Monday, February 18, 2008

2008 Antifolk Winter Festival

I arrived just in time to see the tail end of Suzy Almond's performance, but I was encouraged by what I heard. She has a good voice, and articulates everyday life nicely.

Next up was a young guy, Stuart James, who had to rush off to go to a birthday party, apparently. His style was very rhythmic spoken word - I hesitate to use the word rap, but that's basically what it was - played over an acoustic guitar hook. Unfortunately, I was having difficulty hearing most of the words, but I think he was discussing political issues. The formula grew a bit thin after a few songs, but the guy has forged his own sound, and with a bit of development, he could definately be one to look out for.

Immediately taking over the stage was The Bobby McGee's, decorating the mic stand in fluffy things, and toilet signs, and planting their plethora of instruments in the very limited space. Their first act was to start recklessly hurling lollipops and toy soldiers into the gleeing audience, and party bangers, which they instructed to the patrons to save for the end.



The first thing that struck me since the last time I seen them is a lineup change. Gone was the cellist (which adds a lot of depth to certain songs), replaced by a saxophone player. I'm not sure if this was just a temporary arrangement, because the band often does gigs with differing lineups, including just Jimmy solo.

Another major difference was the makeup was ditched in favour of matching maroon suits (Victorian sailors? My fashion history is hazy). (OK - this was the first thing that struck, but I wanted to appear as if I'm only interested in the music, not the cheesy gimmicks).

Jimmy opened the show with a micro puppet show - a small rabbit teddy quoting the lyrics to Jar Jar Binks. The songs were hilarious of course, and meticulously delivered, despite a few false starts by the new saxophonist when she was handed the melodica.

The noticeable crowd-swelling on the floor suggested they were one of the more anticipated bands (they were who I was there to see), and if work commitments didn't summons them back to Brighton, I'm sure they would have fitted in well towards the top of the bill.

Next up was a duo who were making their debut performance - Thee Assassins. They have an image of a Dickensian lawyer (the late 19th century seems to be well represented). I'm not sure how well they fitted in to the gig, but they acknowledged their appreciation at being hosted for the first time.

David Cronenberg's Wife personally encouraged me to stick around to hear Simon Breed - and I have to say, I was most impressed. He has a very bluesy voice, and writes some great tunes. I intend to keep tabs on on him in the future.

Unfortunately, time caught up with me, so the last band I saw was The Sways. They take a lot of influence from Dufus it would seem, keeping it on the lighter side. They are definately more marketable than Dufus (and I don't mean that in a derogatory way to either party), and will also be on my watchlist for the foreseeable future.

I had been slightly miffed when I saw the lineup as I walked in, because I had only heard of the Bobby's, but as is often the case with these, I was introduced to some new artists I'll keep tabs on to see how they progress. The first Antifolk fest I went to (Spring 06) had a large selection of CDs at the front door of all the artists - a feature that was notable by its absence on Saturday. The individuals did invite you to ask them if you wanted a CD, but I missed a few of the ones I wanted.

Friday, January 18, 2008

John Williams is overrated - here's why

John Williams is a veteran of film composing, and if you are in any way influenced by pop culture from the last thirty years, you can probably hum at least one (more likely five or six) of his compositions because they are so ubiquitous. Therefore, my (unqualified, I'll admit) opinion that he is overrated is sure to cut to the bone of some of his more rabid followers.

As far I am concerned, of all his scores, there are only two or three that stick out as works of brilliance, over the rest of his decidedly average output (for a film composer that is-he isn't as sickeningly average as some of the scum masquerading as 'indie' that makes up the pop charts these days-cf. The Kooks, Razorlight, The View).

When he first broke through (with an young Steven Speilberg, whose career mirrors Williams' exactly), he made a massive impact on film scoring with Jaws. A minimalist cello-led number that sent shivers up the spine of the biggest audience cinema had seen until that point. It won the full round of awards (Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, Grammy) and has, rightly, become an iconic piece of music in its own right.

However, since then, he has largely stuck to formula - particularly when teamed up with Spielberg for a overblown popcorn epic comedy-adventure - a catchy motif of about six bars or so, backed up by a full orchestra, with swelling brass and string sections:
  • Star Wars (both trilogies)
  • Indiana Jones
  • Jurassic Park
  • E. T. (for which he, perversely, won the full round of awards again)
  • Hook
  • Superman
  • Home Alone
  • Harry Potter
Whenever he didn't use this formula, he reverted to the formulaic concept for the genre he was writing for (military drums in JFK, Saving Private Ryan and Born on the Fourth of July, stereotypical jigs in Far and Away) - not exactly pushing the boundaries.
It is unfair to single out Williams for this discrepancy - it is commonplace in Hollywood composers by such as Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer and James Horner.

His best composition, arguably, was the violin score for Schindler's List, showing that, like Spielberg, when he wants to make a serious contribution to the art of film, he can be brilliant - but he is content with churning out the formulae.

Compare him to other composers, who haven't got as much mass recognition. My personal favourites are Danny Elfman (The Simpsons theme tune, Edwards Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Nightmare Before Christmas), Alf Clausen (composed the music and songs for each of the 400+ Simpsons episodes, and was criminal overlooked for Hans Zimmer for the Simpsons Movie), Ennio Morricone , Bernard Herrman (Taxi Driver, Psycho), Lalo Schiffrin (although some of his 80s stuff hasn't stood the test of time well-at least he was trying something new, unlike Williams), Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Six Feet Under theme).
Individual films have brilliant scores also (which, naturally, weren't even nominated for Oscars) include The Shining, Requiem for a Dream - both of which pushed new bounds, utilizing a small number of instruments - and Ry Cooder's solo guitar in Paris, Texas. Sometimes, as Williams might want to acknowledge, less is more...

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Oh the fall from grace - Martine McCutcheon

Being a soap star is a very precarious career choice. You are always under the sword of itchy writers who are looking to spark up ratings by killing a main character off. This is offset, however, by the fact that as an actor, the stability of working on a soap is a considerable advantage, rather than fighting through auditions, being cut off at the last five, taking the latest crushing blow to your already fragile self-esteem, sometimes struggling to string a decent diet together, to say nothing of rental payments etc.

Therefore, to be an arrogant soap star is a recipe for disaster. There's a reason Shakespearian actors don't take a career move to the cast of Corrie - it's credibility poison. It also says a lot about soap actors who think they are too big for the outlandish storylines, and paper-thin characters, and leave to better themselves and their careers.

With a few exceptions (such as Russel Crowe and Guy Pearce who both graduated from minor parts in Neighbors), soap stars invariably fail in their attempts to better themselves, ending up on sub-par ITV dramas, or late night quiz shows.

The latest example surely must be Martine McCutcheon. Usually when these washed up soap stars show up on cheap commercials, for say, Tesco home delivery, great lengths are gone to to remind the viewer of who this person is. A cheesy line from the fawning pleb usually suffices. McCutcheon apparantly, has become so irrelevant, she is not even afforded this luxury in the ad, and is merely a understudy to the delivery men. I wonder is the thought of playing a dippy Eastender seems like a comfortable alternative for our Martine now?

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Monday, October 01, 2007

Virgin Media - infringing on my Freeview

I have recently sang the praises of the vast improvement of Freeview since its inception. And I was sort of looking forward to Virgin Media stepping into the ring with their new channel, although I thought I was going to be missing out on the Eddie Izzard vehicle, The Riches, because the shitty all-in-one remote I bought doesn't function properly with my Freeview box, and therefore I cannot scan in new channels.

However, I woke up this morning to find my Ftn channel, which I was beginning to enjoy with their 15-to-1 repeats and X Files double bills offering some alternatives when required, now being hijacked by "Virgin 1/ We'll See You At 9pm".

Why must they muddle about like this? Why couldn't ABC1 and Ftn share the same channel number if room is to be made, or the two BBC children's channels (CBeebies and CBBC) share the channel numbers with the two BBC digital-only channels (BBC3 and 4). That would pave the way for at least three future channels (although the dearth of home-shopping channels would be a most welcome sacrifice for more quality fare).

Would Freeview not benefit from having more companies paying for their (increasingly valued, especially considering the terrestrial switch-off begins in early 2008) airspace? And would the consumers not benefit from greater choice of service?

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Propaganda statistics from drivers

Mike Rutherford from Auto Express magazine is being interviewed on News 24 about the recent rise on fuel tax. He has said that motorists contribute £55 billion per year in taxes. There must be a miscalculation in there somewhere, because that equates to every person in the country contributing slightly less the £1 billion £1 million (thanks P)* each, every year, never mind the fact of the fewer number of drivers on the road.


*P has pointed out, that if measuring the 1 billion to 9 zeros (rather than 12), the sum would actually come up to approxiamately £1000 a year per person.