Glastonbury 2013: Picks You Might Have Missed

In just a week or so, the 2013 Glastonbury Festival will be opening its doors. With the full line-up announced and stage times revealed, it’s off to the clash calculators, but away from the headline acts, Glasto has a habit of throwing up some interesting nuggets you might not notice at first glance, and has its own quirks totally worth highlighting. Here’s just a bunch that popped out when I trawled through the line-up, as well as some light guesswork…

 

ASAKUSA JINTA

Hell Stage (Shangri-La) Thursday 20:00 – 21:00 / The Rocket Lounge (Shangri-La) Thursday 21:30 – TBA / Salon Carousel (The Unfairground) Friday 23:30 – 00:30 / Snake Pit (Shangri-La) Friday 02:00 – 03:00

Big, loud, brassy, punk ska always goes down well at a festival as it’s perfect live party music, and self-styled Asianican Hard Marching Band Asakusa Jinta (named after the Tokyo district where street bands used to roam and play)  look set to deliver the goods. I unfortunately missed them last time they were in the UK (with a short tour in 2009), but they’re playing almost as many times over two days as they did over a longer period then, so there’s little excuse to not try and catch them peddling their glorious rambunctious noise at least once.

 

FIRST AID KIT

Pyramid Stage Sunday 12:45 – 13:30

First Aid Kit at Field Day 2009

One of the joys of returning to a festival year on year is seeing the rise (and some times fall) of acts based on their stages and placement on the bill. Last time First Aid Kit played in 2011 (or was it 2010?), they flew in for a brief appearance on the Greenpeace Stage to an audience of roughly 20 people. This year, their Somerset House headline gig was one of the first to sell out, and here they are on the Pyramid Stage – an early slot for sure, but still a neat indicator of their growing popularity. Guess there is a market for gorgeous Swedish country-folk after all.

 

FOKN BOIS FEAT. SISTER DEBORAH

Toad Hall Saturday 01:30 – 02:30

 

Need I say more?

 

WILLIAM’S GREEN

Tucked down at the bottom of the line-up list, you’d be forgiven for not even knowing what William’s Green was. Seemingly taken over a space recently occupied variously as the Queen’s Head Stage and the Leftfield Stage, it also plays host to some of the biggest names of the festival playing secondary slots. Sure they may be slightly truncated, but it gives you another chance to see the likes of Everything Everything, Martha and Rufus Wainwright, Savages, The Vaccines, and Palma Violets at a more reasonable, less clashy hour (similarly if you don’t fancy getting an Ulrich Schnauss fix at 3.30am on Sunday night/Monday morning), as well as your only opportunity for potential goodness from Public Service Broadcasting, New Build and more.

 

MONSTER’S UNIVERSITY

Pilton Palais Sunday 11:00 – 12:50

Sunday morning’s first film screening of the day has traditionally been a TBA slot filled with a preview of the latest Pixar offering, and all signs point to Monster’s University appearing in this slot in 2013 (especially as Monster’s Inc 3D is showing in the same slot the day before). Though you’re not getting quite the jump on the general public as in some years (it’s UK release is July 12th), it’s still worth it for bragging rights, as well as masking those bleary Sunday morning eyes with a pair of 3D glasses. That is if you are up in time – the queue is always massive for this one, so be prepared to get there at least an hour before show time to stand a chance of getting in as space is limited. Though the thought of depriving a toddler of their ‘new bestest film evah’ might be too much bear.

 

SPECIAL GUESTS

While we’re on the subject of TBAs, there seem to be less obvious indicators of special guest slots this year. More will no doubt become clearer once you’re on site, but The Park is usually where the big ‘surprises’ turn up. Unless The Park is closing early on Sunday night, there would appear to be a slot up for grabs after Cat Power is done at 21:45. Given that Thom Yorke has previously hinted at appearing in some shape or form this year (and Radiohead having played The Park as a special guest act in 2011), I would be pretty amazed if Atoms For Peace didn’t fill that gap (or at least one gap somewhere). They recently played a secret pre-tour gig in LA, so maybe this could also have counted as a Glasto warm-up too.

Viewing Gum Listening Post #11

Is there anything more appropriate then marking number 11 in the ongoing Viewing Gum Listening Post saga, with 11 songs? How about having one more? Yes! So 12 songs then! Hmm, well, how about you give it a listen, and let me know which one you would have ditched. Will it be Norway’s Eurovision entry? The eagerly awaited return of Boards of Canada? Or chiprock cool-kids Anamanaguchi? In fact, this is a fairly digi-friendly playlist, even more than usual, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for all sorts of other pretty fine genre-spanning stuff too. You know the drill, stream below, or click here to open separately. Yup, VGLP goes all the way up to 11!

 

1. The Bins – Darling, (Feat. Doe Eye)
2. Sigur Ros – Isjaki
3. Anamanaguchi – Planet
4. ADULT. – Nothing Lasts
5. Margaret Berger – I Feed You My Love
6. Solar Bears – A Sky Darkly
7. Jon Hopkins – We Disappear
8. Boards of Canada – Reach For The Dead
9. Is Tropical – Dancing Anymore
10. Camera Obscura – Troublemaker
11. Queens of the Stone Age – If I Had A Tail
12. Vampire Weekend – Diane Young

Q & Eh?: When Asking the Audience Goes Wrong

For some reason, I always jump at the chance of going to a post-film Q+A, expecting an insight into the film-making process, a chance to unpack the themes and ideas behind their new creative work, and enjoy the company of those directly involved. But I struggle to think of one which has actually fully delivered on their promise. Of course, it works both ways – it’s a give and take scenario, and an uncooperative subject doesn’t help matters. However, more often than not, it is the questions from the audience that leaves the experience often being a squib of the damp variety.

It seems there is always one question, be it awkward, ill-judged or just bonkers, when you can hear the other cinemagoers groan, sigh, grit their teeth or bury their heads in their hands. Hey, I’ve asked dumb questions too, but I’m mostly of the camp that thinks “Hey, they’ve taken the time to come here, no one enjoys the press junket experience, let’s not bombard them with crap.” Sometimes it’s a non-sequitur or an attempt to be funny, and in some instances the line of questioning may even be justified, but it’s always better leaving the probing to the journos who actually have some weight behind them rather than Joe Anonymous.

So, here are a few examples of some memorable clangers I’ve bore witness to. Please excuse the paraphrasing and anecdotal nature, but hopefully the essence of squirm-inducing embarrassment has been successful transposed. And apologies to all concerned.

The League of Gentlemen – The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse – London, 2004

With a Q+A, you never know what kind of crowd you’re going to get, and in particular how primed they are for the film they have just seen. Naturally, you’re going to end up with some who have no expectations or prior knowledge, but sometimes that’s better than outright misinformation. For the big screen follow-up to the TV series The League of Gentlemen, three of the four members (Steve Pemberton was filming Lassie at the time) gathered to take the usual questions, including another run through of the Papa Lazarou character genesis story, which even back then they had told many times before. The highlight of the night though was one puzzled punter who, in a mixture of confusion and annoyance, enquired what this had to do with the previous film. You know, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Oh, to have been in their brain during the preceding hour and a half or so to see what on Earth they made of it all.

Park Chan-Wook – I’m A Cyborg But That’s OK – Barbican, 2007

The nature of a duff question can be as much about the timing as the content itself, and the necessity to ‘end on a good one’ was proven here. No doubt in response to scenes in which the ‘Cyborg’ dreams of spouting hidden gun barrels and opening bloody fire on the staff of the mental institution in which she resides, the final question of the night came in the form of asking whether he thought Oldboy had any part to play in the Virginia Tech massacre that had happened some months before (a link which was reported, but quite swiftly discredited). The awkwardness hung ever greater as it had to be translated into Korean, then his answer given, and then translated into English. It was unsurprisingly a diplomatic answer, saying it was a tragedy, but felt the link between violence in reality and in cinema was tenuous and his films had no part to play. But it was an ill-conceived debate to launch right at the end of the discussion.

David O Russell – Silver Linings Playbook – BFI London Film Festival 2012

David O. Russell and Bradley Cooper with London Film Festival Director Clare Stewart – audience out of the picture

The ‘Surprise Film’ at the London Film Festival in 2012 (and such a surprise that I didn’t even know the title of the film until it came up in the end credits) also heralded with it surprise guests, namely star Bradley Cooper and director David O Russell. Russell spoke eloquently and sensitively about how the story spoke to him personally and in particular with regards his son’s bipolar disorder. Now, Russell’s anger issues are well documented (notably on-set scuffles with George Clooney on Three Kings, and Lily Tomlin on I Heart Huckabees), but still one audience member’s question quite openly, though not directly, referred to his infamous indiscretions. Okay, so being that it was a surprise film, said audience member would not have known when he took his seat that in about two hours they would have a chance to needle Russell, and certainly those past transgressions are inexcusable, but the atmosphere in the room completely thickened as a result. Russell though was on good behaviour and deflected talk of anger issues back towards his son’s own problems and how that was channelled into the making of the film, but there was a minute or so where a previously jovial interview could have gone sour.

Rich Moore & Sarah Silverman – Wreck-It Ralph – BFI Southbank, February 2013

As mentioned previously, timing can make or break a question, and the first to come from the audience here was the perfect mix of nerd fury, unentitled indignation, and crippling nerves. It came from a young nerd who took the special guests to task about the wait between the US release and its eventual UK release, complaining that there were a lot of fellow geeks out there who were fans of games and they were cross they couldn’t see it – or at least that’s what could be made out from the sweaty stutters and clammy swallow-pauses. But when your question is targeted at Silverman and director Moore (previously of The Simpsons and Futurama, so no stranger to irreverence either), they’re not going to be overly sensitive to your needs. With mock sincerity, they sarcastically praised their courageousness in asking the question, and for a minute or two they pretty much ribbed him good. It culminated in them claiming that “they wanted to release it on your birthday, but Disney were like ‘Nooooo’”. It was pretty mean, but pretty funny too.

 

So, any more Q+A horror stories? Or have you been to a Q+A where the questions from the audience have actually been good?

Eurovision 2013 Semi-Final Round-Up!

As is customary, prior to the Eurovision Final tonight, I skip through the Semi-Finals and watch all those entries that sadly didn’t make it through. It appears that this year, Europe has discovered dubstep, and they are still obsessed with banging enormous drums, so their attempts to crow-bar in one, or even both, elements into their songs have led to some fairly unlistenable dirge. But here are my absolute must-see picks of what you missed (largely drawn from semi-final two, it would seem):

Montenegro: Who See – Igranka

Astronauts. Rapping. Just what you would expect. Until the lady with the chorus rockets out of the ground (Hell?) and unleashes a dubstep screech wearing assorted electrical components as if she’s fallen into the bargain bin at her local Maplin’s. Nice growls at the end.

 

Latvia: PeR – Here We Go

Seemingly trying to ride on the crest of the ‘Ready to Rhumble’ revival, it’s a bit too “Everybody clap your hands!” for its own good. The lead’s mate is apparently beatboxing, but you couldn’t tell with the sound levels, so he just ends up looking like an enthusiastic fan of his friend. There’s a bit when computer noises are piped in as they do a weird robot slo-mo creep-step, and is capped off with apparently the first ever stage-dive in Eurovision history – we know because he announces this. If they had made it through, would he repeat it, announcing it was now the second ever stage-dive in Eurovision history? Sadly, we’ll never know.

 

FYR Macedonia: Esma & Lozano – Pred Da Se Razdeni

Standard ballad fluff, right? Just wait until Esma (or is that Roseanne Barr?) strides across the stage, like an extra from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Never has trying to mix traditional and modern music worked so badly. It sounds like the L and R in my headphones are playing two completely different, but equally awful, songs at once!

 

Albania: Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko – Identitet

Rock, now, and what would happen if esteemed cult film critic Kim Newman joined Kings of Leon? You’d get this guy, right? There’s an explosive guitar solo, and the mix of big beats, trad strings and upbeat rock actually works surprisingly well. One of the better losers.

 

Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova, Stoyan Yankulov – Samo Shampioni

Unfortunately, this kitchen-sink approach to mixing contemporary and traditional sounds is like an instant headache in a can. There’s folky dress, wub-wubs, multiple drums, and Dappy on bagpipes. Just no.

 

Switzerland: Takasa – You And Me

Not an awful pop tune, but trying to get the sympathy vote by including a 95 year old man on the double bass backfires – he just looks a bit confused and I end up feeling a bit worried for him. The Book of Mormon was better.

 

San Marino: Valentina Monetta – Crisalide (Vola)

Now hang on, how come no-one told me Valentina Monetta was representing San Marino again? Okay, it’s no The Social Network Song, but I’m starting to feel sorry for the girl, rejected twice in a row. And it’s a surprisingly decent, spirited performance too. Perhaps people didn’t dig the Melisandre from Game of Thrones look?

Viewing Gum Listening Post #10

The Viewing Gum Listening Post hits double figures, and given it’s highly unlikely it’ll reach triple figures (let’s get real here, guys), let’s celebrate! And what better way to do so than with another bumper playlist. Yup, despite my Spotify discord (new problem: massive font/spacing), there’s just too much music out there to not keep compiling these cross-sections of my listening habits over the past what-have-you. I’ll be honest – it’s pretty much all over the shop this time round and has gone through many alterations, some stuff I’ve just whacked in having only listened a couple times (the new Janelle Monáe), some I’m not instantly sold on but hope it will grow on me just by virtue of being on my new playlist (the new Daft Punk) – but hey! There’s something for everyone here, make no mistake. You can click here to open on your Spotify, or stream below. 10/10!

 

1. Peace – Toxic
2. Guards – Resolution of One
3. Kurt Vile – Shame Chamber
4. François And The Atlas Mountains – Les Plus Beaux
5. Janelle Monáe – Q.U.E.E.N. – feat. Erykah Badu
6. Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams – Get Lucky
7. Ghostface Killah, Adrian Younge – Blood On the Cobblestones
8. The Knife – Without You My Life Would Be Boring
9. The Flaming Lips – Always There, In Our Hearts
10. Duologue – Gift Horse
11. Ólafur Arnalds – Sudden Throw
12. British Sea Power – Machineries of Joy
13. The Leisure Society – Forever Shall We Wait

FILM REVIEW: Evil Dead

Now, I’m a bit of an Evil Dead fan. If anyone asks what my favourite film is, my go-to answer is usually Evil Dead II (or Battle Royale). When we were learning HTML in IT at school, my first website was an Evil Dead fanpage. I once spent an entire day at a Xena: Warrior Princess convention just to meet Bruce Campbell and get his autograph. Yeah, I’m a dork. But when news of an Evil Dead remake was announced, I was perfectly okay with it. Unlike horror icons such as Freddy, Jason, Leatherface and Michael Myers, the ‘villain’ in the Evil Dead films is ostensibly the Necronomicon itself and whoever is possessed by the forces of darkness it unleashes. If you remove Ash from the equation, there’s nothing wrong with another bunch of kids driving to a cabin in the middle of nowhere and tangling with deadites for 90 minutes. And it’s not like there’s no room for improvement with The Evil Dead, which isn’t so much rough round the edges as positively dog-eared.

So this time around, we have another first time feature director (Fede Alvarez) but with a lot more money to play with, the benefit of a producing team who have been there and done that, and over 30 years of hindsight. As such, there are some clear plus points it has over the original. For starters, the backstory is a lot more cohesive. Having Mia (Jane Levy) a junkie trying to go cold turkey by retreating to an old family cabin with friends and family to support her is a neat idea, solving such genre problems as having no one believe her when she wants to leave, and letting her increasing craziness slide as side effects of her comedown (plus the whole possession/evil drugs angle). Levy plunges herself completely into something of a dual, even triple, role – though spending most of her time as possessee, giving an impressively manic, threatening and unhinged performance. It’s gutsy and horrible and brilliant and hard to shake. More coherent too are the “rules” of the book and the evil dead themselves, but still not being too explicit with it. Effective music too from Roque Baños, mixing shrieking strings, twitchy rattles and percussion, and even the sound of an air raid siren (at least, I think that’s what it was) to complement the carnage.

It’s a testament to the relentless pace of Evil Dead that, once all the set-up is out of the way in an exposition-heavy opening (but a fair enough exchange in that we don’t then have it peppered throughout, breaking up the action), I didn’t think once about The Cabin in the Woods. Instead, what I thought about a lot where the original films, and that’s because if there is one major problem with the film, it is not that it is necessarily too reverential, but too referential. The biggest misstep is in bringing back The Evil Dead’s most infamous scene, something Raimi himself quickly came to regret. It was unnecessary then, unnecessary now, and only reminds you of the leery torture porn feel that has since become the norm and this film, for the most part, manages to avoid. There are other obvious beats and scenes that mirror those in The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II that are more welcome and expected, but on top there are repeated lines of dialogue, framing of shots lifted directly, and tiny visual details. Of course, to someone who hasn’t seen these films tonnes o’times, these little touches will pass you by, but the problem with being a fan is that such fan service takes you out of the film, the incessant winking sabotaging everything that’s original, a shame when otherwise it is doing a pretty damn good job of carving its own path. The film is most successful when it is deviating from all that’s come before, trying new things and taking the story and characters in unexpected directions. Alvarez makes enough of his own mark in terms of style (there are few attempts to ape Raimi’s trademark crazy camera tricks, beyond the classic ‘force’ perspective) and tone elsewhere, you wouldn’t miss these references if they weren’t there.

However, it seems the hang-up most people have about things missing from Evil Dead is “where all the jokes at?”. But those who saw The Evil Dead as a deliberate horror-comedy, and expect the new version to replicate the tone they think the film struck perhaps don’t quite realise what they are getting themselves in for. Sure, Raimi’s first love was the slapstick buffoonery of The Three Stooges, which informed many of his early skits. There is nervous laughter to be had in its excess, in a “I can’t believe that just happened” way, there is a gleeful knowingness in a “just when you thought things couldn’t get worse” way, and there is a creepy playfulness in the torture the dead put the living through – but watching The Evil Dead, divorced from its deliberately goofier sequels, it’s clear that the comedy comes largely from its endearing amateurness (see also original short Within the Woods that is definitely played for shock and gore). In Evil Dead’s case, all the above is present and correct, but just without the cheap wigs, hosepipe blood pumps, and disregard for health and safety. Some of the inherent grottiness is lost when filmed anew, but Alvarez compensates by challenging himself to forego CGI in favour of practical effects at their most effective and gruesome. Coupled with disturbing sound design and a cast seemingly game for any dissing of memberments, Evil Dead may be one of the most disgusting mainstream releases in recent memory, and stories of audience members fainting and throwing up can, in this instance, be justified. It’s not overly reliant on jumps and traditional lazy frights, more concerned with playing with tension and expectations, and delivering the nastiest gore possible – maybe not reaching Braindead quantities (this being filmed in New Zealand and featuring effects by Weta lends something of a satisfying full circle to Peter Jackson: The Early Years), but the objective here is sheer brutality rather than comic splatstick. It’s impressive in a time where the horror box office is dominated by films that primarily rely on slamming doors, kids saying innocent/spooky things and contortionism for scares that something this upfront and graphic can get such a wide release, but kudos for doing so.

Though unlikely to displace the affection for the original trilogy, Evil Dead does its utmost to deliver “the ultimate experience in gruelling horror” promised first time round. And, you know what, it largely succeeds. It’s a thrill ride, pure and simple, though just like the best kind of roller-coaster, it will likely leave you a little nauseous. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to you.

Viewing Gum Listening Post #9

YEESH! I mean, damn, that new Spotify update is a little bit of one step forward, two steps back, no? I mean, it was inevitable they would try to make it all super sociable, where everyone is sharing music with everyone. Yes, I understand that sounds stupid coming from someone actively asking people to listen to his playlists and share them (and if you like ‘em, subscribe, tell your friends, recommend me stuff I’d like based on what you hear here!), but I’d rather do it through external channels rather than having it all integrated into the player itself. And I usually hate people who complain about software updates. Look what you’ve done Spotify – I have become someone I hate!

Ah, never mind! It’s not actually that bad, I’ll get used to it, yadda yadda yadda. PLAYLIST TIME! Lots of fun stuff here – new stuff from old artists, old stuff from old artists, new stuff from new artists, no old stuff from new artists though. Damn. Missed a trick. All good though! Stream below, or click here, or just look at the list below and imagine what it would all sound like based purely on the names of the songs and singers. Go on. Imagine.

 

1. PVT – Shiver
2. Post War Years – All Eyes
3. Foals – Inhaler
4. Phoenix – Entertainment
5. Shugo Tokumaru – Katachi
6. Muddy Waters – Tom Cat
7. David Bowie – I’ll Take You There
8. Scott Walker – Jackie
9. Woodkid – The Great Escape
10. John Grant – You Don’t Have To
11. Atoms For Peace – Default
12. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – We No Who U R