Down the Rabbit Hole - Issue 12

Down the RabBit Hole

Issue 12 1st June

Editor’s Note Editor’s Note Hi everyone, It’s finally here, our one-year anniversary of publishing Down The Rabbit Hole for you guys. Our team has grown so much over the past year and we’re looking to grow even more so if you’re an aspiring writer please drop us an email at Writers@ MadAliceRecords.co.uk or a Facebook message.

In this month’s edition we have loads of new content as always including an interview with 12 Hour Avenue, reviews of all the latest films and albums.

Once again, a big thanks is due to Flying Vinyl for giving us loads of great 7”s from all kinds of artists to review and a thanks to you guys as well of reading Down The Rabbit Hole each month.

Thanks, Maia Editor

Contents

Reviews

Artist in Review

Film Reviews

Flying Vinyl - 26-27

Harry Styles - 6-7

Aidan Laycock

Maia Gunning

Alien Covenant - 20-23

Cal Raasay - 28-29

Five Mile Hill - 8-9

Twin Peaks - 32-35

Zoe Buckton

Maia Gunning

No Religion 38-39

Jade Jackson - 10-11

Beauty & the Beast 40-43

Rachel Colley

Revie Byrnes

Scott WInsbury

Zoe Buckton

Leah Cooper

Top 5’s

Articles

Latest Releases

Top 5 of the Month 16-17

TC Electronic Flashback Mini Delay 14-15

Latest releases are scattered throughout this edition as interactive pages

Alex Fisher

Dawid Ziemba

Artist In Review

Harry Styles If you haven’t listened to Harry Styles’s album yet due to lack of time or misgivings or whatever reason you may have, I cannot recommend it highly enough. His solo debut take him in a completely different direction (haha) to his manufactured pop past with songs like Carolina and Only Angel being reminiscent to early Beatles stuff and Kiwi having basically leapt from a Rolling Stones B side. This self titled album definitely shows us what Harry Styles’s is capable of and, I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to see what he’s going to produce outside of One Direction in the future.

Artist In Review

Five Mile Hill Five Mile Hill, the solo music of Jim Simons, is a recording project. His newest album, Organic, is suggested to those who enjoy the likes of Elbow, Radiohead and The Artic Monkeys. Whilst recorded and produced by one man, the album shows a clear multitude of musical talents on his behalf.

Tracks like ‘Catch 22’ have slow melodic backdrops, and fall close to the style of Eels.

Jim’s voice is comparable to that of Keane, low and sloping. Black Hole features some overlapping harmonies to create a kind of discordant, eerie affect. The final (and title) track, ‘Organic’, serves a gut punch of emotion with softness, singing ‘Maybe I can recreate that naive mental state’. This album is definitely one to check out if you need to kick back and relax.

Artist In Review

Jade Jackson Jade Jackson is an “alternative country” artist who has recently released her debut album ‘Gilded’. If you’re wondering what “alternative country” means, I don’t know either but it sounds like regular country music with a pop infusion to make it sound actually very good.

The album itself highlights Jackson’s husky vocals over beautiful melodies and lyrics exploring relationships and life. The standout track for me is ‘Finish Line’ which was released as the albums lead single.

As this is her debut album, I am definitely looking forward to what she will produce next.

TC Electronic Flashback Mini Delay Joe Perry uses it, Kirk Hammett uses it, Steve Morse uses it, Paul Gilbert uses it and even Brian May uses it. What else do you need to know to get this pedal? That’s all the information you need, now go forth and conquer the effect of delay. Still not convinced? That’s all right, in that case let me tell you a little bit more about the amazing guitar pedal, that is TC Electronics’ Flashback Mini Delay.

The Mini Delay is the baby of TC Electronics’ Flashback X4 Delay pedal.

Despite its limitations, the Mini Delay can hold up to his parent pedal and give the musicians what they desire. The Mini Delay has 3 knobs – Feedback, Delay and FX Level. Might sound like a limitation, but a true guitarist will know what to do with the 3 knobs and create a beautiful delay. From personal experience, with just those three knobs I managed to obtain a beautiful 1950’s guitar slap-back sound. If you’re a beginner guitarist, don’t fret because you can obtain the sound of your favourite guitar players by simply connecting your pedal to your phone, and using the TonePrint app, make your Mini Delay sound like any TC Electronic Artist.

In addition, the pedal is very small. You can easily put this addition as part of your pedal board, and not only will it save space it will also give you the quality that you need. Now, go forth and enjoy the beauty of TC Electronic Flashback Mini Delay pedal… …don’t delay. It’s worth it.

Top 5 of the month

Album Paramore’s most recent album is a complete departure from their first three and although it does work well with their last album, it still feels a lot different and a lot more pop. However it’s got so much emotion and energy from start to finish, you can still tell it’s Paramore right to the last chord. So much emotion was put into this album from uplifting songs like Hard Times, to the softer more heartfelt songs of 26.

Song With Rise Against set to release their newest album this month, the songs they’ve been teasing are making it look like one of their best so far.

Although coming across as a lot more tame in sound than the rest, its still just as good at delivering the messages they want. Their most recent song House Of Fire is no different, with pumping lyrics and a catchy tune (maybe a slight departure from their well known sound) its easy to see why this album is being hyped up by their fans!

Video game A perfect sequel to the first Injustice, the second one delivers a story that seamlessly carries the story on and really builds the returning characters back to where they were seen in the original, while also bringing in a lot of new

characters like Blue Beetle and Super-Girl. The fighting system works just as well as the original and can be fun yet hard to master straight away (like every fighting game ever...). What I truly like about this game is the characters conversations to each other while fighting.

It really helps build how they know each other and the pure depth of the DC universe.

Music Video Alt-J are set to bring out a new album very soon, and they have treated us to one of the best music videos I’ve seen in a while! With what first starts out looking like a nice video about a field mouse, it takes quite a dark turn pretty quickly. The music to go with it really reflects the images they’re showing and does sound like a good old fashioned Alt-J song.

Live music show Royal Blood are heavily in the promotional side of their newest album, and did a very short UK tour in smaller venues (small venues to them anyway!) and as expected, they delivered a brilliant performance from start to finish. Although cramped due to every show on the tour being sold out, their solid performance and showmanship really shone through! Plus the crowd atmosphere was easily one of the best I’ve ever seen at a gig, with such high energy and enthusiasm of the show!

Alien Covenant If the words ‘WeylandYutani Corp’ conjure up images of terror in your mind, then its likely you’ve been either excited for, or absolutely dreading, ‘Alien: Covenant’. The follow up to Prometheus has been through numerous rewrites, cast changes and title alterations.

Prometheus left fans a little underwhelmed, including me. The film was overly estranging, posing more questions than answers

and holding a pretty simplistic plot. Furthermore, the rebranding of the Xenomorph as some kind of squid baby + blue man group = chestburster was a little bit too far a stretch from the mystery of the original.

So, Covenant was left with a lot on its plate.

Functioning a little like Star Wars Rogue One, the plot had to fill the gaps and answer the questions left by

Prometheus, pay homage to the original Alien franchise, and introduce something new. In my opinion, it delivered. This film comes with a tonne of extra content, Elizabeth Shaw, who suffers at the hands of Covenant quite appalingly, is given a few minutes of screentime in the films online prequel. We get more promotional content of David8, one of the highlights of new instalments is seeing fake advertisements for

convincing AI’s. A Virtual Reality game, In Utero, has been launched alongside the film making use of the series iconic chestburster sequences. But this film mixes it up, we see aliens popping out of all sorts of places, not just chests.

Sequels are always a bit touchy, I’m sure we all wished that they’d let some films be. But Alien: Covenant really manages to mix all of the elements

we’ve come to love from Alien, Prometheus, Alien Vs Predator and the tensest videogame of all time, Alien: Isolation. We get a classic, huge, xenomorph for the last act of the film, as well as some slightly altered looking ones in the style of Prometheus, changes explained as the xenomorphs varying slightly on their host bodies. We get the vast, jungle-like settings of predator: cornfields that serve not only for

Jurassic Park style tension, but to pose the question, ‘who planted it?’. We get the green laser sights of isolation in a first person shooter style showdown.

And best of all, we get David8.

My love for AI is not something I’m shy about, and this film is pretty loudmouthed with its lashings of David8 too. A Fassbenderon-Fassbender kiss seals this as one of the best

Alien Covenant performances as AI that has been produced aside from Ex Machina. When David8 (alone and isolated on a planet mysteriously covered in corpses) and Walter (unsuspicious and lovely) meet we are greeted with tonnes of bound up sexual tension. As well as the fact that Walter is the downgraded version of David8, created because David8 could not be trusted.

This is central to the entirety of the film, and whilst

dealing copiously with aliens, gore, and acid blood, the horrors that David8 unfolds are performed with such logic, such complete common sense, that we are drawn to identify with him.

Prometheus flopped mainly because it had such low stakes. We weren’t drawn to care all that much about the characters, the ship had no purpose besides finding the meaning of humanity.

Covenant desperately

needed to provide higher stakes to make people care about the action. The film achieves this by placing the crew on a Colonisation ship, designed to deliver hundreds on thousands of embryos and humans to a new, terraformed planet to kickstart human life in a new home. The future of the species hangs in the balance, not only the lives of the characters. Whilst Daniels isn’t quite the next Sigourney Weaver, she kicks

xenomorph arse whilst dangling from a spaceship on a rope - that’s pretty close.

The film does well for itself considering an audience of Alien fans is aware of certain tropes. We know how things are gonna go down for you if you’re staring into a chestburster egg like a curious child, we know xenomorphs bleed acid. This film takes everything you know and love, and twists

it ever so slightly to make a suprising, eerie and thrilling piece of cinema.

The highlights of this film are certainly the development of the AI characters, although suffering a bit from imposed ideas of sexuality. This film reveals the origin of the entire Alien franchise, and is a much needed gap filler to follow up on Prometheus.

I would definitely go and watch this film again, and

I’ve refrained from including too many spoilers here because it’s worth seeing for yourself. This film is a cross between slasher horror, sci fi and thriller, and blends the genres seamlessly.

Flying VInyl This Month’s box features one of the widest range of sounds that I’ve heard yet from Flying Vinyl. The selection is perfectly crafted so that as you move through the records you’re always smiling! If you’ve not already subscribed, then get to their website and do so before you miss out on more monthly exclusives!

Bad Parents This EP (It’s great that there is an EP on at least 1 7”!) is definitely one that grew on me. Its sombre feel didn’t sit right at first but as I progressed it just got better and better. Bad Parents are a South London Duo featuring Misty Miller and Tom Shelton. If you’re into the Sleazy D.I.Y sound, then give it a listen!

Queen Zee and the Sassytones Even aside from for having one of the coolest names I’ve heard, this 7” is brilliant!

It features the heaviest bass to open a single I’ve ever heard, it’s a heavy punk rock spectacle that shouldn’t be missed! The style reminds me of At the Drive in meets Nirvana with a bit of Local H thrown in for raw power, but tell us what you think!

Middle Kids

Dama Scout

Flamingods

Middle kids are a little bit of everything melded together, swinging slightly more towards folk pop, their songs are beautifully crafted. The trio originates from Sydney, and the tracks are loved worldwide (With Sir Elton John playing them on his radio show!). The band are an easy listen and should be included in everyones collection.

With the funkiest intro so far, this single is grabbing from the outset. Dama Scout are a UK based trio that take cinematic sounds that I want to see live! With hazy shoegaze sounds that sound 80’s and modern all at the same time, they are definitely a band not to miss!

This is easily the most obscure sound of the box, this single starts with a samba styled beat which builds into an almost electrofunk feel. This is a 4 piece Bahrain via London band, and the influences are clearly there. This is a truly immersive single that captures and holds you throughout.

Cal raasay 57-6

This EP definitely suits the genre of ‘Alternative Rock’.

However, even though it suites it I don’t believe this definition does justice to the multitude of genres that are on this five track EP. I have listened to many experimental EP’s but this one is definitely high up in my favourites because of the scope of genres that it includes. I’d go far as to say that it’s ‘Ambient/ Electronic/Atmospheric Rock’. With such an array of genres and styles on this EP I strongly recommend you should go and check it out.

The EP starts out with two atmospheric tracks titled ‘Adapt 1’ and ‘Adapt 2’.

‘Adapt 1’ is the shortest out of the two songs, since it is the intro song to this EP, at 1 minute 38 seconds in length. However, even though this is a short song it does well in leading up to ‘Adapt 2’. It allows the tension to build in ‘Adapt 1’ with the electronics that Raasay uses throughout the track. The track begins and ends with a steady piano piece that blends in with ‘Adapt 2’.

When ‘Adapt 2’ beginnings it uses the piano piece from the first track and adopts a darker tone with it through the use of electronics. The piano instrumentals are used throughout the song but they fade and appear during the track as the electronics take over. At the ending of ‘Adapt 2’ the piano instrumentals start

again and Raasay introduces some a short burst of vocals before the song fades out.

The next track ‘Home’, however, is a completely different genre. It starts out with an acoustic guitar and Raasay’s moody and melancholic vocals. This is more of a stripped back song with the electronics making an appearance every so often and only builds at the 1 minute 40 seconds mark. I’d say that this is one of the few acoustic tracks on this EP so if acoustic with a little bit of ambient music is your style I’d definitely check this track out.

Lastly, the final track on this EP ‘Fins’ is one where Raasay strips back to just his vocals and some piano instrumentals. Raasay is able to make this track atmospheric by just these two components. This is definitely a pleasant ending to the EP and compliments Raasay’s talents.

Overall, even though this EP may not be to everyone’s taste I enjoyed the diversity that this EP delivered. It flowed well throughout, even when there were disjointed moments in the songs they felt as if they belonged there, and it was interesting to hear so many genres and styles flow well Even though the track ‘Sirius’ with one another. I’m giving starts out as an acoustic this EP an 8/10 since I was track it quickly changes impressed with how Raasay tempo at the 1 minute 20 was able to incorporate seconds mark. Raasay uses the various genres into his vocals to make this track this EP and that his vocals the most experimental on provided an atmosphere to the EP. With a mix of electric the EP too. If you are at all guitar and electronics interested in music that is Raasay makes this listening pushing new boundaries I experience quite bizarre. would suggest giving this EP ‘Sirius’ isn’t a short track a listen. either at 7 minutes and 9 seconds. The ending of the track the instrumentals change from electronic and acoustic guitar to a full on electric guitar solo but then fades back into the acoustic. If you want to have a listening experience with a track and want to not know what’s going to happen at each stage of the song I’d suggest giving this track a go.

Twin peaks Since that gum I like just came back in style it’s finally time for me to write a review of one my favourite shows, Twin Peaks. If you haven’t already seen it, it was one of the first long form mystery dramas to grace American TV and it’s specific brand of surreal horror-comedy has influenced countless current shows. The original two seasons, aired in the early 90s, followed Special Agent Dale Cooper as he

came to the town of Twin Peaks to solve the murder of Laura Palmer, a local girl who washed up dead on the beach. As the story unfolds things get weirder and weirder with alternate dimensions, aliens, and spirits getting added to the mix. In amongst the red curtains and zig zag floors Laura Palmer tells Dale that she’ll see him against in 25 year and lo and behold, 25 years later, we find ourselves returning to the

town of Twin Peaks.

You have to hand it to them; I can’t think of any other show that took a literal 25 year hiatus just to match the script but Twin Peaks has never been afraid of taking risks. An attitude which has quite clearly carried over into the new season. I had no idea what to expect going in and now that I’m out I still have no idea what to expect.

I’m trying to be as spoiler free as humanly possible

so the main thing that I cant say that it’s weird. In true Twin Peaks fashion the episode was weird and baffling and raised more questions that it answered but personally that just got me more excited. I’m still unsure as to what the plot of season three will be, there is no Laura Palmer this time, and because of that David Lynch and Co seem to have leaned further into the horror aspects of the show than before. Fans will

remember the last twenty terrifying minutes of the finale episode (leaving us on one of the most heinous cliffhangers in TV history) and I’m glad to report that season three only builds and adds to the horror.

THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH HAS SPOILERS SO IF YOU DON’T WANT THEM SKIP AHEAD!

The main crux of the weirdness happens in a New York attic. A young man by the name of Sam has been hired to sit and watch a large glass box at the edge of the room and see if anything appears within it.

Nothing does up until the point where Sam makes the most basic mistake in the horror book and sleeps with his girlfriend on the sofa.

While they’re distracted a horrible, blurred shape appears in the box, shatters

it, and kills them both. I’m taking an educated guess by saying that whatever it was, it’s another inhabitant of The Black Lodge. Speaking of The Black Lodge, we get to see what’s been happening with Agent Cooper in the 25 years he’s been stuck there and wow it’s weird. The Man From Another Place and been transformed into an electrified talking tree with some kind of fleshy mound at the top for a face.

It says that it is “the arm and it sounds like this” and that Agent Cooper has to escape The Black Lodge and bring back his doppelgänger which has been running loose the past 25 years. It seems that in all that time doppelgänger Dale hasn’t come across a pair of scissors as he now looks like someone’s dad who’s finally started the midlife crisis band of his dreams.

Despite the kind of silly appearance, it’s clear the doppelganger’s been involved with all kinds of shady stuff like doing deals with rednecks and killing two associates that were trying to kill him. He is also determined that he’s not going back to The Black Lodge so the inevitable show down between the two Dales is bound to be interesting.

Ok, spoilers are done now, it’s safe.

Surprisingly the new season hasn’t gotten great reviews yet as people seem to think that it’s moving too slowly. I agree that it is slow moving but really what were people expecting? The show literally took a 25 year hiatus and even before that Twin Peaks has always been the master of playing the long game. The new episode wasn’t really what I was expecting but despite the intense strangeness I enjoyed it so if I were you I’d find yourself a damn fine cup of coffee and a slice of cherry pie and settle back for whatever ride David Lynch has for us now.

No Religion No Religion are an instrumental duo from Bradford who bring an innovative style to their songs. Their self titled album No Religion is made up of tracks featuring heavy sounds of rock beats, with a shift of tempo throughout. This works really well as they manage to mix the song with various instruments without making it sound like an entirely different piece. The mix of riffs alongside rhythmical

drumming makes it easy to let go of yourself and dance to, whilst also evoking feelings of emotion to aesthetically please the listener. From my initial listen to their song One Line, I sensed an underlying theme of unworldliness combined with classical rock. It sounded like they were trying to bring in unusual elements to standard rock music, which they definitely succeeded in.

The second song Blind is hauntingly beautiful and is a piece that awakens deep thoughts, letting you get lost in the sound. The song reminds me of something that Pink Floyd would create. I love the vintage melancholy feel of this particular tune, as it’s got an older vibe to it as though it’s following the pathway of music from the 70s. I gain a sense of heartbreak through melody and imagine it’s quite overwhelming to hear

live. It holds a mesmerising quality leaving you wanting more.

Their song Devil’s Grin is very empowering, creating feelings of perhaps overcoming a past experience or regaining confidence. When I listen to this song I feel as though it’s giving me strength to get past bad situations.

It conveys sadness but simultaneously lifts your spirit. This one’s definitely

a favourite of mine due to the guitar solo. Although the other songs involve a lot of guitar, this one pierces me. It’s interesting how the songs all follow a similar pattern whilst standing out from one another and creating totally different emotions.

The instrumental brings individuality and stands well on its own without vocals.

Their effortless sound of rock music is timeless

and it’s inspiring to know they produce all of their own work. Two talented musicians with a passion for creating music, looking forward to listening to their future works.

8/10

Beauty and the Beast

Being a Disney Fanatic, I have been expecting these modern re-makes to stick to the original animated version. E.g. Just like Sleeping Beauty & Maleficent and Cinderella from 1950 and 2015. They had stuck to their original version but both had some changes to their story line. Same goes for Beauty and the Beast. Emma Watson is the best person for the role of Belle and she has done it justice! Belle’s character is just as adventurous, out-going and literary educated as the original. With Emma’s background in her film history and education, some may say that this role is perfect for her. I know some people were a little bit skeptical but she pulled through wonderfully.

The story line in the recent version had some added scenes. We find out more about Belle’s mother, what happened to her and where Belle was raised before moving to a new village with her father Maurice when she was a baby. The end somewhat changes too, as the Beast actually dies before Belle can say ‘I love you’ but the enchantress comes back and saves the Beast’s life. These added scenes have given us the viewers more of an insight into not only Belle’s life but her father Maurice, Gaston and LeFou. We see a different side to all of them in this re-make then we do from the animated one. We see more into the lives of these characters other than just the changing relationship between Belle and the Beast.

Gaston and LeFou’s friendship is different to the animation. LeFou is the first Disney character to be announced as Gay. Josh Gad (who plays LeFou) has done a brilliant job at portraying the character. It is something that Disney should highlight since many young children and teenagers watch Disney and this sort of subject can educate them. Sexuality and gender is something that should be shown to and respected by everyone in society as it’s something that many go through. I think Disney have done a brilliant job with the subtle change to LeFou’s character. The character of the Beast (Dan Stevens), however, is definitely differs. He’s still the same self centred Beast who thinks highly

of himself, but he’s more cultured unlike the animated version. In the 2017 version, Beast knows how to read whereas in the 1997 version Belle has to teach him.

The film really plays with your emotions; I was nearly in tears at Belle’s discovery of her mother, Maurice being called crazy and being dragged to the carriage to take him to the asylum and Beast’s death. I was anxious when the wolves came for Belle and when Gaston was trying to kill Beast and finally happiness when Belle and Beast were dancing to ‘Tale as old as Time’ and when Beast was reunited to his normal self alongside the furniture.

John Legend and Ariana Grande collaborated on ‘Tale as old as Time’ remake for the film. While there are some similarities to the original it’s more of an upbeat version which can be enjoyed by any age. The music flows and it makes you want to watch the iconic dance between Belle and Beast again and again. The vocals from John and Ariana fit together wonderfully. Two different artists with two different styles of music coming together and they bring such a wonderful sound. The songs within the film are still the same but with a couple more added (From Beast and Belle learning about her Mother). Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Luke Evans and the other actors/actress all have amazing voices and they sang these songs in their own way, not according to the animated version. Each and every voice comes together and they sound beautiful with their own distinctive tone.

Overall this film is definitely one for all ages and genders. It is an educational film along side of a beautiful romance. Seeing the relationships between the characters makes us the viewer want something like that in our lives. Wanting to be loved, wanting to be free, wanting to roam the world and does as we please. Belle is an inspiration to any generation and her relationship with the Beast educates us in the fact that you can love somebody despite their flaws and how love changes them as a person.

Beauty and the Beast