Breathe On Deep

The National Anthem

2011-12-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

On Sunday evening, Channel 4 screened Charlie Brooker's The National Anthem. I'm glad they did; the quality of the network's programming has eroded to such an extent that it should be applauded for taking risks. However, I didn't enjoy the show, and the outpourings of critical praise that have been lavished upon it baffle me. To my mind, it was both a bold endeavour and an absolute failure.

Naturally (and in keeping with the show's premise) I took to Twitter to air my opinion. In response to one of my more biting critiques, an individual responded by claiming that "it was a great commentary about the power of social media and how much more powerful it becomes when it concerns one person," a statement I entirely disagree with. Certainly, that's what the show set out to be, but in practise it was nothing of the sort, simply because the social media angle was never fully developed. Which is a pretty big oversight considering the denouement was premised upon the fictional public influencing events from their computers.

Unfortunately, rather than exploring how Twitter et al affect the way individuals interact with the world and impact upon current events, The National Anthem expected us to take it as read. That's fine, to an extent, as I'm sure we can all agree that social media has a massive impact on modern communication. But if your finale is a facsimile David Cameron fucking a pig, then the buildup to that moment needs to convince the viewer that such an outcome is believable. Having political advisors mumble something about public opinion shifting is not enough.

What it boils down to, for me, is suspension of disbelief. I'll go along with any narrative you put in front of me, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, as long as the execution is strong. It's up to the writer to convince the audience that the world they have created is plausible, that the situations presented could conceivably happen within that world, and that cause and effect is consistent within the parameters the writer has established.

The National Anthem portrayed the Great British public as slack-jawed morons staring at their telly boxes, eagerly anticipating a spot of bestiality featuring the prime minister. That's entirely believable - damn near everyone would watch such a spectacle, or at the very least try to before turning away in disgust. But then, by the internal logic the programme has embraced, wouldn't those same people be just as enthralled by the death of a princess? If the answer is "no," then the narrative needs to explain why that is the case. Once again, vague mutterings about "public sympathy" do not suffice.

Compounding this problem is the lip service paid to why the PM absolutely must go through with the act. Following a shift in public opinion, one of his advisors suggests that were the princess to die, his own safety and that of his family could not be guaranteed. On what grounds? What exactly are the social media-obsessed masses likely to do, other than tweet their condolences and create Facebook groups? Wouldn't these people just vent their anger impotently for a week or so, and then move onto the next big news story? Couldn't the likes of Facebook and Twitter be manipulated so as to get the public back on the prime minister's side? Surely The National Anthem should have answered these questions; instead, it was far too enamoured with its half-baked political satire to explore them.

It would be easier to forgive these flaws had it been a riotously entertaining hour of television, but following a strong start it tailed off badly, and completely fell apart in the final act. Once it became obvious that the tale was only going to end one way, it made for uncomfortable viewing. Which is fine in theory, as long as the discomfort is aligned to something else. But it wasn't. In the end, The National Anthem wasn't a though-provoking discourse on social media, it wasn't a blow struck to the political establishment, and it wasn't even particularly funny. It was nothing more than a one-note joke dressed up as social commentary, and the only insight gleaned was that Brooker might be losing his touch.

What's in a Title?

2011-11-29T18:30:00.000-08:00

(Warning: the following post discusses the first of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels, and as such contains spoilers).

The translation of literature from one language to another is a fascinating subject, one that has been extensively discussed throughout the ages. Without getting into the ins and outs right now, the question over whether or not a translator can ever truly capture the original author's intent - or whether or not they can avoid injecting their own authorial voice - is one that may never be satisfactorily answered.

Translation can be tricky and divisive, having an effect on everything from the title on up. Alain-Fournier's superb Le Grand Meaulnes has been translated many times in English, with many different titles, amongst them The Lost Estate, The Lost Domain, The Wanderer, and The Magnificent Meaulnes; due to the difficulties involved in accurately capturing the intent of the original French, some translators have opted to simply retain the original French when publishing English-language versions. More famously, there is Marcel Proust's A la recherche du temps perdu, which has been presented as Remembrance of Things Past and In Search of Lost Time, with neither considered satisfactory by some scholars. And in this country only one of Stieg Larsson's Millenium novels has been published with a title that accurately reflects the original Swedish (which is a shame: the final part of the trilogy would have been called something very close to "The Castle Made Of Air That Was Blown Up," whereas the first part would have been aptly named "Men Who Hate Women").

The latter example is of particular interest, given that it involves the original title being tweaked to suit a different audience/to make more sense in a different language. The English title of Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander novel is Faceless Killers or (translated from the original Swedish) "murderers without faces." And in the end, the killers do indeed turn out to be "faceless," in that they were unknown to the victims. Which comes as a major surprise, because a) I didn't imagine for one minute that the title of the book would so comprehensively give away the ending (in crime fiction terms, it's roughly the equivalent of calling your novel The Butler Did It); and b) Wallander spends almost the entirety of the investigation focusing on Swedish nationals, despite the fact that before death, one of the victims repeats the word "foreign" several times.

If we take it as read that narrative convention dictates that you don't give away the ending at the start of the tale, and acknowledge that in no way is Faceless Killers intended to subvert this convention, then it seems a strange move. Throughout the novel, the reader is expecting the clue contained within the title and the last word to become clear, to be explained in a clever or even oblique fashion that ultimately makes perfect sense. But there's no deception, no sleight of hand; the title is accurate, and "foreign" is spoken unambiguously. The upshot of this is that Wallander wastes months of his time chasing red herrings because he was convinced that the level of brutality inflicted on the victims suggested that the murderers knew them, and were exacting some kind of revenge. One could argue that his failure to accept any other hypothesis was irresponsible, and possibly even negligible, seeing as how the killers could have struck again (and indeed, put in the groundwork in an attempt to do so). One could even argue that the author cheats, giving the game away early doors and then spending the bulk of the novel insisting that all is not as it seems, when the opposite turns out to be true.

In many ways, Mankell should be applauded for telling an unconventional tale, one where the guilty party isn't an individual the reader is introduced to who turns out to have something to hide; the effect is that the story seems more grounded in real life. But as a crime fiction fan, I don't want the solution to be staring me in the face from the cover of the book. Faceless Killers would have been much more successful with an evocative title rather than a descriptive one. Sometimes, even faithful translation can be problematic.

Fluorescent

2011-11-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

Shackled to one radiator,
we had nothing else to do
other than argue over the spelling
of the word fluorescent
as the harsh overhead lighting beat down upon us.
He refused to acknowledge
the presence of a 'u,'
whereas I
(for my sins)
insisted that there were two of them.
That we were both wrong
was a source of some small comfort
as we tried to salvage
the tattered remains of our friendship
after our eventual release.

2011-11-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

- Saw Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at the refurbished Ritz last week. Whilst I enjoyed them, the set was perhaps a little too focused on new material. I'm a big fan of Mirror Traffic, and I fully understand why artists don't want to play songs from albums they've already toured to death, but performing nothing from Pig Lib was a little disappointing to me (it's probably my favourite of his solo records). Still, "Church On White" was a lovely way to end the evening. Helping make the evening great: Girls, who have blossomed into a fantastic band. Whether or not a support band should play for over an hour is open to debate, though, no matter how good they may be. The venue, which was characterful back when I was underage drinking there at the start of the 21st century (characterful being shorthand for "a scuzzy little dump"), looks good, although having to pay £4 for even the worst of alcoholic beverages may well deter me from attending in the future.

- Also saw The Future, a couple of days afterwards. So far, I have failed to write anything about it, but it definitely had a big effect on me, and I'll be trying to get some words down at some point. It's run at the Cornerhouse was ludicrously brief, given that they showed Submarine for what seemed like years, and will probably do the same with We Need To Talk About Kevin. Yawn.

- Posted the first part of my coverage of the X-Men relaunch over at Onward, Manchester, with more to come next week (quite a bit more, actually, as I'm well behind at the moment). The two flagship titles, Wolverine and the X-Men and Uncanny X-Men, are far and away the pick of the bunch. Which is as it should be, although some of the other titles haven't impressed me, and I'm already considering dropping a couple.

- Very disappointed to learn that Peter Hook and the Light have been performing Closer. What a massive hypocrite he is. Actual quote from Hook, following the souring of relations between him and Bernard Sumner: "New Order without Peter Hook is like Queen without Freddie Mercury." And Joy Division without Ian Curtis is a massive waste of time, so why bother?

On Comments Off

2011-11-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, the other half of Onward, Manchester posted Comments Off, wading into the debate about online abuse on comments boards. In part, this piece was prompted by our own experiences; more specifically, mine. You see, I've recently been writing a series entitled Tales of a Go-Nowhere Indie Band, a true account of my time spent playing music. In part three, I wrote the following:

"Months later, after I had finally quit the band, I had a habit of bumping into the guy who had helped engineer the session, and every time he would tell me how much he hated our lead guitarist's vocals."

My ex-bandmates discovered these pieces, and presumably the aforementioned line upset them (nothing else stands out as particularly inflammatory), prompting a mini-backlash of sorts. I included the line because it added colour; whether or not that was a mistake is, I suppose, debatable; however, given that it was an accurate retelling of events I had every right to use it. What followed was a couple of attacks: the first was a negative comment left using a pseudonym that was easy to see through because the email address it was sent from contained the real name of the person in question (not to mention their IP address); the second was an attempt at intimidation by pretending to be someone from our shared past.

The incidents, as you might expect, left a sour taste. And yet I still would not choose to join the ranks of those advocating the elimination of comments boards altogether. Such forums do serve a purpose, and can be used to foster positive and constructive conversation and debate. It's difficult to even make a convincing argument for greater accountability and regulation; how on earth would one go about regulating free speech? It can't be done without entering into dangerous territory concerning what can and cannot be said. Fortunately, most people know how to self-regulate, and understand the difference between acceptable and unacceptable online behaviour.

Of course, adopting this stance leaves anyone who wants to publish their work in the not-too-pleasant position of having to endure whatever misguided, asinine, or threatening things people bearing grudges or different opinions may send their way. Recently, Helen Lewis Hasteley and a number of other female bloggers have been writing thoughtfully and intelligently about how truly abhorrent and repulsive commenters can be; indeed, the abuse they have had levelled at them serves to highlight how minor the slights I suffered were. Even more so considering that my tale has a happy ending. A couple of weeks ago, I was sat three rows behind the aforementioned individuals at an Adam Buxton show, during which the comic relentlessly took the piss out of people who spend their time posting negative comments on the Internet whilst hiding behind anonymous usernames.

I can't imagine they enjoyed his performance half as much as I did.

2011-11-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

- Park Chan-wook's Thirst is a fascinating film for a variety of reasons, chief among which is its unabashed willingness to laugh at itself. Or possibly because of the fact that it isn't aware it is being laughed at; the tone is confused to say the least. What starts as a religious melodrama descends into farce no more or less ridiculous than Twilight. If the intention is to parody and/or satirise the conventions of vampire stories, then the film is an unqualified success. If, however, the director was playing things straight, then Thirst is a spectacular failure. Either way, it is certainly worth watching.

- Another thing I did yesterday: plough through Avengers Disassembled, having had the sudden urge to reread it. Hyperbolic statement warning: these comics probably did as much damage to the industry as the shift of power from writer to artist in the early 1990s. They convinced both Marvel and DC that the way forward was blockbuster event after blockbuster event, with the need to a grandiose line-wide storyline every summer trumping any artistic considerations. Avengers Disassembled is successful on some counts, but much of it is dreadful. After a decent part one, the remainder is defined by any number of interminable conversation scenes. It's like Brian Michael Bendis thought to himself "wow, that first chapter was action-packed! Better slow the pace down from hereon in." And so things grind to a halt. Part three is particularly poor, from Hawkeye's oft-mocked death to the damp squib of a cliffhanger, although the biggest failure is the way Brian Michael Bendis simply tells the reader the Scarlet Witch is the villain, rather than revealing it. Masterful storytelling it is not.

- On a related note, over at Onward, Manchester I've posted My Life in Comicbooks, charting my appreciation of the artform from its origins to the modern day. It includes cartoons, pilgrimage, and murder!

2011-11-06T16:00:00.000-08:00

- Out of nowhere, I'm eagerly anticipating Miranda July's The Future, despite the fact that I am decidedly not a fan of her work. Indeed, the much-loved No One Belongs Here More Than You strikes me as one of the worst things I've abandoned reading at any point over the last decade. Pointless, plotless, and with nothing to say, each short story seems designed to convey a sense of profundity in an attempt to mask the vacuousness of it all. Peter Bradshaw's review of The Future and another piece published in The Guardian acknowledge the traits that jar with my own creative preferences and sensibilities, whilst also making reasonably compelling cases for why her latest is worth watching. So I'll be watching it, safe in the knowledge that even if I don't enjoy it, I'll enjoy not enjoying it.

- On Looping State Of Mind, The Field has raised the bar once again. Listening to it back-to-back with From Here We Go Sublime, the progression from album one to album three is staggering (and Sublime is a solid eight-and-a-half out of ten). What makes it even better: Kompakt's dedication to the vinyl format. 2 LPs and a free CD? Don't mind if I do.

- I'm working on a couple of pieces for Onward, Manchester about the X-Men relaunch. Can't say anything I've read so far has blown me away, but issue #1s are a notoriously difficult beast, and I'm enough of a fan to persist.

The Unheralded Return of Breathe On Deep

2011-11-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

Well, that was a rather prolonged absence, wasn't it? Almost 12 whole months, in fact. Sorry about that.

I have been busy, though, what with settling into the world of full-time employment and launching Onward, Manchester (which was nominated for Best New Blog in this year's Manchester Blog Awards), and working on other things besides. But why can't there be room for more than one blog in my life? So from hereon in, expect to see Breathe On Deep become a vehicle for my various thoughts and musings; a personal blog, in a manner of speaking. But without any of the handwringing that often implies.

Also coming soon (hopefully): the unheralded return of Sifting Through The Madness!

Sifting Through The Madness

2010-11-04T15:08:00.000-07:00

Despite my recent inability to consistently maintain this blog (to my readers, I can do nothing but apologise), I've decided to launch a new one, inspired by my posts relating to the poetry of Charles Bukowski. Entitled Sifting Through The Madness (after one of the many posthumous collections of his work), my aim is to slowly provide a comprehensive analysis of Bukowski's oeuvre (hopefully at a rate of at least one poem each day). I've shifted the three entries that once resided here (concerning 'Work-Fuck Problems,' 'So You Want To Be A Writer?' and 'Ow Ow Ow'), and written two new ones (for 'Goading The Muse' and 'Nights Of Vanilla Mice'). Coincidentally, they all concern the creative process in some way or another. Anyway, if you could check it out, that would be wonderful, and in the meantime I promise that I won't allow Breathe On Deep to die out.

Also: clearly, I need to stop placing things in brackets. Admittedly, the last time I tried to eliminate from my work a grammatical feature I was overusing, it didn't stick. Perhaps this time, things will be different.

New track: The Decemberists - "Down By The Water"

2010-11-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Guilty of overlooking The Hazards Of Love at the time, I returned to it again yesterday evening, and to be honest, I wasn't blown away by what I heard. Overly sprawling, with too few standout moments to warrant the length, it at least has the courtesy to end on "The Hazards Of Love (The Drowned)," which is easily one of the finest songs The Decemberists have ever recorded.

All that being said, on January 17th they have a new album due. Entitled The King Is Dead, I'm hoping it'll be a return to form. They've now shared the first song from the record, "Down By The Water," which is available for download courtesy of the widget below. As far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out, but I remain optimistic that one of my most beloved bands will deliver.

New track: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Heart In Your Heartbreak"

2010-11-04T01:40:00.000-07:00

Nobody could accuse The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart of resting on their laurels. Apparently, we're due a new album in March 2011, which is (I'm sure you'll agree) fantastic news. Ahead of that is the release of the first single from that record, "Heart In Your Heartbreak," and if it's any indication of the quality we can expect, we're in for a real treat. Essentially, it's more of the same, only better, and considering that their self-titled debut was absolutely wonderful, that really is saying something. Enjoy it below, and look out for it on December 13th.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Heart In Your Heartbreak by forcefieldpr

New track: Deerhoof - "Super Duper Rescue Heads !"

2010-11-03T19:51:00.000-07:00

I think it's time I started making more of an effort to get into the music of Deerhoof. They have managed to pass me by somehow, despite my awareness of them, and despite all of the critical acclaim they receive. So with Deerhoof Vs. Evil (here's hoping it's a concept album) due January 20th, the band have announced that they'll be leaking one song per week until then, a wonderfully generous scheme that I'll be using as an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon. Listen to "Super Duper Rescue Heads!" below, which is proof for me that I've been missing out.

Deerhoof - Super Duper Rescue Heads ! by Polyvinyl Records

New track: Girls - "Heartbreaker"

2010-10-27T22:41:00.000-07:00

Whilst I never quite fell head over heels for Girls' appropriately titled first record Album the way that many folk did, I still found it to be good enough to care about what they did next. On November 21st, they're back with the release of a brand new EP, Broken Dreams Club. "Heartbreaker" is pretty much what you'd expect: a lovely melody married to lyrics concerning lost love, very much evidence of the post-Pains Of Being Pure At Heart world we now find ourselves living in. Download it for yourself below:

Lupe Fiasco tackles "Float On"

2010-10-27T01:05:00.000-07:00

Without knowing the story behind the new Lupe Fiasco song, it'll be interesting to hear how "The Show Goes On" came to be made, because (as will be immediately obvious to Modest Mouse fans about six seconds into hearing it), the song borrows heavily from "Float On." As in "there is no way that "The Show Goes On" could possibly exist were it not for Modest Mouse." Most likely, Lupe ponied up the necessary amount of money for sampling purposes, but having debuted the song without acknowledging the debt he owes to the Modest Mouse original, there's a certain amount of intrigue surrounding it. Intrigue that will most likely be rapidly quashed by a brief news item on some music website or other come tomorrow morning.

I would say that it's interesting to hear a party version of the song, but to be honest I've been to plenty of parties that have featured "Float On." That's just how I roll. Anyway, stream it for yourself below to hear the similarities for yourself:

How Edgar Allan Poe changed the course of American literary history, part two

2010-10-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

Part one can be found by following this link.

* * *

As a consequence, several critics have followed the line of thought that Dupin is actually beyond human, striving to recast him as something otherworldly, in a manner that implies that he should be considered in terms of the 'superhuman,' in the tradition of the mythical Hero figure. Maurice J. Bennett believed that "for Poe, the detective story reflects a pre-existent divine order from which man is excluded by erroneous methods of investigation and inadequate habits of perception,"13 which fascinatingly positions Poe as a religious agent, sent to ensure that events pan out as intended by a higher power; 'man' may be excluded from the process, but Dupin is crucial to it. Joseph J. Moldenhauer also elevates him to a higher realm when writing that "his reason is so intense and lofty as to constitute a "creative" faculty, and the detective can "dream" a solution to the most tangled mystery without so much as stirring from his armchair. He is, then, a master artist, dictating or imagining - i.e. imaging - a coherent order for discordant experience,"14 repairing the broken fabric of humanity in a manner beyond that of the mere mortal, through the sheer force of his imagination.

Robert Shulman is also interested in the idea of imagination, noting that "this dramatizing of the superiority of the poetic power of imagination gives the Dupin stories much of their urgency, distinguishes them from the ordinary detective story, and constitutes a large part of their appeal."15 Such a statement is important because it cannot help but evoke the ideas of transcendentalism that were achieving prominence at the same time as Poe was working on his Dupin trilogy. Celebration of the potential of the imagination was one of the key tenets of the movement, and the self-reliance implied in the narrator's statement that "we existed within ourselves alone"16 has an obvious parallel with Walden, Henry David Thoreau's account of his woodland sojourn. Dupin intends to learn about himself in the same manner as Thoreau did; through a period of isolation and unique intellectual contemplation, in the pursuit of absolute autonomy. When Kinsman notes that "the detective historically remained immune to the ordinary feelings, passions and weaknesses experienced by those around him,"17 we must remember that Poe was responsible for this convention, and the circumstances under which Dupin and the narrator live certainly invite comparisons to the transcendentalists.18

At its core, though, the Dupin trilogy is undeniably simplistic in its intentions; in each case, "the solution of the mystery signals the restoration of law and order, after which the world resumes its course and the body social and politic can return to business as usual." 19 Hans Bertens and Theo D'haen most likely use the word 'business' without intending for it to have a wider significance, but it actually does takes on a greater importance when you consider Christopher Rollason's suggestion that "the social order which the detective sets out to defend is that of expanding mid-nineteenth century capitalism...[he] closes his work and is paid the rate for the job; detection has become a scarce and valuable commodity, which the owner sells dear."20 Whilst this idea is underplayed in the narratives, Dupin does not take employment purely for his own amusement; he expects financial recompense for his efforts, which is noteworthy simply because money becomes such a crucial element within the genre, in the work of those following on from Poe. It drives detectives onwards, drives clients to desperation, and drives many a character to their death. Put simply, crime fiction revolves around it, and the advent of hard-boiled fiction really drives the point home.

One final point remains; for all his supposed infallibility, Dupin is fighting a battle that can never be won. As David Schmid points out, "even if the Great Detective manages to solve an individual murder and thus to restore the image of a benevolent and knowable world, this same image will be disrupted once more almost instantly."21 This sense of futility becomes another one of the driving forces of the crime fiction genre; ultimately, no matter how much good one man may do, it is never enough. The sub-genres that emerge in the wake of Poe's formative vision deal with the inevitability of crime as a recurrent, inevitable element in different ways, and the fictional worlds that emerge post-Poe feature detectives far less romantic than the flawless Dupin.

Footnotes:

13. Bennett, 'The Detective Fiction of Poe and Borges,' page 266

14. Joseph J. Moldenhauer, 'Murder as a Fine Art: Basic Connections between Poe's Aesthetics, Psychology, and Moral Vision,' from PMLA, Volume 83, Number 2 (May, 1968), page 290

15. Robert Shulman, 'Poe and the Powers of the Mind,' from ELH, Volume 37, Number 2 (June, 1970), page 254

16. Poe, 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' page 415

17. Kinsman, 'A Band of Sisters,' page 159

18. To argue assertively that Poe was an advocate of transcendentalism is a largely futile exercise; no literature exists to prove the link, and indeed, his 1841 short story 'Never Bet the Devil Your Head: A Tale With a Moral' is an undisguised attack on a movement that he calls a "disease," lamenting their insistence on morality in literature. Yet the parallels are there for anyone to see, and the crime fiction genre that he created is an inherently moral genre (focussed as it is on the idea of justice prevailing over the criminal elements of society).

19. Hans Bertens and Theo D'haen, Contemporary American Crime Fiction (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2001), page 175

20. Christopher Rollason, 'The Detective Myth in Edgar Allan Poe's Dupin Trilogy,' from American Crime Fiction: Studies in the Genre, page 12

21. Schmid, 'The Locus of Disruption: Serial Murder and Generic Conventions in Detective Fiction,' page 76

Cloud Nothings, "Turning On"

2010-10-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Another one of my reviews can be found at the City Lifers website, if you would be so kind as to follow the link below:

The debut release from Cloud Nothings is "a collection of great promise."

To summarise: Turning On is definitely good enough to warrant your attention. A record comprised of early singles and rarities, some of the songs are definitely forgettable, but then again, their recent double A-side "Didn't You" b/w "Even If It Worked Out" shows that they're improving all the time. And "Water Turns Back" is pretty damn special.

http://www.myspace.com/cloudnothings

How Edgar Allan Poe changed the course of American literary history, part one

2010-10-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

By way of introduction, below is a link to an earlier essay I wrote:

Edgar Allan Poe's detective fiction

* * *

"We existed within ourselves alone."
Edgar Allan Poe, from 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue'

Whilst in absolute terms, the origins of crime fiction cannot be decisively attributed to to an individual author, the currently accepted academic wisdom tends to credit Edgar Allan Poe as the man who defined the role of the literary detective when he created the character C. Auguste Dupin. He appears in only three outings, those being 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' 'The Mystery of Marie Roget,' and 'The Purloined Letter,' which, when taken as a whole, have dictated the course of the genre over the last one hundred and fifty years, and indeed continue to do so; every writer working in the crime fiction tradition owes a debt of gratitude to these tales. At its most basic level, "the detective story is the very paradigm of a 'rattling good story'; the reader cannot put the book down (as the saying goes) because of the sheer compulsion to find the explanation of 'whodunnit',"1 and it was Poe who established this paradigm, whilst also positioning crime fiction as "the literary form that most effectively includes both the quest for meaning and the final deciphering of uncovered symbols,"2 a crucial observation when you consider how 'quest for meaning' literature flourished during a twentieth century that was obsessed with "meaning" as an absolute concept, an obsession that embodied itself in a critical infatuation with the notion of symbols and signifiers.

David Lehman expanded upon this idea when writing that "the prophetic Poe, collaborating with his zeitgeist, arrived at the distinctive signs and symbols of a universal nightmare - and devised in the form of the detective story a means of keeping the nightmare at bay."3 In doing so, Poe's Dupin offers the reader reassurance; he represents "the search for rationality and order in a world disrupted by criminal violence,"4 and we recognise that his intellect is so obviously infallible that, though we only encounter him in three stories, we are left with the belief that no case is unsolvable as long as it is conferred to him. He routinely "explains the inexplicable, thereby demonstrating the ultimate comprehensibility of the world beyond the self,"5 and in doing so he acts as a comforting vision of a world in which crime can never prosper.

To briefly play devil's advocate, John T. Irwin undeniably had a point when he commented that "as a character, Dupin is as thin as the paper he's printed on. As for his adventures, they amount to little more than reading newspaper accounts of the crime and talking with the Prefect of police and the narrator in the privacy of his apartment."6 From a critical perspective, they are somewhat lacking, largely devoid of the tension and drama you would expect, instead spending far too much time fawning over Dupin's methodology. So much so, in fact, that Arthur Conan Doyle felt compelled to pass comment in the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, having Holmes remark that "Dupin was a very inferior fellow...he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine."7 That said, you simply cannot deny the impact the character had upon literary history. Within these three tales, Poe unknowingly crafted what was to become the model for the entire genre, as the writers who followed in his wake - Conan Doyle included - 'borrowed' his ideas so liberally that many of them would become the signifiers of crime fiction. Dupin was "perhaps not the very first detective in fiction, but undoubtedly the model for a great many later sleuths, investigators and private eyes."8

His exploits are imparted to us by a nameless narrator, who is both the chronicler of Dupin, and a loyal, trusted companion, one who remains unable to perceive that which, to the great detective, is both obvious and integral to the case. Dupin, meanwhile, is a man of the kind of analytical genius and cold logic that makes him appear somewhat detached from reality; though only an amateur sleuth, he possesses a singular brilliance that puts the combined efforts of the Parisian police force to shame. His method requires him to balance "imaginative involvement with analytical detachment...[and] involves both a meticulous examination of physical evidence (involvement in the world of men) and a dispassionate consideration of the case as a whole (withdrawal to the realm of abstract thought)."9 If the narrator acts as our gateway into the mind of Dupin, then Dupin himself is intended to be the man whom the reader both roots for and relates to. It is Lehman's opinion that "the ambiguous person of the detective is interposed between the criminal and the police, those old antagonists, and suddenly there appears to be a detached, independent point of view with which we can identify ourselves."10

That said, how much Dupin truly conforms to this ideal is open to question. He can hardly be put forward as an easily relatable character; he is, after all, essentially an unknowable figure, and his eccentricities render him even more elusive, even though they are representative of the unique gifts for which we are expected to celebrate him. Instead, these qualities invite a certain amount of sympathy. As Margaret Kinsman wrote, "the prototypically eccentric, peculiar, intellectually superior and egotistical detective has long been associated, by readers and commentators, with a deep inner loneliness."11 As the narrator of the Dupin tales observes in 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' "it had been many years since Dupin had ceased to know or be known in Paris."12 Such a remark is telling; until he encountered the narrator and the two became associates (and, ultimately, friends), we are left to assume that Dupin lived an entirely solitary existence, almost completely cut off from the human society he fights so stridently to protect.

...to be continued.

Footnotes

1. Martin Swales, 'Introduction ,' from The Art of Detective Fiction, edited by Warren Chernaik, Martin Swales and Robert Vilian (Basingstoke: New York: Macmillan; St. Martin's Press, 2000), page xii

2. Maurice J. Bennett, 'The Detective Fiction of Poe and Borges,' from Comparative Literature, Volume 35, Number 3 (Summer, 1983), page 267

3. David Lehman, The Perfect Murder: A Study in Detection (Ann Arboer: University of Michigan Press, 2000), page 72

4. David Schmid, 'The Locus of Disruption: Serial Murder and Generic Conventions in Detective Fiction,' from The Art of Detective Fiction, page 76

5. J. Gerald Kennedy, 'The Limits of Reason: Poe's Deluded Detectives,' from American Literature, Volume 47, Number 2 (May, 1975), page 185

6. John T. Irwin, 'Mysteries We Reread, Mysteries of Rereading: Poe, Borges, and the Analytic Detective Story, from Detecting Texts: The Metaphysical Detective Story from Poe to Postmodernism, edited by Patricia Merivale and Susan Elizabeth Sweeney (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999), page 28

7. Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, collected in Sherlock Holmes: The Original Illustrated 'Strand' (Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2006), page 24

8. Brian Docherty, 'Introduction: Hard Talk and Mean Streets,' from American Crime Fiction: Studies in the Genre (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1988), pp. 1-3

9. Kennedy, 'The Limits of Reason: Poe's Deluded Detectives,' pp. 194-195

10. Lehman, The Perfect Murder: A Study in Detection, page 142

11. Margaret Kinsman, 'A Band of Sisters,' from The Art of Detective Fiction, page 158

12. Edgar Allan Poe, 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue,' from Tales of Mystery and Imagination (London: Everyman's Library, 2002), page 415

Ones to watch: Dominant Legs

2010-10-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

With the American alternative music scene in ruder health than perhaps it ever has been, it isn't too difficult to stumble across interesting bands without even trying. It's a good bet that a somewhat quirky name equates to catchy indie pop, and Dominant Legs are certainly no exception to that rule.

The songs on their debut EP Young At Love And Life are understated gems that miss out on 'effortless cool' plaudits simply because band leader Ryan Lynch sounds so earnest, without ever straying into the dreaded heart-on-sleeve territory. There is a glorious conflict lying at the heart of this release, as the band marry lyrics that document the loss of innocence to a melodic musical spirit that is another example of the resurgent pop aesthetic currently pervading the American independent scene. Whilst this creative schism is nothing new, Dominant Legs pull it off far more effectively than most.

"Young at Love and Life" is a perfect example of this dynamic, an undisguised portrait of maturation that has yet to happen, with the protagonists of the tale still having plenty of lessons to learn as their plight is documented over a catchy arrangement that features some first rate synth work.

The dreamy backing vocals of "About My Girls" are the perfect accompaniment to a song that expresses how difficult it is to forget love interests of the past when there are no new romances on the horizon. And "Run Like Hell For Leather" closes proceedings in an almost resigned manner, a restrained effort that puts a definitive full-stop on the narrative that runs through the EP.

Rewarding multiple listens, Young At Love And Life is a strong first release. The melancholy air of each track creates a distinctly post-Summer feel that is perfect for these October days, but the standard of songwriting is high enough to ensure that Dominant Legs have a shelf life that will run far beyond the next change of season.

http://www.myspace.com/dominantlegsmusic

...slowly but surely

2010-10-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

I'm still building my way up towards operating this blog on the permanent basis that you, the reader, were used to before I hastily departed for Berlin. Alas, much of my time at the moment is taken up by a) frantically applying for every vaguely suitable job available in Manchester; and b) freelance work, which definitely takes priority at this moment in time. On that note, below is a link to a feature I wrote about a band called Givers.

Ones to watch: Givers

As I mention in the feature, they seem to have taken Paul Simon's Graceland as their starting point, and ran it through a contemporary filter. The result, however you want to describe it, is undoubtedly quite impressive. I'd definitely recommend checking them out.

http://www.myspace.com/giversmusic

The low key return of Breathe On Deep...

2010-10-01T19:51:00.000-07:00

...although really, this is just a post to point you in the direction of a couple of pieces I wrote for upstart website Music Vita:

The new No Age album is another fine effort

and:

Lately, I've very much fallen in love with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Expect something of greater substance over the weekend, as I attempt to climb back aboard the blogging horse. Until then, welcome back!

Kristian

Everything You Need #5, Friday 23rd July 2010

2010-07-23T11:21:00.000-07:00

It's time (and always a pleasure) to plug Everything You Need again, and whilst I'm not fortunate enough to be DJing this time round, I am still quite closely involved: the Everything You Need Twitter account is operated by me. Starting from eleven p.m. this evening, your £2 will get you four hours of the best music you could ever hope to hear at a clubnight. Tonight, above all else, I'm hoping for some Replacements. I've lost count of the number of occasions I've danced around to "I Will Dare." But once more can never hurt. You're encouraged to make your own requests, though, so if there's anything in particular you fancy hearing, write it down, hand it in, and wait on tenterhooks in the hope that it'll get played. And make sure you stick around for the raffle, with the lucky winner getting to take home half of the takings on the door (keep those fingers crossed!). Hope to see you down there.

Mercury Music Prize 2010

2010-07-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

So, the nominations for the Mercury Music Prize 2010 have just been announced, meaning everyone can squabble over who was picked and who was left out, whilst arguing about whether the award has any particular relevance these days anyway. I haven't listened to most of these albums, and if I'm honest I probably don't intend to. I've heard good things about the Villagers record; need to spend more time with Wild Beasts; and enjoy the xx's debut quite a bit. Outside of those three, there's nothing here that really convinces me that British music is in particularly rude health. Ah well. There's always next year.

Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions
Corinne Bailey Rae - The Sea
Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N' Cheek
Kit Downes Trio - Golden
Foals - Total Life Forever
I Am Kloot - Sky At Night
Laura Marling - I Speak Because I Can
Mumford & Sons - Sigh No More
Paul Weller - Wake Up The Nation
Villagers - Becoming A Jackal
Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
the xx - the xx

2010-07-19T23:13:00.000-07:00

I've never paid that much attention to Jesca Hoop in the past, but thanks to the good folks over at NPR Music, I'm able to remedy that. They're streaming her second album Hunting My Dress in its entirety ahead of its release (June 26th, if you'd like to mark it in your diaries), and I know I'm going to be taking the opportunity to acquaint myself with her work.

Stream Jesca Hoop's latest album Hunting My Dress over at NPR Music

2010-07-19T23:02:00.000-07:00

Somehow, Liars don't seem to get the credit they deserve. Sure, their records are usually released to critical acclaim, but considering that over the last ten years they've knocked out five albums that range from great to stunning, I can't help but feel as though they deserve to be held in higher esteem. Their latest long-player Sisterworld is a reminder of both their talent and their versatility (their constant ability to reinvent themselves is one of their greatest attributes), and they recorded four of the tracks for a new Daytrotter Session which is well worth listening to.

Download the new Liars Daytrotter Session here

2010-07-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

"This is what I don't have:

- Plans

- Enthusiasm

- A girlfriend

- The sense that things fit together and that everything will be all right in the end

- A winning personality

- A watch"

When the narrator of Erlend Loe's Naive. Super takes stock of his life, the bad far outweighs the good. Aged twenty-five, he is struggling to find any meaning in his life, and making a list of what he's lacking only draws further attention to his perceived failings. Yet making lists is one of the things he's best at. From a literary perspective, it's a simple device generally employed to quickly convey pertinent information about a character, and in the hands of Loe it is undeniably highly effective. For example, it's hard to read the list the narrator makes of things that used to excite him as a child and not want to write up your own; however, considering his depression causes him to revert to to something akin to a childlike state (his greatest pleasure in life becomes the time he spends playing with a ball and a hammer-and-peg toy), said list becomes incredibly poignant. Halfway through the novel, I'm looking forward to seeing how it develops.

2010-07-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

My second contribution to Write In For Writing's Sake was posted this evening, and as always I'd be greatly appreciative if you followed the link to read it. This week's subject was 'Uncomfortable,' and after considering an airline cabin as the setting (and a rather more literal interpretation of the theme), I eventually settled on a house party, with a narrator who is anything but happy to be there. Once again, I didn't find it necessary to draw upon my own real life experiences too much, although I imagine most people can relate to the circumstances depicted within the story. Let's face it, at one time or another we've all found ourselves in a room comprised entirely of total strangers, and all felt the sense of discomfort that stems from struggling to find your place, and your voice, within said room.

2010-07-17T01:15:00.000-07:00

I think it'll take me a while to process Inception. My initial (undeniably) hyperbole-laden reaction to the film is that it is nothing less than a ground-up reinvention of the action movie genre. To wit: the bar has been raised to such an extent that the usual underwhelming summer blockbuster mediocrity that just about passes muster will (hopefully) no longer so readily be accepted. It is undoubtedly Christopher Nolan's finest hour, surpassing both the critically adored Dark Knight and The Prestige (my own personal favourite), and is a tremendous piece of cinema that demands multiple viewings in order to fully digest the wonderful-but-labyrinthine plot. Superbly acted and utterly captivating throughout, I cannot wait to see it for a second time.

Ed Cottam performing at Fletcher Moss Gardens

2010-07-16T12:18:00.000-07:00

Back in April, a friend of mine had a birthday celebration held in Fletcher Moss Gardens that featured the music of Hungry Ha Ha Ha, Jess Bryant and Ed Cottam. Whilst footage starring the first two acts emerged shortly after the event, it's taken until now for a video showcasing the music of Ed Cottam to be posted online. Having just watched it, I thought I'd share it here for your enjoyment. You can even see me in the background (I'm the guy who's unnecessarily overdressed).

www.myspace.com/edmundcottam

2010-07-14T00:35:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how the focus of the blog this month appears to be literature (not something I planned, but let us say that it is a decision intended to celebrate the first meeting of the Everything You Read book club), I would like to share with you a passage that occurs early on in Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections:

"I'm saying the structure of the entire culture is flawed," Chip said. "I'm saying the bureaucracy has arrogated the right to define certain states of mind as 'diseased.' A lack of desire to spend money becomes a symptom of disease that requires expensive medication. Which medication then destroys the libido, in other words destroys the appetite for the one pleasure in life that's free, which means the person has to spend even more money on compensatory pleasures. The very definition of mental 'health' is the ability to participate in the consumer economy. When you buy into therapy, you're buying into buying. And I'm saying that I personally am losing the battle with a commercialized, medicalized, totalitarian modernity right this instant."

It's a wonderful bit of prose from a novel that, twenty pages in, had failed to capture my attention. Now, I find myself one hundred pages along and absolutely enthralled. Having had a conversation earlier this evening centred around what drives the reader to carry on when a novel doesn't immediately grab them, The Corrections has provided me with a rather simple answer: some books are slow starters, and the very nature of literature contains the promise that things may pick up in spectacular fashion at any moment.

Hopefully, I'll be able to find the time to keep reading it at this rate. There's a wealth of stuff to tackle at the moment, though. Vintage Books were kind enough to send me a copy of John Lennon's In His Own Write for review. I'm expecting Naive. Super by Erlend Loe - the first selection of the aforementioned book club - to arrive any day now. And I started Dante's The Divine Comedy the other day. It somehow seems rather fitting that, as soon as my degree ends, I rediscover my passion for books.

2010-07-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

Over at City Lifers, you can read my review of The Peters Port Memorial Service, the debut album from Scottish band Mitchell Museum. I found it to be a very enjoyable record, for the most part, and a sure sign of greater things to come in the not too distant future. And "Tiger Heartbeat" will definitely end up being one of my most played tracks of 2010. It's worth getting on board before they become huge. Then you'll be able to say you were there from the start.

www.mitchellmuseum.co.uk

2010-07-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I contributed a short story to Write In For Writing's Sake, the blog that intends to encourage those of us who have held a long-standing desire to express our creativity in the form of the written word, without ever quite knowing how to get the results out into the wider world, where people might read our literary outpourings. I hope it'll be my first submission of many; now that I've finished my degree, I'm keener than ever to do something relevant with it.

Be warned: the story isn't exactly the most positive thing I've ever written. It concerns a married couple, both of whom have reached the age of forty. Told from the perspective of the woman, the two of them are sat across from one another at a wedding, and the tale juxtaposes their unhappiness with their surroundings, which in turn serve to remind her of the happier times they shared together.

As soon as I read that this week's theme was 'Dance, Dance, Dance,' the idea of an unnamed song playing in the background - one that carries a past significance to two lovers - immediately came to mind. From there, I decided to challenge myself as much as possible, writing from a perspective that couldn't be any further removed from my own. Whether that turned out to be a successful move is not for me to decide, but I enjoyed stretching myself, and it represents a much-needed move away from writing only what I know.

2010-07-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

If you were to pick only one transcendent moment out of The National's highly impressive, wonderfully emotive oeuvre, it has to be when the otherwise unremarkable "Slow Show" breaks down into one of the most beautiful evocations of the feeling of love you could ever hope to hear, as Matt Berninger delivers the stunning refrain: "you know I dreamed about you / for twenty-nine years before I saw you." The line effortlessly captures that sentiment we all struggle to express sometimes, and to my mind is one of the most perfect encapsulations of how it feels to be in love.

Yet the line first appeared during "29 Years," which stands out as an anachronism on their self-titled debut album due to the lo-fi nature of the recording in contrast to the songs that surround it. If The National (2001) was the sound of a band still finding their feet, then "29 Years" is a drunken late night phone call rescued from the answer phone of an ex-girlfriend in order to be inexplicably included on their debut release. It took them six years to give it the context it deserved, and you cannot help but speculate that Berninger was biding his time until he felt able to do the line justice. That he did so in such spectacular fashion is one of the many, many reasons why people feel such a deep affection for them.

2010-07-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, Pixar are head and shoulders above any other film studio in the world at the moment, a title I feel confident bestowing upon them on the strength of their last three movies. The first five minutes of Up were some of the most heart-wrenchingly emotional I have ever experienced, and the narrative that followed was a thing of beauty, as Carl attempted to recapture the spirit of his youthful love whilst struggling to overcome his own curmudgeonly nature. WALL-E, meanwhile, is a laudably ambitious re-imagining of the boy-meets-girl cinematic dynamic that ends up being one of the greatest love stories of the twenty-first century. And, watching it for a second time, I realised how wonderful Ratatouille is. It approaches both cooking and the city of Paris with an unrestrained sense of celebration that is a joy to behold, and Remy the rat's struggle to stay true to both his family and his own ambitions is never less than engaging. As we all eagerly await the release of Toy Story 3, it served as the perfect reminder of the unbelievably high standards Pixar have been setting over the last few years.

Write In for Writing's Sake

2010-07-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

One of the members of a book club I'm helping to get off the ground made mention of a website he's just recently started up and, having decided to check it out, I ended up being extremely glad that I did. Entitled Write In For Writing's Sake, its mission statement is to inspire wannabe writers to actually get something written. Considering how easy it is to sit around aspiring towards some kind of literary output without ever actually doing anything about it, I think this is a very noble goal indeed. Every Thursday, a new subject is put forward (past examples include 'Breaking Down' and 'The Big Time') to get the creative juices flowing, and anyone is free to submit something centred around the chosen theme. Submissions can take any form, and should be up to 1000 words. There's already a small number of contributors offering their work for public consumption, and some of the stuff that has been posted is impressive. With all the recent debate concerning the supposed death of literature, it's good to see their are still avenues for burgeoning new talent to express their craft.

Altered Zones launches

2010-07-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

"In the last several years, there's been an explosion of small-scale DIY music. Altered Zones is a team of 14 music blogs dedicated to exploring these emerging musical worlds, traversing genres from psych and drone to electronic and underground pop. Our mission is to highlight the most notable and adventurous new artists, and to serve as a focal point for the flood of creativity coming from deep within the musical underground."

So reads the mission statement of the new Pitchfork venture Altered Zones, which is, as the blurb suggests, a collective of fourteen reasonably well-established music blogs united in their desire to showcase the best alternative music that we might be missing out on. Of those blogs, I have to admit to being unfamiliar with the majority of them, although the added exposure they'll no doubt receive by associating themselves with Pitchfork will no doubt be good for traffic on each respective site. This news post outlines the (extremely ambitious) concept in great detail, and I'm interested enough to be on board for the time being.

2010-07-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

It really is no stretch to say that Ghosts of the Great Highway is one of the greatest albums ever. At the same time, it isn't unreasonable to say that Mark Kozelek hasn't managed to match those incredibly high standards on any of the Sun Kil Moon releases that followed it. You could charitably argue that the Modest Mouse covers album Tiny Cities was an interesting enough diversion, but April, the follow-up record proper, was something of a disappointment. I definitely think there's an argument to be made that Kozelek produces his best work when his ideas are filtered through other band members. That said, I'm still holding out hope that Admiral Fell Promises will prove me wrong. Released next week, you can stream three of the songs by following the link below.

MP3s: Sun Kil Moon - "You Are My Sun," "Admiral Fell Promises" and "Australian Winter"

2010-07-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

"He is the most perfect writer of my generation, he writes the best sentences word for word, rhythm upon rhythm. I would not have changed two words in Breakfast at Tiffany's" - Norman Mailer on Truman Capote

Were I to type up a list of books I know I should've gotten round to reading but somehow haven't, Breakfast at Tiffany's would've figured pretty high. Until this weekend, that is. Having found it for three quid in a charity shop, I ploughed through it very quickly indeed (it is only a novella, after all, and the writing flows in such a way as to make the act of reading it effortless). Part of the reason I'd avoided Truman Capote in the past was his dismissal of Jack Kerouac (he suggested that Kerouac's work "isn't writing at all; it's typing." The comment always stuck in my craw). But having actually sat down to read him, I've inevitably had to revise my opinion. At first, Holly Golightly comes across as either elusive of just plain unlikable, the type of character who isn't so much as eccentric, but schizophrenic. However, once you understand a bit more about her and her upbringing, she becomes a somewhat tragic figure, one who has created a new identity for herself to disguise past hurts. A third of the way in, I had no expectations of Capote being able to turn me around on her, so full credit to him for pulling it off. It's slight (the unnamed narrator is every bit as insignificant as Nick Carraway proves to be in The Great Gatsby), but it's beautifully written, and certainly worth spending a few hours of your time with.

2010-07-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

News, albeit unsubstantiated, that James Bond 23 won't be happening is music to my ears. The franchise should have been put to bed years ago, and even the Daniel Craig-starring, supposed ground-up reinvention didn't do enough to reinvigorate the character. Instead, what was offered was an ineffective attempt to mimic the template laid out by the Bourne movies, whilst at the same time stubbornly refusing to shed the more outdated trappings of the series, most strikingly the Bond girls - you cannot successfully affect a more serious tone when you have such an obvious reference point to the "nudge nudge, wink wink" ridiculousness that has always been a staple of the films. Even the combination of Sam Mendes (American Beauty) directing and Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon) writing does little to convince me that we're missing out on something special, seeing as how nothing in their respective oeuvres suggests that they'd know their way around the action blockbuster genre.

If you're looking for a more balanced view, you could do worse than read this Guardian article, although to be honest, by the end of it, Stuart Heritage isn't exactly lamenting the potential end of James Bond, suggesting that "maybe we should just let the character die with dignity while he still can." I couldn't agree more.

2010-07-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

So, prominent literary critic Lee Siegel has pronounced the American novel dead. In doing so, he's sparked a wave of controversy, but I for one can certainly see his point.

Most of the novels I've got lined up to read are from the beginning of the twentieth century or earlier (I have The Divine Comedy sat next to me as I type this, and am working my way through an incredibly dense introduction that is leading me to believe that thirteenth century Italy was a lot like Romeo & Juliet - plenty of death centred around love and honour whilst powerful families waged war with one another). It was the recent '20 Under 40' list published in The New Yorker that got Siegel's goat. Outside of Jonathan Safran Foer I'm at a loss as to who any of them are - an indictment of both my own unwillingness to engage with twenty-first century literature and the ever-declining popularity of "proper" fiction that has rendered it as something of a cultural relic - and I don't see myself becoming excited about any of them any time soon. I still haven't read Moby Dick. I still haven't read The Grapes of Wrath. I've been reading Breakfast at Tiffany's for the first time today, and I need some more Truman Capote in my life once I'm done. And I could go on, and on and on... At the same time, the only still-living American novelists I have any interest in reading in the near future are all older than forty (such as Michael Chabon, Jonathan Franzen and Glen David Gold, who was responsible for Carter Beats The Devil, which deserves to be lauded as one of the best novels of the last decade).

Of course, it should be pointed out that this problem isn't confined to America. It's much more universal than that, and the problem is most likely terminal. It'd be easy to speculate as to the reasons for this, but it'd also be a futile exercise. I'm content knowing that I'll never get the chance to read all the books I'd like to, and that freedom of choice makes the paucity of modern day classics much easier to bear.

2010-07-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

Due to a combination of the internet being disconnected at my old house, and moving into a new place, I've been unable to post anything these last few days. To be honest, it doesn't look like I've missed out on much in terms of reportable news, though. Let's see what we do have:

Andrew Garfield will be playing Peter Parker in the upcoming Spider-man reboot. I wasn't blown away by his performance in The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, but I'm willing to reserve judgment for the time being.

If you're into Wavves, you can stream their new album King Of The Beach in its entirety.

Roger Ebert continues to offer his uninformed opinions on computer games, this time conceding that they can be art (whilst refusing to actually play one).

And America is really getting serious about internet piracy, so if you wanted to watch Toy Story 3 illegally on your laptop, you now have fewer sites to choose from.

2010-06-27T01:03:00.000-07:00

Check out Tube Fruit All Smiles And Chocolate, a 1993 Modest Mouse cassette-only release that predates practically all of their recorded material.

Peter Jackson looks set to direct the two movie adaptations of The Hobbit, which goes some way towards lessening the sense of disappointment felt when Guillermo Del Toro pulled out.

Jason Segel talks about the upcoming Muppets reboot, whilst expressing dissatisfaction at being contractually obligated to star in How I Met Your Mother for another three seasons.

Listen to the new Antartica Takes It! album Constellations in its entirety.

Chromeo's eighties revivalist tendencies are fully engaged on new single "Don't Turn The Lights On."

Hear Swedish techno artist The Field's remix of the Bear In Heaven track "Ultimate Satisfaction."

2010-06-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Even taken out of context, this picture strikes me as fabulous. It reminds me of the faux-Lichtenstein images depicting apathetic modern day attitudes that ran through Generation X (complete with dialogue such as "Hey, Dad - you can either have a house or a life...I'm having a life"). Here, one man has accepted his lot in life without troubling himself too much about what he might be missing. To him, first class is unreachable, and he has long since learnt to live with that.

It's actually taken from the 23rd June Spider-Man strip that is widely syndicated in American newspapers, despite the fact that it is absolutely woeful. It's still penned by Stan Lee, and is the subject of a great deal of internet mockery (for examples, click here and here). The main criticism tends to be that Peter Parker spends far too much of his time sat around watching TV, or feeling inadequate compared to the earning power of his semi-famous wife rather than, say, fighting supervillains, or doing anything that could be construed as heroic. Here, he's shirking any sense of duty - of responsibility, even - in favour of kicking back and relaxing, his body language screaming "what, me worry?" in a situation that may very well require action. But Peter Parker remains either oblivious, or completely unconcerned. Way to keep that Gen-Xer spirit alive, Parker!

2010-06-26T15:05:00.000-07:00

Just listened to Subiza, the latest Delorean album, for the first time, and it's pretty enjoyable, if you're willing to overlook how much it sounds like Panda Bear's Person Pitch. The similarities really are striking, especially when you consider that Delorean's self-titled debut record was essentially run of the mill indie pop, and what followed from them was much more dance-orientated material. Either they possess the chameleonic traits necessary to constantly evolve their sound from album to album, or their earlier releases made them faintly embarrassed, and they realised that a drastic reinvention was required. It's a successful change, whichever way you look at it, and whilst it certainly doesn't reach the heights of Person Pitch, it does belong alongside illustrious company.

I'm doing my own little thing

2010-06-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

Given the choice, would you prefer to hear Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy perform Yankee Hotel Foxtrot track "Ashes Of American Flags," or a mostly spoken word cover of Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"? Well, back in March Tweedy was given that very choice and, surprisingly enough, he decided to go with the latter. It's now made its way onto the web, so you can all enjoy his frankly hilarious reading of Beyonce's smash hit for yourselves!

2010-06-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dirty Projectors and Bjork have collaborated on Mount Wittenberg Orca, and it's due next week.

The National bassist Scott Devendorf talks about High Violet.

Also on the interview front: executive producer and head writer David X. Cohen speaks about the return of Futurama.

A new No Age album, Everything In Between, is due September 27th, a date worth marking in your calendars.

And there are two new Daytrotter Sessions that are worth your time, by Pearly Gate Music and Maps & Atlases respectively.

2010-06-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

"I feel like we're at the end of Our Town, where the people of Grover's Corner are talking to one another from inside their graves."

I think the universe is telling me I should sit down and read Thornton Wilder's Our Town. The above quote is from Douglas Coupland's All Families Are Psychotic (I'm still working my way through it, and enjoying it more than Generation X and Shampoo Planet, even though it's not without its flaws), but Kurt Vonnegut also references Wilder's play on several occasions during Timequake, which I just finished rereading the other day.

It's strange how these things work, but now that my course is finished (right down to receiving my results today - just the graduation ceremony to go now) I'm finding it much easier to be enthusiastic about literature. Which is useful, considering that the subheading of this blog is 'Words about cinema and literature and music,' and I haven't really been living up to that tagline in a while.

Five books I own which I really need to get around to reading:

1. Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

2. Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections

3. Glen David Gold, Sunnyside

4. Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame

5. Daphne du Maurier, I'll Never Be Young Again

"So, this is what you want out of your life?"

2010-06-23T00:38:00.000-07:00

After the first photos of the film emerged yesterday, the teaser trailer for the film adaptation of The Green Hornet premiered on Jimmy Fallon Is Alive last night. Unsurprisingly, it has already made its way onto YouTube, and even though it doesn't offer much to go on, I still found it to be interesting enough to merit posting. As a self-confessed comicbook geek, I know very little about The Green Hornet as a character. My interest is primarily centred around Michel Gondry, who in my eyes can do little wrong. Critics were divided on The Science Of Sleep and Be Kind Rewind, but I felt there was a lot to enjoy about them. Gondry's aesthetic should lend itself well to a left field superhero movie, and I'm cautiously optimistic that this will kick off 2011 cinema in the best possible way.

2010-06-23T00:20:00.000-07:00

Over at City Lifers, my review of the debut Alba Lua EP, "Ballad Of Joseph Merrick," was posted yesterday, and I'd appreciate it if you follow the link and go read it. I'm really enjoying spreading my wings and contributing to a proper website, so long may they continue to publish my stuff! Here's the closing track from the EP, "Valley Of Abra," so you can get an idea of what they sound like. For a first release, it's pretty damn impressive, and I'm certainly looking forward to hearing more from them in the future.

Alba Lua: Valley of Abra by SUPMAG

2010-06-22T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hear the new Wolf Parade album Expo 86 in full.

A brief documentary of the making of the new Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin album, Let It Sway.

The video for the new Crystal Castles single "Celestica."

2010-06-22T00:54:00.000-07:00

I'm currently on a Douglas Coupland rereading kick, and for the first time since I picked up one of his novels almost ten years ago, I'm having serious misgivings about his writing. Aged sixteen, Generation X seemed indisposable, an inspirational text that was completely in sync with what I wanted from my life (i.e. lazy days spent amongst a small handful of friends, telling stories that were celebrations of life, occasionally shuffling off to work some menial but inoffensive job, awaiting the grand discovery about myself that would make my existence worthwhile). Of course, sixteen is an incredibly young age to be thinking such thoughts, and I guess the passage of time has awoken me to how unfeasible the way of living represented within the novel actually is. Some passages were still powerful, but ultimately it lacked the profundity I remembered, and left me feeling disappointed.

And in fairness, I always had issues with Shampoo Planet. I found the protagonist, Tyler, to be an unlikable character, so much so that when his inevitable downfall occurs, I just can't muster up any sympathy for his plight. He deserves what he gets, and whether or not he's truly learnt anything from his travails is left unclear, as the novel ends before we find out one way or another. On top of this, despite his selfishness and stupidity, he still ends up with the kind of job he'd been dreaming about for years, meaning the denouement falls flat. Without the certainty that he has taken on board his failings, how can I possibly care about him, or relate to him in any way? It's a dispiriting lesson to take away, that life can be so kind to someone so undeserving of it.

Maybe All Families Are Psychotic will prove to be a more enjoyable experience. It's certainly further proof that Coupland loves his dysfunctional family units (a feature of both of the novels mentioned above). About a third of the way into it, my feelings are decidedly mixed...

Who am I to keep you down?

2010-06-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

More on The Morning Benders, this time focussed around their love of covering other artists. I was surprised enough a few weeks back when I stumbled across them tackling the classic Jungle Book track "I Wanna Be Like You." I was entirely unaware that they recorded (and released for free) an impressive collection, The Bedroom Covers, that included their takes on songs by the likes of The Beach Boys, The Smiths and Paul Simon, amongst others. That set features the Fleetwood Mac classic "Dreams," and at a recent show in New York they performed it live, this time with a full band, and the result is something I definitely felt was worth sharing with you.

I'm moving past the feeling

2010-06-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

For whatever reason, I've never managed to listen to Neon Bible all the way through. My relationship with Arcade Fire has always been a curious one, in fact. Way back when (2004, I think), before they broke big I missed the chance to see them in some small Manchester venue or other, solely due to laziness. I struggled for years to admit how great Funeral truly is, for fear of buying into the hype that surrounded the band.

Flash forward to 2010, however, and a new Arcade Fire album seems like something worth getting excited for. Judge for yourself: One Thirty BPM have four of the songs for you to listen to, and after a couple of listens I'm quietly impressed with all of them. Due August 2nd, the sixteen track length suggests that this will be their most ambitious release to date, and I for one am eagerly anticipating it.

The Suburbs track list:

1. The Suburbs
2. Ready To Start
3. Modern Man
4. Rococo
5. Empty Room
6. City With No Children
7. Half Light I
8. Half Light II (No Celebration)
9. Suburban War
10. Month Of May
11. Wasted Hours
12. Deep Blue
13. We Used To Wait
14. Sprawl I (Flatland)
15. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)
16. The Suburbs (continued)

2010-06-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

In the past, I've had little or no time for the Klaxons. I even argued that their cover of "It's Not Over Yet" was inferior to the original version (which needlessly drags on for over seven minutes) by nineties no marks Grace, just to be difficult. However, I can't resist sharing this with you: the frankly wonderful cover art for their new album, Surfing The Void, the bizarreness of which has definitely convinced me to give the record a chance when it's released on 23rd August.

You can watch it vanish in the blink of an eye

2010-06-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

That I haven't yet posted about Wax Fang at any great length is something of a surprise even to me. I came away from their performance at the Pavement All Tomorrow's Parties thoroughly impressed (and armed with one of their t-shirts). Fortunately, the good folk over at Manchester Scenewipe have given me an excuse, recording this solo performance of "Wake Up, Sleepyhead!" from band leader Scott Carney. It's only half the length of the nine minute-plus album version (that can be found on La La Land), but that doesn't matter. It works wonderfully acoustically, and will hopefully inspire you to seek out more of their music.

Wax Fang from MCR Scenewipe on Vimeo.

In the heat of the night

2010-06-21T16:12:00.000-07:00

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti are proving to be ridiculously productive at the moment. New videos and tracks keep springing up on a regular basis, and you have to admire band leader Ariel Marcus Rosenberg's dedication to his craft. July 8th will see the release of a brand new 12" EP, in collaboration with avant jazz group Added Pizzazz. You can hear the new track over at Pitchfork.

Ariel Pink with Added Pizzazz track list:

1. In The Heat Of The Night
2. Vapor Trail
3. Hot Body Rub
4. 19
5. IM NN7

2010-06-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

Plans for the week? Well, today I will be dedicating my time to writing up a review of the debut EP from a French band, Alba Lua, for CityLifers website. My early impressions of it are favourable, and I'd definitely venture to say that they're worth a bit of your time.

Also, it's been a while since I last headed out to the cinema, and there's a couple of films I'm quite keen to see. Greenberg is the latest from Noah Baumbauch (who was responsible for the excellent The Squid and the Whale, and the middling Margot at the Wedding), and sees Ben Stiller in a rare serious role, alongside mumblecore legend Greta Gerwig, with a soundtrack by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem fame. Please Give, meanwhile, is the latest from Nicole Holofcener, a director I feel has passed me by. My interest has been piqued by this article, however, so I'd like to check it out.

Whatever you want from me

2010-06-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

Really should have posted this a few days ago, but I guess I forgot about it. Here's The Flaming Lips and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic covering "Sugarcube," one of the all-time great Yo La Tengo tracks.

Everything You Need, Friday 18th June 2010

2010-06-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

I've made a habit of promoting Everything You Need now, so I apologise if I'm repeating myself, but when you care about an event enough, the praise you bestow upon it is worth repeating. Whilst Manchester isn't short of alternative music nights these days, there are at best only a handful worth cherishing, and Everything You Need is definitely one of them.

This time round, you could argue I have a slight ulterior motive for writing this post. I'm lucky enough to be choosing the songs for an hour or so tonight. This being the first time I've ever been granted such responsibility, needless to say I'm experiencing a combination of nervousness and excitement. So right now, I'm frantically going through my CD collection, searching for songs that will adequately fit into the theme of, well, providing everything you, the attendee, will need.

Of course, that's only one reason for coming down. If you enjoy great music in the company of great people, then as always this night is for you.

2010-06-18T16:34:00.000-07:00

"Let me note that Kilgore Trout and I have never used semicolons. They don't do anything, don't suggest anything. They are transvestite hermaphrodites."

Just as the semicolon was becoming a vital addition to my writing, Kurt Vonnegut - one of my favourite authors of all time - had to go and ruin it for me. Still, I bow to his superior literary genius, and accept that I'll have to modify my style accordingly. The above quote is from Timequake, which I've just finished rereading. Just one of the many examples of his brilliance.

The loneliest crowd

2010-06-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

I'm sure many of us are hoping that the roll The Pains of Being Pure at Heart were on last year will continue well into 2010; a new album sometime soon would be much appreciated. Maybe another tour, too. Not to ask too much or anything. In the meantime, here's the (really quite lovely) video to their new (really quite lovely) song, "Say No To Love."

You're never there

2010-06-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

The pressures of trying to find a new place to live and paid employment meant I've neglected the blog these last few days. Right now, though, I'm listening to the new Stars album, The Five Ghosts, over at NPR Music, and I definitely recommend that you check it out. "Fixed" and "We Don't Want Your Body" were leaked early, and piqued my interest, and fortunately they maintain the high standard of those songs throughout the record. It's great to see the indie rock veterans on such great form this year (see also: The Hold Steady, The National, Broken Social Scene, The New Pornographers...).

I'm sleeping with my clothes on

2010-06-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Indie pop team ups seem to be all the range these days. Not so long ago, Titus Andronicus and the Vivian Girls joined forces for an excellent version of Weezer's "Undone - The Sweater Song," and now Surfer Blood and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have jumped on the bandwagon, offering a live version of Lit's arguably seminal (well, I always loved it, anyway) "My Own Worst Enemy" at a recent gig.

It's like gravity doesn't apply

2010-06-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Having already written extensively about Heaven Is Whenever, there's not much more I need to say about how much I'm loving The Hold Steady right now, so I'll simply post this Pitchfork Special Presentation of the band performing "The Sweet Part of the City" for you all to enjoy.

Interstellar fugitives on the run from the law

2010-06-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

The return of Futurama is obviously worth getting excited about; whilst the movies were a little hit-and-miss at times, they still delivered plenty of laughs, and proved that reviving the franchise was a great decision. So naturally, the upcoming brand new, twelve-episode season is cause for celebration; below, you'll find a short trailer explaining how they survived the end of 'Into the Wild Green Yonder.' At its best, Futurama often outstripped its "parent" show, The Simpsons; episodes such as 'The Luck of the Fryrish,' 'Jurassic Bark' and 'The Sting' packed a real emotional punch, and the intended finale, 'The Devils Hands Are Idle Playthings,' is still one of the high-points in television history.

You are a light turned low

2010-06-14T03:34:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already given The New Pornographers latest album Together a chance, you really should get on it; having never really listened to the band, I wasn't expecting all that much, but it is an excellent record well worth your time. Here's the video for "Crash Years," one of the standout tracks, so you can judge for yourself.

I'm not in this for the long haul

2010-06-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

Any collaboration featuring Arrested Development alumni Will Arnett and Jason Bateman is obviously going to be worth a look. The first output of their new production company DumbDumb is this short produced for Orbit (yes, the gum company). It has its moments, and Arnett throws himself into his role with gleeful abandon, but I can't help but feel a tad disappointed. The product placement does it absolutely no favours, either. I'd still say it was worth five minutes of your time, though.

Phantomwise

2010-06-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin are one of those bands I can't say too many good things about. Blessed with an ear for a great melody, if debut album Yr Broom was filled with promise of greater things to come, then the follow-up record Pershing was an underrated indie pop gem. Which is why I'm so excited about their third effort, Let It Sway, due August 16th. They've already premiered one track, "Sink/Let It Sway," and now have released a short clip featuring a demo of "Phantomwise." Clocking in at just over a minute, whilst it's obviously not entirely representative of the finished product, it's still quite lovely.

World Cup Fever...

2010-06-13T16:16:00.000-07:00

...have you caught it yet? If you've been watching the football played so far closely, probably not. Some of it has been bloody awful. Algeria versus Slovenia was the very definition of the word 'slog.' The less said about the England performance, meanwhile, the better. Unsurprisingly, the thoroughly dreadful 2010 version of "Three Lions" did nothing to inspire them; and unfortunately, they've almost certainly not heard the Dutch Uncles World Cup track "Fabio Acapella":

Fabio Acapella by Dutch Uncles

The United States, meanwhile, are unofficially represented by Weezer, who have obviously earned themselves a pass for life after The Blue Album and Pinkerton. The less said about the rest of their output the better, and "Represent" is pretty ho-hum, but at least they went to the trouble:

Even as I write this, it's hard to find too much enthusiasm for the tournament. The early stages always tend to be cagey, complete with ridiculous complaints about the brand new match ball (more round than ever before!). Most of my entertainment is being derived from the Back Of The Net website and Twitter; they provide humorous content that makes the mundanity of the on-field action much more tolerable. The Guardian and BBC coverage is, of course, essential too.

Don't feel so down

2010-06-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

From the file marked 'Why Not'?: here's a video of The Strokes performing "Last Nite" the five hundred capacity London venue Dingwalls - their first gig in four years. The footage is far from fantastic, but it serves as a timely reminder that the song never stopped being great, and indeed, Is This It remains a truly wonderful album. A new record is due next year; lets hope it banishes the memory of the awful First Impressions Of Earth. It'd be nice to have them back on form again.

Keeps me in my bed

2010-06-09T23:15:00.000-07:00

My Old Kentucky Blog debuted a track from the upcoming new Stars album The Five Ghosts yesterday, and as with the other material that the band have showcased so far, it bodes well for the record. And, if you haven't already heard "We Don't Want Your Body," head on over to I Guess I'm Floating, and savour the absolutely glorious chorus. June 21st really can't come soon enough.

You make my eyes go boom

2010-06-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder to you all that I recently reviewed the new Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti album Before Today over at City Lifers. It'd mean a lot to me if you could check it out; it's the first time I've actually contributed content to another website. It's an excellent record, one worth spending a bit of time with - one of the highlights of 2010 so far. Here's the video to "Bright Lit Blue Skies," a faithful cover of an obscure garage band, the Rockin' Ramrods:

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - "Bright Lit Blue Skies" from gorillavsbear.net on Vimeo.

The radio sings a patriot song

2010-06-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

After debuting two of the tracks from Expo 86 last month, Wolf Parade have a couple more for our listening pleasure, "Yulia" and "Cloud Shadow On The Mountain." They're both pretty damn impressive, raising my expectations even further ahead of the June 28th release of the new album.

2 songs from Wolf Parade's EXPO 86 by subpop

You could only be free

2010-06-09T13:50:00.000-07:00

"Game Of Pricks" is undoubtedly one of the best songs in the vast Guided By Voices oeuvre, and one of the most frequently covered. Jimmy Eat World contributed a version to the Future Soundtrack for America collection; you can listen to A Sunny Day In Glasgow tackle it here; and I saw Surfer Blood perform it in concert last month (here's footage of it from another gig). Now, we can add Owen Pallett to the ranks of alternative acts who've put their own spin on it, as part of the previously mentioned A.V. Club Undercover sessions.

Owen Pallett covers Guided By Voices

Talking Up...Pearly Gate Music

2010-06-07T21:10:00.000-07:00

It's always nice when an artist emerges from nowhere to take you by surprise. I'm having that experience right now with Pearly Gate Music, whose self-titled debut album wasn't remotely on my radar until a recommendation from the sadly now defunct music blog Pop Tarts Suck Toasted. In writing about it previously, I spoke of the understated beauty that defines the album. That's painfully evident on the standout track "I Was A River." I find it hard to believe anyone will release a more beautiful song all year; strikingly sparse, it relies almost entirely on Zach Tillman's wonderful vocal performance, as the lyrics build to the heartbreaking refrain of "if I still loved you / I wouldn't be free." The sincerity of the sentiment shines through, and it marks Tillman out as a songwriter of tremendous potential. "Big Escape," meanwhile, is a subtle pop gem, an ode to growing up that actually becomes somewhat anthemic the more you listen to it. It's not the most immediate of records, but it's worth spending some time with; it's definitely a grower.

Anyway, here's a trio of songs recorded in live venues that I think you might enjoy:

"Bad Nostalgia" and "Navy Blues"

"Gossamer Hair"

Tell him your troubles

2010-06-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

The Morning Benders continue to go from strength to strength; after the critical acclaim that greeted their second album, Big Echo, they still have enough left in the armoury to put out the fantastic "Go Grab A Stranger" on a limited edition tour 7". They're playing the Night & Day on June 28th, a date definitely worth marking in the calendar.

Go Grab A Stranger by themorningbenders

I'm gonna change your life

2010-06-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

The Thermals have become an impressively prolific band as of late, putting out albums with a minimum of fuss whilst consistently improving on past efforts with each new release. Which is reason enough to look forward to their latest; Personal Life is due September 6th, with the first single "I Don't Believe You" out on August 9th.

Personal Life track list:

1. I'm Gonna Change Your Life
2. I Don't Believe You
3. Never Listen To Me
4. Not Like Any Other Feeling
5. Power Lies
6. Only For You
7. Alone, A Fool
8. Your Love Is So Strong
9. A Reflection
10. You Change My Life

You were my only friend

2010-06-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

It's amazing to me that, three albums in, BOAT's absolutely infectious indie pop hasn't yet earned them a wider audience. For a recent WNYU session, they contributed new song "Grand Opening," as well as a Guided By Voices cover. Both of which you can check out over at You Ain't No Picasso. I fully recommend that you do so.

I'll leave you alone forever now

2010-06-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

Round these parts, I've spent too long focussing exclusively on music lately. Fortunately, there's a new Scott Pilgrim trailer for us all to enjoy/pore over with delirious glee. I've always described myself as cautiously optimistic at best as far as this film is concerned; I love the graphic novels so much that I couldn't bring myself to build my hopes up too much, despite the involvement of Edgar Wright. Now, I'm throwing caution to the wind, and deciding that 6th August cannot come soon enough.

How we lived our lives

2010-06-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

For all those of you who felt that Sharpen Your Teeth was Isaac Brock's finest hour, here he is performing a new Ugly Casanova song, "Here's To Now." It always seemed unlikely that we'd get any new material from the band, but as it happens, they'll be contributing eight songs to the soundtrack of documentary feature 180° South. Which is both unexpected and wonderful news.

Out of his element

2010-05-27T18:27:00.000-07:00

Last week, the good folks at Adult Swim offered the first song Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney have recorded together for several years. This week, they have a brand new Madvillain track available to download. Considering that the acclaimed Madvillainy was released back in 2004, that makes it two collaborative acts who've put out their first new material in ages through the website. "Papermill" runs at less than two minutes long, but that's plenty of time for DOOM to impose himself on proceedings, spitting some wonderful non-sequiters along the way. Suddenly, that second album seems even more urgent.

The way she brushed her hair from her forehead

2010-05-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Having grown up listening to Paul Simon, I have no qualms about saying that Graceland is one of my favourite albums of all time, a record I keep on returning to all these years later. So I'm always keen to hear current artists covering tracks from it (or albums such as Return To The Sea and Vampire Weekend, that essentially play out as extended homages). Back in 2006, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone put out a limited 7" featuring their version of the title track; now, The Tallest Man On Earth have tackled the same song. Head on over to Music vs. Misery to hear it; it's a great interpretation of what truly is an amazing song. And if you haven't already checked out the new Tallest Man album The Wild Hunt, you should make time to do so.

Like a death of the heart

2010-05-24T22:33:00.000-07:00

Maybe sometime soon LCD Soundsystem will stop giving me reasons to write about them; I feel like I'm endlessly hammering on about how great they are. But frankly, it'd be just plain irresponsible of me not to post this video of the finale they chose to end each set of their recent four-night residency at Manhattan venue Terminal 5 - a medley joining the fantastic Sound Of Silver closing track "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" and a cover of the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys duet "Empire State Of Mind" together.

I want these sleepless nights to end

2010-05-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Fans of The Dodos album Visiter would be well served to make their way to the Daytrotter website, where there is a brand new session the band recorded accompanied by the Magik Magik Orchestra, who helped them to put a new spin on "Ashley," "Fools," and "Winter." They're prolific contributors; it's their third outing for Daytrotter (after previous efforts in 2007 and 2008), and they've now offered versions of nine of the fourteen songs on Visiter. It is a stunning record, and if you haven't already discovered it, now's as good a time as any. The version of "Fools" is particularly impressive, and highlights the epic tendencies that lurk beneath their deceptively simple songwriting.

For what it's worth

2010-05-24T14:28:00.000-07:00

Having seen Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin grow from the humble origins of their debut album, Broom, to the wonderfully confident, poppy songs of the follow-up, Pershing, I can't help but feel a special kind of attachment to the band. Now, details of their third record have emerged. Produced by Death Cab For Cutie guitarist and all-round go-to guy Chris Walla, Let It Sway is due August 16th. Polyvinyl are offering the first single "Sink/Let It Sway" as a free download; make sure you go grab it quickly. You'll be glad you did; musically, it's the perfect accompaniment to all this fantastic weather we've been having.

Let It Sway track list:

1. Back In The Saddle

2. Sink/Let It Sway

3. Banned (By The Man)

4. In Pairs

5. My Terrible Personality

6. Everlyn

7. Stuart Gets Lost Dans Le Metro

8. All Hail Dracula!

9. Critical Drain

10. Animalkind

11. Phantomwise

12. Made To Last

Looking for a tired face

2010-05-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

More Pavement ATP footage; I've never been a massive fan of The Walkmen, but "The Rat" is a stunning song, and after a couple of false starts due to technical difficulties served to build excitement levels, they absolutely nailed it. And look: another Pavement song, Wowee Zowee track "Father To A Sister Of Thought," one of two singles from that album (the other being "Rattled By The Rush") released to absolutely no success, later inspiring Stephen Malkmus's immortal admission that "I was smoking a lot of grass. They sounded like hit singles to me."

The Walkmen - "The Rat"

Pavement - "Father To A Sister Of Thought"

Everything You Need, Friday 21st May 2010

2010-05-21T10:45:00.000-07:00

Remember to give.

Three words printed onto a small slip of paper, one of several such messages given out as a raffle ticket, which your £2 entrance fee entitles you to receive; it's an uncomplicated sentiment, but one that's easy to lose sight of, and one that makes a great deal of sense. It's also been the winning ticket at the previous two Everything You Need events, with the lucky victor taking home a very generous prize of half of the takings on the door.

Of course, that's only the tip of the iceberg as far as reasons to attend are concerned. All those involved, from organisers to attendees, approach the evening with a great deal of enthusiasm; the music ranges from Sam Cooke to Micachu, with a hell of a lot of variation in between; and if there's anything in particular you'd like to hear, you're encouraged to request it. There's no pretension involved, just an honest desire to see people enjoy themselves. It's where I'll be tonight, and I hope to see you there.

Here I am, helicopters flying

2010-05-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how I'm so high on LCD Soundsystem at the moment, I figured I'd post this incredibly low-rent video made to accompany their cover of Suicide frontman Alan Vega's track "Bye Bye Bayou." There's every chance that This Is Happening may be the album of the year; having heard it a few times now, I'd put it ahead of anything else released in the first five months of 2010. I hope that it doesn't prove to be their swan song; I selfishly want more from them.

LCD Soundsystem - Bye Bye Bayou (HD)

lcd soundsystem | MySpace Music Videos

We fell right to sleep in the damp tangled sheets

2010-05-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

Fans of Superwolf, the excellent 2005 Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Matt Sweeney collaboration, need to make their way to the Adult Swim website, where you can download a new track. Well, I say brand new; it's actually a cover of Gene Watson's 1975 song "Love in the Hot Afternoon." Still, it's hard not to become excited at the prospect of a follow-up album from the pair. I know my fingers will be crossed from this point on, anyway.

They really like to see you there

2010-05-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

When Stars debuted "Fixed" from The Five Ghosts, I stood up and took notice; the track is an immediate pop gem, suggesting that their fifth album should rank amongst their best yet. If you head on over to Pitchfork, you can listen to the first single, "We Don't Want Your Body," which is further evidence that July 21st is a date to mark in all of our calendars.

I can't get beer in me

2010-05-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Most people know David Cross best for his role as Tobias Funke in superlative American sitcom Arrested Development. But he's actually much more important than that; not only was he one of the key figures behind Mr. Show, one of the best sketch shows of all time (which happens to be lamentably difficult to watch legally in this country), but he's also an excellent stand up comedian. Having released Shut Up, You Fucking Baby! and It's Not Funny to critical acclaim, he's back with his third album of recorded material, entitled Bigger and Blackerer. Click on the link below to get a taste of his sense of humour, as he mocks Coors Light drinkers.

David Cross - "I Can't Get Beer In Me"

Maybe we could dance together

2010-05-20T01:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still obsessively searching for footage from Pavement ATP; so for your viewing pleasure here's another couple of videos. Atlas Sound bandleader Brandon Cox celebrated his birthday by covering the amazing Pavement track "We Dance," from Wowee Zowee; also, a couple of songs from The Authorities fantastic set, which they tore through in the early hours of Monday morning. Having never listened to them before the festival, they were definitely one of my favourite discoveries of the weekend.

Atlas Sound - "We Dance"

The Authorities - "Park Song" plus one

All this could be yours someday

2010-05-19T23:30:00.000-07:00

With Friend and Foe, Menomena propelled themselves from relative obscurity to a position of prominence in the alternative music scene. It truly was a remarkable record, and some new music is long overdue. So news that their fourth album Mines is set to be released on July 26th is more than welcome, as is a chance to hear a track from it. Entitled "FIVE LITTLE ROOMS," the widget below allows you to download it for your listening pleasure. In their own words, "it's either the best or the worst song we've ever written; you decide!"

A guess is the best I'll do

2010-05-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

As expected, more video filmed at the Pavement ATP is gradually emerging, and whilst most of it involves grainy visuals and terrible sound, there's the odd gem to be found, if you look hard enough. Like Pavement performing "Here," one of my favourite songs from their debut album Slanted and Enchanted, and Broken Social Scene performing "Meet Me In The Basement" from their new album Forgiveness Rock Record. Credit once again goes to Polar1One, who so far has provided all of the decent footage. Enjoy!

Pavement - "Here"

Broken Social Scene - "Meet Me In The Basement"

Initial impressions

2010-05-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

BAND OF HORSES, Infinite Arms

Maybe I jumped the gun when preparing myself for Infinite Arms to be the best Band Of Horses record to date. On the evidence of the songs they previewed ahead of its release, they appeared to be in fine form. Yet taken as a whole, the strike rate of memorable vs. forgettable tracks simply isn't high enough. "Factory" is quietly beautiful in the same vein (and same league) as "The Funeral" and "No One's Gonna Love You," but perhaps it should have closed the album, rather than opened it; nothing else matches the high standard it sets, and I just don't see myself returning to this album all that often.

PEARLY GATE MUSIC, Pearly Gate Music

Pearly Gate Music weren't on my radar in any way, shape or form until a timely shout out from Pop Tarts Suck Toasted pointed me in their direction. It turns out that their self-titled debut album is one of those hidden gems that may never generate too much discussion or affection, but rest assured that the handful of people who discover it will cherish it forever. The simplicity of the melodies on offer doing nothing to alter the fact that these songs stay with you, and Zach Tillman should be commended for putting out an uncomplicated first record filled with understated beauty. "I Was A River" is the standout track, an incredibly sparse arrangement infused with a sense of poignancy so pure it's impossible not to get caught up in the feelings it evokes. Highly recommended.

WOODPIGEON, Die Stadt Muzikanten

Continuing with the 'understated' theme, on their third album Woodpigeon offer their most ambitious record to date, without changing too much about their sound. Traces of Belle & Sebastian, Beirut and Seabear are easily identifiable, but at the same time, they've clearly found their own unique voice. "Empty-Hall-Sing-Along" provides exactly what the title suggests, a delicate slice of music that belongs on a movie soundtrack. "Duck Duck Goose" wonderfully highlights the expansiveness they're capable of, whilst sounding earnestly hopeful. If you haven't already heard them, this is the perfect place to start.

You're not the only one

2010-05-19T00:31:00.000-07:00

More of the same from The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart? Perhaps, but it works so well for them it's hard to find fault. Any new material is reason to be excited, so here's the B-side to their upcoming new single, "Lost Saint."

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Lost SaintbyLukeSlater

Lights that flash in the evening

2010-05-19T00:27:00.000-07:00

Whilst I'm not entirely sold on Infinite Arms having now heard it in its entirety, I still have enough love for Band Of Horses to be interested in hearing them cover The Replacements. Thanks to the folks at CD101 Radio, that's now possible, as the band offered a version of "Can't Hardly Wait" whilst in session. They stick to the script as far as the song is concerned, but then wouldn't they; it was a damn fine song to begin with.

Pavement ATP: the aftermath

2010-05-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

It's always difficult to come back home after a weekend spent at All Tomorrow's Parties. Aside from the inevitable stupor that three days' worth of hangovers inflicts upon your body and mind, you have to deal with the knowledge that everyday life does not consist of getting up, milling about for a bit, and then checking out a handful of excellent bands. Fortunately, this ATP was everything I was hoping it would be. Pavement more than lived up to my expectations, playing everything I wanted to hear during an epic two hour set that spanned the length of their career, and the band were clearly enjoying themselves. And I've come away with plenty more wonderful memories, too; Broken Social Scene were excellent as always; eighties American punk band The Authorities surprised us with the strength of their songs; and Wax Fang are well on their way to becoming amongst my personal favourites. Catching The Walkmen playing "The Rat" and Calexico playing "Not Even Stevie Nicks" is something I was delighted about as well. All that, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg; there's a constant source of entertainment to be derived from ATP, beyond just the music. Hopefully more footage of the event will emerge over the next few days; what's currently kicking around on YouTube is largely of a pretty poor quality. If I find any more decent videos, I'll post them.

Pavement - "We Dance"

Broken Social Scene - "KC Accidental"

Another Butlins holiday

2010-05-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

So, tomorrow I'm fortunate enough to be off to Minehead for the Pavement-curated All Tomorrow's Parties. Undoubtedly my favourite band of all time, I never believed I'd have the opportunity to see them live, but thankfully they decided to embark on a reunion tour, and in two days I'll be watching them play through a two hour set. Whether or not they'll be everything I'm hoping for is uncertain, but right now I'm finding it impossible to be anything other than optimistic that this is going to be one of those transcendental live performances I remember for the rest of my life.

Of course, Pavement are only the tip of the iceberg. There's plenty of other stuff to look forward to as well; bands I've recently become infatuated with, such as Avi Buffalo and Surfer Blood (who played the Ruby Lounge last weekend, and really impressed me); bands I have a longstanding love of (the likes of Broken Social Scene, The Fiery Furnaces, and a rare opportunity to see Mission Of Burma); and bands I know I should've heard already (chief amongst those being Blitzen Trapper and Wooden Shjips). And that's only scratching the surface. Having skipped all of the ATP events last year, it'll be good to be back.

Make an earthquake

2010-05-13T01:04:00.000-07:00

Few artists could pull off the heartfelt sincerity needed to convincingly deliver the message that "we should always know that we can do anything." Jonsi, however, makes it look easy. The version of "Go Do" he and his band performed on Tuesday's episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson is particularly wonderful, and new album Go is well worth spending some time with, too.

She'll decide what she wants

2010-05-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

On several occasions recently, I've mused about how a certain band or artist has passed me by. You can add Ben Folds to that list, and that's something of a shame; I can't help but feel if I'd discovered him at the right time of my life, he might have become very important to me. As it is, Rockin' The Suburbs was my first experience of his music, and "Annie Waits" aside, it was never going to be enough to win me over. But my love for Elliott Smith is such that I always pay attention whenever somebody covers his music. Cymbals Eat Guitars offered a fantastic version of "Big Nothing" recently, and as part of the A.V. Club's extensive Undercover project, Folds recorded a version of "Say Yes" that sticks close to the original, whilst also doing it justice.