24/david-nott-war-doctor-extract-aleppo-gaza-syria-surgeon">British trauma surgeon</a> who found himself saving the life of an ISIS fighter in Aleppo while other ISIS fighters stood around with guns, oblivious to the kidnappable Westerner in front of them. And so on. Described coldly these subjects sound like they could produce songs of sickening sentimentality, but they somehow work and prove to be genuinely moving, with even the most jaded cynics in the audience feeling the occasional tear in their eye (their song "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD1ZayVjR9c">Lyra</a>" wa the one that did for me).
<p>The other odd thing about the Young'Uns is that they are rofflers, or in particular David Eagle (who also plays piano) is. I think we needed that as the songs on their own could be pretty heavy, but it was a strange type of laughter you would get when a song about suicide was followed by Eagle cracking a joke about having played a bum note. They also used switches to shanties or uplifting vocal tunes as palate cleansers.
<p>So all in all an enjoyable concert. And not just for me: also in the audience was Irish trad deity Christy Moore, although I completely failed to clock him and it was my beloved who mentioned that he had been in front of me in the merch queue. I think he was left to enjoy the concert in peace, which was nice.
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<p><i>image:</i>
<p><a href="https://www.irishnews.com/arts/music/2023/04/01/news/sean_cooney_of_the_young_uns_on_immortalising_lyra_mckee_and_richard_moore_on_powerful_new_album_tiny_notes-3173574/">Irish News: "Sean Cooney of The Young'uns on immortalising Lyra McKee and Richard Moore on powerful new album Tiny Notes"</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-1955141339541125352023-09-08T17:46:00.001+01:002023-09-08T17:46:00.152+01:00Four Films: "Sick of Myself" (2022), "Dungeons and Dragons: Honor among Thieves" (2023), "Pray for Our Sinners" (2023), "Barber" (2023)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_of_Myself_%28film%29"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; " src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/40/Sick_of_Myself_%28film%29.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><i><b>Sick of Myself</b></i> is another one of those Norwegian films about a woman whose problematic behaviour is masked by her sizzling nature. But although you can imagine the characters from this film appearing at parties with their counterparts in <i>The Worst Person In The World</i>, this feels like a very different film. <i>Sick of Myself</i> sees Kristine Kujath Thorp playing Signe, half of a terrible couple (their awful nature is established in the opening scene, where they order a €1,000 bottle of wine in a restaurant and then run off with it without paying). She works in a coffee shop while her partner Thomas makes terrible art from stolen furniture; for inexplicable reasons, Thomas' bullshit art starts becoming popular. Resentful of the attention he is receiving, Signe starts pretending to be ill, progressing from trying to get dogs to bite her to faking a nut allergy and then to buying dark web medications with horrendous side effects. It's funny, but in a deeply uncomfortable way.
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<p><i><b>Dungeons & Dragons: Honor </i>[sic]<i> among Thieves</b></i> is OK and has some entertaining bits but is not as good as some people said it was. No cleric, no credibility.
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<p>Directed by Sinéad O'Shea, <i><b>Pray for Our Sinners</b></i> is a fascinating documentary about the social control exercised by the Catholic Church in Ireland in past decades, focussing on Navan, the filmmaker's home town. But the emphasis here is on resistance to that social control, which makes it a bit less miserable than other works looking at the same subject. Part of the film deals with unmarried mothers being forced to give up babies for adoption (and work by a couple of local doctors to protect these women and assist them in holding onto their offspring), but another major focus is extreme corporal punishment in church-controlled schools, where again the doctors were in the vanguard of resistance (triggered initially by a child's parent coming to the doctor's for a note asking the school to only beat him on his left arm as his right arm was too injured). One of my films of the year, but might not travel that well outside Ireland.
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<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.hotpress.com/film-tv/aidan-gillen-we-wanted-barber-to-capture-the-essence-of-modern-dublin-and-make-it-look-beautiful-22963428"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://media.hotpress.com/uploads/2023/04/19113706/BARBER_AIDAN_GILLEN_22-1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><i><b>Barber</b></i> crept into the IFI and then swiftly disappeared, which is unfortunate as I think it deserved a better reception. It's an attempt at making an Irish neo-noir, with Aiden Gillen playing the eponymous private detective hired to look into the disappearance of a young college student from a well-off but troubled family. It had proper murky-levels-of-intrigue stuff but what I thought was an impressive twist on noir conventions was Barber being a former cop who had been quietly hustled out of the Guards after his superiors discovered his being in a same sex relationship. Sadly the film then did not have the courage of its convictions, because after dealing well with some awkward semi-closeted gay stuff, it then has him cop off with the noir cliché shady lady character played by popular singer Camille O'Sullivan, leading to this clunky bit of dialogue:
<p>SHADY LADY: I thought you were, you know…
<p>BARBER: Actually I'm bisexual.
<p>O'Sullivan and Gillen being in a real-life relationship led to a certain lol-factor here; O'Sullivan meanwhile was not so much playing herself as her stage persona.
<p>I nevertheless considered the film to be worth my time for the mystery stuff and the amusing Dublin locations. The performances are pretty strong too, and not just in the lead roles.
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<p><i>images:</i>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick_of_Myself_%28film%29"><i>Syk Pike</i></a> (Wikipedia: "<i>Sick of Myself</i> (film))"
<p><a href="https://www.hotpress.com/film-tv/aidan-gillen-we-wanted-barber-to-capture-the-essence-of-modern-dublin-and-make-it-look-beautiful-22963428">Barber walks</a> (Hot Press: "Aidan Gillen: 'We wanted <i>Barber</i> to capture the essence of modern Dublin and make it look beautiful' ")
ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-78359308621476594532023-09-07T17:35:00.002+01:002023-09-07T17:35:00.142+01:00Weekend of Music: Reception Weekend (The Complex), The Song and the Hand (D-Light Studios)<p>I signed up for a series of events being organised by the Reception event organisers, which they were calling the <b>Reception Weekend</b> (with events taking place on Friday and Saturday but not the Sunday; perhaps the Reception people are strict sabbatarians). But I also went to a Georgian polyphonic singing event called <b>The Song and the Hand</b>, because my beloved was taking part in it. So I was setting myself up for an action packed two days.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/52785307408/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="Phil Maguire"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52785307408_9aa0030ec6.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Phil Maguire"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>The Reception Weekend was taking place in the Depot venue at the Complex in Smithfield, a converted warehouse. The Friday evening Reception event saw me arriving down a bit late, unsure as to whether the advertised time was when the doors were going to open or when the concert was going to start. Thus it was that I missed Cora Venus Lunny, the one artist on the Reception Weekend's bill I had definitely heard of previously. But I did catch <b>Phil Maguire</b>, who came onstage with a piece of electronic equipment that was all wires and knobs with no obvious keyboard. His music was of the long tone variety, hardcore in its unchanging nature, with slight changes in tone accomplished by minor turns to the knobs. I loved it and it made for a great and uncompromising start to the weekend.
<p>Maguire was followed by <b>Pat Thomas</b>, whom I understand to be somewhat well known. The piano was his thing, but not in a plinky plonky way. Rather, he was very improvvy about he approached it, not just playing the keys but also leaning over it and manually attacking the strings to make strange musical noises that way. The polished underside of the piano's lid made for a highly reflective surface, which made Thomas' explorations of the piano's interior quite visually striking. For his second piece he largely limited himself to playing the keys, but there was no retreat into conventionality here either, with the playing deliberately slipping into sounds that would sound a bit "off" to anyone expecting <i>Moonlight Sonata</i>.
<p>The next day I made my way back to the Complex for the Reception Weekend's afternoon session, which was introduced by Kate Butler. First up was <b>Rob Casey/<b>, whose set saw him play piano while also doing electronic stuff. The electronics were of the tonal variety, but what I really remember about this gig was that half way through I started noticing this weird whooshing sound that I thought was part of the set but then realised was the sound of it bucketing down with rain outside (the Complex isn't great for soundproofing).
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/52787724738/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="Julia Reidy"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52787724738_6edb9a3119.jpg" width="500" height="308" alt="Julia Reidy"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The next act was <b>Julia Reidy</b>, whose thing was playing playing guitar but running it through loads of funny electronics. At times this reminded me a bit of Flying Saucer Attack (good) but to me the different parts of her set felt a bit disjointed. In retrospect Reidy's set may have jarred for me because the frequent transitions made it the antithesis of the very minimal music that the other performers were presenting.
<p>I would have liked to stay for Judith Hamann, the last performer scheduled for this slot, but I had to leave to make my way over to the D-Light Studios, another converted warehouse space, for The Song and the Hand. This was just round the corner from the Five Lamps, which was appropriate as the concert was taking place as part of the Five Lamps Arts Festival, which takes place in the north east inner city. The venue is also very close to the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/52509886641/in/album-72177720295799147/">Dracula House</a> on Buckingham Street and the derelict mansion <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/aldboroughhouse">Aldborough House</a>. The Georgian singing was taking place in a corner of the warehouse's first floor, the rest of which was taken up by a craft market. The singers arranged themselves in a circle on the floor, with people sitting around them on cushions and chairs. While they sang their songs they either knitted or unwound thread, with audience members having been encouraged to also bring their own knitting along. The songs I understand to have all been work songs, but women's work songs rather than the kind of songs sung by people working out in the fields (or did women work in the fields in Georgia in the days of yore that preceded mechanised agriculture?).
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/52787974480/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="The Song and the Hand"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52787974480_fdd8ef5613.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The Song and the Hand"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>If you've heard Georgian polyphony before then the general sound of the tunes would not particularly surprise you, but it was great hearing it again and seeing it enrapture people. The attendees seemed to enjoy the event. On the last tune the audience were invited to join in, with visiting group member <b>Bernard Burns</b> doing a great job of teaching the tune to the audience on the hoof.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/52790106195/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="Sharon Phelan"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52790106195_39e95a0d06.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Sharon Phelan"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>I then had time to trudge home in the rain to grab some food and feed our hungry cat before heading out to the Complex again for the last session of the Reception Weekend. The first act tonight was electronic performer <b>Sharon Phelan</b>, who was (amazingly) the first laptop musician at the event. Her music was also rather droney, but it also swirled and pulsated in an endearing manner.
<p>Phelan was followed by <b>Mohammed Reza Mortazavi</b> and <b>Mark Fell</b> playing together. On this occasion Mortazavi played percussion instruments (judging from the online programme notes, there were tombak and daf, the former a fairly large handheld drum and the latter somewhat akin to the Irish bodhrán) while Fell hid behind the largest set of electronic equipment at the weekend. This was an odd set. At times it felt like the least weird music of the whole Reception Weekend, with Fell's electronics sliding in the direction of four to the floor dance music (all the more bizarre given that this was an all-seated gig). Mortazavi playing was very impressive, shifting at times from what struck me as being a bit non-standard for the instruments (like I would know) to the more straightforwardly virtuosic. On the daf he was almost channelling John Bonham, with his playing in the latter part of the set getting very locked in with Fell's dancetastic sounds. I tapped my toe.
<p>Some of these people are on Bandcamp:
<ul><li><a href="https://philmaguire.bandcamp.com/">Phil Maguire</a></li>
<li><a href="https://robcasey.bandcamp.com/music">Rob Casey</a></li>
<li><a href="https://juliareidy.bandcamp.com/">Julia Reidy</a></li>
<li><a href="https://mohammadmortazavi.bandcamp.com/">Mohammad Reza Mortazavi</a></li>
<li><a href="https://markfell.bandcamp.com/music">Mark Fell</a></li></ul>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720306055871">More amazing gig photos</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-44511976635973541832023-09-06T17:28:00.003+01:002023-09-06T17:28:00.131+01:00Film: "Little Richard: I Am Everything" (2023)<p>Like a lot of early rock 'n' rollers, Little Richard's life and career is not something I know about in detail. Before going in to see this my thumbnail summary was Awopbopaloobopalopbamboom and sexual ambiguity. The film is pretty good, in that it certainly tracks through the contours of his strange life in a way that left me considerably more informed, but it had certain annoying features. First of all was the presence of all the ponderous talking heads telling us all how important Little Richard was. I was half expecting Bongo to show up but we were at least spared that, but in general I do not appreciate people appearing in a documentary telling me what I am meant to think about the subject.
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/27/little-richard-i-am-everything-review-irresistible-tribute-to-a-rocknroll-genius"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/1782c02fb11bcce080ad8d42acaf3bc58884be20/0_26_1000_600/master/1000.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none" border="0" alt="" /></a>The other thing that annoyed me was the continuous claims by people in the film that Little Richard's career had been sabotaged by the rock establishment who had then gone on to write him out of history. That kind of semi-conspiratorial thinking seems to be a staple with discussions of cult figures. It generally doesn't add up, and it particularly does not in this case. As the film's use of archive footage makes clear, Richard seems to have spent most of his life appearing on TV chat shows, which is pretty good going for someone written out of history. And as to his career being sabotaged by the rock establishment, firstly it was a general feature of the early rock 'n' rollers that they didn't really remain relevant that long, not because of a conspiracy but because music moved on and they didn't. But in Little Richard's case, if anyone sabotaged his career that person was Little Richard, whose problematic religious beliefs kept causing him to give up making music (because it meant he thought rock 'n' roll was the music of the Devil).
<p>The Little Richard story is still a fascinating one. I just wish there was a better film about it: one with less annoying talking heads and more analysis of his own conflicted relationship to his sexuality.
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<p><i>image source:</i>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/apr/27/little-richard-i-am-everything-review-irresistible-tribute-to-a-rocknroll-genius">Little Richard, Little Richard</a> (Guardian: "Little Richard: I Am Everything review – irresistible tribute to a rock’n’roll genius")
ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-49333799703806958672023-09-05T17:18:00.008+01:002023-09-05T17:18:00.139+01:00Live music: Dean Wareham plays Galaxie 500 (Whelan's)As you know, <a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/search/label/Dean%20Wareham">Dean Wareham</a> was the singer and guitarist in American indie three-piece Galaxie 500. Galaxie 500 split up after three albums. They were never massively successful commercially but they inspired a fierce devotion among their fans, something that has only grown over time. I think it is probably the case that Wareham enjoyed greater success with Luna, the band he formed after Galaxie 500, but the songs from Galaxie 500 remain the ones that inspire intense devotion, so it is not too surprising that he embarks on tours like this where he plays loads of songs from the band to ecstatic audiences.
<p>Support was provided by Cian Nugent. It turned out this was not some random pairing, as Wareham and Nugent had encountered each other previously in the United States. I am not fully assimilated into the ways of Mr Nugent, for all that I am a great admirer of the first <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2020/12/17/aoife-nessa-frances/">Aoife Nessa Frances</a> album, which he produced. So I enjoyed his set (him playing guitar and singing a bit) while feeling I need to engage more with his music. I'm sorry that union commitments prevented me from attending the launch of his album some weeks after the concert.
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/52760971589/in/album-72177720306055871/" title="Dean Wareham salutes the magic of Galaxie 500"><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52760971589_b594585b55.jpg" width="500" height="265" alt="Dean Wareham salutes the magic of Galaxie 500"/></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>And so to Dean Wareham himself. He was not playing solo but was joined on bass by Britta Phillips (Wareham's long-standing musical and life partner, and also former voice of the title character in 1980s cartoon <i>Jem and the Holograms</i>) and two others on drums and other guitar. He started off with a couple of more recent songs from the Dean & Britta album <i>Quarantine Tapes</i>, which seemed very likeable. And then he unleashed "Blue Thunder", the opener to Galaxie 500's <i>On Fire</i>. After that it was all Galaxie 500 songs (or songs Galaxie 500 covered, which means we also got "Ceremony" and "Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste"). And it wasn't just the songs that Dean Wareham sings on record: room was also found for two tracks originally sung by Galaxie 500's bassist Naomi Yang, "Another Day" and a cover of Yoko Ono's "Listen, the Snow Is Falling". Britta Phillips sang these.
<p>The show's reception was pretty rapturous, with cries of "Dean-o!" from the crowd by the end. That said, it did not reach the levels of near ecstatic devotion that I witnessed <a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/2011/04/dean-wareham-salutes-magic-of-galaxie.html">last time</a> Wareham was playing Galaxie 500 stuff here, at which concert people were being shushed if they applauded too loudly.
<p>The concert itself and the listening I've been doing since has had me thinking about what exactly was so great about Galaxie 500. When you listen to them the two most striking things are Wareham's guitar lines (alternatively delicate and soaring) and his angsty strangulated vocals. The bassplaying by Naomi Yang (basic but effective) and the drumming by Damon Krukowski (non-standard, jazz-influenced) also impress, but it is Wareham's contributions that stand out. And Kramer's production, obviously, which makes great use of the music's sparseness. And the songs, with their evocation of alienation and isolation, something that will always appeal to sensitive indie kids, and maybe that is where the group X factor comes in. The original songs are all credited to Galaxie 500 rather than to individuals, and there might be some alchemy to them working together here that made the band more than the sum of its parts (I don't think any of its members reached those heights in their post break-up careers). I found myself curious as to how the songwriting actually worked in practice: did Wareham produced the lyrics and melodies on his own, to which the others added rhythm stuff, or were they more of a group effort? From looking at Pitchfork's <a href="https://pitchfork.com/features/article/7792-temperatures-rising-galaxie-500/">oral history<a> of the band, it seems like they all contributed elements, with it not being the case that Wareham came up with all the guitar lines. The lyrics seem to have been his though.
<p>So yeah, great gig. At this stage it might be a bit of a pain for Wareham that people are more interested in seeing him perform music from 35 years ago than whatever he is doing now, but such is life. It must also be a bit strange that Galaxie 500's music still inspires such intense fondness, but only from a relatively small group of people (Whelan's is not a big venue; nor was the Workman's, where he last played his Galaxie 500 tunes for us). While I enjoyed the show immensely, I did find myself wondering will we ever be blessed by Dean & Britta performing the music they wrote to accompany Andy Warhol screen tests (appearing on the album <i><a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/2012/02/favourite-albums-of-2011-5-13-most.html">13 Most Beautiful Songs</a></i>).
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720306055871">More amazing gig photos</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-37994116605492158112023-09-04T17:16:00.004+01:002023-09-04T17:16:00.147+01:00Film: "In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50" (2022)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/19/in-the-court-of-the-crimson-king-king-crimson-at-50-review-a-rollicking-workplace-comedy"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/da03743697700753ced05d11402ece50560090cb/60_0_1800_1080/master/1800.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none" border="0" alt="" /></a>More advanced readers will have twigged that this is a documentary about the popular Robert Fripp led band. I am not really that familiar with the music of King Crimson or indeed with their history, so I was watching this to get a sense of what they are about. Directed by Toby Amies, this follows them on tour in 2021. It kind of follows the <i>Spinal Tap</i> rockumentary model, interspersing live footage with interviews. While the film seems to have been made with the permission of King Crimson (i.e. with the permission of Robert Fripp), it does feature some interviews with former members of the band, some of whom are a bit barbed in their comments about the band's interpersonal dynamics and Fripp's dislike of band members who want their artistic ideas treated with respect).
<p>The main thing I took away from this film is that Fripp is as mad as a bag of ferrets. He seems to combine being a bit interpersonally difficult with an extremely obsessive approach to musicianship. It is mentioned at one point that he insists on practising his guitar for six hours every day and feels that his performance suffers if he doesn't put the full block of time in. And then we see him giving out to the filmmaker and threatening to cancel the whole film because all the interviews he has to do are cutting into his practice time and impinging on his ability to perform. He also seems to have spent the history of King Crimson feuding with all the band's other members and is only somewhat happy now that he has recruited a line-up of (brilliant) musicians who are happy not to push back against his every demand. But it was still noticeable that Fripp was far more on edge throughout the film than any of his players (and that includes drummer Bill Rieflin (formerly of the Revolting Cocks), who spends the film being eaten up by colonic cancer, remarking at one point that he is in constant pain from his terminal condition). I was kind of thinking of Fripp as the prog Mark E. Smith, but my sense is that in The Fall MES was pretty chill but everyone else was on edge all the time.
<p>Oddly, you get that sense of "Everyone's replaceable in King Crimson" more with the film's director than with the musicians. The current line-up of musicians know their place and are happy to go along with it, but the director seems to be always a Fripp meltdown away from the project being cancelled. There is one bit where one of the musicians is being interviewed and he says something like "I was years into the band before I stopped feeling like I was still auditioning for my part". Amies comments that he still feels like he is auditioning himself, to which the musician replies "Well you are".
<p>The film is also surprisingly funny for a documentary about a prog rock band led by a deranged obsessive who takes himself very seriously. At one point Amies is talking to Jakko Jakszyk, vocalist and guitarist in the touring band. He was saying how before he had joined King Crimson he had been playing in 21st Century Schizoid Man, a group formed by former members of the band. He recounts how one day he took a call from Robert Fripp. "He asked me how things were going, and I had to say that they weren't great. And he said to me, 'the thing you have to remember is those guys from the early years of King Crimson are all cunts, and the biggest cunt of all is -' ", and then the film cuts to a separate interview with a former member of the band.
<p>There was also a funny (to me) bit where someone is saying to Jakszyk that, as the only single man in the touring band, he'll be able to go out there and get a load of action for himself from the King Crimson fans, and I thought, "only if you have a fetish for chubby middle-aged men".
<p>The music is pretty good too and did leave me wishing I had seen this tour. The big selling point for me was the band having three drummers. More drummers the better. Now I just need to actually listen to some recorded King Crimson. The tour in the film is reportedly their last ever, so I'll probably never see them live, although one of the musicians commented that Fripp is always saying that he will never tour again and then finding that he has to tour to fund an extension to his house, so one never knows.
<p>One final thing: one thing that really endeared me to this film was that the director comes across very well in it. He never appears on screen (apart from at the very end and then only briefly) but we hear his voice as he talks to the subjects, and he has an appealingly hesitant attitude, the opposite of the in your face arrogance of the guy who made the <a href="https://inuitbikini.blogspot.com/2013/08/film-beware-of-mister-baker-2012.html">Ginger Baker film</a>. I may investigate further works by him.
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<p><i>image source:</i>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/19/in-the-court-of-the-crimson-king-king-crimson-at-50-review-a-rollicking-workplace-comedy">At home with Robert Fripp</a> (Guardian: "In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 review – a rollicking workplace comedy")
ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-39391675813423006262023-09-03T17:11:00.006+01:002023-09-03T17:11:00.135+01:00Live music: Orbital (National Stadium)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2023/08/15/orbital-live/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://secretpandablog.files.wordpress.com/2023/08/orbital.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>The National Stadium is where they hold big boxing matches in Dublin. I am not known for my fondness for pugilism, but I have actually been to a boxing tournament there. However, when I was there on the most recent St. Patrick's Day it was not to watch the Hartnoll brothers batter each other but to see them play techno music together. And it was first time seeing them play in an absolute age. The spur was an "are you going?" message from one of my 1990s Orbital mailing list buds, with whom I reconnected during the pandemic, without whom I would probably not even have heard of the concert and would have spent the evening at home with my pipe and slippers.
<p>The concert was not sold out (speculation abounded that the young people had been lured away by something called Bicep in the Point) but it still felt pretty full, with the crowd profile feeling like it was a mix of some young people and an older crew who remember <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/orbital/">Orbital</a> from the 1990s and were out for their one big ravey gig of the year while also wondering if they still knew anyone who could source them some disco biscuits. And it was a lot of fun, with the moment the brothers bounded onstage in their funny glasses reminding me of how enjoyable their sets can be.
<p>I was impressed by how they mixed a lot of newer tunes into their set instead of turning into a rave nostalgia heritage act playing a set of 1990s classics. It is great seeing long-running bands who aren't afraid to play the new stuff, provided of course that it is any good. In Orbital's case the newer songs seemed pretty strong and were not the product of some radical new direction. It was still the old tunes that excited the biggest response (though there was a lot of singing along to the one from the new album featuring yer man from the Sleaford Mods).
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<p>After the concert I made my way home, wondering if I had made a mistake not sourcing a ticket for the aftershow party (at which one of the Hartnolls was joined on the decks by his son (probably a grown adult, given that like us the Hartnolls have also been getting older, though I would like to think the son is some 6 year old from a recent temporary liaison)). Maybe I would have been too *tired* to really enjoy it but it is after all better to regret something you have done than to regret something you haven't done.
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720306055871">More amazing gig photos</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-58803719831595762412023-04-27T20:56:00.007+01:002023-04-27T20:56:00.134+01:00Concert: Lust for Life<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://wp.me/p8DfSl-w0"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://secretpandablog.files.wordpress.com/2023/04/lust-for-life.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>This was a kind of weird supergroup affair at which an odd collection of musicians got together in Whelan's to play the songs from Iggy Pop's 1977 album <i>Lust for Life</i> and some other tunes of the era. It was originally meant to feature Tony Fox Sales, who had played bass and some guitar on the album, but he had to drop out. This meant that none of the musicians present had any direct connection to the album, though some of them did play with Iggy Pop on other occasions. But who were they? Well let me list them:
<ul>
<li>Kevin Armstrong, guitar: he played with Iggy Pop and David Bowie in the 1980s and onwards, but is most famous to me for co-writing Morrissey's "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcGA2Wwdlwc">Piccadilly Palare</a>"</li>
<li>Clem Burke, drums: formerly of Blondie and The Ramones, he is regarded as one of the great drummers of the new wave era</li>
<li>Luis Correia, guitar: a previously unknown quantity for me, he is based in London and has played with various people</li>
<li>Glen Matlock, bass: holy fuck, it's Glen fucking Matlock, bassplayer with the Sex Pistols, the man who wrote "Pretty Vacant"; he has also played with and written at least one song for Iggy Pop</li>
<li>Katie Puckrik, lead vocals: a bit of a leftfield choice, as Ms Puckrik is best known to people of my generation not for her singing but for presenting <i>The Word</i> in the 1990s. Back then she was also something of a doppelgänger of my sister, while more recently she has flown the flag for yacht rock to a worrying extent</li>
<li>Florence Sabeva, keyboards: another figure of mystery, she is another London based musician who has played with various people as well as recording her own music and composing soundtracks.</li>
</ul>
<p>So what was it like? Well, what do you think it was like? It was a load of solid musicians fronted by a surprisingly impressive American lady banging through some top tunes. For all that Iggy Pop's <i>Lust for Life</i> was billed as the gig's focus, to me it felt like it really went into overdrive in the second part of the set, when they were playing various other punk tunes as well as some older Stooges classics. That put me in mind of a fundamental problem with the whole Don't Look Back thing of bands playing their classic albums, separate to the whole debate around whether there is a kind of artistic bankruptcy to playing songs in album order: basically, on albums, the big songs tend to be towards the beginning, so that the record makes an initial impact on listeners, but at a gig you want to put them further back so that the set builds up to them (careful readers may notice that I am contradicting what I said about the <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/2022/01/06/lgw4/">performance</a> of <i>Faust IV</i> I attended at <a href="https://secretpandablog.wordpress.com/tag/le-guess-who-2021/">Le Guess Who</a> in 2021). Opening with the song "Lust for Life" when the audience are yet to warm up is a waste of a tune and not something you would do if you were not playing the songs in album order. I also had the embarrassing problem of realising that I do not actually know <i>Lust for Life</i> that well (it is years since I listened to it) and was continuously afraid that I would be burned at the stake as an unbeliever.
<p>One of my great grumbles these days is that crowds aren't as up for it as they were in the late 1980s and early 1990s when people moshed to everything (not always in a good way), so I was a bit disappointed by the Lust for Life attendees. OK so yes they did show their appreciation between songs, but there was a definite "<a href="https://www.theonion.com/concert-ruined-by-guy-enjoying-himself-1819567240">standing there with their arms folded having a great time</a>" energy when the band were blasting through the punk classics. I accept that many of the audience were a bit on the old side, but that makes it even worse: they should be able to remember the way things were in the old days, and if they are out for their one gig of the year they should be going hog wild. I could not face being stuck at the back behind these people indefinitely, and when the opening chords of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" rang out I took my chance to charge to the front; I was irked that more people did not follow me.
<p>Some actual moshing kicked off by the gig's end, with a storming version of "Pretty Vacant" making for a great highlight to the evening, for all that the band were somewhat inexplicably joined for this by B. P. Fallon (who did not seem to do anything bar stand there while Matlock looked after the vocals). Crowd reaction suggested we seem to have reached a point in human history where Fallon is now regarded as cool. I suppose if you wait long enough anything is possible.
<p>And then the gig ended and I went home. It was a hot sweaty concert and it took me weeks to shake off the cold I picked up.
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/inuitmonster/albums/72177720306055871">More amazing gig photos</a>ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17108773.post-38910267947950943812023-04-26T20:52:00.004+01:002023-04-26T20:52:00.135+01:00Two films I saw recently that are very different from each other<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://aworldoffilm.com/2014/01/24/trois-couleurs-bleu-1993-krzysztof-kieslowski-niall-mcardle/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://aworldoffilm.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/three_reasons_blue_still_original.jpg?w=792" border="0" alt="" /></a><i><b>Three Colours: Blue</b></i> (1993)
<p>Krzysztof Kieślowski's film may well be a triumph of cinematography, sound design and art direction over plot: it looks and sounds amazing but arguably not that much happens in it. Music features a lot as there is a composer in it; one striking scene shows the compositional process taking place, the music we are hearing changing as decisions are made on how to arrange the piece.
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<p>As you know, the film is in some way meant to draw on the idea of Liberty that underpins the blue in the French flag. What exactly the main character Julie (memorably played by Juliette Binoche) is breaking free from is ambiguous. At the start of the film her husband and daughter die in a car crash (sorry for spoiling a film released thirty years ago) so is she being freed from the constraints of family life? Or is the film about her being freed from the shackles of grief? Either way I found her husband a mysterious offscreen presence whose point in life is hard to determine. He is a famous and highly successful composer but anyone with half a brain twigs almost immediately that it is actually Julie who was writing his music (this is so obvious to anyone with half a brain that it can't be considered a spoiler). Quite why she was letting him take the credit is never addressed. And he also turns out to be getting it on with a lawyer on the side. I really struggled to see why Julie had stuck with this guy (admittedly she only found about the extracurricular shagging after his death). I was also struck by how when Julie asks another guy whether he loves her and/or fancies a shag, she addresses him as "vous".
<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/rye-lane-soundtrack/"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 580px;" src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2023/03/Rye-Lane-2-9653e9d.jpg?quality=90&resize=1000,667" border="0" alt="" /></a><i><b>Rye Lane</b></i> (2023)
When I walked into the cinema auditorium for an afternoon screening of Raine Allen-Miller's film there was only one other person there, a woman, which felt like the meet cute opening to a rom com. Then other people came in and ruined everything. <i>Rye Lane</i> meanwhile is that rare thing: a rom com that is both funny and kind of cute, like a Richard Curtis film that isn't shit and doesn't exist in a parallel universe in which non-white people have been purged from London. There is a lot of music, including a great moment that had me thinking about possibly exploring the work of whatever Terence Trent D'Arby is calling himself these days. I also liked the arse-themed art show that brings up the rear of the film.
<p>If you are being in any way reflective when making a film in a genre you have to think about how you will engage with the conventions of the genre, particularly ones that people have started to consider problematic. Do you just follow the conventions, in an "I don't make the rules" way? Do you ignore them, albeit running the risk thereby of effectively making a film that falls outside the genre you were aiming for? Or do you attempt to subvert the genre? In <i>Rye Lane</i> this is most noticeable in the way the film engages with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Pixie_Dream_Girl">manic pixie dream girl</a> stock character (the free spirited perky woman who for no obvious reason decides to spice up the life of a deadbeat male protagonist). <i>Rye Lane</i> sees Yas (Vivian Oparah) barge into the life of Dom (David Jonsson) after she encounters him crying in a bathroom over a recent bad break-up. The film seems to follow the MPDG line, with Yas bringing Dom out of himself as they race around having a fun and exciting time. But I think there is enough of a switcheroo in the storyline that stops Yas being just a prop to Dom's story. I do wonder though whether we are seeing a new genre convention emerge, the subverted manic pixie dream girl.
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<p><i>images:</i>
<p><a href="https://aworldoffilm.com/2014/01/24/trois-couleurs-bleu-1993-krzysztof-kieslowski-niall-mcardle/">Juliette Binoche in <i>Three Colours: Blue</i></a> (A World of Film: "Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993) – Krzysztof Kieslowski (Niall McArdle)")
<p><a href="https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/rye-lane-soundtrack/">David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah in <i>Rye Lane</i></a> (Radio Times: "Rye Lane soundtrack: all the songs in the new romcom")ianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09958839106380353855noreply@blogger.com0