Pop special with Alphabeat, Das Pop and McFly
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It’s the beat... Like them, loathe them or beg indifference - there’s no denying that Alphabeat completely owned the pop world in 2008. With three UK Top 20 hit singles so far, a Top 10 album and a determined work ethic, the Danish sextet won over listeners by possessing an irresistible knack for penning catchy, slightly retro pop hooks that linger in the head long after listening. We meet half of the band in the closing stages of a 50 day tour, basking in a communal hangover following a post-gig party the night before and all nursing sugarfilled cans of Coca Cola in an effort to pep themselves up for the evening ahead. Despite this they are relaxed, warm and chatty: often bursting out into fits of laughter and finishing each other’s sentences. It’s a sign of the friendship that initially brought them together, the band growing up in the Danish city of Silkeborg (population fourty thousand) before eventually decamping to the UK in the pursuit of universal pop stardom. “When we signed to Copenhagen Records in Denmark we thought that we had to do this 100 per cent, therefore we all moved from our hometown to Copenhagen and started rehearsing and doing live shows there. [Moving to the UK after signing with EMI] was just the next step for us to be giving 100 per cent to the band”, explains drummer Troels Hansen. In their embryonic stages six years ago, Alphabeat were what Hansen calls “just another indie band”, who were “just a band who’d try and be really really ‘deep’ – we love indie music but we’ve always been listening to that kind of stuff and everyone in the rehearsal space was playing that sort of music and we got a bit sick and tired of that style.”
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Friday November 21 2008
It’s not a secret that ‘Fascination’ was inspired by The Pointer Sisters
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It’s all about talking if you live in a big city, whereas in a small village you’re really focused and concentrated because that’s what you want to do.” Why do so many foreign musicians choose to sing and record in English rather than their native tongues? “We’ll play our Danish stuff in Denmark,” Hansen responds. “But I also think that for some people it can actually be really hard to do it in Danish, we wouldn’t be able to sit down and write a text in Danish, it was just go awkward and really weird.” Reinholdt offers an example: “Saying ‘I love you’ sounds stupid in Danish! (‘Jeg elsker dig’, pronounced ‘Yai ilska die’ if the mood should take you). You wanna write something really nice and, well, it just isn’t.” With a lengthy touring schedule, the oftclaustrophobic confines of the tourbus, the demands of playing and performing live night after night and going back to the flats to only see each other again, aren’t the band tired of being on tour and in each other’s constant company? “We’re definitely having fun on stage, but hanging around the bus is boring – you have to get out of the venue and you get to be part
Interview: Alphabeat
The addition of Rasmus Nagel on keys on top of the inspiration of the old ’80s pop albums littering their record collections, and Swedish bands like Melody Club and The Sounds, saw Alphabeat make a command decision to go “more poppy”. This decision led them to return to the studio to re-record their eponymous Danish debut. “With the first album we went directly from the rehearsal space to the studio, and over last summer we found that we wanted to change,” says Hansen. “When you listen to your old album after a year you want to change this, this and this...so we went into the studio with Mike Spencer and rerecorded some stuff and did a couple of new songs.” If Alphabeat was the adolescent, kitsch-pop experiment then the resulting This Is Alphabeat is a much more grown-up and sophisticated affair – keys replaced with synths to transform already great songs into shimmering new wave disco, with only one-third of the original
record l e f t untouched. In true pop fashion, the lyrical content of the album mainly concerns itself with love. “I think it’s just a basic pop thing really,” says Hansen. “I think everyone who started playing guitars, writing songs - their first song was about a girl, right?” The others laugh and nod, agreeing that impressing the opposite sex is simply something we can all relate to. They’ve been endorsed by the ‘credible’ music press in the UK (PopJustice almost wet itself in excitement on their arrival, calling them “one of the greatest bands on Planet Earth”), taking over from Girls Aloud and Sugababes as the ‘pop band it’s ok to like’. Despite being somewhat of a back-handed compliment, as if pop (derived from ‘popular’) were a dirty word, the band says that the favourable press has been “really great”. Says Anders Reinholdt, “It’s really hard to come to a new country with your music because you don’t know what to expect, so I think we were kind of surprised.” Although they carry off the winning formula of girl-boy tagteam vocals and melodies to make you dance with ease, Alphabeat won’t be resting on their laurels and are set on getting experimental. “We’re not going to do a Scissor Sisters and suddenly go into the studio to record a second album and it came out like a semicopy, a watered down version of themselves” declares Hansen. “We’re ready to go into the studio very soon to do some recording, we’re playing new songs in the set,” he adds. “This album is really really old for us now, some songs are five years old, so we’re looking forward to doing number two, changing style a bit more...”
Reinholdt interjects: “’Fascination’ with more elements”. What, goth? “Yeah!” he jokes. “We’re incorporating some R’n’B, some hip-hop – Anders B (the group’s songwriter) is really into Beyonce and Eminem,” and he laughs before adding “even R. Kelly”. “It’s just picking up elements from music and that’s his way of writing songs, to listen to music and get inspired by a rhythm” says Hansen. “It’s not a secret that ‘Fascination’ was inspired by The Pointer Sisters and David Bowie’s ‘Modern Love’it’s just great pop songs and I think everyone’s doing that, writing pop songs from something that’s really cool and changing it into your own.” He continues by saying that he thinks “lots of bands these days come out as trying to be really really arty and you focus more about how cool they are instead of thinking about the music, and then an album can be, like, one or two good songs.” The band agree that they all prefer a good melody to unsubstantiated posturing, and don’t buy into the culture of selling cover versions either. “It’s a new thing for us actually to do covers,” Hansen says of the band’s recent sojourn into Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge. “It’s quite a big thing in the UK, but we’ve never had that thing in Denmark – in Denmark you want everyone to be original, not someone else.” “We actually did Sugababes’ ‘Push the Button’ on tour last year,” adds Reinholdt. “In the
beginning it was really fun because it wasn’t the Sugababes’ version, but then you just go “this is not my song and it’s not good” and the audience recognise it but then lose interest and start going to the bar.” Al p h a b eat’ s success, alongside that of fellow Scandinavians Annie,
Robyn, Lykke Li and Jens Lekman (amongst many, many others) can only lead to an enquiry as to what on earth Scandinavia has got in the water to produce so many talented musicians adept at making great pop music. “We’re stuck in small, boring villages and I think that is why they make such good music in Sweden,” says Hansen. Reinholdt adds: “If you have the opportunity to go out and make music and talk about programming and doing stuff, then you just talk about it and don’t do it.” So focusing on crafting music is a way of escaping the mundane everyday of home life? “A b s o l u te l y.
We’re like small animals, living together; when it’s cold we snuggle of a city or town for a day, which is pretty good” says Nagel. “Being on the road is just part of this life, all of us really enjoy it.” Having played 140 gigs in this year alone, the time the band put into building up a storming live reputation has resulted in this current jaunt being completely sold out. “It’s great that all our hard work has paid off,” agrees Hansen. And as for their live performances, the band reckon that what people might expect won’t actually be what they see onstage. Hansen says “We don’t have band moves or dance routines - we do dance, but we’ve gone a bit from being ‘ahhhhh crazy!’ to a bit more like a private party where people should just get into the music. Some people might get a bit disappointed when they see us live, that we’re not ‘Fascination!’ all the time, but we’re so into our music and into developing as a big band.” With ambitions like these it is perhaps fortunate for them, and for our ears, that there don’t appear to be any inter-band ego clashes that threaten to derail the whole shebang. “We’re six people so if I don’t feel like talking to Troels one day then I can talk to Anders and if someone needs space, you know…” Hansen adds: “We know each other’s barriers and of course it would be nice to go to a fancy hotel and have your own room, but we’re just together all the time.” “We’re like small animals, living together; when it’s cold we snuggle,” jokes Reinholdt. “Alphabeat is like our little pop family, it’s cool.” Helen Lawson
Feature: Honourific titles in pop
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His status as a cultural icon still resonates today with the insurmountable number of impersonators and the genuinely held belief by some fans that ‘The King’ is in fact still alive. The genre of soul also deserves some mention in terms of its most prominent figures and their titles. Marvin Gaye is often credited with establishing a new genre through releases such as ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)’ and in so doing earned him the title ‘Prince of Soul’ as well as of Motown.
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Some artists are so successful that they come to epitomise a specific genre
His tragic death at the hands of his father in 1984 has made his contribution to music, as well as his legacy somewhat sacred. In addition Aretha Franklin’s powerful and passionate voice earned her the honour of ‘Queen of Soul’, which was justly deserved. Her career including the likes of ‘I Say A Little Prayer’ coincided with the civil rights movement in America. Consequently, Aretha Franklin’s success was an inspiration for millions of demonstrators, who were able to enjoy the achievements of the soulful singer. Whilst honourific titles are most common in popular music, they are not specific to it as Quentin Tarantino is widely regarded as being a master and innovator of violent, nonlinear films. The titles are by no means definitive and are easily contested, yet they are undoubtedly a benchmark of success and should be regarded as a source of pride. The use of honourific tiles serves to immortalise an individual in terms of their influence upon music and as such justifies their use in popular culture. Rob Leay
Music
The plethora of honourific titles assigned to individuals within popular culture seems to reflect the incessant desire of modern society to label and categorise artists. The motivation behind such regal titles within popular music has also been the source of some debate. For the more cynical, labelling artists such as Britney Spears as the ‘Princess of Pop’ is little more than a marketing gimmick designed to sell more records to impressionable teens. To some extent this is undeniable, as in her nine year career up until 2007 Britney had sold more over 83 million records world wide. There is, however, a more deserving argument justifying the existence of honourific titles, namely that some artists are so successful that they come to epitomise a specific genre. Indeed, individuals such as Paul Weller fully deserve the accreditation of ‘Modfather’ after his work in The Jam and Style Council has served to inspire countless subsequent
artists. Perhaps the most famous label is associated with the ‘King of Rock and Roll’, Elvis Presley, as being one of the most successful artists of all time. Presley was able to fuse a number of different genres into his own unique style of rock and roll, which attracted significant popular appeal.
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Pop’s Royal Family
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The changing face of pop Feature: Has opinion on pop changed?
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the DMZ crew plus DJ Hype and of course Dillinja and Lemon D will also be on hand with the drum’n’bass pressure. Add to that a top grade MC line-up including Skibadee, IC3, Sgt Pokes, ID and Tonn Piper and you have the makings of a truly unmissable night.
no-hopers they are. It is also telling that the return of Take That has been greeted with excitement, whereas the reaction to The Verve has been a collective bored sigh. If any band shows how far pop has come in the past few years, then it is Girls Aloud. They have received rave reviews in The Guardian and NME. Julie Burchill even said of them: “It’s as if pop has been created from scratch all over again, this time perfectly.” Their songs are completely leftfield - mixing synths, Motown harmonies and hip-hop - and yet they still top the charts. Five years ago it would have been inconceivable that the most experimental music released would be by pop stars. But pop is back, fully recovered and better than ever. If a few snobby squares haven’t quite got up to date with this, then more fool them – they’re missing out on the best music around. Craig Purshouse
Fuse
If you want to win a pair of tickets for part two of The Tuesday Club’s 10th birthday celebration, the Valve Sound System on Saturday November 29, then just tell us: In what year was The Tuesday Club established? Email your answers to mike@ tuesdayclub.co.uk along with your full name and telephone number. Competition closes on Thursday November 27. Among the highlights of this massive event are Grooverider, making his first Sheffield appearance since his return to the UK, DJ Friction, who will be
performing a 90 minute set as part of his Shogun Assassins tour, and the full DMZ crew (including Mala, Coki, Loefah & Sgt Pokes) bringing their dubstep mastery to the Valve Sound System for the very first time. The Steel City’s own dubstep pioneer, Oris Jay, will be joining
Now indie is the bloated, bland mainstream while pop is edgy
Friday November 21 2008
Win tickets for next week’s Valve Soundsystem
Marvin Gaye: The Prince of Soul and the Prince of Motown but only a woolly hat for a crown.
The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, Nirvana, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Girls Aloud - all have revolutionised music and changed it for the better. No, your eyes are not deceiving you; it really does say Girls Aloud. For it is thanks to them that pop is currently the most innovative genre of music around. Despite the closure of Smash Hits, the demise of Top of the Pops and the baffling continued existence of Westlife, pop is cool again. Pop music has always been difficult to define. While it is usually popular it is also a genre in its own right - characterised by melodies, rhythm and hooks. However, until recently, admitting to liking it was not the done thing in polite company. But it wasn’t always like this. Pop stars used to be idolised for their uniqueness. From Debbie Harry’s vampy pout to Morrissey’s charming misery, pop stars had personality as well as songs to back it up. Pop’s decline stems from phasing out of the unusual from pop, by the likes of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Although the songs were still catchy, they made pop much blander by following a by-the-numbers template. Any Generic Girlband could sing ‘Venus’. In the late nineties and early noughties the situation only got worse - The Spice Girls, 5ive, Boyzone and (grimace) Steps dominated the charts. The lyrics were mindless and tame, their stage ‘presence’ was boringly choreographed and their fixed, fake smiles failed to disguise the steely coldness in their eyes. Their singles may have sold well but they were terminally uncool
to anyone over the age of 10. Acclaim instead went to the rock bands of Brit-pop and, later, the new-wave of indie, kick-started by The Strokes. Now indie is the bloated, bland mainstream while pop is edgy and exciting. Artists such as M.I.A, Vampire Weekend, Roisin Murphy, and Alphabeat make music for adults instead of ringtones for children. Santogold uses a melting-pot of influences including dub, reggae and electro to create catchy pop tunes. They show up the bargainbin stars of nineties pop for the
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Die männer + die toilette = the makings of Das Pop Introducing: Das Pop When a band calls themselves something that sounds ‘a bit foreign’, you might be inclined to assume that there’s some great resonance behind it – an epiphanical moment during their travels, perhaps some sort of arty popular culture reference. But with Das Pop it would seem that things were a little simpler than that, with the name instead originating from a moment of clarity whilst answering the call of nature. “It doesn’t actually mean anything, but for us at the time it was really important for us to have ‘pop’ in the name,” explains front man Bent Van Looy. “As we were brainstorming around the kitchen table our bass player came back from the toilet and just said: ‘Das Pop?’” Why was it so important to have “pop” in the name? Van Looy
expands: “It’s such a wide range of things, a whole world and we needed something to go with it.” Van Looy describes Das Pop as definitely being “a pop band, but in a weird way”, saying that they strike a medium between the likes of Shakira and more experimental types. Meeting at school and starting a band aged 16, the original five members of Das Pop melded together their own diverse musical influences. “Reinhardt for instance was a very good violin player so he would bring that gypsy influence and everything,” he says. Losing two of the original band members and gaining New Zealander Matt Eccles meant that Van Looy was liberated of his dual role as drummer and singer. “It’s great having Matt, on large stages it would be quite static with me stuck in the middle behind lots of tin and wood. “Now we’re playing pretty much every night you grow into
something else entirely. You stop being four guys and you become one monster.” The band recently completed their debut record, produced by Soulwax’s Dewaele brothers. “We grew up in the same town and had rehearsal rooms next to each other so we’ve always been friends, lending and borrowing material back and forth,” says Van Looy of the collaboration, saying that the pair were determined to strip the band of their lush arrangements and produce a raw pop record that reproduced their onstage sound. Boasting the impeccable credentials of having been remixed by SebastiAn and included in Justice’s infamous mix that was rejected by Fabric will always work in a band’s favour, and Das Pop have already proved on support stints with Alphabeat and, er, The Feeling that they can steal the heart’s of other band’s crowds. However, the endorsements from such renowned experimental
Friday November 21 2008
But Das Pop and their hummable, Radio One-friendly guitar pop does exactly what it says on the tin. Helen Lawson
say yes. Yes.” Rosie and the Goldbug seem to have quickly found their own idiosyncratic voice within the music scene. They do, Plums says, have something “different” about them, although their quirkiness doesn’t seem at all affected.
grungier stuff” like The Cure. “And,” Plums adds, “visually, we try and look different too.” The band’s style is delicious: a glorious medley of vintage, colour, and artfully applied makeup. There’s a story behind it too. “We started out playing in really dark, dingy pubs in Cornwall. They were so dim that we thought we needed to wear stuff that makes us stand out, so we started wearing bright stuff, and then started playing around with gold, glitter, feathers.” As Morgan says, “performance is the best part of being in a band.” Touring with Lauper was “amazing”. One performance in Luxembourg also ended in them having to disguise Pixie as a tower of boxes in order to escape a gay stalker wearing a silver PVC tank-top. It’s all in a day’s work for this offbeat trio. Alice Stride
The band are supporting Ebony Bones at Fuzz Club on December 4.
The band’s whimsical name conjures up images of sugar and glitter and small dancing creatures - downright fluffiness. However, an interview with the band’s drummer, Plums (real name Sarah Morgan) strips away these illusions. There is more to this three-piece than meets the eye. “The Gold Bug is a story by Edgar Allan Poe,” she says. Poe is famously bleak in his writing and The Gold Bug is no exception. It is a gothic, somewhat twisted tale of a man who eventually goes mad. So, we have a juxtaposition: a fanciful name with a darker underside to it. Is this idea a fair reflection of the band’s music – is there gloom behind its sparkle? Plums muses: “I hadn’t thought of that. But now you mention it, I’d
Fun of the fair
A beginner’s guide to...
Club review: Fairground @ Casbah - 12/11/2008, monthly
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merchants might mislead listeners into thinking that they’re in for quirky originality, with a dash of novelty retro-pop on the side.
Gold stars for the Goldbugs Introducing: Rosie and the Goldbug
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Three parts Belgian, one part Kiwi and 100% pure, undiluted pop.
The word ‘fairground’ conjures up a number of images: horse races, merry-go-rounds, big dippers, ferris wheels, bright lights and, of course, rooms full of thumping electro-techno-disco beats. Descending the steps of The Casbah, it seemed that the music was going below zero: the atmosphere chilled as the bedroom DJs tested their tunes to the (initially frosty) audience. However, t h i n g s changed as thrash bandits Minnaars interjected
the predominantly DJ-based night with a live performance. Their music was crisp, cutting, and, as the guitarist selfdeprecatingly jested, “Foals”. The response seemed very polarised, with some members of the audience nodding their heads and tapping their feet whilst others stood bleakly, like a block of ice. Afterwards, the room began to fill out and the mood grew in intensity. Shivers were sent shooting down my spine and goose bumps penetrated up my arm as James Rand, Armitage Shanks and Run Hide Survive’s Mike Forrest tore up the decks. Fairground was an epic night but, this month, shamefully underattended despite the large amount of advertising. So, Sheffield - where the hell were you? Daniel Boaden Fairground will return to Sheffield’s club scene in the New Year.
They have quickly found their own idiosyncratic musical voice “We really try to hone our sound. It’s lucky Rosie’s got such a unique voice, and we’ve avoided using guitar for a lot of stuff. There are so many guitar bands around.” Their musical influences are wide: ’70s glam-rock, “especially David Bowie”, Cyndi Lauper (who they supported on a European tour), Kate Bush, and “older,
#1: Michel Gondry “Every great idea is on the verge of being stupid” French film-maker Michel Gondry’s unique take on reality has made him one of the most sought-after directors of recent years. With a career stretching back to the 1980s, he has built up a back catalogue containing some of the most iconic and influential music videos of all time. Working with the likes of Björk, The White Stripes and Daft Punk, these miniature masterpieces capture his own childhood visions and dreams: the most poignant being the oversized hands which Gondry envisaged as a child in the Foo Fighters video for ‘Everlong’ and his film The Science of Sleep. From growing up in Versailles to attending the Olivier de Serres art college in Paris, music and art have always run in parallel through Gondry’s veins. Whilst playing the drums and creating videos for his own band,
Michel Gondry, the innovator with kaleidoscopic vision. Oui Oui, Björk recognised his fresh and innovative style and asked him to direct the video for ‘Human Behaviour’. The rest, as they say, is history. Amidst a world of brash teen comedies and boy bands, Gondry revolutionised pop culture in the ’90s by boosting the credibility of music videos. He adapted the ‘bullet time’ technique for Bjork’s surreal and twisted ‘Army of Me’ video, which later became famous for
its appearance in The Matrix film franchise. Whilst managing to achieve both critical and commercial success, the Oscar-winning writer and director always transports us into his world which is much more exciting and romantic than reality could ever be. Three you must see: ‘Army of Me’ – Björk ‘Deadweight’ – Beck ‘Sugar Water’ – Cibo Matto Natasha Parker
Review: School of Seven Bells - Alpinisms
Up with The Yell Review: The Yell - Down With The Yell
Clare Fraser
Try-hard Sienna: a trying listen.
Lifted by sheer enthusiasm Review: Kennedy - Life Is An Afterparty EP Pity poor Kennedy: being billed as a ‘singer-songwriter, MC, rock star and motherfucker’ by his PR company can’t have done him many favours as far as journalistic preconceptions are concerned. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more worthless string of adjectives with which to stir up hype these days, which makes it all the more surprising that this
Switch off the credibility radar and get down to the dancefloor
dancefloor and enjoy it for what it is: a dumbed-down version of ‘Can I Kick It?’ for the 21st Century. The Wideboys remix of ‘Your Mama’ meanwhile, systematically extracts every ounce of suave and cringe-inducing humour from the original YouTube hit and drowns the remainder in a horrible mix of Madison Avenue’s ‘Don’t Call Me Baby’ with echoes of The Ones’ ‘Flawless’. So it’s down to the final track ‘Karate’ to prevent Life Is An Afterparty from falling into two star territory, which it does, but only for its lyrics. “I know karate / I know ju jitsu / I drive like a gangster when
I’m coming to see you,” sings the married Richard Ashcroft lookalike over what sounds like a sliced and diced version of Modjo’s ‘Lady’. Overall this EP is so ridiculous that it’s hard not to get carried away by Kennedy’s enthusiasm. The aforementioned cringe never threatens to derail your interest because his knowing delivery makes it obvious that he is under no false illusions. After all, no ex-member of Silversun Pickups could ever really think he’s a gangster, never mind someone who wears Star Wars pyjamas. Joe Christmas
Fuse
EP is actually quite good. Opener ‘Life is a Party’ fuses jazz with hip-hop and, were it not for the rearranged bass line and dry references to “Star Wars PJs”, A Tribe Called Quest might well have a case for copyright infringement. It’s just best to switch off your credibility radars, get down to the
Kennedy: so ‘rock star’ that he owns a car to match every shirt.
Friday November 21 2008
Opening at full pelt, with everything blaring on ‘My Baby’s Into Witchcraft’, we immediately love this record. A song that’s been played live by The Yell for as long as we can remember, it’s full of bubbling keyboards and spiky guitars with some half mumbled vocals over the top. The songs on this release, several of which have been previously released as singles on Sheffield labels, retain the energy of The Yell’s renowned live performances. ‘Leeroy’ is a brilliantly silly little ditty, clocking in at just over a minute and a half. Album highlight, however, goes to ‘Pyramids’, with the chorus of “It’s very very hot outside / And I don’t want to see the pyramids” over a fantastic keyboard
line that sounds like it’s been swiped from a cheesy horror movie. Daft and entirely fantastic, it’s a great representative of the album. There’s no-one else around at the moment who sound quite like The Yell, although the album certainly bears The Fall as an influence and should well appeal to fans of The Blood Arm and Art Brut. Most of the frantic and catchy art-pop songs here belong on an indie dancefloor. If you don’t like this record it’s probably because you have no sense of humour. Lee White
Everything about Sienna seems new, modern, and shiny. Originally from Japan, she moved to Norway, joining hip new producer Abon to create a blend of electronicclub-nu-jazz. But her supposedly ultra-cool chill-out music seems particularly soulless. Perhaps it is a failed attempt to merge the distinctive and technology-rich cultures of Japan and Norway into an effective whole, but Sienna seems to lack identity and her inclusion of haiku and prayer chants into the music is particularly clumsy. She seems to try just a little too hard to be culturally innovative and, as every child learns at school, the harder you try, the less cool you become. Perhaps Sienna’s greatest failing is that her music is utterly forgettable. It’s not unpleasant to listen to, but it’s difficult to find
anything to like. Her greatest fame-claim to date is that one of her tracks was preloaded onto Philips MP3 players, and demonstrated instore. This peculiar music may have been very successful in exhibiting the strengths of the MP3 player, but it is hard to believe that her music was chosen due to any great merit. Each track consists of a set of weird, incoherent vocals, a steady beat, and a tinkling melody on the keyboard. Some of them are pleasant to listen to, such as ‘A Pure Land’ and ‘Be Accessed!’, but even these are somewhat too akin to what one might hear on the radio at 2am. Sienna claims on her website that she and her band will be “travelling wherever the destiny leads her to”. Unfortunately, this intention is as pretentious and pointless as her music, and it would probably be better for all concerned if she just stayed away.
Lost in translation.
Review: Sienna - A Pure Land
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Despite deriving their name from the capital of the Netherlands, The Amsterdams actually originate from Romania, which isn’t exactly a country well known for exporting music. The confusion that underpins the band’s name also translates itself onto their debut record: Automatic EP. The four tracks comprising Automatic EP offer a brief introduction to the band and as such it is somewhat surprising that the EP is clearly divided into two halves, with only two of the four songs displaying real potential. The first two songs on the record are reminiscent of the art-rock trend set by Franz Ferdinand with
their angular riffs. Second single ‘Petrolize All Mice’ apparently witnesses the band trying to satirise in an insouciant manner. However it is difficult to understand the political message behind the lyric “There’s a mouse in our house / We should burn this building down.” Admittedly vermin are an unhygienic annoyance, but pest control would perhaps be a better solution than arson. Although the EP initially fails to convince the listener, the last two tracks display The Amsterdams’ promise. The more mellow rhythm of ‘Lights Out’ is executed with sincerity by the band and provides a notable highlight of the record, whilst last song ‘Suffering and Surfing’ comes closest of all their material to being an epic and is a suitable ending point. There is an evident and genuine emotion behind the songs which may resonate with some listeners and has led comparisons to be made with Joy Division and Interpol. Although there are promising signs on Automatic EP, The Amsterdams still face an uphill struggle to reach the status of the aforementioned bands. Rob Leay
Soullessly executed
Arts
Review: The Amsterdams - Automatic EP
Curtis and the Deheza sisters bring their previous experience together to soar to even greater heights. the listener into a state of mild than background music. But, on each listen – a record of hypnosis. given a little care, patience and tremendous elegance and dreams Alpinisms can, like devotion to attention, here we have a record almost-realised and a heady the hobby its title references, be that reveals new treats from its avoidance of the dull. a listen that demands to be more intricate musical soundscape Helen Lawson
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Problematic
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Firstly, some light terminology: ‘alpinism’ - an alternate term for the art of mountaineering, with all its connotations of exploring higher plains and scaling greater heights. Secondly, by daubing themselves with the title given to a rumoured South American school for the training of pickpockets, School of Seven Bells have deliberately chosen to wear a cloak of mysticism and romance that serves to make this record a curious and beautiful triumph. Made up of ex-Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis and twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza, formerly of experimental post-rock trio On! Air! Library!,
the band is perhaps most simply described as having the sonic ambition of My Bloody Valentine and the glacial grandeur of Cocteau Twins (sans Elizabeth Fraser’s absurd lyrics). This is not to reduce this record to obvious basics, although arguably the end product is indeed something that you might loosely term ‘shoegaze’. Songs are liberally dusted with reverbheavy guitars, underpinned and driven by high, swirling electronics and low, pulsating beats and occasionally tinged by an air of Middle Eastern spirituality and experimentation. It is, however, the dreamy and choral vocal harmonies of the Deheza sisters that steal the show on this record. So often the melismatic vocals transcend mere words, functioning as added instruments knitted into the already lush layers, and leading
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Elegant and glacial dreaming
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Maturing, but not too much Live: McFly @ The Arena 7/11/2008 It’s not until you see McFly live that you fully understand ‘the McFly effect’. Forget feminism ever happened: at a McFly gig you will see mature, professional women flashing their bosoms and screaming as manically as the 12 year old girls that form the majority of the audience. Reemer kick things off with their brand of pop-punk magic. It is a stomping, energetic set and renders the crowd, already effervescing with pre-pubescent excitement, even more hyper. There is a two-minute countdown before McFly come on stage. It takes the levels of anticipation to heights comparable to those of an alcoholic waiting in the vodka queue. The countdown is a clever ploy and reminds you that McFly began as a marketing tool for popindustry big-wigs to exploit the tweenage girl goldmine. However, despite their manufactured beginnings, McFly
are a bloody good live band and show a marked departure from their early image. The opening of their show is epic: lots of red light flashing and smoke swirling as the foursome stride out. ‘One For The Radio’ is met with rapturous applause and giddy girlish glee. Danny and Tom dominate most of the action, singing like demons and bounding with apparently ceaseless energy. Dougie takes over the spotlight for the gothic ‘Transylvania’. Flames leap up as he sings; the band are clearly fans of theatrical performance. The theatrics hit their heights when they belt out ‘Star Girl’ on a platform that rises above the audience and travels across the auditorium – pop drama at its best. Nevertheless, McFly show us that they’re all grown-up. Rock ballads about heartbreak come to the fore as Tom sings, “I don’t know how the hell I fell in love with you” (‘POV’). They’re not too mature though: Danny licks Tom’s face before they bounce into the glorious pop-
ditty ‘Obviously’. Dougie proudly announces: “I have to be careful in case I crap myself.” A fantastic cover of Michael Jackson’s ‘Black or White’ kicks us into a dancing frenzy, before we are serenaded with ‘Room On The 3rd Floor’. Sparks shower around the band. It is over-the-top, and it is brilliant. Harry has been quiet throughout the gig. Now is his moment. He says that he “wants to make love to everyone in the room.” Hopefully, most fans wouldn’t understand what he means by this, but those of the appropriate age go crazy. McFly are masters of their craft. They play brilliantly, have fun doing it, and are clearly exercising creative control in their careers. But, they know where they come from, and deliver dollops of the retro-McFly we love. The deliciously camp ‘5 Colours In Her Hair’ polishes the night off in an appropriately shiny way. Watch out for ‘the McFly-effect’; it’s a powerful thing. You may end up exposing your bosoms. Alice Stride
When she wasn’t stealing our drinks or rolling around on the dance floor, Florence Welch was dazzling us with an odd melodic
A modern-day Lady Godiva.
mix of acoustic pop. The charismatic frontwoman constantly captivates the euphoric crowd, who appear desperate to break into frantic dance having been denied any prior chance after support band The XX had to pull out due to illness. Florence gives us such a chance
through her haunting vocals and compelling lyrics. Songs such as ‘Dog Days’ deliver the perfect mix of soothing harp riffs, melodic guitar and a bit of crazed onstage percussion action. Brief mass outbursts of dancing are interjected by the occasional stare of awe towards Florence as we continue to watch her prance round the stage twirling empty bird cages. This is one of her favourite hobbies of the night, except for asking people to bring her Sambuca. Based on her behaviour post-performance, she received rather a lot of the strong stuff. As the night goes on, Florence cracks out her most popular single ‘Kiss with a Fist’, another Lily/ Nash-style song about fighting with your boyfriend and having attitude: a popular topic among similar female artists. Nevertheless Florence manages to keep us hooked through a refreshingly frantic and upbeat take on the topic. She shows a depth and complexity to her style that makes all the drink theft throughout the night worth it.
Photo: Kate Carson
Ross Haymes
Glorious Guillemots
Fuse
Friday November 21 2008
Live: Guillemots @ Plug 16/11/2008
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It’s not Guillemots’ fault that they attract reserved, intellectual types. It’s merely that their brand of sophisticated cool does not lend itself to simple melodies or catchy tunes. As it was, they had to work somewhat harder to win over the crowd, a challenge to which they rose admirably. It was ‘Made Up Love Song #43’ from their debut album, Through the Windowpane which received the best response from the crowd, who, by the second line, “Now there’s poetry / In an empty Coke can”, broke out into polite cheers and applause. However, ‘If The World Ends’, ‘Standing On The Last Star’ and ‘Get Over It’ from this year’s Red were greeted with appreciative nods and a vague swaying: high
praise indeed from the difficult crowd, proving that despite the album’s ambivalent reviews, The Guillemots are far from a band on the wane. The contemplative, drawn-out style of The Guillemots was surely meant to be experienced live. Instead of isolated songs, there seemed to be a constant stream of music seamlessly floating out onto the crowd. The audience were treated to an intimate performance interspersed with quiet asides, including a somewhat sheepish admission that front man Fyfe Dangerfield had taped the words of a new song to his mic stand. Since another remarkable performance followed, it would be hard to begrudge him that. Although the crowd remained largely calm and somewhat reserved, it became evident that this was not through any lack of enjoyment of the music. Indeed,
Dangerfield.
Photo: Helen Munro
Flabby and fab
Flo’s diva dramatics Live: Florence and The Machine @ Fuzz Club 13/11/2008
Dougie and Danny play their hearts out.
Live: Fucked Up @ Corporation 17/11/2008 Fucked Up front man Pink Eyes is anything but shy. By the second number tonight we are treated to the sight of much of his sizeable frame, and apparently we have a scapegoat for the flesh on show. “Beth Ditto taught me to lose my inhibitions,” he announces as he whips off his shirt. However, one would suspect that he never really had any in the first place. By the next song he has decided that the stage at Corporation is much too high, and that he should get out there and mix in with the throng. He shows us exactly why he made it to number 11 on the NME Cool List and “deserves to be higher”. Put frankly, the man is a nutter. Careering around the room, he sticks the mic in the faces of some, carries others on his shoulders and covers all in his
sweat. At one point he even visits the bar next door in order to fetch himself a mid-song drink, announcing that he’d “forgotten [his] lyrics”. We definitely forgive him, especially as he had proceeded to get on top of the bar and see out the remainder of the song laying ‘seductively’ on one side. With all this going on, you’d be forgiven for forgetting that he actually had companions onstage. As it is however, they need not rely solely on their focal point, churning out some of the most interestingly arranged hardcore you’re likely to have heard in a while. Three layered guitars provide deep texture to their sound, and tonight the band are rugged yet solid, keeping up with the exuberance of both singer and crowd. If you’re looking for an intense live experience overflowing with anarchic spectacle, then look no further. Kyle Rice
Rock’n’roll revival Live: White Denim @ Plug 17/11/2008
Photo: H.Munro
it would be hard to not enjoy the brilliance and honesty of their performance. They commanded a quiet respect and appreciation from the crowd rather than screams, which would hardly fit with the composure and maturity of this remarkable band. Clare Fraser
The Plug crowd greeted White Denim like old friends, cheering and applauding as they powered through a chaotic drum-fuelled set. ‘Shake Shake Shake’ whipped the crowd up into a frenzy that was never to be recovered from. Pulses raced as grown men punched the air rejoicing in the rock ’n’ roll revival that White Denim had brought to the fore. Clearly getting into the mood of things, Josh Block abandoned his drum kit and joined in, fuelling the crowd’s energy and leaving the youngsters looking slightly bewildered. Barely breaking to breathe, James Petralli screeched and strummed his way through their repertoire, only stopping to croon moody Cold War Kids-esque vocals.
James Petralli.
Photo: M. Allen
After bellows of “one more tune!” the band returned for an encore with a barrage of rolling riffs and rhythms before ending on nothing but a cowbell. Although it should never be worn, White Denim should most definitely be seen and heard. Natasha Parker
Ray Aherne
More of the same old Review: WWE ’09
success. Yet story mode is far less repetitive and the ability to play with a mate brings back memories of years gone by. As always with wrestling games, Smackdown vs Raw 2009 is mainly about the multiplayer modes. Whilst co-operative story mode is back in a restrictive way, it is through the Exhibition and Online channels where the multiplayer fun really lies. Despite a new number one contender in TNA Impact to the wrestling genre championship, WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 is still the undisputed champion. This is a game more for the diehard wrestling fan than the casual gamer, although both will find enjoyment within this release. Philip Burbage
Editorial
forget all those times you filed cases against Rockstar citing the Grand Theft Auto series as responsible for any murder only for them to be dismissed. Why did you forget to mention the 27 misconduct charges you were found guilty of? Like submitting pornographic material to court or the $43,675 fine along with being disbarred for life? Thing is, Jack, if we’re sad for playing games and simulating murders, at least we’ve not ‘pretended’ to be a mediocre lawyer for the last 30 years. Sam Robinson
Review: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts ‘Have you been playing for a while and still don’t like the vehicle based gameplay? Maybe you need to download Banjo-Kazooie from Xbox Live Arcade instead.’ Believe it or not, that statement actually appears on a loading screen, immediately creating the impression that Rare are edgy about what people will think of their newest Banjo creation. Their doubts, sadly, are not completely unfounded. Instead of making the traditional platformer that just about everybody was hoping for, Rare decided to make a game all about vehicle customisation. One can only guess as to why they thought this would work. Perhaps they were frightened of letting all the fans down with a substandard effort. H oweve r, some simple research shows that the Xbox 360 is overflowing with car racing games, and has not one single worthwhile platforming game to offer. The gameplay basically consists of doing the same few quests over and over again in slightly different vehicles. Most missions
are either ‘drive from A to B’ or ‘fetch things and return to starting point’, and this gets old really quickly. Sure, there are a staggering amount of possible vehicles to make, but it doesn’t make that much difference. Finishing quests rewards you with Jiggies, which unlock new areas and more quests, in the traditional Mario 64 style. The hub of the world here is Showdown Town, where you will find crates with extra vehicle parts to ‘pimp your ride’ (sorry). The game has limitless possibility, but there’s no real motivation to see it all. The driving feels horrible, the quests are tedious and the constant gaming in-jokes thrown at you are pathetic. The most enjoyable aspect of the gameplay was running over innocent animals, in a weird cross of Old Macdonald and Grand Theft Auto. The graphics are good but unspectacular, and the sound is suspiciously similar to Viva Pinata, as if Rare couldn’t be bothered to change it a little. Overall, this game cannot really be recommended to anyone at all. There are far better driving games out there, and Banjo purists will most likely be more offended by this than everyone else. Which is a shame, since this was a genuine opportunity for Rare to create a quality traditional platformer on the 360. James Cook
Fuse
Every society has to have one thing to unite against to give a sense of strength. We gamers develop our strength from infamous gaming bogeyman Jack Thompson. This week it seems someone pitied him and gave him a job. While he can no longer appear in court or send letters to developers’ mothers telling them their sons are naughty boys, he will still be around to make snide comments about games on his new post at magazine Human Events. Most gracefully exploiting the
concept of truth, it seems in his bio on the site he is a great man responsible for ‘persuading TW to pull rapper Ice-T’s ‘Cop Killer’ from store shelves worldwide’, then apparently he disappeared until resurfacing in 2008. Don’t worry though, Jack, we’ll fill in your crowning achievements. Here’s a few things you missed. Remember when you stormed out of court saying the judge “doesn’t have the authority to sit there”? How about the time you harassed a client who was suing you for defamation in an attempt to get the case withdrawn? Don’t
Bear plus car equals disaster
Friday November 21 2008
All work and no play...
Skorge, a.k.a. Predator. One of the friendly faces you’ll encounter.
If you have smelt what WWE Smackdown has been cooking over the past few years you will soon realise that WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 follows exactly the same recipe. The age-old mix of your favourite steroid-pumped superstars, almost limitless match types and the simple objective of beating your opponent to a bloody pulp remains as appealing as it did at the beginning of the series. The latest roster is all present and correct, with their official entrance music and movies to boot. The controls are simple and you should be able to win matches
from the start regardless of experience, although it may take substantially longer to master them completely. One feature that has been overhauled compared to prior iterations is the story mode. Gone are the days of picking any old superstar and guiding them to the relevant titles. Smackdown vs Raw 2009 story mode now focuses in depth around only a few main event superstars, meaning you may miss out on leading your favourite to
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Sergeant Marcus Fenix and Dom are reunited again in Delta squad, alongside Cole and Baird, and you’ll definitely need their help along the way. Everything about Gears of War 2 is bigger, better and stronger. The locusts have a few surprises up their sleeves, with whole armies of drones and boomers being the least of your worries. The deeper down you go, the bigger they get,
Arts
The deeper down you go, the bigger, nastier and uglier they get
Compared to the first, Gears of War 2 has plenty of new environments to explore, with weird, wonderful, and at times, downright disgusting scenery. The game revolves around ending the war with the locusts. This means exploring the locusts’ home, their history, and their origin, leading to lots of twists and turns along the way. The campaign will have you on the edge of your seat, but often cowering away during certain pitch black moments, with “what on earth was that?” on your lips, around every corner. The multiplayer has been seriously reinforced. Training missions with bots will get you started, and once you get online, create a team, honing your skills together, and never having to recreate the team every time you play. New missions make the multiplayer more exciting, and harder, with ‘horde’ mode being the greatest addition. Fight against wave after wave of drones, boomers, and everything else the locusts have to offer, seeing how long you and up to four other players can survive. So my fellow gears, pick up your lancer, rev your chainsaw, and “go forth and bring back the hope of humanity!” Happy hunting.
Games
Here’s how it is. The light mass bomb we used to destroy the locusts’ tunnels failed. Humanity’s last defence is at the city of Jacinto, but the best defence is a good offence, so “we’re going to go to where they live and where they breed, and we will destroy them!” Gears of War 2 begins just where we left off with humanity teetering on the brink of extinction, and the mysterious, all-consuming locusts still present in the earth’s crust, slowly making their way to the surface.
and the locusts have been growing them mighty large. This game, unlike the last, really makes you feel as though you’re part of a war, no longer just an isolated squad fighting to survive. Fighting alongside other squads of gears, with air support, and an array of vehicles at your disposal, this definitely is all-out war. But more power for the gears means more power for the locusts, including flamethrowers, mortars, poisonous grenades, more creatures and mounts (all of which you get a chance to use), and the ability to heal their own troops. Once downed, the enemy can crawl away for aid. Whilst this means they could survive, it also gives the opportunity for some fun, such as using the enemy as shields, and some particularly brutal executions. Other new features include an array of pick-ups like newspaper articles, journals, and locust scrolls, all giving you a greater view of the Gears of War world, and the origin of the locusts. There’s also the ability to blow up almost anything. If your enemy has taken cover and it’s giving you problems, then just destroy it. Practically anything can be blown to pieces, including high explosives. The environments also offer greater danger with acid pools, razor rain, and living landmines just a taste of what to come.
Music
Review: Gears of War 2
Feature
Go down, down deeper and down
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Review: Kongkee Negative Record: A City with No Memory
Feature Games
Music
Slow down and have a smoothie...
Screen
Arts
Kongkgee’s film exhibition in the Millennium Galleries is unnerving from the outset. The opening image, a cartoon-esque girl looking out over a bleak landscape of grey skyscrapers, suggests a need for liberation from the dense, oppressive urban underworld the film reveals. The images are punctuated with arresting captions, stating ‘we keep dismantling our houses’ and asking ‘where those buildings go’. Memory is a key theme of the piece, and the subtitle, ‘why we keep rejecting our memories?’ suggests a movement toward personal analysis and preservation. However the ominous, almost Orwellian presence of a ship hovering within the cityscape offers little hope of cerebral freedom for the film’s characters, who are often seen as lacking in a full perspective, seeing the world through a closed window.
the only way one may escape such a world is through retreating from the pressures of urban life in order to focus on the self.
Retreating from the pressures of urban life in order to focus on the self Kongkee’s film is a welcome addition to the Galleries, a thoughtprovoking if chilling interpretation of contemporary society, and the degree to which it can be applied to an industrial city like Sheffield marks its success as part of the ‘China in Yorkshire’ event that is celebrating Chinese culture in the West throughout 2008. Heather Taylor
It suggests a movement toward personal analysis and preservation The childlike questions and simple artistic style emphasise the urge to withdraw from the complexities of modern life. The film even asks: ‘why don’t we … slow down and have a smoothie?’ Just as those portrayed in the ‘city of no memory’ are bewildered, the viewer is also subject to confusion through the use of chaotic camera angles and unsettling images. The question remains as to whether the work offers any solution to the dangers of the perplexing and fearful world it presents. The emphasis on memory and diaries suggests that
Tears of sorrow, tears of joy A Clockwork Orange changed my life
Fuse
Friday November 21 2008
Review: Warran Lakin - Driving Miss Smith
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‘Hello Tavistock! … That’s a nice friendly welcome. This is a lovely town, very impressive, very dinky. A town devoted to the production of potpourri. Could it be any more twee? Nothing’s louder here than a scone being buttered…’ Driving Miss Smith is a loving biography full of wit, wisdom and warmth. The comedian Linda Smith, voted ‘Wittiest Living Person’ by Radio Four listeners in her heyday, was a regular favourite on Radio Four shows like The News Quiz and I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, performed sell-out stand-up gigs, and also created a name for herself on television programmes like Room 101 and Have I Got News for You. Her death in 2006, after a painful battle against ovarian cancer, prompted a giant media and nationwide tribute to a
comedian the public loved and felt they could relate to. This biography, written by Linda Smith’s long-term lover, Warren Lakin, spans her life from her childhood in Erith, through her fame, to her illness. Lakin details her fight with cancer, and hours of being chauffeured throughout the country ‘as comedy’s answer to Lady Penelope with her faithful chauffeur Parker’ – substituting the glamour of a Rolls Royce for a trusty, rented economy car. This book is at times tearinducing, and at times makes you laugh out loud. Smith’s wit is not to be messed with; it fills you with a feeling of warmth, love and happiness to know that this remarkable woman was so adored simply for being herself, and doing what she loved. There could be no-one better to write the book than Warren Lakin, the man who shared every moment of her life for 23 years. His words make her immortal. Through Lakin, the reader gets
Testimonial
Linda Smith is sadly missed. the opportunity to see Smith’s life through what seems like her eyes. It was an overwhelming loss to comedy when cancer took Linda Smith. She obviously made a great impact on many people’s lives, and this book could just about make that impact on yours. Read with caution of crying out loud with laughter, and having to sob into a friend’s shoulder. Victoria Trow
Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange is one of those special novels that has remained largely unique since its publication. Written in a mixture of English a n d Russian (Burgess called this language ‘Nadsat’), this startling style (not to mention the graphic violence and scenes of torture) makes for challenging and rare reading. It was t h i s
novel, handed to me by a family friend (one wonders if he read it himself), that provided the catalyst for my interest in the ways in which language (and in particular unexpected uses of language), can affect the tones and themes of a novel. Burgess’s command of his themes, of the lives of the young criminals he builds and destroys, of the protagonist Alex, is so complete it is difficult not to be enthralled even as one is disgusted. It is perhaps this clash, between sympathy and revulsion, admiration and hatred, which drew me towards the novel. Gutsy and provocative; read it, love it, hate it. Chris Goding
Games Arts
Dance feeds a part of your brain that nothing else does. Sport just doesn’t have the artistry, and arts won’t push you physically: dance is a harmony of exercise between body and mind. It processes emotion and thought patterns without speech. You have to use your own initiative, and answer with your body. Communicating through dance isn’t quite mysterious, but it’s subtle and ambiguous; it keeps people guessing. It’s the poetry of the stage.
Music
Grace Jones: Ballet Dancer
Demonstrating an arabesque en pointe. at our annual performance at the University’s Society Showcase the Royal Opera House in Covent at the end of this month. Garden. It was my last with Royal. We’ve also held workshops with I moved to the Birmingham Royal the professional Hofesh Shechter Ballet at the age of 16, but had to Company, which was bizarre. Of leave only the next year, because course it was a huge insight for I didn’t heal properly after an me to work with dancers who operation on an elongated talus weren’t connected with classical [an ankle bone]. It meant I could ballet, but their style is so never dance professionally. contemporary. Ballet’s changed a When I moved to Sheffield for lot in the last fifty years; it’s much my degree, again it was my family more dynamic, and it’s connected and friends who encouraged to modern dance in that it’s a me – this time to start teaching. technical foundation. Expressive, I thought I’d give it a try before I jazz and tap artists are all made wrote it off. It was nerve-wracking, to take ballet classes. But to me, but I was curious. I’m so glad I did; much contemporary dance feels I now teach advanced classes for random: there’s not always an the Union, and we’re performing in obvious sense of flow, or form.
Stiff, static, and two-dimensional
Interview: Hannah Kirby For information on classes and performances, see: www.dance.union.shef.ac.uk
Narcissus In The Grocery Aisle by Stacey Wadsworth
Poem
Fuse
Sarah Cooper
Friday November 21 2008
a climactic murder scene, but actually resembled a playground scrap. Only when a faint red stain appeared on the top of a pile of strategically placed clothes did it become clear that Ben was dead, despite the melodramatic, malevolent glare of Dan. For the astute audience member The gods were bored today. there were various continuity errors Lounging upon Mount Olympus, to note, including the fact that the Drinking nectar and playing darts male characters had the privilege With Zeus’ lightening rods. of wearing a few different t-shirts Tiring of torturing young lovers, whilst their female counterparts Aphrodite calls Eros over for a game. And I, must have been particularly impoverished students who did Innocently going to the store for milk, Meet Narcissus in the aisle. not change their outfits once! The handsome face, The play was also continuously Sleek words, punctured by irritating and I can only echo back, unnecessary blackouts. Small Angry at his charm and guile. consolation came in the sound of Two p.m., Roy Orbison, which accompanied Searching for a business card, these bewildering moments of darkness when the lyrics often I come across a picture of Pyramus. He never came that night. reflected and enhanced the plot. Next morning I found the chink However, Jo (Elanor Larbi) was In the wall filled, a real breath of fresh air, making With concrete. the most of a character that lacked depth. She coped brilliantly Eight o’clock. Adonis e-mails me. with a challenging sexual assault His name appearing onscreen scene and her ‘brilliant humour Like Scrooge’s tombstone. and sultry ability’ (as promised in While I write back lines like the programme) didn’t disappoint, Lies on Valentine cards. restoring the energy and realism And Eros pricks my heart of the piece. With the old arrows. It was, however, disappointing to The new red covers the dried hurt, witness the unfulfilled potential of Spreads to a dull ache in my spine. a play that aimed to be hard-hitting Forewarned now, but ended up like Hollyoaks. Of course, it’s good to see that suTCo I creep through a brilliant spring day. Wary. is supporting new writers. It’s just A Persephone a shame there wasn’t a larger Dreading Hades’ return. audience there to support it too.
Elanor Larbi and Ashton Kelly on stage as sultry brilliance meets 2D melodrama. Photo: Ben Williamson relationship between manipulative itself had some moments of Review: Peach and Dan (Ashton Kelly) and his promise, which the direction brother Ben (Jacob Harrison- and most of the delivery failed Appleblossom Beaumont), but the awkwardness to fulfil. Such two-dimensional Opening night. Fireworks night. between these two actors made it characters made it difficult for But although the sounds of difficult to believe that they were the audience to empathise with the story, especially Dan’s swift spectacular displays could be acquaintances, let alone related. Similarly, the relationship transition from moody teenager heard outside, unfortunately there were no fireworks on stage: Peach between both brothers and to psychopathic killer, which failed and Appleblossom fizzled out like Lucy (Rebecca Watson) was to convince. Consequently what unconvincing, with embarrassed was supposed to be a ‘staggering a damp sparkler. The curtains opened on the ‘snogging’ devoid of chemistry conclusion’ did not have its heart of the student home: and apparently only thrown in for desired effect, since the audience the sofa. The obligatory pizza good measure. The performers simply couldn’t sympathise with boxes and crushed Coke bottles combined this with a lack of the plight of either Dan or Lucy. The staging and direction of completed the familiar scene with pace, stage presence and ability humorous accuracy. Here, the to replicate natural conversation. the predictable plot was not a story of four students unfolded as Spontaneity of laughter and the highlight either, with many static they came to terms with unfamiliar interjections which characterise scenes set awkwardly between real interaction were completely the sofa and the irritatingly stiff emotions and relationships. door. Stage right was finally The action centred on the misplaced and painful to watch. Frustratingly, the script utilised for what should have been
Photos: Living Without It can be very clever, but almost anything goes. Classical ballet uses codes to express itself, and it has its own language. Where contemporary dance is abstract, ballet is figurative, and lyrical. Most importantly, though, ballet is beautiful. It’s a testament to the aesthetic: with or without its message or story, it’s beautiful. That, more than tradition or snobbery, is what maintains its popularity.
Screen
I started ballet late, by most standards, when I was eight. At first I just went along because my friend was interested; I was never one of those little girls coveting pretty pink tutus. Then, it was my family and friends’ appreciation of my dancing that I followed, rather than any burning desire of my own. But dancing, I felt – and feel – so confident. It sounds like a cliché, but it just feels natural. I got into the Royal Ballet School when I was eleven, almost by accident. I went along to an ‘outreach’ audition in Birmingham just as experience but, astonishingly, I got in. Saying you went to Royal opens you up to some embarrassing stereotyping: it’s an awful lot to live up to-. The School was really strict, but I did like having set parameters by which to live. That echoes the way I feel about the discipline of ballet itself: I love the fact that there’s an etiquette; there are standards, and you always know where you are. I suppose it’s really that sense of tradition that makes ballet so exceptional. It’s not necessarily snobbish, but it’s very English, very historical. At Royal, though, the dancers are taught to aspire to be perfect in every way. We were expected to improve ourselves not only in ballet, but also in beauty and intelligence. I do remain very loyal to the way Royal teaches, but there’s no denying that it could be a little undermining. I was quite a perfectionist before I went anyway, and it just got worse. I chose to leave when I was 14, because I wanted to continue loving and believing in ballet. Although it was due to my own reasons, not theirs, I couldn’t have done that at Royal. These photographs were taken for a magazine feature that was done just before then, backstage
Feature
The poetry of the stage
Original Arts
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Feature Music Games Arts Screen Friday November 21 2008
Fuse 10
Which doc’s best? Feature: Doc/Fest Sheffield Doc/Fest is internationally renowned as one of the UK’s leading events in the field of documentaries, and as such attracts a range of high profile celebrity guests annually and offers a creative forum for producers, distributors, commissioners, filmmakers and emerging talent. With this year’s festival promising to be one of the best yet, Melissa Gillespie and Jon Hardy were on hand to bring you their take on events...
Experienced documentary makers showcased their films After more than 150 documentaries, endless handshakes, countless coffees, numerous Q&A sessions and just a few parties, Sheffield Doc/Fest finally closed its doors with a sore head and a long line of emotionally charged, inspired and satisfied individuals. Experienced and well-known documentary makers such as Louis Theroux and Sean McAllister exhibited their films alongside the young and fresh talent of today, creating an eclectic fusion of styles and messages, and a few awe-inspiring masterpieces. One of the blistering breakthroughs at this year’s Doc/Fest has to be John Dower’s Thriller in Manila. The final bell is left ringing as we revisit the greatest fight in history; the gripping 1975 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. The film takes us back to the relentless training days and continues to the brutal fight at the end. But, unlike other sporting documentaries which worship Ali, this film destroys his golden halo. Ali’s racist tactics set out to demoralise and intimidate Frazier. One phrase that resonates through the film is Ali’s sinister poem to his opponent; “It will be a killa / And a chilla / And a thrilla / When I get the gorilla / In Manila.” Ali is even seen punching a toy gorilla used to represent Frazier’s soul, tainting his perfect image we have all grown up with. What makes this film intriguing though is that it is told from Frazier’s perspective. Dower takes us on a tour through Frazier’s shack of a house situated above his own boxing gym in rough Philadelphia. The rooms are small and modestly decorated; the only dominating features are the huge posters of Muhammad Ali, a tribute to a great adversary or a cruel reminder of what
Frazier lost as the winner took it all? Certainly the most captivating scene is Frazier’s first viewing of the cruel final fight which he watches with glassy eyes. The passion and determination of each opponent screams through their anguished and mutilated faces as they fight on the verge of death. With fast and close-up shots, interrupted with pieces of interviews, the director sustains the pace, and makes the film compulsive viewing. Another charismatic and innovative film was Lorenzo Fonda’s Megunica, which recently won Best Creative Documentary at the International Amsterdam Film festival. Megunica takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey through the streets of Latin America following an Italian graffiti artist, Blu, who recently caught the public’s attention when he painted the Tate Modern. Blu travels to schools and hidden villages, painting his murals with the people, teaching them to appreciate street art, in a cultural exchange. Unlike many graffiti artists who spray their garish tags on anything, Blu prefers to paint entire sides of derelict buildings, attempting to make them aesthetically pleasing once again and to cause people to stop and think about the messages behind his work. Fonda takes a brave approach to production with the insertion of animated segments. Surreal moments like a jumbo jet growing legs and hopping across buildings to some classical music captivates the audience’s attention. Other pieces are more political, with a person turning into a pig and destroying a forest, highlighting some of the struggles of the indigenous people. Blu’s face is permanently obscured, a deliberate choice to recognise that this is a film about art and not the artist. The final result is an imaginative, innovative documentary that anyone with the smallest appreciation of art would enjoy. Not all films lived up to their expectations. Feng Yan’s disappointing Bingai boasted perhaps the highest number of walkouts at this year’s festival. A ‘candid documentary’ about the ‘plight of a charismatic wife’ sounded almost promising in the synopsis. Sadly, no promise was delivered. In fact, nothing at all was delivered. Bingai, set in rural china, tells the story of one family and their struggle with the local bureaucracy. Due to the Three Gorges Dam project, the government need the family to be relocated before their house is flooded, but the family refuse to move until they are given land suitable to build on. What then ensues is a 10 year argument between various officials, which feels longer than 10 years to watch. People shout at and over one another producing a horrible discordant sound that makes you think that listening to someone playing a saw would be more enjoyable. All this noise is m a d e even more confusing with ropey subtitles
Doc/Fest hosted an array of diverse and interesting films from professional and amateur film-makers. littered with grammatical mistakes which make them hard to read. The only hope left was that the cinematography was good. Unfortunately not. The scenes in the house are too dark, whilst the landscape scenes are dreary and filmed with a shaky hand. The film ends with a note on what happened to the family. They refused to move, their house got flooded and now they live in a shed at the top of their garden.
Why didn’t they just move in the first place? It would have stopped them wasting a decade of their lives, it would have saved their house, and more importantly it would have saved nearly two hours of mine and 20 others’ time. This is a frustrating film with an utterly pointless story. A special mention is also necessary for Mikala Krogh’s Everything is Relative, a philosophical musing about all
the aspects of humanity, whilst Louis Theroux’s Killadelphia, which explores the street life in Philadelphia, was equally moving with scenes of drug dealing and violence. Ultimately, Doc/Fest removed the stigma attached to documentaries and showed that they can deliver the same thrills of even the biggest blockbusters. Melissa Gillespie
Educational enterprise Doc/Fest was a rather inconspicuous affair, but if you got close enough to the Showroom Cinema you could here the buzz of industry networking and the heated discussion of the best and worst of this year’s new docs. Arriving in anticipation of The Enemy Within by Joe Bullman, I was greeted by Bullman himself apologising for the film being “not quite ready yet”. Nevertheless, this change of plan led to an engaging session in which Bullman presented clips of his unedited film and asked for the audience’s appraisal. Although it is difficult to properly critique an unfinished piece, The Enemy Within struck me as a brave and exciting idea. Bullman has filmed modern day discontented Muslims and well known media figures speaking texts from the late 19th century to underline the parallels between the current wave of Islamophobia and the Victorian persecution of the Anarchists. Bullman also showed clips from his earlier film The Seven Sins Of England which, in a similar vein, portrayed modern day ‘decadent’ stereotypes such as the binge drinker and the shopaholic reading 16th century opinions on the same topics. This illustrated how the British have always been susceptible
to certain vices, and that every generation perceives the succeeding one to be morally deteriorating. Although this was conceptually similar to The Enemy Within, it was much more lighthearted in tone while still making a valid point.
The film was a fascinating insight into a rapidly changing culture That evening I attended an interview with Michael Palin. This was a friendly and humorous session and Palin knew just how to charm the audience with numerous references to growing up in Sheffield and by agreeing to stay to answer extra questions, even after his interviewer had to leave to catch a train. Watching The Biggest Chinese Restaurant In The World by Wei Jun Chen filled me with the same uneasy awe as the opening ceremony of the Olympics – here again was a huge rigidly organised body of people proving that China can do almost anything bigger and better than the rest of the world, albeit at the possible expense of the individual’s rights. The film was a fascinating
insight into a rapidly changing culture, and the contrast between the flamboyant materialism of the nouveau riche and the industrious fortitude of the poor was brilliantly depicted. The film’s protagonist was the charismatic restaurant owner ‘President Qin’, a woman who had become a millionaire and Guinness world record holder despite an abusive father and the inherently sexist attitude that persists in China. She held the film together and was a joy to watch. Nik Sheehan’s Flicker told the story of the ‘dream machine’ – a device not dissimilar to a strobe light conceived in the sixties by a good friend of William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and used by all manner of artistic types as a ‘drugless high’. The film included interesting reminiscences from Iggy Pop and Marianne Faithfull and through clever use of pulsating light and sound had a rather hypnotic effect in itself. Doc/Fest was a captivating event to attend and it was great to see film makers and enthusiasts flocking from all corners of the globe, to what is widely considered as one of the best documentary festivals in the world, yet another jewel in Sheffield’s already glittering crown. Jon Hardy
dedications to her on a wall, the message is clear: her spirit and strength lives on.
Anna’s murder was an attack on free journalism as a whole
She had survived one attempt to kill her and had received threats
Anna Politkovskaya’s tragic death is surrounded by speculation.
whole new cast playing familiar roles such as Kirk and Spock, Abrams surely takes a massive gamble. Star Trek has never really appealed to as large an audience as Star Wars due in part to an overabundance of nonsensical sci-fi dialogue and a fan base with a penchant for learning fictional languages in their spare time, meaning that any proposed reboot has to face the challenge of drawing in a new crowd whilst still appealing to the hardcore fans. The solution to such a dilemma? Well, according to the new trailer, it would seem to be easily resolved by adding healthy doses of sex and violence whilst maintaining the slightly camp image the original show was famous for. With talent such as Eric Bana, Winona Ryder, Simon Pegg and Heroes star Zachary Quinto playing key roles, perhaps Star Trek is worth getting excited about after all. Released next summer, this could be just what the franchise needs to restore its reputation. Or, er, give it a better one.
Win cinema tickets Competition
Actually and Three Experiments. The best review in the first three month period will also win a pair of tickets to the next Icewhole.com Quarterly Awards event, and the opportunity to mingle with leading names in the film industry. The competition begins now and runs monthly, with the first winners announced in November. Steve Lanning, Co-Founder, Icewhole.com said: “We’re looking for witty, honest and intelligent writing. This is a great way for students to express themselves and have their say our website.”
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To celebrate their first anniversary Icewhole.com, the film website that includes Richard Attenborough, Ben Kingsley, John Hurt and Alan Rickman among its many supporters, has teamed up with Pearl & Dean to offer students an exciting way to win free cinema tickets every month. The competition will allow students from any UK university to win five pairs of tickets every month for them and their friends
to go to any cinema in the Pearl and Dean network, including over 500 screens nationwide. To win, competition entrants must write a review about one of the UK Monthly Icewhole.com award-winning short films. To be eligible, entrants must give their real name and university at the bottom of the review. The winning review will be judged by leading film critics, journalists and luminaries from the Icewhole. com panel, and announced monthly. The winning August short films were My Robot, Blood
The Dark Knight upped the ante. As a film it bulldozed and then built its own legacy over the superhero genre and became a must-watch for all, not just comic book geeks, as the acting and plot surpassed many great action films for edgeof-the-seat entertainment. With the stakes raised so high, there is enormous pressure on any future cape-heavy films to match this success. Enter Zack Snyder, director of violent epic 300, more than up to the challenge of, as he delicately put it, “poking the audience in the eye a little bit.” Watchmen is no ordinary comic book fodder. It was given a place in Time Magazine’s top 100 novels and has held its reputation as the Shakespeare of graphic novels since its creation in the mid-80s. A story of outlawed heroes, murder investigations and dark conspiracies takes place in an
alternate history United States where the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Three 10 minute extracts from the soon to be finished film and a Q&A with Zack Snyder later, and I am wishing away the days to March 2009. To the glancing eye, Watchmen may seem fairly archetypal and it’s true that the obligatory tight bright rubber outfits and capes are present and correct alongside plenty of purpose-loaded icy stares. Convention begins tipping with a fight scene set to Nat King Cole and is soon flipped on its head, with romantic plotlines starring impotent superheroes. Living up to his reputation, Snyder quickly made clear to producers that their request for a PG-13 certificate film would not be met. There’s violence aplenty and dark plotlines prevail; looks like The Dark Knight has got a battle on its hands. Natasha Lewis
Friday November 21 2008
Jamie Cusworth
Exclusive Preview: Watchmen
Director J.J. Abrams is a man with an impressive CV. After conquering the small screen with cult hit Alias and monster phenomenon Lost, he turned his attention to reigniting the ailing Mission: Impossible series with Mission: Impossible 3, a film which turned out to be the most favourably received of the trilogy. Now it is the turn of another faltering franchise to be given the Abrams treatment; step up, Star Trek.
After five television series’ and 10 feature films, one could reasonably argue that such a well- milked concept of humans travelling space and battling aliens should be left exactly where it is: dead in the water. So, why would Abrams, a man who claims he was never a great fan of any of the shows, bother to resurrect such an old fossil? Well apparently, it has something to do with the fact that it’s all about our future, as opposed to the lives of that other bunch a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. By taking the series back to its roots and setting the action on the original Enterprise with a
Natasha Lewis
Graphic heroism
Back to the future Exclusive Preview: Star Trek
amongst derelict buildings. The gulf between the ritz and the rubble is what Anna would have witnessed and she made it her mission to try to stem the corruption behind the system. Her bravery and popularity are the traits that come across most clearly. As ordinary people are shown fighting against unreasonable and unrelenting security guards to display their
Screen
of the luxury of the Russian oligarchs followed immediately by the shocking poverty of the ordinary Chechen people. Ramzan Kadyrov, a former Chechen rebel who was installed in the Chechen government by Putin, is infamous for his brutal military regime and we are shown shots of his luxury birthday party at the races, immediately before images of a poverty-stricken old lady stood
Arts
Contrast is used to great effect in the film both as an atmospheric tool and to highlight the social structure that Anna fought against. The day of Anna’s death is presented early on using CCTV footage to capture her movements as she returned home from shopping. The hazy black and white images are accompanied by a gently melodious piano and the atmosphere is of daily normality. Shortly after Anna enters her building the piano is replaced with gunshots followed by silence, the sudden shock of her death brought impeccably to the screen. We are also shown examples
In 2001, Anna was arrested by the FSB and held in an underground pit, threatened with rape and told she would be shot. She discusses the ordeal to the camera frankly and it is the only time that she seems at all shaken by what has happened. She describes the experience of being locked in the bunker as “useful”, an example of her almost baffling dedication to the cause of truth. As Boris Beerovsky, a fellow journalist and friend of Anna who currently lives in exile in London, says in the film, Anna’s murder was not just an attack on her but on free journalism as a whole. This is the reason that this film is important and as a recent example of the horrendous human rights breaches that occur in Russia it is both a shocking and relevant account.
Games
“The truth is out there.” This statement may sound like some sort of spooky UFO propaganda straight out of the mouth of Mulder and/or Skully but it is in fact the tagline for this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest. It resonates particularly with the life of journalist and documentary subject Anna Politkovskaya because of her turbulent and relentless lifelong pursuit of the truth. Anna Politkovskaya was a journalist and correspondent for one of Russia’s last independent papers, the biweekly Novaya Gazeta, where she published over five hundred articles. She had received numerous awards and honours, including an OSCE prize for journalism and democracy and an Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. But all this did not protect her in Russia. She had survived one attempt to kill her and had received death threats before she was murdered in 2006 in her building’s stairwell. Letter to Anna, directed by Swiss director Eric Bergkraut, chronicles the last few brave years
of Anna’s life and work, asking questions about the enemies that she made and who was behind her murder. As she is shown freely admitting in Bergkraut’s archive footage, “freedom is a wearisome task.” Yes it is, and this seems to be an understatement when living in Russia, working to expose government corruption and denouncing presidents.
Music
Review: Letter to Anna
Feature
Murder in the basement: the hunt for the truth in Russia
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Fuse.listings
Friday November 21 - Thursday December 4 2008
Fri 21
Sat 22
Detonate: London Elektricity + Benga + High Contrast @ Plug; 10.30pm; £8 A special night from the drum ’n’ bass record label Hospital, which is renowned for its funkier and more soulful interpretation of the genre.
Shuffle: Simian Mobile Disco (DJ Set) + We Have Band (Live) @ Plug; 10.30pm; £5
Film release: Waltz with Bashir @ Odeon & Cineworld; £4.50 - £5.20 Psychedelic electro rock duo Simian Mobile Disco will be DJing and the latest Kitsuné darlings We Have Band are also playing. All this for a frigging fiver!
An animated documentary that follows Ari, an Israeli ex-soldier who sets out on a quest to help him discover why he can not recall anything from his time fighting in the war against Lebanon in the early ’80s.
Never Let the Truth Get in the Way of a Good Story @ Site Gallery; 11am; Free An exhibition exploring the tension between language and image via a selection of film and video works. The works show language’s role in film form and its influence on authority, structure and memory.
Sun 23 Thunder @ City Hall; 7.30pm; £21 A British rock act similar to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and The Rolling Stones. They are still touring after 19 years, and having released a vast range of records. Survivors; BBC1; 9pm A re-imagining of the 1970s BBC drama series. This time Max Beesley and Freema Agyeman star, amongst others, as a lonely few left in the aftermath of a deadly virus that has wiped out much of the world’s population. But their problems are only just beginning.
Mon 24
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Hunger @ Showroom; 9.30pm; £3 Steve McQueen (the British artist; not the motorcycling escape artist) makes his acclaimed directorial debut with Hunger; a film about the IRA prisoner Bobby Sands. The film won McQueen the Caméra d’Or at Cannes.
Jarvis Cocker @ Sheffield Academy; 7pm; £17.50
Red Noses @ University of Sheffield Drama Studio; 7.30pm; £4 An award-winning play by Peter Barnes explores the nature of comedy. Political themes are played out through history. The characters show all aspects of medieval society.
Fuzz Club: Those Dancing Days @ Fusion & Foundry; £4
Album Release: Chinese Democracy - Guns ’N’ Roses; £16.99
This is Spinal Tap @ SU Auditorium; 7.30pm; £1.80 After 15 years and a promise from Dr. Pepper to give a free can of the soft drink to everyone in America (apart for Slash and Buckethead) if it was released in 2008, Chinese Democracy is finally here. But will it be any good?
Film Release: Body of Lies @ Odeon & Cineworld; £4.50 - £5.20 Ridley Scott’s new film hopes to cash in on the politically galvanised public after the US elections as it focuses on the hot topic of terrorism.
Twelfth Night @ The University of Sheffield Drama Studio; 7.30pm; £5 Last chance to see the SuTCo production of the Shakespearian comedy set in the world of Illyria.
Classic rock mockumentary following a British heavy metal/hardrock band, Spinal Tap, on tour of the United States of America.
Toast Special Sauce @ Bungalow & Bears; 7.30pm; free The independent Sheffield clothing store hosts its own evening of music at Bungalow & Bears.
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Sun 30
Mon 1
The Rifles @ Leadmill; 7pm; £12 London indie rockers (how uncommon) are out on tour with a new album coming out in the new year, a follow up to their 2006 debut No Love Lost.
WALL-E @ SU Auditorium; 7.30pm; £2 The charming and cute WALL-E is the last remaining robot on Earth with all the humans gone on a waste-filled planet. However, he ends up falling for a shining new arrival called EVE and WALL-E’s lonely planet is turned upside down.
Game Release: Armored Core: For Answer; PS3 & XBox360; £49.99
Nouvelle Vague @ Leadmill; 7pm; £17.50 The French musical collective, who only do cover versions, have reinterpreted songs by a host of punk and New Wave bands into their glitzy lounge rock sound. This is a rare opportunity to see what they do live.
Alabama 3 @ Plug; 7pm; £16.00 Notorious rock and blues act Alabama 3, who also merge in a range of other genres, have been going since the ’80s and have developed in that time a reputation for the quality of their live shows.
Valve Sound System: Grooverider + Friction + Hype + DMZ crew + more @ Octagon; 8pm; £16
The Big Lebowski @ Showroom; 8pm; £4.30
As part of their Coen brothers season, the Showroom is screening one of Joel and Ethan’s most celebrated films, The Big Lebowski. Jeff Bridges takes the lead as an LA slacker and bowler whose life turns when he gets mistaken for a multimillionaire.
The Tuesday Club Saturday night special is back once again with a huge array of big name stars from the world of drum ’n’ bass and dubstep. This is gonna be BIG! Dreadzone @ Corporation; 7pm; £12.50 Long standing British band who bring together dub, reggae, techno and folk in their music.
The 13th instalment in the Armored Core series. The planet has been devastated by pollution and all-out war has started between resistance groups and big corporation controllers, which the player finds themselves in the middle of as a mercenary. Sounds really unfamiliar, doesn’t it?
Café Scientifique @ Showroom Cinema; 7pm; Free A talk by Richard de Grijs (Reader in Astrophysics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Sheffield) on ‘The Quest for Ever Larger Astronomical Telescopes’. NME Rock and Roll Riot Tour Featuring Primal Scream @ Sheffield Academy; 7pm; £22.50
Societies Showcase @ Foundry; 7.30pm; £3.50 15 societies representing singing, dancing, comedy, and theatre will be taking part in this entertainment extravaganza. Renishaw Hall Victorian Christmas Market @ Renishaw Hall; 10am4pm; £3 Get into the Christmas spirit with festive foods, craft stalls and Christmas carols in the courtyard at Renishaw Hall.
The famous (but really rather annoying) music publication’s annual tour sees Bobby Gillespie and co. taking the headline slot.
The crown prince of Sheffield is back on home soil celebrating 30 years of independent record label Rough Trade with the Looking Rough at 30 with Jarvis Cocker tour. Shrimps @ Raynor Lounge; 8pm; £3.50 Check out the University’s very own improvisational comedy troupe made up from swimming, decapod crustaceans. Will Young @ City Hall; 7.30pm; £32.50 One of the few reality show participants to come out of it with a career a very slowly approaching respectable status (he played Glastonbury this year). He’s in Sheffield promoting a new album as part of a 17 date UK tour this autumn.
Frock Swap Party @ Millennium Gallery; 6pm; £6 As part of Christmas with Museums Sheffield, the town’s largest Clothes Swap is back. Who knows, it may even be better than Twiggy’s clothes swap that has been on TV recently. You might just find that perfect New Year’s gown! Film Release: Four Christmases @ Odeon & Cineworld; £4.50 - £5.20
This will probably be the highlight of Fuzz Club this semester. Swedish girl group Those Dancing Days make fantastic indie pop songs and will be playing examples of this from their debut album In Our Space Hero Suits. Quoi de Neuf? @ The Forum; 7.30pm; Free French and underground monthly hip-hop night at the Forum which always kicks off with a film screening. This week it’s the animated black and white biographical piece Persepolis.
Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn star as a couple who have to visit four sets of parents, due to divorce, in this Yuletide comedy.
Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts @ The Holly Bush; 8.30pm; Free An up and coming folk act takes to the stage at The Holly Bush. Their debut album, Shadows and Half Light, came out at the beginning of the month.
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Imelda May @ The Boardwalk; 7.30pm; £8
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street @ University of Sheffield Drama Studio; 7.30pm; £4 A black comedy challenging the nature of our existence, taking the audience through one man’s moral crusade against the unjust and corrupt society that is Victorian London.
Fuzz Club: Ebony Bones @ Fusion & Foundry; £4 Her single ‘We Know All About U’ became the most played single by an unsigned artist on Radio One. That’s because it’s fucking amazing, so check her out!
Having appeared on Jools Holland’s Later... show, the sassy, sexy Irish rockabilly singer has earned herself many admirers, including a few of the famous kind. The Witches of Eastwick @ The Lyceum; 7.30pm; from £16.40 (with student discount) Marti Pellow stars as Daryl Van Horne in the omniscient musical based on the Warner Brothers motion picture starring Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Cher. Cars Can Be Blue + Hotpants Romance + Peepholes @ The Red House; 8pm; £5 A night put on by Lola and friends (apparently) with American duo Cars Can Be Blue and three girls from Manchester by the name of Hotpants Romance.
Jools Holland @ City Hall; 7.30pm; £31.50
Caramel @ SU Auditorium; 7.30pm; £1.80
The much-admired film revolving around the lives of five Lebanese women in a beauty salon who each have their own story to tell; whether it be forbidden love, repressed sexuality, or simply dealing with getting older. Olivia Moore @ The Lescar; 9pm; £3 A classically trained violinist from the age of four, Olivia Moore’s sounds are influenced by jazz, Indian, Cuban and flamenco music.
His TV show, which is probably the only half decent music show left on television, started going live this year. And despite being 50 years old now, it doesn’t appear to have worn him out as he goes off on tour. Mika Miko @ Corporation; 7pm; £7 Band members performing under such pseudonyms as Jet Blanca, lots of hyperactive female members, and an association with an LA venue called The Smell. It could only be a US underground punk band.
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FORGE PRESS Friday November 21 2008