Top 20 Albums of 2009

In retrospect this year has been fairly interesting with a varied mix and no consistent theme although quite a few coming from NYC.

This is my top 20 albums in no particular order. If you think I've missed a great album, please let me know.

Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth

Bear in Heaven is a Brooklyn-based rock band formed by Jon Philpot. The sound of the band incorporates influences from psychedelic music, electronic music, krautrock.




Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

An elusive new project from composer Alan Palomo from Vega. Forged after a hazy winter gathering in Texas, this initial batch of tracks were the result of field recordings, record samples, a collection of bizarre synth sounds.




Wild Beasts - Two Dancers

Wild Beasts are a 4 piece band from Kendal, United Kingdom now based in Leeds. Their second album, Two Dancers, was released on 3 August 2009 to widespread critical acclaim.



The Gasoline Brothers - Tsk

The Gasoline Brothers are utterly lazy. They’ve kept silent for two years and now they expect us to be in awe about their new album Tsk!?




Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

Yeah Yeah Yeahs is an alternative rock band formed in New York City, New York. Their music melds genres ranging from new wave to art punk and garage rock using heavy guitars, synthetic sounds, and screaming, erotic, bluesy vocals.




Isis - Wavering Radiant

Formed in Boston in 1997, Isis is a band that combines ambience, atmosphere, and aggression to form a unique style of metal music. Isis draws from post-rock, which leans away from the traditional elements of choruses, verses, repetitive vocals, or fast/repetitive riffs.




Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

Dirty Projectors are an experimental pop group led by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dave Longstreth which formed in 2002 in Brooklyn, New York.




Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy

Built to Spill is an indie rock band based in Boise, Idaho, United States. The band is best known for its catchy guitar hooks and the unique voice of frontman Doug Martsch.




Atlas Sound - Logos

Atlas Sound is the name of a musical solo project of Bradford Cox, the lead singer of Atlanta five-piece Deerhunter.




The Mountain Goats - The Life Of The World To Come

The Mountain Goats is the musical project of singer-songwriter and guitarist John Darnielle. The New Yorker magazine referred to him as “America’s best non-hip-hop lyricist”. In its June 2006 issue, Paste magazine named Darnielle one of the “100 Best Living Songwriters”. Darnielle’s lyrics are literate and filled with imagery that reference classic literature, religion and mythologies, pop culture, art and history.




Tortoise - Beacons Of Ancestorship

Tortoise’s almost entirely instrumental music defies easy categorization, and the group gained significant attention from their early career. The members have roots in Chicago’s fertile music scene, playing in various indie rock and punk groups. Tortoise was among the first American indie rock bands to incorporate styles closer to krautrock, dub, minimalism, electronica and various jazz styles, rather than the standard rock and roll and punk that had dominated indie rock for years.




The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a New York four-piece who play dreamy shoegaze with boy/girl vocals, blissful melodies and blistering drums.




St Vincent - Actor

Annie Clark (born 28 September, 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who performs under the moniker St. Vincent. She was a member of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band. Her second album for Beggars Banquet, entitled “Actor”, was released on 5 May, 2009. It was written entirely by Clark and produced by Clark and John Congleton of The Paper Chase.




Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor

Patrick Wolf is an English singer-songwriter from London. Wolf mixes electronics and samples with a wide range of instruments including viola, keyboards, ukulele, and percussion, all of which he plays himself to form a fusion of jazz, folk and electronic music.




Florence and the Machine - Lungs

Florence + The Machine formed in 2007 in London, England. The band is the recording name of singer/songwriter Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide backing music for her voice; Florence Welch is the band’s only constant member.

Florence doesn't like having an embedded link on Youtube for public use and the video links here so I may aswell come out and I say that the album is great but I'm not a fan of You've Got The Love. Phew, off my chest.


Fever Ray - Fever Ray

Fever Ray is the solo project of Karin Dreijer Andersson, who is one half of the Swedish electro act The Knife (the other half is her brother Olof Dreijer).




Dan Deacon - Bromst

Dan Deacon is a Baltimore, Maryland-based electronic music composer/performer. He attended the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College in Purchase, New York, where he played in many bands, including tuba for Langhorne Slim and guitar in the improvisational grindcore band Rated R. He completed his graduate studies in electro-acoustic and computer music composition.




Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains

Cymbals Eat Guitars are an indie rock band from Staten Island, New York, United States. They consist of Joseph Ferocious (vocals, guitar), Matthew Whipple (bass, vocals), Brian Hamilton (keyboards, vocals) and Matthew Miller (drums). They have released one album, “Why There Are Mountains”, which has received glowing reviews since its January 2009 release.




Bibio - Ambivilance Avenue

Bibio is the recording name of British music producer Stephen Wilkinson. A resident of West Midlands, England, Stephen Wilkinson developed a passion for experimental music during his time at Middlesex University in London, where he studied “sonic arts”. He developed his own style of music, drawing from contemporary experimental electronica bands such as Boards of Canada, and incorporating field recordings and found sounds.




Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

Bat for Lashes is the work of British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist Natasha Khan.
Khan was born in Hertfordshire, England on 25 October 1979. Khan graduated in music and visual arts; while at university her experimental work was influenced by artists such as Steve Reich and Susan Hiller, and she produced multi-media work centred on sound installations, animations and performance.

Hilarious how my two 'mainstream' choices of Florence and the Machine and Bat for Lashes have restricted embedding the video which you will have to watch directly here.

Stay obscure folks!

I hope you enjoyed the Top 20 and checked out a few songs. See ya next year!

The Imaganarium of Doctor Parnassus

Terry Gilliam films are never known for telling a straight story and his productions are no different. Often both are fraught with setbacks, doomed failure and last minute redemption. His 1999 production of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was a spectacular disaster. On the second day of shooting, a flood ravaged the set causing $15 million in damages and was compounded days later when his lead actor, Jean Rochefort, sustained a slipped disc which forced the film to shut down. However, a second film crew was documenting the entire proceedings and produced the rather interesting documentary Lost In La Mancha.

His latest opus, The Imaganarium of Doctor Parnassus was no different. Starring the late Heath Ledger, whose sudden death caused production to grind to a halt having only filmed a third of his parts, it seemed that once again Gilliam's film would be destined for the cutting room floor.

With developments in technology, Gilliam initially planned to use computer generated effects to change Ledger's appearance akin to those used in The Curious Case of Banjamin Button and finish the film. However, the actors Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law were eventually cast to portray alternative versions of Ledger and production resumed several months later.

The film itself concerns the travelling theatre troupe led by Doctor Parnassus who offers unsuspecting members of the public a chance to enter a magical mirror to unbeknown worlds of an almost hallucinatory nature. These worlds are classic Gilliam animations of a similar theme of those first espoused on Monty Python albeit using modern CGI to create an ethereal reality reflecting the subjects mindset. Those who enter the Imaginarium are manipulated by Dr Parnassus to offer them an experience of a lifetime.

The twist in Parnassus's ability, however, is that his powers were granted by the Devil for a ransom and now he is back to collect on the bargain, his daughter Valentia. The role of the devil is adeptly played by Tom Waits who plays his character as a reluctant anti-hero, seemingly willing Parnussus on whilst simultaneously mocking his ability to beat him at his own game. Indeed, the Devil can also change the landscape of the vision by those who enter the mirror giving him a somewhat unfair advantage.

It's true of Gilliam films that the plot is often muddled by the visuals employed to truncate or assist the narrative and certainly there are moments in The Imaginarium where it detracts from the storyline by an overambitious and needless set piece. Nevertheless, the visual effects are stunning at times and add to the grandeur of the moment.

It is also interesting to see how Gilliam has used the mirrors own powers to change Ledgers character as he enters successive times and how this allows other actors to take his place. It would certainly have been interesting to observe the original idea as subverting the plot to allow Farrell, Law and Depp would have seriously altered the concept of intent as initially conceived.

Ledger's own performance is satisfactory and it's a shame we do not get to see the change in his own character throughout the entirety of the film but which is adequately filled by the performance of his fellow stars.

Despite these setbacks and reworkings, the film succeeds in pulling the viewer into the story, despite how ridiculous it becomes at times. As the race reaches its climax for Parnassus to save what is dearest to him, the fragmented storyline pulls more or less neatly together and it is easily Gilliams best film in a decade although not without it's aforementioned detractions.

This will certainly please fans of his previous work and must have given the studios enough confidence to start production on the ill-fated Don Quixote project which is his next film. Let's hope this is a resurgence in Gilliams ability to match creativity with an ability to deliver a fully formed concept.

I wuld give this film 7.1 mirrors on the wall out of 10

Chicken With Grainy Mustard Sauce

This was one of the best home cooked meals lately and thouroughly recommended.

Ingredients

2 boneless chicken breasts
6 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon without rind
250g spinach (frozen or fresh)
60g goats cheese
200ml chicken stock
200ml dry white wine
200ml creme fraiche
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard







Method

1. Flatten chicken breasts. Overlap and stretch 3 bacon rashers on a board. Lay breast on top and cover with spinach (serve spinach separately if frozen) and the cheese in the middle. Season with pepper. Roll up and secure. You can use cocktail sticks to keep in place if needed.
2. Heat olive oil in frying pan and coook chicken until bacon is golden on either side. Add stock and wine. Simmer for 20 minutes, turning chicken over half way.
3. Remove the chicken and stir in creme fraiche and mustard.
4. Serve with (roast) potatoes and sauce.

Roast Duck With Wine Sauce

Lou's made a few delicious dishes lately so thought I'd update the food side to the blog and recommend some great food to try.

This one is good for Sunday evening with a glass of wine since the recipe calls for a 1/4 bottle anyway!

Ingredients

2 duck legs
Rosemary sprigs
2 Garlic cloves
1/4 tsp five-spice powder
1/4 bottle of red wine
1 tbsp redcurrent jelly








Method

1. Heat oven to 170c. Place duck legs on a bed of rosemary sprigs in a roasting tin. Sprinkle with slt and five-spice. Roast for 1 hour.
2. Bring the wine and jelly to a simmer and stir until dissolved.
3. Remove the duck from the oven and spoon off most of the fat (using it for the potatoes!) and then pour over the wine sauce and return to the oven for another 15 minutes to finish.

Easy and delicious!

Around Ireland

This year Lou and I decided to tour our own backyard and take a trip south, primarily to see Kerry and Cork.
As much as anything else, I was really looking forward to some time off to relax and the scenery was going to be a great bonus.

Seemingly we haven't had much of a summer this year - surprise surprise - but I wasn't expecting Mediterranean weather; as long as it stayed relatively dry it would be fine by me.

Not a chance.

As we left the house the sun was shining but the further south we ventured, the worse it became and it was decidedly overcast when we reached our campsite at Mountshannon in County Clare by the edge of Lake Derg. No sooner had we pitched and settled down, the rain began and did not stop until the next afternoon. I don't mean the ordinary kind of rain, I am talking deluge.

Kayaking on lake Derg was supposed to be on the agenda but the waves were rough and the rain still consistent. Instead we took to the road towards the Cliffs of Moher. On at least 3 occasions we were met with a back log of cars waiting to cross 30 feet or so of flooded road up to a foot deep in places. Some roads were closed off entirely.

Unfortunately this was the weather forecast for the entire week ahead and although some of the scenery is truly spectacular, it was enjoyed for the most part from the comfort of the front seat.

In particular, the ring of Kerry is most beautiful and if you have the opportunity to make this trip, I heartily recommend it. On our way south, we dipped west into the Dingle peninsula which is replete with village after village of picturesque shop fronts and a hive of tourist bustle which is very charming indeed.

We stopped for the evening at Cahirciveen due to its proximity to the islands of Skellig and booked onto a trip, weather permitting. Can you see where this is going? Skellig islands are two small, steep and rocky islands lying about 16 km west of Bolus Head on the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. They are famous for their thriving gannet and puffin populations, and for an early Christian monastery that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with one island containing a sixth-century Christian monastery perched on a ledge close to the top.

This was one of our main points of interest and the forecast looked good to go the next day. As we were eating breakfast in the hostel we stayed in that night, the operator informed us that there would be no crossings today and the rest of the week due to a hurricane forming in the Atlantic.

The forces of nature were certainly against us on this holiday and although we enjoyed ourselves to a degree, the weather brought a literal and metaphorical dampener on things. Next summer we shall certainly be looking for a holiday abroad.

Photos on Facebook

The Sound of Settling

We moved into our new house on Tuesday which was quicker than we expected as the lease was from the 31st July but a welcome date change nonetheless.

It has been a tiring week of moving, lifting, shifting, arranging and sorting through boxes which has left little time for much else although I did get out to the cinema on Tuesday to watch Moon.
Moon is written and directed by Duncan Jones and this is his first feature length film. His full name is Zowie Duncan Haywood Bowie so you can guess who his famous father is.

That's all rather irrelvent though because Moon is an excellent old-school science-fiction drama where astronaut Sam Bell (Same Rockwell) is coming to the end of his 3 year contract where he is alone on the moon, solely responsible for keeping machines working on mining supplies of helium-3 to send back to earth. However, due to his isolation, he begins to hallucinate and a strange, gripping story unravels as he finds he is not alone.

It had a limited run in the QFT but I would recommend renting it when it comes out later in the year.

It is incredible that we have been back in Northern Ireland for 6 months now. The time has moved so quickly and there are a lot of friends we haven't seen enough of since our return which will have to rectified before the summer ends. Speaking of which, it seems we had the usual 2 weeks of good weather before the usual Summer Scattered Showers prevailed. It's times like this that makes you miss the seemingly endless summer down under.

The house is more or less as we would like it now although there's always little things you forget you need, once had but gave away and need to buy again so we are constantly making lists of things and visiting shops more often than I'd like (never).

The weekend is a welcome break to pause and take in the new surroundings, relax, stretch and take account of things. I hope you're having a good time whatever you're up to. See you soon.

Camping

Since the start of summer there has been talk between a few friends of going camping on a weekend to get away from the city and relax in the rural idyll.

This culminated last weekend when we rose early(ish) on Saturday morning, packed the car and set off across the province to Fermanagh. Namely the Share Centre.

The last time I was here was when I was in the Cub Scouts. If memory serves, this would have been the late 80's and I don't recall much except for being on a sailing sailing vessel, possibly banana boating and camping on one of the islands on lake Erne and having quite an uncomfortable night.

Thanks to the power of modern conveniences, this was going to be far from uncomfortable. Forget cramped tents, waking in the middle of the night to find you've been lying on a rock and requiring a chiropractor, this is the 21st century.

After selling our camping gear in New Zealand and giving away most of our gear before we left, we were buying all our gear from scratch which affords the opportunity of updating your equipment.

Out with the old, in with the 4 man tent with separate living room, battery-powered inflatable bed, table, chairs and everything but the kitchen sink. This is living rough.

As suggested, the Share Centre is situated beside the lower lough Erne in quite picturesque surroundings and there are plenty of activities to undertake besides relaxing. The centre offers, canoeing, kayaking, sailing and banana boating although for some reason you have to be under 16 to banana boat which we were quite dismayed about and booked ourselves in for canoeing on Sunday morning.

Saturday afternoon was a relaxed affair; relaxing, chatting, drinking a few beers, playing poker and throwing a frisbee about. Everything that camping should be except for the near constant drizzle of rain.

Sunday morning was altogether different and in between showers, it was glorious and warm. Canoeing, especially using Canadian canoes, is not our favourite water sport. We prefer the more controlling and personal kayak but unfortunately there was no session organised for that morning and unlike NZ, you need to have a certificate to take out a kayak by yourself which is faintly ridiculous since a canoe is more precarious in my opinion.

We took some time rowing against the current to get to the island where I had camped all those years ago but our timing was impeccable as we were just approaching the shelter it provided when a shower struck.

After a few minutes, the rain was replaced with blue skies and sunshine and we made our way back to base.

We had a great weekend and intend to go back next month for a longer time and explore more of the surrounding area.

Playing Catch-Up

This is the first update in over a month so apologies for not having anything new in quite some time. Everything has been quite hectic recently with birthdays, weddings and most stressful of all, moving house.

It's also been the beginning of summer since my last post and we have had some fantastic weather in between the usual fayre of thunderstorms and general washouts that consist in this Northern Irish season.

There has been some great afternoons and evenings spent outside with the shades on, music in the background, a good book and a glass of iced cider.
We've also had some hazy afternoons and evenings with friends, BBQs and the odd bottle or so of wine to grease the wheels of conversation.

A few weeks ago our friends Cheryl and Graeme were married at Castleward which is a glorious 18th century mansion with classical and gothic façade overlooking Strangford Lough. Fortunately it was one of the fabulous days and after the marriage, a fine afternoon was had sipping champagne in the sunken gardens, followed by dinner and dancing and a courtyard setting enjoying some great banter and watching the sun go down.

Lou and I have also been busy house hunting and found a great little place that we're moving into at the end of the month. It will be the first time in over a year that we'll be back to living in our own after house-sharing with my brother and sister-in-law in New Zealand, with friends and family in Australia and family back home so I'm looking forward to having that 'space'.

In all, the summer has got off to a good start and I'm looking forward to taking holidays at the end of August and hitting the road down and around Ireland. Our plan is to head through central Ireland to Cork and head back up the east coast. I've never been further south than Limerick on the west coast or Meath on the east coast so it's something I'm very much looking forward to. Any suggestions of places to visit would be more than welcome.

Hopefully this will mark the start of more updates as the summer progresses. I hope you're all having a lovely time whatever you're up to. See you soon.

Drag Me To Hell

Drag Me to Hell is a return to the classic horror genre for fanboy favourite Sam Raimi who made his name with The Evil Dead trilogy, before slipping off the radar and then making a triumphant return with the Spiderman trilogy.

I had high hopes for this film having been seduced by the array of glowing reviews from respected film journalists. We were promised a return to the classic horror genre; a break from tiresome gore porn and suggestive psychological horror.  Here’s a good old fashioned horror romp all about building tension, visceral thrills and genuine scares. Unfortunately the hype turned out to be just that.

The plot is quite simple.  In an effort to secure a promotion, kind-hearted bank employee Christine (Alison Lohman) rejects a loan extension application from an old woman who is about to be evicted from her home. In an act of revenge the old woman puts a heinous gypsy curse on Christine, damning her to three days of taunting and torture by the vengeful demon Lamia before… that’s right you guessed it, being dragged to hell. 

From here things seem promising.  The action gets underway with an excellent original set piece as Christine struggles to fend off a brutal attack from the old woman in the back of her car.  The scene is classic Raimi, unleashing the usual over the top action, featuring some inventive moves (think Bourne with his magazine), cranking up the thrills (and the yuck factor), with lashings of black comedy.  The image of the old woman ‘gumming’ Christine’s face and neck after she looses her finely carved dentures is hilarious.

Unfortunately during the rest of the film Raimi often resorts to tired old horror movie clichés and ultimately fails to generate any tension or deliver genuine scares.  

Every scene feels like its building up to a typically overused loud bang scare or shocking image that flashes on screen for a split second while the high pitched violin strings go into overdrive.  There is enough action to hold your attention and Lohman makes an amiable protagonist, displaying enough character and feistiness to enlist the audiences’ support.  In addition the climax, while not wholly unpredictable is quite satisfying and rounds off the film in a high note. Ultimately though Raimi fails to deliver the classic horror that was promised and the film works more like a black comedy /action thriller with supernatural themes.

I give Drag Me to Hell six vengeful gypsies out of 10. 

Guest Review by L. McG

Star Trek

It's been a long time since I've seen Star Trek. I was never a fan of the original series or films although I must admit to a passing interest in The Next Generation with Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard although that was now 15 years ago.

As far as JJ Abrams, I was an initial convert to Lost before a few episodes in season 3 where it looked obvious to anyone that they were making it up as they went along and all my interest in the show vaporised into thin air.

Several years later he produced the interesting but ultimately unsatisfying Cloverfield and therefore it was with passing interest that he was directing a new Star Wars movie, essentially his 2nd feature film after Mission Impossible 3.

As with any Abrams film there comes a reasonable amount of hype and none more so when you are rebooting an all but dead sci-fi franchise that still holds its weight in gold with a plethora of, lets face it, geeks.

Early signs were that the director was taking a much needed step back, re-examining the behemoth and putting together a film that would breathe new life into old characters by taking us back to their formative lives and producing a coming-of-age action adventure set in the realms of federation space.

The result is a film that will satisfy most of those not familiar or indeed not interested in the Star Trek universe and should satisfy a fair few of the hardcore fans I would imagine and importantly for the studio, make more than enough money and interest for at least another sequel.

The characters of the Enterprise are well-rounded and enough background story is given to each where it matters with the main focus centering on Kirk and Spock without cluttering up a fairly straightforward storyline and keeping the action flowing.

As usual in these kinds of films, there is a bad guy up to no good and someone must step up and fight back. Cue Nero, played adequately by Eric Bana, a Romulan (that's Humans with facial tattoos to you and me) who has time-travelled back in time to reek his revenge on a young Spock for what old Spock does to him in the future.

It is a film to sit back and enjoy the action of rather than consider time-travelling hypotheses that makes it a good sci-fi film and not something to over-analyse in terms of plot depth or asking too many questions regarding logistics.

I would give this movie 7.1 tractor beams out of 10.