Review 2015 : A-Z of 2015

As usual we end the year with an A-Z playlist of bands (and their songs) we liked. Only 20 songs this time as some letters of the alphabet were not blessed with bands we liked this year, including A. The hunt goes on for a band we like that starts with Q... one day maybe.

Review 2015 : Top 10 Records

1: movies EP - CLASS ACTRESS
2: modern nature - THE CHARLATANS
3: pagans in Vegas - METRIC
4: this astro EP - LA CASA AL MARE
5: creation - THE PIERCES
6: my love is cool - WOLF ALICE
7: every open eye - CHVRCHES
8: everything ever written - IDLEWILD
9: ROYAL BLOOD
10: 2.0 - BIG DATA

Flyying Colours

Flyying Colours fill me with nostalgia, they have a very early 90s shoegaze noise feel reminding me at times of the likes of Blind Mr Jones. Now that, boys and girls, is a very very good thing. Its blissed out, harsh, beautiful and urgent at the same time. The glory of noise is eternal and Flyying Colours are very welcome to continue the legacy.

Review 2015 : Top 15 Songs

1: the shade - METRIC
2: more than you - CLASS ACTRESS
3: i don't want to - LA CASA AL MARE
4: celebrate - METRIC
5: sunflowers - LA CASA AL MARE
6: come home baby - THE CHARLATANS
7: the devil is a lonely night - THE PIERCES
8: can you blame me - MATT & KIM
9: business of emotion - BIG DATA
10: movies - CLASS ACTRESS
11: let the good times - THE CHARLATANS
12: morning Lisa smile - WOLF ALICE
13: ship to wreck - FLORENCE & THE MACHINE
14: missing you tonight - STRIKING MATCHES
15: pressure off - DURAN DURAN

Wolf Alice - my love is cool

This is an astonishing debut album, so full of great tunes. It covers some indie ground with bit dollops of grunge and power pop but its all held together with some great energy and verve. Favourites are "You're loves whore" which explodes into a wall of noise and razor sharp guitar and "You're a germ" which builds from a dark low-key opening into an angry explosion.

"Freazy" is laid back and funky, sounding like some great 90s indie dance and some vocal interplay that really appeals. "Lisbon" is very raw and garage sounding but underpinned by some great pop melodies. The sum of the parts would make this a great album alone but this is more than that, terrific stuff.

Movie : Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2 (1987)

I haven't seen the first film but that doesn't matter too much as Silent Night Deadly Night 2 was made on such a low budget that a big chunk of it is a "flashback" to the first film which depicted the slaughter of a family by a murdering Santa Claus. SNDN 2 starts with the brother of the young boy survivor of the murder now a young man being interviewed by a psychologist after he had committed his own murderous crimes. He is started off by memories of his tough upbringing by nuns though trying to make sense of the nonsense being shown is probably a fairly fruitless task.

A film that is listed as one of the worst ever made SNDN 2 is of course a lot of fun, a terrible film in many ways. Its very violent, being a slasher flick, but much of the violence is so cheesily done it's more laughable than scary. Much of the film is hilarious... though not intentionally...

MV : "It never was the same" by The Twilight Sad

Great video, song, alum, band et cetera.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - hell EP

A new EP from POBPAH, though the title track apparently is a bit of a left-over from their last album. Its a shame that happened really as "Hell" would have really added something to Days of abandon with its chirpy guitar work. The other two tracks are cover versions. A cover of Felt's "Ballad of the band" and is done with a lovely jangly melody and sunshine smile. James' "Laid" is interesting it doesn't really deviate from the original, though female vocals do add an interesting twist though it all ends a bit quickly. So three good songs and that makes a well worthwhile EP. You just feel, as with the last few releases from the band, there could be something more. Their first album was the record that bought me back into the indie scene after some years away, i'm not sure this EP would have had the same effect.

Movie : George & Mildred (1980)

A spate of British sitcoms (and a few dramas) went on the "big screen" in the 1970s, none really have had any lasting impact on the world of cinema though Porridge and Sweeney 2 are both decent films. The film version of George & Mildred however is widely regarded as one of the worst films ever made and a film so bad it actually killed off the genre...

Well thats that everyone else says, of course this blog likes to make it's own mind up. But yes the film version of George & Mildred is pretty awful, however it often becomes "so bad its good" that it is worth seeing at least once and has a few decent jokes. One problem with the film is that its so different from the sitcom it came from, most of the action taking place in a "swanky" hotel not outer London suburbia. Wrapped around George and Mildred's trip to the hotel is a bit of a farce involving rival gangsters and useless assassins, but of course G&M are completely oblivious to the chaos happening around them. So a terrible terrible film (but there are far worse) and i liked it!

MV : "Drunken butterfly" by Sonic Youth

Still sounds so so good.

Movie : High Treason (1929)

High Treason is an early British "talkie" and also an early science fiction film as its set in the "near future" 1940. Though despite being only set 11 years into the future the world is a very different place with 2 power blocs in an uneasy peace. Arms manufacturers don't like peace as its bad for business so they engineer a war between the Atlantic States and Europe by bombing the Channel Tunnel. Ironically enough big business manipulating 2 states into a war actually happened in South America a few years later.

As you can imagine the world in 1940 is an Art Deco masterpiece with aeroplanes and airships flying over skyscraper filled cities, video calling and oddly enough fencing being the interval act at a dance. While the film looks a treat it is a bit hokum and the peace message is hammered on thick, the early sound recording technology also needed a bit of refinement. The main actress seems to have been dubbed and much of the vocal track seems a bit detached from the rest of the film... though obviously for 1929 this was cutting edge.

War is averted by a rather neat twist (though you can see it coming). Peace in our times, well for a few years anyway.