Wednesday 20 December 2017

The Family Bucket reviewed by Harry Pye

The Family Bucket

Live at The White Hart, 184 New Cross Road
(16/12/2017)

I could be wrong but, although The Family Bucket were first on the bill, it seemed the majority of the crowd tonight were here to witness their live debut rather than see  Lucy, Henry’s Face or the headline act Mandy.

The Family Bucket are a punky three piece straight outta Coventry. They seem pretty tight as a band and I thought each member of the group was impressive or intriguing in their own way. Judging by the comments being shouted by certain members of the crowd it would appear the drummer (Cameron Collbeck)already seems to have his own fan club.


I noticed a tendency for songs with one word titles (Information, Because and Meanwhile) and all the songs were short and sweet.
I must admit I struggled to hear the lyrics but I know one of the songs is about Dionysus the Greek god of wine making and fertility. And I’m fairly sure I also heard something along the lines of “I wake up and don’t whether to laugh or cry.”
As tonight was an Xmas themed evening, each band added a classic Christmas tune to their set list. The Family bucket opted for “I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” I didn’t like their take on this track as much as the version by The Ronettes but it was entertaining none the less.


Lead guitarist Jim Aucutt shouts rather than sings and on one song he actually barks like a dog and bass player Alex Weeks held the whole thing together. I thought the whole set was brilliant from start to finish and I see a lot of potential in this band.
I don’t know if a Kentucky Fried Chicken Family Bucket is a bargain or a rip off but tonight’s performance was priceless.

Text by Harry Pye 2017
Photos by Alex Wojcik 2017

Wednesday 6 December 2017

Lost in Paris reviewed by Chris Hick


Lost in Paris (2016) is the 4th feature collaboration between kooky real life husband and wife duo Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel who starred, directed, produced and wrote this light Franco-Belgian comedy. The film opens in a rather cartoonish snowbound Canada where Fiona receives letters from her Aunt Martha (veteran French actress Emmanelle Riva) to come over to Paris before people put her in a home. Fiona sees this as a golden opportunity to visit the great city and visit her aunt. Wide eyed Fiona arrives in Paris and immediately finds that her lack of French, despite speaking some, leads to a comedy of errors. Fiona arrives at Aunt Martha's to find no one here. Led to believe that she is missing, Fiona takes a walk down to the River Seine where she first catches sight of the Eifel Tower. While having her picture taken on a bridge, wearing her huge red rucksack, Fiona leans back and falls into the river and sinks to the bottom before ditching her rucksack at the bottom ]she is saved, albeit bedraggled by a passing bateaux mouche. Her belongings are retrieved from the river by Dom, a scatty bum. Fiona still cannot find her aunt and as chance would have it Dom and Fiona's paths cross as she goes in search of her aunt.

The ditzy and whimsical visual comedy of Lost in Paris only goes so far. Many have branded the pair's brand of comedy to be similar to that of Jacques Tati, but lacks Tati's subtelty, restraint and construction. Amelie (2002) is another film it has had parallels drawn with but also lacks that films huge style. The comedy is mostly visual and is deliberately old fashioned, of the Charlie Chaplin, burlesque comedy variety. Fiona particularly is kooky looking and her and the French non-English speakers trying to understand each other grows wearisome, while some of the visual gags are equally irritating, especially the split screen with both Dom and Fiona fantasising about each other while lying in bed. Never the less, they are a couple keeping the tradition of silent comedy alive and while this might not be for all tastes, this is to be admired, though in France this type of comedy has always been more popular.
Veteran Riva is a treat to watch in what would be a poignant role. Riva, who had appeared in many French classics also enjoyed a late career including in Michael Haneke's moving Amour (2012) about Alzheimer's disease, but sadly she died not long after the Lost in Paris was completed and two months before its French release.
Many of the locations in the film are shot in and around the centre of Paris and around the River Seine with a key scene supposed to be in Père Lachaise cemetery (but was actually shot at the Cemetery in Passy). One of the films best  scenes are some dizzying beautifully shot scenes on the Eifel Tower. The Statue of Liberty further down the Seine at Île aux Cygnes also features. Some of the blacker gags misfire, but the film will most certainly have its audience
Extras on the disc include an interesting study on the couple and how they fit and re-ignite a tradition in burlesque or silent comedy and some of the films that this one references. There is also one of the couple's earlier short films, Walk on the Wild Side (2000) included here.


Text by Chris Hick 2017
See Trailer

Sunday 3 December 2017

PUNK IS DEAD: MODERNITY KILLED EVERY NIGHT reviewed by Ben Willmott



PUNK IS DEAD: MODERNITY KILLED EVERY NIGHT
Co-edited and -written by Richard Cabut and Andrew Gallix
ZERO BOOKS

The punk movement has, as this book readily acknowledges, been more closely analysed and chewed over more thoroughly than any other moment in pop history. While it’s true that it meant and continues to mean very different things to different people, it’s also true that in recent years the potted history version, shorn of its more interesting edges and lesser characters, is the one that’s prevailed in the age of post-pub BBC4 viewing.

While this book is more of a collection of everything from academic essays and lists to personal recollections than anything claiming to be a definitive history, its chorus of different voices and agendas ultimately creates a more accurate narrative. The opening piece sees Snatch’s Judy Nylon – that’s her referred to in Brian Eno’s 1974 song ‘Back In Judy’s Jungle’- reminiscing on her time in London, hooking up with Chrissie Hynde and partying with Nureyev and Keith Moon. It sets the tone well, emphasising that punk had a past as well as a future, the role of women and the American contingent in the capital’s scene, and the fact that it didn’t all revolve around McClaren and the Pistols.

Elsewhere there are several big name contributions, including an essay that Simon Reynolds wrote in 1986 arguing that, on its tenth anniversary, modern music needed to escape its punk-ness to show any hope of progress. ‘England’s Dreaming’ author Jon Savage provides a fascinating history, in list form, tracking the use of the word ‘punk’ from 1946 onwards in 123 different entries. Crass figurehead Penny Rimbaud, meanwhile, shares the experience of the band’s third ever gig in ‘Banned From The Roxy’, originally penned in 1977 but now viewed with the benefit of hindsight and some honest self criticism.


The most interesting bits here are the descriptions of the cast of thousands that populated and/or surrounded the scene at the time. People who weren’t in the bands that made it, those that were just there, feeding off the energy and the anarchy and reacting to it in a million different ways. The inhabitants of North London described in ‘Camden’s Dreaming’ by Richard Cabut, for instance, or the more impressionistic ‘Camera Squat Art Smiler’ by Neal Brown. They both stand up as vivid snapshots of the time as seen through their own eyes rather than any all seeing overview.

This is definitely a book for those who’ve read and digested all the starter level punk literature and are seeking something a little more. They’ll find it here for sure - a generous hit of the hard stuff.


Text by Ben Willmott 2017