Torches is the first album by the Californian indie band Foster the People. This collection radiates sunshine with Motown influences, especially on Pumped up Kicks. Warning – anyone who enjoys songs from the more mirthless side of life should steer well clear as that’s not where Torches will take you. Singer Mark Foster and band-mates keep the tempo racing along in a direction that at times is pure pop – listen to Houdini. The summer is the perfect time for this release with its celebratory and sometimes experimental mix of drums, guitar, keyboards and synthesizers.
Music review: Suede – Suede cd + dvd
22 JunSuede has been seriously back on our radar over the last year or so. The band keep popping up to play live gigs to dedicated fans, reliving the days of old in energetic abandon. The most recent activity has been the releasing of the albums one by one with the addition of the B-sides, extra songs, live footage, the promotional videos and interviews, topped off with the lyrics elegantly packaged in an accompanying booklet. I admit I was quite overwhelmed when a wonderful friend delighted me with a surprise copy of the latest version of the first album Suede, originally released in 1993. The whole bundle captures the richness and excitement of that glamorous time and the stylishness of the band. For my amazing friend I dedicate, The Drowners.
Book review: The Ask by Sam Lipsyte (Old Street Publishing Ltd)
21 JunThis paperback book was a gift in more ways than one. A good friend pressed the copy into my hands with some handy hints at the humour and underlying plot. The Ask follows Milo’s struggles to win back his job in the funding department of a US university after losing it due to an underhand colleague. In the process we encounter a rich friend from his student days who returns to his life to set him a challenge that may bring back his career. There is much pathos at the state of the world today but set off with some engaging laugh out loud moments. Be careful where you read this book as you may not be able to hold back the laughter. Author Sam Lipsyte is wonderful at creating characters you can visualise immediately and dialogue that leaps from the page.
Comedy review: The Fix presents… Brett Domino and Steven Peavis
20 JunI really didn’t know what to expect from Brett Domino and Steven Peavis in their comedy act at King’s Place. My inclination was tested a little by the show starting half an hour late. Soon I found out that the humour of the act was built around the pair geekily recreating hits such as Justin Timberlake’s back catalogue or rap tunes like Jump Around by House of Pain. Brett (Rob J Madin) plays the keytar, a once popular keyboard guitar from the eighties while Steven takes on the drum machine. The act exists mainly on Youtube so the backdrop featured videos from their online presence where every now and again they diversify into some other instrument like the recorder. I was amused but I’m not sure how much further the scope of the joke can go. Once you get the picture that most of the amusement is based around their appearance and deadpan delivery you have the full picture. But enjoy for the moment!
So that you can compare to the real Justin Timberlake take a look at Like I Love You by the real JT which is a song featured in Brett’s medley.
Music review: CockNBullKid’s Asthma Attack single
4 JunStuck in the city this summer? Looking for a jolly tune to sing along to today? Well check out Hackney’s CockNBullKid, aka Anita Blay, with her song Asthma Attack. After one listen, it’ll be hard to drive it from your mind. Why not insert your favourite town into the lyrics where she sings “London”? You’ll be hooked.
Music review: Lykke Li’s Wounded Rhymes
22 MayCherrydial’s soundtrack to the week has been Swedish female singer Lykke Li’s second album Wounded Rhymes. Sometimes it sounds like the raging theme to a western, with opener Youth Knows No Pain setting the scene from the beginning. I don’t want to give you the impression that Lykke doesn’t have her quieter reflective moments. In fact she has many like on the sad and mournful Unrequited Love and Sadness is a Blessing. The latter song stands out for its sixties piano and booming drum backing. Not everything on this album is automatically infectious though I Follow Rivers gripped me immediately. However, this collection eventually eased its way under my skin after a few listens.
Music review: Metronomy’s The English Riviera
15 MayTo be honest it’s been very difficult to prise the third album from British band Metronomy from my hands over the last week. It’s a glamorous companion to Spring and Summer evenings, most definitely with the once soaring sun starting to wane, ready to be replaced by the moon.
The beach scene is set by the sound of waves lapping the sand when it starts. We are taken to an early Bowie-esque vibe with We Broke Free but this is by no means the feel of The English Riviera. Next up is a completely contrasting dulcet duet Everything Goes My Way about a reunited couple. The album is interspersed with funky electronica on tracks like The Look and The Bay. She Wants, seemingly about sleeplessness, is reminiscent of the eighties – a touch like the slightly mysterious feel of the band Japan. The album comes to a climactic closure with Love Underlined. Unusually, every track is a gem. Founder of the band, James Mount from Devon, has, with this current line-up of the band, put together an addictive collection.
Film review: Attack the block
11 MayI have to give a sigh, not one of boredom and irritation but one of wonder and possibility. Out this week is a British movie that isn’t a costume drama, James Bond movie or gangster flick. It was a gritty tale of life in the big city – the UK does that kind of movie well – but in this case, we had some aliens and comedy thrown into it too.
Directed by Joe Cornish of Adam & Joe fame, we join a gang of South London teens who mug a nurse Sam (Jodie Whittaker) on her way home. A light shoots from the night sky as they are in their criminal act and suddenly a strange creature is in their midst. The gang, led by Moses (John Boyega), chase after the being and kill it, mistakenly bragging all the way. Unfortunately, that isn’t the end of it for them. More aliens, larger and more venomous follow and decide to hunt the gang down in their tower block.
The mainly teenage cast keep you with them though it was tricky to feel complete sympathy after they start out mugging Sam. She in the end joins forces with them to try to defeat the aliens. Though the comedy can sometimes be hit and miss, you’ll be taken along on an exciting ride and, like I said, it’s novel to have an alien in a South London tower block.
Film review: Hanna
8 MayChild or teenage female assassins are all the rage at the moment. Remember Hit Girl in Kick-Ass? One of my personal favourites goes back before that with Buffy the Vampire Slayer but before I’m drawn down that road I will review the new film Hanna.
You shouldn’t really be thinking about the arresting icy landscapes when you first see Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) the trained teen killer, but you do. She shoots a stag with an arrow but she doesn’t quite hit the target – the heart. Her perfectionist father (Eric Bana) lets her know that it’s not quite good enough. He has trained her to kill in a snow-swept forest far from civilisation.
Everything explodes when Hanna is launched onto her solo mission to take out the CIA’s Marissa (Cate Blanchett) who has historical reasons for wanting Hanna and her father dead. Hanna travels around the world after fighting off the CIA. She’s a novice to modern technology – even electricity amazes her, but she can certainly handle a weapon or fight without one if necessary. On her journey, she also starts developing friendships by tagging along with a British family.
A booming soundtrack from the Chemical Brothers accompanies the action. Saoirse gives a polished performance, as does Eric. The ending’s a little weak and it’s not an earth-shattering plot but you’ll be involved and gripped throughout.
Go on, make me laugh!
3 MayA night out at the Leicester Square View Club (The 99 Club)
A Saturday comedy soiree can be touch and go. There’s a risk of the mediocre, the crass and the downright unfunny. You tend to arrive at the night already primed with the lowest of expectations of the comedians and fears that your latent humour will be assaulted with desperate tales that barely manage to tickle your tongue.
This night surpassed the worries – in a positive way – the comedians were funny. However, I hadn’t considered the other risks – the chance of the most raucous stag do or maybe even the most cackling of hen nights. On this night, the former coloured the event with extremes of macho heckling and derision that didn’t reflect how the rest of the audience felt. In the end, the majority of the rest of the audience seemed desperate for that group to go, not just the put-upon comedians.
The air was tense and still for the first two acts. The first comedian Spencer Brown, with his slightly foppish, delicate but amusing performance coped well with our encouragement. The second brave funny-man Nick Doody managed to overcome the challenges altogether and get the joyless group to leave halfway through his performance. The remaining audience then relaxed to enjoy the night. The third comedian Ian Stone, was free to give us his commentary on life unfettered.
There was definitely a lot to recommend the evening, not just the humour, but the stunning view of across London you get from being in a venue so high up. Though I didn’t try it, you can also go on to the nightclub upstairs that opens directly after the show. The London View Club is somewhere I would experience again.
Cherrydial 