• Maze

    September 22, 2017 - By 

    Courting controversy is something that filmmakers have to be very wary of in this day and age, and for writer/director Stephen Burke (Happy Ever Afters) and producer Brendan J. Byrne (Bomb Squad Men), there is no escaping it when dealing with as delicate a subject as the true story of the mass breakout of Provisional IRA prisoners in Northern Ireland from one of Europe’s most secure prisons. But what the filmmakers have managed to create is a credible and well-balanced movie that does not glorify the act, though they make no bones about how much of a coup the escape…

  • Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Luciferian Towers

    September 22, 2017 - By 

    Of all the bands that have reunited over the years, one would not have expected Godspeed You! Black Emperor to have stuck to it. And yet, Luciferian Towers marks the Montreal ensemble’s third album since their return to touring in 2010, following on from 2012’s Polaris Prize winning Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend and 2015’s Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress. Those albums saw a progression of sorts in the collective’s signature sound, with both  featuring more thick drones and towering examples of thunderous interplay from guest orchestras. That a group of such inherent breath and scope can continue to expand and develop their sound…

  • mother!

    September 22, 2017 - By 

    mother! is a slow burner panic attack. Imagine being an introvert who throws a house party but sets the invitation as Public. You’re trying to scrub Glen’s and Fanta out of the nice rug but there’s a mob in your kitchen, and, suddenly, crash! The sound of plates hitting marble. Or you’re a young woman married to your professor, two decades your senior, and you give, and dote, and adore, but one day you realise he might not need you the way you need him, and that’s terrifying, and the more he withdraws the more desperate you get. Or you’re…

  • METZ – Strange Peace

    September 22, 2017 - By 

    The first two albums by Canadian trio Metz were loud, bludgeoning noise-rock records very much in the spirit of the band’s ear-splitting live shows. But as viscerally thrilling as both their self-titled debut and follow up II were, they weren’t the sort of albums a band can make a career out of repeating ad naseum, and on the latter there was already a sense of déjà vu creeping in before the end of its half hour duration. Third album Strange Peace then, feels like something of a make-or-break moment for the band’s continuing momentum. While a degree of progression might be…

  • Chad VanGaalen – Light Information

    September 21, 2017 - By 

    After a decade in the business and with seven full-lengths under his belt, Chad VanGaalen is starting to show his wear. The Canadian indie rocker has been a darling in certain circles for an age so any new material is normally a cause for celebration. Sadly, his latest LP, Light Information, is pretty by the numbers stuff; a record with a handful of quite nice moments and interludes that are primarily punctuated by stretches of tedium. The man can spin up a very fine tune when he needs to and knows how to twist in a hook in such a way…

  • Midland – FABRICLIVE 94

    September 20, 2017 - By 

    There’s a point early in Midland‘s FABRICLIVE mix where the swooping synths of Daphni‘s ‘Vulture’ are followed by the sparse ‘Demented Drums’ of Tres Demented, a Carl Craig alias from 2003 – the year Midland fell in love with dance music, according to the text that accompanies this release). It’s easy to picture a crowd’s reaction to that transition, the primal energy of those rolling drums, the track’s booming sub-bass evoking feelings of a dance floor brimming with tension, eagerly following the DJ’s direction. Midland, a UK DJ who occupies a curious space that covers “serious” heads-down club music as much…

  • Kingsman: The Golden Circle

    September 20, 2017 - By 

    Golden shower, more like. The unpleasant, unrelenting Kingsman: The Golden Circle drenches viewers in water-thin spy adventuring for a demanding two hour twenty session, before zipping up and flipping the bird, leaving a faint funk hanging in the room. 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman working off Mark Millar’s comic, pursued its ‘Bond, but chav’ conceit with a comic bravado that was often ridiculous or annoying but at least showed some chutzpah, subverting Her Majesty’s Service niceties with its vein of laddish nastiness. Vaughn and Goldman return for the sequel, the former directing again, and the…

  • Insyriated

    September 19, 2017 - By 

    At a time when the Syrian conflict seems to be in its last days, Belgian writer/director Philippe Van Leeuw has created a unique and timely piece that deals with the huge complications faced by those who refuse to be moved from beseiged areas. What makes Insyriated stand out as a great piece of filmmaking is Van Leeuw’s nuanced approach to the conflict, with undifferentiated antagonists and a focus on the struggles of a family trying their best to live a normal life under impossible circumstances. And it is all impressively done with a hefty dose of realism, given the undoubted low…

  • L.A Witch – L.A Witch

    September 18, 2017 - By 

    L.A Witch‘s eponymous debut long player is the movieless soundtrack of the year, one that is utterly addictive and that will leave you begging for a visual counterpart. From their brooding vocals and hazy riffs, the Californian psych rock trio take us on a cinematic journey through the seedy bars and clubs of 1960s Los Angeles. L.A. Witch have set out to capture a hazy, Californian dream; a sound lost and found only in the depths of David Lynch’s surreal, on-screen exposés of the Southern Californian underbelly. Any of these nine tracks would slip neatly into this scene; crackling in the background…

  • Victoria & Abdul

    September 18, 2017 - By 

    In this era of cinematic universes and franchises, it’s easy to forget that British cinema has one of its own: the Royal family. The huge success globally of films like The Queen and The King’s Speech means that the subject continues to be revisited even as support for the real British Royal family wanes. So, in 2010 when Shrabani Basu published a book revealing a hitherto unknown relationship between Queen Victoria and an Indian servant, Abdul Kareem, a film version was inevitable, and seven years later here we are. Victoria & Abdul details the story of a young Indian man…