Skip to main content

Day: 30 October 2013

A Clockwork Orange: Review

Written by Josephine Lane on . Posted in Theatre.

Anthony Burgess’ infamous masterpiece A Clockwork Orange returned to it’s native Manchester last week in the form of Action to the Word’s physical theatre piece at the Lowry. The show, born on the London Fringe, has just returned from Australia after it’s sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival. Being a big fan of the story in all it’s various forms, I went to see it with an open mind and curious as to how the company had taken this timeless masterpiece on, genuinely having no idea just wondering what it was going to be then, eh?

 

For those of you who don’t know the story, it centers around Alex: the charming, attractive and manipulative anti-hero of our story. Along with his band of droogs (friends), Alex’s interests include ultraviolence, in-out in-out (rape), Ludwig Van (Beethoven) and drinking moloko (milk). Set in a dystopian future complete with new fictional language, Nadsat, Alex’s story progresses as he falls victim to the Ludovico technique, conditioning him against his greatest loves using somewhat brutal means, thus turning him into the ‘Clockwork Orange’ so-mentioned in the title. After an attempted suicide and apology from the state, Alex, no longer conditioned, deems himself cured, ready for a life of non-violence.

 

The all-male company had chosen to do the play from a very homoerotic angle. Acts of ultraviolence were accompanied with passionate kisses, a gay couple was attacked and the pumping soundtrack was strictly music by gay or bisexual artists. This was effective as it highlighted the homoeroticism that is present in the work: Alex is a flamboyant, fashionable, open and confident with a raw sexual appetite, not to mention the dominantly-male nature of the piece. It also updated the play somewhat and was an interesting deviation from the norm.

 

The production was solid, funny and a good example of physical theatre. My praise is aptly given to Adam Search, who took the role of Alex, who brought cockiness and complexity to the role. Tempting as it would be to borrow tropes from Malcolm McLaren’s exceptional film portrayal, Search managed to resist entirely, bring an entirely new dimension onto Alex’s character.

 

For all it’s praise, I must say that if there’s one adjective that should always be in the same sentence as all things Clockwork Orange it’s ‘shocking’. Yes, I know we are all impossible to shock these days thanks to ‘the internet’, but I really didn’t feel like the production packed enough of a, excuse the pun, punch. I had (oddly) gone in, wanting to leave the theatre shaking with discomfort. However, in reality, the violence just was too stylized and well, just not violent enough.

 

On the whole, the performance was enjoyable and definitely got better as time went on and the energy built up. I can also safely say it was not at all what I had expected from it and is definitely well worth a watch.

 

Three Stars out of Five Stars

Cornerhouse Pick of the Week: The Selfish Giant

Written by Leo Mates on . Posted in Film.

The Selfish Giant, directed and written by Clio Barnard, is brutal. Not in a violent way, not in an overly emotional way, but in a way that never lets you forget that sometimes, life is just bloody awful.

  The story follows a pair of young friends from Huddersfield, who take up scrap collecting in order to make some money after they’re excluded from their school. Throughout, the message is pretty clear that they have nothing and no-one to rely on. In fact, barring their mothers, every other character in the film is trying to take advantage of them. The main character, Arbor (Conner Chapman) swiftly becomes obsessed with his new job as a scrap collector, and uses it to support his (seemingly jobless) mother and drug-addicted brother, whilst Swifty (Shaun Thomas) really just wants to look after horses. However, the scrap collecting leads to stealing wire from railway tracks, and looking after horses doesn’t exactly end well either. The horses have a pretty terrible time of it too, because in this film, nobody gets off easy. Not even baby horses (Spoiler alert).

    At times the film drags a little bit, but this kind of emphasises the fact that these boys’ lives are not only miserable, but also monotonous. The impression is given of a middle-aged man, trying to make ends meet and angry at the world, trapped in the body of a thirteen year old. If anything, it’s less of a story and more of a snapshot of a couple of days in Arbor’s life. The fact that you see every side of it, including the parts with no real dramatic input makes the film seem more real, and less like someone had written it. In fact, I would genuinely not have been surprised if it had turned out it was based on a true story.

   For those of you who want their films action packed, or with a bit of comic relief in them, this is not the film for you. It’ll leave you feeling emotionally drained, and a little like someone just punched you in the stomach. And if you’ve never had to sell scrap metal to buy food, it’ll make you very, very appreciative of that fact. It should be seen, simply for how well it manages to get its message across, without ever feeling like it’s preaching.

Live: Jagwar Ma

Written by Matt Byrne on . Posted in Music.

19th October

Gorilla

7/10

Ostensibly labelled as Madchester revivalists from the off set of their career- it was appropriate that when the Australian triumvirate Jagwar Ma descended on the city where bands such as the Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses originated from, the crowd that greeted them consisted of a blend of young and old ravers alike. Perhaps a chance to reminisce for those who lived through the height of the Hacienda club, and an insight into what the much beloved Manchester music scene of the 80s was like for those who missed out on it.

Having garnered attention for their live performances at festivals this summer, Jagwar Ma came to a sold out Gorilla on the up. As they launched into opener ‘What’s Love’ the crowd bounced as one to the uplifting beat orchestrated by Jono Ma.  Then, appearing from off stage, Gabriel Winterfield’s lackadaisical voice crept in, but he struggled to elevate himself above the cacophony of noise created by Jono. ‘Uncertainty’ was greeted with a similar warmth by the audience with the song building to a really catchy beat that turned the good feeling in the room up a notch. However a temporary lull ensued afterwards, when the weakest song of the band’s album ‘Exercise’ fell flat, although this did give everyone a chance to catch their breath.

Jagwar Ma are keen to disassociate themselves as just Stones Roses copycats – Winterfield said in a recent interview with Louder than War that he hadn’t listened to a Stone Roses Album in years, but when you hear ‘Throw’ live and he breaks into an Ian Brown type drawl, it’s easy to think that their influence is entrenched in Jagwar Ma’s psyche. The highlight of the night was definitely ‘Four’ which showcased more of a dance music feel and a step away from the psychedelic rock; it seemed in tune with the sound that Jagwar Ma should aim for in the future.

Cornerhouse Pick of the Week: Prince Avalanche

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Film.

Walking out of the cinema, my friend asks me the obligatory question – how did I find it? I honestly didn’t know what to say. Not because it was shockingly bad or breathtakingly amazing, but rather I had no strong reaction to it at all. But I would be lying if I said it was a waste of an hour and a half. David Gordon Green’s portrayal of the unlikely friendship of two road workers is strangely endearing. He manages to capture life after disaster perfectly, not dramatised to Hollywood standards, but just as it would in reality – simply continuing.

The film is set against the surreal backdrop of a Texan forest ravaged by fire. Homes have been destroyed, lives turned upside down and yet here we are watching Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch painting lines on a road. The tragicomedy quietly meditates on the lives affected by the disaster, and there, at the forefront, is Alvin and his simple assistant, Lance, making an honest living, miles away from their loved ones and all the things that make their life worth living. Their woes fade to insignificance, however, when they stumble upon a woman digging through the remains of her devastated home in desperate search for her beloved flying licence, embodying the entire theme of the film – hope where there is none left.  Although the trivialisation of the disaster helps create the quirky and comic tone of the film, I must admit that it also renders it somewhat insipid, as though the fire was no big deal, and that the real problem is what Lance is doing this weekend.

Paul Rudd is excellent as Alvin – the straightforward, everyday man, although admittedly, but I wasn’t completely able to shake his Pete from Knocked Up persona. He effortlessly develops from a simple and unfeeling road worker to Lance’s sensitive confidant and the friendship that forms holds the whole film together. Emile Hirsch plays the harmless idiot perfectly, and single handedly maintains the light hearted feel of the film. All the characters, although plagued by their own troubles, epitomize the simple American country folk stereotype, which partly allows viewers to be justified in grinning through the scenes of devastation.

But aside from the good acting and offbeat angle of the film, gripping is hardly the word I would use to describe Prince Avalanche. Pleasant maybe, mildly entertaining at best. The slow pace and lack of typical – beginning, climax and dramatic ending – structure means it might not be to everyone’s taste. As many independent films do, it certainly lacks a plot. The abrupt and unexpected conclusion didn’t leave me wanting more, or even satisfied, but I was happy it was over.  On second thoughts, maybe the word I’m looking for is boring.

Review: The Escape Plan

Written by Tom Bruce on . Posted in Film.

Based on Arnie’s disappointing comeback in recent actioners like The Expendables and The Last Stand it was logical to fear that new release Escape Plan would consist of more endless in jokes and self-glorification. Thankfully that’s not the case and this is something of a return to form for Arnold. Sadly though, his revival has taken place within a pretty bad film- Escape Plan promises lots of guns and lots of puns but all you get is soulless dialogue and disturbingly pronounced veins.

Sylvester Stallone is Ray Breslin, a world class escapist and computer hacker who gets paid to break out of maximum security facilities and thus reveal their flaws. He is apparently authorised to use any means to achieve this, which can include but are not limited to blowing up cars and stabbing fellow inmates in the chest. Breslin’s latest assignment lands him in hot water; whisked away by masked gunmen in brutal fashion, he wakes to find himself  trapped in a highly advanced complex known as ‘The Tomb’. It gets worse. Breslin soon discovers that his own book was the key reference point during the construction of this illegal facility and what’s more, someone has paid a lot of money to make sure he never leaves. Help is at hand in the form of one Emil Rottmayer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who befriends our distressed hero and agrees to assist in his escape.

Try to forget the nonsensical premise; this film is all about Arnie and Sly, who have never properly co-starred in a film until now. Their brotastic -chemistry is quite a thing, though the sheer presence of ‘Guvnor’ Schwarzenegger far outweighs that of Stallone, who is on auto-pilot as the resilient, morally incorruptible hero. No one else really matters; the maniacal Warden Hobbes (Jim Caniezel) is as one dimensional as they come and all 50 Cent does is tap some buttons on a computer to slightly alter the shape of a cube. Far and away the worst piece of casting was Vinnie Jones, whose turn as a merciless prison screw is unconvincing to the last- in my screening his every movement was met with popcorn spilling hilarity.

Escape Plan’s plot is insultingly dumb and contains more holes than a book written by Neil De Grasse Tyson. If a criminal syndicate really wanted to ‘disappear’ an enemy ‘for good’ then they would probably kill that person. They would not, arguably, pay for them to be placed into a state of the art, inescapable, billion dollar prison which was constructed by a dodgy offshoot government agency to contain the world’s most dangerous men. The film masquerades as an intelligent thriller, patting itself on the back for thinking up such ‘remarkable’ escapes- in reality they lack suspense and are oh so convenient.

A final twenty minutes of gun toting madness which recall the glory days of classics like Rambo and Commando kick things up a notch but it proves too little, too late. An overall lack of action coupled with an awful script will leave you feeling unfulfilled…but still glad that Arnie came back.

 

★★

Album: Love Inks – Generation Club

Written by Emily Ireland on . Posted in Music.

Released 24th September

Monofocus Press

There’s something a little other-worldly about Love Inks’ second album. One can imagine drifting off to sleep to Generation Club, not, I hasten to point out, because it’s boring, but because the soft pulse of the percussion alongside synths and Sherry Leblanc’s lovely, smooth, dipped-in-caramel vocals creates the soundtrack to a blissful dream. That is why, I suppose, Love Inks’ music has been described as ‘dream pop’, though the band are not too comfortable with the moniker, preferring the broader ‘minimalist electronic pop’, which also makes sense, the band can be described as a more colourful version of ‘minimalist electronic pop’ pioneers The XX.

Made up of Husband and Wife Kevin Dehan and Sherry Leblanc, and close friend Derek Brown, Love Inks’ critically acclaimed first album E.S.P was a very personal, grass roots affair. Generation Club is no different; self-financed and recorded on a half inch tape machine at the couple’s home in Texas, the album is a labour of love. You can feel it.

Opening Track ‘Solar Diary’ is quietly epic, Dehan has claimed the song to be ‘about a girl running’, the low, murmuring synthesizers and relentless beat do a good job of constructing this image and create a sense of foreboding. “Scream against the sky” Leblanc sings, conjuring all manner of dark images. In contrast, single Time has all the attributes of a perfect pop song; a catchy, memorable melody, a driving rhythm, euphoric synths and a punk-rock length of 2 minutes.

Leblanc’s vocals are reminiscent of a softer Karen-O, at times her lyrics are almost whispered over beautiful, flying melodies. She sounds like a more sophisticated Lana Del Rey at the lower end of her range, and a more polished Debbie Harry at the top. The upbeat single ‘Outta Sight’, led by a rather lovely reverb-y guitar line, particularly benefits from Sherry’s sleek vocals, as does final track ‘Waiting on A Plane‘ where Sherry sounds truly heartbroken as she wavers through the simple tune.

Love Inks have managed to create a record that, despite its glossy finish, sounds raw and full of emotional significance. The tracks have a tendency to merge together (one of the perils of going down the ‘minimalistic’ route I feel) but do so in a listener-friendly way. Generation Club is a modest gem, definitely worth a listen.

Interview: Portico Quartet

Written by Jamie Bulman on . Posted in Music.

Mercury award nominees Portico Quartet have been bridging the gap between Jazz and Dance music since 2007. Having cut their teeth busking on the South Bank, they’ve broken onto the electronic music scene this summer with appearances at Dimensions and Outlook festivals in Croatia.

For a band that started out as acoustic buskers, playing big festivals where the crowd expects ground-shaking volume can present a challenge: “We’ve had to beef up our sound a lot. The acoustic instruments started to sound muddy on bigger sound systems so we’ve had to bring in more sub-bass frequencies and electronic drum sounds. The live set’s changed a lot, it’s very different to the album.” They have not spent their whole summer “beefing up their sound” for festivals however. Apart from Green Man, Wilderness and the Croatian festivals (Wyllie described the set they played for the Dimensions opening concert in the old Roman Amphitheatre as “magical” and as the “highlight of the summer”) the band has “mostly been concentrating on writing for [their] new album”.

Playing ‘electronic music’ focused festivals such as Outlook and Dimensions suggests Portico Quartet may be changing their approach but Wyllie insists that they “don’t think of it as ‘electronic music’; it’s certainly not produced in an electronic style. Myself and Duncan have been getting more into electronic music recently, and we find ourselves spending more and more time hunched in front of computers trying to get the ‘right’ sounds.”

On their new album they work with Swedish singer Cornelia, who’s recently collaborated with Bonobo and Henry Saiz. Her emotive and girlish voice gives the formerly instrumental quartet a new dimension, and her philosophical lyrics are an excellent marriage to the band’s new, more serious sound. For Wyllie, it “all just came together really quickly” with Cornelia “replacing the sax as the ‘voice’ in our music”. This frees up Wyllie to play more keyboards, and shifts things away from acoustic ambience to minimal electronica. Wyllie lets on that they’ve got more stuff with Cornelia in the pipeline, and she’ll be featuring in a few tracks on their next album, out some time in 2014. She’ll also be at their Manchester gig, not to be missed!

The conversation veers away from the current Portico Quartet arrangements and towards their musical heritage. Nick Mulvey and Jack Wyllie met at university and shared a love of American minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Phillip Glass. This influence can be heard in the hypnotic rhythms and gradual metamorphosis in the music. Milo Fitzpatrick and Jack are both into their Jazz while
Nick was big on World music, particularly from Africa.

When I ask about the band’s signature instrument – the hang – Jack reveals that while there are many things they love about it, “there’s just something ancient and strange about it, a sound that you can’t quite put your finger on… It’s kind of like an Indonesian Gamelan or Caribbean Steel drum, and it’s very versatile” and can acknowledge it has given them a strong identity, they are actually “phasing it out”, no longer happy being “that hang band…’’.

Well, with or without the hang, we hope that Portico Quartet will carry on making their signature brand of minimal acoust-electronica. If you feel like kicking back to something hypnotic and truly unique on a Sunday evening then don’t miss them at their Manchester gig at Gorilla on the 27th!

From the Vault: Nirvana – In Utero

Written by Bernadette Chapman on . Posted in Music.

Released September 1993

Original Recordings Group

Following the commercial success of Nevermind, In Utero is Nirvana’s response to the different world that such success threw them in to, with the associated crises and conflicts that arose. As a counterpoint to Nevermind’s slick polish and practised sounds, In Utero was recorded in two weeks by Pixies producer, Steve Albini. The album benefits from the rawer, immediate and more natural sound this different approach allowed. On ‘Milk It’, we hear what I think may be a chuckle from Kurt Cobain as he screams, and there are a few fluffed drums and arsing about guitar sounds throughout. The band’s charm comes through, despite the album’s obviously dark and melancholy tones.

The album stands on the brink of mainstream rock, wails, screams, shouts and heavy guitars with their distinctive grunge sound place it on the precipice of popular acceptability, not quite falling in to the heavier stoner rock around at the time, saved by melodious hooks. Despite the noise factor, the album feels intimate like the radio at night.

When the tempo slows, for example with the emotionally complex ‘Dumb’ and its resonant strings, it provides temperance to the louder, faster counterpoints of rollercoaster tracks, such as ‘Very Ape’, which features a wicked groove in the chorus, as close to boogie friendly as the album gets, reminding us, as can be forgotten, that Nirvana wrote some great tunes.

As a perfect swansong, In Utero builds on the fresh and rough sounds explored in Nirvana’s first album, Bleach. As the follow up to Nevermind, In Utero provides a bitter, beautiful repost to the media whirlwind that followed their most popular album. It’s almost worth having Nevermind around to inspire such a response.

You can read Steve Albini’s letter to Nirvana before recording In Utero here. It’s ace.

Live: Turisas

Written by Mancunion on . Posted in Music.

Manchester Club Academy

12th October

9/10

“Have any of you brought swords or drinking horns tonight?” Not a conventional question to ask your audience – but then, Turisas isn’t a conventional band. The Finnish Viking metallers invaded a sold-out Manchester Club Academy to take their leather-and-fur clad fans on an adventure as epic as the Viking legends that inspired their formation.

Battling on through a few technical faults – with frontman Mathias Nygård’s microphone being persistently temperamental all set – Turisas went on to finish the final night of their European tour with a bang. The Scandinavian six-piece have spent the last two months promoting their new album Turisas2013, but if the band were feeling fatigued, it didn’t show. Their set was as impressive as always, flawlessly replicating the tighter, more professional sound of their new record.

After whipping up a storm in the hot and crowded SU basement with a mix of new songs and old favourites, Nygård momentarily interrupted the set to praise Manchester beer and demand his enraptured audience sing him a local drinking song. Soon the entire room was merrily singing ‘You can shove your fucking Scousers up your arse’, accompanied by Olli Vänska’s mighty violin. Turisas followed this up with their drinking song ‘One More’, before a barrage of classics including ‘Battle Metal’ and ‘Stand Up and Fight’ had the crowd screaming for more. Cue the band’s gloriously heavy cover of Boney M’s ‘Rasputin’, which sent the audience into a true Viking frenzy.

In short, Turisas put on one Niflhel of a show. Join them on their quest one night and even the not-so-Viking-inclined of you won’t be disappointed. True, more songs would’ve been better – but when your best hits are four- or five-minute-long epics, that can be forgiven.

Live: Joy Division Reworked – The Heritage Orchestra

Written by George Bailey on . Posted in Music.

The Lowry

29th September

7/10

Taking on the legendary material of Joy Division is in itself a brave move, but to do so in their own backyard, at The Lowry on the banks of Salford Quays, is really inviting the pressure.

The Heritage Orchestra, in collaboration with electronic pioneer Scanner and visual artist Matt Watkins, are not here tonight for faithful covers of the Manchester post-punk outfit’s work. They take to the stage with the rather ambitious intention of completely dismantling the treasured work of Ian Curtis and co., and rebuilding it from the ground up. It is a re-imagining of the music that so brilliantly captured the zeitgeist of late ‘70s Manchester, spawned from the dark psyche that both haunted and inspired Curtis.

The performance begins in style with an extended instrumental of the ‘Transmission’ synth intro; before long, that trembling bassline kicks in, delivered with trademark Hooky ferocity. The relentless drums that propelled the 1979 single forward are present here, setting the pace and unleashing an electric atmosphere upon the audience.

The duration of the performance sees the electro-orchestra stray dramatically from Joy Division’s recordings, with only occasional snippets sounding somewhat familiar. The distinctive riff from ‘Dead Souls’ is faithful to the original, but many other songs are reinterpreted beyond all recognition. This is not necessarily a criticism; it would be unfair to label the performance as anything less than impressive, but at times it is arguably a little too loosely-based on the subject material to bear its name.

Visually there are some nice throwbacks to the Manchester quartet. During ‘Dead Souls’, the famous white-on-black pulsar radio waves of Peter Saville’s Unknown Pleasures album artwork are projected behind the orchestra, traveling towards the audience like a jagged mountain range. Better still, a clever visual trick during ‘She’s Lost Control’ sees abstract shapes and lines projected onto a mesh screen veiling the orchestra. They appear to move randomly at first before taking on the familiar form of Ian Curtis and his infamous epilepsy dance.

A stripped-down, string-laden version of classic anthem ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ sees the show out, with the original baritone vocals of Ian Curtis binding the two eras together in a satisfying union. The performance is inventive and polished, so much so that it comes across as a natural evolution of Joy Division’s revolutionary musical output. A fitting tribute and an impressive display of originality.