Laura Marling “A Creature I Don’t Know” – Review

HAMPSHIRE born folk artist, 21-year-old Laura Marling, has eventually graced us with her latest album “A Creature I Don’t Know”, an album that shows great maturity, for a woman of her years.

A somewhat haunting album, this 10 track nu-folk delight, wreaks of influences from the likes of Leonard Cohen, Nico and the jazz of Joni Mitchell.

Graeme Thompson of Uncut wrote: “Laura Marling was born in Hampshire in 1990… Yet she might just as easily have been born in Brooklyn in 1950, or Liverpool in the 1980. From the moment Marling emerged, aged 18, with her remarkably assured debut, Alas I Cannot Swim, her music seemed to float high above the specifics of time, age and place.”

I can not think of a more apt description.

“A Creature I Don’t Know” has a theme from the start in the opening track, The Muse, which gets right into Laura’s psychic and her beastly intentions. The opening track took me back to a smokey jazz club I found myself sat in on the outskirts of Amsterdam. A relaxing tone, but with harrowing lyrics that really make you sit up and listen. The first track is probably a highlight of the album in my opinion.

From there songs vary between heavy folky tracks such as Sophia, and the monstrous The Beast, to agonising  finger picked tracks like Rest In Bed which really show Laura’s stoic humour.

In a sense you could compare Laura at times to The Smiths, not in style, but in the way her lyrics can be a dark comedy, whilst singing them to a sunny heartwarming tune.

This album is more than worth a listen, but set yourself aside an hour to listen to the whole installment from the Brit Award winner.

The Subways, Wrexham Central Station – 23/09/2011

AS a 17-year-old who had just passed his driving test, the world was my oyster, I could go anywhere, and what was my first trip – Welshpool to Wrexham.

Not exactly a trip of dreams I know but nonetheless I piled a group of friends in the back of my clapped out Ford Fiesta and headed off to the Central Station in the middle of Wrexham to see one of the hottest new bands on the circuit, the Subways.

That was back in 2005, and last week I took a girl out and headed for the same venue, to see the same band.

Central Station is one of the best venue’s in the country, it’s intimate, the acoustic’s are amazing and it has that aura of a grimy nightclub to it, with the smell of stale beer stinging the nostrils and your feet sticking to the floor – which stops me bursting out the dad dance (always a good thing when on a date).
As we took up our position on the balcony – again I didn’t feel it right to mosh during a date – we had a perfect view.

The lights lowered and the Subways entered the stage to a rapturous applause with frontman Billy Lunn sporting a rather dodgy read hairdo.
The minute the first few chords blasted out to “Oh Yeah!” I was taken back six years and felt like a teenager again.

Playing songs from across their three albums including Young for Eternity and All or Nothing, the festival favourites played with passion, energy and just plain rocked out – doing what they love doing best.

I was concerned that the band would have matured and have succumbed to what I now call ‘Blink 182 syndrome’ – losing their young charm and vigour, becoming serious because life is serious – but not when you’re in a rock ’n’ roll band!

Frontman Billy Lunn hit all the notes despite the problems he has had with his voice over the years, and the gorgeous Charlotte played the rock chick perfectly bouncing around the stage, again taking me back to a 17-year-old me when she would have been my ideal woman.

Debuting a few tracks from their recent release Money and Celebrity such as ‘We Don’t Need Money to Have a Good Time’, ‘Friday’ and the final song of the night ‘It’s a Party!’ had the crowd jumping around, dancing and singing along, proving that the Hertfordshire three piece had not lost their touch and are still one of the best live acts around in the UK.

Tickets: Pomona

Captain America (12A): the review

ANY fan of the Captain America comic books from Marvel would have been beaming from ear to ear when they found out that it was going to be turned into a film.

Captain America: The First Avenger brings the story of the USA’s patriotic superhero in to real history. Young American, 90lbs asthmatic, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), tries to enlist in the army to fight against Nazi Germany. But due to his small stature he finds his only route is to get injected with a special formula, which seemingly has the effect of steroids and makes Rogers well… huge.

Rogers is found by scientist Erskine (Stanley Tucci) who recognises personality traits in Rogers that might make him ideal military material, if he were stronger – basically he is not, what they call in America, a ‘jock’.

Rogers is basically then labelled Captain America and ends up taking on a secret Nazi science department run by scientist Schmidt who is in fact Cap’s nemesis,

Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), who has created a destructive power unknown to humans at that point, and plans to take over the world himself, and of course it is up to Cap to stop him.

Chris Evans, unfortunately has remained his brash-self in this movie, as he was in Fantastic Four, which makes him unconvincing as the character Rogers, who if anything is unconfident in his own skin. Evans has fallen just short of nailing the character, and while he has toned down, it’s not quite enough.

For me, throughout the film, there just wasn’t enough action, and you only see Captain America take on Red Skull in a toe to toe fight once, and I really was left a bit wanting. You want to see Captain America challenged more, so he’s taking on Red Skull’s troops, but he is more than a match for them, and this doesn’t really do the “superhero” label any justice.

Now on to the CGI, and was there a lot of it, in fact I don’t really think there was a point where Evans was in the film without CGI. As in all Marvel films it does work quite well in all fairness and was one of the shining lights in the film.

At the end of the movie, Cap has been frozen and is found and reawoken in 2012, and yes here he is again getting a cameo role in a Marvel film, you go it, it’s Samuel L. Jackson, who explains why Cap is in the middle of 2011 New York.

Now for those who don’t know the reason why the film as the subtitle The First Avenger is because over the past three years Marvel has been coming out with different superhero films that all connect in some way to one another starting with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk that both came out in 2008, and this year they released Thor and now Captain America.

So for those  slightly bemused about why Jackson has made cameo appearances in almost all of these films in the last three years, it will all become clear in 2012 when Marvel comes out with the actual Avengers movie. All I can hope for is that Avengers offers a little bit more than this , shall I say, ok movie.

Hangover Part II – the review

THE Hangover was undoubtedly one of my favourite films of the last five years, and for that reason you can just imagine my excitement when I found out they were releasing a second installment.

That excitement built right up to the big day, the one I had been so desperate to arrive for months – and I just hoped that part II could live up to its predecessors reputation.

I have to admit that it did take a while to get going. I had sat there eagerly through the adverts and trailers with a grin on my face as I remembered quotes and quips from The Hangover – but when it started I have to say my smile receded somewhat as the storyline went round the houses to explain Stu’s situation and that he is indeed now getting married in Thailand.

The grin was back in full force once the “Wolf pack” of Doug (Justin Bartha), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zack Galifianakis) and Phil (Bradley Cooper) were re-united with the addition of Stu’s brother-in-law to be Tommy.

Once in Thailand, it becomes obvious that the wolf pack will end up in some kind of stag night mayhem – as in the first movie.

Doug is sidelined quite early on, and doesn’t attend the stag and doesn’t add to much to the plot after the initial first few scenes, but importantly to the story, getting the hysterical Alan to go.

It was always going to be hard to re-create the element of surprise that you got with the Hangover, and the plot followed similar suit, and in fact there was at times very little surprise – but that’s not to say that it wasn’t funny.

After being drugged once again by Alan – Phil, Stu and Alan end up – unbeknown to them – spending a night in Bangkok starting riots; getting involved with a drug dealing, chain-smoking monkey; sleeping with ladyboys; kidnapping a monk; getting facial tattoos and becoming instrumental in the arrest of the international criminal from the first film, the hilarious Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) – and in the process  losing 16-year old Tommy.

As in the Hangover the wolf pack try to piece together the night in order to save Tommy, and indeed Stu’s wedding and life.

Of course they eventually find Tommy when Stu has a stoke of genius and works out where Tommy is, while Phil is on the phone revealing all to Stu’s bride-to-be.

Hangover Part II is a film that just lacked a bit of surprise element, but despite this still has plenty of laughs, and can be more than enjoyed by any fans of the first – just don’t expect this cameo appearance from Mike Tyson to be anywhere near as funny.

Manics storm Wolverhampton Civic (19/05/11)

THERE is always an air of excitement when the Manic Street Preachers step out and grace the stage at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall.

The band openly admit that the Civic is one of their favourite venues and having seen them at the venue before I knew we were all in for a treat, as they would definitely be up for this one.

James Dean Bradfield (Courtesy of mentitore and Flikr)

The Manics swaggered onto the stage and threw themselves straight into one of their Guns ‘n’ Roses inspired anthems Stay Beautiful, before crashing into their hit and crowd-pleaser from 2007, Your Love Alone Is Not Enough.

It was a mixed set from a 20-year catalogue of songs from You Love Us, to Life Becoming a Landslide and surprisingly Of Walking Abortion.
It was clear to me – a seasoned preacher fan (is 13 times too much?) – that apart from the major hits such as, You Stole The Sun, Motorcycle Emptiness and Masses Against The Classes, which got the crowd rocking out, those earlier songs that were a bit more unfamiliar were only really enjoyed by the select few who liked the Manics in their, shall we say, more niche days.

Of Walking Abortion was met with an element of shock and unexpectancy from the audience, myself included – and many didn’t know how to react to this dark metal track taken from the controversial 1994 album The Holy Bible.

The Manics picked their set well though, not dwelling too long on one era and therefore at no point losing the crowds interest – although when playing Solitude Sometimes Is, from the flop album Lifeblood, frontman James Dean Bradfield said: “This is off Lifeblood so some of you might go to the bar now” – but not many did.

The highlight of the night was the finale – A Design For Life. I have seen that song performed many times since the age of 16, but this rendition was the best yet by far. Bassist Nicky Wire, sporting a dress, bounced all over the stage, yelling: “Are you listening Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg?” as Bradfield belted out the final verse of socialist anthem.

Will student protests work?

The news for the last week has been dominated by the protests of students across the UK and in particular London, where violent scenes have broke out making the headlines.

Students are protesting against the  Coalition Governments plans to allow Universities to almost triple fees  in the future. This situation is particularly exasperated by the Lib Dem MP’s personal pledge to fight the rise in tuition fees, which they are in danger of going back on whilst in Government.

Picture by thespyglass at Creative Commons

It’s simple, students feel lied to. A Party of change and fresh start is how the Lib Dems described themselves, they said they wanted to makepolitics honest and transparent. Well many students feel betrayed and conned.

So what do they do? They take to the streets in a protest, but the protests are being marred by a minority who are hellbent on making a violent scene. Surely to persist with more protests will be counter productive to the cause.

To begin with the public were fully behind the students – but after seeing violent scenes, the sympathy for their cause is waning and if more protests continue in the future, it is likely that the violence will continue and students will lose all public support.

Is there a better way for students to make their point?

The returntable

The last year has seen a revival of kinds for one of the most original forms of listening to music – the vinyl record, and of course in turn (if you excuse the pun) the rise of the turntable.

Picture by fensterbme on Creative Commons

Now for some this will just be a flash in the pan, a phase – but for those of us who are a bit into our nostalgia ( I also like to get my photographs developed) it will always remain a stalwart in our bedrooms and lounges.There sat in the corner, a big clumpy set up of a turntable, with amp and speakers, maybe unsightly to some – but my god do we love it.

The main reason I keep playing records is that I like records, I like the whole process of taking the disc out of the sleeve; wiping it with the brush; putting the disc on the platter and cueing up the needle. Not to mention the fantastic artwork on the sleeves of records.

There is nothing quite like the crackle of a record as it starts up – the kind of authenticity you don’t get with a CD or more so an MP3. Now it’s not just that, it’s the sound quality, with every progression of music playback technology, a little bit of the music dies.

The transformation from Vinyl, to tape, to CD and MP3 has all been about convenience, but people have forgotten how to properly sit and listen to music and appreciate, now it’s all about how quickly can I get the sound, and how small a device can I put it on, but lets face it, it sounds rubbish.

As I write this I am sat listening to one of the newer additions to my vinyl collection ‘The Black Album’ bought to us by Jay-Z, and even such a modern album still sounds better on vinyl then it ever will on MP3.

All this talk of convenience, ok, so yes you don’t have to carry a big box of records everywhere, but surely that collection is something you will have forever, something of substance that’s says “I love music”, and when you die, family will want your record collection. Theres nothing physical about an MP3 is there?

Also if convenience is the way forward, then why do people still travel for miles to gigs and concerts? I tell you why, because that’s the earliest form of being able to listen to music, and vinyl is the oldest form of being able to listen to music at home, it will never really die.

The records might get a bit more expensive as they become rarer, but hey, isn’t that what it’s all about?

My advice is, don’t let this just be a phase that will die out, once you’ve spent the money, time and effort to get a turntable set-up, let the obsession take over and listen to music in it’s best and original form.

Paying for a virtual life

Facebook really has taken over our lives. Theres no doubt about it, and now people are going to be able to buy vouchers to fund their virtual lives.

Now can I start by saying that I don’t have a problem with people using Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or whatever form of social networking on the internet that you may use. In fact I myself am frequent user, and I believe that they serve an important purpose.

But now it’s gone too far! Tesco and games retailer Game are to start selling vouchers in their stores which are only redeemable on Facebook for virtual games such as Farmville.Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame Tesco, Game or Facebook for this, in fact if I was in their position I would do the same, what a way to make easy money eh?

However people actually going to a shop and spending £10 or £20 on a voucher for their virtual life I just can not understand, and I worry for people’s sanity as their heads turn to mush, as well as their backsides as they sit in front of a computer splashing money on a virtual life. ITS NOT REAL!

People are moaning about cuts and how we don’t have any money, yet these people have enough to spend on a life that isn’t real. Maybe it’s just me, but this is a slippery slope, how long before non of us leave the house and everything is just done online?

Working in the newspaper industry I am are constantly told about the bleak future as online news takes over, and developments like this make me fear for not just for my industry, but for humanity as a whole.

School Holidays – A summer of Hell?

ITS that time of year again, and the children of the country embark on their annual six or seven week summer holiday’s. A time that can only be described as stressful for all, with parents and children alike tearing their hair out with frustration.

Oh it might seem very appealing a week before the end of school, but you can guarantee that many families start to feel the strain of the summer breaks after one week. Parents get frustrated by their kids, and the kids get frustrated by having nothing to do.

Now I live in quite a rural area, out of the towns and cities, and here in particular there is very little for children to be doing, and although we can say, ‘oh back in my day I’d go for a walk with my friends down to the river and play on tyre swings’, kids simply can not do that these days.

We live in an age of paranoia, and understandably so, kids now have much more to put up with than they did back in yesteryear, for example a group of children just playing by the river now would probably be seen as anti-social and chavvy.

So kids get bored, there’s nothing for them to do. Which in turn drives parents to distraction as they can’t think of anything for the kids to do either that doesn’t involve spending a fortune, for example to see Shrek at the cinema this week for one adult and two children cost nearly £30, which is ridiculous.

But is six weeks not too long? I think so.

Surely it would be less stress on everyone if they introduced another two half terms? of course the Teachers Unions would never allow that, because teachers must get their six-week holiday. But what they don’t consider is that most parents don’t have the option of a six-week holiday, so what are they supposed to do for weeks on end when they have to work?

All in all the system needs a sensible shake-up. Would you like to see a school holiday shake-up, vote now.

3D TV’s go on sale – Oh Dear!

Just as a forward to my post a couple of days ago, sending a tirade of insults towards 3D technology. I have been since greeted with the news that 3D televisions are available to the public.

Who would want one of these? I recently sat through a presentation for Sky 3D at the O2 Arena and have to say I couldn’t have been more unimpressed. It didn’t really do anything for me, so it makes the picture a bit deeper, is that really worth the £1,7995 price tag for the TV?

As the BBC reported, on top of needing that you also need £150 pair of glasses, 3D Blu-Ray Player for around £350, and a HDMI cable for £50, all of which is so expensive because of the compatibility. That is well over £2,000 and in my opinion is a rip off.

Maybe I’m to sceptical, and maybe 3D technology will prove me wrong, but from what I’ve seen so far I don’t think so. I’ve thrown down the gauntlet and am just waiting for 3D to respond.

Bring it on!