Movie Review: The Twilight Saga - New Moon

The second cinematic outing to Forks to drop in on the Emo-vampires - now with Chris Weitz in the director’s chair.

The first Twilight movie was a highly enjoyable chunk of teen fiction. Moving at a jaunty pace, full of wit and likeable young actors it was lapped by those who deep down, sorely miss TV shows such as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Dawson’s Creek. This time round the tone is darker. The two lovers, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) become separated. After a bloodlust-fuelled incident, Edward leaves town wrongly believing he is keeping his beau from danger. Cue a lot of pouting, staring blankly out of windows and late-night primal scream therapy from Bella.

Much like the book, there is not a lot of action in this instalment and the overall pace is a little sluggish. The script is at times cringe-inducing and while the clear intention is to convey how deadly seriously we take our romantic crushes and infatuations at eighteen, the impact is lost when delivered over-earnestly by leads who look more like they are in their mid-twenties.
But this film is not without its memorable moments. It is impossible to take your eyes off the fantastic Michael Sheen eating up the scenery as the head of the Volturi and if you don’t feel exhilaration as a pack of werewolves haul ass through a forest to the sound of Thom Yorke’s Hearing Damage, attempting to run down a beautiful, sadistic vampiress then check your pulse,

you might be dead.

EP Review: Sennen – Destroy Us

Sennen’s sophomore album Where The Light Gets In was an absolute gem that while critically acclaimed, was criminally overlooked by the record buying public at large. The album proved the band to be blessed with the same ear for irresistible melody as prime period Teenage Fanclub as well as the ability to embark on breathtaking instrumental excursions worthy of Explosions In The Sky.

This brand new 6-track EP provides us with more of the same. The title track is bursting with the joyous melancholy of early Flaming Lips and, thankfully, their cover of New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle is far from the ill advised stab at a sacred cow that one might fear - stripping the song of its traditional Baggy-fied beat, the band fully expose the melancholy which lies at the core. Bringing things to a close we have Figurine, a billowing, wintry ballad which then leads into the scorching jam that is the final track, Out.

Like many young artists Sennen have to juggle their true calling with their day jobs, taking time off work to tour and record. Hopefully, until rock stardom is secured, their employers will remain understanding as this is another vital slice of sumptuous indie rock that bodes well for the new album.

Book Review: Chris Burton & Gary Thompson - Art & Sound of the Bristol Underground

Bristolian bad bwoy culture recounted.

Looking at the Bristol’s hip hop scene from 1983-1993 and the music’s accompanying disciplines of MCing, graffiti art and breakdancing, this book consists of a series of transcribed monologues from the scene’s key players who include DJ Milo, Krissy Kriss and Smith & Mighty. The naturalistic flow of the text and the inclusion of colloquial language in these insightful passages really add authenticity and they feel spontaneous.

Parallels are drawn with London, where a similar scene was also happening, but the capital’s scene lacked the close-knit community spirit evident here. There is a downside to this intimacy though. The smaller scale meant the interlinked Bristol crews mostly attended the same events and parties, so there is a fair bit of overlap and repetition - nearly every chapter needlessly reminds us this era was before internet and mobile phones.

In terms of illustration, there are a plethora of flyers to view, though sadly, little in the way of the legendary graffiti described. It would also have been nice to have some exclusive images of the big names mentioned here as partaking in battles and jams past – namely Dr.Dre, Roni Size and the Jungle Brothers.

DVD Review: Knight Rider – Season 1

This 4-disc set collects the entire first and only season of NBC's Knight Rider re-ignition which originally aired in 2008.

It is a shame this series was cancelled because it is for the most part good fun, packed full of pretty people and even prettier car chases. The use of Val Kilmer as the voice of the Knight Industries Three Thousand is inspired. The sleek, sentient KITT now speaks with the suppressed monotone of a madman who has recently undergone a frontal lobotomy. You believe KITT could snap anytime, eject Michael Knight and then repeatedly reverse over him before calmly driving off humming Light My Fire. This would not be an entirely unwelcome occurrence, as the new Knight (played by Justin Bruening) is definitely the weakest link here. He is essentially a generic Hollywood heartthrob who lacks the unique visual impact and charisma of the young David Hasselhoff, and the wisecracks and faux edginess soon irritate.

The feature length pilot episode is a solid reintroduction, but the following nine episodes are bogged down by the will-they-won't-they love dance between Knight and Sarah Graiman which is devoid of chemistry and gets old really fast. Mercifully, halfway through the series things shift up a gear, the writing becomes tighter and instead of our heroes simply stalling the bad guys until the law arrives, Knight is blowing away waves of hoods with various weapons while AC/DC’s Rock ‘N Roll Train pounds in the background. It is a jarring, but much needed change in tone. This does lead one to believe that perhaps the poor ratings the show received can be put down to programme makers being unsure of their target audience and maybe more time should be spent on market research if another Knight Rider revamp is to be considered?

Album Review: Collapse Under The Empire - Find A Place To Be Safe

This is the latest album from the young Hamburg team who play their post-rock with a pinch of electronica.

Opening track Captured Moments is a promising start with its bleary-eyed guitars that explode into white noise, layered by fuzzy underwater strings and piano. Matthew Jason and Chris Burda then continue this winning streak with former single Crawling and the vibrant, dramatic title track.

But further in, the album collapses under its own weight. Tranquillity is an uncomfortable mix of hair-metal guitar and rigid, sequenced backing tracks. Lacking the ragged rock rush of Mogwai, much of this album has the synthetic sound of an overproduced bedroom recording. Angle Of Incidence and the unfortunately titled A Smell Of Boiled Greens drift in to the sterile realms of Muzak, whilst Far To The Past could be an Editors’ instrumental outtake.

Intelligence and Take A Shot On Me do however give the album a rousing end, almost returning to the impressive form of the opening tracks. But ultimately, despite the flashes of brilliance, this duo doesn’t do enough with this well-trodden genre to warrant repeated listens.

Album Review: Josephine Foster - Graphic As A Star

Graphic As A Star is the sixth solo album proper from Psych-folker Josephine Foster.

The Colorado born balladeer is seemingly a graduate of the Robert Pollard school of song writing, as most compositions on this 26 track album clock in at a mere one or two minutes. Much of this sprawling acoustic opus succeeds, seducing the listener with Le Volume Courbe-esque minimalist plucking and strumming. Minimalist is definitely the key word here, on Your Thoughts Don’t Have Words Everyday and What Shall I Do – It Whimpers So, her vocal is backed only by a distant budgerigar. Foster has a trembling soprano voice that haunts and bewitches in equal measures. Sounding like a 1940s forces sweetheart, she conjures up images of families gathered round the wireless on winter wartime evenings. On one of the strongest (and longest) tracks, On My Life Stood – A Loaded Gun, the wistful melody and hazy harmonica evokes Ron Sexsmith.

Despite their brevity, some tracks here do sail perilously close to the territory of nothing-music occupied by the likes of Norah Jones. But, this comparison is perhaps a little unfair, as the few moments where this album fails to engage are down to Foster’s largely diction free delivery rather than the songs themselves.

Album Review: The Horrors - Primary Colours

The band that people used to love to hate is now the band everyone is surprised to like.

Not since the Beastie Boys released Pauls Boutique in 1989 has a musical reinvention been not only so unexpected but so very welcome. On Primary Colours there is little trace of the flailing garage-shlock of The Horrors debut Strange House. This time around they boldly take the alternative indie of the Psychedelic Furs and mix it with Th’ Faith Healers cyclic avant-garde lurch. Mirror’s Image begins the proceedings with its Closer-era Joy Division keyboards and reverberating passages of warped guitar that go on to underpin the rest of the album and over these edgy textures Faris Badwan tells of romantic encounters and snarls his kitchen sink dramas. The title track is an Eno-flavoured college rock gem that could sit quite happily on the soundtrack to any John Hughes film from the 1980s. Despite the streamlining it is clear that the band still have bite, as evidenced by the thrilling Goth-stomp of New Ice Age, where a post-apocalyptic vision of extreme conditions is recounted over walls of discordant guitars. Badwan, possessed simultaneously by the spirits of Mark E Smith and Brett Anderson, warns of “A new ice age, closer day by day/We’ll freeze when ice wings are swooping down” and any initial thoughts of chatty CGI mammoths are soon forgotten.

So far, so effortlessly glacial. Things do begin to thaw out a little with the acid rock dribblings of I Only Think of You and I Can’t Control Myself. Placed side by side, both tracks create a slightly sludgy section towards the end of the album. Things do end on a high note though with the panoramic groove of Sea Within A Sea with its intense bursts of guitar that lead into an ambient arpeggio.

Primary Colours is a finely crafted album by a band who have finally managed to strike a balance between style and substance.