>>Nostalgia For Infinity

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Well, here’s something I’ve been meaning to write for about five months. The film Pontypool is pretty old news now: I originally heard about it in early 2010 due to its appearance on a ‘Best Horror of 2009′ list, and its original theatrical release was almost two years ago. Question of timeliness aside, I think Pontypool is one of the most interesting horror films I’ve seen in some years and easily worthy of being written about.

The film is almost entirely set within a single building, the local radio station of Pontypool, Ontario (a real and otherwise not notable town), focusing on a handful of core characters. These are Grant Mazzy, the recently hired, hard-drinking, cynical yet idealistic host of an early morning show; Sydney Briars, Mazzy’s Producer and handler – constantly trying to keep Mazzy on-message – and Laurel Anne, a production assistant recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Other characters are briefly featured, some only appearing as calls in to the station.

To briefly recap the film’s plot: Mazzy is on his way into work in the midst of a snowstorm. Whilst waiting at lights he encounters an apparently distressed woman who repeats the words “who are you” at him before vanishing into the night. (Later, her voice can be heard again, near the station – a portent of things to come.) Ignoring this odd event Mazzy heads on to the run-down station and prepares for another night’s work: a bottle of whiskey, arguments with Sydney about what he should be talking about, inane reportage on local colour, and mild flirting with Laurel-Anne.

This is not what unfolds. » Read the rest of this entry «

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This will be an extremely short review as it’s of a digital single with no b-sides, clocking in at a meagre 2:22. It’s courtesy of Icelandic music/vocals duo Feldberg, aka. instrumental multi-tasker Einar Tönsberg and singer Rósa Ísfeld, and UK indie label Smalltown America.

‘I’m Not Thinking of You’ is a preciously delicate piece of indie-pop, composed of soft and gentle vocals from Rósa and enticing dual guitar picking with some piano and faint digital wizardry from “Eberg”.

In my notes I’ve described it as a “pre-love song”, which on repeat listens seems to have a vein of truth to it. » Read the rest of this entry «

Bite the Bullet is the fourth full-length from Seattle’s Sledgeback, a band with a more interesting than usual backstory: frontman Gabor Szakácsi, ex-Hungary’s C.A.F.B. (Cops Are Fucking Bastards, an alternative to the more-familiar UK acronym A.C.A.B, which you can probably figure out) moved to the US sometime in 2004 not knowing a word of English and quickly formed a punk band. Good way to go about things in my book.

So, from Szakácsi’s punk history, the ugly and crude cover artwork of Bite the Bullet, and the general aesthetic of Sledgeback I was expecting fist-in-the-face politicised streetpunk. I was surprised that this wasn’t quite what I got. In fact, Sledgepunk sound less like hyper-fast aggressive speedpunk than they do boozey, nostalgic, distorted-melodic Gainesville punk rock. I’m reminded of late-90s / early 00s outfits like Gunmoll, f’rex, or prototypical G-ville sound bands like Sunderland’s Leatherface and LA’s Jawbreaker . Sledgeback aren’t really that close to these bands, but that’s what I’m reminded of rather than, say, Casualties or Unseen or Rebel Spell or the street-punk outfit of your choice.

What you have here is unpretentious, stripped-down punk rock, mostly hovering around the mid- to high-tempo watermark, with a strong Eastern European edge to the vocals courtesy of Szakácsi’s Hungarian origins. The music’s simple but effective, with good melodies and all the ingredients you’d expect: the vocals can be a little tricky to follow thanks to the aforementioned accent, but they’ve been brought forward in the mix and the unusual (to me, at least) voice helps the band stand out a little from their punk rock peers.

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Pennsylvania three-piece We Were Skeletons play frenetic, hectic, desperate, flailing, violent hardcore screamo – or, to put it in the band’s own terms, “mid-tempo choderock”. You know it. Looking at the band’s online presence it’s pretty obvious they don’t take themselves too seriously… yet listening to their tunes it’s clear where the band have invested their concentration and dedication.

Their take on the screamo genre is a rougher, rawer affair than some contemporaries such as Piano Becomes The Teeth or Dolcim – think now-defunct outfits like Hot Cross or Orchid (in fact ex-Orchid member Will Killingsworth sat behind the desk to record this release), or even Saetia if they had hated one another even more. We Were Skeletons have a jagged, distorted, flakey guitar sound with some lush hints of delay on lead guitar, particularly in the short and snappy solos that pepper their songs.

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Walking in the deep, dissonant and devastating footsteps of hyperactive post-hardcore giants like Blood Brothers, These Arms Are Snakes, Palatka and Assfactor 4 is no mean feat, but with Captains of Industry Solar Bear have managed it with aplomb.

Opening with a soft yet noisy, busy but muted, distant and tinny intro, the EP explodes into action with ‘The Endless Choir’. Its memorable chorus refrain of “it’s just music, it’s just-just music” pegs it as a fiery song extolling the virtues of the power of music and the catharsis of performance whilst extending a defiant middle finger to naysayers.

It’s followed by ‘Mr Iconoclastic vs. the Captains of Industry’, which by my estimation is a self-deprecating critique of the power of the artist in the face of the authority and power of the establishment. It’s also an unexpectedly danceable number, drums and guitar laying down an awesome rhythm that, in a world where rock clubs didn’t play the same tired old classic rock and nu metal tunes, would dominate dancefloors. “There are people who will never be heard due to the condition they’re in.”

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