I came across this little gem the other day trying to quench my insatiable thirst for all things Zombie. It combines my two favourate things; comics and zombs! (if any of you know me this wont be news to you...) Its updated every week with a new page of the story and if your a zomb fan I think you'll find this interesting. Its illustrated by Owen Gieni and written by Bobby Crosby, the writing may seem a little loose at the beginning but it really settles down when it starts pulling together. Enjoy... Last Blood
An artist friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this sculpture, Peter Callesen. Take some time out to take a look at his incredible works. His attention to detail is fascinating and a true representation of his dedication to his art. He works mostly with A4 paper to create his pieces. He says that "...the thin white paper gives the paper sculptures a frailty that underlines the tragic and romantic theme of my works." A lot of his influences lie in childhood, fairytales, and the beautifully fantasticle, and if you take a few minutes to have a look this really shows through. Don't forget to view his larger pieces, he rides around a river in a giant "paper" hat. The big kid.
The Impentrable Castle, Picture property of Peter Callesen.
The last I’d heard of Test-Icicles after their split was that one of them was working at Asda, a not so hardcore end to the frantic techno-hardcore-emo they once were. So listening to ex member Devonte Hynes post-Icicles project, Lightspeed Champion (Domino Records), is nothing but a breath of fresh air.
Some of you might have seen an acoustic guitarist with dreadlocks swept into a huge fringe playing alongside a middle aged balding violinist (Mike Siddell, formerly of Hope of the States ) on Channel 4’s Big Brothers Big Mouth last year, desperately trying to keep up with an out of time clapping audience. This, I’m ashamed to say, was my first time of catching Lightspeed and I was very, very pleasantly surprised.
I managed to get my hands on a pre-released copy of his first album ‘Falling of f the Lavender Bridge’ (to be released on January 21st 2008) and to say that Hynes‘s moved on is an understatement to say the least. His infusion of indie with pop, folk and heavy country and western creeping in at the sides is fresh and invigorating in a musical pond that is becoming slightly stagnated.
This attraction to country music is no more prevalent than in the track ‘Everyone I know is listening to crunk.’, a particular favourate of mine. The nature of the track niggles softly at the heart strings with lazy sliding and lilting, spaghetti western plunky guitar overtones, something keeps saying cabaret to me. Over the top Hynes layers melodic lyrics ‘…sometimes, in the cold night, when my phone rings, but its not you, kiss me and comfort me my sweet’ along with modern youth angst ‘…my drawings are starting to suck, my friends are all listening to crunk, I feel like the whole world is going to crap…’. The upbeat tempo of the chorus suit’s Hynes honest lamenting a treat.
This infusion is not all to do with this talented musicians many influences, alongside him he is armed with an arsenal of musical genii from the vocal of UK female vocalist Emmy the Great (whom you can hear crooning softly in the backing of ‘Everyone I know is listening to Crunk’) to guest appearances throughout the album from Cursive and Tilly and the Wall. The acoustic influences of these raw bands does much to credit Hynes efforts.
Although the song can be guilty of feeling cramped (it is only 3.02 in length) the rising and falling tempo, using a variety of instruments to create a smooth layered, well finished track, recovers what it looses in length. To truly appreciate the nature of each track you definatly need to listen to the album throughout, it is, as a whole, quite an experience. The heavy country mixed with Hynes self-damning lyrics pays homage to his folk influences in a way that we should all get to appreciate.
Look out for the album ‘Falling off the Lavender Bridge’, released at the end of this month, I know I’ll be giving Hynes some of my student loan.
If you’ve never heard of Justice, but maybe of Daft Punk, then just imagine if the DP robots were born into the era of disco but retained their techno-dance genius...
...Ok so now throw in a strong dose of dance savvy popular culture (maybe a few chemicals too) and send them back here and you’d have, well…something that might look a bit odd and probably sounds a bit like Justice’s single ‘D.A.N.C.E.’
Whilst it’s not new to the world and has been stewing around in the dance charts for a while it
recently was released into the pop charts late January, having been missing in its first appearance in summer ’07, and thus released into our hearts.
From the funky bass line to the rhythmic dry hump beats, this track could have come out of your disco collection, but the ecstatic vocals shouting at you to “Do the dance!” and pleasantly futuristic synth piano flip this sneakily 80’s track back to the dance floors where shapes will be thrown.
The subtle Michael Jackson homage’s are brilliantly wedged into this track; “…just easy as A.B.C…” referring to the Jackson 5 track, and “…catching all the lights.” Can only be a reference to the iconic Billy Jean video.
Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Augé have created something magical here. It does typically sound like something dragged up from last summer but that doesn’t matter because every time you stick this song in your ears you’ll think that’s what time of year it is and people will stare at the questionable grin on your face.
This single gleams, is completely unforgettable and is so far from Euro trash its unreal. Get ready to be singing this shiny, smiley chorus all the time; it will never leave your head. Ever.
For a lovely taste of the French duo check out their video to D.A.N.C.E. and gape at the awesome t-shirts on display, and prepare to want them.
Lupe Fiasco as an artist can be more associated with the slick, well dressed image, with smart, hard hitting lyrics, like that of Kanye West, than the grime previously associated with this genre. The fact that he, Kanye and Pharrell Williams formed a group in 2007 called Child Rebel Soldier only shows that the three share the same frame of mind in their musicality.
The recently released track ‘Superstar’ (Atlantic Records) is about that rappers hot topic: superstardom. ’Superstar’ is from Lupe’s second album, ’The Cool’ and has a very
organic feel to it, the rhythms and rhymes flow gently together, the repeated backing track and Fiasco’s chorus meshed with Santos’s out there (but not in your face) rhymes mix well, creating a morose but very strong, very modern finish.
I chose a new song, originally aiming for a UK based artist to stick close to home, but I gave this track a listen and gave Fiasco a go as he kept appearing everywhere I looked. Before this weeks chart (13.01.08) the track was pegged to find a place in the top five by BBC Radio 1‘s 1extra, and there was just something about it. It actually came in at number 7 this week but this isn’t bad coming from relative obscurity.
Here’s a little sample of the lyrics: “…And the light bulbs around my mirror don’t flicker, everyone gets a nice autographed picture, one for you and one for your sister…”, a tasteful ironic prod breaking down the very business that the artists themselves are a part of. But these modern hiphop artists are not afraid to poke fun and leave behind the image they themselves are trying to break away from. The vocals take on a more Chris Martin melancholy feel than Snoop Dogg. Not to say that the songs breaks away from its genre, because it doesn’t, the backing track sticks like glue to the grimy, crackly true hiphop style, the intelligence and the maturity of the lyrics make this song what it is.
If you’ve come to associate hiphop with gun wielding aggressive gangsters than give the likes of Lupe Fiasco a go, you might refresh your opinion on this changing genre as artists like Fiasco and Kanye move it away from this unfortunate stereotype.
Sadly Lupe has said in interviews that he will be ending his career after his next album ‘LupEND’ later this year.
The album ‘The Cool’ is released at the moment, I highly recommend it.
Look out for: LupEND - tagged to be Lupe’s final album.
So Bloc Party have another single then? When I think Bloc Party I immediately remember an acquaintance back in the early 00’s tipping them off as ‘the definite next big thing’, I of course scoffed and turned back to my copy of the Guardian and sipped my filtered coffee.
Now I think innovation, experimental, a varied influence of techno rock that signifies them and their rise out of the student union touring primordial ooze to indie icons. To top that they released a second album that was at least on par with the ground breaking ‘Silent Alarm’.
So what’s the next step? Apparently this new single ‘Flux’ is. A stand-alone that can only be tagged onto previous album ‘A Weekend in the City’ (reeks of ’two more years’ does it not?) that came in at number 8 in the charts.
‘Flux’ is definitely something different.
The effects are there, all the usual Bloc Party digital brandishings and croonings, the aesthetics are nice and it doesn’t challenge you. The track is definitely lyrically lighter, they are probably facing label pressure to appeal to a wider audience. There are New Order overtones here too, which can be appreciated, but the hole thing is slightly too over-produced for my taste.
It has Bloc Party stamped all over it that’s for sure, its fast paced, modern in its production and it’ll have all the skinny-jean wearing kids on the dance floor at the local pop and crisp’s disco, but where is the meaning? The passion behind Kele’s voice is definitely missing, perhaps it longs for lyrics spattered with hidden undertones and reflections. It seems directionless and smacks of desperation, like they hurriedly put together a track to show that they can get in there with an audience that’s more familiar with the Klaxons.
But I miss the political undertones we got from the post-7/7 London bombings ‘A Weekend in the City’. This lighter track lacks the lyrical ‘in your face’ messages and hidden meanings we usually get from Bloc Party. Bloc party aren’t a young persons band, but it seems like at the expense of integrity they have released a ‘diet coke’ of a track, its made by them, its made up by most of the same stuff, but you just cant enjoy it as much as the real thing.
Matt Tong has said their new stuff is going to be a lot less textured than their second album and that their next album is going to be rawer like their earlier stuff, but if this track is anything to go by they are more layered and over produced now than ever.
Bloc Party proved they could provide an album that was a true experience, an album that was nostalgic and beautiful. Perhaps taking their political stance a bit too strongly, but the album still had a few cracking tunes. The exposure of modern music and subsequent label pressure is endangering bands like Bloc Party. To release a track like ‘Flux’ after an album like ’A Weekend in the City’ is saddening, and if this is what we have to look forward to in the future from BP, there’s a definite sense of disappointment.
