The Edge (December 2014)

2014 in review

our highs and lows

A look at the latest from

one direction

call of duty: AW read our review

Issue Four Hello and welcome to the fourth issue of The Edge!

Its been an exciting term for us here, as we’ve brought you three jam-packed issues of the magazine, had several writers’ meetings which meant that we have really bonded as a team, and have a brand new website up and running, which is really exciting as it has been a long time in the making – make sure you go and take a look at it at www.theedgesusu.co.uk and explore all of its exciting new features.

As you’re reading this you’re probably winding down for the end of term, working on those last couple of assignments, and looking forward to the Christmas break. Looking toward the fact that it is almost the end of the year (Where did 2014 go?!), The Edge writers have come together to give you our highlights of the last twelve months. You can read all of our year roundups, helpfully split into their relevant sections at the start of Features, on page 9. Our cover feature this issue is also really exciting – it looks at the existence of body shaming in the music industry, which is the start of a new regular feature Notes on News.

You can also find reviews of the newest One Direction and Foo Fighters albums in the Records section of the magazine, as well as a selection of new single reviews.

There’s also reviews of Whiplash, and The Inbetweeners 2, and a continuation of our Directors In Focus series, focusing on the work of Tim Burton. You can also read our views on the latest instalment of in the Call of Duty series, and exciting interviews with Enter Shikari and Example. If you’re interested in local music, we have previews of Fightstar and Catfish and the Bottlemen as part of some exciting previews in our Live section.

There are a lot of exciting things coming up, including Christmas and New Year, as well as the Creative Industries Careers Season the first two weeks of December. If you’re interested in a career in the creative industries, make sure that you take advantage of all of the sessions during the careers season – there are some tailored towards journalism that The Edge team are really excited to attend!

Merry Christmas to all of you, and we hope you have a restful and enjoyable break!

Rebecca James Editor

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Editor Rebecca James editor@theedgesusu.co.uk Deputy Editor Caitlin Hobbs deputy-editor@theedgesusu.co.uk records Editor Hannah Mylrea records@theedgesusu.co.uk Features Editor Siân Blewitt features@theedgesusu.co.uk film Editor Virginie Robe film@theedgesusu.co.uk C u lt u r e e d i t o r Natalie Fordham culture@theedgesusu.co.uk live Editor Annabelle Asker live@theedgesusu.co.uk news Editor Lewis Taplin news@theedgesusu.co.uk head of design Joe Buckingham design@theedgesusu.co.uk Head of external relations Jenny Simpson relations@theedgesusu.co.uk Head of publicity Henna Patel publicity@theedgesusu.co.uk Head of events Alex Meehan events@theedgesusu.co.uk online manager Emily Mitchell manager@theedgesusu.co.uk editor in chief Megan Downing vpdci@susu.org

Contents editorial

01 Welcome to Issue Four

NEWS

03 The Newsbox 05 Nostalgic News 07 Notes on News: Bass or Treble? Who cares?

Features

09 The Year In Review: Film 11 The Year In Review: Records 13 The Year In Review: Culture 15 The Year In Review: Live 17 Post-Turkey Telly 19 Director in Focus: Tim Burton 20 Interview: Enter Shikari 21 Interview: Example

Records

22 Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways 23 One Direction - Four 24 Calvin Harris - Motion 25 Kendrick Lamar - I 25 Prides - Out Of The Blue 25 Olly Murs ft. Travie McCoy - Wrapped Up

film

27 Whiplash 28 Eastern Boys 28 Der Kreis 29 The Inbetweeners 2

culture

30 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare 31 5 Must-Reads for Christmas 32 Brave New World - Alduous Huxley

live

33 Catfish & The Bottlemen 33 Circa Waves 34 Preview: Deaf Havana & Lonely the Brave 34 Preview: Fightstar 35 Introducing Febueder 36 Febeuder - Lilac Lane EP 37 Listings

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NEWS

THE NEWSBOX THE KEATS OF TWEETS

TOP TOP FIVE FIVE NEWS NEWS STORIES STORIES 1

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After the success of The Lego Movie, it has been confirmed that a Playmobil film is in the works. ON Entertainment have secured the film rights, with an expected release of 2017.

Quentin Tarantino has hinted that he may retire after the release of his latest film, The Hateful Eight.

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Benedict Cumberbatch is to receive The Variety Award at this year’s British Independent Film Awards for his international success.

A sequel to My Big Fat Greek Wedding has been confirmed. The film is said to look at a “bigger, fatter wedding” which brings the Portokalos family together once again.

WATCH

Xavier Dolan

theedgesusu.co.uk/news THE EDGE

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11 Nov 20

@theedgesusu

THE THE EDGE EDGE IS IS EAGER EAGER FOR...

FOR...

Miranda’s two Christmas specials this year, marking a finite end to the BBC comedy series. Starring Miranda Hart, the series began in 2009 and consists of three sixepisode instalments.

The release of AC/DC’s new album, Rock or Bust, their first musical effort since 2008.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, released on 19th December, where the late Robin Williams’ last onscreen performance will hit the cinemas.

At the age of twenty-five, this FrenchCanadian has already made five feature films, with his latest, Mommy, winning the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Within the film industry, this critically-acclaimed director is one to watch.

for all the latest entertainment news

9:07PM -

This year’s Jingle Bell Ball. Happening on the 6th and 7th of the December, we can’t wait for Taylor Swift (one of the headliners) to take her latest and most pop -focused musical endeavour to The O2’s stage.

THE ONE TO

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#ALLDAY

It is rumoured that Christoph Waltz is to star opposite Daniel Craig in the latest Bond film, opening next autumn.

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@kanyew

With the largely controversial ‘Break the Internet’ Kim Kardashian images that surfaced online, Kanye West’s response was probably the best.

Got a celeb to nominate for next issue? Let us know:

THE HYPE-O-METER McBusted’s first collaborative album EH, COOL

Tim Burton’s Big Eyes.

OMG

The release of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

CALL 999

NEWS

OUR OUR DREAM DREAM CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS DINNER DINNER TABLE TABLE According to our writers, our ideal Christmas dinner would consist of philosophical discussions with benedict cumberbatch, the weird and wonderful noel fielding, Harry Potter fangirling with j. k. rowling, feminist chats with caitlin moran whilst simultaneously being serenaded by lady gaga’s vocals and morgan freeman’s epochal, smooth, deep (we could go on) voice. A joyous festivity!

FIVE-TIER-CAREER: FIVE-TIER-CAREER:

John John Lewis’ Lewis’ Christmas Christmas Adverts Adverts 1. Monty’s Christmas (2014). Reigning in our rankings, John Lewis’ latest Christmas advert got our writers feeling all warm inside. Following the adorable relationship between a young boy and Monty the penguin, the advert touchingly executes the power of the imagination.

2. The Long Wait (2011). Coming in at second, John Lewis’ effort in 2011 is still one of the highlights. The advert teases and leads us to believe we are watching yet another child become sickeningly excited for Christmas day to open his presents, but it ends up manifesting into something much more special.

3. The Journey (2012). With probably the best soundtrack (Gabrielle Aplin’s rendition of ‘The Power of Love’), The Journey sits right in the middle, having the staple cuteness that we expect from a John Lewis advert, but lacking the ability to provoke an intense five-hour weeping session.

4. The Bear & The Hare (2013). Upon its reveal, this advert was popular amongst the masses, with its adorable narrative tracking the relationship between the bear and the hare - but its animation distanced itself from the John Lewis Christmas adverts we know and love.

5. A Tribute to the Givers (2010). Partly because it didn’t contain snowmen, animals or a central really cute child, this advert misses out on the top spot by a mile.

MUST-HEAR MUST-HEAR TRACKS TRACKS ‘UPTOWN FUNK’ - MARK RONSON FT. BRUNO MARS

4:32

‘DROWN’ - BRING ME THE HORIZON

4:20

‘BLANK SPACE’ - TAYLOR SWIFT

3:53

‘GET AWAY’ - CHVRCHES

4:40

THE THE EDGE’S EDGE’S ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINMENT PICKS PICKS The Editor’s pick: LittleBigPlanet 3 Film Editor’s movie pick: Big Eyes, Tim Burton (26th December) Live Editor’s gig pick: Bombay Bicycle Club, Bournemouth Solent Hall (5th December) Culture Editor’s TV pick: The Librarians, Series 1 (8th December, Syfy UK) Record Editor’s album pick: The Pinkprint, Nicki Minaj (15th December) THE EDGE

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NEWS

nostalgic news

The News team plunges into the archives once more.

Avatar released 5 years ago

Owen Middleton James Cameron’s ground breaking film Avatar was released on the 17th December 2009, after a London premier on the 10th, making it five years ago this month. With a budget of $250 million, and the use of 3D cinematography to its maximum, it was the first film to reach a profit of over $2 billion on release.

Cameron has also directed successes such as Alien and Titanic. Starring Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver and Giovanni Risbi, Avatar was nominated for nine Academy Awards.

The 2010 award ceremony saw Avatar win Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography with nominations including Best Director, Best Picture and more. Avatar’s technology mixed with a captivating storyline is what led to the popularity of the motion picture and it is a film that will remain a classic, famed for its gamechanging techniques in cinematography.

‘I Will Always Love You’ tops charts 22 years ago

Dan Linstead On the 5th December 1992, Whitney Houston topped the UK charts for ten weeks with her iconic song ‘I Will Always Love You’, making it 22 years ago this month.

The song, a cover of Dolly Parton’s original track, was sung by Houston for the soundtrack of her debut film, The Bodyguard but became an instant success in the UK charts. After atheimmense ten week reign, the song has become one of the highest-selling songs of all time, winning multiple awards, including the Grammy awards for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

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‘Earth Song’ went to number one 19 years ago

Stephen Collins On 9th December 1995, Michael Jackson scored his sixth solo UK number one single with ‘Earth Song’, making it 19 years ago this month. Released on November 27th 1995, ‘Earth Song’ was a bold statement, even for someone of Michael Jackson’s stature. Epic, ambitious ballads were increasingly becoming part of Jackson’s repertoire in the late 80s/early 90s, with socially-conscious releases such as ‘Heal the World’ and ‘Man In The Mirror’ shifting his sound further away from his disco roots. But very few songs in his astonishing career got people talking quite like ‘Earth Song’, with its seven minutes of lavish, operatic pop addressing the pressing global need for social justice, conservation and animal welfare.

Edward Scissorhands released 24 years ago

Jasveen Bansal December 6th will mark the 24-year anniversary of the US release of Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, released back in 1990. The Frankenstein-reminiscent tale remains as an unmissable and wonderfully dark fantasy, inviting audiences to experience Depp’s iconic transformation of a misunderstood outcast among the talents of Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest and Vincent Price, winning Burton the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The film itself also inspired a number of successful stage adaptations, as well as acting as the origins of the Burtondirected, Depp-starring production duo.

NEWS

Notes on News:

Bass or Treble?

Who Cares? body positivity, or just a different kind of shaming? jess emery takes on megan trainor and nicki minaj.

Meghan Trainor, you’ve got nobody fooled. We know you’re not actually “all about” bass; your music is as far from anything that could be considered ‘bass’ as it’s possible to get. So what are you talking about? Let’s take a look at the bass clef sign. It’s got, as Trainor so eloquently puts it, “all the right junk in all the right places.” It’s a ‘curvy’ sign. And if we’re polarizing the ‘curvy’ bass, we get the treble clef, a clear metaphor for what Trainor delightfully describes as “skinny bitches.” So before looking more closely at the song that forms Trainor’s ‘All About That Bass’, which magically clawed its way to number one, we can already see Trainor’s repetitive chorus dismissing ‘trebles’, or the slimmer woman, in favour of the curvier ‘bass’.

Let’s get one thing straight. This is not a song, as it loosely disguises itself to be, about body-positivity. This song reflects an insecurity of Trainor’s and a widely accepted convention that only one body type can be good at any given time. With the rise of curve-positive body image, Trainor clearly, and wrongly, felt the need to reject “skinny bitches” in favour of her own body shape. The question on my mind, and a question clearly in the minds of the population (reflected in the numerous Trainor parodies) is this: How can you claim to support body positivity if you reject another type of body? Can a skinny body and a larger body not both be celebrated simultaneously, if we have to put such value on our bodies at all?

Not only does Trainor reject skinny women, but she also places physical worth on the approval of men. The singer claims both “Boys like a little more booty to hold at night” and also that she has “got that boom boom that all the boys chase”. As if we don’t have enough media attention across the board, from magazines to our television screens, telling us that we need to be 07

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meeting a certain societal expectation, usually dictated by the ‘male gaze’; we now get this mind-warping drivel in our songs. Trainor doesn’t just write an (while admittedly catchy) awfully repetitive song, she attempts to enforce the idea that females require male validation.

However, at the very least, Trainor offers a fleeting apology in “no, I’m just playing”, which is something we can’t say for Nicki Minaj. The rapper gets so close to universal body positivity, and when looking for a positive role model in the embracing of her own physicality, Minaj doesn’t do too badly. However, she falls at the last hurdle.

Our queen of curves, similarly to Trainor, creates her own definition of body positivity (if it can be labelled as such) through the degradation of “skinny bitches”, repeating “fuck skinny bitches”. And again, like Trainor, she places value on male approval, claiming “he don’t like ‘em boney”- like that matters.

Don’t get me wrong, I fully support that Minaj is dedicating a song to “[her] bitches with a fat ass”: isn’t it time we saw some body positivity in the media that isn’t specific to size zero? However, this does not have to be at the expense of shaming another body type. We live in a world that, as Tina Fey so wonderfully puts it, “every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.” Well, we’ve all seen the photo of Kimmy K, and let’s be real: we neither look like her or Fey’s apt description of the media’s twisted demands.

Surely it would be more beneficial for our mental and physical well-being to witness a rise in songs that say: ‘you’re a bass, I’m a treble: who cares?’

FEATURES

THE YEAR IN REVIEW: In our first round up of the year, film editor virginie robe decides which were the best releases of each month.

JANUARY

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FIL

12 years a slave Steve McQueen

ritish film-maker Steve McQueen opens this retrospective review of 2014’s films with 12 Years A Slave, a powerful and at times difficult feature following Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York sold into slavery.

FEBRUARY V

her spike jonze

oted Film Of The Year by The Edge, Her is probably one of the biggest surprises of 2014. Released on time for Valentine’s day, the film offers a moving and sometimes melancholic reflection on virtual relationships without ever being moralistic.

MARCH

T

the past ashghar farhadi

he French film of our selection, Ashghar Farhadi’s feature stars A Prophet favourite Tahar Rahim. The film follows a broken relationship between an Iranian man who deserts his French wife and two children to return to his homeland and the aftermath of their separation.

APRIL

the double richard ayoade

MAY

the wind rises hayao miyazaki

J

esse Eisenberg is a clerk in a government agency whose life takes a turn for the horrific when a new co-worker starts in the company. What makes the story different? This new co-worker in question is both his exact physical double and his opposite: confident and charismatic.

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ayao Miyazaki’s last film, The Wind Rises steps aside the others of the director’s Studio Ghibli features by having a more realistic tone to the narration. The film follows Jiro Horikoshi, the man who designed Japanese fighter planes during World War II. The Wind Rises nostalgically ends a strong area for anime as Studio Ghibli closes up shop on new projects.

JUNE

C

22 jump street phil lord & chris miller

onsidered one of the funniest films of 2014, 22 Jump Street sees Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill as officers Schmidt and Jenko who, after making their way through high school (twice) have to face big changes when going undercover in a local college.

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FEATURES

JULY A

dawn of the planet of the apes matt reeves

fter the monstrous success of Rise of The Planet Of The Apes, the sequel had to step up to the challenge of offering a feature as strong as its predecessor - and it did. Lead Ape Ceasar (Andrew Serkis) is astonishing in this fight for power and equality.

AUGUST

H

lilting hong khaou

eart-breaking, delicate and touching, Lilting is by far one of the strongest features LGBT cinema has seen this year. A Cambodian-Chinese mother mourns the untimely death of her son, and her world is further disrupted by the presence of a stranger who tries to communicate with her despite them not having a common language.

SEPTEMBER

W

20,000 days on earth iain forsyth & jane pollard

riter and musician Nick Cave relates his 20,000th day on the planet Earth. Although it has been hugely acclaimed by fans, the artist’s magical story-telling easily outreaches this already-won audience, even charming skeptics of his musical work.

OCTOBER

D

gone girl david fincher

avid Fincher’s highly anticipated Gone Girl, an adaptation of Gilian Flynn’s bestseller, stormed UK cinemas in early October. Challenging and mind-blowing, the film focuses on a man who is suspected to have a role in his wife’s disappearance and the media circus that ensues.

NOVEMBER

W

interstellar christopher nolan

ith this new feature, Christopher Nolan reaches the stars as a team of explorers travel through space in an attempt to find a potentially habitable planet that will sustain humanity.

DECEMBER

C

penguins of madagascar simon smith & eric darnell

losing our 2014 year in film is the next DreamWorks Animation Pictures’ film, Penguins of Madagascar. After a few shorts, the super spy team finally get their very own feature!

Family favourites Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and the super secret Agent Classified must stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.

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FEATURES

THE YEAR IN REVIEW: the records team take a look back at the musical successes and failures of 2014.

REC

YOUR FAVOURITE BANDS’ FAVOURITE ALBUMS DOM GANDERTON FROM SUPERFOOD

TEMPLES - SUN STRUCTURES “The album I think I’ve listened to the most this year is Temples’ Sun Structure. It’s got everything. The production is fantastic and the attention to detail is next level. Very excited to get stuck into the new remix album and to tour with them in a few weeks!”

ROU REYNOLDS FROM ENTER SHIKARI

MARMOZETS - THE WEIRD AND WONDERFUL MARMOZETS “A long time coming but well worth the wait and the frenetic energy definitely translated from stage to record perfectly. Lovely chaps & chapesses playing intelligent yet super catchy tunes, really pleased for them.”

STEVE BROCK FROM PRIDES

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB - SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW “As soon as we heard ‘Carry Me’ it was clear Bombay were really changing things up. This album is a massive step for them, they’ve obviously pushed themselves musically, but for them to carry it off in such style is a testament to them as songwriters.

‘Luna’ cemented it as our fave of the year for sure.

Massive tune.”

Keep an eye out online for where you can vote in your favourite albums of 2014, for The Edge’s annual countdown of the top albums of the year!

OUR TOP TEN SINGLES OF THE YEAR

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1

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB - LUNA

6

PAOLO NUTINI - IRON SKY

2

GEORGE EZRA - BUDAPEST

7

ARCTIC MONKEYS - ARABELLA

3

ALT-J - EVERY OTHER FRECKLE

8

IGGY AZALEA FT. CHARLI XCX - FANCY

4

TAYLOR SWIFT - SHAKE IT OFF

9

CLEAN BANDIT - RATHER BE

5

BEYONCÉ - DRUNK IN LOVE

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JUNGLE - BUSY EARNIN’

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FEATURES

CORDS MERCURY PRIZE:

did the right band win?

At the end of October, Young Fathers won the Barclaycard Mercury Prize for their record Dead.

We asked our team if the right person won.

YES!

“Young Fathers are breaking down musical walls and doing something that nobody really knows how to react to - “psychedelic tribal hip-hop” is a genre description I’ve heard thrown about, and it doesn’t really begin to cover it.

Having had the inimitable experience of seeing them live in June, I can absolutely say that they are one of the most electrifying and original bands of the decade. Their music is intense, strange and almost frightening at times but refreshingly it’s being made for the band and not anyone else...and I, for one, love it.” Danielle Topaz

yes: 17%

no: 83%

NO!

“Bombay Bicycle Club deserved it, their album was absolutely amazing - which is incredibly hard considering the more albums you make, the more difficult a good follow-up becomes. Yet they managed it and managed to infuse sound from all over the world based on the stuff they heard on their travels.” Emma Harrison Beesley “Royal Blood should have won, no shadow of a doubt. For just two guys to create such a euphoric and inspiring sound that has gained such huge popularity in a short space of time is just incredible. They’re destined to go to the very top.”

Marcus Bridgland

ALBUMS WE’RE EXCITED FOR IN 2015 MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS - FROOT YOUNG GUNS - TBC FRANK TURNER - TBC

ARTISTS WE HOPE RELEASE ALBUMS IN 2015 FRANK OCEAN THE MACCABEES JESS GLYNE THE EDGE

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FEATURES

THE YEAR IN REVIEW: The Culture Team decide their top TV, games, books and theatre shows from the last 12 months in this round up.

CU

TELEVISION:

In the fight for the best series of 2014 it seems the poll shows no surprises for lovers of TV. Though there was a keen battle for the top spot between 2014’s favourites, ultimately Orange Is The New Black came out on top.

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ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK GAME OF THRONES AMERICAN HORROR STORY: FREAK SHOW THE WALKING DEAD BROOKLYN NINE-NINE

GAMING:

This year’s autumn releases dominated the chart, though a surprise entry came in the form of The Last of Us: Remastered for PS4, taking the 4th spot on our poll and demonstrating that this game is clearly a timeless favourite.

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DESTINY WATCH DOGS SHADOW OF MORDOR THE LAST OF US REMASTERED ALIEN: ISOLATION

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FEATURES

ULTURE THEATRE:

For 2014 the top 5 turns out full of classic theatre shows that are now well known to the masses. However, it seems The Northen Ballet were right to bring back their old production of a Midsummers Night’s Dream as they clung on to the fifth spot.

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THE LION KING WICKED THE BOOK OF MORMON THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (THE NORTHERN BALLET)

NOVELS:

With a very successful film adaptation there’s no questioning why Flynn’s bestseller nabbed the top spot. However, recent releases by feminist favourites have made their presence heard and have clinched the last two polling positions.

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GONE GIRL BY GILLIAN FLYNN WE ARE COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES BY KAREN JOY FOWLER THE ROSIE PROJECT BY GRAEME SIMISON NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL BY LENA DUNHAM HOW TO BUILD A GIRL BY CAITLIN MORAN THE EDGE

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FEATURES

THE YEAR IN REVIEW: the live team reminisce on the best gigs of the year, and take a look ahead to big names for 2015.

LIV

BEST GIGS OF THE YEAR ARCADE FIRE

“Concluding their worldwide Reflektor tour with fanfare, Arcade Fire pulled out all the stops at this year’s British Summer Time. From the garage-rock scream of opener ‘Normal Person’ to the anthemic final sing-along of ‘Wake Up’, the stunning visuals and career-spanning set had the entire audience captivated.” Josh McCormick

NILE RODGERS

“For me, the magic of Nile Rodgers ft. Chic epitomises the entire charm of the UK’s best festival - Bestival!

The energy was palpable, and everyone in the crowd was grooving to hit after hit. Nile finished with the disco classic and bass-heavy hit ‘Good Times’, whilst glitter cannons shot out sparkly goodness into the crowd.” Mollie Cohen

ALT-J

“Personally, this year of live music was completed by the return of, perhaps, my favourite band: Alt-J. Although they lost a member shortly before beginning to write their sophomore album, their sound has not suffered. They have gone from strength the strength, from tiny venues to selling out Alexandra Palace and the O2; they are a force of music.” Annabelle Asker

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LIMP BIZKIT

“Flying to Glasgow to see Limp Bizkit proved to be worth the journey. The crowd of all ages loved every second; moshing and jumping at every given opportunity. The roof lifted when ‘Rollin’ came on, creating a phenomenal atmosphere. It just showed Fred Durst and co. have not lost it!” Beth Lempriere

LADY GAGA

“Touring her number one album, ARTPOP, around the world for the majority of 2014, Lady Gaga lit up arenas everywhere with the vibrant spectacle that was artRave, where she endeavoured to place art in pop culture and channelled her inner Goddess of Love.

With lots of extravagant and picturesque costumes along with innovative staging and lucite runways, Gaga sung the hits as well as the majority of ARTPOP, her most special moments being when she sat at the piano, making arenas filled with thousands of people feel like an intimate gig.” Lewis Taplin

THE LIBERTINES

“The return of The Libertines was witnessed by 60,000 fans in Hyde Park this summer, and it was not without drama. They were barely into their second song before the show was stopped due to safety concerns. Despite the bands efforts to calm the crowd (which included a version of ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’), the euphoria of seeing one of the greatest indie bands back together was too much! The riotous end to the reunion was finished with the hokey-cokey and Pete and Carl reciting ‘Suicide in the Trenches’ before hugging one another and graciously thanking their ever-loyal fans.”

Jenny Simpson

VE

FEATURES

PREDICTIONS FOR 2015 YOUNG KATO

“A band who many may never of heard of but will surely make a big entrance in 2015 are Young Kato.

When supporting Rixton in October/November, they showed that they have the talent and ability to produce catchy, upbeat tracks that any artist would love to lay claim to. You heard it here first.” Will Hodgetts

SAINT RAYMOND

“Appearing just four years ago on BBC Introducing to now playing at festivals including Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds, as well as joining Ed Sheeran on his international tour in 2014, Saint Raymond is a whirlwind taking over the music scene, with a headline show at London’s KOKO and a debut album.”

Sally Lui

GENGAHR

“Gengahr: probably the only band named after a Pokemon you’ll want to be keeping your eyes on next year. The material they’ve released so far gives you a taste of what’s to come: indie-pop hooks and ghostly falsettos with all the infectiousness of a cold. Trust us, everyone will be humming ‘Bathed in Light’ next summer.” Natt Day

PRIDES

“The Scottish synth-pop trio stormed the 2014 Commonwealth Games with ‘Messiah’, seeing them destined to follow in the wake of Bastille and Imagine Dragons.. Their summer tour of the US, BBC Introducing appearances, and UK upcoming headline tour will cement them a loyal and exuberant fan-base.”

Chloe Asker

DARLIA

“Manchester trio Darlia stormed their way into 2014 after the release of their first EP Knock Knock late 2013. Since then they’ve released another EP, three new singles (all featured as Zane Lowe’s hottest record), had two headline tours, played many UK festivals this summer and just finished supporting Gerard Way on his tour – all at the tender age of 20! With a new album and headline tour early next year, 2015 shows no sign of stopping this trio.” Jenny Simpson

FEBUEDER

“Febueder hail from the middle class suburbia of Ascot, a place lesser known for its music scene and the trio are this month’s Introducing act. With ethereal lyrics and eclectic, unpredictable melodies, this band has a long and potentially highly successful future ahead of them.” Annabelle Asker

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FEATURES

post-turkey telly

It’s the most wonderful time of the year - here’s our pick of the Christmas specials we’re most excited about.

DOWNTON ABBEY REBECCA JAMES

T

he most recent series of Downton Abbey was a little underwhelming, and it seems like this year’s Christmas special might be the only thing to save the series which seems to be flagging creatively, even if it is maintaining viewing figures. Downton Abbey is at its best when it is in the middle of conflict and drama, during wartime and emotional moments, and it would be nice to see the show to return to weightier matters.

People may have complained at the death of Matthew Crawley last Christmas, but it got people talking. This year’s Christmas episode is set to be away from the Abbey, but for the first time in several series is set at Christmas, and could see the exit of firm favourites Daisy and Branson. It remains to be seen whether the show can return to its former glory.

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DOCTOR WHO

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DAN LINSTEAD

resh off the back of Peter Capaldi’s debut series, the Christmas special of Doctor Who looks set to send audiences into a spin. With rumours of Jenna Coleman’s departure, and the fantastic Nick Frost as Santa, it is an episode not to missed by fans and families alike. With viewing figures almost certainly reaching eight million, this all but ensures another series of the show next year, and after a spellbinding series, this episode ought to highlight just how incredible Capaldi is as the eponymous hero, leading on to his next series where he can show this off all over again.

FEATURES

MIRANDA

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ANNEKA HONEYBALL

ith the not ‘such fun’ news that the two-part festive special this year will mark the end of Miranda Hart’s much loved, semi-autobiographical comedy, there is much speculation as to how our favourite funny woman will be leaving us. More pressingly however, after the agonising cliffhanger at the end of Series 3, the question of who Miranda will say ‘yes’ to needs to be answered.

Who will she choose? Will it be the happy ending we’ve all been rooting for with Gary? Or will she marry Mike and make ‘Mirachael’ a reality? Either way, it’s sure to be a highlight of the TV schedule this Christmas.

STRICTLY COME DANCING

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ingle bells and glitter balls, it can only be one thing: the Strictly Christmas Special! The festive fun hits the ballroom, with six new celebrities waltzing their way into millions of homes this Christmas.

The hit show is no stranger to a Christmas special, having broadcast ten Christmas specials over the years, and with the success of the current series, it looks more than likely that this will continue for the foreseeable future.

Also, the Christmas special should show off the show to those who do not normally watch it, so next year’s series is likely to be even bigger!

Festive Flashback rachel winter and natalie fordham take a look at the best christmas specials from winters gone by.

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FRIENDS: THE ONE WITH PHOEBE’S WEDDING

ou can’t go wrong with a classic episode of Friends at any time of year and what could be more heart-warming for the festive season than a wedding in the snow? With Phoebe and Mike’s ceremony finally ready and organised, despite Monica driving everyone mad as organiser, the episode looks set to end in disaster when a snowstorm leads to arrangements falling to pieces. However, with Joey stepping in as minister and everyone pulling together, it ends with a magical celebration that’s guaranteed to get any Scrooge into the Christmas spirit. With even Chappy the dog making it down the aisle, the episode, tight-packed with hilarious oneliners and scenarios, is guaranteed to provide festive fun for all the family.

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BLACKADDER’S CHRISTMAS CAROL

harles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has been adapted for film and TV many times, but the best edition of this, and one of the best Christmas TV specials of all time was Blackadder. Set in the Victorian era the special took Edmund Blackadder to visit his previous ancestors who are, of course, familiar to the audience. A particular highlight is viewing Queen Victoria and Prince Albert cavort about in traditional Blackadder fashion. The special wasn’t directly linked to a particular series, but allowed several to be referenced and used in the ‘ancestors’ scene. The well-known comedy of the troupe, as expected, holds this special together and cements it as a classic Christmas TV special.

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FEATURES

D I R EC TO R I N F O C U S :

T I M B U R TO N Film Editor Virginie Robe looks at the work of eccentric director, Tim Burton.

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ith Big Eyes being released at the end of the month, it is the perfect time to take a look at Tim Burton’s career, who started in the film industry more than 40 years ago - and that’s without including his DIY shorts from when he was a child.

With 29 director credits, including 18 feature films, seven shorts, three TV productions and a documentary, Burton has been highly prolific so far, leading a career that not only includes some great box-office successes but also creating a whole distinctive cinematic world for his characters to evolve in.

Burton’s gothic touch is recognizable from miles away, whether it is in an animation feature such as The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Corpse Bride (2005) or in his feature films Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Sleepy Hollow (1999). Every single one of his movies focus on a misunderstood outcast and puts them in a dreamy visual landscape.

DID YOU KNOW?

The director worked as an animator on Disney’s The Fox and The Hound (1981) and The Black Cauldron (1985).

Mr. Burton is also a published poet: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories was printed in 1997 and includes the director’s own illustrations of the tales.

Tim Burton’s drawings have been gathered into a single book called The Art of Tim Burton. They are also part of an exhibition going around the world; after New York’s MoMA and Paris’ La Cinémathèque Française, The World of Tim Burton is now showing in Tokyo’s Mori Arts Center.

Among Burton’s many trademarks are the iconic Johnny Depp, his muse and wife Helena Bonham Carter, and Danny Elfman, who penned the soundtrack of sixteen of his films.

THE FILM TO WATCH

Tim’s first short whilst at Disney; Vincent (1982). A tribute to Vincent Price, the stop-motion short narrates the story of Vincent Malloy, a seven-year-old whose life mirrors parts of Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Raven.

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Just as Frankenweenie (2012) was an expansion of one of his very first shorts, Big Eyes is inspired by previous drawings and poems he made earlier on in his career.

Recently, Burton has been coming back to his first loves, tangling new projects with old creations. Let’s hope this will be for the best and work as another blooming of his dark and poetic world rather than a sign that the director might be losing his creative touch.

FEATURES

Interview

enter shikari

Will Hodgetts gave Rob Rolfe, the drummer for rock band Enter Shikari, a call to have a chat about their upcoming album and tour.

What have you been up to recently?

We’ve been playing shows around the world and getting inspiration for the new album. We’re actually in the rehearsal studio at the moment putting together our set for the tour. We started writing and recording the album in December last year and then started doing the festival circuit in the summer, which was great fun. Before that we had six months off to spend with our families, which was the longest time we’ve had off from gigging in the twelve years that we’ve been together.

How would you describe the new album?

Like we’ve tried to do with all of our albums, we’ve tried to reach new areas by moving forward in the way that music moves forward. I’d say that this album is definitely a lot more mature, but at the same time we’ve tried to have a lot of fun with it and included a lot of new instruments and more delicate instrumentation.

What were your influences for this album?

Because we tour a lot and we’ve been playing all over the world and listening to so many different bands, both new and established, it would be extremely hard not to be influenced by them in some capacity... But I’d say the biggest influences come from our state of mind, it’s about how we feel at certain times and can be determined by our surroundings.

Have you now found your identity as a band or do you feel that the culture of the band is actually to develop and sound different each time?

I think we found our identity with our last album, A Flash Flood Of Colour, but you have to keep progressing and pushing yourselves. Just as there is a progression in life, there has to be a progression in music and the music we produce. We don’t want to lose ourselves in the respect that we stay stuck doing the same thing. If we had stayed making the same kind of music as Take To The Skies, it wouldn’t be working now and we wouldn’t be touring around the world.

Going back to the tour, what would you tell your fans to expect from it?

There will be a lot of new music from the album. We’ll be putting on a show. Even when we write and record we are constantly thinking about how we can perform it live. In rehearsals at the moment we’ve been incorporating a lot of new lighting sets as well, it should be fun!

If there was one message you can send out to all of your fans, what would it be?

I would just thank everyone for their support over all of the years, we really appreciate it!

Enter Shikari’s fourth studio album, The Mindsweep, will be released on the 19th January 2015. The UK leg of their tour will start off at the Portsmouth Pyramids on the 16th February.

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FEATURES

Interview

EXAMPLE Elliot Gleave, more commonly known as Example, is currently mid twenty-eight date tour supporting his recent album Live Life Living. Becky Spear caught up with him to discuss his album, and plans for the future.

Do you have a favourite track to perform live?

It changes all the time really, but generally the more aggressive ones. Like the big, big songs, you know, like the big singles, like ‘Stay Awake’ and ‘Kickstarts’ and ‘Changed the Way You Kissed Me’ - they are great but, you know ,I get a bit bored.

You get more excited about the darker, tougher songs like ‘All the Wrong Places’ and ‘Perfect Replacement’.

So you’re known for your brutal honesty with the press and via twitter, is there anything you have said that you regret?

I wouldn’t say regret, because I think mistakes are there to be made in life to learn from, and I have certainly learned from a lot of things in life. I think the stuff that I have said has just been a bit of fun.

Most of the people, I have seen them since and made up with them, whether it’s been The Saturdays or Olly Murs or Alexandra Burke. I think I was just going through a period in life where I was just a bit angry, I was upset in my personal life and was probably a bit hungover all the time, so I think I just started lashing out. I am so happy now in life, there is not really that part in me. I still like a bit of banter, but I am not the sort of person to tweet, ‘Oh, I fucking hate this person, or their music’s shit,’ because it’s not like I am absolutely flying at the moment so I’m not in a position to do that.

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For anyone who hasn’t got the album already, how would you describe it?

It’s kind of like a dance compilation in that I wanted to make an album that you could stick on at a party, or at a barbeque, or in a car from start to finish without skipping any tracks. It’s kind of just like loads of bangers, one after the other. People who have got it think it is one of my best and love it.

As you announced on twitter this will be the last tour for a while, can we expect you to return anytime soon?

I’ll be doing gigs next year, but I won’t be touring. I’ll be travelling to get to a gig but I won’t be on a tour bus doing, like , twenty-five gigs. I will have new music out next summer, but I am also going to spend a lot of time out with my wife and kids and spend a lot more time shooting films and acting. I’ve just finished filming one role in something that should be out next summer, depending on whether the film gets distribution.

Tickets to the rest of Example’s tour are still available and his album Live Life Living is available now through Epic Records.

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RECORDS

FOO FIGHTERS

S O N I C H I G H W AY S AMY WOOTTEN TAKES A LOOK AT FOO FIGHTERS’ “LOVE LETTER TO AMERICAN ROCK”.

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onic Highways is the highly anticipated eighth studio album from Foo Fighters. After a three year wait since the success of Wasting Light, the band have tantalisingly teased us over the past three weeks by releasing ‘Something from Nothing’, ‘The Feast and the Famine’, and ‘Congregation’. The full album is finally here, and in true Foo Fighters form it didn’t disappoint.

The album is frontman Dave Grohl’s “love letter to American rock.” It was recorded in eight different studios across America, which is a big difference to the recording of Wasting Light in Grohl’s own garage.

Each of the eight tracks is recorded at a different studio, where the likes of Ramones, Arctic Monkeys and Queens of the Stone Age have previously made music. With that considered, it can only be said that Sonic Highways is the band’s most epic album yet, which is perfect to mark the band’s 20th anniversary next year.

The opening track of the album, ‘Something from Nothing’, is undoubtedly reminiscent of the band’s ‘Skin and Bones’ (2006), opening with a repeated guitar riff before introducing Grohl’s vocals. The track throws us into the heavy rock style that we have come to associate with Foo Fighters, building to Dave Grohl’s shouted lyrics.

To those who have been following the band’s releases, the second and third tracks on the album are nothing new.

It isn’t until we As My Witness’

reach ‘What Did I Do?/God that we are in new territory

with Sonic Highways. The track opens with the crashing of cymbals that you would usually associate with the grand finale of a track – perhaps serving as the ‘What Did I Do?’ counterpart – before returning to the more stripped-down vocals of the frontman. It serves as a lovely interlude at the halfway point of the album, giving listeners a break from the heaviness to focus on the vocals and a repeating piano motif working as an undercurrent to the track. That said, the break doesn’t last very long and we return to the expected tone of the album in less than a minute - but it still maintains a slightly more played-down rock than the rest of the album. Moving to the next track, ‘Outside’, we get a significantly grungy feel that seems to hark back to Grohl’s Nirvana days. The band transport us to the end of the album with ‘In the Clear’, the more mellow ‘Subterranean’, and ending with the seven minute finale, ‘I Am A River’.

This final track finishes Sonic Highways on a surprisingly lighter note than we would expect. Opting for more delicate string motifs than the rest of album, the last track has a certain grandeur about itcreating a perfect conclusion to the band’s love letter.

Sonic Highways is not a surprising album by any means.

We expect heavy rock and loud lyrics from Foo Fighters, and that is exactly what they have given us. The point is that the band do not need to make something new to create an unmistakably epic album such as this one, and if they had, it would not be the credit to the history of rock that Sonic Highways is.

Sonic Highways is available now via Roswell Records, Inc.

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RECORDS

O N E D I R EC T I O N

FOUR

records editor hannah mylrea reviews the teen heartthrobs’ disappointing fourth album.

Tween favourites 1D are back with their fourth studio album, imaginatively titled Four. Their past three albums have had extraordinary commercial success, all of them going double (or triple) platinum, and reaching the top five in the UK albums charts. With the boys being teen icons, there’s no doubt that Four will follow suit commercially and sell millions of copies; but unfortunately the record just isn’t as good as the ones that came before it.

With a host of celeb songwriting partners, I actually had high hopes for this record. Kodaline, members of McFly, The 1975 and Good Charlotte were all reported to have collaborated with members of One Direction to write songs. The list of high profile collaborators also included Ed Sheeran – who penned the group’s UK number one ‘Little Things’ – however, as exciting as these partnerships are, it unfortunately didn’t translate into the music.

My main issue with the album is that it sounds too forced. The band are clearly trying to take a step away from the bubble-gum tweenage pop that made them the household names they are today, but it hasn’t worked.

Tracks like ‘Steal My Girl’ show real promise – with a

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brilliant 80s inspired introduction, but then the rest of the album just falls flat. These new elements seem like they’ve been forced in, and make the music seem unnatural.

One Direction (and their team of brilliant songwriters) have produced some absolute pop gems. ‘What Makes You Beautiful’, ‘Best Song Ever’ and ‘Story of My Life’ are all excellently written tracks; however, Four doesn’t have any stand-out songs like these. The record has the tendency to blur into one, and honestly, if I’m not paying attention, I can’t tell where one song ends and the next begins.

That being said, there were a few tracks that made my ears prick up and listen. ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ is a bouncy piece of electronic pop with a galloping drum beat and ‘Clouds’ is a pop nugget with an anthemic, sing-along chorus – these two tracks show that One Direction have still got it, it’s just a shame the rest of the album didn’t follow suit.

1D either need to take a leap of faith in the new direction they want to go in, or stay firmly where they are, but this album is halfway there and it just doesn’t work.

Four is out now via Syco/Columbia Records.

RECORDS

C A LV I N H A R R I S

m o t i o n HARRIS’ FOURTH ALBUM IS AN “UNQUESTIONABLE SUCCESS”, WRITES MARCUS BRIDGLAND.

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rguably the world’s biggest DJ, Calvin Harris returns to music domination with his latest album Motion. Similarly to the hugely successful 18 Months, Harris once again has teamed up with a host of other musical stars, including Ellie Goulding, John Newman, Alesso and Hurts to name but a few.

As seems standard for Calvin Harris these days, the album already features three UK number ones. ‘Under Control’, a collaboration with Alesso featuring Hurts, hit the top spot in late 2013.

The anthemic ‘Summer’, with vocals from Harris himself, was voted ‘Song of the Summer’ by Spotify, and ‘Blame’, featuring John Newman, was the third to go straight to number one, with Newman’s instantly recognisable vocals providing a great template for Harris to churn out another hit. The latest single from the album, ‘Outside’ (feat. Ellie Goulding) is destined to be another smash hit, combining Goulding’s emotive vocals with a trademark Calvin Harris hook.

While being few and far between in this album, it’s great to have the Scottish superstar singing again; one of my favourite songs of all time is ‘I’m Not Alone’ from back in mid-2009. His vocals once again take centre stage in the album opener ‘Faith’ which, like pretty much every song on Motion, wouldn’t sound out of place in a huge venue, accompanied by an extravagant light show.

Due to the sheer quality of the majority of the tracks on this record, there are a few that ultimately disappoint because of the incredibly high standard Harris has set himself. Tracks such as ‘Love Now’, ‘Dollar Signs’ and ‘It Was You’ aren’t as memorable. Having said that, for fillers they are still of a high enough quality to put newer and less experienced artists on another level.

My highlight and surprise favourite of Motion was ‘Ecstasy’, once again featuring Hurts on the vocals. It takes a very different tone to the rest of the album, which could be seen as a downside, but the slower tempo and lack of computerised sounds work well with Theo Hutchcraft’s soft and mellow voice, which allows you to concentrate on the song’s lyrics with a tender backing track from Harris. Even though it is a different genre to the rest of the album and, from the outside, a largely simplistic song, it’s still brilliantly composed and well worth a listen.

Reminding me of ‘Drinking From The Bottle’ from his previous album, ‘Open Wide’ (featuring Big Sean) is a massive club tune. With a catchy hook, irrepressible beat and easy to sing-along lyrics, I’d predict it to go straight to number one if released as a single.

This album is an absolute cracker, even surpassing his record-breaking 18 Months. The slight evolution from chart singles to more club-like hits has been an unquestionable success, so I for one am looking forward to hearing these tunes in Oceana in the very near future!

Motion is available now via Columbia Records.

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RECORDS

Singles Reviews

i // kendrick lamar Luke Alexander-Grose ‘i’ is Kendrick Lamar’s first release since Good Kid M.A.A.D city back in 2012. The incredibly popular Compton rapper took the rap industry by storm with his last album, and his latest single reveals that we have not seen the end of the good kid from a mad city.

Produced by Rahki, who also worked on Lamar’s last album, ‘i’ samples an Isley Brothers classic, which Lamar spits fire on. Rahki incorporates 1970s disco guitar solos, soulful piano riffs and an unconventional drum rhythm to make a track that is truly original.

A great disco-rock beat, and with an uplifting chorus that screams “I love myself ”, ‘i’ will certainly lift anyone’s mood.

Can we expect his next album to have the emotional slow jams like ‘Poetic Justice’, or chart toppers like ‘Swimming Pools’? Whatever he pulls out the bag for his next studio album, it will surely be great, demonstrated by this impressive single. ‘i’ is out now via Top Dawg/ Interscope records.

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out of the blue // prides Amy Wootten With an EP, The Seeds You Sow, already under their belts this year and on the brink of their first UK headline tour, ‘Out of the Blue’ is the latest release from Prides.

‘Out of the Blue’ hooks you in from the beginning with an electronic motif that can be heard intermittently throughout the track, before we are met with vocals. For the first 30 seconds the focus of the track remains largely with the vocals that ease us in before it builds, leaving us submerged in the upbeat and euphoric tone that can be associated with Prides.

The track is full of separate repetitions, from a constant drumbeat running as an undercurrent, to repeated lyric phrases that work behind the main body of the song. It is these repetitions that make the track as catchy as it is, and it will be hard not to sing along after just a few listens.

It’s the type of song that will have you wanting to dance around even on a gloomy morning, which makes ‘Out of the Blue’ a perfect remedy to the British winter.

‘Out of the Blue’ is available now via Island Records.

wrapped up // olly murs ft. travie mccoy Camilla Cassidy ‘Wrapped Up’ is the lead single from Olly Murs’ upcoming fourth studio album Never Been Better. A collaboration with rapper Travie McCoy, this is Murs’ first release since his previous album in late 2013, and his feature on rapper Classified’s rerelease of ‘Inner Ninja’. A similar combination of flavours is presented here; Murs’ trademark ‘cheeky chappy’ style meets in the middle with McCoy’s energetic influence to create a fun, bouncy single.

The choruses indulge in an unashamedly disco mood, contrasting to fast paced verses that are pleasant but unfortunately unremarkable. Still upbeat but feeling less processed, McCoy’s solo rap verse is the highlight of the song - witty and showing again the talent for lyricism for which he has become renowned.

Boasting a slick 80s vibe, ‘Wrapped Up’ raises hopes for the quality and continued lighthearted mood of Murs’ next album.

‘Wrapped Up’ will be released 16th November 2014, through Epic Records and Syco Music.

FILM

Review:

W h i p l a s h Director: Damien Chazelle Studio: Sony Pictures Out: 16 January 2015

Ben Robins reviews the tense thriller that is awash with Oscars buzz.

audience almost willingly into the mad, mad world of big band jazz.

amed for its most frequently visited piece of music, Whiplash follows the uphill struggles of Andrew (Miles Teller), an up-and-coming jazz drummer striving to be the very best he can be. However, once he finds himself as the newest recruit of infamous hothead conductor Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), Andrew’s ambitions balloon, forcing the pair to become locked into a fierce battle of wits. With his training progressing rapidly, and Fletcher’s patience with him thinning by the day, Andrew soon begins to feel the pressure building as he teeters ever-closer to his total breaking point.

It’s rare that both a filmmaker’s style and their actors all have a chance to shine simultaneously, but this is very much the case here. Into his melting pot of obsession and legend, Chazelle tosses his leads, Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, two understated stars in the making, giving the performances of their careers. Teller’s awkward Andrew stands as a loner driven by the urge to make himself a true hero of jazz, a role that demands both dedication and soul - two things that Teller luckily possesses bucketloads of. The fierce energy he brings to the role is deeply contagious; the line between character and actor drifting almost completely out of view.

To call Whiplash a tense film may well prove to be the understatement of the century. Director Damien Chazelle layers his work with such precision that this gradual mood of fear ever-rising in the background is not always noticeable, but when it hits, it really hits hard. Chazelle builds and builds, always toying with and pushing past his previous tipping point. The constant dramatic crescendos never once disappoint, frequent in number and always more intense and crushing than the last, making for an insanely twisty experience of a film. Oddly enough, like its star, Whiplash very often leaves one out of breath and gasping for more. It’s a truly winning structure that Chazelle masters straight from the off, dragging his

Very much a purely instrumental musical, Whiplash fires itself firmly into the hearts and minds of jazz fans and non-lovers alike. With Chazelle it’s all about the darkest emotions that lie within obsession, and the exploration of their physicality through music. Even as he hurtles towards a show-stopping finale relentlessly wrought with passion, Chazelle maintains the solidly hidden exterior he began with. Despite some slightly underdeveloped story strands, as a break-out work, Whiplash is a near perfect creation that demands public attention and earns all of its Oscars buzz.

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FILM

Review:

Eastern Boys

Film Editor Virginie Robe reviews two of December’s most highly anticipated releases.

Director: Robin Campillo Studio: Peccadillo Pictures Out: 5 December

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ritten and directed by Robin Campillo, the French cinéaste who co-wrote the widely acclaimed The Class (2008), Eastern Boys is a striking piece of cinema, offering a strong and sometimes challenging first hour and a half, which is, unfortunately, brought on clumsy cliché narration grounds for the last 40 min.

situation towards Eastern European migrants. Whilst the relationship between the men of the gang and Daniel is delicately crafted and explained, it is a shame the ending of the film didn’t follow the same trance and instead brought the whole narration a step down.

The film opens on Daniel as he wanders around the Gare du Nord in Paris. Between travelers, policemen and workers, are Eastern Boys hanging around the station.

They come from Russia, Romania, Ukraine. The oldest must be about 25 years old, while the youngest can’t be aged. Among the gang is Marek - is he a prostitute? No one really knows. Daniel invites him around the next day in his apartment in the Parisian suburbs, but Marek doesn’t come alone.

As the film goes on, it manages to tackle the challenging issue of immigration and the current French political

Review:

der kreis Director: Stefan Haupt Studio: Matchbox Films Out: 12 December

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creened at the Berlinale earlier on this year, Der Kreis (or The Circle) left the festival with a Teddy Awards for Best Documentary and has just been selected as the Swiss entry for the 2015 Oscar ceremony.

The documentary relates the story of Ernst Ostertag, a young teacher who becomes involved in gay publication and members’ organisation The Circle in mid-1950s Switzerland - a rare sanctuary for gay culture. There, he meets and falls madly in love with the trans* star Robi Rapp.

Using testimonies from the men and archive footage, The Circle offers a touching insight into both the mens’ relationship and the rise and fall of The Circle empire, which shone as a symbol of gay emancipation across Europe in an era of repression. Whilst the story of the film is unheard of and is somehow refreshing, the film fails in the format of the narration.

The testimonies - clearly shot in one go using a single angle - aren’t properly rhythmically included in the story and tend to cut the overall pace. On the other hand, the fictional reconstructions are clumsy and overuse dramatical devices such as music and soapy dialogues. Interesting in its content, the documentary would have gained from being refined in style.

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FILM

On Blu-ray:

the inbetweeners 2 Directors: Iain Morris and Damon Beesley Studio: Entertainment Film Distributors Out: 1 December

Tom Hopkins reviews the four friends’ second film outing, on Blu-Ray.

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or The Inbetweeners 2, the writers of the first film, Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, have taken on the role of directors as well as continuing their writing duties.

This time, whilst Will (Simon Bird), Simon (Joe Thomas) and Neil (Blake Harrison) have a disastrous night out they receive an email (which is presented in a brilliant, Wolf of Wall Street-esque scene) from Jay (James Buckley), who is on a gap-year in Australia, telling them about the brilliant time he is having there as the lead DJ in Sydney’s hottest nightclub. The other three quickly decide to fly across the world to meet up with him and have a holiday exploring the area - and the usual antics quickly begin.

The Inbetweeners 2 is a step up from the first film in terms of comedy and has a more cinematic feel to it, taking it further away from the television series. The film has a bit more heart as a result: the four young men might fight and argue, but they begin to realise everything is better when they are with each other. Although the film is excellent when the gang is together, all four of them have separate things to do throughout the film,

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adding different dimensions to the humour. Reverting back to the style of E4’s show, Will is once again centre of attention as his love interest is the film’s most significant plotline, and he continues to try to fit in where he is not wanted, leading to an unforgettable rant about British backpackers. Simon, Jay and Neil also have their moments as they have to deal with psychotic girlfriends over Skype, argue with insulting family members and follow their dreams of becoming dolphin trainers.

Disappointingly though, as usual, the female characters are weak and one dimensional. Although Emily Berrington is good as Emily, she does not have much of a personality and is mainly an object of desire for Simon Bird’s character. It is also strange that the writers have decided to make one of the first film’s most likeable characters, Simon’s girlfiend Lucy (Tamla Kari), a slightly psychotic and emotionally unstable young woman who takes a pair of scissors to her boyfriend’s clothes whenever he becomes friends with another girl on Facebook. It is as if she is an entirely different character to the one in t h e first film.

Review:

CULTURE

C A L L O F D U T Y: A DVA N C E D WA R FA R E Christopher O’Moore looks at the latest release from the ever popular Call of Duty franchise.

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reated by Sledgehammer Games, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare takes us to 2054 as the protagonist Marine Jack Mitchell. Your time in the Marines is short lived however, and soon you’re thrust into the Atlas Corporation. This is where the main story starts, and while it’s predictable, it’s not bad. In general the flow and reactions of events make sense. They are all unique and tell the story well, aided by beautifully rendered cut scenes that are regrettably let down by an audio bug.

The campaign itself is very fun, even though most of it is where you’re told to go and shoot people, the game gives you interesting ways to do it, including some nice gadgets. One of these is magnetic gloves used to scale the sides of buildings; unfortunately only where the game lets you, but at least they’re not completely forgotten about later on. Something that can be used freely on a couple of missions is a grappling hook, and these missions probably ended up being my favorite overall. They encompassed far more openended maps and let you find your own solution to the objective; it was a nice direction for the game to take, and it’s a shame many of the levels weren’t more open.

An impressive note is the graphics, which far surpass previous titles. World detail too is superior, locations seem much more alive and the background scenery is just as spectacular. It’s a beautiful world to play in and some of the new equipment creates great effects.

Multiplayer gameplay is very similar overall to previous instalments of Call of Duty. The changes occur in the use of the exoskeletons, some new game modes, and the new scorestreak system. The exoskeletons make everyone more mobile, can mix up gameplay and also remove the need to climb ladders. New game modes include uplink, in which teams must acquire a ball and take it to the enemy’s goal to score, and momentum, which is tug of war with a few extra mechanics. Teams battle over a single flag at a time, and move on to the next when it is captured. It is a very hectic game mode that often ends in a draw. A major issue with multiplayer currently is the lack of dedicated servers, resulting in some network issues.

The new inventory and customisation system is the most impressive area of the game, allowing you to build a unique avatar to play with. However, the game’s selection of weapons is not as extensive as previously seen. A soldier’s loadout is now much more customizable as well, with the wildcard system allowing further customisation by altering the setup of your inventory. Once you’ve chosen everything you want, the firing range mode selected from the inventory screen also allows you to quickly test loadouts between matches.

Call of Duty: Adv anc e d Warfare is overall a very good addition to the series, perhaps t h e best since the Modern Warfare story arc ended. While it has lots of cool features and looks great, it is fundamentally still Call of Duty: this means that if you have disliked the series in the past, it’s unlikely to change your mind. For everyone else, the enjoyable campaign and strong multiplayer of Advanced Warfare are certainly good reasons to consider it.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is available now for PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, and PS3.

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5 MUST-READS FOR CHRISTMAS Looking for books to give as presents this Christmas?

The Edge Writers give their must-reads.

ONE DAY

by david nicholls lewis taplin

Published in 2009, One Day continues to be a popular read amongst both the summer and Christmas lists, with its emotional core transcending seasons. Focusing on the lives of Dexter and Emma, the novel tells the story of the two characters that meet every 15th of July for 20 years following the night they spend together upon their university graduation. Through Nicholl’s exquisitely articulated prose, One Day has an enticing quality that draws readers to question our mortality and the inevitability of change and heartbreak that ensues as a result. Tackling with the entanglement of love, like and hate, Dexter and Emma are flawed but fascinating characters that must be indulged in this Christmas.

THE GREAT GATSBY by f. scott fitzgerald rachel winter

With the release of Baz Lurhmanns’s feature length movie in 2013, the Gatsby hype exploded –but it could never compare to the original 1925 work by F.Scott Fitzgerald. It is extraordinarily written, earning its place as one of the most well-known American classics of all time. Told through the eyes of Nick Carraway, first and foremost it tells the tale of Jay Gatsby’s endeavor to win back his first sweetheart, but the book as a whole follows the decaying American dream in a society hypnotized by material gluttony and an excess of wealth.

Amongst the decadent parties, dizzying jazz music and dark secrets resonate timeless themes that are still relevant today and a tumultuous tale that will haunt you for years to come.

THE NIGHT CIRCUS by erin morgenstern natalie fordham

A kind of crazy fairy tale all set to the plot of two crazy magicians trying to out-do each other and to the backdrop of Le Cirque Des Reves (The Circus of Dreams). Two proteges pitted against each other 31

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ultimately fall in love. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is a must-read because it is simply too riveting and seductive not to. As the events unfold you feel you are a part of something bigger and woven into the circus itself, playing in a game of chess where you cannot see the board. This is a book that plays with the supernatural and familiar, but takes it to a new dimension: perfect to get you through the holiday season.

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by oscar wilde natalie fordham

If you haven’t read it yet you should; Oscar Wilde’s tale is deeply seductive and poetic. This classic is a perfect novel to begin exploring the British literary canon.

Dorian Gray is painted by artist, Basil, during his youth and begins to lament that he will always be less beautiful and older than version of himself in the painting. Overnight this changes and Dorian suddenly stops ageing: his sins do not show on his face but on his painting. Scared someone will discover his secret he hides it away in order to remain forever young. Set against the back drop of romantic and chaotic pleasure-seekers with tragedies and death galore thrown in, this novel is a definite must-read, perfect if you want to off set the Christmas season and indulge in something a little darker.

YES PLEASE by amy poehler natalie fordham

Amy Poehler’s highly anticipated first book, Yes Please, offers up a big juicy stew of personal stories, funny comments on sex, love, friendship and parenthood and real life advice (some useful, some not so much), such as when to be funny versus when to be serious. Powered

by Amy’s charming and hilarious, biting yet wise voice, Yes Please is a book full of words to live by (or not). Deeply hilarious and charming, this advice/semi-autobiography is fun for everyone and appeals to the masses. Perfect for laugh out loud moments sure to brighten your day.

CULTURE

THE EDGE REVIEWS

THE CLASSICS

BRAVE NEW WORLD ALDOUS HUXLEY Continuing our series looking at classic novels, Amy Wooten explores A Brave New World.

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rave New World is Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel set in London in the year A.F. 632 – or, to us, AD 2540 – where the World State’s motto is “Community, Identity, Stability.”

The novel’s futuristic backdrop allows it to explore themes that would have been otherwise unacceptable to present. It follows a canon of novels that use the future to present the anxieties of the present, a notable other being Orwell’s 1984. It is for this reason that I am entirely in favour of Aldous Huxley’s most well-known novel being hailed as a classic, and in part why I regard it as one of my favourite novels.

The novel opens at the Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre, which we are taken on a tour of by the director with a group of new students. It is in this hatchery that new populations are created, rather than natural reproduction, in order to limit the population of the World State to no more than two billion. The artificial creation of the population allows for the foetuses to be split into five groups - the highest of which being “Alpha” and “Beta.” It is these groups that determine a person’s position within society, both socially and economically. As they grow up, the children receive education based on their social group through the reception of subconscious messages whilst asleep.

It is the character of Bernard who we receive as the protagonist in Brave New World. Despite being an Alpha Plus (the highest social group), Bernard finds himself to be an outsider. He begins to question the notions of

recreational sex, the taking of hallucinogens and the attitudes that are expected of everyone in the World State.

As a result of Bernard’s disdain for the customs of their world, the director wishes to ostracise him.

As the novel progresses, Bernard finds a sense of social standing at the hands of an unreliable savage named John.

After holidaying in a savage reserve (which is treated as though they were visiting a zoo) Bernard takes John to show him the civilised society of the World State, intending to better the character to help with his own social status. When Brave New World is coming to an end, the question of whether or not someone who attempts to break free of the rigid, and unreasonable, social structure can ever find their place is examined.

On the surface, the plot of Brave New World is a very interesting one to read. However, it is not the plot of the novel that pushes me to see it as such a classic. It is the world Huxley creates: the sleep programming of citizens from birth, the scientific construction of social classes, and the importance of being happy at the hands of a hallucinogen named “soma” that place this Huxley’s novel in high standing. When reading Brave New World, the hardest part to get your head around is that it was written in 1932. The issues criticised, mostly through Bernard, seem so far ahead of their time; far enough ahead, that is, that they are still relevant today.

It is a great feat for a writer to construct a novel so ahead of its time as Huxley does, and one that can be tied to other such canonical novels such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in its themes of scientific power. A definite classic.

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LIVE

Review:

Review:

catfish & THe Bottlemen

circa waves

at WEdgewood Rooms (14/11/2014)

Marcus Bridgland reviews Catfish and the Bottlemen at their Portsmouth show.

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atfish and the Bottlemen have had an unforgettable year so far: signing to renowned music label Island Records, releasing their debut album The Balcony and ending the year with a full UK tour. With big backing from Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, frequently using their music for his ‘Hottest Record In The World’ feature, the Welsh band are well and truly on the rise.

Kicking off the second night of their UK tour, Catfish and the Bottlemen had an already enthusiastic crowd going wild from the off. The Bottlemen played with so much confidence and stage presence, as shown most evidently in my personal favourite song of theirs, and probably their next single, ‘Pacifier’. Lead singer Van’s Welsh vocals really stood out, overpowering the backing instruments as he dominated the stage.

The intimate Wedgewood Rooms threatened to burst when the anthemic ‘Kathleen’ was played; I’ve no doubt the opening lyric “You’re simpatico” would’ve been heard by most of Portsmouth, such was the incredible fan reaction the band were getting. Not that they were taking it for granted though, seeming awestruck in places and thanking the crowd at every opportunity.

Their latest single ‘Cocoon’ was exceptional live, especially when an emotive audience rendition of the chorus, after the song had finished, rocked the venue. The best thing about the band was their sheer enjoyment of playing to a passionate crowd, suggesting crowd surfing and mosh pits and those requests were duly accepted.

Finishing with the final track on their album, ‘Tyrants’, was a masterstroke. I’ve seen some brilliant acts in the past and this was right up there with the best live performances I’ve seen, an incredible feat for still such a new band. I honestly cannot recommend them enough.

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at the joiners (17/11/2014)

Freddie Stevens went to Circa Waves on their Southampton stop.

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ursting at the seams, The Joiners erupted into a frenzy of flailing limbs when Liverpudlian quartet Circa Waves kicked off the evening with a raucous rendition of ‘Young Chasers’. High octane, high tempo exuberance from the band was a staple of their 45 minute stint on the diminutive stage.

Frontman Keiran Shuddall, bassist Sam Rourke and guitarist Joe Falconer all loomed over the ruckus below, particularly intrepid (the heads of their guitars almost cracked heads), all while drummer Sian Plummer provided the earth quaking percussion. The four-piece followed their opener with the equally rampant ‘Good For Me’, Shuddall pausing for the crowd to scream back the eponymous and infectious hook in the chorus.

Shuddall frequently introduced a ‘new one’ for the expectant folk squeezed into the Joiners’ black cauldron.

New tracks, ‘Catch My Breath’ ‘Lost it’ and ‘Forget It’ all followed in quick succession. Typical brash guitar anthemia that you would expect from the indie-pop outfit, the perpetually jumping crowd ate it up, despite not knowing the words: all elbows, bouncing and ‘woohoo’s.

Shuddall then asked if the crowd were ready for the next one, their latest single ‘So Long’. Unashamedly upbeat, the band have drawn comparisons with The Vaccines for their infectious sound, but with tracks like ‘So Long’, there’s a certain lack of polish that marks them out on their own.

Circa Waves saw the night out in pandemonium. ‘Get Away’ whipped the crowd up in absolute anarchy.

The stage was soon invaded by adventurous audience members and used as a launch pad; security certainly had their hands full. The band soon followed suit for the triumphant display.

LIVE

Preview:

marcus bridgland previews AN UPCOMING SHOW FROM norfolk’S DEAF HAVANA IN BOURNEMOUTH.

DEAF HAVANA E & LONELY THE BRAVE at 02 ACADEMY BOURNEMOUTH (14/12/2014)

mbarking on a seven-date tour, Deaf Havana are back – starting at the O2 Academy in Bournemouth on the 14th of December. Their alternative-style rock music has helped build a large fan base in the nine years since, after forming at college in Norfolk. Also visiting Falmouth, Exeter, Coventry, Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Lincoln, deciding to play at venues they’d rarely visited could be seen as a risk, however the crowds they attract will yield a huge turnout in all venues.

Their sound has evolved and matured over the years, with a more traditional rock-and-roll feel to their newer music.

Their latest album Old Souls brought the band their first top ten album in early October 2013.

The band will be touring with Lonely the Brave, who have in recent months received a sizeable amount of airtime on radio. The combination of their melodic music and the incredibly emotive vocals from singer David Jakes produce a hard-hitting, but memorable record. After their big break performing on the BBC Introducing stage at Reading & Leeds last year, the group released their debut album The Days War in September of this year. Verses will also be supporting.

Preview:

FightStar

at London Forum (16/12/2014)

Lizzie Cooper-Smith looks at what’s in store for fightstar’s upcoming london date.

F

ightstar will play the London Forum on 16th December as one of two ten year anniversary dates. This will be their first show since 2010, when the band went on an indefinite hiatus to pursue individual projects.

The post-hardcore quartet’s first EP, They Liked You Better When You Were Dead, was released in early 2005, amid much scepticism due to frontman Charlie Simpson’s former pop career, yet the EP was a critical success. A year later, Fightstar released their full-length debut, Grand Unification, which was also received well by critics. Grand Unification was followed in 2007 by One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours, and the band’s most recent release, 2009’s Be Human, which included singles ‘The English Way’ and ‘Mercury Summer’ among others.

Despite being dormant since 2010, tickets for Fightstar’s ten year anniversary show sold out within minutes, resulting in the band adding a second date on 15th December at the O2 Academy Brixton. Evidently, Fightstar have by no means been forgotten. And any band who can generate this much excitement after falling completely off the radar for four years is clearly a band not to miss.

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LIVE

Introducing

FEBUEDER live editor annabelle asker introduces stations numerous times, the boys’ career could not have got off to a better start. With a brand new up-and-coming ascot locals febeuder.

EP, a brand new single, and a gradual evolution

Ascot; a quiet, middle class, Range Rover-filled suburbia, only noticed during the one week a year it becomes more than socially acceptable to wear a top hat and bet all your money on men riding horses.

Waitrose themed gentrification at its finest. Sounds like an unlikely place for any new music to appear from, particularly anything as distinctively eerie and unpredictable as that of Febueder.

The name ‘Febueder’ raises many questions in its pronunciation, with the band themselves stating, “It’s Bermuda with an F. As in Bermuda Triangle. Febueder.” The three-piece indierock band describe their sound as “very playful and experimental and skillful,” “with simple instrumentation’”and they couldn’t be more right.

They have been compared by DIY Magazine to the likes of Alt-J, Glass Animals and Caribou, as well as, in my opinion, encompassing some of the heavy basslines of an early indie-math Foals.

Having recently signed to a new record label, Melodic Records, and been played on BBC Radio

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in sound, the trio will be ones to watch in 2015.

2014 spelled the release of their second EP Lilac Lane, a demonstration of their confident engagement with their own very individual genre of music. Kieran Godfrey [vocals], Harry Summersgill [bass] and Sam Keysell [drums] are no strangers to the music scene, having self-released their debut EP ‘Smithereen Display’ over two years ago. The boys have gone from strength to strength, supporting Ghostpoet at a number of his 2012/2013 dates and receiving huge support for the release of their debut single ‘Alligator’, which NME described as “wrapping their earthy, layered vocals around throbbing bass and squelching guitar figures in a middle-eight meltdown to rival Animal Collective”. Their most recent EP Owing has received praise from various online music sites, including Line Of Best Fit, and has almost 5,000 views at the time of writing.

With ethereal lyrics and eclectic, unpredictable melodies, this band has a long and potentially highly successful future ahead of them.

LIVE

Review:

FEBEUDER

LILAC LANE EP dan linstead takes a look at febeuder’s latest ep, lilac lane, which was released in october.

Febueder may be a name that is unfamiliar to a lot of people, but if they keep creating amazing music, such as that featured in their Lilac Lane EP, then this looks set to change.

A mixture of melodic lyrics and natural sounds invite the listener into what feels like an urban, yet tribal world, and it is to great effect.

The EP is full of natural sounds, that are used to create a different sound on each track, with each track still sounding as part of a coherent whole. ‘Brazillia’ is a great example of this, with a mixture of drumming and windpipes throughout that gives the feeling that this track would not be out of place in the most popular soul nights around. The drumming follows into ‘Henna Sun’, however this track stands out on the EP for being incredbily

addictive to listen to as an easy-listening track.

‘Owing’ has a similar feel to ‘Brazillia’ “in fact it is is almost a carbon copy” with the first minute being naturalistic before losing some drumming and piping to make way for an extended soul section. Whilst I enjoy the soul feel, this may not be for everyone. The final track, ‘Celebrating Mask’, is the most upbeat song, but still using the same sounds featured in the previous tracks. What is odd about this song is that it feels as though you should be dancing to it, but the unusual rhythm equally seems to discourage this, that the track should just be listened to and enjoyed.

Overall it is a thoroughly enjoyable EP, despite the repetitive soul tracks and the unusual beat in the closing track. Despite this, it is an EP that should be given a chance on, especially ‘Brazillia’ which is ready to hit the soul scene.

FEBUEDER ARE COMING TO THE EDGE! They will be celebrating their Introducing feature with a show at The Talking Heads on Wednesday 4th February.

Tickets are £6.50 at www.thetalkingheads.co.uk

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Listings 1st December

»» Riverdance @ The Mayflower (until 6th) »» Take That - III »» The Snow Queen @ The Nuffield (until 4th Jan)

2nd December

»» An Evening with Noel Fielding @ Portsmouth Guildhall »» Joe @ Union Films »» The Crew (XBOX One, PS4, PC) »» The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 @ Union Films (also 3rd and 5th)

3rd December

»» John Garcia @ Talking Heads »» Showstoppers presents: Grease (until 6th) @ The Annex »» SUJO @ The Bridge

4th December

»» Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2 @ Union Films »» The Defiled & Avatar @ Talking Heads

5th December

»» Annie Mac @ o2 Academy Bournemouth »» Bombay Bicycle Club @ BIC Solent Hall »» Lara Croft and the Temple of Orisis (PS4, PC) »» Penguins of Madagascar (U) »» St Vincent (12A)

6th December

»» Peter Pan @ Bournemouth Pavilion Centre (until 4th Jan) »» SUSWO & PianoSoc Winter Concert @ Turner Sims »» The Uplifter @ Talking Heads

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7th December

»» Hacktivist @ Joiners »» Into the Storm & Fury @ Union Films »» SUCB presents: A Concert Band Christmas @ Turner Sims »» Taking Back Sunday @ Pyramids Portsmouth

8th December

»» Rival Sons @ Pyramids Portsmouth

9th December

»» Machine Head @ Portsmouth Guildhall »» Madness @ BIC Windsor Hall »» The Maze Runner @ Union Films

10th December

»» Professor Green @ O2 Academy Bournemouth

15th December

»» Culture Club @ BIC Windsor Hall »» Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint

16th December

»» Charli XCX - Sucker

18th December

»» Lazy Habits @ Joiners »» Status Quo @ BIC Windsor Hall

19th December

»» Dumb and Dumber To (15) »» Jimmy Carr: Funny Business @ Portsmouth Guildhall »» Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (PG) »» The Magic Numbers @ Talking Heads

20th December

11th December

»» Strictly Come Dancing Live Finals (BBC1)

12th December

»» Sing-along-a Frozen @ The Mayflower

»» RavenEye & Backwater Roll @ Talking Heads

»» Chris Rea @ BIC Windsor Hall »» Electricity (15) »» The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (12A)

13th December

»» Cinderella @ The Mayflower (until 4th Jan) »» Maybeshewill @ Joiners »» The Human League @ BIC Windsor Hall »» X Factor Live Finals (ITV)

14th December

»» Deaf Havana @ O2 Academy Bournemouth »» Jools Holland @ BIC Windsor Hall

22nd December

26th December

»» Annie (PG) »» Big Eyes (12A) »» Exodus: Gods and Kings (12A) »» Now Your Soul Talking @ Talking Heads

28th December

»» Chas n’ Dave @ Pyramids Portsmouth

31st December

»» The Sea Slugs NYE Party @ Talking Heads

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